In the tool change device, a tool change arm 27 for changing a tool 25 with respect to a main spindle 24, a main tool magazine 29 including a plurality of hold grooves 30 arranged linearly for holding the tools 25, and a tool storage member 41 including at least one storage portion 46 for storing the tool 25 are arranged in the back-and-forth direction of the tool change device. In order that the tools 25 can be delivered between the tool change arm 27 and main tool magazine 29, between the main tool magazine 29 and tool storage member 41, and between the tool storage member 41 and tool change arm 27, a single tool loader L is disposed in such a manner that it can be moved in correspondence to the tool change arm 27, main tool magazine 29 and tool storage member 41.

The present invention relates to a tool change device and a tool change method which selects one of two or more tools respectively held in two or more hold portions formed on a tool magazine and replaces a tool mounted on a main spindle with the thus selected tool.
In a tool change device of this type, when a tool held in the hold portion of a tool magazine exceeds a predetermined number of times of use or is damaged, the tool must be replaced with a new one. In this case, conventionally, an operator directly removes the old tool from the hold portion of the tool magazine and then mounts a new one onto the same hold portion of the tool magazine by hand. However, the tool magazine is generally disposed adjacent to a working position at which a main spindle is disposed and also the tool magazine is so arranged as to perform its operation such as rotation or the like in synchronization with a tool change operation. For this reason, in the conventional tool change device, while the working operation is stopped temporarily, the replacement of the old tool with a new one is carried out with respect to the hold portion of the tool magazine. That is, at first, the old tool is manually removed from the hold portion of the tool magazine and, afterwards, a new one is also manually inserted into the same hold portion of the tool magazine. However, it takes time to execute such manual tool replacement operation and, at the same time, the operator must be always present on the spot during the tool replacement operation, which results in a poor operation efficiency. This in turn lowers the working efficiency of the working operation.
Further, in a tool change device of the above-mentioned type, there is provided a tool magazine of a rotation type which is used to hold a plurality of tools on standby. And, as the need arises, a tool mounted on a main spindle is replaced with one of the tools held on the tool magazine by a tool change arm.
The above-mentioned conventional tool change device, for example, when replacing a tool which is damaged during the working operation, such replacement is normally carried out by means of the main spindle or tool magazine. When the tool replacement is executed by means of the main spindle, the operation of a machine must be stopped and a cover must be removed for the operation, which results in the waste of much time. When two or more tools are replaced, since the tools are taken out from the tool magazine, the above-mentioned operation must be executed repeatedly. Also, when changing the tools by means of the tool magazine, the tool magazine is indexingly rotated to thereby index a vacant hold portion to a tool replacing position, where an operator inserts a new tool. Or, an old tool held in the tool magazine is indexed to a tool replacing position, where the old tool is replaced with a new tool. After then, the tool magazine is indexingly rotated to thereby index a new tool to a take-out position for tool change, and the new tool is then taken out to the tool change position, before a tool change operation by the tool change arm can be carried out. Therefore, according to the prior art, not only does it take time to execute the tool change operation but also, in any of the above conventional tool change devices, since the tool change operation is carried out by means of the tool magazine, the tools must be changed in a state in which the operation of the machine is stopped, for example, by cutting off the power of the machine. That is, the machine cannot be operated during the tool changing operation, which provides an obstacle to an improvement in the efficiency of the working operation.
Also, conventionally, there is a tool change device structured such that there are provided a main tool magazine and a subordinate tool magazine and tools are delivered and received between the two tool magazines. However, in this type of tool change device as well, the tool change with respect to the main spindle is carried out by means of the main tool magazine. That is, in this tool change device as well, there is left the above-mentioned problem that the efficiency of the working operation cannot be improved.


In a radial press having a press axis (A) , a plurality of outer cam surfaces (1, 2, 3, 4) at an angle to one another are grouped in two press yokes (18, 19) which are driven radially against one another. The planes of symmetry of the cam surfaces (1-2 and 3-4) disposed in the same press yoke are parallel with the drive direction. A number of outer cam follower bodies (31) lying between each pair of the outer cam surfaces serve for the radial advancement of press jaws (30) toward the press axis. Inner cam follower bodies (37) with additional press jaws (41) are driven synchronously by the outer cam follower bodies (31). To reduce weight and size the one press yoke (18) is guided with respect to the other press yoke (19) by traction posts (25, 26) which pass through the guiding press yoke (19) at its extremities lying outside of the cam surfaces (1, 2, 3, 4 ), are fixedly joined to the other, guided, press yoke (18), and are joined on the other side of the guiding press yoke to a traction-producing drive (52) which is preferably in the form of a hydraulic jack (47/51, 48/50) associated with each traction post.

The invention relates to a radial press with a press axis and with a plurality of outer cam surfaces which are disposed at an angle to one another and have surface normals aimed at the press axis, and which are disposed in sets of two press yokes movable radially against one another by a driving system, the planes of symmetry of the cam surfaces disposed in the same press yoke running parallel to the drive direction, and having several outer cam follower bodies, each lying between two of the outer cam surfaces, for the radial advancement of press jaws toward the press axis.
Such radial presses serve for the shaping or machining of workpieces having rotationally symmetrical external surfaces, such as pipes, tubes, thimbles etc. An especially wide field of application of such radial presses is the manufacture of hoses by the radial pressing of hollow cylindrical hose sleeves, provided as a rule with an internal bead, onto a hose end having an armature of steel wire, from which the elastomeric outer layer has been removed. In the end of the hose in this case is a coupling piece consisting of metal, against which the hose end is to be pressed under high pressure by means of the sleeve. Such hose lines must be able to withstand pressures of up to 1,000 bar and more under fluctuating stress over a long period of time. Any failure of such a hose with a discharge of hydraulic fluid can lead to fatal injuries, and therefore the radial presses in question must satisfy stringent requirements.
The term, "rotationally symmetrical outside surfaces", is to be understood to mean workpiece shapes with circular cross sections and cross sections in the form of regular polygons, such as those to be found in hexagonal cross sections. The outer surfaces of the workpiece can be straight, barrel-shaped or stepped. Such workpiece surfaces can be provided for by shaping the press jaws accordingly.
Another problem is based on the fact that neither the press manufacturer nor the user can anticipate the numerous shapes of metal couplings for the hoses in question. A large number of the couplings are in the form of elbows, for example, and coupling parts with long tubular pieces are known. Such coupling units necessitate a great amount of free space on the back of the press facing away from the operator's side, and likewise a very short axial depth in the press. Both requirements militate against the design needs of such presses, in which high pressing forces and reaction forces must be reckoned with. Furthermore, the presses in question must be as small as possible and for many applications they must also be transportable without great complications, for example for use on large construction sites. Special machines have, as a rule, a large number of high-pressure hose lines which also have to be replaced and repaired in the field, by separating the hose from the still usable coupling parts. The re-use of the coupling parts is practiced even for the sake of reducing industrial waste.
A radial press of the kind described above pertains to the state of the art due to public use, and its principles of design and action will be further explained in a detailed description in conjunction with FIG. 1. At this point it will only be said that the press in question has a large and heavy one-piece press frame completely encompassing the hydraulic cylinder for reasons of strength.
German patent disclosure document OS 35 13 129 discloses a radial press with four hydraulic drivers disposed star-wise, in which twice the number of press jaws, namely eight, can be actuated synchronously by the interaction of four outer and four inner cam follower bodies. This press too has a large and heavy press frame, which is ring-like.
It is the object of the invention, on the other hand, to provide a radial press of the kind described above, which will be smaller and lighter, have an extremely short depth, and on the back of the press facing away from the operator's side, it will have virtually unlimited room both for the insertion of fittings with elbows and for the processing of fittings with long pipes and of endless tubing.
The solution of the problem is accomplished in accordance with the invention in the radial press described above in that the one press yoke is moved against the other press yoke by traction posts which are disposed parallel to the direction of action and pass through the guiding press yoke at the ends of the yoke outside of the yoke's cam faces, are affixed to the other, guided press yoke, and are connected on the other side of the guiding press yoke to a driver having a pulling action.
A radial press thus configured combines an extremely small size and especially small depth with low weight and an extremely simple construction.
The drivers with pulling action might be, for example, threaded spindles; it is especially advantageous, however, if a hydraulic jack could be associated with each traction post. Since the radial press does not require a circular press frame as in the state of the art, there is no need for components subject to traction and/or flexure to be mounted around the hydraulic jack, so that substantially larger piston faces can be used without interfering with a press frame, so that either the pressing force can be increased or the driving capacity of the hydraulic jack can be reduced. Further particulars on this will be set forth in the detailed description.
An especially advantageous design of such a press is characterized, pursuant to additional development, in that the press axis is horizontal, that the bottom, guiding press yoke is disposed on a platform beneath which the hydraulic jacks are in a case containing hydraulic fluid, and that the bottom press yoke and the hydraulic jacks are mounted on opposite sides of the platform.
In such a design the positive forces and reaction forces are directly engaged with one another and cancel one another within a minimum of space. Therefore it is not even necessary to provide the platform with any special rigidity.
The term, "platform," as used herein refers to all components which absorb the contrary forces of the press yoke and the hydraulic jack. In the simplest case it can be a horizontal steel plate serving as the cover or top of the case.
It is especially advantageous that each press yoke has an approximately parallelepipedal envelope surface with one long axis and two cam faces set at a right angle to one another and separated by a planar surface parallel to the long axis of the parallelepiped, the bisectors of the angle being parallel to the direction of the press action; that four outer cam follower bodies and four inner cam follower bodies are present, which alternate on the circumference; that the outer cam follower bodies lying above and below the press axis are supported motionless on the said planar surfaces of the press yokes; that the press yokes have additional planar boundary surfaces radially outside of the cam faces, which are parallel to one another and perpendicular to the direction of the press action, and that the bores in line with one another in pairs that are provided for two traction posts are brought through these planar boundary surfaces.
Additional advantageous configurations of the subject matter of the invention will be found in the secondary claims.

Radial press having two press yokes movable radially against one another


A method and system for analyzing a virtual function. In one embodiment, the present invention determines whether a virtual table exists for a virtual function, and determines a call type for the virtual function. In the present embodiment, provided the virtual table is located, the present invention replaces an existing address for the virtual function with a new address such that the new address points to instrumentation code. In this embodiment, upon a call to the virtual function, the present invention loads the new address from the virtual table such that execution is directed to the instrumentation code. The present embodiment continues execution and executes the instrumentation code such that control is delivered to the instrumentor.

Over recent years, the computing community developed a strong set of tools and methods used to analyze and monitor run-time behavior of a program. One type of performance analysis is referred to as instrumentation. Measurements such as basic-block coverage and function invocation counting can be accurately made using instrumentation. One specific type of code instrumentation is referred to as dynamic binary instrumentation. Dynamic binary instrumentation allows program instructions to be changed on-the-fly. Additionally, dynamic binary instrumentation, as opposed to static instrumentation, is performed at run-time of a program and only instruments those parts of an executable that are actually executed. This minimizes the overhead imposed by the instrumentation process itself. Furthermore, performance analysis tools based on dynamic binary instrumentation require no special preparation of an executable such as, for example, a modified build or link process.
Certain modern programming languages such as, for example, C++ offer the ability to inherit so called derived objects from other base objects. This concept is commonly known as inheritance in the object oriented programming domain. Often, these base and/or derived objects use what are known as virtual functions. Hence, it is possible in certain instances to make a call to a virtual function. To accomplish this, the compiler generates an array of function pointers, known as a virtual table, for each object type that contains at least one virtual function. During the virtual function call, this virtual table is indexed to obtain a function pointer, and then an indirect call is made using that function pointer. Such tables must be created because the actual function call made may not be determinable at compile time. Additionally, it is not possible, at present, to readily instrument or analyze such virtual function calls.
Furthermore, programmers are often interested in deciphering the type of call which is made to a function such as, for example, a virtual function. More specifically, various function call types such as, for example, direct function calls, indirect function calls, and virtual function calls have differing costs associated therewith. That is, the various function calls differ in terms of the cycles and/or instructions executed in performing the function call. Unfortunately, at present, there is no current method for determining the call type for a virtual function.
Thus, a need has arisen for a method and system for analyzing a virtual function including determining the type of call made to the virtual function.

Method and system to instrument virtual function calls

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A storm drain protector with a top layer having a generally horizontal surface in which there is at least one hole that allows water to pass vertically through the surface. The horizontal surface also has several vertical projections emanating from the surface that permit the passage of water over the surface while impeding the passage of debris.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention describes a storm drain protector used to filter storm water runoff of sediment and other debris so that such materials do not clog the drain, hinder flow or pollute the body of water to which such drains ultimately flow.
2. Description of Related Art
Storm drains, commonly located in roadways, parking lots or beside sidewalks, are ordinarily covered by a simple metal grating that serves the dual purpose of preventing large debris from entering the drain and providing a barrier for pedestrians and animals. Such a grating does not filter anything but the largest of debris and is easily clogged when such large materials amass and cover the opening. Where there is a potential for large amounts of sediment or debris being washed into the drain, such as near a construction site, there exists a need for additional protection and filtration for the storm drain. This need is augmented by the fact that runoff water is often directly channeled to the ocean or other public bodies of water. Public safety and recent environmental regulation prohibiting the contamination of such resources, now requires that water entering storm drains not be polluted.
Numerous products have been used to prevent sediment or other materials from flowing into storm drains in such situations. U.S. Pat. No. 7,481,921, granted to Kent on Jan. 27, 2009, discloses a cleanable and reusable fibrous mat adapted to filter water that is placed over the top of a preexisting grating on a storm drain. Unfortunately, storm drains are subject to variable flow rates, with very high rates being common. Although the Kent apparatus succeeds in preventing the passage of sediment and small debris that would otherwise bypass the grating, it is likely that such a fibrous mat would need to be continuously cleaned and would quickly clog in high flow situations or if left untended for any significant period of time. Moreover, the Kent apparatus provides no method of filtering liquid contaminants, such as motor oil, that may commonly find their way to storm drains.
Another type of storm drain filter device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,987, issued to Sanguinetti on Jan. 2, 2007. Sanguinetti describes a flexible, frameless filter bag. In this system, the metal storm drain grating is removed and placed into a filter bag capable of filtering in-flowing water. The grating, now wrapped in the bag, is then placed back into the drain. The bag is removed and emptied when it becomes filled with silt and debris. While the Sanguinetti device addresses the need to make such devices easily cleaned and installed, as with Kent, the Sanguinetti device has the disadvantage that it quickly becomes clogged and must be continuously cleaned to maintain flow into the drain. Kent also does not address the problem of potential liquid pollutants.
As is shown by the foregoing art, despite a long felt need, none of the prior approaches to preventing sediment and debris from entering storm drains have been able to effectively filter such materials in a way that prevents the filtering apparatus from quickly becoming clogged in high flow situations. Moreover, none of the prior approaches has been effective in substantially preventing liquid pollutants, such as motor oil, from passing into storm drains.


A process for producing titanium dioxide which discharges no waste is disclosed. In a first step, a sulfuric acid solution containing titanium ion with one or more kinds of metal ions is contacted with a first organic solvent to extract the titanium ion as a sulfuric acid complex. The organic solvent containing the extracted titanium as a sulfuric acid complex (titanyl sulfate) is contacted with an aqueous liquid to strip the titanium into the aqueous liquid and regenerate the first organic solvent. In a second step, the aqueous liquid containing the titanium is subjected to hydrolysis to form insoluble titanium hydroxide, and the titanium hydroxide is washed with dilute sulfuric acid and/or clear water. In a third step, the raffinate of extraction in the first step is contacted with a second organic solvent to extract the titanium ion and the organic solvent containing extracted titanium is contacted with water, dilute sulfuric acid solution or a dilute titanyl sulfate solution to strip the titanium, and regenerate the organic solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sulfuric acid process for producing titanium dioxide, which discharges no industrial waste.
2. Related Background Art
In a production of titanium dioxide by a conventional sulfuric acid process, a titanium-iron containing substance like a titanium-iron ore (e.g., ilumenite and anatase) or titanium slag is reacted with sulfuric acid at an elevated temperature to produce a titanyl-sulfate-containing solid product composed mainly of titanyl sulfate, ferrous sulfate and ferric sulfate, and additionally of magnesium sulfate, manganese sulfate, chromium sulfate, vanadium sulfate, aluminum sulfate, sulfates of other elements, and unreacted substances. The sulfated solid product is dissolved in water, dilute sulfuric acid or a sulfate-salt-containing solution. In the dissolution, the molar ratio of sulfuric acid to titanium dioxide (hereinafter the ratio being referred to as an "acid value") have to be controlled to be not higher than 2.3 in order to precipitate the titanium ion in the solution by hydrolysis as insoluble titanium hydroxide. Accordingly, the concentration of the free sulfuric acid to promote dissolution of the solid reaction product cannot be raised unlimitedly. Further in the process, in order to reduce the amount of iron co-precipitated by hydrolysis, a reducing agent such as iron scrap is added to the solution to convert ferric sulfate therein to ferrous sulfate. After the reduction, crystalline ferrous sulfate (FeSO.sub.4.7H.sub.2 O) is deposited by cooling the solution to decrease the iron content in the solution and to produce a titanium-iron solution containing titanyl sulfate and variety of metal ions.
In conventional processes, the sulfate solution containing mainly titanyl-iron sulfate is added to a boiling dilute titanyl sulfate solution. Seeds for promoting the formation of titanium hydroxide and then boiling water are added to form insoluble titanium hydroxide. The resulting titanium hydroxide is separated from the liquid by filtration.
The separated titanium hydroxide, which contains adsorbed hydroxides of iron, manganese, vanadium, chromium, etc. contained in the raw material, is carefully rinsed repeatedly with a dilute sulfuric acid solution to remove other coexisting metals, and is subsequently rinsed by water to remove the adhered sulfuric acid. The titanium hydroxide is dehydrated and oxidized at an elevated temperature to give titanium dioxide.
This conventional process is disadvantageous in that the yield of the insoluble titanium hydroxide by hydrolysis is approximately from 94% to 95%, and the rest of the titanium is discarded as TiO.sub.2 at a concentration of from about 6 to about 9 g/l in the solution after the hydrolysis. The process is also disadvantageous in that minute amounts of scarce metals contained in the raw material such as titanium-iron ore and titanium slag are naturally not recovered and are discarded with the waste sulfuric acid after the hydrolysis. Even when the waste sulfuric acid is neutralized, the titanium dioxide and other metals in the waste sulfuric acid are similarly disadvantageously discarded. Further, titanium dioxide as well as other metals contained in the dilute sulfuric acid used for rinsing of the insoluble titanium hydroxide cannot be recovered efficiently and economically. Therefore such a dilute sulfuric acid solution is discarded without being recovered since evaporation concentration thereof is costly, which causes global oceanic pollution.
If the waste acid and the formed acid washing solution or water washing solution used for the titanium hydroxide is neutralized by use of calcium hydroxide which is an inexpensive alkali, it disadvantageously produces wet gypsum in an amount of 20 to 25 tons per ton of produced titanium dioxide, which costs a great deal in treating the large amount of the waste and creates difficulty in finding a site for discarding it. Accordingly, the sulfuric acid process for manufacturing titanium dioxide, which produces a large amount of waste, has been destined to decline in spite of its many advantages.
Improvements of the conventional methods for extracting titanyl sulfate from a sulfuric acid solution thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,499,058 and 4,734,271.
In the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,058, insoluble titanium hydroxide is once formed from titanyl-iron sulfate solution by a conventional hydrolysis; the resulting titanium hydroxide is separated by filtration; the filtrate after the hydrolysis is concentrated by evaporation to a concentration of total sulfuric acid concentration of than 500 g/l or more; and subsequently, most of the sulfuric acid and the titanyl sulfate in the aqueous solution is extracted by use of phosphorus type organic solvent. As a result, the titanium dioxide is recovered and the cost for treating the waste sulfuric acid is reduced. This method, however, has many disadvantages as listed below which prevents the commercialization of the method.
(1) The sulfuric acid having been extracted for the purpose of reducing the neutralization cost is stripped and transferred into a aqueous solution in the subsequent stripping stage, giving a high molar ratio of titanium dioxide to sulfuric acid (referred to as an "acid value" in this specification) in the recovered titanyl sulfate-containing solution, which prevents formation of insoluble titanium hydroxide by hydrolysis. PA1 (2) The need for a large amount of extracting agent to combine with the sulfuric acid to be extracted necessitates use of a large amount of organic solvent and a large amount of circulating organic solvent, which results in a heavy equipment investment. PA1 (3) The need for a high concentration of the phosphorus type extracting agent in the organic solution results in a high viscosity of the organic solvent, and the evaporation-concentrated waste sulfuric acid having a concentration of 500 g/l or more is in a state of viscous syrup, so that the extraction apparatus have to be operated at a heated state. PA1 (4) A large amount of water is used for regeneration of the organic solvent owing to a large amount of sulfuric acid extracted together with titanyl sulfate, recovering a dilute titanyl sulfate solution which cannot be utilized further in view of water balance. PA1 (5) Metals other than titanium, such as zinc, niobium, chromium, vanadium, aluminum, magnesium, manganese, and iron, cannot be economically recovered from the waste sulfuric acid solution after formation of insoluble titanium hydroxide, so that the amount of wasted matter cannot be reduced. PA1 (6) The dilute sulfuric acid-rinsing solution and the rinsing water obtained after rinsing of the insoluble titanium hydroxide formed by hydrolysis is not reusable, which prevents the reduction of neutralization cost and concentration cost. PA1 (i) The sulfuric acid concentration in the treated solution decreases as the extraction of titanyl sulfate proceeds, which will hinder the extraction of the titanyl sulfate. To compensate for this, the organic solvent has to be brought into contact a number of times with a 40-90% sulfuric acid solution, which renders the process complicated. PA1 (ii) The molar ratio of the titanium oxide to be extracted into the organic solvent to the sulfuric acid is controlled by an aqueous solution brought into contact in a stripping stage, which requires skill in process operation, as well as careful control of concentrations of titanium dioxide and sulfuric acid of the washing solution. PA1 (iii) With the decrease of the titanium concentration in the treated solution, the amount of extracted impurity metal ions increases. Therefore, the impurity metal ion concentration in the treating solution cannot be raised, in order to conduct extraction of the titanyl sulfate completely. PA1 (iv) With the decrease of the titanium concentration in the treated solution, the amount of co-extracted sulfuric acid will remarkably increase, and a large amount of washing solution is required for removing the co-extracted sulfuric acid. Therefore, the concentration of the impurity metal ions in the solution after the extraction cannot be raised, in order to conduct extraction of the titanyl sulfate completely. PA1 (v) With the progress of the extraction of titanyl sulfate, the sulfuric acid concentration in the treated solution decreases, which causes crystallization of ferrous sulfate (FeSO.sub.4.7H.sub.2 O) in the apparatus. Therefore, a crystallization apparatus for the ferrous sulfate has to be equipped in the extraction apparatus, which render the extraction apparatus complicated. PA1 (vi) The titanium ion remaining in the solution after the hydrolysis is not directly recoverable, which then requires the same concentration treatment as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,058. PA1 (vii) In conducting the titanium recovery operation described in above Item (vi), the contact of circulating organic solvent with sulfuric acid may cause contamination of titanium by a colored metal ion, such as, of chromium, vanadium, manganese, and iron. PA1 (viii) The method does not allow to recover economically all the metals other than titanium contained in the starting material, so that the discharge of noxious industrial waste cannot completely be prevented. PA1 the first step comprising bringing a sulfuric acid solution containing titanium ion together with one or more kinds of metal ions into contact with an organic solvent A composed of one or more extractants selected from the group consisting of oxygen-containing extractants and alkylamine extractants and a petroleum hydrocarbon diluent to extract the titanium ion as a sulfuric acid complex (titanyl sulfate) from the sulfuric acid solution; and bringing the organic solvent A containing the extracted titanium in a form of a sulfuric acid complex into contact with an aqueous liquid having been employed for rinsing insoluble titanium hydroxide formed in the second step and/or an aqueous liquid having been employed for stripping in the third step to strip the titanium in a form of sulfuric acid complex into the aqueous liquid and to regenerate the organic solvent A for recycling for extraction, PA1 the second step of treating the aqueous liquid containing the titanium in a form of sulfuric acid complex stripped from the organic solvent A for hydrolysis to form insoluble titanium hydroxide; and washing the titanium hydroxide with dilute sulfuric acid and or clear water, and PA1 the third step of bringing a part or whole of the raffinate of extraction in the first step into contact with an organic solvent B composed of an extractant selected from the group consisting of oxygen-containing extractants and alkylamine extractants and a petroleum hydrocarbon diluent to extract the titanium ion as a sulfuric acid complex from the raffinate; and bringing the organic solvent B containing extracted titanium in a form of sulfuric acid complex into contact with water, dilute sulfuric acid solution or a dilute titanyl sulfate solution to strip the titanium in a form of sulfuric acid complex to regenerate the organic solvent B for recycling to extraction.
In the method disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,271, a sulfated starting material is dissolved in a sulfate salt-containing solution; iron scrap is added thereto to convert contained ferric sulfate to ferrous sulfate; the titanyl sulfate is extracted with a phosphorous type extracting agent from the sulfuric acid solution to separate other coexisting metal ions; subsequently iron is removed therefrom; and the titanyl sulfate is hydrolyzed. This method involves the same problems as the method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,058 in that the region of extraction of titanyl sulfate is large, and the amount of co-extracted sulfuric acid is large, and separately concentrated sulfuric acid is required additionally. In the former patent, the solution to be treated is firstly concentrated to raise the total sulfuric acid concentration and subsequently treated for extraction, while in the latter patent, separately concentrated sulfuric acid is brought into contact with the circulating organic solvent prior to and midway through the extraction of the titanyl sulfate, and the concentration is conducted with the solution after hydrolysis which is the same as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,058.
Moreover, the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,271 is disadvantageous for the following reasons.


The control knob includes an aperture with a D-shaped cross section. The aperture is formed by a relatively rigid planar portion and an arcuate portion which further includes a relatively flexible inner concentric portion and a relatively rigid flexible outer concentric portion. The relatively flexible inner concentric portion is attached to the relatively rigid planar portion by living hinges and further includes outwardly pointing stop bumps. The outwardly pointing stop bumps are spaced from said relatively rigid flexible outer concentric portion when no rotational torque is applied to the control knob with respect to the shaft and the structure allows torsional elasticity when a limited amount of rotational torque is applied to the control knob. However, when torque is applied which exceeds a threshold, the stop bumps are urged against the relatively flexible inner concentric portion and additional torsional elasticity and additional rotation is limited. The relatively rigid planar portion further includes a stop bump along a portion thereof which limits insertion of the shaft, but which collapses upon sudden impact to allow additional insertion of the shaft into the control knob.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a control knob for automobiles and similar applications. More particularly, the invention pertains to a control knob which is free of separate metallic springs engaging the shaft to which the knob is connected.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, it is well known for a control knob for an automobile and similar applications to use a separate metallic spring which engaged the shaft to which the knob is attached. This allows for some torsional elasticity between the knob and the shaft, but returns the knob to a "home position" after the rotational force is removed. However, this use of a spring has led to an additional complexity and expense which is considerable in view of the high number of such control knobs which may be provided to an industry such as the automobile industry.
Similarly, it is important to limit the rotation of the knob with respect to the shaft.
Additionally, it is important to locate the control knob axially with respect to the shaft and, for safety concerns, it is important that the knob collapse and travel further down the shaft upon sudden impact (i.e., homoligation).


There is provided a negative electrode for a secondary battery that can provide a secondary battery having high charge and discharge efficiency, and a high capacity retention rate in charge and discharge cycles. A negative electrode for a secondary battery according to this exemplary embodiment contains scale-like graphite, a fluorine-based resin, and an imide-based resin. A method for manufacturing a negative electrode for a secondary battery according to this exemplary embodiment includes applying a negative electrode slurry containing scale-like graphite, a fluorine-based resin, an imide-based resin, and a solvent for dissolving the fluorine-based resin and the imide-based resin to a negative electrode current collector; and heat-treating the negative electrode current collector at a temperature of 100° C. or more and 150° C. or less.

Lithium ion secondary batteries have small volume and high mass capacity density, and can supply high voltage, and therefore, they are widely employed as power supplies for small-sized equipment. For example, they are used as power supplies for mobile equipment, such as cellular phones and notebook computers. Further, in recent years, in addition to small-sized mobile equipment uses, applications to large size secondary batteries of which large capacity and long life are required, for electric vehicles (EV), the power storage field and the like, have been expected because of consideration for environmental problems, and an improvement in the awareness of energy saving.
As the negative electrode active material used in the negative electrode of a secondary battery, a carbon-based material is used. In addition, the binder used in an electrode of a secondary battery plays the role of bonding the electrode active material to each other and bonding the electrode active material to the electrode current collector. High adhesiveness, high resistance to the electrolytic solution, electrochemical stability, a simple manufacturing process, inexpensive cost, and the like are required of the binder. Examples of typical binders include polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). In addition, using as the binder imide-based resins typified by polyimides is disclosed (Patent Literatures 1 to 3).


A compression ignition type engine, which switches between a first combustion where the amount of the inert gas in the combustion chamber is larger than the amount of inert gas where the amount of production of soot peaks and almost no soot is produced and a second combustion where the amount of inert gas in the combustion chamber is smaller than the amount of inert gas where the amount of production of soot peaks. The second combustion is provided instead of the first combustion when a catalyst is not activated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compression ignition type engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, in an internal combustion engine, for example, a diesel engine, the production of NOx has been suppressed by connecting the engine exhaust passage and the engine intake passage by an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) passage so as to cause the exhaust gas, that is, the EGR gas, to recirculate in the engine intake passage through the EGR passage. In this case, the EGR gas has a relatively high specific heat and therefore can absorb a large amount of heat, so the larger the amount of EGR gas, that is, the higher the EGR rate (amount of EGR gas/(amount of EGR gas+amount of intake air), the lower the combustion temperature in the engine intake passage. When the combustion temperature falls, the amount of NOx produced falls and therefore the higher the EGR rate, the lower the amount of NOx produced.
In this way, in the past, the higher the EGR rate, the lower the amount of NOx produced can become. If the EGR rate is increased, however, the amount of soot produced, that is, the smoke, starts to sharply rise when the EGR rate passes a certain limit. In this point, in the past, it was believed that if the EGR rate was increased, the smoke would increase without limit. Therefore, it was believed that the EGR rate at which smoke starts to rise sharply was the maximum allowable limit of the EGR rate.
Therefore, in the past, the EGR rate was set within a range not exceeding the maximum allowable limit (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 4-334750). The maximum allowable limit of the EGR rate differed considerably according to the type of the engine and the fuel, but was from 30 percent to 50 percent or so. Accordingly, in conventional diesel engines, the EGR rate was suppressed to 30 percent to 50 percent at a maximum.
Since it was believed in the past that there was a maximum allowable limit to the EGR rate, in the past the EGR rate had been set so that the amount of NOx and smoke produced would become as small as possible within a range not exceeding that maximum allowable limit. Even if the EGR rate is set in this way so that the amount of NOx and smoke produced becomes as small as possible, however, there are limits to the reduction of the amount of production of NOx and smoke. In practice, therefore, a considerable amount of NO and smoke continues being produced.
The present inventors, however, discovered in the process of studies on the combustion in diesel engines that if the EGR rate is made larger than the maximum allowable limit, the smoke sharply increases as explained above, but there is a peak to the amount of the smoke produced and once this peak is passed, if the EGR rate is made further larger, the smoke starts to sharply decrease and that if the EGR rate is made at least 70 percent during engine idling or if the EGR gas is force cooled and the EGR rate is made at least 55 percent or so, the smoke will almost completely disappear, that is, almost no soot will be produced. Further, they found that the amount of NOx produced at this time was extremely small. They engaged in further studies later based on this discovery to determine the reasons why soot was not produced and as a result constructed a new system of combustion able to simultaneously reduce the soot and NOx more than ever before. This new system of combustion will be explained in detail later, but briefly it is based on the idea of stopping the growth of hydrocarbons into soot at a stage before the hydrocarbons grow to soot.
That is, what was found from repeated experiments and research was that the growth of hydrocarbons into soot stops at a stage before that happens when the temperatures of the fuel and the gas around the fuel at the time of combustion in the combustion chamber are lower than a certain temperature and the hydrocarbons grow to soot all at once when the temperatures of the fuel and the gas around the fuel become higher than a certain temperature. In this case, the temperatures of the fuel and the gas around the fuel are greatly affected by the heat absorbing action of the gas around the fuel at the time of combustion of the fuel. By adjusting the amount of heat absorbed by the gas around the fuel in accordance with the amount of heat generated at the time of combustion of the fuel, it is possible to control the temperatures of the fuel and the gas around the fuel.
Therefore, if the temperatures of the fuel and the gas around the fuel at the time of combustion in the combustion chamber are suppressed to less than the temperature at which the growth of the hydrocarbons stops midway, soot is no longer produced. The temperatures of the fuel and the gas around the fuel at the time of combustion in the combustion chamber can be suppressed to less than the temperature at which the growth of the hydrocarbons stops midway by adjusting the amount of heat absorbed by the gas around the fuel. On the other hand, the hydrocarbons stopped in growth midway before becoming soot can be easily removed by after-treatment using an oxidation catalyst etc. This is the basic thinking behind this new system of combustion.
This new combustion system, however, is based on the idea of removing the hydrocarbons etc., which have stopped growing midway before turning into soot, by the use of an oxidation catalyst etc., and accordingly, when the oxidation catalyst etc. is not activated, it is impossible to carry out this new combustion. Further, this new type of combustion does not occur unless all the conditions for it are satisfied, therefore just because the oxidation catalyst etc. is activated does not mean that this new combustion is always being performed. That is, in this new combustion system, it is necessary to suitably determine when to perform this new combustion. Further, use of this new combustion enables simultaneous reduction of the soot and NOx. Therefore, it is desirable to use this new combustion as much as possible.


This invention relates to a container which is folded from a flat blank of material being provided with a plurality of fold lines forming a bottom wall, side walls and top wall panels in the blank. The side walls are coupled to one another by bellows-type coupling members which are adapted to be inwardly folded during assembly to draw up the adjacent side walls to which there are attached. The top walls are dimensioned such that upon folding into a substantially parallel relationship with the bottom wall will form a closed container which is especially suitable to be used as a gift box or the like. A portion of the bellows-type coupling member may be non-structurally adhered to a side wall of the container acting to greatly enhance subsequent folding and assembling of the container into its finished form. Predetermined fold lines may be pre-folded to allow more convenient assembly, which still enable packaging and handling of the container in a substantially flat form as desired. The top walls of the container may be constructed to allow a plurality of blanks to be interlocked with one another to allow very tight packing of a large number of blanks on a given sheet of material, to thereby reduce the generation of scrap during the manufacturing process. The blank of material may be advantageously printed on one or both sides thereof using conventional printing techniques to achieve enhanced graphics, and the container may also be formed with punch-outs to provide an interactive container being usable as a container and subsequently forming a toy, game or having other distinct and appealing characteristics.

This invention generally relates to an improved container constructed by folding a flat blank to form a decorative or non-decorative container assembly having unique appearance and advantages. In particular, the container of the invention is quickly and easily formed into a finished box enclosure from an initially partially folded or non-folded flat blank of material. The invention provides a simple yet durable container construction which is cost effective and may be advantageously printed or decorated by a variety of techniques to yield an aesthetically pleasing appearance and construction.
There are known in the prior art a variety of containers, such as the conventional cardboard box or two piece gift box constructions. The standard cardboard box may be constructed but is usually formed in a rolled construction such that two sides thereof are secured to one another and the formed tubular type construction may be folded to a flat position for shipping and handling until use. These cardboard containers are usually used for shipping purposes and must be made of a thick, strong material. The boxes are normally stored in a folded condition which may create deterioration of the material at the fold lines and subsequent cracking or tearing of such material due to the thickness thereof. For use, the ends of the box must be folded inwardly and taped or stapled to one another. Other container constructions include gift boxes such as the typical two-piece shirt box normally referred to as a Beirs box or Simplex box. These containers require the construction and assembly of two separate pieces, and may require structural gluing and relatively complex hand folding techniques in their construction. The two piece constructions require increased machine time, storage area and are complex to print with proper registration of graphic material thereon. Several examples of other types of containers may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,373,922 and 2,563,619 showing containers particularly constructed for holding and serving food type products. In Pat. No. 3,373,922, the construction of the container requires initial preassembly by folding sides of the container to their erect positions such that closure tabs may be structurally glued to an adjacent side wall. The preassembled container may then be folded to a somewhat flat position, similar to that of a common card board box or the like. It is noted that in the construction of the container there are necessarily formed closure tabs, inserts or hooks which must be painstakingly physically coupled with each other, or may be structurally glued or the like.
It should be recognized that the provision of closure tabs, inserts or the like which are used in construction of the finished container, make assembly thereof much more complicated and time consuming. Additionally, complicated folding techniques may be required which hinders use of the container. Another container is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,907, wherein a blank of material includes a large number of fold lines to form reinforced sides and bottom areas as well as a top portion which includes engaging tabs to secure the top portion with the container. It should be recognized that the construction of this container requires a multitude of folds to be formed for proper functioning which makes use thereof somewhat inconvenient and cumbersome.

Foldable container with bellows-type coupling members


A system and method for integrated image registration of cardiac magnetic resonance perfusion data are provided, where the system includes an estimation unit for estimating an edge parameter, a registration unit in signal communication with the estimation unit for registering the edge parameter in correspondence with a template-match between pixels in a first input image and pixels in a second input image, and a CPU in signal communication with said estimation unit and said registration unit for detecting a changed pixel location in accordance with said registration when the entropy of said second image is increased; and where the corresponding method for integrated image registration is of cardiac magnetic resonance perfusion data includes providing a contoured region of interest on a first image having a plurality of pixels, receiving a second image corresponding to a time other than that of said first image, calculating pixel intensities for the second image, estimating edge parameters for at least one of said first and second images, calculating a template-match between said first and second images, selecting a pair of pixel locations from at least one of said first and second images in accordance with said template-match, registering the estimated edge parameters in correspondence with said calculated template-match for a pair of pixel values at said selected locations in said first image and a pair of pixel values at said selected locations in said second image, and detecting a changed pixel location in accordance with said registration.

In appearance-based methods for object detection and/or recognition, segmentation of images indicative of the objects of interest may be complicated by dynamic motion during the acquisition of a time-wise sequence of images. An exemplary application is segmentation of cardiac perfusion image data. Ischemic heart disease, the obstruction of blood flow to the heart, typically results from excess fat or plaque deposits, which may narrow the veins that supply oxygenated blood to the heart. The reduced blood supply to the heart is typically manifested as reduced blood perfusion to the myocardium ("MC") heart muscle. Clinically, the myocardial perfusion measurements are routinely performed with single-photon emission computed tomography ("SPECT") images, and/or with positron emission tomography ("PET") images. Drawbacks and limitations of these existing techniques include the low spatial resolution, attenuation artifacts of SPECT and limited availability of PET.
Myocardial perfusion analysis using magnetic resonance ("MR") images holds great promise, and also permits quantitative analysis of blood flow. In MR perfusion analysis, typically about 60 to 100 short axis 2-dimensional ("2D") MR images of the heart are acquired after injecting contrast agent into the blood. Unfortunately, as the heart is beating, the contrast in the acquired MR images is typically rapidly changing. The contrast agent passes through the right ventricle ("RV") to the left ventricle ("LV"), and then perfuses into the myocardium.
To perform the perfusion analysis, it is necessary to segment the myocardium in all of the MR images acquired in a perfusion scan. Segmenting the myocardium in all of the MR images is currently performed manually, and requires significant labor from skilled physicians. This is a tedious and labor-intensive job, given that there are typically 60 to 100 images in each scan. The problem is compounded by the fact that the contrast in the images is typically rapidly changing. When the contrast agent is in the LV, the blood pool brightens up and makes it easy to segment the inner wall of the myocardium, the endocardium. However, when there is no contrast agent in the LV, it is very difficult to segment the endocardium.
Segmentation of the outer boundary of the heart, the epicardium, remains difficult throughout all of the images acquired in the scan. In addition to the changing contrast, there may also be gross motion due to patient breathing and/or changes in the heart shape as it is beating. Accordingly, what is needed is an automated approach to segmentation of the myocardium, endocardium and/or epicardium in sequences of MR images.

Integrated image registration for cardiac magnetic resonance perfusion data


In accordance with a method for facilitating real-time product inquiries during online shopping, a request may be received from a potential buyer of a product for real-time inquiry about the product. In response, a previous customer of the product who has enrolled to participate in a real-time inquiry program may be identified. Real-time communication may be established with the previous customer.

Many retailers have set up Internet web sites where consumers can shop for various products that are available for sale, purchase the desired products and have the products delivered to them. The term "online shopping" refers to the process of purchasing products over the Internet. The term "online merchant" may refer to a merchant that has set up an Internet web site through which products may be ordered.
Consumers may purchase a wide variety of products via online shopping. Some examples of products that may be purchased include tangible goods such as books, CDs, DVDs, tools, clothes, footwear, health/beauty items, hardware, groceries, or the like. Other examples of products that may be purchased via online shopping include "digital" goods, such as electronic books, music, movies/videos, application software, or the like.
An online merchant's web site may provide a wide variety of information about the products that are offered for sale. Such information may include images of the products, product descriptions, price, availability, customer reviews, etc.
An online merchant may offer products for sale that are manufactured by the merchant itself. Alternatively, or in addition, an online merchant may offer products for sale that are manufactured by or obtained from one or more third-party vendors.
A consumer may use a web browser on his/her computer to order products from an online merchant's web site. When products are ordered, the consumer may provide some type of payment information (e.g., a credit card number). The payment information may be encrypted as it is transferred from the consumer's computer to the merchant's server (or to a third-party payment server). Once the payment information has been received and verified, the products may be shipped to the consumer's address, downloaded to the consumer's computer, or made available for in-store pickup as appropriate.
Online shopping is popular for a variety of reasons, including its speed and ease of use. In view of the popularity of online shopping, benefits may be realized from improvements that are related to improving a consumer's online shopping experience.

Systems and methods for facilitating real-time product inquiries during online shopping


A method of treating a Th1-mediated disorder includes administering to a subject in need of the treatment an effective amount of a compound of the formula I:

T cells, a class of lymphocytes developed in the thymus, are responsible for cell- and antibody-mediated immunity. Two major classes of T cells perform very different functions. CD8+ cytotoxic T cells kill infected cells or eliminated microorganisms, and CD4+ helper T cells help activate responses of other white cells, mainly by secreting a variety of local mediators lymphokines, interleukins, or cytokines.
There are two subsets of helper T cells, i.e., Th1 and Th2 cells, which function differently. Th1 cells mediate cellular immunity. They are related to rheumatoid arthritis, non-obese diabetes, and colitis. Th2 cells mediate humoral immunity. They are related to humoral immune response, asthma, inflammation, and allergy. Both Th1 and Th2 cells are derived from naive helper T cells (Th0).

Abstract: wherein R1 is H, alkyl, aryl, or cyclyl; R2 is pyranose; R3 is H or alkyl; m is 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6; n is 0, 1, 2, or 3; o is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4; p is 1, 2, 3, or 4; and the Th1-mediated disorder is non-obese diabetes, Crohn's colitis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune encephalitis, multiple sclerosis, or autoimmune myocarditis. Also disclosed is a pharmaceutical composition including a compound of formula I above and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.


In a reversible buck-boost chopper circuit, a first half-bridge circuit has a first switching element with a high-side main electrode connected to a positive electrode of a DC power source, and a second switching element is connected to the first switching element at a first output terminal. A low-side main electrode of the second switching element is connected to a negative electrode of the DC power source. A second half-bridge circuit has a third switching element with a high-side main electrode connected to a high-side terminal of the load. A fourth switching element of the second half-bridge circuit is connected to the third switching element at a second output terminal. A low-side main electrode of the fourth switching element is connected to a low-side terminal of the load and the negative electrode. A reactor is connected between the first and second output terminals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reversible buck-boost chopper circuit and an inverter circuit with the same. More particularly, the present invention can be adopted for drive control of electric traction motors of a vehicle, each of which provides drive torque.
In hybrid vehicles or fuel cell electric vehicles, an increase of a power supply voltage, that is, a direct-current (DC) battery voltage is desirable to reduce copper loss and/or switching loss. So far, approximately 300 V has been an upper limit of the battery voltage in view of circumstances, such as higher battery costs.
In a hybrid vehicle or fuel cell electric vehicle, in order to use a DC power supply voltage higher than the battery voltage, a chopper type boost DC to DC converter, for example, is provided for boosting the DC power supply voltage. The boosted DC power supply voltage is converted into an alternating-cent (AC) voltage by an inverter composed of a three-phase PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) bridge circuit so that the AC voltage is applied to a high-voltage AC motor. The combination of the circuits of the chopper type boost DC to DC converter and the inverter, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,590,360 corresponding to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-271729, has already been put to practical use. The combination of the circuits is referred to as "boosted inverter circuit" hereinafter.
The conversion efficiency of the boosted inverter circuit is a product of the conversion efficiency of the boost DC to DC converter and that of the inverter, resulting in greater power loss, such as switching loss, in the whole of the boosted inverter circuit to increase. The increase of the power loss may make it difficult to properly cool the boosted inverter circuit. In addition, the boosted inverter circuit requires both the boosted DC to DC converter and the inverter; this requirement may cause the boosted inverter circuit to increase in size and weight, deteriorating the installability of the boosted inverter circuit into a vehicle.
In order to solve the problems set forth above, it is possible to omit the boost DC to DC converter from the boosted inverter circuit to allow the inverter to directly convert the DC power supply (battery) voltage into a lower AC output voltage applied to an AC motor. This conventional configuration, however, increases output current; therefore, it may make conduction loss and switching loss increase. The increases of the conduction loss and the switching loss may make it difficult to properly cool the inverter circuit. In addition, the low output voltage makes field weakening difficult, which is necessary for controlling regenerating current when the AC motor is driven as a generator at a higher rotational speed.
Specifically, in the boosted inverter circuit technology for drive control of traction motors in a vehicle, it has been especially desirable to adopt a boost DC to DC converter with low losses; this boost DC to DC converter is capable of controlling power regenerated from a load to control breaking of a vehicle.

Reversible buck-boost chopper circuit, and inverter circuit with the same


To encode an unencoded block of a frame, a search window is defined within the frame. Each pixel disposed within the search window and disposed in the unencoded portion of the frame that is assigned a value. A difference is computed between the unencoded block and each possible block within the search window. The block having the smallest difference, together with this difference are used to encode the unencoded block.

The present invention relates to processing of video frames, and more specifically to encoding of blocks disposed in such frames.
Digital transmission of video signals often provide higher quality pictures than their analog counterparts. Digital video is being increasingly broadcast directly to home-installed satellite television receivers. Moreover, with the development of digital video storage media such as Digital Video Disks (DVDs), consumers now have the capability to receive and store compressed digital video in their homes.
Many different video compression techniques have been developed to enable effective transmission and storage of digital video signals. Such techniques often use compression algorithms that take advantage of the correlation among adjacent pixels so as to more efficiently transmit and store video signal. In some systems, differential encoding is used to transmit only the difference between a frame and a prediction of that frame. The predicted frame is often derived from a previous frame of the same video sequence.
Successive frames in a typical video sequence are often very similar to each other. For example, a sequence of frames may have scenes in which an object moves across a stationary background, or a background moves behind a stationary object. Consequently, many scenes in one frame may also appear in a different position of a subsequent frame. Video systems take advantage of such similarities to encode blocks in the frames.
In accordance with the well-known international standards such as H.261, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4, motion estimation and compensation are used to encode scene changes between frames. In accordance with the motion estimation technique, data related to the differences between positions of similar objects as they appear in various macroblocks in successive frames are captured by one or more motion vectors to estimate the motion of objects between frames. The motion vectors are then used to identify the spatial coordinates of the shifted objects in a subsequent frame. The motion vectors therefore limit the bit rate that would otherwise be required to encode the data associated with the shifted objects.
In accordance with the well-known motion compensation technique, the motion vectors are subsequently used to predict an unencoded frame. The difference between the predicted frame and the reference frame and which is commonly referred to as the error signal, is then compressed.
Partly due to its computational intensity, a motion vector is shared typically by all color components in (Y,U,V) or (Y, Cr, Cb) coordinate systems. In the (Y,U,V) color coordinate system, Y is the luma component, and U and V are the chroma components of a color. Similarly, in the (Y, Cr, Cb) color coordinate system, Y is the luma component, and Cb and Cr are the chroma components. Each motion vector is typically generated for a macroblock. Each macroblock typically includes, e.g., 16×16 or 8×8 pixels. The MPEG-2 standard provides an interlaced mode that separates each 16×16 macroblock into two 16×8 sub-macroblocks each having an associated motion vector.
In MPEG-2, interframe coding is performed on macroblocks. An MPEG-2 encoder performs motion estimation and compensation to compute motion vectors and error signals. For each macroblock M of a frame N, a search is performed across the macroblocks of the next frame, N+1, or the immediately preceding frame, N−1, to identify the most similar macroblocks in frames N+1 or N−1. The location of the most similar block relative to the block M is used to compute a motion vector which, in turn, is used to compute a predicted block for macroblock M. The difference between predicted macroblock and macro block M is used to compute the error signal. The error signal is subsequently compressed using a texture coding method such as discrete cosine transform (DCT) encoding.
To avoid error propagation, achieve random access and support various play modes, such as seeking, fast forward and fast backward, intra-frames (I frames) often require more bits to encode than predicted frames (P frames) or bi-directional frames (B frames). It is desired to have a compression technique that uses fewer number of bits to encode the I frames.

Intra-prediction using intra-macroblock motion compensation


A touch panel including a substrate, first connecting pads, circuit units, and ground lines is provided. Each circuit unit includes a signal line, first electrodes, second electrodes, first connecting lines, and second connecting lines. The signal line extends along a first direction and includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is located between a first side of the substrate and the second portion. The first electrodes are disposed beside the first portion, and the second electrodes are disposed beside the second portion. The first connecting lines respectively connect the first electrodes to the corresponding first connecting pads. The second connecting lines respectively connect the second electrodes to the corresponding first connecting pads through a trace region located beside the first portion, wherein the trace region and the first electrodes are respectively located at two opposite sides of the first portion.

1. Field of the Application
The application relates to a touch panel, and more particular, to a capacitive touch panel.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, following rapid developments and applications of information technology, wireless mobile communications and information appliances, in order to achieve objectives of being more convenient, lighter volume and more humane, many information products have transformed from using a traditional input device, such as keyboard or mouse, to a touch panel.
The touch panel in accordance with different sensing mechanisms may generally be categorized as resistive touch panel, capacitive touch panel, optical touch panel, acoustic wave touch panel and electromagnetic touch panel. Since the capacitive touch panel, as compared to the other types of touch panel, has advantages of fast response time, favorable reliability and high definition, it is broadly been applied to various types of hand-held electronic device.
The capacitive touch panel constitutes a sensing array via a plurality of intertwined linear electrodes so as to achieve a surface sensing. When a user contacts the touch panel with a finger, the touch panel determines a location in contact with the finger according to a capacitance change on the sensing array. Peripheral circuits or connecting lines of the sensing electrodes of a conventional touch panel occupy a layout space on a substrate, and therefore, a circuit layout on the substrate still has room for improvement.


A method of viewing a high resolution display on a low resolution development system display for a digital device includes selecting a target device and identifying an image form for the selected device. An image form displays a realistic form of the selected target device. A form factor is selected which represents the display capabilities of the target device. The image form size is adjusted such that the developer may see text in proper proportion to the image form so as to simulate the look of the high resolution display of the target device. Object code for the target device is generated which contains the proper font size to correspond to the image form and font on the development display.

An increasing number of portable computer devices are available in the market. These devices include handheld or pocket sized computers, phones and personal digital assistants of various form factors and capabilities. As the computing power and memory capabilities of the handheld devices increase, users are demanding access to more powerful software applications.
Programmers attempting to program complex software applications quickly find that traditional visual software development systems are unsuitable for programming applications to run on the myriad of devices available. Specifically, given the multitude of variations of interfaces, screen sizes, and resolutions among the handheld devices, it can be very difficult for a programmer to ensure that a particular chosen graphical user interface (GUI) of the handheld will appear and work correctly on multiple devices. For example, the display and functionality of the target device is often not well reflected in the capabilities of the development system.
Typically, programmers of handheld devices alternate between first programming on a desktop development system and then running the newly developed software on an emulator of the handheld device, or the actual device, to see if the handheld GUI operates as expected. This can be time consuming and inefficient, especially if a programmer wishes to port the application to a wide variety of portable devices. In one aspect of programming, the typical development environment may allow a handheld device programmer to generate text on a development system with low resolution display. But, when object code for that text is displayed on a high resolution display of a handheld device, the display is at least partially unusable because of the display and programming differences between the development system and the target device.
FIG. 1a depicts a display of a handheld digital device as rendered on a development system. In the FIG. 1 depiction, it is assumed that the development system display device has a lower resolution than the target device. For example, the low resolution development system may have a linear density of 96 DPI which corresponds to a character length of 96 linear pixels per inch, and the target device display matrix is set to 240×320 pixels on the development system. The target of the development system is a handheld digital device, such as a personal digital assistant, a GPS receiver processor, a telephone, a pocket PC or other type of digital devices having a high resolution display. The high resolution display may be a 480×640 pixel matrix with a linear density of 192 DPI which corresponds to a character length of 192 linear pixels per inch.
FIG. 1a includes a display 100 of a handheld digital device screen 110 having a softkey menu bar 150 and a user defined text box 120 at an anchor location of 50×50 pixels 130. The size of the text box 120 is 100×50 pixels. The development system display 100 shows that four characters 140 are displayed in the text box 120. It is assumed that the development system display has a lower resolution than the target digital device. If no accommodation is made for the high resolution display during development of display software for the handheld device, then an error in the final display for the actual handheld digital device can take place.
FIG. 1b displays the prior art error that can result from a failure to accommodate the display differences between a low resolution development system display and a high resolution target device realization. FIG. 1b depicts a resulting display 110′. Here, the size of the text box 120′ is changed from the development system size. The anchor location 130′ at 50×50 pixels is unchanged. But, because the high resolution target device has more available pixels across the width and height of the display screen area, the physical location of the anchor 130′ is closer to the corner of the display screen than in the development system display of 110 FIG. 1a.
The text displayed 140′ on the high resolution display of the handheld digital device appears cut off and only partially present on the high resolution display. This is due to the reduced size of the text box. Clearly, if the development system did not automatically accommodate for the differences between a development system resolution and a target device resolution, then errors in the display can occur forcing iterations of development to reach a desired display for a target high resolution handheld device.
Thus, there is a need for a "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) development system for a handheld device which properly simulates the text that a high resolution handheld digital device can produce. The present invention addresses the aforementioned needs and solves them with additional advantages as expressed herein.

Method and system for a target device display simulation


In order to prevent a receiving terminal from wasting system resource and power, the present invention provides a method of acquiring point-to-multipoint MBMS service information for the receiving terminal in a wireless communications system. The method includes the following steps of determining an activation state of MBMS services in the receiving terminal before the receiving terminal performs an MBMS point-to-multipoint Control Channel (MCCH) acquisition procedure, and performing the MCCH acquisition procedure by the receiving terminal if at least one MBMS service has been determined activated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and related apparatus for acquiring information of a point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) service in a wireless communications system, and more particularly, to a method and related apparatus for acquiring information of a p-t-m MBMS service for a receiving terminal in a wireless communications system for saving power and resources of the receiving terminal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The third generation (3G) mobile telecommunications system has adopted a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) wireless air interface access method for a cellular network. WCDMA provides high frequency spectrum utilization, universal coverage, and high quality, high-speed multimedia data transmission. The WCDMA method also meets all kinds of QoS requirements simultaneously, providing diverse, flexible, two-way transmission services and better communication quality to reduce transmission interruption rates. To enhance multimedia functions in the 3G mobile telecommunications system, a protocol specification developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) provides Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS). MBMS is a point-to-multipoint bearer service and is established on an existing network architecture of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), utilizing Internet Protocol (IP) packets as a medium. Thus, MBMS allows a single source entity to transmit data to multiple user entities simultaneously.
Since the 3GPP has thoroughly defined operations and architecture of MBMS in the related specifications, the operations and architecture of MBMS are described only briefly hereinafter. For the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), the 3G communications system comprises User Equipment (UE), the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and the Core Network (CN). Communications protocols utilized include Access Stratum (AS) and Non-Access Stratum (NAS). AS comprises various sub-layers for different functions, including Radio Resource Control (RRC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Media Access Control (MAC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and Broadcast/Multicast Control (BMC). The sub-layers mentioned, and their operating principles, are well known in the art, and detailed description thereof is omitted. For MBMS, the Core Network further comprises the Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) that is not only a newly added network node but also an entry point for receiving external data, e.g. data provided by a content provider. The BM-SC manages provision, delivery, announcement, authorization, and storage of related parameters for MBMS services, and transmits corresponding information to the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). In the MBMS system architecture, the GGSN plays a role as an entry point for IP multicast traffic, and routes MBMS data to the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) via a proper GPRS Tunnel (GTP). More than one SGSN can exist under the GGSN. The SGSN performs MBMS Bearer Service control functions to accurately transmit data packets to the UTRAN, allowing multiple UEs, which order the same MBMS service in the same UTRAN, to receive the same MBMS data. The SGSN can comprise more than one Radio Network Controller (RNC). The RNCs are responsible for efficiently allocating radio resources for the UEs according to the number of UEs counted by the Node-Bs (NB). The RNC comprises more than one NB that is responsible for transmitting or receiving radio waves to or from the UEs that can be mobile phones or PDAs.
According to the protocol specification developed by the 3GPP, MBMS offers two service modes: Broadcast mode and Multicast mode. When interested in a specific MBMS service, the UE needs to order the BM-SC for the MBMS service by establishing a service agreement including specific service provision phases. These two service modes have different service provision phases. The service provision phase of Broadcast mode includes Service announcement, Session Start, MBMS notification, Data Transfer and Session Stop. The service provision phase of Multicast mode includes Subscription, Service announcement, Joining, Session Start, MBMS notification, Data Transfer, Session Stop and Leaving. For realizing customized services, Joining and Leaving sessions utilized in Multicast mode enable the BM-SC to execute authorization and payment recording for the UEs at the joining session. The service provision phases mentioned above are well known in the art, and will not be described in detail.
From the standpoint of the RRC, all logical data communication exchange channels, be they for providing data transmission exchange to the UE or for providing RRC layer control signal transmission exchange, are defined in the context of a Radio Bearer (RB). In the UE end, the RB comprises one unidirectional, or a pair of, uplink/downlink logic data transmission exchange channels. In the network end, the RB comprises one unidirectional, or a pair of, uplink/downlink logic data transmission exchange channels.
When providing the MBMS service, the UTRAN may obtain the number of the UEs ordering the MBMS service via a counting procedure, and can adopt either one of the following two transmission modes: point-to-point (p-t-p) transmission and point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) transmission. In the p-t-p transmission, transmission between the UEs and the UTRAN utilizes a dedicated-channel, and thereby the Node-B establishes one dedicated channel for one UE to transmit data and configuration. Compared with the p-t-p transmission, the p-t-m transmission allows the CN to provide the data and the configuration for multiple UEs in the same cell simultaneously. In addition, when the MBMS service is in Broadcast mode, only the p-t-m transmission is used. When the MBMS service is in Multicast mode, the UTRAN switches between the p-t-p and p-t-m transmissions according to the number of UEs. In the protocol specification developed by the 3GPP, three logical channels are defined to transmit corresponding MBMS information: MBMS point-to-multipoint Control Channel (MCCH), MBMS point-to-multipoint Traffic Channel (MTCH), and MBMS point-to-multipoint Scheduling Channel (MSCH). The three logical channels are mapped onto a transport channel, Forward Access Channel (FACH), and the FACH is mapped onto a physical channel, Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (S-CCPCH). MCCH is utilized to transmit a corresponding MBMS configuration, including MBMS Radio Bearer Information, MBMS Service Information, and other information. In general, before obtaining the MBMS configuration, the UE first has to receive System Information block type 5 or 5bis through S-CCPCH, and detect whether an MCCH configuration carrying the above-mentioned information is included in the System Information block type 5 or 5bis.
In order for the UE to understand the current status of each MBMS service, the protocol specification of 3GPP TS 25.331 V6.8.0 RRC Release 6 defines a variable, MBMS_ACTIVATED_SERVICES, used for storing information of the MBMS Multicast services the UE has joined, as well as the MBMS Broadcast services the UE is interested in receiving. The stored information in the MBMS_ACTIVATED_SERVICES variable includes Activated service list, Service type, etc. The content of the variable, or the stored information, is updated by the UE as the MBMS service status changes, e.g. when the UE joins or leaves a Multicast service. Additionally, the RRC protocol specification further defines several situations in which the UE is required to perform an MCCH acquisition procedure requesting the base station to transmit MBMS service information and configuration to the UEs. The MBMS service information and configuration includes information related to radio bearers, settings, and preferred frequency of the MBMS services, such as MBMS Modified Services Information and MBMS Common P-T-M RB Information. The UE can determine the current status of the MBMS services provided in the cell based on the above-mentioned information, and thereby can activate the service reception, or modify the corresponding settings. According to subclause 8.7.2 of the 3GPP protocol specification TS 25.331 V6.8.0 RRC, the situations in which the UE is required to perform the MCCH acquisition procedure include:                1. Upon selecting or re-selecting a cell supporting MBMS services, such as during a power-on period of the UE.        2. Upon change of a cell controlling the MBMS service being received by the UE due to an active set update or hard-handover.        3. Upon entering the UTRAN from another radio access technology (RAT), such as Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM).        4. Upon releasing an MBMS point-to-point radio bearer, such as when transiting from p-t-p transmission to p-t-m transmission in an MBMS service.        5. Upon returning from loss of coverage, such as transiting out of a basement or an elevator, to effective receiving coverage.        6. Upon receiving an indication from upper layers that the MBMS activated service has changed, such as when a new MBMS service item is added into the service set.
According to the protocol specification, the UE applies the MCCH acquisition procedure to determine MBMS services available in the cell and to initiate reception of the MBMS services that the UE has joined. Additionally, the MCCH acquisition procedure is applied to the all UEs supporting MBMS, irrespective of an RRC state of the UEs, such as idle, URA_PCH, CELL_PCH, CELL_FACH and CELL_DCH state. The above-mentioned RRC states are well known in the ordinary art and the details thereof are omitted. Therefore, in the prior art, the UEs not using MBMS service functions or not interested in the current MBMS services still apply the MCCH acquisition procedure, thereby resulting in system resource waste and power consumption.

Method and apparatus for acquiring point-to-multipoint MBMS service information in a wireless communications system


In a focus detection apparatus, an accumulation-type sensor formed of a plurality of sensor cells accumulates an image signal, and a component of the image signal is read from each cell for a focus detection calculation. A signal is read from a part of the cells in the sensor, and it is determined from the signal whether an image signal has a low contrast. When it is determined that the image signal has a low contrast, reading signals from the other cells is disabled to omit unnecessary signal reading operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement of a focus or distance detecting apparatus mounted on single-lens reflex cameras.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei-1-222583 discloses that the accumulating operation of an accumulation-type sensor used for detecting a focus is controlled such that the maximum and minimum values of an accumulation signal are detected while a photoelectric conversion cell performs an accumulating operation, and the accumulating operation is terminated when the difference between the maximum and minimum values reaches a predetermined level, in order to obtain a clear image signal even from a low-contrast object.
Cameras have been developed in each of which a passive-type focus detecting apparatus employing a sensor that operates in the above-discussed accumulation control method is used to perform focus detection at a plurality of focus detection areas and to automatically select the best focus point among the plurality of detected focuses to bring the camera into focus.
In the above-discussed conventional accumulation control method, when an object has a high luminance with a low contrast, if the maximum value of an accumulation signal reaches a predetermined level, even if the difference between the maximum and minimum values of the accumulation signal has not yet reached a predetermined value, the accumulating operation is terminated so that the accumulation signal of a photoelectric conversion cell is not saturated. When an object has a low luminance, since signal accumulation at a photoelectric conversion cell takes a long time and the dark current of the photoelectric conversion cell greatly affects, the accumulation time is limited to a predetermined time and the accumulating operation is terminated even if the difference between the maximum and minimum values of the accumulation signal has not yet reached a predetermined value.
To determine a focus detection area, from which information is obtained so that a camera is automatically brought into focus among a plurality of focus detection areas, focus detection is performed at all focus detection areas and a focus detection area is determined from various points such as the position of the focus and the characteristics of an image signal obtained when the focus is detected. Focus detection areas generating low-contrast image signals are not used because they do not satisfy the determination standard of the characteristics of image signals.
Since a focus detection area is determined from the contrast of image signals and other data after image signals are read from all of a plurality of focus detection areas, unnecessary reading is performed at focus detection areas having low contrasts and actually not used, including areas where a sufficient signal level is not obtained from an accumulation-type sensor in cases when an object has a high luminance with a low contrast and when an object has a low luminance with a low contrast.


There is provided a production method of a cyclic polyarylene sulfide by heating and reacting a raw material mixture (a) including at least a sulfidizing agent, a dihalogenated aromatic compound and an organic polar solvent. The production method continually performs each of an operation (A) of supplying the raw material mixture (a) to a reaction mixture (b) in a reaction vessel which includes a reaction product obtained from the raw material mixture (a), an operation (B) of withdrawing part of the reaction mixture (b) from the reaction vessel, and an operation (C) of heating the reaction vessel.

Cyclic aromatic compounds have recently received attention, because of the characteristics derived from their cyclic conformation, i.e., their structure-derived specificity. More specifically, the cyclic aromatic compounds have potential for development in applications of high-performance materials or functional materials and are expected to be used as inclusion compounds or to be used as monomers effective for syntheses of high molecular-weight linear polymers by ring-opening polymerization. Cyclic polyarylene sulfides (hereinafter polyarylene sulfide may be abbreviated as PAS) are remarkable compounds belonging to the category of cyclic aromatic compounds.
As a production method of cyclic polyarylene sulfide, disclosed are, for example, a method of oxidative polymerization of a diaryl disulfide compound under an ultra-dilute condition (for example, Patent Document 1) and a method of heating a copper salt of 4-bromothiophenol in quinoline an ultra-dilute condition (for example, Patent Document 2). These methods, however, require the ultra-dilute condition as essential. These methods produce cyclic polyarylene sulfide with high selectivity and suppress production of linear polyarylene sulfide to a very little amount, but requires a long time for the reaction and allows for production of only a very little amount of cyclic polyarylene sulfide per unit volume of a reaction vessel. These methods accordingly have lots of difficulties in terms of producing cyclic polyarylene sulfide with high efficiency. Another problem is difficulty in purification, so that the cyclic polyarylene sulfide obtained has low purity.
As a method of producing cyclic polyarylene sulfide by desalination condensation from versatile raw materials like a sulfidizing agent and a dihalogenated aromatic compound, disclosed is a method of controlling the amount of sodium sulfide relative to N-methylpyrrolidone to 0.1 mol/liter and performing contact reaction at a reflux temperature by addition of dichlorobenzene (for example, Non-Patent Document 1). This method employs the dilute condition that the volume of an organic polar solvent is 1.25 liters or more per 1 mol of sulfur atom of the sulfidizing agent and is thus expected to obtain cyclic polyarylene sulfide. This method, however, allows for production of only a very little amount of cyclic polyarylene sulfide. Other problems are low purity of the resulting cyclic polyarylene sulfide and a long time required for the reaction.
As a method of producing high-purity cyclic polyarylene sulfide with high yield using the similar raw materials, disclosed is a method of heating a reaction mixture including a sulfidizing agent and a dihalogenated aromatic compound at a temperature exceeding a reflux temperature under ordinary pressure by using an organic polar solvent of 1.25 liters or more relative to 1 mol of sulfur of the sulfidizing agent (for example, Patent Document 3). This method enables the consumption rate of the dihalogenated aromatic compound to reach about 90% in a relatively short time period like 0.5 to 2 hours and improves the selectivity of cyclic polyarylene sulfide to about 35%. Improvement of the selectivity, however, requires the diluter condition, so that only a little amount of cyclic polyarylene sulfide is obtained per unit volume of a reaction vessel at even the high yield. There is accordingly a need to satisfy both the yield and the production amount.
As a method proposed to solve the above problem, disclosed is a method of heating and reacting a linear polyarylene sulfide, a sulfidizing agent and a dihalogenated aromatic compound in 1.25 liters or more of an organic polar solvent per 1 mol of sulfur content included in the reaction mixture (for example, Patent Document 4). This method uses the linear polyarylene sulfide as the raw material and thereby reduces the amount of the monomer used. This accordingly improves the yield of cyclic polyarylene sulfide relative to the monomer and is expected to have industrial applicability. This method, however, still has a little amount of cyclic polyarylene sulfide obtained per volume of a reaction vessel. There is accordingly a need for improvement of the production amount.
As a similar method, disclosed is a method of heating and reacting a reaction mixture including at least a linear polyarylene sulfide, a sulfidizing agent and an organic polar solvent, adding a dihalogenated aromatic compound to the resulting reaction mixture, and further heating and reacting the resulting reaction mixture in 1.25 liters or more of the organic polar solvent per 1 mol of sulfur content included in the reaction mixture (for example, Patent Document 5). This method also uses the linear polyarylene sulfide as the raw material and thereby reduces the amount of the monomer used. This method, however, employs the multi-step reaction and requires the complicated operations including dilution of the reaction mixture and separate addition of the dihalogenated aromatic compound. This method also has a little amount of cyclic polyarylene sulfide obtained per volume of a reaction vessel. There is accordingly a need for further improvement of efficiency.
As a method of producing polyarylene sulfide, disclosed is a method of causing a monomer mixture including at least one species of sulfur source selected from alkali metal sulfides and alkali metal hydrosulfides, a dihalogenated aromatic compound and an organic polar solvent to be supplied to a polymerization line provided with a continuous tubular reactor including a static blending structure and to pass through the polymerization line during progress of polymerization (for example, Patent Document 6). This method aims to suppress the production cost of the polyarylene sulfide and does not refer to production of a cyclic polyarylene sulfide at all. Furthermore, this method uses the solvent of less than 1.25 liters per 1 mol of sulfur content of the sulfur source and is thus expected to have only a low yield even if cyclic polyarylene sulfide is produced. This method is accordingly not efficient as the production method of the cyclic polyarylene sulfide.
Patent Documents:
    Patent Document 1: JP 3200027B (claims)    Patent Document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,599 (page 14)    Patent Document 3: JP 2009-30012A (claims)    Patent Document 4: WO 2008/105438 (claims)    Patent Document 5: JP 2011-68885A (claims)    Patent Document 6: JP 2008-285596A (claims)Non-Patent Documents:    Non-Patent Document 1: Polymer, vol. 37, No. 14, p 3111-3112, 1996

Production method of cyclic polyarylene sulfide