A video tape recorder is provided which is capable of recording information at different frame rates while maintaining accurate time codes. Data about a recording frame rate set at recording time and time code data about DF/NDF settings are recorded in an AUX area of a helical track as auxiliary data. Further, time code data set at recording time is recorded on a time code track. When a magnetic tape is played back, time code data not selected at recording time is also displayed on a display unit of a control panel and the screen of a monitor together with the time code data and the data about the recording frame rate selected at recording time. A user is able to perform step-by-step settings of frame rates and time codes on a playback tape while confirming the displayed data, regardless of the settings used when the original recording was made.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a video tape recorder capable of selecting a desired recording frame rate when an information signal is recorded. More specifically, the present invention relates to a video tape recorder that can simply and efficiently determine a recording mode by simultaneously recording both recording frame rate information and different types of time code information. In particular, the present invention provides means to accurately locate a reference point indexed by either a real time code or by a frame number while operating in playback mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing video tape recorders (VTRs) used for digitally recording and reproducing both video and audio signals on magnetic tape, can also digitally record time information on the magnetic tape. The time information is useful as an index for playback and editing of the recording and it is typically coded using standard hours, minutes and seconds notation. For a more detailed description of the usefulness of time code based indexes or addresses for information recorded on tape, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,843 to Menezes et al. which is incorporated herein by reference. For example, a real time based indexing of a video tape would allow easy access to the precise frames that correspond to the start and end times of a broadcast program.
Thus, it is desirable to provide each frame with a unique time code for addressing purposes. In addition, it is also desirable to have time codes that accurately correspond to real time. Therefore, a time code would ideally be recorded for each frame. However, not all standard video signal formats have a frame rate that allows an integer number of frames to be recorded per each second of time.
For example, the National Television System Commission (NTSC) standard video signal format has a field frequency of 59.94 Hz. This means that the NTSC signal has a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second. In contrast, a high definition television signal used in a multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding (MUSE) system has a field frequency of 60 Hz. Thus, the high definition television signal frame rate is precisely 30 frames per second.
The consequence of not having an integer number of frames per second is that some frames cannot be assigned an hour, minute, second time code that corresponds to real time. Thus, in order to correct for the fraction of a frame that would otherwise occupy a different time code address, when a NTSC signal is recorded, two frames are skipped at the beginning of each minute except for every tenth minute. This difference adjustment allows each recorded time code to coincide with real time.
This frame-by-frame setting of the time code including the skipped frames is usually referred to as a Drop Frame (DF) stepping time code. The frames skipped to insure that the time codes correspond to real time are called "dropped frames". The normal frame-by-frame setting of time codes, which is used for signal formats that have a frame rate that allows an integer number of frames to be recorded per each second of time, does not require a frame drop adjustment. Only whole frames are assigned a given time code. As mentioned above, the high definition television signal format has a frame rate of 30 frames per second and thus, does not require a frame drop adjustment to cause the assigned time codes to correspond to real time. This frame-by-frame setting of the time code in which it is not necessary to skip frames is usually referred to as a Non-Drop Frame (NDF) non-stepping time code.
In other words, because the time required to record or reproduce one frame of, for example, a high definition television signal which has 1125 scanning lines of resolution and a field frequency of 60 Hz is 1/30 of a second (or 33.33333 ms), the real time actually required when recording or reproducing exactly coincides with the non-stepping time code without having to execute any special adjustment operations.
In contrast, when an NTSC signal which has 525 scanning lines of resolution and a field frequency of 59.94 Hz is recorded or reproduced, the time required to record and reproduce one frame is 1/29.97 seconds (or 33.36667 ms). Therefore, the real time required to record, for example, 30 frames is longer than the one second increments of the time code. The result is that the time code lags behind the real time by 0.033367 ms for every 30 seconds of recording or play back time. Over an hour recording period, this lag adds up to a four second difference.
Thus, as indicated above, when a NTSC signal and time codes are to be recorded, a time code is recorded for each frame except that two frames are skipped at the start of each minute that is not a multiple of ten. In other words, two frames are skipped at the beginning of the first through ninth minutes, the eleventh through nineteenth minutes, the twenty-first through the twenty-ninth minutes, etc. As indicated above, drop frame stepping time codes are used so that the time codes coincide with real time during recording and reproduction.
Recently developed VTRs include the capability of selecting a correct frame rate based on a recorded signal. In other words, existing VTRs are capable of determining whether the field frequency of a recorded signal is either 59.94 Hz or 60 Hz. Likewise, existing VTRs can also determine whether stepping time codes (DF) or non-stepping time codes (NDF) have been recorded on the magnetic tape. Such VTRs can simultaneously determine the frame rate and the type of time coding.
As a result of there being at least two different frame rates and at least two different time coding methods, there are at least four different possible combinations of ways a recorded signal might be found on a magnetic tape. The relationship between the time codes of the individual combinations discussed above and real time are shown in FIG. 5.
As indicated above, in order to correctly select the proper playback mode in terms of frame rate and time coding, it is necessary to determine which combination of frame rate and time coding was originally used to record the signal on magnetic tape.
Referring to FIG. 5, when the recording frame rate is 59.94 Hz and the time code is recorded in an NDF format as specified on row (1) in the recording mode columns, one hour of real elapsed time results in a time coding count of 59 minutes, 56 seconds, and 12 frames. This count lags the real time in that the difference is three seconds and 18 frames. Therefore, when the playback frame rate is set to 59.94 Hz in the playback mode as indicated in row (1) of FIG. 5, a difference between the real time and the time code occurs. Hence, the recording time code cannot be used as a reference when it is desired to use a broadcast time, for example, as a control time.
On the other hand, when the information signal is recorded using a field frequency of 59.94 Hz and the stepping time code DF is used as indicated on line (2) in the recording mode columns of FIG. 5, one hour of real elapsed time results in a time coding count of one hour. This count completely coincides with real time. However, the number of frames to be reproduced is not an integer number (107,892.11 frames). This is a problem in that image editors, such as those used for animation and computer graphics, can only perform editing on whole frames. In other words, a frame is the smallest unit with which an image editor can work. When there are such fractions of frames involved, they are truncated and the result is that image transitions are not smooth.
Such a problem even arises when a high definition television signal is converted down into a ground wave and it is broadcast as a ground wave. In a VTR for HD which is capable of recording a high definition television signal (1125 scanning lines and 60 Hz field frequency) of the aforementioned MUSE system, the field frequency can be selected for recording as either 60 Hz or 59.94 Hz to preserve compatibility with a system that uses NTSC signaling (525 scanning lines and 60 Hz field frequency).
Referring to row (3) of FIG. 5, since a high definition television signal with a field frequency of 60 Hz is represented in 60 fields (or 30 frames) per second, the real time required for recording and reproducing coincides with the time displayed on the VTR's display counter if the step-by-step setting of time codes is NDF where frames are not dropped and the time codes are recorded in 1/30-second (=33. 33333 ms) units every frame.
On the other hand, referring to row (4), when a NTSC signal having a field frequency of 59.94 Hz is represented in 59.94 fields (or 29.97 frames) per second, the time code is delayed 3 seconds and 18 frames with respect to real time if the time codes are recorded in the 1/30-second units for each frame as mentioned above.
Thus, if no information about how to select the frame rate and the time coded is provided upon reproduction, then a process corresponding to real time and a process to be executed based on the number of frames as a reference, cannot be performed.
Further, when the recording frame rate is set to 59.94 Hz and the time code is recorded in the NDF format, the real time does not coincide with the time code as described in row (1) of FIG. 5, and the number of frames does not result in integer number of frames. If, for example, the playback field frequency is 59.94 Hz, which is identical to the rate used at recording, but a DF-type time code is used in place of the NDF type time code, then at least the real time coincides with the time code as described in line (2) of the playback mode columns of FIG. 5.
If the setting of the time code remains unchanged and only the playback field frequency is set to 60 Hz, then the time code coincides with real time and the number of frames becomes an integer as described in line (1) of the playback mode columns of FIG. 5. It therefore becomes possible to perform image editing work with smooth transitions.
In order to allow reproduction in a format different from that used for recording it would be desirable to have a VTR in which the playback frame rate can be arbitrarily selected and either NDF or DF time code formats can be also selected for playback information.

Selectable recording frame rate video tape recorder


A distinctive technique for creating a shaped article (90, 100) includes a pivoting of a first portion (56) of a cooperating web layer (26) substantially about a first joining region (40) to lie laterally adjacent to a first portion (52) of a primary web layer (24). The cooperating web layer (26) has been positioned in a superposed facing relation with the primary web layer (24) with the primary web layer having a first and second, lateral side edge regions (32, 34), and the cooperating web layer having third and fourth, lateral side edge regions (36, 38). The first side edge region (32) of the primary web layer (24) has been synchronized to the third side edge region (36) of the cooperating web layer (26) along the first joining region (40), and the second side edge region (34) of the primary web layer (24) has been synchronized to the fourth side edge region (38) of the cooperating web layer (26) along a second joining region (42) to provide a synchronized laminated web (44). The laminated web has been separated along a serpentine division line (46) to provide a first composite web (48) and at least a second composite web (50). The first composite web (48) has the first portion (52) of the primary web layer (24) combined with the first portion (56) of the cooperating web layer (26), and the second composite web (50) has a second portion (54) of the primary web layer (24) combined with a second portion (58) of the cooperating web layer (26).

Conventional articles, such as webs and associated products, have been prepared by forming the web and then cutting away selected portions to form desired shapes and contours at the opposed, lateral sides of the web. Other techniques have included cutting a sheet into two elongated webs so that one edge of each web is straight and the other edge has alternating concave and convex portions. The webs have been affixed to each other or to a water-impervious backing sheet so that the straight edge portions thereof face each other and the alternating concave-convex portions face outwardly.
In further techniques, a concave-convex cutting line has been applied repetitively in a periodical way in the longitudinal direction of a continuous first web to form first and second partial webs. The first partial web has been offset with respect to the second partial web in the longitudinal direction by a prescribed interval so that the concave edges and the convex edges of the first and second partial webs are positioned opposite to and aligned with each. A continuous second web has been used to connect the outside edges opposite to the aligned concave and convex edge portions of the first and second partial webs, and the second web is bonded with the outside edges of the partial webs to form a composite web. Following the bonding, the first and second partial webs of the composite web have been spread apart.
Conventional techniques, such as those described above, have not been able to produce a shaped article having desired contours at sufficiently high speeds and at a sufficient reduction in the amount of wasted of material. In particular, the conventional techniques have been limited to a side contour, repeat pattern in which each individual pattern is longitudinally symmetrical. As a result, the conventional techniques have been unable to efficiently produce a shaped article having side contours with a multi-segment repeating pattern in which the pattern includes two or more different pattern-segments. As a result, the conventional techniques have not been sufficiently able to efficiently produce individual shaped articles which are non-symmetric along their longitudinal, lengthwise directions.

Process for making a shaped product with no material waste


An aspect provides a method, including: ascertaining, at a source device, an area of a storage device inclusive of multiple selected files for transfer to a sink device; copying, at the source device, files resident in the area of the storage device inclusive of the multiple files selected for transfer to a sink device into a transfer file; creating, at the source device, a control file comprising information necessary to identify the multiple selected files for transfer included in the transfer file; and transmitting, from the source device, the transfer file to the sink device. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Information handling devices ("devices"), for example laptop or desktop computers, tablet computing devices, smart phones, e-readers and the like, are used to transfer media files. For example, a user may wish to transfer multiple music files from an account on one device for use/consumption on another device. In such a context, a user may use a laptop computing device to copy multiple music files from a source device (which may be the laptop computing device itself or another device) to a smart phone or a tablet computing device, or some other user device.
Conventionally transfer actions such as copy actions are executed individually, for example one copy action per music file. Copying many files takes a long time. This problem is most acutely felt when backing up data or migrating to a new system, as many files need to be transferred. The transferring of many files and the time taken to complete these actions also occurs in other contexts as well.


Systems and methods for provisioning a mobile device are described. Provisioning of a mobile device may include binding the device to financial account(s) associated with a financial institution computing system or binding an application installed on the device to the financial account(s). Such systems and methods may use ATMs to facilitate communication with the device and retrieve a unique identifier. The unique identifier, whether received from the ATM or through another communication channel, may be used to further verify the identity of a user of the device as well as verify that the device belongs to or is being used by the same user that has the financial. Once the user is verified and the mobile device is determined to belong to or used by the user, the mobile device can be provisioned by binding either the entire device or an application on the device to the financial account(s).

Users of individual computing devices such as mobile phones that also have a financial account at a financial institution may use automated teller machines ("ATMs"). The ATMs may be associated with the financial institution, associated with a different financial institution, independently-owned, etc. ATMs are often used to quickly and efficiently manage financial accounts, perform financial transactions, and update settings, options, or other data associated with the financial accounts. ATMs are capable of performing increasingly complex and varied operations relating to customer accounts.
Users of individual computing devices often install various applications on their devices, some of which have been authorized to have access to one or more financial accounts of the users with the financial institution

Provisioning of an individual computing device via ATM


A power management system obtains first data regarding several groups of electrical devices, including a budget and a respective priority metric associated with each of the groups. The system allots a respective amount of electrical power for use by each of the groups based on the first data. Further, the system obtains second data regarding the groups, including a respective amount of electrical power consumed by each of the groups. The system determines that a first group has consumed a first amount of electrical power that is greater than or equal to a second amount of electrical power that had been allotted for use by the first group. In response, the system re-allots at least a portion of a third amount of electrical power that had been allotted for use by a second group for use by the first group instead.

A facility can include one or more devices that consume electrical power. For example, a facility can include one or more lighting systems, appliances, industrial equipment, computer systems, telecommunications systems, and/or other electrical devices.
Further, electrical power can be provided to the facility by a source of electrical power, such as a public utility or a private utility via an electrical grid. In some implementations, the source of electrical power can provide electrical power in exchange for a monetary fee.

Systems and methods for monitoring and controlling electrical power consumption


The concepts and technologies disclosed herein are directed to conditional temporary authentication for third party nodes. According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a first node of a plurality of nodes can provide a master authentication key to a second node of the plurality of nodes. The first node can receive, from a third node of the plurality of nodes, a temporary child authentication key derived from the master authentication by the second node. The first node can process the temporary child authentication key to determine which portion of a resource to allow the third node to access. The first node can provide the third node access to the portion of the resource.

Single sign-on technologies enable users to securely authenticate with multiple applications and/or websites using a single set of authentication credentials (e.g., a username and password). The proliferation of Internet ecosystems, including Internet-based email and productivity ecosystems such as those available from GOOGLE, and social media ecosystems available from FACEBOOK, have made available single-sign on technologies to a vast majority of Internet users. For example, a FACEBOOK user may use their FACEBOOK credentials to create a new account with a third party for the use of an application (e.g., a smartphone app), an e-commerce account, a website user account, or any number of other Internet-related services. The convenience of this feature often overshadows the potential security risks. This may lead to a user agreeing to grant more access than necessary.

Conditional temporary authentication for third party nodes


A cleaning apparatus for an endless conveyor belt is provided. The cleaning apparatus is operable for a rotary cleaning head to perform a cleaning action on a first section of the endless conveyor belt. In an embodiment of the present invention, the rotary cleaning head comprises a rotating disc assembly. The rotary cleaning assembly is operable for a mobile mount to position the rotary cleaning head into a first cleaning contact position with the endless conveyor belt. To affix the rotary cleaning head assembly to a mount, a connecting portion having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the proximal end includes a first coupling is provided. Said coupling is capable of making a connection to and disconnecting from the mobile mount, and said distal end capable of making a connection and disconnecting from the rotary cleaning head and adapted for use with the rotary cleaning head.

The present invention is directed to the art of cleaning surfaces, such as commercial conveyor belts that are used in connection with the manufacture of various types of goods that may incorporate ingredients or components that under different circumstances could be considered contaminants, and sometimes dangerous, if cross contamination were to occur during the manufacturing or processing of other types of goods on the same conveyor belt subsequently.
Conveyors are widely used for conveying a variety of products, including discrete items or assemblies as well as bulk materials. In many instances some of the materials coming in contact with the conveyor will cling or adhere thereto. These materials may include product fines or trimmings, excess product, excess finishing materials, or extraneous materials from other sources such as accumulations of lubricants or dirt, may include adherent liquids such as paints, and may include debris from pharmaceutical products. All such materials are encompassed by the term "debris" hereinafter. The retention or accumulation of such debris on the conveyor usually is undesirable or unacceptable. Accordingly, removal is desirable or necessary as a condition of continued operations or to enhance efficiency of continued operations and may require periodic shut-down of the operation of the system for cleaning purposes. Further, a cleaning head capable of being directed to said debris would improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of a modular head resulting in less down time and increased product safety.
In the prior art, conveyor belts used in various commercial activities are known to become soiled, typically with spillage from materials being conveyed or treated on the belt. It becomes desirable and necessary to clean at least the working upper surface of the belt. The need for such cleaning is heightened when for example food products, pharmaceuticals, and other indigestible items are the article of manufacture. The need is more crucial when the ultimate article of manufacture under preparation on the conveyor belt contains ingredients or components that if accidentally permitted to contaminate certain different articles of manufacture could result in harm and potentially death. The need is felt even more acutely when contaminates may not be visible to the naked eye.
As manufacturing demands have increased, often the diversity of products manufactured on any given conveyor belt has similarly grown, and with it the laws governing and controlling product manufacturing and labelling, as well as regulating the processing and inclusion or exclusion of specific ingredients or components, by intent or accident, particularly with regard to pharmaceutical products. Thus, there is an urgent need for improved means for effectively removing allergens, pharmaceutical residue and contaminants from the conveyor belts, particularly when these allergens, residue and contaminants are difficult to observe.
Historically, cleaning conveyor belts has been a burdensome task accomplished by installing a cleaning device in the path of the belt and allowing the belt to pass through the cleaning device, perhaps several times, until the extraneous material is removed. However, as discussed above, recent laws, requirements, and consumer expectations have increased the burden on manufacturers of food products, pharmaceuticals, and other ingestible goods, particularly those that produce multiple types of products, some of which may contain various types of allergens or the like that could cause adverse reactions if ingested or used accidentally by uninformed consumers. This problem is even more acute if said consumers are prone to such allergies or sensitivities. Thus, a need is felt in the art to make ensure that various products are both properly labeled to identify the inclusion or exclusion of such particulates and to prevent the accidental contamination of their other products manufactured using the same conveyor belt.
Adding complexity to this already existing problem, modern manufacturing techniques often use finely granulated products that produce residue invisible to the naked eye. Such residue may contain contaminants detrimental or harmful if ingested as would be the case with regard to pharmaceutical residue.
The problem of adherence and accumulation of debris typically is enhanced when the product being handled or the environment of use exposes the conveyor to oils, food toppings, lubricants, paints or other adherent materials. Also, the cleaning requirements and problems referred to above are enhanced when dealing with food and pharmaceutical products because of the need to avoid contamination of the end products as well as to minimize or avoid the inclusion of product debris or fragments in the packages of the end product. Governmental regulations and desirable operating practices also typically require periodic complete washing and/or steam cleaning of equipment which contacts food or pharmaceutical products during production, with dismantling of relevant processing mechanisms for such cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,784,476 to Handy (the "'476 Patent") discloses and claims a portable cleaning system for cleaning a moving item such as an escalator or conveyor belt. The system comprises an overhead steam jet assembly slidably mounted on transverse rails for motion transverse to the direction of motion of the escalator or conveyor belt. The transverse rails are disposed between width-adjustable end pieces that rest on stationary outer members of the escalator. A shortcoming of this system is that the steam jet assembly has no mechanism to direct the assembly to particular locations on the belt. Perhaps, the most significant drawback presented by the system is its failure to address the removal of certain particulates (e.g., whole, crushed, or fragmented seeds and nuts, soybean particulate, wheat debris, egg debris, and fish or shellfish remains), which may become embedded in the surface conveyor belts. Indeed, it is likely that the mechanism of the assembly claimed in the '476 Patent would likely exacerbate these precise concerns.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,248,975 to Handy (the "'975 Patent") also discloses and claims a portable cleaning system for cleaning a moving item such as an escalator or conveyor belt. The system comprises an overhead steam jet assembly slidably mounted on transverse rails for motion transverse to the direction of motion of the escalator or conveyor belt. The transverse rails are disposed between width-adjustable end pieces that rest on stationary outer members of the escalator. As set forth in the '476 Patent, a shortcoming of this system is that the steam jet assembly is that no mechanism exists to direct the assembly to particular locations on the belt. Perhaps, the most significant drawback presented by the system is its failure to address the removal of certain particulates (e.g., whole, crushed, or fragmented seeds and nuts, soybean particulate, wheat debris, egg debris, and fish or shellfish remains), which may become embedded in the surface conveyor belts. Indeed, it is likely that the mechanism of the assembly claimed by the '975 Patent would likely exacerbate these precise concerns.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,150,623 to Handy (the "'623 Patent") discloses and claims a cleaning apparatus comprising a connection part permitting connection to a supply of cleaning fluid, and a rotatable member rotatably movable relative to the connection part, the rotatable member being in a form of a disc with an opening within the disc in connection with the connection part to receive cleaning fluid therefrom, with one or more outlets extending from the opening in the disc, to an exterior of the disc, to supply cleaning fluid to an area or item to be cleaned, wherein the rotatable member is made of a plastics material, and wherein the rotatable member is driven by a gear provided on the rotatable member and the gear is drivable by a motor. A shortcoming of this system is that the steam jet assembly is that no mechanism exists to direct the assembly to particular locations on the belt. Perhaps, the most significant drawback presented by the system is its failure to address the removal of certain particulates (e.g., whole, crushed, or fragmented seeds and nuts, soybean particulate, wheat debris, egg debris, and fish or shellfish remains), which may become embedded in the surface conveyor belts. Indeed, it is likely that the mechanism of the assembly claimed by the '623 Patent would likely exacerbate these precise concerns.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,503 to Thompson (the "'503 Patent") discloses A conveyor belt cleaning apparatus for cleaning a continuous loop conveyor belt having a surface and within a check stand, comprising: a debris-removal stage; a washing stage; a rinsing stage; a drying stage; and a multi-chambered drawer and each of said stages is provided with an isolated bin within the drawer; wherein said surface of said continuous loop conveyor belt passes through said stages to remove any debris and bacteria. A shortcoming of this system is that the steam jet assembly is that no mechanism exists to direct the assembly to particular locations on the belt. Perhaps, the most significant drawback presented by the system is its failure to address the removal of certain particulates (e.g., whole, crushed, or fragmented seeds and nuts, soybean particulate, wheat debris, egg debris, and fish or shellfish remains), which may become embedded in the surface conveyor belts. Indeed, it is likely that the mechanism of the assembly claimed by the '503 Patent would likely exacerbate these precise concerns.
While, as explained earlier, numerous commercial systems exist in the prior art for cleaning escalators and conveyor belts, (e.g., the KHD HepcoMotion steam cleaner; KHD Brushless Belt Cleaning System; the Therma-Kleen Conveyor Belt Cleaner; the Amerivac-Houdini Belt Cleaning System; the Electrosteam-Belt Cleaning System; the Dupray Belt Cleaning System; and the Mekini Belt Cleaning System, which are the subjects of the '476, '975, '623, '626, and '331 Patents respectively), each of them are unable to address the specific needs presented herein for several reasons. For example, a shortcoming of this system is that the steam jet assembly is that no mechanism exists to direct the assembly to particular locations on the belt. Indeed, it is likely that the mechanism of these known assemblies would likely exacerbate these precise concerns.
What is needed in the art is a conveyor belt cleaning system for cleaning the working surface of continuous belts formed of a flexible material such as plastic or fabric, used for example, in the continuous preparation of food products, pharmaceuticals, and other ingestible products. The desired conveyor belt cleaning system will provide a means for such manufacturers of food products, pharmaceuticals, and other ingestible goods, and most notably those that produce multiple types of products, where some of such products may contain various types of allergens or the like that could cause adverse reactions if ingested or used by unsuspected consumers prone to such allergies or sensitivities to prevent the accidental contamination of their other products manufactured using the same conveyor belt through the effective removal of such contaminants and allergens. Further, what is needed in the art is such a conveyor belt cleaning system wherein the cleaning head can be directed to area of the belt having excess debris. Still further, what is needed in the art is a cleaning head that can be directed to miniscule and difficult to ascertain particulate matter located on the belt.


An example network device receives an encapsulated network packet via a network tunnel; extracts IPv6 header information from the encapsulated network packet; extracts IPv4 header information from the encapsulated network packet; determines that the encapsulated network packet is a spoofed network packet based on the IPv6 header information and the IPv4 header information; and in response to detecting the spoofed network packet, transmits a message to a Tunnel Entry Point (TEP) device, the message including data representing the IPv6 header information and IPv4 header information. A tunnel entry point (TEP) device may receive the message and use the message to detect spoofed IPv6 traffic, e.g., when an IPv6 header and an IPv4 header of an encapsulated packet matches the IPv6 header and the IPv4 header specified in the message. In this manner, the TEP device may block, rate limit, or redirect spoofed network traffic.

A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that exchange data and share resources. In a packet-based network, such as the Internet, the computing devices communicate data by dividing the data into small blocks called packets. The packets are individually routed across the network from a source device to a destination device using an Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The destination device extracts the data from the packets and assembles the data into its original form. Dividing the data into packets enables the source device to resend only those individual packets that may be lost during transmission.
A private network may include a number of devices, such as computers, owned or administered by a single enterprise. These devices may be grouped into a number of site networks, which in turn may be geographically distributed over a wide area. Each site network may include one or more local area networks (LANs). With the advent of Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology, enterprises can now securely share data between site networks over a public network, such as the Internet. In a typical implementation, one or more "network tunnels" are engineered through the intermediate network to transport data and other network communications between the geographically distributed sites.
IP version 4 (IPv4) is an early version of IP that is still used today. IP version 6 (IPv6) is a newer version of IP that is also used today. Because some networks use IPv4 and other networks use IPv6, many computer networks encapsulate IPv4 packets into IPv6 packets, and vice versa, for transmission within networks that use IPv6 or IPv4, respectively. For example, two site networks may use IPv4 and a network tunnel for transporting data between the two site networks may use IPv6. As a result, network devices may use Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) or other relay technologies to encapsulate IPv4 packets into IPv6 packets for transmission within the IPv6 network tunnel. Greater details regarding MAPE-E are discussed in O. Troan, Ed., et al., "Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E)", RFC 7597, July 2015, available at https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7597, the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Conventional Tunnel Entry Point (TEP) routers assume that any given upstream computing device can be "trusted" to only send valid encapsulated packets. However, this poses potential security vulnerability in that a TEP router may receive an encapsulated packet from a malicious source. That is, the malicious source may "spoof" an upstream computing device by encapsulating an invalid IPv4 packet into an IPv6 packet with valid IPv6 header information. While a MAP-E Border Relay (BR) device of a receiving site network attempts to prevent spoofing by dropping the encapsulated packets in which the source address and port number from the IPv6 headers do not correlate to the source address and port number within the encapsulated IPv4 packet, at that point the encapsulated packet has already consumed network resources as it has already been transmitted through the tunnel network. This makes these networks susceptible Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.

Dynamic security actions for network tunnels against spoofing


A first insulating layer (32), a first shield pattern (iii) and a second insulating layer (112) are layered on an aluminum substrate (31) in that order. A first and a second power switching element (1, 2), which are in totem pole like connection, are provided On the second insulating layer (112). Also provided on the second insulating layer (112) are a first and a second control circuit (13, 14), through a second and a third shield pattern (101, 104) as well as a third and a fourth insulating layer (105, 106). The first shield pattern (111) is kept at a certain reference potential, because .+-.he first shield pattern (11) connected to a power source terminal N. The second and the third shield pattern (101, 104) are kept at potentials corresponding to the potentials of the output terminals of the first and the second power switching element (1, 2), respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, it relates to the prevention of malfunctions caused by noise or the like in a bridge power switching device and which has its control circuit modularized on a single metal substrate.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional three phase bridge inverter circuit for driving a motor or the like. The inverter circuit includes six power NPN transistors 1 to 6. The transistors 1 and 2 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 are connected like totem poles, respectively and connected in parallel between power source terminals P and N. Between the power source terminals P and N, high voltage which is positive on a terminal P side is applied. A junction of an emitter Of the transistor 1 and a collector of the transistor 2 is connected to a U-phase output terminal U, a junction of an emitter of the transistor 3 and a collector of the transistor 4 is connected to a V-phase output terminal V, and a function of an emitter of the transistor 5 and a collector of the transistor 6 is connected to a W-phase output terminal W. Between the emitters and collectors of the transistors 1 to 6, flywheel diodes 7 to I2 are connected, respectively.
Control circuits 13 to 18 to control turning-ON/OFF of the transistors to 6 are connected to bases of the transistors 1 to 6, respectively. The control circuits 13 to 18 include drivers 25 to 30 which receive control signals applied to input terminals 19 to 24 to produce base drive signals of the transistors 1 to 6. The transistors 1 to 6 turn ON/OFF in response to the control signals inputted to the input terminals 19 to 24. The control circuits 18 to 18 also include protection circuits which detect over current, over voltage, overheating and the like to afford appropriate protection, as required. Furthermore, the control circuits 13, 15 and 17 on an upper arm side also include interface circuits, such as photocouplers and the like, for shifting control signals at a low voltage level applied to the input terminals 19, 21 and 23 to a high voltage level. Each of the control circuits 13 to 18 is composed of an IC, discrete transistors, resistances, capacitors and the like. The control circuits 13, 15 and 17 on the upper arm side have their respective power sources V.sub.UP, V.sub.VP and V.sub.WP, while the control circuits 14, 16 and 18 on a lower arm side have a common power source V.sub.N.
The circuit in FIG. 12 is modularized on a single metal substrate, except for V.sub.UP, V.sub.VP, V.sub.WP and V.sub.N. Boosting voltage of the power source V.sub.N on the lower arm side with a charge pump circuit formed on the metal substrate, the power sources V.sub.UP, V.sub.VP and V.sub.WP on the upper arm side can be made in the module.
FIG. 13 is a sectional view showing a structure of a U-phase part when the circuit in FIG. 12 is formed on a single metal substrate. An insulating layer 32 is formed on an aluminum substrate 31, and a copper pattern 33 similar to a hiring pattern of a printed wiring board is formed thereon. The power transistors 1, 2 and the control circuits 13, 14 are fixed on the copper pattern 33 by soldering or the like. Aluminum wires 34, 35 are base wires, while aluminum wires 36, 37 are emitter wires. The copper patterns 33 are appropriately connected but not shown, and a part of the connections is equivalently shown with connection lines 38. 39. In this way, the U-phase circuitry in FIG. 12 is formed on the single aluminum substrate 31, and connected to external elements through external terminals U, N, P, 19 and 20 formed on the aluminum substrate 31.
FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing an enlarged portion on the upper arm side in FIG. 13. Since the copper pattern 33 and the aluminum substrate 31 are opposed to each other with the insulating layer 32 interposed therebetween, capacitances are formed therebetween. In other words, the copper pattern 33 is capacitively coupled to the aluminum substrate 31. In FIG. 14, a capacitance between a copper pattern 33a to which the output terminal U (i.e., the emitter of the power transistor 1, the collector of the power transistor 2 and a minus side of the power source VUP) is connected and the aluminum substrate 31, and a capacitance between a copper pattern 33b to which the input terminal 19 is connected and the aluminum substrate 31 are represented as C1 and C2, respectively. A capacitance between the copper patterns 33a and 33b is represented as C3. A terminal S connected to the aluminum substrate 31 is shown only for convenience of explanation.
Now, the capacitances C1, C2 and C3 alone should be noticed for discussing what kind of influence noise applied between the terminals U and S exerts upon the terminal 19, and the other capacitances are neglected.
FIG. 15 is an equivalent circuit diagram with the capacitances C1, C2 and C3. Since the copper pattern 33a is larger than the copper pattern 33b in area, the capacitance C1 is larger than the capacitances C2. The capacitance C3 is very small compared with the capacitances C1 and C2 because it is a capacitance between the patterns. Thus, the following relations are obtained. EQU C2>C2>>C3 (1)
Now assume that dV/dt (U) is applied to the terminal U with respect to the terminal S as noise. At this time, noise dV/dt (19) applied to the terminal 19 with respect to the terminal U can be expressed by an equation as follows: ##EQU1##
From the relation of the equation (1), the following formula is obtained: ##EQU2##
Thus, noise arises in the terminal 19 with respect to the terminal U to the same extent as in the terminal U with respect to the terminal S. As will be apparent from FIG. 12, the terminal U is an output terminal connected to the output electrode (emitter) of the power transistor 1 and applies reference potential of the control circuit 13 of the power transistor 1. On the other hand, the terminal 19 is an input terminal of the control circuit 13. There is the problem that malfunctions are caused in the control circuit 13 because noise arises in the terminal 19 applying a control input for the control circuit 13, with respect to the terminal U applying reference potential of the control circuit 13. Such noise arises not only in the input terminal 19 but in various signal paths in the control circuit 13 and causes malfunctions, for example, erroneously exercising protection functions (protecting from over current, over voltage and the like). Such a disadvantage is also caused when noise is applied to the terminals V, W, p and N (i.e., current paths in the power transistors 1 to 6) with respect to the aluminum substrate 31.

Power semiconductor module with multiple shielding layers


An insert for a drill bit may include a substrate; a working layer of polycrystalline diamond material on the uppermost end of the insert, wherein the polycrystalline diamond material includes a plurality of interconnected diamond grains; and a binder material; and an inner transition layer between the working layer and the substrate, wherein the inner transition layer is adjacent to the substrate; wherein the inner transition layer has a hardness that is at least 500 HV greater than the hardness of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to diamond enhanced inserts.
2. Background Art
An earth-boring drill bit is typically mounted on the lower end of a drill string and is rotated by rotating the drill string at the surface or by actuation of downhole motors or turbines, or by both methods. When weight is applied to the drill string, the rotating drill bit engages the earth formation and proceeds to form a borehole along a predetermined path toward a target zone.
There are several types of drill bits, including roller cone bits, hammer bits, and drag bits. The term "drag bits" (also referred to as "fixed cutter drill bits") refers to those rotary drill bits with no moving elements. Fixed cutter bits include those having cutting elements attached to the bit body, which predominantly cut the formation by a shearing action. Cutting elements used on fixed cutter bits may include polycrystalline diamond compacts (PDCs), diamond grit impregnated inserts ("grit hot-pressed inserts" (GHIs), or natural diamond. Roller cone rock bits include a bit body adapted to be coupled to a rotatable drill string and include at least one "cone" that is rotatably mounted to a cantilevered shaft or journal as frequently referred to in the art. Each roller cone in turn supports a plurality of cutting elements that cut and/or crush the wall or floor of the borehole and thus advance the bit. The cutting elements, either inserts or milled teeth, contact with the formation during drilling to crush, gouge, and scrape rock at the bottom of a hole being drilled. Hammer bits are typically include a one piece body with having crown. The crown includes inserts pressed therein for being cyclically "hammered" and rotated against the earth formation being drilled.
Depending on the type and location of the cutting elements on a drill bit, the cutting elements perform different cutting functions, and as a result, also experience different loading conditions during use. Two kinds of wear-resistant inserts have been developed for use as cutting elements on drill bits: tungsten carbide inserts (TCIs) and polycrystalline diamond enhanced inserts (DEIs). Tungsten carbide inserts are typically formed of cemented tungsten carbide (also known as sintered tungsten carbide): tungsten carbide particles dispersed in a cobalt binder matrix. A polycrystalline diamond enhanced insert typically includes a cemented tungsten carbide body as a substrate and a layer of polycrystalline diamond ("PCD") directly bonded to the tungsten carbide substrate on the top portion of the insert. A working layer formed of a PCD material can provide improved wear resistance, as compared to the softer, tougher tungsten carbide inserts.
The layer(s) of PCD conventionally include diamond and a metal in an amount of up to about 30 percent by weight of the layer to facilitate diamond intercrystalline bonding and bonding of the layers to each other and to the underlying substrate. Metals employed in PCD are often selected from cobalt, iron, or nickel and/or mixtures or alloys thereof and can include metals such as manganese, tantalum, chromium and/or mixtures or alloys thereof. However, while higher metal content typically increases the toughness of the resulting PCD material, higher metal content also decreases the PCD material hardness, thus limiting the flexibility of being able to provide PCD coatings having desired levels of both hardness and toughness. Additionally, when variables are selected to increase the hardness of the PCD material, typically brittleness also increases, thereby reducing the toughness of the PCD material.
Although the polycrystalline diamond layer is extremely hard and wear resistant, a polycrystalline diamond enhanced insert may still fail during normal operation. Failure typically takes one of three common forms, namely wear, fatigue, and impact cracking. The wear mechanism occurs due to the relative sliding of the PCD relative to the earth formation, and its prominence as a failure mode is related to the abrasiveness of the formation, as well as other factors such as formation hardness or strength, and the amount of relative sliding involved during contact with the formation. Excessively high contact stresses and high temperatures, along with a very hostile downhole environment, also tend to cause severe wear to the diamond layer. The fatigue mechanism involves the progressive propagation of a surface crack, initiated on the PCD layer, into the material below the PCD layer until the crack length is sufficient for spalling or chipping. Lastly, the impact mechanism involves the sudden propagation of a surface crack or internal flaw initiated on the PCD layer, into the material below the PCD layer until the crack length is sufficient for spalling, chipping, or catastrophic failure of the enhanced insert.
External loads due to contact tend to cause failures such as fracture, spalling, and chipping of the diamond layer. Internal stresses, for example thermal residual stresses resulting from the manufacturing process, tend to cause delamination between the diamond layer and the substrate or the transition layer, either by cracks initiating along the interface and propagating outward, or by cracks initiating in the diamond layer surface and propagating catastrophically along the interface.
The primary approach used to address the delamination problem in convex cutting elements is the addition of transition layers made of materials with thermal and elastic properties located between the ultrahard material layer and the substrate, applied over the entire substrate protrusion surface. These transition layers have the effect of reducing the residual stresses at the interface and thus improving the resistance of the inserts to delamination.
Transition layers have significantly reduced the magnitude of detrimental residual stresses and correspondingly increased durability of inserts in application. Nevertheless, basic failure modes still remain. These failure modes involve complex combinations of three mechanisms, including wear of the PCD, surface initiated fatigue crack growth, and impact-initiated failure.
It is, therefore, desirable that an insert structure be constructed that provides desired PCD properties of hardness and wear resistance with improved properties of fracture toughness and chipping resistance, as compared to conventional PCD materials and insert structures, for use in aggressive cutting and/or drilling applications.

Diamond enhanced drilling insert with high impact resistance


Disclosed is a method and apparatus to electronically tabulate items marked with a bar code. The system may optionally operate to manage, control and tabulate inventory, produce vendor-correct purchase orders, manage multiple locations, multiple buildings, multiple clients and multiple stores to facilitate efficiency for a wholesaler or retailer or alternatively for a distributor, broker or sales agent. The system may alternatively be used to manage inventory for a manufacturing environment or for tracking evidence or items in a chain of custody environment useful for governmental and scientific functions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to electronic inventory control utilizing a pre-programmed, hand-held, computer scanner. Specifically the palm-sized device maintains database tables relating bar code scanned items to functions and optional Internet connectivity. The applicability of this device including the programming includes but is not limited to retail stores in accounting for inventory flow control, manufacturing enterprises where many parts are combined and need to be accounted for in the transition from individual parts to assembled parts as well as the multitude of parts; government agencies and scientific laboratories which must account for movements and locations of evidence or samples; distribution companies which visit on-site purchases and account for their own inventory on shelves or in stockrooms, such as in hospitals, doctor's offices, veterinary clinics, wholesale and retail outlets, grocery stores and others.
2. Description of Related Art
A. Technology
(i) Hand-Held Computers
In the last several years, there has been increasing popularity in the use of hand-held computers. These devices have improved in memory and power. In 1993 Apple produced the Newton, a personal computer; it did not succeed. However, Apple coined the term PDA (personal digital assistant) and began a revolution in computing. It is estimated that venture capitalists spent a billion dollars attempting to develop PDAs in the early 1990s. In 1994, Palm Computing designed the first successful PDA, with the core functions of calendar, to do list, address book, and memo-writing features. Popularized by Palm, and PDAs are now produced by Casio, HP, Sony, Psion, Compaq, Motorola, Hand Spring and. Microsoft developed the Windows CE operating system for PDAs.
Typically users input data to the PDA using shorthand scripts. Palm popularized its "Graffiti" language which is more efficient than Apple's first attempts to have the Newton recognize any script. With regard to numerical data input there often exists inefficiencies in data entry.
(ii) Bar Codes and Scanners
In 1948, Silver and Woodland invented a "bulls eye" code for cash registers. It could not maintain inventory or collect data. The Woodland and Silver patent application was issued Oct. 7, 1952 as U.S. Pat. No. 2,612,994. In 1951, optical character recognition (OCR) was invented. In 1967 bar code scanning by OCR was first used in supermarkets. In 1973 the Uniform Code Counsel was instituted to develop Uniform Product Codes—UPCs. Subsequently point of sale devices, such as electronic cash registers and scanners used UPC codes to price items and to track sales. Bar codes have also been used to track the movement of items, assemble items, account for items. See for example, Bar Code History Page at http://www.adams1.com/pub/russadam/history.html. Bar codes however were first used to track the movement of cars on trains. See the History of Bar Codes, http://escher.cs.ucdavis.edu:1024/CS15/history.html. Interestingly bar codes, bar code readers through OCR and UPC itemization all developed independently of each other. The confluence of these technologies produced a serendipitous revolution in tracking and sales.
The advent of bar code (or bar code ) scanners have revolutionized point of sale activities and movement tracking abilities. However, in a retail environment, point of sale information does not tell a complete story. Establishments must reconcile with amounts ordered, and amounts on-hand or in stock.
(iii) Web-Based Ordering
The Internet was originally developed as ARPANET and then as DARPANET of the Department of Defense as a network which would provide uninterrupted communication in the event of a nuclear war. Later, at CERN, an English scientist Tim Berner-Lee, who now holds an endowed chair at MIT, developed hypertext language and certain protocols. After the personal computer revolution of the 1980s, and the opening of the Internet to educational institutions, the Internet was made available to the public at large.
The Internet was used for different protocols and effect. Certain clients were used for electronic mail (email), while others were used for file transfer (FTP—file transfer protocol), and browsing (first by Mosaic, then Netscape and Explorer as noteworthy examples).
Commercial communication has been enhanced and utilizes all of these abilities. Email can replace facsimile is a paperless, now nearly instant form of person to person or business to business (B2B) communication. Purchase orders for example can be transmitted as email requests. Browsing is used ubiquitously for personal and business ordering. A vendor creates a website, in which a purchaser enters order information. The order information is stored electronically. In some circumstances corporations have endeavored to create automated fulfillment with some success (Amazon.com for example). However the process of entering the data is still laborious for the purchaser.
File Transfer Protocol—FTP—can be used to automatically transfer files between computers. In 1972-3, AT&T's then Bell Labs developed the "C" computer language and the Unix operating system, first developed to serve as a network switching facility. During the development of telephonic capabilities, Unix researchers created the UUCP and UUX commands which permitted automated dialing and modem hookup between Unix based computers with the option of bidirectionally transferring files (UUCP—Unix to Unix copy) and bidirectionally executing commands at remote locations. The FTP technology was developed to facilitate transfer of files between dissimilar computer systems.
With the ability to integrate FTP, bar code and scanning technology, hand-held computing and web-based ordering a technological revolution in ordering and fulfillment is possible. The present invention harkens the arrival of this new age.
Therefore:
Scanners and bar code readers have not been integrated with PDAs in small to medium sized businesses to:                function independently of a computer system;        integrate with a computer system;        deal with complex situations such as multiple vendors, multiple locations, multiple clients;        automatically integrate with purchasing and on-hand accounting systems;        automatically integrate with automated sales ordering.And generally in businesses and government organizations:        track the movement of items, units, samples or evidence;        track the use of supplies;        track the manufacturing process from parts to assembled items.
At this time, scanners, which have the ability to scan bar codes have been integrated with PDAs by companies such as Symbol. However, the intelligence within the PDA has not been effectively exploited until this time. The present innovations directly exploit the abilities and intelligence of the PDA integrated with the technologies of scanning and bar code development.
B. Applications
(i) Flow of Items through a Controlled Environment.
With regard to the sales of goods, wholesalers, retailers, and merchants of all kinds have in days past performed inventory control functions by counting the number of items for each type of item or product and then tabulating the same. Originally, such methods were accomplished by paper and pencil. A merchant would close the enterprise periodically to take stock of the inventory on the shelves and in the stockrooms and correlate the on-hand stock with the inventory sold, lost, missing, or damaged. In a large enterprise this is a laborious and costly undertaking. In a company which stocks tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand individual items, the task is daunting and inaccurate.
With the advent of the computer cash register, and the bar code reader, reading SKU's, UPC codes, the number of items sold was tabulated by the bar code. This provided point of sale information giving snapshots of the movement of inventory. However, there are several elements of inventory movement: inventory is received through purchasing, placed in storerooms or directly on shelves, then items are lost, damaged, misplaced, stolen, transferred, or sold, and then at the point of sale, those items that are sold are tabulated. The manager must reconcile the inventory obtained with the inventory on-hand and with the inventory that has been sold or otherwise no longer available.
From an accounting point of view, it is important to perform these tabulations to calculate future and seasonal usage, profits or losses, assets and to ascertain problems and trends. There are economies of scale, such that in many industries, the need to survive involves expanding the store, the number of items and kinds of items available, and the number of outlets. For example, in the vitamin and supplement industry, a single outlet may carry 5,000 to 100,000 different items, given the size and comprehensiveness of the outlet. A given vitamin may be sold in different potencies. Then there are bottles of the same potency with different quantities. The same potencies and quantities may be obtained from different manufactures. The same manufacturer may make the same items available through different distributors or vendors. Additional subtle factors come into play. Some items sell better seasonally. Some items are priced at special prices by the vendor. Some items due to trends or quality become top sellers. Some vendors have better return policies. Sometimes a vendor is unable to supply merchandise and offers the merchandise on a back-order status to the enterprise. Many items have expiration dates, and must be discarded if not sold by a certain date. All of this needs to be controlled and referenced to efficiently manage a business. The purchasing manager has to determine the number of items on hand, and the predicted usage, and then the best source to purchase these different items. There has been a long felt need to have a comprehensive way to track the movement of inventory items, predict usage, tabulate amounts on hand, and order from appropriate vendors.
Once the sums of inventory on-hand and inventory sold has been tabulated, then the inventory manager could study trends, determine which items to order, and in which quantities, and then place the order with the appropriate vendors for each item. During the process of ordering, the inventory manager analyzes product movement, compares prices between different vendors, creates purchase orders, and submits these orders. When the product is received, the inventory manager would stock the inventory, verify shelf-tag pricing, print new shelf-tags if needed, manage inventory stock levels, and analyze product movement again.
The distributor of items has analogous problems. A distributor is typically a company that buys products from different manufacturers, stocks product, and resells the product at a markup. A distributor wants to keep the shelves of many stores stocked. Often the distributor's sales agent will go to a store, and travel to different aisles and shelves and count the on-hand inventory. The sales agent will determine how much product is in the stock room. The sales agent will have to tabulate and predict the amount of stock that has been used since the last sales cycle. Then the sales agent will create a purchase order for the store, get an OK, and order the merchandise for the store. In the case of the store, or chain of stores, there are multiple vendors for multiple items with different packaging, manufacturers, vendors, and locations. In the case of the distributor, there are multiple stores or chains of stores within the sales agent's territory. Close analysis shows that this is essentially an identical analytical problem. A broker is usually considered a sales agent who does not purchase or stock inventory, but rather acts as an outside agent for a manufacturer or distributor. Distributors, manufacturers reps, brokers, and sales agents work with relatively low margins and high volumes. Any efficiencies in tabulation, prediction, and ordering will permit more sales calls in the same time, and substantially greater profitability.
There exists now systems using hand-held computer scanners which can tabulate the number of items on-hand for a given manufacturer or line. However, none of these is programmed to maintain a history of sales, account for multiple locations, account for multiple stores and/or account for multiple vendors and account for multiple clients.
A similar situation is found in the case of industries which maintain large amounts of inventory for internal use and consumption which may be later charged to a customer. For example, a hospital stock room, a veterinary hospital, a doctor's office may stock enormous quantities of goods that are expensive and quickly deployed. Stock room nurses have the daunting task of controlling the flow of goods, accounting for the use, and reordering in a timely fashion. The same problems of multiple vendors, multiple locations, predictive use, cost comparisons, and usage accounting exist.
In a manufacturing environment, often a large number of component parts are assembled to create a fewer number of assembled parts or items. Managers must ascertain the number of each item on hand, predict the future needs, determine competitive sources and pricing, and account further for the creation of the assembled units. In this situation a relatively large number of component parts flows in and a different number of assembled parts flows out. There exists large ERP computer database systems for factories to do high level accounting and management, but there are not intelligent hand-held computer scanners used to optimize efficiencies.
In the analogous situation of the flow of items, an important item may flow from one handler to another. Take for example government environmental testing of soil samples. A field agent takes multiple samples, labels each, keeps each sample under strict control until it is passed on to a receiving agent who under strict control stores the sample until it is transmitted to a lab where the sample is analyzed and then placed in post testing storage. The chain of custody must be carefully controlled. Similar situations are found in law enforcement agencies of all types. The chain of custody for evidence must be carefully controlled and an authority must be able to testify to the authenticity of a sample or other physical evidence. Therefore the are needs for an automated system to track the source of a sample, the sample itself, and then the history of the sample through a chain of custodians.
In each of these situations, a situation exists where either a bar code is already affixed to a unit, with the identification created by the Uniform Product Counsel, thus producing a UPC code, or a situation in which a bar code unit number (often a SKU—stock keeping unit—a commonly used term to denote a means for identifying units) could be affixed to an item or a box or container storing that item, to track the flow of that item through an environment. This is an abstract mathematical analysis of the flow inventory through a store or chain store, or through a medical supply room, or a sample through a custodial chain in legal or governmental or scientific environments. This system has been laborious in the past and errors are common. Errors bring a loss of efficiency which brings substantial costs in profitability or success of an enterprise.
Greater efficiencies would take place if multiple personnel could perform the above referenced tasks simultaneously. There is a great need to organize and automate the entire inventory control process of small to medium businesses through the use of hand-held computer scanners.
(iii) Remote Storage
An additional problem that has occurred is the storage of data in hand-held computer scanners as independent data storage devices. Once a sales agent has scanned a stockroom or a sales facility such as a retail store, the agent must download and transmit the data. Additional advantage would obtain if a history of items or inventory is maintained in the hand-held computer scanner.
(iv) Perpetual Inventory
An additional problem is further involved in questions regarding how many items are on-hand at a given time versus how many items have been sold. When purchase orders are fulfilled, product is received by the enterprise. The enterprise may have ordered 100 of a given item, but there may be only 10 or none received. Or there may be 3 shipments at different time, or any given combination which may not equal the exact amount purchased. Therefore the purchase order may not be reflected in its fulfillment. Then, once inventory is stocked, items may decrement for various reasons: items may be lost, damaged, discarded, misplaced, incorrectly accounted for, stolen, returned, transferred to other locations, replenished or utilized as sold or used in manufacture or sampling. Some enterprises attempt to account for the movement of every item. This is a very difficult task. Others estimate losses and purchase order adjustments. There is a need for an efficient means of automatically estimating the amount to order. With just point of sale information, perpetual inventory is a very rigid, inflexible and difficult task. There is a need to integrate point of sale information with on-hand information.
(iv) Automated Ordering
In the past, the way to make an order of product involved estimating the needs for a purchase and then transmitting the same to a vendor. Often the transmission involved making a telephone call or faxing or mailing a purchase order that had been created. In the last several years, with the explosion of the use of the Internet, companies have placed orders over the Internet. This often takes the form of logging in to a given website, and filling out an on-line purchase order. However, this really only obviates the need to use a facsimile and while this may create efficiencies for the vendor, does little for the purchaser. Often navigating through a web-site is more cumbersome than filling out a form on paper or making a telephone call. There is a need to bring greater efficiencies in ordering for small to medium sized businesses, particularly those with significant numbers of inventory items and/or those with multiple suppliers.

Electronic inventory movement and control device


A dismantlable surgical sliding shaft instrument having a function shaft comprising a guide element, a slide element supported on the guide element in a sliding manner and having a coupling element, an undercut rail oriented along the sliding direction of the slide element and having a mounting opening at the proximal end of the rail, a profile web having a profile complementary to the rail, a gripping part having a rear gripping element at an angle at the end of the guide element, a front gripping element pivotably supported on the guide element and having a carrier element to carry along the coupling element, and a securing device on the rear gripping element and engaging with a form closure component in the proximal part of the guide groove in a securing position, and a transition piece complementary to the form closure component between the distal part and the proximal part.

Surgical instruments, in particular surgical sliding shaft instruments, have to be cleaned after each use. In doing so, it is also necessary to clean surfaces that are arranged between different components of the instruments. For this purpose, the instruments are designed such that they can be dismantled into several parts. The instrument has, on a guide element, a rail that is oriented along a slide element and that has a proximal part and a distal part. The distal part of the rail has an undercut profile. The proximal part of the rail has a mounting opening. Moreover, the sliding shaft instrument has a slide element, which comprises a profile web with a profile matching the rail profile. The profile web engages in the rail. The slide element, which is arranged slidably on a guide element, can be released from the guide element as a result of the dismantling, such that the slide surfaces can be cleaned. The slide element with the profile web is pushed to the proximal end of the rail, such that the profile web is arranged in the mounting opening, from which it can be released from the rail. To prevent dismantling during a surgical intervention, a locking mechanism is provided.
It is known from DE 20 2008 001 675 U1 to initiate the dismantling of the sliding shaft instrument by moving two grip parts wide open. For this purpose, a slide element, which is mounted slidably on a guide element, has a guide groove at its proximal end, said guide groove being composed of two parts. The guide groove is oriented in the direction of movement of the slide element. The distal part of the guide groove is narrower than the proximal part of the guide groove. Moreover, the guide element has, at its proximal end, a locking slide, which engages in the proximal part of the guide groove. The transition between the proximal part and the distal part of the guide groove is rounded by radii. By means of the transition, the slide element is stopped by the locking slide during the opening of the grips of the sliding shaft instrument, such that a dismantling of the sliding shaft instrument is prevented.
DE 197 48 369 C2 relates to a dismantlable sliding shaft instrument which has, as locking mechanism, a rotation safety element. The rotation safety element is designed as a rotatably mounted disk. The disk is arranged at the proximal end of the guide element such that it blocks the path of the slide element. The disk has a recess which, for unlocking purposes, is rotated to the slide element. The blocking of the slide element is thereby canceled. Moreover, the locking element can also be arranged on the movable grip part of the sliding shaft instrument. In this case, the locking mechanism blocks the opening of the second grip part by form-fit engagement with the underside of the guide element.
The abovementioned locking mechanisms have in common the disadvantage that they are unable to guarantee secure locking. Thus, when the locking mechanism is designed as a slide, a bending of the locking slide can be caused by the guide groove rounded with radii. Moreover, the locking slide may be bent by forcible opening of the grip elements of the sliding shaft instrument, such that an inadvertent dismantling of the sliding shaft instrument may occur in both cases. In the embodiment with the rotation safety element, accidental opening may be caused by the free rotatability of the safety means. Therefore, in this embodiment too, an inadvertent dismantling may occur during a surgical intervention.
It is also known to equip the rotation safety element with a locking element. The locking element is arranged on a pin stub, which is coupled to a bushing arranged on the grip part. The pin stub is mounted movably in its axial direction. The bushing also has a recess, into which the locking element is placed when securing the slide element. A disadvantage of this device is that the rotation safety element can cause a locking of the slide element in different positions. However, secure locking is ensured only in a position in which the locking element is arranged in the recess of the bushing. Consequently, incorrect positioning of the rotation safety element can lead to accidental dismantling of the sliding shaft instrument.

Surgical sliding shaft instrument that can be dismantled


A clamping system for connecting two tubes (20, 22) together in leaktight manner, the facing ends of the tubes having bearing surfaces (16, 18) that project relative to the cylindrical outside surfaces of said tubes. The system comprises a collar (10) and a washer (28). The collar has a band (12) suitable for co-operating with bearing surfaces via its inside periphery defining a setback, and a bolt (24) and a nut (26) arrangement for tightening the band (12). The washer is secured to the collar (10) by fixing tabs (32, 34, 36).

A clamping system of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,773. The cross-section of the band of the collar is, for example, substantially V-shaped or U-shaped, so that each of the flanges formed by the cross-sectional shape bears against the bearing surface of the end of a respective one of the tubes. Thus, tightening the collar tends to hold the tubes one against the other. A V-shaped cross-section is advantageous insofar as, when the collar is tightened, it urges the tubes together.
For example, the means for tightening the band comprise a nut-and-bolt system. Thus, the ends of the band can be turned out so as to form bearing tabs provided with holes through which a bolt can be inserted. A nut is disposed behind one of the tabs so that turning the screw causes the collar to be tightened.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,773 recommends using a sealing washer between the ends of the two tubes. The washer is a conical washer which is engaged in the flared end of one of the tubes and against which the end of the other tube bears, said end of the other tube having a shape substantially complementary to the shape of said flared end.
The washer of the clamping system of U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,773 which, in the example presented by that document, serves to provide sealing, constitutes a part that is entirely distinct from the clamping collar, which must be handled separately therefrom. As a result, the entire clamping system is relatively complicated to fit, since the operator has to handle a plurality of parts and has to position each one of them correctly relative to the tubes.
Thus, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,733, firstly the washer must be disposed correctly relative to the end of the first tube, the end of the second tube must be disposed correctly relative to the washer, and the assembly made up of the two tubes and of the washer must be held together, and then the collar must be put in place on the assembly and must be tightened.

Clamping system for the sealed connection of two tubes having support surfaces


A terminal is provided for an electrical switchgear. The terminal includes: a housing arrangement including an electrically insulating material and having an inner surface defining a cavity; and a first terminal electrical contact contained in the housing arrangement for making an electrical connection with an electrical component insertable into the cavity. The first terminal electrical contact is located in a first recess formed in the inner surface, the first terminal electrical contact being flush with the inner surface.

A switchgear is an integrated assembly of switches, buses fuses and other components used to isolate electrical equipment at an electrical installation, for example, an electrical power sub-station. Switchgear is used to both de-energise equipment to allow work to be done and to clear faults downstream of the switchgear. Switchgear is often housed in a metal cabinet at the installation.
A distinction is made between so called 'fixed switchgear' and so called 'withdrawable switchgear'. In fixed switchgear the main circuit breaker is fastened within the installation by fasteners, for example bolts, and cannot be removed from the installation without using tools to undo the fasteners. In withdrawable switchgear additional constructional features enable the main circuit breaker to be withdrawn from the installation (and put back in) with a minimum usage of tools or with no usage of tools. Accordingly, in a withdrawable switchgear, the main circuit breaker can be removed quickly for maintenance or replacement or to provide easy access to other components in the installation.
Conventional switchgear comprises a number of electrical terminals or poles, typically two or more, each electrically isolated from the other, and comprising an insulating housing containing an electrical contact. The insulating housings may be made of epoxy resin. In one known arrangement, one such terminal has an electrical contact for a bus or power rail and another such terminal has an electrical contact for a cable connection routed to a load. An electrical connection is established between the bus and the load by inserting into each terminal housing a respective one of a pair of electrical contacts of a circuit breaker. In this way, one circuit breaker's contact engages the contact of one of the terminals and the other circuit breaker's contact engages the other terminal's contact so that the electrical path is established between the bus and the load through the breaker. Each terminal's housing is generally conical in shape, with a circular cross section. In air insulated switchgear the terminals must be separated by a certain gap for insulation purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,722 describes a plastic insulated switching unit for a multiphase high voltage switchgear. The switching unit comprises an insulating housing defining a cylindrical cavity and fixed ring-shaped contacts at an inside wall of said housing. A drawout switching device comprises a projecting tubular pole, having an operating mechanism. The tubular pole comprises ring-shaped contact pieces mounted on its outside. The switching device is moveable between a fully inserted position and an isolating position. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,722 the fixed ring-shaped contacts are each located in a recess formed in the inner surface of the insulating housing.
It is desirable to provide an improved terminal for an electrical switchgear and in particular one that allows for a more compact switchgear.


A method of manufacturing a commutator main body which has a cylindrical insulating body, and a plurality of segments arranged in an outer circumference of the insulating body. A short-circuit member is arranged in an end in an axial direction of the insulating body. The short-circuit member has a plurality of first short-circuit pieces and a plurality of second short-circuit pieces. A tabular insulating portion covers first coupling portions of the first short-circuit pieces, and second coupling portions of the second short-circuit pieces. The insulating portion has a restriction recess, and the end in the axial direction has a restriction projection. The restriction projection is engaged with the restriction recess, whereby the movement of the short-circuit member in the circumferential direction with respect to the commutator main body is restricted. Accordingly, the assembly of the short-circuit member in the commutator main body is facilitated.

The present invention relates to a commutator provided with a short-circuit member for short-circuiting a plurality of segments to be set to the same electric potential. Further, the present invention relates to a direct-current motor provided with the commutator, and further relates to a manufacturing method of the commutator.
A plurality of segments are arranged on an outer circumferential surface of a columnar commutator. In general, the number of the segments is set to a least common multiple of the number of magnetic poles (that is, the number of field poles) of magnets in a stator of a direct-current motor, and the number of teeth (that is, the number of salient magnetic poles) in an armature core. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-137193 discloses a plate-like short-circuit member for short-circuiting predetermined segments with each other.
FIG. 13 of the publication mentioned above discloses a first short-circuit member, and FIG. 17 of the publication mentioned above discloses a second short-circuit member. An end in an axial direction of each of the segments has a locking recess, and the first short-circuit member has the same number of locking projections as the segments. Each of the locking projections is inserted to the corresponding locking recess, and an arm defining the locking recess is swaged, so that the first short-circuit member is assembled in the segment.
The second short-circuit member has the same number of second locking projections as the segments. Each of the second locking projections protrudes radially outward. Each of the segments has a connection terminal protruding in an axial direction. The connection terminal is locked to the second locking projection in a circumferential direction, and is thereafter welded.
In order to downsize the dimension in the axial direction of the commutator, the short-circuit member is formed by a pressed product of a thin metal plate. Accordingly, the dimensional accuracy of the first-short-circuit member and the segments is not high, and if the positions of the locking projection and the locking recess are deviated, there is a risk that the short-circuit member is deformed in the case of engaging the first short-circuit member with the segment.
Further, if the second short-circuit member is simply arranged in the segment, the second short-circuit member tends to be circumferentially deviated from the segments. Accordingly, the assembly of the second short-circuit member with the segments is difficult.


A cold hearth furnace for refining of selected metals, such as titanium, is described. The furnace includes a melting hearth and a transport hearth arranged linearly. A pair of barriers partially block the flow of molten materials to mix it, allowing impurities to vaporize and preventing splattering of the material in the melting hearth from contaminating the final product.

This invention relates to cold hearth refining and casting of titanium and other metals. In particular the invention relates to a technique for refining titanium from various raw materials in an improved cold hearth furnace. During the melting elements may be added to the titanium to achieve a desired alloy.
One well known technique for refining titanium is cold hearth refining. In cold hearth refining, the desired raw unpurified titanium source, for example, titanium scrap, titanium sponge, or other titanium containing material, is introduced into a furnace. Typically, the furnace operates in a vacuum or a controlled inert atmosphere. The titanium is then melted, for example, using a desired energy sources such as electron beam guns or plasma torches. As the molten titanium passes through the furnace, undesirable impurities evaporate, sublimate, dissolve or sink to the bottom of the skull.
Cold hearth refining is referred to as such because of the use of a water-cooled copper hearth. During operation of the furnace, cold hearth solidifies the molten titanium in contact with the cold surface into a skull of the material being melted. In a typical furnace the hearth of the furnace is fabricated from copper, with channels in the copper carrying water to cool the copper and prevent it from melting. The molten titanium being refined then flows across the solidified titanium skull, which becomes the conduit.
One problem which can occur in cold hearth refining is splattering of the titanium being melted from the melting zone into the zone of the furnace in which the titanium is cast. This splattering can introduce impurities into the final product.
In one prior art patent describing a technique for titanium refining, a furnace is employed in which the melting segment is angled with respect to the refining segment of the furnace. In this angled furnace, a splatter barrier is employed to prevent titanium splatter from circumventing the refining process by having the cold hearth transport the molten metal around the barrier. See U.S. Pat. No. Reissue 32, 932, entitled "Cold Hearth Refining." An unfortunate disadvantage of such systems is that they require a large melt chamber volume. Because the furnace operates in a vacuum or reduced pressure environment, excessive chamber volume contributes significantly to cost, and makes cleaning more difficult.

Straight hearth furnace for titanium refining


An optical disk drive includes a stationary optical system including a tracking mirror and a movable optical system including an objective lens, wherein the tracking mirror in the stationary optical system is supported movable along a circular path perpendicular to said optical disk, about a center of the circular path located on a hypothetical line that extends from the tracking mirror toward the movable optical system and further beyond the movable optical system. The center of the circular path is set at a distance twice as large as the distance from the tracking mirror to a reference point that is located below a data region defined on the optical disk for recording information.

The present invention generally relates to optical disk drives for recording and/or reproducing information signals on and from an optical disk, and more particularly to an optical disk drive having a separated optical system that includes a stationary optical system and a movable optical system for focusing the optical beam on the recording surface of the optical disk.
In the optical disk drives for recording and/or reproducing information signals on and from an optical disk or in the optical disk drives used explicitly for reproducing information signals from an optical disk, it is essential to minimize the access speed. In order to achieve this object, conventional optical disk drives have been constructed to have a separated construction for the optical system such that the optical system includes a stationary part fixed upon a body of the disk drive and a movable part movable with respect to the disk drive body. Thereby, the tracking and focusing control of the optical beam is achieved by moving the movable part alone with respect to the optical disk that is mounted on the optical disk drive. As the movable part is constructed to have a minimum inertia, one can maximize the access speed when reading or writing optical information.
In the optical disk drives having such a separated construction for the optical system, however, there arises a problem in that the optical path length increases substantially, and such an increase in the optical path length tends to case a problem of beam offset between the optical beam that exists from the stationary part toward the optical disk and the optical beam that returns from the optical disk after reflection. Such an offset in the optical beam causes an unwanted tracking error and the optical disk drives having the foregoing construction tend to suffer from the problem of unstable tracking control. Thus, there is a demand for an optical system that has the separated construction and simultaneously the problem of beam offset is minimized.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the conventional optical disk drive.
Referring to FIG. 1, the optical disk drive 1 includes an optical disk 2 mounted thereon for rotation by a motor 3, wherein the optical disk 2 carries thereon a number of concentric or spiral tracks not illustrated. The optical disk 2 includes a data region 4 defined by an outermost periphery 5 and an innermost periphery 6, for recording information. Further, the optical disk drive 1 includes an optical system 10 that in turn consists of a stationary part 11 and a movable part 12, wherein the stationary part 11 is mounted on a base body 9 of the optical disk drive 1.
As usual, the stationary part 11 includes a laser diode 13 for producing an optical beam, a collimator lens 65 for converting the optical beam produced by the laser diode 13 to form a parallel optical beam, a beam splitter 14 for reflecting the optical beam that has been reflected back from the optical disk 2, a two-field photodiode 15 disposed to receive the optical beam from the beam splitter 14 for detection thereof, and a mirror 18 disposed to receive the optical beam passed through the beam splitter for reflecting the same toward the movable part 12. Further, the mirror 18 is driven by a tracking mechanism 19 such that the mirror 18 is tilted by a minute angle about an axis 20 for achieving an optical tracking of the optical beam. It should be noted that the axis 20 is formed substantially coincident to the mirror plane of the mirror 18.
The output of the two-field photodiode 15 is supplied to a differential amplifier 21, and the differential amplifier 21 produces an output signal as a tracking error signal. The tracking error signal thus produced is outputted from an output terminal 22.
The movable part 12, in turn, is provided in correspondence to the data region 4 and is held movable on the base body 9 in a radial direction of the optical disk 2 as represented by an arrow 30. The movable part 12 carries thereon an objective lens 32 for focusing the optical beam on the optical disk 2 to form a tiny optical spot thereon, wherein the objective lens 32 is carried by a focusing mechanism 33 that moves the lens 32 in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the disk 2 for focusing control. Further, there is provided a mirror 34 that reflects the optical beam supplied from the stationary part 11 toward the optical disk 2.
In operation, the tracking mechanism 19 is controlled upon a control signal supplied thereto such that the mirror 18 is tilted about the axis 20, and the optical spot 31 moves in the radial direction of the disk 2. There, it should be noted that the optical beam 35 that returns from the movable part 12 to the stationary part 11 coincides with the optical beam 17 that goes from the stationary part 11 to the movable part 12, as long as the mirror 18 is not tilted. Thereby, there is no beam offset and an optical spot 36 is formed on the center of the two-field photodiode 15. On the other hand, when the beam spot 36 offsets from the center, the optical intensity distribution changes and the differential amplifier 21 produces a tracking error signal.
FIG. 2 shows a relationship between the actual tracking error on the optical disk 2 and the tracking error signal produced by the differential amplifier 21. Thus, it will be noted that there is no substantial tracking error signal as long as the optical spot 31 on the disk 2 is located at the center of track defined on the optical disk 2.
When a tracking control signal is supplied for the purpose of causing the optical spot to move in correspondence to the disk eccentricity .epsilon. as indicated in FIG. 3, the drive mechanism 19 is activated and the mirror 18 is tilted by a minute angle .theta.. In response to this, the spot 31 on the optical disk 2 moves to another track separated by a distance corresponding to the eccentricity .epsilon.. When such a tracking control is achieved properly, it should be noted that the optical spot 36 on the two-filed photodetector 15 should remain at the center of the field. However, this is not the case because of the reason described below.
When the mirror 18 is tilted by a minute angle .theta. the returning optical beam 35a shifts with respect to the exiting optical beam 17a by an offset D as indicated in FIG. 3, and such an offset D in turn causes an offset of the beam spot 36 in the upward direction by a distance .beta. on the two-field photodetector 15. Thereby, an offset voltage V.sub.1 is produced inevitably by the differential amplifier 21 indicating an erroneous tracking error 37 as represented in FIG. 2. There, the magnitude of the offset voltage V.sub.1 is generally proportional to the magnitude of the beam offset D, and the beam offset D is given by the relationship EQU D=2(L+b) tan 2.theta., (1)
where L represents the distance between the mirror 18 and the mirror 34, while b represents the distance between the mirror 34 and a back focal point 38 of the objective lens 32. It should be noted that the back focal point 38 is located close to the mirror 34.
FIGS. 4 and 5 show other situations wherein the beam offset occurs respectively for the case where the movable part 12 is located close to the outermost periphery 5 of the data region 4 and where the movable part 12 is located close to the innermost periphery 6. Similarly to the previous case, the beam offset occurs in response to the tilting of the mirror 18 by a minute angle .theta..
In view of the foregoing Eq. (1) and the geometry shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, one derives the relationship between the beam offset D and the position of the movable part 12 as represented in FIG. 6 by a line II. As shown therein, the magnitude of the beam offset D under a constant tilt angle .theta. of the mirror 18 increases with increasing distance of the movable part 12 from the outermost periphery 5 of the data region 4. In correspondence to the beam offset D, there appears a relationship between the offset voltage V.sub.1 and the position of the movable part 12 as indicated in FIG. 7 by a line III. Again, it will be noted that the offset voltage V.sub.1 increases with increasing distance of the movable part 12 from the outermost periphery 5 toward the innermost periphery 6. Obviously, such an erroneous tracking error signal causes an unstable operation of the tracking system of the optical disk device.

Optical disk drive having tracking control and mirror supported on a circular path