A liquid crystal display device includes: a first insulation substrate; a gate line and data line positioned on the first insulation substrate and insulatively crossing each other; a thin film transistor connected with the gate line and data line; a pixel electrode connected with the thin film transistor; a second insulation substrate spaced apart from and facing the first insulation substrate; and a common electrode positioned on the second insulation substrate, in which the pixel electrode includes a first subpixel electrode including first minute branches extended in a plurality of directions and a second subpixel electrode separated from the first subpixel electrode and including second minute branches, one pixel includes the thin film transistor and pixel electrode, and extending directions of the first minute branches and the second minute branches adjacent to each other in an extending direction of the gate line within one pixel are parallel to each other.

(a) Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display devices, which are one of the most common types of flat panel displays currently in use, include two display units with field generating electrodes, such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. Liquid crystal display devices generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying voltage to the field generating electrodes. The generated electric field determines the direction of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer, thus controlling polarization of incident light so as to display images.
When liquid crystal display devices are used as display devices for television receivers, the size of the screen has become increasingly large. As the size of the liquid crystal display is increased, there is a problem in that the difference in the image viewed when a viewer views a center of the screen and when the viewer views left and right ends of the screen is increased.
In order to compensate for the viewing difference, the display device is curved in a concave or convex shape to be formed in a curved shape. The display device may be a portrait type which has a larger vertical length than a horizontal length and is curved in a vertical direction, and may also be a landscape type which has a smaller vertical length than a horizontal length and is curved in a horizontal direction.
As such, when the display device is curved to have a curved shape, a texture, reduction in luminance, and the like occur due to misalignment between upper and lower substrates.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A method comprises receiving, by a computing device, a desired usage plan for a plurality of user devices associated with a group of users; determining, by the computing device, whether an amount of power available across the plurality of user devices is sufficient to implement the desired usage plan; generating, by the computing device and based on the amount of power available across the plurality of user devices for the desired usage rules, usage rules that allocate the usage of the plurality of the user devices by each user in the group of users; and outputting to the plurality of user devices, the usage rules to cause the plurality of user devices to limit the usage of the plurality of user devices by each user in the group of users based on the allocation.

When traveling in a group, families or team members often carry multiple user devices, e.g., tablets, smart phones, media players, etc. Battery charging receptacles for these user devices are not always readily available when traveling, and as a result, battery power is often drained from the user devices before users have the opportunity to fully utilize their user devices. For example, one user may consume battery power on the user devices before another user has the opportunity to utilize their user devices before battery power has been consumed.
Existing systems do not proactively plan usage of user devices when battery charging facilities are not available for an extended period of time, e.g., when traveling. As a result, users are often left unable to perform desired tasks before battery power on their user devices run out. Accordingly, proactive planning of user device usage can help to ensure that users in a group are able to perform desired tasks before battery power on their user devices run out.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A memory access method intended for a memory required to provide an interval of a predetermined number of clock cycles or longer between successive occurrences of access when the same bank is successively accessed, and that eliminates an idle time between successive occurrences of access to allow for improved performance. Pieces of data are written into 0th, the first, the second, and the third banks, respectively. No idle time is caused between successive occurrences of access because different banks are successively accessed. Since a burst length of each of the pieces of data is eight, an interval of 16 cycles which is longer than 15 cycles is provided between a start of writing of first data and a start of second writing of data. Accordingly, no idle time is caused also between completion of writing of the first data and start of writing of the second data.

A conventional transcoder which re-encodes encoded image data into data having a different bit rate is disclosed in Patent Document 1 cited as follows. FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a structure of the conventional transcoder disclosed in the following Patent Document 1. Referring to FIG. 20, a decoder 201 includes means for functioning to decode encoded image data and extract a first motion vector for each of small blocks of the decoded image data. A converter 203 includes means for functioning to reduce the first motion vectors and compute third motion vectors, means for functioning to recognize one of the third motion vectors included in one of the small blocks which is to be re-encoded, which vector has a norm which provides the smallest value when norms of other third motion vectors included in small blocks surrounding the one small block are added thereto, as a second motion vector, means for functioning to recognize the smallest value as an evaluation value, and means for functioning to determine an additional search field which is narrower as the accuracy of a motion vector represented by the evaluation value increases, for each of the small blocks, and to establish priorities in accordance with the evaluation value or the additional search fields. An additional searcher 204 additionally searches the additional search fields which are defined in association with priorities assigned thereto, respectively, according to the priorities, to obtain motion vectors for re-encoding.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-344971 (Abstract).


A wireless network controller supports telephone call between a wireless telephone and a wired telephone. First and second wired communication channels are connected to a telecommunication switch and the wired telephone, respectively. A third wired communication channel is coupled to a radio frequency base station that supports a plurality of concurrent wireless communication channels to wireless telephones. An interface circuit coupled to the first, second, and third channels switches the connection of the first channel associated with the telecommunication switch between the second and third channels, and hence between the wired and wireless telephones. Simultaneous connection to both the wireless and wired telephones is also supported. A conventional line terminating impedance is always presented to the switch regardless of whether one or both of the wireless and wired telephones are off-hook.

The present invention is generally directed to a telecommunication system which supports both conventional telephones connected by wire communication channels to a central office switch and wireless telephones coupled by wireless communication channels to base stations which are, in turn, coupled by wire communication channels to the telecommunication system. The present invention is more specifically directed to an apparatus and method which permits an in-progress telephone call to either a wire or wireless telephone to be transferred to the other without requiring additional action by the telecommunications switch.
Relatively inexpensive wireless telephone sets known as "cordless" telephones are available for use primarily in homes and consist of a base unit connected as an extension phone and a portable handset coupled by an RF communication channel with the base unit. Although a wireless communication channel is involved for cordless telephones, they function essentially as a conventional telephone connected by a long extension cord. That is, the base units of such telephone sets provide limited range and are not designed to support a plurality of subscribers with concurrent available wireless channels. Cordless telephones are connected in parallel with wired telephones resulting in a decrease in signal (audio) level and undesired impedance termination of the line when the cordless and a wired telephone are off-hook or active at the same time.
Conventional cellular communication systems issue a telephone number for a user's wireless telephone which differs from the same user's conventional wired telephone. This may require a party desiring to call the user to call both the wired and wireless telephone numbers in order to reach a particular party. Also, consider the situation in an office environment in which a user is engaged in a telephone conversation using a conventional wired telephone and has to leave the office to travel to another location in the building. Even if such a user also had a wireless telephone, the user could not continue the existing conversation by transferring to his wireless telephone without reestablishing another connection (separate call) to the same party since conventional cellular wireless communication systems do not permit a transfer of an existing conversation between wired and wireless telephones.

Telephone call transfer between a wireless and wired telephone


A monomer recycle process for fluid phase in-line blending of polymers is provided. In one form, the monomer recycle process includes providing a first group (G1) of one or more reactor trains and a second group (G2) of one or more reactor trains and one or more separators fluidly connected to G1 and one separator fluidly connected to G2; polymerizing in each reactor train of G1 and G2 olefin monomers to form homogenous fluid phase polymer-monomer mixtures wherein each of the G1 and G2 reactor trains have at least one common monomer; passing the reactor effluents from the one or more G1 reactor trains through the one or more G1 separators to separate a monomer-rich phase from a polymer-enriched phase; passing the polymer-enriched phase and the reactor effluents from the one or more G2 reactor trains into the G2 separator (separator-blender) to separate another monomer-rich phase from a polymer-rich blend; recycling to one or more G1 reactor trains the separated monomer-rich phase from the one or more G1 separators; and recycling to one or more G2 reactor trains the separated monomer-rich phase from the G2 separator. The polymer-rich blend is conveyed to a downstream finishing stage for further monomer stripping, drying and/or pelletizing to form a polymer product blend.

Polymer blends may be made by a variety of methods. A flexible but expensive off-line process of making polymer blends uses solid polymers as starting materials, typically outside the polymerization process that produced the polymer blend components. The polymer blend components are typically first melted or dissolved in a solvent and then blended. These processes are known as melt-blending and off-line solution blending, respectively. In melt blending, the solid, often pelletized or baled, polymer blend components are first melted and then blended together in their molten state. One of the difficulties presented by melt blending is the high viscosity of molten polymers, which makes blending of two or more polymers difficult and often imperfect on the molecular level. In solution off-line blending, the solid, often pelletized, polymer blend components are first dissolved in a suitable solvent to form a polymer solution, and then two or more polymer solutions are blended together. After blending, solution blending requires the extraction of solvent from the blend and drying of the blended polymer. Solution blending can overcome the viscosity issue associated with melt blending, but is expensive due to the need for redissolving the polymer blend components and due to the cost of solvent handling.
The common feature of both melt blending and off-line solution blending is that the polymer blending components are made in separate plants and the solid polymers then are reprocessed either in a molten or in a dissolved state to prepare the final polymer blend. In fact, these off-line blending processes are often operated by so-called compounders, generally independent of the manufacturers of the polymer blend components. These processes add considerable cost to the cost of the final polymer blend. The production and full polymer recovery in separate plants and subsequent reprocessing increases the costs of producing such blends because of the need for duplicate polymer recovery lines and because of the need for separate blending facilities and the energy associated with their operations. Off-line solution blending also requires extra solvent, and facilities for polymer dissolution and solvent recovery-recycle. Substantial reprocessing costs could be saved if the polymer blends could be made in one integrated polymerization plant in-line, i.e. before the recovery and pelletizing of the solid polymer blend components.
The disadvantage of a separate polyolefin blending plant associated with the melt blending and off-line solution blending processes is alleviated with the prior art method of in-line solution blending of polymers using a series reactor configuration. Utilizing the series reactor configuration, product blending may be accomplished in the solution polymerization reactor itself when the effluent of the first solution polymerization reactor is fed into the second reactor operating at different conditions with optionally different catalyst and monomer feed composition. Referring to the two-stage series reactor configuration of FIG. 1 (prior art), the two different polymers made in the first and second reactor stages are blended in the second stage yielding a blended polymer product leaving the second reactor. Such reactor series configuration may be further expanded into more than a two-stage series configuration (three or more reactors in series). Generally, a series of n reactors may produce a blend with as many as n components or even more present in the effluent of the last reactor. Note that in principle, more than n components may be produced and blended in n reactors by, for example, using more than one catalyst or by utilizing multiple zones operating at different conditions in one or more reactors of the series reactor cascade. While mixing in the downstream reactor(s) provides good product mixing, particularly when the reactors are equipped with mixing devices, e.g., mechanical stirrers, such series reactor configuration and operation presents a number of practical process and product quality control problems due to the close coupling of the reactors in the cascade. One of the most important difficulties in commercial practice is ensuring proper blend and monomer ratios to deliver consistent blend quality. Additional complications arise when the blend components have different monomer compositions, particularly when they have different monomer pools, such as in the case of blending different copolymers or in the case of blending homo- and copolymers. Since the monomer streams are blended, there is no option for their separate recovery and recycle mandating costly monomer separations in the monomer recycle lines.
The above-outlined issues with series reactor operations are apparent to those skilled in the art of chemical engineering. These difficulties are particularly significant in polymerization because unlike in small-molecule syntheses, reactor conditions determine not only reactor productivities related to product blend ratio, but also product properties related to controlling the quality of the polymer blend components. For example, FIGS. 2 and 3 show how reactor temperature and pressure affect polymer properties of fundamental importance, such as molecular weight (MW) and melting behavior. Surprisingly, we found that monomer conversion in the reactor also influences these critical product attributes (see FIG. 4). Since in a series reactor cascade the effluent of an upstream reactor flows into the next downstream member of the reactor cascade, the residence time, catalyst concentration, and monomer composition and thus monomer conversion in the downstream reactor cannot be adjusted independently of the operating conditions (particularly of the flow rate) of the upstream reactor. Because of this close and inherent coupling of operating regimes in the reactors of the series cascade, the correlations depicted in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 further reduce the controllability, flexibility, and thus the usefulness of the in-line blending method in a series reactor configuration. Ultimately, this greatly reduces the number of blend products that can be made in such a series reactor cascade and makes the blend quality difficult to control.
Applying parallel reactors can overcome the disadvantages related to the direct coupling of the polymerization reactors in an in-line polymer blending applying series reactors. While production flexibility is increased, a parallel reactor arrangement necessitates the installation of blending vessels increasing the cost of the process. As disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 60/876,193 filed on Dec. 20, 2006, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, an improved in-line process for blending polymers has been developed to improve blend quality and reduce the capital and operating costs associated with a combined polymerization and blend plant.
One problem associated with the fluid phase in-line blending process utilizing two or more parallel reactor trains and the two or more high-pressure separators fluidly connected to the two or more reactor trains configured in parallel is that the polymerization processes do not convert 100% of the feed monomers in a single pass through the parallel reactor trains. Because the monomers are of high value, the unconverted monomer streams are typically recovered by separating them from the polymeric products and recycled back to the polymerization reactor bank. However, when the monomer-rich phase from a high-pressure separator contains two or more different monomers, separation and recycle become more challenging and complex. In particular, when the monomer-rich phase from a high pressure separator contains a mixture of a monomer stream from a homopolymerization parallel reactor train and a comonomer stream from a copolymerization parallel reactor trains, recycle of the monomer and comonomer streams becomes particularly challenging due to the fact that the monomer composition of the recycle stream is often too far from the desired reactor feed composition. This imbalance can be best quantified by the excess monomer component flow present in the recycle monomer stream. In order to allow the rebalancing of the monomer feed composition, the monomers present in the combined recycle stream are typically split into individual pure monomer feeds. These individual monomer recycle streams then are combined with the make up monomer streams at a controlled rate to provide for the reactor feeds at the required monomer feed rate and composition. Such monomer separation trains, however, are capital intensive and expensive to operate. They are particularly expensive for light olefinic monomer recycle streams comprising aliphatic olefins of two to four carbon atoms due to their low boiling points and thus due to the need for cryogenic distillation. Hence, there is a need for new inventive processes that minimize or even eliminate such expensive monomer separations in the monomer recycle train of in-line blending processes.
There are a variety of possible options for recovering and recycling the monomers. One option, outside the scope of the present disclosure, recovers the monomers in separate trains that do not contact each other and combine the monomer and comonomer streams before, during, or after the monomer separation from the polymers. The monomer and comonomer streams are kept separate and may be recycled to their corresponding polymerization reactor trains without concerns about contaminating the feed of the homopolymerization train by the comonomer of the copolymerization train. While this option eliminates the need for and the cost associated with separation and recovery of the individual monomers, it requires parallel feed-product separation trains for each reactor train. It also handles and blends the undiluted, highly viscous polymer blend components in their molten state, as opposed to their diluted fluid state. Both of these requirements increase cost and decrease blend quality.
FIG. 5 depicts the process flow diagram of another prior art monomer recycle process used in conjunction with fluid phase in-line blending of polymers. Referring to FIG. 5, the reactor effluents (1) and (2) from the two parallel reactor trains (1) and (2) are blended in the single separator-blender that also separates a monomer-rich phase from a polymer-rich phase. The monomer-rich phase emerging from the top of the separator-blender comprises a mixture of the monomers of reactor train (1) and the monomers from reactor train (2). This combined monomer stream is then separated into its individual monomer components before those components are recycled to the proper reactor trains of the in-line polymer blending process. This prior art monomer separation and recycle method provides ultimate flexibility in the recycle train since each monomer component is recovered individually and can be directed at the desired rate to the appropriate reactor train(s). However, it also applies a complex and expensive monomer separation train. A recycle process that can operate without the full recovery of each individual monomer components would be cost advantaged, simpler to operate and maintain, and thus desirable.
Besides separating the monomer components present in the monomer recycle stream emerging from the separator-blender, heavier impurities, such as solvents used in the catalyst feed, oligomeric side products, excess catalyst killer(s), etc. need to be separated and purged from the monomer recycle stream in order to prevent their buildup in the reactor trains. Again, referring to FIG. 5, separation tower (1) separates the combined monomer-comonomer stream from solvents, oligomers and other heavies, which emerge from the bottom of tower (1). Separation tower (2) further separates the monomer-containing stream emerging from the top of tower (1). Monomer (1) emerges from the bottom and monomer (2) emerges from the top of tower (2). The monomer (1) bottom stream from separation tower (2) is recycled back to polymerization parallel reactor train (1) and the monomer (2) top stream from separation tower (2) is recycled back to polymerization parallel reactor train (2). It should be understood that in the case of monomer recycle streams comprising more than two monomers, more than two separation towers may be necessary to recover the individual monomer components. These chilled separation towers and associated hardware are expensive to install from a capital equipment standpoint and expensive to operate from utility standpoint. The separation towers also increase maintenance costs associated with the polymerization-blending plant. In addition, the separation process step also increases the overall in-line blending process complexity and thus the probability of process upsets. Therefore, there is a need for an improved method that can reduce the complexity and cost of monomer recycle related to the in-line polymer blending process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Monomer recycle process for fluid phase in-line blending of polymers

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company


A method for setting valve action, used by a control system having a dialog box, includes choosing a start/stop mode of the valve action. A dialog box of the control system shows start/stop condition fields according to the start/stop mode of the valve action. A start/stop condition field for start/stop timing of the valve action is set.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to injection molding and, particularly, to a method for setting valve action of an injection molding machine.
2. Description of Related Art
Referring to FIG. 6, a valve control system of an injection molding machine includes a human-machine interface. The interface includes a valve action dialog box receiving data input, configured for setting timing of the valve action accordingly. The valve action dialog box offers only preset values, and cannot satisfy the needs of different manufacturing processes. Since start/stop timing of the valve actions require different setting modes, the valve action dialog box must be modified, thus increasing the workload of a programmer.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for setting valve action addressing the described limitations.

Injection molding system and method for setting valve action


An apparatus for calibrating a disk drive including a calibration circuit for calibrating parameters used in the operation of the disk drive. The system includes volatile storage for storing a personalized parameter value generated by the calibration circuit. The system also includes non-volatile storage for storing the personalized parameter value for subsequent use in calibrating the disk drive.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a method and apparatus for calibrating disk drives, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for using personalized calibration data to calibrate disk drives.
2. Description of Related Art
Various types of data storage devices have been developed including high capacity devices that have multiple recording surfaces. A conventional magnetic or optical storage device is typically manufactured as three separate assemblies, the medium, the heads and the controller, which are integrated as a single storage device during one of the final steps in the production process.
A conventional medium assembly includes a plurality of double sided disks arranged in a stack on a central spindle typically rotated by a motor. Each side of each disk is usually plated with a magnetically or optically sensitive coating to form a recording surface for information which is organized in sectors spaced along concentric or spiral tracks on each of the recording surfaces.
The head assembly is used for recording and retrieving the information stored in a sector. Generally the head assembly includes at least one read/write head for each of the surfaces. Each head is typically mounted on a positioning arm which is linked to a servo positioning mechanism capable of moving all heads in unison in a generally radial direction over the recording surfaces. Some storage devices may include multiple head assemblies for a single medium assembly.
The controller assembly is used for managing the information flow between the computer system and the medium. A conventional controller assembly may include one or more microprocessors and memories to perform the complex tasks of address translation, head positioning, data transfer, data correction and performance optimization.
During the power-up sequence of a disk drive, a number of parameters are calibrated to enable reading of information from the storage disk. The parameters are conventionally determined by tuning a set of default parameters stored in non-volatile memory to the specific operating environment of the disk drive. The tuned values are maintained in volatile memory and may periodically be updated by the drive""s maintenance operations to reflect changing conditions such as temperature. However, the calibrated values are not permanently stored, and are lost when the power to the drive is turned off.
Although some parameters have previously been stored on the disk itself, all parameters can not solely be stored on the disk because certain parameters are needed by the servo processor during spin up in order for the head to read data from the disk. The need for initial spin up parameters is especially critical with the use of magneto-resistive heads which require accurate adjustment, increasing track densities which require extremely accurate positioning of the head, and other drive elements requiring accurate tuning. With offsets between the read/write elements of MR heads approaching full tracks, reading stored calibration information on the drive and obtaining system data for drive use without having the data during the power-up sequence is difficult. The precise calibration of such elements causes time delays which negatively impact-drive readiness and the overall disk drive performance. Further, different calibrations may be necessary for manufacturing and field environments.
It can be seen that there is a need for an apparatus, method, and/or system that improves disk drive performance by reducing calibration times.
It can also be seen that there is a need for different calibrations being provided quickly for both manufacturing and field environments.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention discloses a technique for enhancing calibration speed and performance of a data storage system.
The present invention solves the above-described problems by providing a technique for calibrating a disk drive that uses personalized calibration data/parameter values stored in non-volatile memory to calibrate the disk drive rather than default parameters based, for example, on population averages.
A system in accordance with the principles of the present invention includes a calibration system/circuit which comprises hardware, software, or a combination of both for calibrating a parameter used in the operation of the disk drive. The system also includes volatile storage for temporarily storing a personalized parameter value generated by the calibration circuit. The system further includes non-volatile storage for storing the personalized parameter value for subsequent use in calibrating the disk drive.
An important aspect of the present invention is that the personalized parameter value stored in non-volatile memory can be updated with a subsequent personalized parameter value in response to systems operations changes.
Another aspect of the invention is that the personalized parameter value can be read to a buffer, merged with a control program, and then saved in non-volatile memory for use in subsequent calibrations.
Another aspect of the present invention is that the calibration circuit includes a control means and a sensor.
Another aspect of the present invention is that the personalized parameter value can be stored in RAM of an interface processor while a working copy of the personalized parameter value can be stored in RAM of a servo processor.
Another aspect of the present invention is that a second copy of the personalized parameter value can be saved on the disk associated with the disk drive.
Another aspect of the present invention is that the calibration circuit is on the disk drive.
Another aspect of the present invention is that the calibration system or elements thereof is remote from the disk drive.
Another aspect of the present invention is that a buffer remote from the disk drive is used to merge control program parameters and personalized parameter values.
Another aspect of the present invention is that a buffer on the disk drive is used to merge control program parameters and personalized parameter values.
Still another aspect of the present invention is that the system can be used to calibrate a disk drive having a replacement control card.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is that the system can be used to personalize replacement control cards for a disk drive.
These and various other advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and form a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described specific examples of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Personalization of dasd servo parameters through calibration feedback

International Business Machines Corporation


A radio base station according to an embodiment is a radio base station configured to use a specific frequency band which includes a plurality of component carriers having a predetermined bandwidth and which is allowed to be utilized by a plurality of network operators or a plurality of communication systems. The radio base station comprises: a controller configured to select, from among the plurality of component carriers, a target component carrier in which a reference signal used in the specific frequency band should be transmitted; and a transmitter configured to use the target component carrier to transmit the reference signal. The controller selects, as the target component carrier, a first component carrier that satisfies a first condition. The first condition is that an interference power amount falls below a predetermined threshold value.

In 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), which is a project aiming to standardize a mobile communication system, utilization of a new frequency band is considered in order to respond to a rapid increase in traffic demand (for example, see Non Patent Document 1).
Here, as a new frequency band, a specific frequency band which includes a plurality of component carriers having a predetermined bandwidth and which is allowed to be used by a plurality of network operators or a plurality of communication systems, may be considered.
As a specific frequency band, a bandwidth used for, for example, Wi-Fi (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), and the like, that is, an unlicensed band not requiring a license, may be considered. In 3GPP, a technology is considered where an unlicensed band is used for an LTE system (LAA: Licensed Assisted Access).
In LAA, between a licensed cell (L-Cell: Licensed LTE Cell) in which a licensed band requiring a license is used and an unlicensed cell (U-Cell: Unlicensed LTE Cell) in which an unlicensed band is used, a carrier aggregation is applied.


Waveform data, such as reflection seismic data, is filtered by concurrently analyzing various phase angles of the data. The various phase angles of the data are compared to phase rotated background trends and the phase angle producing the maximum deviation from the equivalent background trend is selected as the optimum phase angle for predictive analysis or exclusion filtering.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods of filtering waveform data. In another aspect, the invention concerns a method for manipulating seismic data by analyzing various phase angles of the data to thereby improve the accuracy of rock property predictions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that certain physical properties of an object can be non-intrusively measured by transmitting various types of waves (e.g., optical, acoustical, electrical, radiation, or vibration waves) into/onto the object and detecting the waves reflected by the object. The reflected wave data can then be manipulated through various filtering and/or interpreting techniques to provide a relatively accurate indication of one or more physical properties of the object.
Two representative, but vastly different, examples of applications where the physical properties of an object are measured by reflected waves are sonograms and seismic surveys. Sonograms are typically performed on living beings by introducing acoustical waves into the body of the being. The acoustic waves are reflected differently by different body tissues or fluids. The reflected waves are detected and then manipulated in a manner which gives an indication (typically a visual image) of what types of tissues or fluids are present in particular locations of the body. Seismic surveys of the earth are performed by inducing vibrational waves (i.e., compression and/or shear waves) into the earth. The vibrational waves are reflected at different strata in the earth. The reflected waves are detected and manipulated in a manner which provides an indication of the rock properties of the subterranean formation at various locations.
A common problem encountered when using waveform data to determine properties of a physical body is that abrupt boundaries between regions of the body having different physical and acoustic properties can be "smeared" due to the nature of the waveform data. This boundary smearing of waveform data is experienced when relatively low frequency waves (e.g., sinusoidal waves) encounter an abrupt acoustic boundary between two regions having different physical properties. The abrupt boundary will typically not be represented by a spike or a single data point in the waveform data. Rather, the boundary may show up as a sinusoidal wave with one or two large peaks having smaller troughs and peaks reverberating out from the large peak(s). Thus, the boundary between physically dissimilar regions is frequently represented in waveform data by an extended wavelet which crossplots as a cluster of data points, rather than by a single data point.
It is well known to analyze seismic data using graphic or crossplot techniques, such as Amplitude Versus Offset (AVO) crossplotting. The common purpose of such crossplotting is to identify reservoir sand versus shale, or hydrocarbon-bearing sand versus wet sand. This can occur because the data representing sand and the data representing shale tend to plot in different portions of the AVO graph, with shale plotting closer towards the origin of the graph and sand tending to migrate away from the origin. A problem with such analysis of seismic data is that the graphic position of the sand is dependent upon the phase of the seismic data. With certain phases of the data, the crossplotted data representing sand located near a boundary between sand and shale is well separated from the crossplotted background shale trend. However, for certain other phases of the data, the crossplotted data representing sand located near a boundary between sand and shale may be located within the crossplotted background shale trend. Thus, certain phase angles of the seismic data provide a more accurate indication of boundary locations than other phase angles of seismic data. This problem is described in greater detail below with reference to FIGS. 6a and 6b.


A food, vegetables and fruit processor comprises a base having therein an operating motor, a lower cover, a cutting seat and an upper cover. Wherein the upper cover is provided with an inclined feed-in pipe extending downwardly therefrom, one end of the feed-in pipe forms on the surface of the upper cover a material inlet, the other end of the feed-in pipe forms a material outlet. Food, vegetables and fruit can be cast into the feed-in pipe, and are pressed tight with a material pushing plunger to render the food, vegetables and fruit to be perfectly and smoothly cut or ground in an energy saving mode. The present invention is applicable to using as a food, vegetables and fruit processor having the functions of squeezing juice and grinding food.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a food, vegetables and fruit processor, and especially to a food, vegetables and fruit processor having an inclined feed-in pipe with which the food, vegetables and fruit can be cast into the feed-in pipe, and are pressed tight with a material pushing plunger to render the food, vegetables and fruit to be perfectly and smoothly cut or ground in an energy saving mode. The present invention is applicable to using as a food, vegetables and fruit processor having the functions of squeezing juice and grinding food.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modern people live with a hurried pace, the ratios of eating outside get higher and higher; to maintain a good state of individual health, in addition to taking suitable sports and having necessary leisure times, the selections and arrangements of food and beverages with an attention to balance taking in of different nutrients are particularly important.
And in recent years, people pursue more eagerly healthfulness of eating, they hope to get beauty as well as health through taking nutrients of food, and therefore, organic food is popularized. The purpose of organic food is to take natural food as the material of people's food and beverages and the most often have are various juices of vegetables and fruit. Therefore, now there are various food processors used to processing vegetables, fruit and bean food to have food minced and juices squeezed from the food, vegetables and fruit to allow people to fast acquire nutrients supplement.
Presently, the devices of vegetables and fruit processors in the market seen each generally is provided on the surface of the machine with a vertical material inlet, food cast into the material inlet can be cut or ground into juice by means of a high-speed rotating cutting and grinding disk in the machine. However, such a structural device has the following flaws although it has the function of high-speed cutting and grinding:    1. With the design of the cutting knife of the conventional cutting and grinding disk, a dead corner of cutting exists at the center of the disk, so that the material inlet must be disposed vertically at a position deviating from the center of the cutting and grinding disk. If the food, vegetables or fruit to be cut is overly large, it must be cut into pieces before placing into the material inlet, this is very troublesome.    2. Further, because the material inlet is disposed at a position deviating from the center of the cutting and grinding disk, the size of its diameter is limited, so that the area for cutting and grinding food is reduced, the time as well as the electric quantity for cutting and grinding food is relatively increased.


An apparatus (20) determines a vehicle occupant location characteristic. The apparatus (20) includes at least one sensor (e.g., 46) for echo ranging at first and second ultrasonic frequencies. A timer function portion (84) of a microcomputer (66) determines a time-of-flight for each frequency signal. The microcomputer (66) determines the occupant location characteristic using at least one of the determined times-of-flight.

The present invention relates to improvements in echo ranging vehicle occupant location sensing.
Within a vehicle occupant protection system, it is known to control (e.g., adjust) an inflation profile of an air bag based upon a distance between a vehicle occupant and the air bag to enhance protection of the occupant. Such control is suitable for a scenario in which the distance between the occupant and the air bag assembly changes during a pre-crash braking condition. Specifically, during a pre-crash braking condition, the vehicle decelerates and the inertia of the occupant causes the occupant to move forward relative to the seat toward an instrument panel that contains the air bag assembly. Also, it is known to control other air bag deployment aspects based upon the distance between the occupant and the air bag assembly and/or another occupant location characteristic to enhance protection of the occupant.
A known vehicle occupant protection system includes an echo ranging system to determine the distance between the air bag and the vehicle occupant. An echo ranging system operates by emitting a short burst of a carrier signal that travels directly between an emitter and the vehicle occupant. The emitted signal bounces on the vehicle occupant and the bounced signal returns to a receiver as an echo of the emitted signal. The echo ranging system includes a time-of-flight distance determination system that determines the time elapsed between the emission of the signal from the emitter and the return of the echo at the receiver and from this time differential determines the distance between the occupant and the air bag assembly.
Ideally, the time period between signal emission and echo reception is long enough to allow the signal to travel to the occupant and return before the emission of a subsequent signal. However, if the occupant is located sufficiently far away, then the return echo returns after a subsequent signal is emitted. Such a return echo can be termed a late echo. Also, although it is intended to bounce the signal on the vehicle occupant, it is possible that the signal may bounce on other surfaces within the vehicle. This situation occurs if the occupant turns or leans and the signal bounces on the occupant""s seat, on the back seat, or on other surfaces within the vehicle. Such other surfaces may also be located sufficiently far to cause return of a late echo.
The result is that the time-of-flight distance determination system may calculate the time interval between the subsequent emitted signal and the receipt of the return echo (i.e., late echo) associated with the prior emitted signal and thereby miscalculate the distance to be closer than actuality. Therefore, the occupant protection system would not provide optimum enhancement of occupant protection.
One particular type of echo ranging system includes a head unit that incorporates three ultrasonic transmitters and three ultrasonic receivers for emitting and receiving ultrasonic signals. The invention provides for a method of differentiating between ultrasonic signals generated from transmitters physically separated from each other so that a receiver can identify the source of each ultrasonic signal that is received.
Another type of echo ranging system is a system that locates the occupant by emitting and receiving ultrasonic signals using two or more ultrasonic transducers. These transducers are located in various locations in the vehicle passenger compartment. As a result, by implementing multiple transducers and by placing each transducer in a different location, each transducer receives the return signal associated with the signal that each individual transducer emitted.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for determining a vehicle occupant location characteristic. The apparatus includes means for echo ranging at a first ultrasonic frequency to determine a first time-of-flight to an occupant seating position. The apparatus includes means for echo ranging at a second ultrasonic frequency to determine a second time-of-flight to the occupant seating position. The apparatus also includes means for determining the occupant location characteristic using at least one of the determined times-of-flight.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a method of determining a vehicle occupant location characteristic. The method includes echo ranging at a first ultrasonic frequency to determine a first time-of-flight to an occupant seating position. The method includes echo ranging at a second ultrasonic frequency to determine a second time-of-flight to the occupant seating position. The method also includes determining the occupant location characteristic using at least one of the determined times-of-flight.

Apparatus and method of vehicle occupant sensing using multiple ultrasonic frequencies


A novel barge construction is disclosed herein for providing a substantially ice-free zone around a vessel out to at least 100 feet from the vessel. The barge comprises: (a) a hull including a bow, a stern and, a pair of sides, a flat bottom all covered by plating and a deck covered by decking; (b) a hull stabilization system including a lattice framework filled with solid insulation material; (c) a liquid/gas heat exchange system within the hull, such heat exchange system having ducts and outlets therefrom from the hull to project hot gas towards the surface of the water and recirculation inflow structure to recover air and hot gas from the region of the surface of the water; (d) a cantilevered section extending forwardly from the bow and including longitudinally extending skirt ducts therein connected to the heat exchange system ducts and outlets; and (e) a skirt suspended from the forward edge of the cantilevered section to below the waterline of the barge. The skirt comprises an outside depending portion to project below the surface of the water and a shorter inside depending portion to terminate above the surface of the water, to define a hot gas chamber therebetween, the hot gas chamber being connected to the skirt ducts. The barge distributes warm air in a manner and quantity sufficient substantially to prevent ice formation under the barge hulls and under the cantilevered sections.

(i) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in the drilling of oil and gas wells in polar regions. More particularly, it relates to improved techniques for effectuating such drilling in the wintertime in the Arctic Ocean and more especially in the Beaufort Sea area of the Arctic, although it is feasible for application in other areas where similar conditions exist. Still more particularly, it relates to a novel floating structure which is used to provide a method and apparatus for providing an ice-free zone around a drillship to enable such wintertime drilling.
(ii) Description of the Prior Art
At the present time drilling in offshore Arctic regions is carried out in the summertime either by the use of drillships anchored at a drill site where the risk of impingement by ice floes is minimal, or through the use of artificial islands. Summertime drilling is feasible for depths from 60 feet to 200 feet or more. Artificial islands currently being used in the shallow water regions of the Beaufort Sea become excessively expensive in water depths of 40 feet or greater. It appears uneconomical at the present time to build artificial islands for exploratory drilling wells in water depths exceeding 40 feet. It may be economical to drill production wells from artificial platforms in water depths exceeding 40 feet. Moreover, it is presently not feasible to drill exploratory wells from floating ice islands in the regions where ice movement is too great (i.e., more than a few feet).
One of the chief obstacles to overcome in drilling in Arctic regions is the Arctic pack ice. The ice grows to a thickness of approximately 6 feet and is laced with pressure ridges and ice islands which can reach thicknesses of over 100 feet. The pack ice moves at speeds from 0 to 20 or more miles per day with an average movement of approximately 2 miles per day.
If drilling were to take place in waters where there was considerable ice movement, a very solid structure would be required in order to withstand the forces exerted upon it by the ice pack and yet to be able to remain on position in order to drill a well. For exploratory drilling operations, a solid bottom founded structure should be provided which could resist the movement of the ice pack and yet would be mobile enough to be transported from one exploratory drilling site to another.
Drilling with structures on the sea bottom has numerous problems. Firstly, there is the problem of designing hulls which could withstand the ice forces from deep ice keels against these structures. In the second place, subsea systems would have problems of buoyancy, lifesupport systems, power supply, and access for cress and maintenance.
It would, therefore, be desirable to develop another technique that would allow exploratory drilling during winter months. Such system should also be able to extend operational capability into the shorefast ice. This technique has the potential for drilling wells more economically than any other method in the shorefast ice regions. Using this technique, the rate of exploration in the Beaufort Sea would be increased by a factor of from two to four times. This technology of using drillships in shorefast ice could be applied to other regions of the Canadian Arctic. The techniques used for drilling in shorefast ice are a logical step toward developing year-round drilling systems in pack ice regions.
The development of such technology is important since the risks to the environment of a drilling system in the shorefast ice are relatively low. One advantage of operating in shorefast ice is that the ice moves very little throughout the winter. Any oil spilled underneath the ice would be confined to a very small area where it could be removed from the environment.

Barge construction for warm air canopy ice-free zone


A cassette deck of a car stereo has at least one capstan and a motor for driving the capstan. An accessory switch is provided in a car provided with the car stereo. A accessory switch detector is provided for detecting closing of the accessory switch. A cassette detector is provided for detecting setting of a cassette to the cassette deck. In response to detection of closing of the accessory switch, and setting of the cassette, the motor is operated for rotating the capstan for a predetermined time.

The present invention relates to a cassette deck provided in a car stereo, and more particularly to a cassette deck where a tape in the cassette is prevented from becoming entangled.
The cassette deck mounted in an automobile must be designed with regard to specific environmental conditions such as humidity, vibration and dust and to operability of the deck.
Referring to FIG. 7, in a cassette 1, a tape 2 wound on a hub is guided by a guide pin 3a and a guide roller 4a and extends across a pressure pad 8. The tape 1 is further guided by a guide roller 4b and a guide pin 3b and wound on a take-up hub. The cassette 1 is inserted in a cassette deck in a direction shown by an arrow c, so that the tape 2 is set between a pinch roller 6b and a capstan 5a and between a pinch roller 6b and a capstan 5b of the cassette deck. For playing the cassette 1, a head 7 of the cassette deck is moved in a direction a so as to abut the tape 2 against the pressure pad 8. When thus playing the tape 2, or when reeling the tape 2 in a direction shown by an arrow in FIG. 7, the pinch roller 6b is moved toward the capstan 5b to hold the tape therebetween. The tape is driven while thus in contact with the pinch roller 6b and the capstan 5b both of which rotate with the running of the tape 2. When the tape 2 is rewound, that is, reeled in the opposite direction, the tape 2 is held by the pinch roller 6a and the capstan 5a.
In order to retrieve the cassette 1, the head 7 is retracted in a direction b and the cassette is ejected in a direction d.
Some of the cassette decks are provided with a cassette deck detecting switch which is closed upon insertion of the cassette. Thus the cassette deck is operated to play the cassette as soon as the cassette is set.
While the cassette is played, the driver of the automobile may turn on other devices such as a CD player without first taking out the cassette, or the ignition switch is turned off thereby cutting off the power from the battery to the cassette deck. As a result, the cassette is left inserted in the deck.
As shown in FIG. 8, a part of the tape 2 is held between the pinch roller 6b and the capstan 5b, or between the pinch roller 6a and the capstan 5a as the case may be. If the cassette is kept in the cassette deck for too long in such a condition, the tape 2 may adhere on the contacting surface of the pinch roller 6b. Consequently, when the cassette 1 is driven the next time, the tape 2 may be wound on the pinch roller 6b, unabled to be reeled. The tape 2 may otherwise be torn. Moreover, the pinch roller 6b may be deformed by the pressure of the capstan 5b, so that wow and flutter occur until the roller 6b retrieves its normal shape.
In order to prevent such troubles, a key-off release mechanism for retracting the pinch roller to its initial position is provided in some types of the cassette deck, hence preventing the tape from being stuck. However the manufacturing cost of the cassette deck is high.


A system monitored operations test area utilizes a central feed spur to deliver assembled products to parallel rows of test stations on each of its sides. A pivotal, sliding lift gate is mounted to each side of the central spur and is movable between vertical and horizontal positions. The gate can be moved along the length of the spur as needed. When the lift gate is in place, the operator can slide a unit into a desired test slot across the horizontally disposed gate which spans the distance between the spur and the selected test station.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the presentation of parts and packaging materials to a manufacturing line, and the packaging process on a manufacturing line. More specifically, it addresses how to present parts to support a highly flexible process with minimal impact from job change-over, and how to present materials to maintain efficiency; and utilize material handling equipment to improve the ergonomics of the process.
2. Background Art
In a high tech electronics manufacturing process that has many different components in each model, the parts for the product currently being built must be readily accessible during the assembly process. These parts are often purchased from many different vendors and typically arrive in bulk (pallets of boxes with multiple parts per box). They are seldom made in the same facility that assembles the final product. If they are produced at the same facility, it is typically in a different area. For an assembly process, the majority of the manufacturing setup time for a batch consists of making sure the required components are accessible to the assembler. In a manufacturing cell environment where operations have been streamlined, it is critical that setup times are reduced.
There are various ways to present these parts to the assembly operator to maximize efficiency depending on the business strategy. If the strategy is based on large orders of a specific model (i.e. build to plan, build to order for a dealer), the entire box of each part is often presented directly to the assembler using flow-racks or other material handling aids. If the strategy is oriented towards small orders (i.e. build to order for specific customers), a conventional kitting process may be implemented so a single set of parts or "squared" sets of parts for the job size are presented.
Conventional methods typically work well for one strategy or the other, but not both. The bulk presentation approach has a much longer setup time. If the bulk approach is used, some subset of the parts (if not all) have to be changed before the next product can be built, increasing the setup time. For large batches, the impact is minimized as it is spread across a large quantity of units. For small to medium batches, however, the impact is much greater as there are fewer units. One potential way to reduce the setup time is to present more parts than required for the current product. There are negative aspects to this approach as it lengthens operation time by increasing distances of parts from the assembler, it requires more space, and it increases the risk that the wrong part will be installed. An additional problem is that the level of Work In Process (WIP) inventory is higher due to the extra parts. For these reasons, only the parts for the current products are usually presented to the assembler.
A typical kitting process is based on keeping all the parts in a separate area from the assembly process. Either a single set of parts are kitted into some type of tote and then delivered to the assembler, or a squared set of parts (ie: for a batch of 10 units, 10 of each component) are presented to the assembler. These parts are often handled manually, including walking the tote through the parts storage area to get the specific components required. This setup time can be done while the manufacturing area is still working on the previous batch so it does not necessarily increase manufacturing cycle time. This process does drive increased workload as the parts must be handled separately. If this process is used for large batches, the additional workload from the walking required offsets the setup time reduction (it would be less workload to move a whole box of parts).
To utilize both processes at one company can result in a loss of efficiency in parts management. This is a result of some parts being moved and tracked at the pallet or box quantity, and others being handled and tracked in units of one. The parts management aspect is critical as it drives the frequency and quantity of orders from parts vendors. Inventory records must be accurate, so the data entry mechanism must accept single transactions or group transactions easily. The level of inventory in parts inventory (PI) and work in process (WIP) also drives incremental costs to the business and must be minimized when possible. If box quantities and units of one must both be available, this can drive inventory levels higher which is counter productive. What is needed is a process that is efficient for both parts management and parts presentation of both large jobs and small jobs.
After assembly, the packaging process typically requires materials that take significant space, including boxes and cushions. In the case of computer packaging, shipgroup items such as the keyboard, mouse, and publications are also required. Once the unit is packed and the box is labeled with the serial number of the unit inside; it is palletized with other units of the same product type, stretchwrapped, and sent to distribution. Packaging is one of the most physically demanding operations, and units typically weigh more than the OSHA limit for one person to handle.
In a manufacturing facility that uses manufacturing lines with dedicated pack areas, pack materials for all units built on the line must be kept nearby. If the strategy is based on large orders of a specific model, the materials for the current product can be presented using material handling solutions such as boxmakers, and box conveyors for delivery to the pack stations. This approach usually requires a change-over each time the product type changes. If the strategy is oriented towards small orders, the units may be moved to areas with materials for those products available.
Conventional methods typically work well for one strategy or the other, but not both. The material handling approach has a much longer setup time. This approach does address ergonomic concerns by the implementation of hoists, box delivery conveyor, and other pack aids. If this approach is used, some subset of the materials (if not all) have to be changed before the next product can be built, increasing the setup time. For large batches, the impact is minimized as it is spread across a large quantity of units. For small to medium batches, however, the impact is much greater as there are fewer units. Due to the bulky size of the materials, it is not feasible to present too many different products at one time without decreasing operator efficiency.
If the different pack materials are kept in separate areas and the unit is moved manually to the area with the proper materials, workload and space requirements are increased. The key activities in a manual process that drive the workload increase include making the boxes by hand, moving the unit manually to the pack area, and moving the packed unit to a sortation area. If this process is used for a large batches, the additional workload offsets the setup time reduction.
To utilize both processes at one company can result in increased space requirements and increased complexity for management. Staffing cannot be shared between the two separate areas without potential capacity impacts on one line or the other. Due to the physical separation of the pack areas, cost is also increased as hoists and other material handling aids cannot be shared. What is needed is a process that is efficient for presentation of packaging materials and also addresses ergonomic concerns, regardless of job size.

Transportation apparatus for system monitored operations testing

International Business Machine Corporation


Telerobotic control apparatus for aligning the movable end of a motorized passenger loading bridge to the door in a vehicle enabling the loading and unloading of passengers and freight. The apparatus includes an improvement display and control system. The apparatus includes: sensors, a display, a set of operator command input devices, and a computer to implement the whole system. The display includes video from a camera, a graphic representation of the relative position of the passenger loading bridge, and text and graphic information on the system status. The control system accepts commands from the operator in the operators frame of reference and converts them to the passenger loading bridge's frame of reference for moving the passenger loading bridge.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed apparatus pertains to the art of motorized passenger loading bridges and particularly to the apparatus used to control the alignment of these passenger loading bridges to the doors of the vehicle or vessel with which the passenger loading bridge is mating. The disclosed apparatus in particular refers to the control system for computer-aided/manual, tele-robotic, and automatic operations. Passenger loading bridges include, but are not limited to, airbridges and ship's covered gangplanks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Passenger loading bridges are used to convey people between vehicles such as airplanes and ships and buildings such as airport or ship terminals. They are well described in U.S. Pat. Nos. such as Nos.: 2,700,164, 2,875,457, 3,038,185, 3,046,908, 3,060,471, 3,310,823, 3,315,291, 3,404,417, 3,683,440, 3,913,757, and 4,852,197 among others. Airbridges are used at most airports.
The operator consoles used on existing passenger loading bridges vary greatly from each other. Each manufacture has one or more console layouts for each airline and each model or variation of their passenger loading bridge. The actual operation of current passenger loading bridges has been inefficient resulting in costs to the airlines from docking delays and accidents. Also, training costs have been too high because of the variety and complexity in operator consoles and high staff turnover. Passenger loading bridges as typified by airbridges are currently operated by personnel of varying training and experience. This results in potential danger to both the airplane and airbridge. This is compounded by the situation wherein the sensors and displays currently used in airbridges are inherently unacceptably unreliable.
"Tele-robotics" refers to the engineering field of remote control with emphasis on the operator feeling as if they are in the location of the equipment being controlled via feedback such as video cameras and sensors, and being able to project their "presence" and control to that location. This has particular impact in that the operator can perform the same function whether using a control console actually located at the end of a passenger loading bridge or at any arbitrary distance away. Tele-robotics is actually a hybrid of "unadulterated" remote control and full automation. Specifically, the operator operates the system as if it were in manual, i.e. hardwired, but instead the computer interprets the commands and then modifies them greatly, slightly, or not at all based upon sensor data, the situation, and control algorithms.
Control systems for passenger loading bridges have been patented both by themselves, and more often, in the case of some of the simpler systems, within a general passenger loading bridge patent. These patents include U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,688,761, 3,03,185, 3,046,908, 3,060,471, 3,310,823, 3,317,942, 3,369,264, 3,538,528, 3,543,318, 3,561,030, 3,599,262, 3,665,536, 3,683,440, 3,808,626, 3,827,590, 3,913,757, 4,333,194, 4,318,197, 4,318,198, 4,344,200, and 4,860,975. Most of these patents only cover simple wiring. The relevant patents are discussed in detail:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,197 "Conveyance Loader Drive and Steering System". From an engineering standpoint, this is a good mechanism with a poor user interface. It does not account for the fact that the user located in a rotatable vestibule, and as such, is orientated at a random position relative to the cabin and hence wheel carriage below the cabin. This is a situation which occurs most of the time with most of the passenger loading bridges. This patent mentions most practical variations except computer. It does not have sensors for measuring rotation of the wheel carriage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,440, "Automatic Terminal Bridge Control System", mentions people and vehicles on the ground whose safety must be insured, however, it does nothing to facilitate this. To remedy this, the newly disclosed apparatus provides a camera and optional sensors to watch the area around the wheel carriage. Unlike the system shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,440, which requires reflective tape, the newly disclosed apparatus shows in the fully automatic mode how the system can also automate the process but will not require any modification to the target vehicle. Airlines, for example, do not like to put on reflective tape, bar code, or other alignment/ranging markings on their airplanes. Prior art shows that inventors like to use such markings. This non-obvious approach satisfies the user's requirements without the shortfalls of previous inventions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,757, "Control System for Load Carrier and Associated Transfer Apparatus", covers maintaining the axes of the freight (un)loading bridge relative to an airplane. It does not cover how the bridge was brought into position which is what the newly disclosed patent covers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,975, "Smart Tunnel-- Docking Mechanism", is overly smart. It uses a computer where a human operator would be more efficient. The result is a system which requires too much instrumentation, has too little flexibility, is very susceptible to failure, and undoubtedly will be very expensive to implement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,198, "Conveyance Loader Wheel Position Indicator", appears to show wheel angle relative to tunnel rather than relative to the operator. Thus the joystick does not necessarily command the air bridge to move in the desired direction due to the frame of reference and the interaction between the wheel carriage motion and the length of the tunnel pinned at the terminal.
Most indicators in current use in airbridges are analog displays which are inherently unreliable due to voltage and calibration drift. Also an analog sensor is unsuitable for use with passenger loading bridges which have wheel carriages having a range of motion approaching or exceeding 360.degree.. This is because, of the discontinuity between 360.degree. and zero.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,538, "Telerobotic Tracker", is a classic telerobotic implementation. It differs from ours in the two critical areas that we are trying to patent: how our system displays, and how our system controls the passenger loading bridge. Yuan's system is concerned only with how to cancel out relative motion of a known target relative to the telerobot. Our system works for any target, and assumes a motionless target. Yuan's system requires a frame grabber while ours does not.

Tele-robotic passenger loading bridge control system


The present invention is directed toward a two-step process for the removal and recovery of chromium from a feed solution, such as waste water, using supported liquid membranes (SLMs). In the first step of the process, the feed solution, which contains hexavalent chromium, is treated with a first strip solution to produce a moderately concentrated Cr(VI) solution. In the second step, the moderately concentrated Cr(VI) solution is treated with a second strip solution. The process advantageously produces a treated feed solution having a decreased concentration of chromium which is acceptable for discharge or recycle and a product solution which contains a highly concentrated Cr(VI) solution having little or no sulfate contaminants.

Liquid membranes combine extraction and stripping, which are normally carried out in two separate steps in conventional processes such as solvent extractions, into one step. A one-step liquid membrane process provides the maximum driving force for the separation of a targeted species, leading to the best clean-up and recovery of the species (W. S. Winston Ho and Kamalesh K. Sirkar, eds., Membrane Handbook, Chapman & Hall, New York, 1992).
There are two types of liquid membranes: (1) supported liquid membranes (SLMs) and (2) emulsion liquid membranes (ELMs). In SLMs, the liquid membrane phase is the organic liquid imbedded in pores of a microporous support, e.g., microporous polypropylene hollow fibers (W. S. Winston Ho and Kamalesh K. Sirkar, eds., Membrane Handbook, Chapman & Hall, New York, 1992). When the organic liquid contacts the microporous support, it readily wets the pores of the support, and the SLM is formed. ELMs are usually prepared by first forming an emulsion between two immiscible phases, and then dispersing the emulsion in a third (continuous) phase by agitation for extraction. The membrane phase is the liquid phase that separates the encapsulated, internal droplets in the emulsion from the external, continuous phase (W. S. Winston Ho and Kamalesh K. Sirkar, eds., Membrane Handbook, Chapman & Hall, New York, 1992).
The use of liquid membranes to remove chromium from wastewaters has long been pursued by the scientific and industrial community (W. S. Winston Ho and Kamalesh K. Sirkar, eds., Membrane Handbook, Chapman & Hall, New York, 1992; J. W. Frankenfeld and N. N. Li in N. N. Li, ed., Recent Developments in Separation Science, pp. 285-292, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., 1977; E. J. Fuller and N. N. Li, J. Membrane Sci., 18, 251 (1984); A. I. Alonso and C. C. Pantelides, J. Membrane Sci., 110, 151 (1996)). Nonetheless, there remains a need for a process that not only can remove chromium but also can recover it.
The chromium recovered in high concentration is desirable for reuse or resale. For example, a highly concentrated chromium solution containing at least 15 wt. % hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), e.g., 46.7 wt. % Na.sub.2 CrO.sub.4, and less than 10 wt. % Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4 is a useful form of a product for reuse or resale.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel supported liquid membrane process that not only removes chromium to an acceptable level in the treated water suitable for discharge or recycle but also recovers the chromium in a usable form for reuse or resale. This process not only solves the environmental problem but also recovers the chromium.

Supported liquid membrane process for chromium removal and recovery


Described herein are molding compositions of blends of a polyarylate derived from a dihydric phenol and an aromatic dicarboxylic acid, and a polyetherimide. These blends can additionally contain thermoplastic polymers which are compatible with the blend of polyarylate and polyetherimide.

This invention is directed to molding compositions comprising blends of a polyarylate derived from a dihydric phenol and a dicarboxylic acid, and a polyetherimide. The compositions can also contain thermoplastic polymers compatible with the blends of polyarylate and polyetherimide.
Polyarylates are aromatic polyesters derived from a dihydric phenol, particularly 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane (also identified as Bisphenol-A) and an aromatic dicarboxylic acid, particularly mixtures of terephthalic and isophthalic acids.
Polyarylates are high temperature, high performance thermoplastic polymers with a good combination of thermal and mechanical properties. They have a high continuous use temperature of about 130.degree. C., and good unnotched toughness, with a pendulum impact value of greater than 300 ft. lbs./in..sup.3. Additionally, polyarylates have inherent flammability and combustion resistance as well as good weather-ability. The polyarylates have good melt stability at high temperatures and good color retention. They also have good processability which allows them to be molded into a variety of articles.
However, when polyarylates are placed in a solvent environment they readily stress crack so that stress crack resistance of polyarylates is not as high as those of crystalline thermoplastic polymers.
Thus, it is desirable to increase the environmental stress crack resistance of polyarylates to make them more acceptable for use in a solvent environment without essentially effecting the other mechanical properties of the polyarylates.
It has now been unexpectedly found that the addition of a polyetherimide to a polyarylate yields compositions which have significantly improved environmental stress crack resistance. Also, the compositions containing polyetherimide and polyarylate have excellent mechanical compatibility over the entire range and have excellent mechanical properties. Further, addition of the polyarylate to the polyetherimide results in improved impact strength of the polyetherimide.
Additionally, it has been found that when a thermoplastic polymer which is compatible with the blend of polyarylate and polyetherimide is added to said blend, the resulting blends possess an acceptable balance of mechanical properties.


A lock nut to be threaded onto a threaded shank which has a keyway. The lock nut has a base, a key on the base to fit in the keyway, a peripheral wall with axial angularity spaced apart recesses, and a wave spring. The wave spring has ridges and radial tabs to fit in the recesses. An internally threaded nut has radially-extending grooves complementary to the ridges to hold the nut against rotation relative to the wave spring when the ridges fit in the grooves. The tabs can be contacted by a drive member to compress the wave spring and remove the ridges from the grooves to enable the nut to turn during installation and removal.

There are many applications where it is desired to tighten a nut to a given torque which will retain the torqued condition, without requiring the use of separate means such as cotter pins, or distortion of parts of the assembled joints.
A well-known application is in place of the conventional wheel bearing nut, in which one race of a wheel bearing is held to a spindle by a nut tightened to a predetermined torque. When the nut is appropriately tightened, it is backed off so one of its castellations is aligned with a cotter pin passage. A cotter pin is then passed through and its ends sent to hold the nut in a position which makes a near approximation to a desired torqued setting. Thereafter to remove the nut, the cotter pin is cut. Replacement involves a repetition of the first procedure.
The disadvantages of this arrangement have not gone unnoticed, and wheel bearing nuts have been devised which are self-locking in the sense, that the locking feature can be disabled by an installation tool while the nut is being tightened or released. Well-known examples are shown in Greenwood U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,609 and Wing et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,690. It is an object of this invention to improve on wheel bearing nuts of this general class.
Such nuts require the exertion of an axial force on some part of the nut assembly while exerting a tightening torque. This feature is utilized in the instant invention, also.
An examination of prior lock nuts of this class reveals that, even though some have been very successful, they require more parts than one would wish to use. Nuts of this type are used in the millions each year, and the elimination of a part can constitute a remarkable cost saving. The construction of this invention requires only three parts, all of which can be made with classic inexpensive procedures. For example, the more complicated parts can be made with powdered metal technology, thereby drastically reducing the cost of the nut.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a self-locking lock nut which utilizes only the absolutely minimum number of parts (three), whose parts are very economical to manufacture and assemble, which is convenient to install and remove, and which is highly reliable as it must be for a part as critical as a wheel bearing nut.


A base station (5) comprises a base transmitter (6) for transmitting information optically to a plurality of portable stations (1 to 4) at such a predetermined time interval as is designated by portable station designating information. Each of the portable stations (1 to 4) comprises a potable transmitter (7) for transmitting information optically to the base station (5) in response to the transmission, which is designated by the portable station designating information coming from said base station (5), and within the range of the aforementioned time interval immediately after said transmission. Transmissions (ACK1 to ACK4) from the mating portable stations to the base station are individually inserted between the interval periods of the transmissions (REQ1 to REQ4) from the base station (5) to the portable stations (1 to 4) so that the single base station performs optical communications with the plurality of portable stations in a half-duplex time sharing manner.

The present invention relates to a technology for transmitting/processing radio information between a control terminal of a game machine body or a personal computer and a single or a plurality of operation terminals of the game machine or a controlled terminal of a peripheral device or the like of a computer system and, more particularly, to a technology which is effective if applied for transmitting/receiving data between the control terminal and the controlled terminal by optical communications.
Systems for the optical communications are well known in Japanese Patent Laid-Opens Nos. 147846/1987 and 137836/1992. In these Patent Laid-Opens, there are disclosed the optical communication systems, in which a plurality of portable stations individually transmit data to a base station at a predetermined time interval after the base station have transmitted data all at once to the portable stations.
On the other hand, the data transmissions between the body of a computer device such as a personal computer (PC) and a peripheral device connected for operations with the computer device body, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a digitizer, a printer, a scanner or an HDD are realized by cable wirings. Moreover, the data transmissions between a plurality of FA machines are realized by the cable wirings. Still moreover, the data transmissions between the body of an electric game machine and an operation terminal are realized by the cable wirings. The data are transmitted between those devices by one- or two-way communications.


A wire bonding external appearance inspecting apparatus for inspecting wires bonded to a semiconductor chip and the vicinity thereof, comprises a plurality of illuminating units of different illumination directions, for illuminating the semiconductor chip and the vicinity thereof, and a controller for selecting and operating any one of the plural illuminating units according to the inspection places thereof. Since an optimum illumination can be obtained according to inspection items, a camera can take plural different images according to objects to be inspected, so that the inspection reliability can be improved.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting the external appearance of wire bonding between a semiconductor chip and leads.
After wire bonding between a semiconductor chip and leads has been completed, it is necessary to inspect whether wires are bonded at their correct positions, in straight lines without being curved, not disconnected, etc. These external appearance inspections can be carried out by automatically processing an image obtained by a camera.
During inspection, it is necessary to illuminate the semiconductor chip, wires, and leads to be inspected. In the prior-art inspection, these objects to be inspected have been illuminated as shown in FIG. 4. In the drawing, a bed 13 of a lead frame 18 is supported by tie bars 15, and semiconductor chips 11 are mounted on this bed 13. Wires 17 are connected between electrodes 11a of the semiconductor chip 11 and leads 14 arranged near the bed 13 as shown.
These objects to be inspected are imaged by a camera 21 disposed thereover under illumination of a downward illuminating means 2 disposed in the vicinity of the camera 21 for illuminating the objects from above.
In the prior-art apparatus, however, since only a single illuminating means is provided, the illumination direction is limited to one direction, thus causing a problem in that the illumination intensity is not sufficient, for each of the items to be inspected and therefore the inspection reliability is inevitably degraded. In more detail, there are some inspection items such as the detection of the position of a reference mark 12 representative of a reference position used to determine the coordinates of the semiconductor chip 11, the detection of the position of another reference mark 16 representative of a reference position of a lead frame 18, the inspection of shapes of the leads 14, the inspection of shapes of the bonded wires 17, etc.
In each of these inspections, the optimum illumination direction differs. For instance, when the position of the reference mark 12 is required to be detected, it is preferable to illuminate the semiconductor chip 11 from above. When inspecting other items, however, this illumination direction is not preferable and therefore a satisfactory image cannot be obtained. Where a high quality image cannot be obtained by the camera 21 for inspection purposes, there exists a problem in that the inspection reliability is degraded and therefore a sufficient guarantee for the product quality cannot be achieved. In addition, where the inspection is made on the basis of a dissatisfactory image, there exists a problem in that a long image processing time is required, thus increasing the inspection cost.

Wire bonding external appearance inspecting apparatus


A transimpedance circuit (201), and method therefor, frequency compensates an operational amplifier. The transimpedance circuit (201) has an input terminal (205) coupled to receive an amplified signal (205) and an ouput terminal (206) operative to produce a buffered amplified signal. The input terminal (205) of the transimpedance circuit (201) presents a resistive input impedance to the amplified signal at a frequency substantially near an open loop unity gain frequency of the operational amplifier (200). The amplified signal is buffered from a complex impedance of an input terminal (206) of an output driver (103). The present invention advantageously provides wide bandwidth and stable operation with loads having low complex impedance.

FIG. 1 illustrates, by example, a block diagram of a conventional operational amplifier 100 (hereinafter referred to as "amplifier") and a load 110. The amplifier 100 is a basic analog building block for may types of analog signal processing applications. These applications may include active filtering, signal amplification, and voltage regulation to name a few.
The amplifier 100 of FIG. 1 generally includes a transconductance stage 101, a compensation network 102 and an output driver 103. FIG. 1 also illustrates an output load 110.
The interconnection of the blocks of the amplifier 100 and operation thereof is described as follows. The transconductance stage 101 is coupled to receive input signal 105 and input signal 106 and operative to produce an amplified signal at line 107. The compensation network 102 is operative to frequency compensate the amplified signal at line 107. The compensation network 102 may optionally be coupled to receive an output signal at line 109. The output driver 103 is coupled to receive amplified signal 107 and operative to produce output signal 108 to drive the output load 110.
The operation of the amplifier 100 is described as follows. A differential input signal between input 105 and input 106 is amplified in transconductance stage 101 and converted to a current signal at line 107. The compensation network 102 provides frequency compensation of the amplified current at line 107 by converting the current signal to a voltage signal by way of the impedance it provides at line 107. The output driver 103 provides voltage and/or current gain to the amplified signal at line 107 and produces the output signal 108 which appears across the load 110. The load 110 may have a complex as well as a real impedance associated with it.
Amplifiers may be configured as open or closed loops. Amplifiers have gain defined by the relationship between the amplifier's input and output. The gain has frequency dependent amplitude and phase. In order for the amplifier to be unconditionally stable in a closed loop configuration, the amplitude of the open loop gain versus frequency must drop below unity before the open loop phase exceeds 180 degrees. Phase margin is defined as 180 degrees minus the open loop phase at the frequency at which the amplitude of the open loop gain drops below unity. A phase margin of 45 degrees is usually considered adequate. It is often desirable for the phase margin to be at least 45 degrees over a wide range of load impedance's.
A problem with the conventional amplifier 100 is that the output driver 103 may be a physically large device with associated large input capacitance. The large input capacitance appears in parallel with the compensation network 102 and can severely alter its desired frequency compensation characteristic.
Another problem with the conventional amplifier 100 is that in some applications, such as voltage regulators, the complex impedance associated with the output load may be significant. This complex impedance may add additional phase shift to the open loop gain and degrade the phase margin of the amplifier. If the performance of the compensation network 102 is severely altered by the output driver's input capacitance, then the range of values for acceptable load impedances may have to be severely restricted in order to guarantee sufficient phase margin for stable operation.
A solution to these problems involves reducing the bandwidth of the amplifier by reducing its unity gain open loop frequency. However, a disadvantage of this solution is that the amplifier 100 can't amplify high frequency signals because of the reduced bandwidth. Further, reducing the bandwidth may require physically large components such as capacitors. Still further, the amplifier 100 is susceptible to high frequency noise on the power supply or ground to the amplifier.
Accordingly there is a need for an apparatus and method for frequency compensating an operational amplifier advantageously providing wider bandwidth and improved stability with complex low impedance loads.

Apparatus and method for frequency compensating an operational amplifier


A preferred method by which microorganisms and nutritive media are sprayed, brushed, dripped, or otherwise applied, onto freshly cut rock, stone, freshly formed concrete, or other hard manmade surface, in order for the target surface to take on a weathered appearance in the least amount of time. The present inventive product and process by product creates a process by which surface materials may be scraped or gathered from a nearby location, mixed with water and/or a nutritive media, and either further treated to promote additional growth of necessary microorganisms, or the directly applied to the surface of the freshly cut rock or stone, or freshly formed concrete or other hard, manmade surface thereby providing a weathered appearance in the shortest period of time. Newly built structures of rock, stone, concrete, or other hard surface are thus provided with an appearance which fits into mature and established areas.

Recently exposed stone faces, for example in quarry faces, road and rail cuttings, scree slopes, concrete structures and new building stone, can cause visual pollution given their stark contrast with more mature "weathered" surroundings. The problem of the visual impact of newly exposed stone has been recognized by several authorities, including the Department of the Environment, U.K., which has funded research into quarry restoration, and by the Design Council, U.K. and English Heritage, U.K. which has researched the problem on buildings.
In the past, the only solution to the problem of visual pollution was to allow time for the slow natural colonization of the surfaces by microorganisms, which brought about a color change to the stone, alleviating the negative visual impact. Expediting this provcess has at times been attempted on a small scale, by the addition in-situ to structure repairs of substances such as soot and manure. Some such methods are described in "Lichens on Man-Made Surfaces; Encouragement and Removal," F. Dobson, British Lichen Society, 1996. In quarries, the visual impact of the newly exposed faces has sometimes been addressed by burying the faces with scree. This method is described in "Landform Replication as a Technique for the Restoration of Limestone Quarries," J. Gunn et. al., 1992. H.M.S.O. In conjunction with this latter method, hydraulic seeding, which is a method of spraying grass seeds in a nutritive medium over near horizontal soil surfaces is sometimes used.
On a laboratory scale, micro organic communities are sometimes encouraged to grow on stone so that their impact on the stone surface can be studied for biological research purposes. Nutritive media are used to encourage this growth. Some of these media are given in "Handbook of Media for Environmental Microbiology", R. M. Atlas, 1995. However, these microorganisms are only grown on the stone surface for a relatively short period of time, and not long enough in order to effectuate a visual stone change and produce an aesthetically pleasing appearance to outdoor, weathered stone.
Allowing only natural-time colonization of the stone surfaces is extremely slow, and burying methods on a large scale are expensive. What is needed in the art is a method of speeding up the colonization of the newly exposed stone surfaces by the natural pioneering micro-organic community, using the acquisition of suitable pioneering communities and their application to the stone faces by a method which accelerates their colonization.

Process for changing the appearance of stone, concrete, or hard surfaces by applying microorganisms