An imaging apparatus includes: continuous imaging mode setting means for setting a continuous imaging mode in which a plurality of captured images including first and second captured images are continuously acquired; and diaphragm control means for controlling a diaphragm in an imaging optical system, wherein in the continuous imaging mode, the diaphragm control means does not drive the diaphragm during a first period from the time of exposure for the first captured image to the time of exposure for the second captured image but maintains the state of the diaphragm at the time of exposure for the first captured image until the time of exposure for the second captured image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, such as a digital camera, and a technology related thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an imaging apparatus, photometry using a photometric sensor and distance measurement using a phase difference-based AF sensor are carried out with, in general, a diaphragm in an imaging lens fully open. An AF lens is then driven based on the result of the distance measurement (measured distance) to carry out automatic focusing (AF). When a release button is fully pressed to issue an imaging instruction, the diaphragm (when described in detail, diaphragm blades) is driven from its fully open state to a state corresponding to a diaphragm aperture for imaging, and automatic exposure (AE) is carried out. The diaphragm aperture for imaging is determined based on the result of the photometry (measured photometric value). A shutter is then fully opened for a predetermined exposure period, and an image of a subject is captured. Thereafter, the diaphragm temporarily returns to its open fully state to carry out the distance measurement and photometry for the next image to be captured. The series of operations described above is repeated to acquire a plurality of captured images successively.
The same operations are carried out in continuous imaging as well. For example, after a first captured image is acquired, the diaphragm (when described in detail, diaphragm blades) temporarily returns from the state for imaging (the state corresponding to a diaphragm aperture for imaging) to the fully open state, and the distance measurement and photometry are carried out for the next captured image acquisition. The diaphragm is then transits again from the fully open state to the imaging state, and a second captured image is acquired. Continuous imaging is carried out by repeating the series of operations described above.
In the procedure described above, the imaging intervals between a plurality of captured images acquired in the continuous imaging are preferably small. That is, the continuous imaging speed is preferably fast.
JP-A-2006-215399, for example, describes a technique for improving the continuous imaging speed.
According to the technique described in JP-A-2006-215399, the period necessary to open or close a diaphragm can be shortened by adjusting the timing at which the diaphragm driving operation is initiated. Specifically, JP-A-2006-215399 describes a technique for reducing a period corresponding to a driving period for an entrance zone in a diaphragm mechanism and an initial current conduction period.


The present invention relates to a method for configuring a policy management protocol for a web crawler, the method further comprising the steps of determining a web space that is to be crawled by a web crawler, wherein the web space is comprised of an IP address and/or a range of IP addresses, and determining additional hostnames that are associated with the IP address and/range of IP addresses. The method further comprises the steps of configuring the web crawler to crawl the IP address and/range of IP addresses, and determine additional hostnames that are associated with the IP address or range of IP addresses, and performing a web crawling function upon the determined additional hostnames by the web crawler.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methodologies for distributed web crawling and, more particularly, to a web crawling system that uses IP address and IP address range to assist in the efficient downloading of websites that belong to an IP address and/or IP address range.
2. Description of Background
A crawler or a robot, is defined as a software component that continuously visits websites on the Internet, or an Intranet, and downloads web pages from the websites and stores them in a local repository for further analysis and data mining. There are many types of crawlers, wherein each category of crawler can be configured to carry out specific functions. For example, there are focused or topical crawlers, this category of crawler limit their crawling to sites belonging to specific taxonomies, or geological regions. The crawlers are configured with such limitations in order to ensure that the sites being crawled are relevant to an overall goal of the system. Focus and topical crawling is typically implemented by specifying a web space that is to be crawled. A web space is determined according to utilization need, and comprises a set of allow and forbid rules, the rules being used to control the set of sites and directories that a focus crawler is allowed to visit. Configuring the web space for a focus crawler is very critical, as these rules are used to ensure that the focus crawler crawls all the pages that have been determined to be of interest.
The continual growth of the sites on the Internet leads to an increasing amount of challenges when defining the web space for a focus crawler. Therefore, there exists a need for a methodology to improve the efficiency in determining a web space, and further in implementing policies that are directed to configuring focus crawlers to crawl the defined web spaces.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for crawl policy management utilizing IP address and IP address range

International Business Machines Corporation


A method includes configuring one or more network nodes in a radio access network using information to be used by the one or more network nodes to determine whether an event detected by the one or more network nodes and associated with the radio access network should be reported. Another method includes configuring a network node in a radio access network using information to be used by the network node to determine whether an event detected by the network node and associated with the radio access network should be reported. Responsive to the configuring, the network node may or may not report the event. Apparatus, computer programs, computer program products, and communication systems are also disclosed.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention disclosed below. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise explicitly indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In a Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) deployment scenario, the number of network nodes is expected to be significantly larger than in a traditional network. A HetNet is a network comprising radio access nodes of varying sizes. Such nodes typically include "small" base stations serving "smaller" cells such as femto and micro cells and "large" base stations serving "larger", macro cells. The smaller and larger cells overlap, and typically there are multiple smaller cells for every larger cell. In a HetNet scenario, a large number of small(er) network nodes (for example, an eNodeB) are deployed with high density in order to either improve the coverage or improve the capacity or both.
With the high density of deployment in a HetNet, certain fault events (such as power outage, backhaul failure, interference, thermal events, and the like) may affect a large number of nodes, resulting in flood of alarms. Thus, the increased number of nodes in a HetNet as compared to traditional macro cells will result in significant increase of management traffic, resulting in increased costs (capital expenditures, CAPEX, and operational expenditures, OPEX) to the network operator.

Fault management traffic reduction in heterogeneous networks


A non-transitory storage medium stores instructions executable by a processor of a communication apparatus configured to communicate with a function executing device. The communication apparatus includes a communication device and a display. When executed by the processor, the instructions cause the communication apparatus to execute: a display processing for controlling the display to display an information display screen containing a first input region for input of authentication information; and a transmission processing in which the communication apparatus transmits one set of the authentication information input to the first input region, to function executing devices each as the function executing device, and when each of the function executing devices has succeeded in authentication of the authentication information, each of the function executing devices executes a function instructed by the communication apparatus.

The following disclosure relates to a technique of transmitting a password to a communicable function executing device.
There is known an information processing device connected to a plurality of printers over a network and including a designating portion for designating a group. The information processing device displays a list of icons indicating printers classified in the group designated by the designating portion.
In this conventional information processing device, one of icons displayed in list form can be selected.

Non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable by communication apparatus, the communication apparatus, and display method


A temperature sensor array includes several temperature sensors at different positions for installation within an instrumentation tube of a nuclear reactor. The temperature sensors measure temperature at multiple axial positions of the nuclear reactor, and plant operators are able to access and interpret this measurement data. Temperatures associated with vessel coolant boiling or loss and/or fuel damage can be detected by the temperature sensors to permit more direct determinations of core fluid levels. Multiple temperature sensor arrays permit vessel fluid levels and conditions to be measured at multiple core locations.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a conventional nuclear reactor pressure vessel 10 usable with example embodiments and example methods. Reactor pressure vessel 10 may be, for example, a 100+ MWe commercial light water nuclear reactor conventionally used for electricity generation throughout the world. Reactor pressure vessel 10 is conventionally contained within a containment structure 411 that serves to contain radioactivity. A building surrounding the reactor vessel 10, known as a primary containment 411 with drywell 20, serves to house equipment servicing the vessel such as pumps, drains, control rod drives etc.
As shown in FIG. 1 and as defined herein, at least one instrumentation tube 50 extends into the vessel 10 with core 15 containing nuclear fuel. As existing in conventional nuclear power reactors and as defined herein, instrumentation tubes are enclosed within vessel 10 and open outside of vessel 10, permitting spatial access to positions proximate to core 15 from outside vessel 10 while still being physically separated from innards of the reactor and core by instrumentation tube 50. Instrumentation tubes 50 may be generally cylindrical and widen with height of the vessel 10; however, other instrumentation tube geometries are commonly encountered in the industry.
Conventionally, instrumentation tubes 50 permit neutron detectors to be inserted therein through an opening at a lower end in the drywell 20. These detectors extend up through instrumentation tubes 50 to monitor neutron flux in the core 15 at a desired axial position. Examples of conventional monitor types include wide range detectors (WRNM), source range monitors (SRM), intermediate range monitors (IRM), and/or Local Power Range Monitors (LPRM). Additionally, in Pressurized Water Reactors, where vessel 10 is continuously filled with liquid water, a thermocouple monitor, called a Core Exit Thermocouple (CET) may be inserted into a top of instrumentation tube 50 to monitor outlet temperature of the liquid exiting the reactor for steam generators.
As shown in FIG. 1, vessel 10 may include a downcomer region 30 in an annular space separated from core 15 where fluid moderator and/or coolant may enter from a recirculation loop and flow down through downcomer region 30 to a bottom entry point into core 15. Conventionally, downcomer region 30 is outfitted with one or more liquid sensors that permit measurement of liquid presence at a particular level in downcomer region 30. By measuring a liquid level in downcomer region 30, plant operators may be able to approximate a corresponding fluid level in core 15 because core 15 and downcomer region 30 are in fluid connection. This measurement from liquid levels in downcomer region 30 may be used to appropriately operate reactor 10 and/or respond to transient situations where loss of fluid level in core 15 is a concern.

Methods and apparatuses for monitoring nuclear reactor core conditions


A non-blocking network switch arrangement of plural network switches provides a single, shared external memory for the network switches. Each network switch in the arrangement may write data frames to a respective predetermined portion of the external memory allocated to each switch. When accessing the external memory, each network switch may access any portion of the external memory to transfer data frames to other network stations. Thus, data frames are accessed by each switch in the arrangement directly from the single, shared external memory, thereby eliminating the potential for blocking due to transfer of data frames from the memory of one switch to the memory of another switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to networks and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of storing and controlling network traffic data in a switched network operating according to Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) protocol.
2. Background Art
Switched local area networks use network switches for supplying data frames between network stations or other network nodes, where each network node is connected to a network switch by a media. The switched local area network architecture uses a media access control (MAC) enabling a network interface within each network node and the network switch to access the media. Each network switch stores and forwards data frames received from a transmitter node to a destination node based on header information and the data in the received frames, including a source and destination address. Each network switch uses a respective external memory, such as an SSRAM, to temporarily store data frames as they are passed through the switch. In particular, each network switch stores and fetches data frames in the external memory via an external memory interface.
A difficulty in designing a network switch to be xe2x80x9cnon-blockingxe2x80x9d (i.e., preventing delay in transferring a data packet received at an input switch port), yet with finite memory bandwidth resources, is ensuring that all ports within each network switch have sufficient memory resources allocated from a respective external memory to prevent the delay of data transmission. An external memory interface of an SSRAM memory, for example, has a limited bandwidth based on the number of data bits on the external memory bus (e.g., 16-bit, 32-bit, etc.) and the data rate of the interface. Due to cost considerations, the external memory interface is normally sized to provide xe2x80x9cjust enoughxe2x80x9d bandwidth to serve the bandwidth requirements of the network switch ports, including a high bandwidth uplink port. However, if two or more network switches are connected together in a cascade arrangement through expansion ports requiring bandwidth to create a larger switch (e.g., a 24-port switch using two 12-port network switches), bandwidth allocated to the remaining network switch ports becomes reduced and possible blocking behavior may occur if the high bandwidth uplink is retained. A primary cause of this problem is the limited bandwidth of the external memory interface which must now service twice as many ports. Hence, expandability is difficult when connecting two or more switches together while also maintaining a xe2x80x9cnon-blockingxe2x80x9d arrangement, especially in network switches under heavy network traffic conditions.
There is a need for a non-blocking network switch arrangement that includes connecting two or more switches together without significantly increasing the size of each switch and extensively modifying the switch design. This and other needs are attained by the present invention, where two or more network switches are arranged to access a single external memory through their respective external memory interfaces, thereby eliminating the need to transfer data frames over the expansion ports of the network switches within the arrangement.
According to one aspect of the invention, a non-blocking network switch arrangement includes a plurality of network switches, with each of the plurality of network switches having a data port and an external data memory interface. The external data memory is accessible to all of the plurality of network switches through each network switch""s respective external memory interface. In addition, a data bus is connected to each network switch and is configured to exchange data frame pointers between the plurality of network switches.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of operating two or more network switches in a non-blocking manner with a shared external memory includes a first step of connecting each of the network switches to the external memory. Next, each respective network switch is apportioned a respective portion of the external memory. Data frames written from each network switch to the external memory are written from a particular network switch to its respective portion of the external memory. When data frames need to be transferred from the external memory to a port or ports within one or more of the switches, the data frames may be transferred from any portion of the external memory to any one or more of the network switches.
This and other needs are attained by the present invention, where two or more network switches are arranged to access a single external memory through their respective external memory interfaces, thereby eliminating the need to transfer data frames over the expansion ports of the network switches within the arrangement. Further, the exchange of frame pointers between network switches utilizing the expansion ports, affords two or more network switches the capability to access the shared external memory without significantly increasing the size of each switch and extensively modifying the switch design.
Additional advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Apparatus and method for sharing an external memory between multiple network switches


A facility for analyzing a web page is described. The facility receives the web page. For each link occurring in the web page, if the link points to a web site previously indicated by a user as being of interest, the facility modifies the web page to identify the link as pointing to a web site of interest.

As the body of information available via the World Wide Web ("the web") expands, typical computer users spend more time exploring and retrieving information available on the web. Information is typically accessed by visiting a web site, which is a group of web pages accessed via a common top level domain name. As part of this process, users form opinions of a large number of web sites. For example, a user visiting a merchant's web site might decide that the merchant offers a particularly generous return policy. As another example, a user visiting a health information web site might determine that the health information web site provides easily-understood articles on a variety of health issues. Because of the high rate at which users encounter web sites of interest, it is generally very difficult for users to remember these web sites and the URLs used to access them without some form of assistance.
To assist a user in remembering web sites of interest to the user, typical web browsers provide limited functionality to enable a user to capture information about the web sites that the user visited. Some browsers enable a user to create "bookmarks" for web sites that enable the user to quickly return to those web sites. Because creating and categorizing a usable bookmark typically requires a user to complete a number of steps, however, most users only create bookmarks for a small number of web sites that they have visited. Web sites that are typically bookmarked include those that the user visits repeatedly, often a small subset of the sites that may be of interest to a user. Other browsers maintain a history of all web pages or all web sites visited by a user. Because such a history lists all web pages or web sites the user visited, though, it does not enable the user to differentiate visited web sites that were of interest from visited web sites that were not of interest.
A general shortcoming of both bookmarks and history lists is that a user must remember that the user previously bookmarked or viewed a site, and must access the bookmark or history file in order to find the site again. Neither functionality operates in a manner in which the browser provides information to inform the user that they have previously viewed a particular site and found the particular site to be of interest. As a result, a user browsing the web who encounters a web site or a link to a web site that the user earlier visited and determined to be of interest would be unlikely to associate the link with the user's earlier interest in the web site. In this way, the user can lose valuable information that might have otherwise encouraged them to follow the link.
For the reasons outlined above, a system that assisted users in capturing and taking advantage of information about web sites of interest would have significant utility.

Automatically identifying links displayed by a browser that is being used by a user that point to pages of web sites selected as being of interest to the user


According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a carrier for transporting a bottle or bottles, is provided. The carrier includes a tote having a non-rigid front and rear panel secured to one another along a right side terminal edge, a left side terminal edge and a bottom terminal edge to thereby define a pocket having an open top. A contact line is provided between the right side terminal edge and the left side terminal edge to divide the pocket into a first and a second pocket. The bottom terminal edge is scalloped such that each of the first and second pockets is in operative association with a lobe of the scalloped bottom terminal edge, wherein the tote is fabricated from neoprene.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to portable bottle carriers and, more particularly, to tote bags suitable for carrying at least one bottle of wine.
2. Background of Related Art
Heretofore, when carrying wine bottles in a paper bag, sack or the like, the glass wine bottles, unless restrained or held separated in the bag, could jostle against each other with the result that one or more bottles may break. Even if the bag is carefully handled to prevent breakage of the bottles, the bottles still may strike against each other such that a ringing or other irritating sound is produced. Moreover, the relatively thin nature of the paper bag or sack renders the bottles contained therein vulnerable to breakage as the result of the paper bag or sack striking and/or banging against another object. In addition, paper bags or sacs are incapable of independently retaining the bottle therein, thereby resulting in bottles slipping out of or otherwise disassociating from the paper bag or sac upon transport thereof.
Conventional bags and/or sacs are incapable of regulating and/or maintaining the temperature of the bottle retained therein for an extended period of time. In addition, conventional bags and/or sacs are incapable of protecting and/or otherwise cushioning the bottle against impacts and the like.
A need therefore exists for a portable wine bottle carrier which reduces the tendency of breakage of the bottles being transported therein, which prevents the bottles from striking one another so as to eliminate any irritating sounds resulting therefrom, and/or which reduces the tendency for bottles to become disassociated therefrom. Such carrier desirably should be conveniently to table and desirably should be aesthetically pleasing in appearance.


A method comprises determining either the coefficient for the equation relating the injection timing distance of a bushing to the angle of rotation of a shaft of an engine, or the desired effective injection stroke reduction; and calculating at least one of the following: the modified injection timing distance by multiplying the desired angle of retardation of the injection timing by the coefficient and adding that product to the original injection timing distance of the bushing, and the modified injection duration distance by subtracting the desired effective injection stroke reduction from the original injection duration distance.

Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (hereinafter EMD) type unit injectors are injectors that feature mechanical unit injectors (as opposed to electronic control) and are widely used in the diesel engine industry, including the locomotive industry. However, with the increase of concern of harmful emissions from diesel engines and overall energy conservation, modifications to EMD-type unit injectors have become necessary so as to be more environmental friendly.
Although the prevalence of photochemical smog in metropolitan areas spurred the first public interest in reducing noxious emissions from exhaust emissions, reducing output of all types of harmful emissions, including carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrous oxides (NOx) has become one of the goals of the diesel engine industry. Through the years, the diesel engine industry has greatly reduced the smoke, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons emitted into the atmosphere. However, it is the nitrous oxides and particulate emissions that remain one of the plaguing problems for diesel engines.
In addition, there is a demand for improved fuel economy in order to reduce the costs of operating equipment and to also further reduce the emissions produced while running the equipment.
One method known in the art to reduce emissions is to retard or otherwise adjust the injection timing of a fuel injector so that the combustion in a diesel engine or the like is altered, producing less emissions.
More specifically, in order to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides emitted, the injector should create less heat in the combustion chamber. One method to create less heat, and thereby produce less nitrogen oxides, is by retarding the injection timing of the fuel injectors. By retarding the timing of diesel fuel injections, the combustion process occurs at a later time in the power stroke. By retarding the timing, the combustion temperature and pressure are lowered, thereby causing less nitrogen oxides to form. The amount of nitrogen oxide lessens with higher levels of retard.
A previous method for adjusting injection timing on EMD engines is to set the injector's port-closing position with reference to the engine cam position. With roots-blown engines this is done when the cylinder piston is two degrees before top dead center. For turbo-charged engines this is done when the cylinder piston is in its top dead center position. In both instances, the associated engine cam follower is still in following contact with the base circle of the associated engine cam, that is, there is maximum spring-driven retraction of the drive linkage that powers the injector pump plunger, but this retraction may vary somewhat from a desired norm due to variations in conditions encountered when installing or reinstalling the injector, or due to wear of elements of the drive linkage during use, thereby causing improper timing.
The drive linkage (which includes the associated engine cam, a rocker arm assembly, a socket pad on the head of the adjusting screw and a spring-loaded tappet or follower carried by the injector pad and slidably engaged by the pad) powers the injector pump to actuate the injector plunger as determined by the engine cam profile. One possible method for retarding timing is by adjusting the screw on the output end of the engine rocker arm. As the adjusting screw is turned, the free length of the adjusting screw below the output end of the rocker arm is changed and creates a new set screw set point. As a result, the drive linkage is either shortened or lengthened until there is a predetermined specified timing distance between the top face of the follower and a fixed surface, namely the top flat face of the injector body. The specified timing distance is the distance that is obtained when the port closure of the helix of the plunger is above the point at which it will close off its associated spill port in the plunger bushing to thereby initiate injection, which is known as its set point. The set point is usually listed on the engine manufacturer's data plate. If the set point listed on the data plate does not match with the set point for the now retarded injector, a new setting gauge and new engine marking must be provided.
In addition, the new timing distance specification or adjusting screw set point prescribed to retard injection timing may vary from engine model to engine model. This variation creates a potential for human error wherein a mechanic must use multiple gages to set multiple engines.
Consequently, various other ways of adjusting the injection timing of the injector have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,723 to Buescher discloses a plunger that has modified helices to retard the injection timing of the fuel injector. That is to say, the upper helix is machined so that its distance to the upper port of the bushing of the injector is increased, resulting in a delay of injection. However, this design has the drawback that it can be difficult and/or costly to machine complex geometry such as helical geometry on the plunger.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,766 to Lee et al. discloses modifying the effective length of the actual follower component in order to retard the injection timing. Typically, the effective length of the follower is decreased, requiring more time and distance for the plunger to initiate the injection phase. However, this also has the tendency to increase the injection volume of the injector, which may be undesirable for reasons set forth above.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop an apparatus and/or method to alter the injection timing of a fuel injector that is less costly and that may actually reduce the amount of fuel injected.

Method of retarding injection timing of a fuel injector


A particle formed of silica and carbon having a low impurity content and an excellent reactivity is provided. Also provided is a method of producing a silica and carbon-containing material including: (B) a carbon mixing step of mixing an aqueous alkali silicate solution having a silicon concentration within the liquid portion of at least 10 wt % with carbon so as to obtain a carbon-containing aqueous alkali silicate solution; and (C) a silica recovery step of mixing the carbon-containing aqueous alkali silicate solution with a mineral acid so as to cause carbon and silicon within the liquid portion to precipitate as particles formed of silica and carbon and thus obtaining a particle-containing liquid substance, then solid-liquid separating the liquid substance so as to obtain a solid portion of a silica and carbon-containing material which is an assembly of particles formed of silica and carbon and a liquid portion containing impurities.

The use of a silica (SiO2) and carbon (C)-containing material as starting material for silicon carbides or silicon is known.
An example of a known method for producing silicon carbide using a silica and carbon-containing material involves heating inexpensive silica and a carbonaceous material such as coke as the starting materials to 1500 to 1900° C. so as to induce a reducing reaction between the carbon and the silica and thereby produce silicon carbide of relatively high-purity (see Patent Document 1).
A method for producing a starting material for the production of high-purity silicon using a silica and carbon-containing material involves forming silicon monoxide gas and carbon monoxide gas by reacting a mixture of carbon and a material composed primarily of silicon dioxide at a temperature in the range of 1300 to 1800° C. and under a pressure of 5,000 Pa or lower at the surface of contact between both materials, cooling this gas and solidifying some of the silicon monoxide into a bulk form, then recovering the solidified silicon monoxide, and exhausting the rest of the silicon monoxide (see Patent Document 2). In cases where silicon is produced from silicon monoxide (SiO), the purity of the silicon obtained in the conventional art depends on the purity of the silicon monoxide serving as the starting material. With the method described in Patent Document 2, it is possible to obtain high-purity silicon monoxide that can be used as the starting material for silicon.

Particles formed of silica and carbon, and method for producing mixture of silica and carbon


Systems and methods for use in configuring a power amplifier system are provided. The method includes generating a phase error compensation signal using a phase error model configured to determine the phase error compensation signal based at least in part on an amplitude and a phase of an input signal for the power amplifier system. The phase error model is configured to estimate a time and frequency-dependent phase error in a power amplifier output signal associated with the amplitude and the phase of the input signal, and the phase error compensation signal is configured to at least partially correct the time and frequency-dependent phase error in the power amplifier output signal. The method further includes applying the phase error compensation signal to the input signal to generate a corrected input signal and providing the corrected input signal to the power amplifier system.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of power amplification. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for providing phase error correction for power amplifier systems.
Power amplifier systems may be used in a variety of electronic applications. For example, various systems of a vehicle (e.g., aircraft), communication device, computing device, and/or other devices may utilize power amplifier systems to increase the power of an input signal. In one exemplary application, a communication system and/or navigation system of an aircraft may utilize a power amplifier system to amplify a signal being transmitted by the aircraft.
Some types of power amplifier systems may experience a frequency-dependent phase error in the generated output signal. For example, a power amplifier system that includes multiple amplifier devices with outputs coupled by a combiner may have a phase error in the output due to a frequency-varying impedance from the combiner circuit presented at the output of each amplifier device. This phase error may result in the output signal interfering with adjacent frequency channels, which may be problematic in systems where adjacent channel interference is regulated. There is a need for a system that reduces the phase error present in some power amplifier systems. Further, there is a need for a system that reduces adjacent frequency channel interference present in some power amplifier systems.

Power amplifier calibration systems and methods


An improved equine training halter includes a noseband and a headband. Left and right through openings are formed in the headband and located to receive therethrough the left and right ears, respectively, of an equine. Left and right lines are attached to the headband adjacent to its lower surface. Each line includes a hoop positioned substantially concentrically about one of the left and right through openings. A recoil mechanism is anchored to the central headband portion between the left and right through openings and is secured to the hoops of the left and right lines such that the hoops are pulled back to their original position when the lines are released after being pulled to apply pressure to areas of sensitivity around the equine's ears.

Many different types of halters have been used to control and direct the behavior of equines such as horses. Some halters use a bit positioned across the back of the equine's mouth to apply behavior-inducing pressure to the mouth of the equine. The mouth is one of the most sensitive areas of the equine's head, and halters with bits take advantage of this sensitivity to control the equine's behavior. When the rider wants the equine to turn either left or right, the rider can pull on the corresponding rein. This causes the bit in the equine's mouth to move backwards against the lip, gum and tongue of the corresponding side of the equine's mouth. The equine will then turn its head in reaction to the pressure exerted by the bit. Likewise, if the rider wants the equine to stop, the rider can pull back on both rings, which causes the bit to ride up and into the equine's mouth against the tongue and on both sides of the equine's lips and gums causing the equine to move its head backward and to slow down or stop.
While a bit can be a very effective tool in controlling an equine, over use of the bit or excessive force applied by the bit can result in damaged or bruised gums, lips and tongue of the equine's mouth. If the excessive force is severe it can render the equine's mouth too sore and sensitive to use the bit. In addition, some equines will not tolerate having the bit placed in their mouth.
Other halters rely on the application of behavior-inducing pressure to other pressure sensitive areas of the equine's head, such as the poll and behind the ears. U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,031, for example, discloses a horse training apparatus which employs pressure beads connected to a cord for applying pressure behind the ears of the horse. Such devices are only marginally effective, however, owing to an inability to consistently position the pressure beads at the precise area of acuity/sensitivity. It would be desirable to have an equine training halter configured in such a way as to reduce or eliminate the potential for improper positioning of pressuring inducing elements of the halter.


Grooves (3R, 3G, 3B) corresponding to red, green and blue respectively are formed on a substrate (40), and the edge portion of each groove (3R, 3G, 3B) is formed so as to be farther from a side of substrate (40) in order. The edge portion of each groove (3R, 3G, 3B) is immersed in an organic EL solution (8R, 8G, 8B) of corresponding color, the grooves (3R, 3G, 3B) are severally filled with the organic EL solution (8R, 8G, 8B) of corresponding color using capillary phenomenon, and thus a full-color organic EL display device is manufactured.

An organic EL (Electroluminescence) display device has advantages that it is easily manufactured in a thin plate state, has quick response time, and consumes less electricity due to no need of back light, which is prospective as a display device that replaces a liquid crystal display device and a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).
Although one piece of film is able to constitute an organic EL layer (emitting layer) in a monochrome organic EL display device, it is necessary to form organic EL layers corresponding to the three primary colors of red (R), green (G) and blue (G) in each pixel in the case of a full-color organic EL display device. In the organic EL display device of 170 ppi (pixel per inch), for example, the size of one pixel is 150 (m(150 (m and one pixel is constituted by three sub-pixels of which each size is 50 (m(150 (m. The three sub-pixels are a red sub-pixel, a green sub-pixel and a blue sub-pixel. Therefore, it is necessary to form each of a red-emitting organic EL layer, a green-emitting organic EL layer, and a blue-emitting organic EL layer with the width of 50 (m.
In recent years, a high resolution display device having 200 ppi (pixel size: 127 (m, sub-pixel width: 42.3 (m) to 500 ppi (pixel size: 50.8 (m, sub-pixel width: 17 (m) has been required. Further, various kinds of screen size from as small as approximately 2 inches to as large as approximately 30 inches have been required.
The organic EL display device is manufactured by forming TFTs (thin film transistor), insulating films, electrodes, and organic EL layers on a substrate called a mother glass. Even in the case of the organic EL display device having a small screen size, a large substrate with the size of approximately 400m(500mm to 730 mm(920 mm is used and a plurality of organic EL display devices are simultaneously manufactured on one substrate in order to reduce manufacturing cost. In future, it is expected that a larger substrate than up to now will be used due to the demand of further reduction of the manufacturing cost and a larger screen size.
In the case of low molecular organic EL material, the organic EL layers of three colors are formed in each pixel region by depositing the organic EL material of red emission, green emission and blue emission on the substrate using a shadow mask. However, in polymeric organic EL material, heat decomposes polymer and thus it is impossible to form the organic EL film by a deposition method. For this reason, in general, a coater capable of performing an inkjet method is generally used, and ink which is made of the organic EL material is sprayed in a dotted state onto the substrate by each sub-pixel to form the organic EL layer.
In the coater for the inkjet method, it is necessary to spray a plurality of ink dots in one sub-pixel region. At this point, it is difficult to form the organic EL layer uniformly in the entire sub-pixel region because of overlapping of dots or the occurrence of gap between dots. Consequently, although the coater for the inkjet method can be applied for a display device having the sub-pixel size of approximately 50 (m(150 (m, it may not be applicable for manufacturing a display device of higher resolution.
Further, as the substrate size increases, it is expected that the position of dots shift from a predetermined position due to the affect of thermal expansion of substrate.
Moreover, since the coater for the inkjet method sprays the organic EL material onto all sub-pixels, it has a drawback that it takes more time in proportion to the number of sub-pixels and thus the manufacturing cost increases.

Method of manufacturing organic EL device, and organic EL device


A system including a source display, externally updatable, an image compression algorithm database, a network connection, and a frame transfer engine. The algorithm database comprises a plurality of image compression algorithms. The frame transfer engine is configured to receive a plurality of updates made to the source display, store at least some of the updates in a queue, and select, based on a bandwidth of the network connection, a size of the update, and sizes and times of updates currently present in the queue, an image compression algorithm in the algorithm database for current transfer over the network connection.

The task of showing the desktop and/or applications of an operating system on an external device is a very common one. Communications channel bandwidth is often limited, and may not have enough capacity for transferring data in real time using lossless compression methods.
There are several different approaches to this problem of data transfer over limited bandwidth. Among these, one of the first was the X Window System (X11). While efficient traffic-wise, it was arduous to maintain. Other protocols have been developed by Citrix, which eventually resulted in Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). More recently, a simplified protocol called Virtual Network Computing (VNC) was developed. Both RDP and VNC are essentially bitmap-based thus alleviating the maintenance issues typical with X11. However, both VNC and RDP use lossless compression.
Using lossless compression frequently results in the "frame drop" phenomenon: when video is shown on a remote desktop, it results in the displayed video appearing "jerky." In extreme cases, the frame rate of the resulting video may drop to a single frame every 5-10 seconds. Frequently video shown on source screen and transferred over a network connection or communication channel results in frame drops, which appear unnatural for end-user attempting to observe the transmitted video on an external device. The present invention provides an alternative way to fit a stream of updates onto the limited communication channel, aiming to keep the frame rate consistent across both the local display and the remote display, while reducing the image quality on the target display in ways less visible to the end-user.


A pull-tab sealing member for a container is provided combining the advantages of an insulation or foamed polymer layer for effective heat sealing together with an overall laminate structure having a higher internal strength even with the use of the foamed polymer layer. The sealing members herein are capable of withstanding higher removal forces by repositioning an internal stress point within the seal laminate structure.

It is often desirable to seal the opening of a bottle, jar or other container opening using a sealing member or inner seal to maintain freshness and/or to indicate whether the container has been tampered with. Often a cap or other closure is then screwed or placed on the neck or other container opening. In use, a consumer typically removes the cap or other closure to gain access to the seal and removes or otherwise peels the seal from the container in order to dispense or gain access to its contents.
Initial attempts at sealing a container opening included an induction- or conduction-type inner seal covering the container's opening where the seal generally conformed to the shape of the opening such that a circular container opening was sealed with a round disk approximately the same size as the opening. These prior seals commonly had a lower heat activated sealing layer to secure a periphery of the seal to a rim or upper surface surrounding a container's opening. Upon exposing the seal to heat, the lower layer bonds to the container rim. In many cases, these seals included a foil layer to provide induction heat to activate the lower heat seal layer. These prior seals tended to provide good sealing, but can be difficult for a consumer to remove because there was nothing for the consumer to grab in order to remove the seal. Often, the consumer needed to pick at the seal's edge with a fingernail because there was little or no seal material to grasp.
Other types of seals for containers include a side tab or other flange that extends outwardly from a peripheral edge of the seal. These side tabs are generally not secured to the container rim and provide a grasping surface for a consumer to hold and peel off the seal. These side tabs, however, extend over the side of the container rim and often protrude into a threaded portion of the closure. If the side tab is too large, this configuration may negatively affect the ability of the seal to form a good seal. The side tabs (and often the seal itself) can be deformed or wrinkled when the closure or other cap is placed on the container due to contact between the closure and tabbed part of the seal. To minimize these concerns, the side tabs are often very small; thus, providing little surface area or material for a consumer to grasp in order to remove the seal.
Yet other types of seals include a sealing member having a tab defined on the top of the seal. One approach of these prior seals includes a partial layer of coated pressure sensitive adhesive to secure the tab to a layer of metal foil. This type of top-tabbed seal offers the advantage of a larger tab, which provides more grasping area for the consumer to hold and peel off the seal. These seals, however, have a non-uniform cross-section between the tabbed and non-tabbed sides of the seal because of the part layer of pressure sensitive adhesive. This non-uniform cross-section tends to cause problems when heat sealing to the container via an induction or conduction process. If sufficient heat is applied to activate the lower heat activated sealing layer on the tabbed side of the seal, then due to the additional layers on the non-tabbed side of the seal (i.e., the additional adhesive layer), the non-tabbed side often does not receive enough heat to adequately bond to the container. Conversely, if additional heating is applied in order to insure that both sides of the seal receive sufficient heat for bonding to the container rim, then the tabbed side of the seal often receives too much heat resulting in too strong of a bond to the container. If a portion of the lower heat activated sealing layer is bonded to the container too strongly, this heat-seal/container bond can exceed the bond strength of the adhesive holding the tab to the lower seal layers or even the tear strength of the tab material itself. This undesirable situation can result in the tab tearing or the tab separating from the lower seal layers upon a consumer using the tab to remove the seal. In other approaches, the seal may include a part paper or polymer layer forming the tab. This part layer may also form a non-uniform seal between the tabbed and non-tabbed sides. The part layer tends to provide extra insulation, which also leads to non-uniform heat seal bonding between the tabbed and non-tabbed sides of the seal.
Some top-tabbed-type seals may further include a foam layer in the lower seal portion positioned on top of any foil layer and under the tab to try and retain uniform heat between the tabbed and non-tabbed side of the seal even when the seal has a non-uniform cross-section. In these prior seals, the foam layer is advantageous in the lower seal laminate under the tab because it not only helps provide uniform heating to both sides of the lower heat seal layer, but with its close proximity to the foil, it further helps insulate and protect the upper layers and tab from damage or melting due to the heat experienced by the seal during heat sealing. In particular, the foam layer of these prior seals helps protect the adhesive layer that secures the tab to the lower seal laminate in these prior seals. Often, the adhesive layer used to secure the tab to the lower layers is also a heat activated adhesive layer rather than the pressure sensitive adhesive mentioned above. The heat activated adhesive layer has a lower melt point that renders it susceptible to melting during field use when an end user applies induction or conduction heat to secure the seal to a container. If the heat activated adhesive layer melts during container sealing, it can ooze or flow out of the seal and cause a free end of the tab to be bonded to the lower seal laminate. This is called tab-grab and is undesirable. End users, in some cases, will often overheat the seal to make sure that a good heat seal is formed. The foam layer under the heat-activated adhesive layer helps protect this heat-activated adhesive layer from possible overheating during container sealing.
However, while the foam layer may be advantageous in providing better seal performance, the foam layer is a weak point in the seal structure. Due to the location of the foam layer in the lower laminate above the foil and under the tab, a stress or failure point in the prior seal is created in the foam layer upon removal via the tab. In these cases, the foam layer typically needs to withstand the removal forces experienced on the lower portions of the seal upon tab pulling. During seal removal with the tab, these forces are caused by the tab pulling upwardly on the foam layer and because the tab is partially bonded to the foam. This stress is often exaggerated when a seal is aggressively applied to a container rim due to over sealing or in some circumstances where a stronger bond to the container may be needed. In such case, the consumer is then required to apply even a greater removal force to the tab. These prior seals with foam layers have a stress or failure point where the foam layer can split internally or the bond between the foam and upper seal layers can rupture resulting in tab and/or seal failure in some cases. In many cases, and especially when the seal is over sealed or aggressively sealed to a container, the foam layer under the tab and above the foil becomes a weaker link in the overall seal structure and a stress point prone to possible failure when exposed to removal forces.


A chain for use primarily in conveyor systems includes a plurality of male and female links pivotally coupled together. The female link includes a generally I-shaped body segment and a pair of bifurcated arms at each end. The arms are asymmetrically formed so that one arm defines a stop for preventing turning of the pivot pin and the other arm defines an enlarged boss. The provision of the flanges along the body segment and the boss at the ends function to increase the bearing surface at points of greatest wear to thereby increase the useful life of the links. The provision of the boss further obviates the need for spacers heretofore required in such chains of the prior art.

Conveyor chains 10 (FIGS. 11-14) are ordinarily fabricated of male and female links 12, 14 pivotally interconnected to form a flexible but sturdy construction. These chains are generally attached to transport elements, such as flights (FIG. 15), to transport products in a manufacturing process. In use the chains are wrapped about a plurality of sprockets, at least one of which is driven, and passed along a prescribed circuit.
The female link 14 (FIGS. 11-14) is typically formed as a unitary cast or fabricated member having a central bar segment 16 and a pair of bifurcated ends 18. The bar segment has a rectangular cross-sectional shape. Each end 18 forms a pair of arms 20 which are spaced apart to define a gap 22 therebetween. Each of the arms 20 further defines a transverse bore 24, such that the bores 24 of opposed arms are aligned with one another. The inner sides 26 of the arms generally have a planar shape for matingly receiving a male link 12. The outer sides 28 are each provided with a pair of spaced apart stops 30. The stops are positioned to each side of bore 24 to form an elongated channel 32 therebetween which intersects the bore. The channels 32 are provided to receive and retain a T-head 34 of a bolt 36 to prevent the bolt's rotation. Stops 30 are provided on the outer side of each arm 20 so that female links 14 may be assembled into the chain without concern for their particular orientation.
Male link 12 (FIGS. 11-14) is also typically formed as a unitary cast or fabricated member. The male link has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape across its entire length. The width of link 12 is substantially equal to the size of gap 22 so that the link may be matingly received within the gap. Specifically, the ends 38 of male links 12 are received for free pivotal movement in gaps 22 of adjacent female links 14 to enable the chain to possess the requisite flexibility. Each end 38 further defines a transverse bore 39 which is aligned with a pair of the opposed bores 24 in female link 14. The shank 42 of bolt 36 is passed through the aligned bores 24, 39 to pivotally couple links 12 and 14 together. However, in view of the large stresses placed on the chain, the bores are often subject to premature wearing and failure.
In the assembled chain, bolts 36 are positioned through bores 24, 39 such that T-head 34 is matingly received within channel 32. A spacer 40 is passed over the free end of threaded shank 42 in order to provide a flat surface 44 of ample size for nut 46 to abut. More specifically, spacer 40 is a cylindrical disk member which includes a pair of shoulders 48. The shoulders are adapted to be matingly received in the outer portions of channel 32 and thereby function to stabilize and support the spacer.
As an example, conveyor chains 10 have been used in low-flow baths 50 to separate refuse 52 from coal 54 to upgrade the quality of the coal (FIG. 10). In general, bath 50 includes a tank 56 partially filled with a fluid media 58, such as water mixed with a finely ground magnetite. The concentration of the magnetite is selected so that when the raw coal is deposited in the tank, the coal floats but the refuse sinks. A conveyor chain 10 is employed to separately remove both the coal and refuse from the tank.
In this environment, elongate flights 60 are secured between a pair of parallel chains 10 (FIGS. 12 and 15). A flight 60 is comprised of an elongated body 62 provided with an orthogonal foot 64 at each end. The body 62 is a thin member having a relatively wide working face 65. Feet 64 ordinarily extend outward from body 62 to define the flight in a generally I-shaped configuration. Each foot 64 defines a pair of spaced apart holes 66, which are adapted to be received over the free ends of adjacent bolts 36. In this construction, feet 64 of flights 60 are sandwiched between spacers 40 and nuts 46. Body 62 spans the space between the two chains 10 such that the working face 65 is placed upright (i.e., perpendicular to the direction of chain travel).
In the operation of bath 50, the raw coal is dumped into the tank via feed chute 78 (FIG. 10). Once in the fluid media, the raw coal separates (because of the different specific gravities of the materials) such that the coal floats on the surface 79 of media 58 while the refuse sinks to the bottom 80 of the tank. The floating coal is skimmed out of the tank by flights 60 passing along the upper path 81 of the chain circuit. The flights drive the coal up out of the fluid media along ramp 82, over the end of the tank and into clean coal chute 84. Similarly, flights 60 pass along the lower path 85 of the circuit at the bottom 80 of the tank to push the refuse toward sprocket 68a. At the end of the tank, the refuse is dropped into the refuse chute 86 as the chains rotate around sprocket 68a.
The chains 10 in bath 50 (FIG. 10) are passed along a defined path which extends around sprockets 68a, 68b, at least one of which is driven by a motor (not shown). In between the sprockets 68a, 68b, the chains are received into slots 70 defined by wear and guide rails 74a, 74b attached to the sides 72 of tank 56 (FIG. 15). Rails 74a, 74b define opposed engagement faces 76a, 76b to form the slots 70. The slots cause the chains to follow a non-linear path designed to remove the refuse and coal from the tank. Due to the weight of the chains 10 and flights 60, the lower sides of links 12, 14 generally slide along face 76b of the lower wear rail 74b. As to be expected, this sliding causes links 12, 14 to be quickly worn away.


A system is configured to receive a search query for books; identify a set of books that are relevant to the search query, where the set of books may be associated with relevance scores that represent a relevance of the set of books to the search query and that are based on book quality information that is independent of the search query; determine that a reference to a first book should be prominently presented in a search results document, that includes references to the set of books based on a relationship between a highest relevance score, associated with the first book, and a second highest relevance score associated with a second book; generate the search results document, which may be formatted to prominently present the reference to the first book in relation to the references to one or more of the set of books; and transmit the search results document.

Many techniques are available to users today to find information on the world wide web ("web"). For example, users often use web browsers and/or search engines to find information of interest.
One type of search includes a search for books. A book search may be performed in association with an online book store, where a user enters a search query that includes, for instance, the title, author, or other descriptive information relating to a book. In response, information relating to a number of books, relevant to the search query, may be displayed to the user.

Prominent display of selective results of book search queries


A metal sintered body composite material which can exhibit superior seizure resistance even when light metal is softened, and a method for producing the same. The production method uses iron base raw material powder including C and one of Cr, Mo, V, W, Mn, and Si, and comprises the steps of forming and sintering a powder compressed article so as to obtain a porous metal sintered body having a space lattice structure having pores, impregnating the pores of the porous metal sintered body with an aluminum alloy and solidifying the aluminum alloy, applying aging treatment by heating and holding the composite material at an aging treatment temperature range, whereby a metal constituting the porous metal sintered body has a micro-Vickers hardness of 200 to 800.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a metal sintered body composite material impregnated with a light metal and having improved seizure resistance, and a method for producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of using light metals such as aluminum alloys, and magnesium alloys, it is general to use metal matrix composite materials including reinforcing members such as ceramic fibers, ceramic particles, and intermetallic compound particles. However, when these materials are used at elevated environmental temperatures, for example, when these materials are used as members sliding at temperatures over 200.degree. C., the above conventional metal matrix composite materials cannot prevent seizure effectively. Although a larger amount of reinforcing members can be added to the above composite materials, this causes a considerable increase in production costs and a remarkable decrease in machinability.
As an effective means for solving these problems, composite materials have been proposed which are prepared by using a porous iron base metal sintered body, impregnating the porous iron base metal sintered body with a light metal, and solidifying the light metal, as disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Nos. 63-312947, 3-189063, and 3-189066.
More specifically, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 63-312947 discloses a composite material which is prepared by employing a porous body formed of a Cu-C-Mo-Fe alloy (an equivalent of SAE86) and having interconnecting pores at a porosity of 10 to 90%, impregnating the pores of the porous body with a molten light metal, and solidifying the molten light metal.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No.3-189063 discloses a composite material which is prepared by employing a porous iron base metal having pore surface covered with iron sesquioxide, triiron tetroxide, ferrous hydroxide and so on, impregnating pores of the porous iron base metal with a molten light metal, and solidifying the molten light metal. This composite material is expected to prevent local cells from generating at the boundary.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No.3-189066 discloses a composite material which is prepared by using a porous iron base metal sintered body including at least one element of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), manganese (Mn) and tungsten (W), impregnating this porous metal sintered body with a molten aluminum alloy under a pressure of 400 to 1000 kg/cm.sup.2, and solidifying the molten aluminum alloy. This publication also discloses techniques of improving corrosion resistance and heat resistance by applying electroless plating or electrolytic plating to inner surfaces of the porous metal sintered body.
Simple impregnation of the porous metal sintered body with a light metal, however, cannot attain a sufficient seizure resistance in a high temperature range. This is because the impregnated light metal plastically flows under severe sliding conditions.
This invention has been conceived in view of the above circumstances. It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal sintered body composite material having a sufficient seizure resistance in sliding by setting the micro-Vickers hardness of a metal constituting the porous iron base metal sintered body at 200 to 800.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of producing a metal sintered body composite material having a superior seizure resistance in sliding.
When used in a high temperature range over 200.degree. C., the conventional metal sintered body composite materials in which ceramic fibers or intermetallic compounds are dispersed exhibit a remarkable decrease in the hardness of a light metal and accordingly cause seizure. The present inventors have found that by enabling a metal constituting the porous metal sintered body to have a micro-Vickers hardness in the range from 200 to 800, the porous metal sintered body can easily secure a space lattice structure even at high environmental temperatures, can hold the light metal tightly, and can attain improved seizure resistance even when the light metal is softened. The present inventors have also found that by stopping employing liquid quenching which often develops gas defects because of quenching liquid remaining in pores of a porous metal sintered body, and by enabling the porous metal sintered body to be gas quenched by use of an alloying element having a high quench-multiplying factor, the micro-Vickers hardness of a metal constituting a porous iron base metal sintered body can be set at 200 to 800 owing to a hardening effect of a quenched phase attained by gas quenching and a hardening effect of carbide generation after quenched. The present inventors have completed the metal sintered body composite material of the present invention based on the above findings.

Metal sintered body composite material and a method for producing the same


A coil for a transformer includes first and second coil segments with each coil segment being defined by successive layers of wound conductor sheeting. The coil segments are electrically connected together and are adjacent, defining a space there-between. A plurality of cooling duct pairs are disposed between certain of the layers in each of the first and second coil segments such that, for each cooling duct pair, an end of a cooling duct disposed in the first coil segment is adjacent to an end of a cooling duct disposed in the second coil segment, with the ends being disposed in the space. A connector connects the adjacent ends of each pair of cooling ducts.

It is well known that a transformer converts electricity at one voltage to electricity as another voltage, either of higher or lower value. A transformer achieves this voltage conversion using a primary coil and a secondary coil, each of which is wound on a ferromagnetic core and comprises a number of turns of an electrical conductor. The primary coil is connected to a source of voltage and the secondary coil is connected to a load. The ratio of turns in the primary coil to the turns in the secondary coil ("turns ratio") is the same as the ratio of the voltage of the source to the voltage of the load. Two main winding techniques are used to form coils, namely layer winding and disc winding. The type of winding technique that is utilized to form a coil is primarily determined by the number of turns in the coil and the current in the coil. For high voltage windings with a large number of required turns, the disc winding technique is typically used, whereas for low voltage windings with a smaller number of required turns, the layer winding technique is typically used.
A layer winding technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,297 to Lanoue et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, ABB Inc., and which is hereby incorporated by reference. In the Lanoue et al. '297 patent, alternating sheet conductor layers and sheet insulating layers are continuously wound around a base of a winding mandrel to form a coil. The winding technique of the Lanoue et al. '297 patent can be performed using an automated dispensing machine, which facilitates the production of a layer-wound coil.
A transformer with layer windings may be dry, i.e., cooled by air as opposed to a liquid dielectric. In such a dry transformer, the windings may be coated with, or cast in, a dielectric resin using vacuum chambers, gelling ovens etc. If the windings are cast in a solid dielectric resin, cooling issues are raised. Cooling ducts have been provided in layer wound coils.
The larger the transformer and higher output rating, the greater the width of the conductor sheet is required or larger amount of conductor used. One cannot wind a conductor sheet above 48 inches on existing equipment.
Thus, there is a need to provide a coil for a transformer, with the coil having split coil segments with cooling ducts.

Cast split low voltage coil with integrated cooling duct placement after winding process


The teachings presented herein provide a method and apparatus for operating constant on-time DC/DC converters, including pseudo constant on-time variants, with a virtual current-mode slope signal. Use of the slope signal provides, among other advantages and improvements, greater noise immunity and the ability to operate with a wider range of converter output filters. More particularly, incorporating a properly synchronized slope signal into the on-time triggering comparison provides for a maximum slope offset at on-time triggering. Doing so prevent double-pulsing (i.e., erroneous on-time retriggering) and other undesirable behavior of conventional constant on-time DC/DC converters and, as a particular but non-limiting advantage, allows ready and advantageous use of the slope-compensated converter as taught herein with low ESR capacitors in the output filter.

Constant on-time pulse width modulation (PWM) is a standard control topology in power supply design. Constant on-time control configurations are often used for low duty cycle "Buck" converters (voltage step-down) because they provide fast transient response and do not require compensation for control loop stabilization. Constant on-time control is similar to so-called "hysteretic" control in that when the regulated output voltage falls below a reference threshold, a constant-on time DC/DC converter delivers energy to its output load. Unlike a hysteretic DC/DC converter where the amount of energy delivered to the load is set by a second reference voltage, the amount of energy delivered by a constant on-time DC/DC converter is determined by the on-time pulse of the DC/DC converter.
A standard or conventional constant-on control scheme exhibits significant PWM frequency variation, with variation in duty cycle similar to that exhibited in hysteretic control. So-called "pseudo constant on-time" control is a known technique for counteracting such variation. With pseudo constant on-time control, the PWM on-time is set as a function of the input and output voltages, such that the on-time pulse duration is fixed for given input/output voltages. The pseudo constant on-time technique is well known and does a reasonably good job at first order frequency compensation.
One drawback generally attending constant on-time type control is that it requires the feedback signal to the PWM comparator to be in phase with the converter's switching signals. Such synchronization typically is achieved by setting a minimum equivalent series resistance (ESR) value in the converter's output filter capacitor. Thus, operating with low value ESR capacitors generally requires additional external filter components, which is undesirable in terms of cost, space, and complexity.

Method and apparatus for constant on-time switch mode converters


A mobile terminal device that forms an adhoc network comprises a clustering section that identifies the ID and state of a mobile terminal device that is adjacent to the mobile terminal device itself by exchanging a Hello packet (containing the ID and state of the mobile terminal device itself) with the other mobile terminal device and which, based on the state of the adjacent mobile terminal device and the state of the mobile terminal device itself, sets the state of the mobile terminal device itself as a cluster head, gateway, or member; a storage section that stores the ID and state of the adjacent mobile terminal device and the state of the mobile terminal device itself; a link information transmit/receive section which, when the state of the mobile terminal device itself is the cluster head, transmits link information containing the ID of the adjacent mobile terminal device and the ID of the mobile terminal device itself and receives link information from the other mobile terminal device; and a routing section that finds a route to any mobile terminal device on the basis of the link information thus transmitted and received.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal device (also referred to simply as 'terminal' hereinbelow) that constitutes an adhoc network, a control method, and a mobile communication system.
Further, in this specification, 'transmit' signifies that a mobile terminal device transmits packets to an adjacent mobile terminal device as the transmission source of the packets and 'transfer' signifies that a mobile terminal device transfers a packet received from another mobile terminal device to an adjacent mobile terminal device.
2. Related Background Art
In routing protocol in an adhoc network (a so-called 'pure adhoc network') configured only by a plurality of mobile terminal devices without the requirement for equipment constituting an infrastructure for the mobile communication network, routing control based on flooding which delivers control packets of link information and so forth to all of the nodes in the network is carried out. Hence, when the number of terminals increases, control packets flow in large volumes in the network and the communication bandwidth is compressed. As a method for reducing this problem, OLSR (Optimized Link State Routing) uses an MPR (MultiPoint Relay) set (See document 'T. Clausen and P. Jacquet et al., Project Hipercom, "Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR)", RFC3626, <URL:www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3626.txt>'). In OLSR, each terminal selects a minimum multipoint relay (MPR) that is required in order to deliver packets to all the terminals connected two hops from the terminal itself, from the terminals connected one hop from the terminal itself. When a terminal floods the whole network with packets, the packets are relayed only by the terminals which have been selected as the MPR of the terminal that transmitted the packets. As a result, it is possible to deliver packets to all the terminals two hops from the terminal that transmitted the packets originally. In addition, the terminals selected as the MPR relay the packets, and the packets are relayed again and again. Consequently the packets are delivered to the whole network. Thus, in OLSR, by performing flooding efficiently, routing with a small overhead is implemented.

Mobile terminal device, control method, and mobile communication system


A microscopic image capturing apparatus and method are provided. First, the entire area of a slide glass on a stage is divided into field size sections (low-magnification sections) of a low-powered objective lens. The stage is transferred perpendicular to an optical axis, and image information is sequentially obtained for each low-magnification section. Each low-magnification section is divided into high-magnification size sections (high-magnification sections), and a high-magnification image is captured using a high-powered objective lens only in high-magnification sections corresponding to a sample. A high-magnification image is generated by correctly maintaining the relative position between the obtained image information and an area corresponding to high-magnification sections which are not captured, and high-magnification composite image information of the sample is generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microscopic image capture apparatus and a microscopic image capturing method for capturing a microscopic image of a sample, and more specifically to a microscopic image capture apparatus and a microscopic image capturing method for efficiently capturing a wide-angle field and high-precision microscopic digital image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a method of observing a microscopic image as a digital image. Generally, when a sample is observed, the range observed at a time mostly depends on the magnification of an objective lens. Using a high-powered objective lens, an observation range is small, but a high-precision image can be obtained.
A microscope system for generating a high-resolution and wide-angle field image has been suggested based on the above-mentioned fact and by capturing a high-precision microscopic image depending on the magnification of an objective lens with the overlapping portions taken into account and sequentially combining the captured images (for example, refer to the Japanese patent literature, that is, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 09-281405, page 5 and FIGS. 3 and 4. Hereinafter, the literature is referred to as patent literature 1).
There is also an image display system suggested using a microscope dividing an observation area of a sample image, scanning the stage, capturing divisional images, correcting distortion, and deleting the overlapping portions at the joints, thereby combining the images without inconsistency in relative positions and displaying the resultant image on the display device (for example, refer to the Japanese patent literature, that is, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-249021, pages 4 through 6 and FIGS. 1 and 2. Hereinafter, the literature is referred to as patent literature 2).
There also is a microscopic image remote control system suggested as a method of combining images, remotely operating a microscope, repeating divisional capture of a sample of a predetermined magnification, combining obtained images in a two-dimensional relative positions without inconsistency, and obtaining image information with the surrounding portion enlarged around the central position of the entire resultant image (for example, refer to the Japanese patent literature, that is, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-211988, pages 4 through 6 and FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the literature is referred to as patent literature 3).
Furthermore, there is a microscopic image synthesis apparatus, etc. suggested for optimizing the overlapping areas with the correction of distortion and shading by capture, and a stage control error taken into account (for example, refer to the Japanese patent literature, that is, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-274973, pages 6 through 8 and FIG. 8. Hereinafter, the literature is referred to as patent literature 4).
The technology of the above-mentioned patent literature 1 can control the capture position with the overlapping portions taken into account depending on the magnification of an objective lens, but unnecessarily computes the images in the positions where no sample image exists. Thus, since the technology wastes time in capturing unnecessary portions, a long entire operating time is required although the optimum composite image can be obtained under the control of the capture position with the overlapping portion taken into account as described above.
Additionally, although the technologies of the patent literature 2 through 4 have suggested various different methods of optimally combining divisional images as in the above-mentioned method, none of them have suggested any efficient consideration of the process relating to the portions where no sample image exists. That is, the images in the positions where no sample image exists are unnecessarily captured.

Microscopic image capture apparatus and microscopic image capturing method


An IC card is prevented from falling off readily an electronic device while maintaining the mechanical strength of the IC card. A recess for preventing a memory card from falling off an electronic device is provided at the side of one side of a principal surface of a cap of the memory card which is configured by fitting a memory body in a recess formed on a parts mounting surface of the cap. The bottom of the recess is terminated in the middle of the thickness of the cap. This construction makes it possible to prevent the memory card from falling off readily an electronic device while maintaining the mechanical strength of the memory card.

The present invention relates to IC (integrated circuit) card technology, and technology effectively applied to, e.g., semiconductor memory card (hereinafter referred to as a memory card).
Memory cards such as multimedia cards (standardized by the multimedia organization), SD memory cards (standardized by the SD card organization) or memory sticks (registered trademark of Sony Corp.) are a kind of storage devices to store information in their internal semiconductor memory chips. Since access can be made directly and electrically to nonvolatile memories of semiconductor memory chips without mechanical control, the memory cards have the excellent advantages of faster write and read speeds and easier replacement of storage media in comparison with other storage devices. Since the memory cards are compact in size and light in weight, they are primarily used as auxiliary storage devices of portable electronic devices such as portable personal computers, cellular phones, or digital cameras.
The appearance of a multimedia card is formed by a square-planar thin-plate cap having a corner largely chamfered. A memory body is fitted in and bonded to a recess on a parts mounting surface of the cap. The memory body includes a wiring board and semiconductor chips mounted on its principal surface. The semiconductor chips are sealed by a sealing part and are electrically connected with plural external terminals on the back surface of the wiring board through wiring of the wiring board. The plural external terminals on the back surface of the wiring board are exposed to the outside to be electrically connected with an electronic device in which the multimedia card is to be incorporated. The appearance of the above-mentioned SD card is formed by bonding together two square-planar thin-plate cases each having a corner largely chamfered. A memory body is sandwiched between the two cases. Plural openings are formed on the bask surface of one case of the SD card, and plural external terminals of the memory body are exposed from the openings. Through the openings of the case, the external terminals of the SD card and an electronic device in which the SD card is to be incorporated are electrically connected. The appearance of the above-mentioned memory stick is a rectangular thin plate having a corner largely chamfered. Like the SD card, a memory body is sandwiched between two cases.
By the way, in conventional multimedia cards, sufficient measures have not been taken against action of forcibly extracting the multimedia cards inserted into electronic devices and against cases where the multimedia cards pop out when the electronic devices drop. However, since the multimedia cards have often been used in electronic devices such as cellular phones and mobile computers, more and more electronic devices have had a slot structure so that the multimedia cards can be easily removed, for convenience of users' use. As a result, there has been an increase in action of forcibly extracting the multimedia cards and cases where the multimedia cards pop out readily when the electronic devices drop, and therefore it has become important to take appropriate measures against such situations.
In the above-mentioned SD card, sides of the two cases are provided with recesses penetrating from the principal surface to the back surface of the two cases, and the recesses are engaged with retainers of an electronic device. This construction prevents an SD card from being forcibly removed or from popping out readily due to slight impact (see Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3).
In the above-mentioned memory stick, a recess for fixing the memory stick in a desired position is provided at an edge of a case side at which external terminals of the case are exposed (see Patent Document 4).    [Patent document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-6576    [Patent document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-86293    [Patent document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-86296    [Patent document 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-91700


A stretch film with a base (1) consisting of a film material and with a multitude of holes (2) that are formed in the base (1) in several rows (3) of holes extending, in essence, in parallel to each other and in a main direction (X) comprises at least one layer of strips (4) consisting of a film material and extending in the main direction (X), said layer being arranged on the base (1) between the rows (3) of holes. Owing to the applied strips (4), a high stretchability of the stretch film can be achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stretch film comprising a base consisting of a film material, and a multitude of holes formed in the base, the holes extending in several rows, in essence, in parallel to each other and in a main direction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of perforated plastic stretch films is known in the packaging of pallets, straw bales, fruit, etc., in order to allow adequate stretchability as well as ventilation of the items to be packaged. A prestretched plastic stretch film is known from EP-820 856 A1, wherein holes are generated by utilizing a thermal irradiation method without touching the film and, thus, without wasting the film, e.g. in the form of perforations. The production method described therein is, for example, also utilized in the production of plastic nets, such as they are described in DE 100 27 527 A1.
Perforated stretch films may pose the problem of tears developing at the edges of the holes when the stretch film is stretched at a future point. These tears do not only disturb the outer appearance of the film but may also form the starting point of a complete tearing, at least, however, of a considerable weakening of the film.
The invention aims at specifying a stretch film permitting high stretching rates without the film tearing at the edges of the holes. This task is solved according to the invention, a stretch film comprising a base consisting of a film material, and a multitude of holes that are formed in the base, the holes extending in several rows in parallel to each other and in a main direction so that at least one layer of strips consisting of a film material and extending in the main direction is attached to the base between the rows of holes.
Preferred further developments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.


An EC motor with a stator and a rotor mounted to a shaft. The motor has a cooling system, an over molded stator housing, and an optimized rotor. The stator has teeth with wound electromagnetic coils. The teeth and coils are distributed circumferentially with gaps between adjacent coils. The stator is over molded with plastic that forms axially oriented cooling passages between adjacent coil sections. An impeller fan then draws air into the motor through air inlets connected to air passages. The impeller fan directs the air through the axially oriented cooling passages in the stator and out air outlets. An optimized internal rotor has permanent magnets and silicon steel laminates spaced circumferentially and extending outwardly from a central hub. Rectangular shaped magnets are interposed in the gaps between the laminates. Wedge-shaped magnets are aligned radially with the laminates and between the laminates and the hub.

In one embodiment, an internal rotor EC motor comprises a stator with a series of circumferentially spaced electromagnets and a rotor position inside the stator and mounted for rotation on a shaft. The rotor has circumferentially spaced permanent magnets. An electronic controller controls the electrical energy delivered to the coils of the electromagnets of the stator. By controlling the electrical energy delivered to the coils of the stator, a rotating magnetic field is created that in turn attracts the permanent magnets of the rotor to cause the rotor to spin on its shaft.
In another embodiment, an external rotor EC motor comprises a stator with circumferentially spaced electromagnets. Such an EC motor has a rotor with permanent magnets positioned on the outside of the stator. Whether an internal rotor or an external rotor, the operating principles of the EC motor are generally the same in that rotating magnetic field is created by the stator that attracts the permanent magnets of the rotor to cause rotation of the rotor.
During operation, heat is generated both by the electronic controller and in the stator coils. Consequently, an EC motor requires a system for dissipating the heat from the control circuitry and the stator coils.
The configuration of permanent magnets and steel laminates that make up the rotor can have an effect on the performance of an EC motor. Such performance can be improved by constructing a rotor with a combination of permanent magnets sized and spaced around the rotor.
During operation, the switching of the electric current in the stator coils can result in unwanted vibration and noise. Further, for certain applications for EC motors, the cost and weight of the motor components, including the motor housing, are important to purchasers.


RF electric fields produced by electric potential differences in NMR probe coil windings may penetrate the NMR sample and sample tube causing sensitivity loss and noise in NMR spectroscopy. Counter-wound spiral coils placed on the opposite surfaces of a planar substrate or on two adjacent planar substrates produce electric potentials that minimize the electric field over the sample region, thereby increasing the sensitivity of the NMR probe. Alternatively counter-wound spiral coils placed adjacent to each other on the outer surface of two concentric cylindrical surfaces that surround the NMR sample minimize the electric field over the sample region. The electric potential of the spiral coils is reduced by adjusting a length of at least one coil.

NMR is a powerful technique for analyzing molecular structure. However it is also an insensitive technique compared to others for structure determination. To gain maximum sensitivity, NMR magnets and spectrometers are designed to operate at high magnetic field strengths, employ low noise preamplifiers and RF probe coils that operate at cryogenic temperatures using cold normal metal transmit/receive coils or preferably transmit/receive coils made with high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials. The transmit/receive coils are the probe coils that stimulate the nuclei and detect the NMR response from the sample, and therefore are placed very close to the sample to provide high sensitivity. The HTS coils have the highest quality factor, Q, and yield the best sensitivity. Multi-turn spiral coils are commonly used to detect the NMR signal, particularly for lower gamma nuclei such as 13C, 15N and 31P. The electric fields from the turns of the spiral coils near the sample may penetrate the sample and cause dielectric losses and increased noise. The electric fields penetrating the sample also cause detuning of the coil and a resonant frequency that is a function of the dielectric constant and position of the sample. In spinning samples, this detuning can lead to spurious spinning sidebands.
When the RF current flows through the windings of the NMR probe coil, an RF magnetic field is produced in the sample region that stimulates the resonance in the sample. This RF magnetic field, B, has an associated RF electric field, E. This RF electric field, E, can be calculated utilizing the Maxwell equation:curl E=−dB/dt.
To minimize losses from this RF electric field, NMR probes are designed so that the sample is in a region where this RF electric field is a minimum, or passes through zero.
There is another component of electric field that is caused by the electric potential between the windings of an RF coil. This, so-called, conservative electric field arises from the electric potential differences of the turns of the RF coil winding. This component of electric field, Ec, obeys the condition:curl Ec=0.
It is called an electrostatic field since it does not require any time derivatives to produce it. When this component of electric field penetrates the sample or sample tube it can cause energy losses. During transmit and during spin decoupling experiments these losses can cause undesired heating of the sample. During the receive phase, the currents induced by the NMR signal also produce an electric potential between turns of the RF probe coil, causing electric fields to penetrate the sample volume resulting in a loss of Q and reduced sensitivity. Since the sample is usually at or near room temperature and the probe coil is at a very low temperature, noise power is also introduced into the RF probe coil through this electric field coupling. This loss is proportional to the electric field coupling between the sample and the RF probe coil and depends upon the dielectric loss tangent or dissipation factor of the sample and sample tube material and the electrical conductivity of ionic samples.
Small changes in the strength or direction of the DC magnetic field applied to the probe or other magnetic field fluctuations induce small shielding currents in the surface of the superconductor films of the spiral coils. These shielding currents can cause magnetic field inhomogeneity in the sample region resulting in line broadening and loss of NMR sensitivity. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,778). To reduce the shielding currents the coil turns may be slit in the direction parallel to that of the RF current flow thereby reducing size of the shielding current loops. Each turn of the spiral coil may be split into a number of parallel conductors or "fingerlets" with a small insulating gap between fingerlets.
Electrostatic shields have been used in the prior art to reduce this electric field. (US Patent Publication No. 2008/0150536). The task of reducing the electric filed in the region of the sample is very important, and therefore there is a need to find an alternative method and apparatus. Existing technology does not utilize the counter-wound spiral coils to minimize the electric field in the region of the sample.
Spiral wound coils have been used before as a surface coil for MRI measurements when it was desired to keep the coil small, and yet be able to tune it to a low frequency (U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,398). It was proposed to use a pair of circular counter-wound coils with capacitive coupling between them for MRI applications to achieve a lower resonant frequency than could be achieved with a single coil. The teaching of this art did not consider or contemplate reducing the electric field over the sample region.
RF coils for high resolution NMR probes must be precisely tuned to the NMR resonant frequency of the nucleus being studied. For maximum sensitivity the electric field from the probe RF coils must produce a minimum electric field in the sample region. The coils are tuned to resonate in the RF frequency range of the nuclear species being studied. The probe is tuned by adjusting the total coil length of wire used to wind the coils. Fine tuning is provided by a variable capacitor or by a wand that provides small adjustable changes to the resonator inductance.
Therefore there is a need in providing the RF probe coils of certain geometries, which are characterized by a strong RF magnetic field with substantially reduced RF electric filed over the sample volume.

NMR spiral RF probe coil pair with low external electric field