A flexible, easily used bill payment system which utilizes voice recognition and playback technology to allow each user to establish and maintain an audible list of biller names. Each user is able to create a personalized list of billers by merely speaking and recording the name of the biller. Each spoken biller name for each user is recorded within the system. Each spoken biller name for each user is recorded by the system and used as confirmation prompts in a bill paying session by that particular user. In this way, the system of the present invention allows each user to dynamically maintain a customized list of biller names recorded in the user's own voice. The recording of biller names is carried out as part of a initialization or setup procedure. To use the system, the user or billee dials the bill payment systems and selects bill payment mode. With the system in bill payment mode, the user selects whether a one-time or recurring bill is to be paid. For either type of bill, the user indicates both the merchant and the amount of the bill to be paid. In the case of a one-time bill, the user specifies the date on which the bill is to be paid. Conversely, in the case of a recurring bill, the user specifies a start date and an end date, specifying the period in which multiple bills are to be paid to the particular merchant. The bill payment system of the present invention also includes capabilities for reviewing, changing or cancelling payments, as well as modifying and updating the user's custom list of merchants.

The simplest form of bill payment and processing involves the generation of a paper bill indicating the necessary information required to accomplish the bill payment transaction. The term "bill" will be understood to include periodic, such as monthly, bills, and non-recurring bills, such as invoices. The paper bill typically identifies the biller. The term "biller" is used to identify a party, such as a merchant or utility or service provider, who has performed services or provided goods and is seeking appropriate compensation therefor. The "biller" is also referred to as the "payee" since it is the recipient of the funds transferred during the bill payment process. The paper bill also identifies the "billee" or "payor", i.e., the party to whom the bill is directed and from whom payment is expected. The bill also customarily includes one or more additional items of information, such as the amount of the bill; payment terms; due date; finance charges and penalties; and itemized charges reflected in the billed amount. Of course, other information may be provided as well.
To effect payment of a paper bill, the billee customarily returns the bill (or a portion thereof) to the biller, using mail delivery or the like, along with payment in the form of a check or money order, or credit or debit card authorization. The payment is then received by the biller and processed. In the case of payment by check, bill processing includes handling the paper bills and checks received; depositing the checks in the biller's bank account; keeping track of whether each check is accepted (cleared) or rejected by the biller's bank; and crediting the biller's account in the amount of the cleared check. While payment by money order or debit or credit card is somewhat less complex, problems nonetheless exist.
The above-described paper-based bill payment system suffers from several disadvantages. First, the preparation and mailing of paper bills by the biller is expensive and time consuming. Second, there is oftentimes a significant delay before the bill is received by the billee. In fact, it is not uncommon for the bill to be lost altogether in the postal system and never received by the billee. This situation is extremely deleterious and frustrating for both biller and billee. For the billee, eventual payment is delayed until the situation is discovered and properly addressed. For the biller, it may lead to the unnecessary imposition of late fees, finance charges and a negative credit history, with the biller being under the mistaken impression that the billee is purposefully being delinquent in paying the bill.
A third disadvantage inherent in a paper-based bill paying system is that a significant amount of time, effort and expense must be expended by the billee in making bill payments. The paper bills must be organized, and checks must be written and mailed back to the biller. Additionally, proper postage must be affixed to the return payment. A fourth disadvantage of this system is the complicated processing of payments by the biller. Receiving payments, depositing checks and crediting billee accounts is often a time consuming and needless expenditure of resources. However, all of these disadvantages are unavoidable due to the practical limitations of a paper-based billing system. Even the use of written credit or debit card authorizations only partially address these problems.
One alternative to paper-based bill payment is the use of preauthorized automatic bank withdrawals. In this type of system, a billee notifies his bank, identifies particular billers and authorizes the automatic withdrawal of funds in amount equal to each bill submitted by that particular biller. Although this system is somewhat simpler from the point of view of the billee, it nevertheless has significant drawbacks. Among these drawbacks are the fact that the identification of billers and authorization of automatic withdrawal is typically accomplished by completing a paper form for each biller. Additionally, the system is limited to those participating billers which have an established relationship with the automatic withdrawal banking system. Moreover, in this system, the billee is usually not aware of the bill amount until the automatic withdrawal of the bill amount has been completed.
Yet another alternative bill paying system allows billees to pay bills using a telephone. In this type of system, each biller and billee is identified by way of a unique biller identification number. To pay a bill, a billee calls a bill transaction center or clearinghouse and enters his billee identification number. After the appropriate initialization and verification procedures are performed, the billee uses the telephone touchtone numeric keypad to enter the biller identification number corresponding to the particular bill to be paid. Again using the touchtone keypad, the billee enters the amount of the bill to be paid, with the last two digits determining cents amount and the remaining digits determining the dollars amount. A special key, such as the "*" or "#" key, is then used to confirm the amount and authorize payment of the bill.
Again, this telephone-based bill payment system suffers from several disadvantages. First, the system is limited to the payment of bills issued by those billers which are preregistered with the billing system.- Second, the system is cumbersome from the user's point of view in that billees are required to maintain and have at their ready disposal a list of billers and associated identification numbers. Otherwise, the particular biller cannot be identified and the bill payment cannot be carried out.
In order to overcome some of the deficiencies inherent in the above-described bill payment systems, more recent bill payment systems have been developed which utilize voice recognition technology. In one such system, the billee speaks the name of the particular biller whose bill it is desired to pay. The billee's speech is captured and analyzed to determine the intended biller. In this way, the billee is no longer required to maintain a biller identification code in order to perform bill payment. Although the user interface in this type of system is improved, the remainder of the system in inflexible in that the universe of permitted billers is still limited to those who have registered with the system. Typically, these systems allow for bill payment only to major national billers. If the system is configured and initialized differently for each geographic region, then the dominant, local billers in each geographic region may be included in addition to the national billers.

Voice recognition bill payment system with speaker verification and confirmation


Managing the selection and scheduling of security audits run on a computing network. The computer network is surveyed by a security audit system to determine the function and relative importance of the elements in the network. Based on function and priority, a more thorough type of security audit is selected to run against each of the network elements by the security audit system. The security audit can also be automatically scheduled based on the information gathered from the survey. Once the system runs the security audit, a vulnerability assessment can be calculated for each element in the network. The vulnerability assessment can be presented in a format that facilitates interpretation and response by someone operating the system. The vulnerability assessment can also be used to configure and schedule future security audits.

The security of computing networks is an increasingly important issue. With the growth of wide area networks (WANs), such as the Internet and the World Wide Web, people rely on computing networks to transfer and store an increasing amount of valuable information. This is also true of local area networks (LANs) used by companies, schools, organizations, and other enterprises. LANs are used by a bounded group of people in the organization to communicate and store electronic documents and information. LANs typically are coupled to or provide access to other local or wide area networks. Greater use and availability of computing networks produces a corresponding increase in the size and complexity of computing networks.
With the growth of networks and the importance of information available on the networks, there is also a need for better and more intelligent security. One approach to securing larger and more complex computer networks is to use a greater number and variety of security assessment devices. Security assessment devices can be used to evaluate elements in the network such as desktop computers, servers, and routers, and determine their respective vulnerability to attack from hackers. These network elements are commonly referred to as hosts and the terms "element" and "host" are used interchangeably herein. Security assessment devices can also be used more frequently to monitor the activity or status of the elements in a computing network.
One problem with increasing the number of security assessment devices and the frequency with which they are used is deciding which elements in the network need to be audited, how frequently they should be audited, and what checks need to be run. These are decisions that often involve a variety of complicated factors and they are decisions that in practicality cannot be made every time a security audit is conducted. Increased assessment also produces a corresponding increase in the amount of security data that must be analyzed. A network administrator that is overwhelmed with security data is unable to make intelligent decisions about which security vulnerabilities should be addressed first.
An additional problem associated with maintaining adequate network security is finding the time to conduct security audits. Security audits generally must be initiated by a security professional and can hinder or entirely interrupt network performance for several hours at a time. Furthermore, existing security assessment devices typically perform a variety of security scans on a machine, some of which may not be necessary. These unnecessary scans can translate into additional "down time" for the network.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a system which will support the auditing of a distributed computing network. Specifically, a need exists to be able to automatically survey a network and determine the role and value of each element in the network. A further need exists to be able to assess the vulnerability of each element in the network. There is also a need to automatically schedule security auditing based on the vulnerability assessment of each element and to adjust future scheduling as audit data change. In this manner, those elements deemed to have the greatest risk can be monitored more closely. Finally, a need exists to be able to manage and present data pertaining to the survey, the vulnerability assessment, and the scheduling in a convenient graphical format.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for configuring and scheduling security audits of a computer network

International Business Machines Corporation


A high humidity drying apparatus for cut tobacco is shown. The apparatus has a furnace which heats circulated air within the apparatus. The air is forced through a first arcuate elbow which has a tobacco air inlet located thereon for inserting the cut tobacco into the airstream. The tobacco is then redirected into a vertically extending drying chamber. The air entrained tobacco is then forced through a second arcuate elbow which places the tobacco into a tangential separator for removing the tobacco from the heated air. The separator has dual air exhausts, each leading to a high efficiency cyclone for further removal of the tobacco dust form the circulated air. All of the air is then passed back to the furnace for heating and then recirculated through the drying apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for drying cut tobacco and more particularly to an apparatus for drying tobacco under relatively high humidity drying conditions.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of cigarettes and like articles, it is the usual practice to reduce tobacco, the term being used herein to include both lamina and stems, to a particle size appropriate for manufacturing cigarettes. The moisture content of the tobacco is generally increased prior to this size reduction processing in order to minimize tobacco breakup and provide a material of uniform particle size. Furthermore, in order to process the treated tobacco in the manufacturing of cigarette rods, it is necessary to reduce the moisture content of the tobacco to a level below that which the tobacco is at after treatment by casings, flavorings and other additives. The actual drying process has a direct impact upon the quality of tobacco utilized during cigarette manufacturing because of the effect the drying process has upon the tobacco material itself.
Additionally, drying of tobacco after the addition of flavorings and casings has a direct impact upon the quality of the tobacco itself. If, during drying, the tobacco is subjected to rigorous agitation or contact with stationary surfaces, the tobacco material can be damaged by breakup thus decreasing the filling capacity of the tobacco. This unwanted result is also achieved when drying under low humidity conditions. It is therefore necessary to dry the moist tobacco under high humidity conditions while also preventing damaging contact to the tobacco material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,191 teaches a process for high humidity drying of tobacco material in order to reduce the moisture content of expanded tobacco while minimizing yield losses and reducing particle lamination while maintaining filling power. The air temperature used to dry the tobacco is within a range of around 250.degree. F. to about 650.degree. F. in the presence of an absolute humidity at a level above that which will provide a wet-bulb temperature reading of at least about 150.degree. F.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,515 teaches a tobacco drying apparatus having a plurality of expansion chambers which effect a drying of the tobacco within a high humidity environment. The drying chambers are utilized to reduce the velocity of the air flow through the apparatus as well as a dryer means to effect drying of the air entrained tobacco to the desired moisture level. However, the apparatus requires long extensions of air ducting as well as several air redirection areas or elbows which cause the tobacco to come into contact with the walls of the ducts in the air chambers causing tobacco breakup, sanitary, cleaning and other problems within the apparatus.


An apparatus and method for conveying and discharging bulk material including a material feed hopper, a screw conveyor, a transition area and a rotary air valve. The feed hopper is divided by a diverter which distributes feed material into the two ends of a trough having a converging screw conveyor. The converging screw conveyor distributes feed material into a transitional holding area for feeding into a rotary air valve. The rotary air valve has a helical vane design and is equipped with at least one cutting knife to control the amount of bulk material distributed in the pockets between the vanes. A blower provides pressurized air flow into and through the rotary air valve. The pressurized air carries the bulk material from the rotary valve through a conduit to discharge the bulk material at a remote distance.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a device for conveying and discharging bulk material such as bark mulch or any granular or pulverized material.
2. State of the Art
There are a number of conveying devices suitable for granular or pulverized material which utilize screw conveyors and rotary valves. None, however, are particularly suited for conveying and discharging bark mulch. Bark mulch is defined as a mixture of organic and/or inorganic materials usually comprised largely of plant and wood residues, which is generally composted and processed and is used mostly in the agricultural industry as a soil amendment, a ground cover for erosion and weed control, or for decorative purposes in landscaping. The known designs are all subject to jamming due to the build-up of bark mulch which tends to clump together and move as a large mass, instead of being easily shearable and moving as individual particles.
"Bulk Feed Body" is disclosed in Hoffstetter, U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,592, in which a screw conveyor feeds an inlet to a rotary valve. This device is primarily designed for grain or dry loose material. The apparatus utilizes a single screw conveyor which would move material such as bark mulch, but would result in compartmental bridging. The consequent build-up of the bulk material could rupture the end wall. Wolford, U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,763, also discloses a bulk feed apparatus in which a screw conveyor feeds an inlet to a rotary dispensing head. Likewise, the Wolford apparatus discloses a single screw conveyor used for displacing grain, salt and other free-flowing material. Similar problems in terms of build-up of material exist with this apparatus when utilized for moving materials such as bark mulch. The Wolford apparatus employs a material handling dispensing head and basically slings or throws the feed material by centrifugal force.
Temple, U.S. Pat. No. 2,757,049, for a "Flour Valve." It uses a helix in a rotation away from the helix angle in order to vent air into the feed. This system is also particularly adapted to freeflowing feed material.
Hickey, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,263,592, discloses an "Apparatus for Processing Fat-Containing Solids" which is not adaptable to discharging bulk materials. The Hickey machine discloses a single screw conveyor having the disadvantages discussed above.
"An Unloading System for Bulk Material Bins," Nadolske, U.S. Pat. No. 3,270,921, uses a moving air lock for displacing grains. The Nadolske apparatus includes a moving air lock with rubber tipped vanes. The apparatus disclosed in Nadolske would be prone to continuous jamming if utilized to displace bark mulch, as the long fibrous nature of the material tends to fold the airlock seals back and material bridges in the hoppers.
Burinsky, U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,596, for a "Forage Blower" discloses the use of an angled knife in conjunction with straight vanes on a fan along with a single screw conveyor. The knife is positioned on the outlet side of the fan. The disadvantages of the single screw conveyor have been discussed previously. The Burinsky apparatus would not be capable of conveying material because this type of fan will not build air pressure if a large portion of material plugs the fan inlet or outlet. This is a high speed application as opposed to a low speed heavy torque apparatus as disclosed in the present invention Furthermore, the fan utilized in this apparatus is extremely noisy, and when handling bark mulch, a very high strength fan would be required.
Vinyard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,652, discloses the use of a converging screw conveyor system, but unlike the present invention, it gathers randomly spaced debris with the conveyor and seldom, if ever, running at full capacity due to the design of the conveyor housing.
Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,377, is an apparatus for moving granulated and pulverized material. The feed drops through an air lock. The apparatus is not suited for conveying fibrous materials. Fibrous materials tend to jam the airlock and plug the distributor disks.
Boyhont, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,966, discloses a pneumatic conveying device which utilizes a single screw press to dewater pulp type material. Stringy material such as bark mulch would plug up the inlet and outlet of the chamber of the Boyhont device.
Oury, U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,920, discloses a converging single pitch screw conveyor. The "Auger Hopper" disclosed in Oury has no means to meter material other than the size of the outlet opening in the trough.
Machnee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,675, for a "Pneumatic Feed Control for Pneumatic Seeder and the Like" shows an air seeder which is not suited for displacing bark mulch because the shear points would tend to jam up. Small orifices would plug and this type of fan, like that used in the Burinsky devise, would lose air pressure.
Hellerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,126, a "Pneumatic Conveyor for Silage and Haylage" is a variation of the Burinsky patent which discloses rotary cutting knives which counter-rotate to the airlock vanes. The knifes move the material back into the gravity feed system and act as wipers rather than shear points. Tenacious fibers as in bark mulch would jam, require high power and large vanes to handle induced stresses.
Schumacher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,177, shows a screw to dewater raw materials and is not at all related to the present application. A German patent, Patent No. 374033, also shows the state of the art of devices used for conveying materials.
As stated above, the basic problem with the existing devices for conveying and discharging bulk material is the tendency for the material to pack into the device in such a manner that it creates a blockage. Therefore, it was concluded that there was a need for a more useful conveying and discharging device that reduces the incidence of blockage. The Apparatus For Conveying And Discharging Bulk Materials has improved this problem; however, on occasion the bulk material packs into the hopper(s) in such a manner that it bridges over the top of the screw conveyor creating a blockage. To alleviate this problem, we have developed two modifications of the Apparatus For Conveying And Discharging Bulk Materials: the anti-bridge breaker bar assembly and the one sided hopper modifications. The two modifications may be used independently or together in the same apparatus.

Apparatus for conveying and discharging bulk materials


A guidewire retention clip is provided to prevent the accidental, complete insertion of a guidewire into a patient during various procedures. As provided herein, the guidewire retention clip may include a body having a portion configured to hold a guidewire; a sensor associated with the body configured to detect movement of the guidewire to and from the body; and an audio and/or visual indicator arranged on the body, wherein the audio and/or visual indicator is triggered when the sensor detects movement of the guidewire. Methods of using the guidewire retention clip are also provided.

Guidewires are often used to position and guide the insertion of medical devices, such as a catheter, into a body cavity, such as a blood vessel, of a patient. The guidewire is positioned to allow a catheter to be passed therealong and to follow the path of the guidewire into the patient. The guidewire is thereafter withdrawn and the catheter is ready for further positioning and use.
Millions of patients undergo medical procedures using guidewire, such as central venous cannulation, every year. Placing a central venous catheter (CVC) allows medical interventions such as fluid resuscitation, potent drug therapy, embolization, stent placement, cardiac catheterizations, and many major surgeries.
To place a CVC, the 60-year-old Seldinger technique is the standard of care. A short needle is inserted into the target vessel, then a guidewire is then placed through the needle into the vessel, and then the needle is removed. Then, a dilator is placed to open the vessel entryway and then a catheter is threaded over the guidewire and guided into the vein by the wire. Once the catheter is in place, the guidewire is removed.
While the wire is in the vein, care must be taken to prevent its accidental, total insertion. Since this depends solely on human vigilance, errors happen. Every year, over a thousand guidewires are lost inside patients nationwide, often due to practitioner distraction or fatigue. While retained guidewires are recognized as a major safety issue, no effective solution has been presented. In addition to the significant cost of retrieval procedures, litigation, and negative publicity, retained wires expose patients to risks of infection, vessel perforation, stroke, cardiac arrhythmia, and death.


The invention relates to an antifriction composite comprising a metal support layer, an intermediate layer produced from an aluminum alloy and a bearing layer produced from an aluminum alloy. The components of the aluminum alloys of the intermediate layer and the bearing layer are identical except for an additional soft phase portion in the bearing layer. Said soft phase portion may include lead, tin and/or bismuth. The invention also relies to a method for producing the inventive antifriction composite.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a plain bearing composite material and to uses and a method for producing the plain bearing composite material.
2. Related Art
Known from DE 40 04 703 A1 is a layer material for plain bearing elements comprising a metal supporting layer and a an aluminium-based bearing material. The aluminium alloy comprises 1-3 wt. % nickel, 0.5-2.5 wt. % manganese, 0.02-1.5 wt. % copper. 0.5-20 wt. % tin and the remainder being aluminium with the usual impurities. The bearing alloy further contains certain fractions of hard particles substantially in particle sizes ≦5 μm.
In this layer material, an intermediate layer of pure aluminium is provided as an option to improve the bond between the steel back and the bearing material. This plain bearing composite material has good fatigue strength values under a loading up to 80 MPa, good wear resistance and good corrosion safety values.
When this plain bearing composite material with pure aluminium as an intermediate layer is used under fairly high loadings, that is at loadings above 80 MPa, it has been found that the material, in particular that of the intermediate layer, deviates laterally at layer thicknesses >80 μm which, as a result of an enlargement of the bearing width, can lead to a perturbing axial projection in bearing shells or bearing bushings and can thereby even result in failure of the motor.
Known from DE 36 40 328 A1 is a layer material for plain bearing elements comprising an aluminium alloy which differs from the aluminium alloy of DE 40 04 703 A1 by omitting the zinc fraction.
This aluminium bearing alloy is used as a bearing material which allows loading capacities up to 80 MPa before fatigue cracks can be detected in the bearing material layer.
US 2002/0104876 describes a layer composite material comprising a steel back, an aluminium-based intermediate layer with a thickness of 60-120 μm and comprising a bearing metal layer made of an aluminium alloy. The bearing metal layer contains 4-20% lead or tin, up to 26% silicon, up to 2% magnesium, manganese, nickel, tin, copper or chromium. The intermediate layer preferably consists of pure aluminium or an aluminium alloy such as, for example AlMnCu1. The fatigue strength of the layer composite material is a max. 100 MPa. The intermediate layer is joined to the bearing metal layer by means of a hot rolling cladding process.
All layer composite materials have the production-technology disadvantage that the material for the intermediate layer and the material for the bearing layer cannot be produced without considerable expenditure on the same casting system.

Antifriction composite, use of the antifriction composite, and method for producing the antifriction composite


A fixing device capable of producing fixed images of excellent quality by using a thin-layer rotating heating member and a heating element capable of rapidly and directly heating a rotating heating member to shorten the warm-up time of the rotating heating member, and capable of suppressing fluctuation of the rotating heating member temperature when a recording member is inserted between the rotating heating member and a rotating pressure member after the rotating heating member has been warmed up. The fixing device has a heating roller heated by a resistance heating element, a pressure roller opposite the heating roller, a temperature detector to detect the heating roller temperature, and a control unit to control the power supplied to the resistance heating element based on the temperature detected by the temperature detector. The heating roller and the pressure roller start rotating before the warm-up period ends, and power is supplied to the resistance heating element at a power level required to maintain the temperature of the heating roller at a predetermined fixing temperature directly after insertion of a recording member, bearing an unfixed image, between the heating roller and the pressure roller in accordance with the rate of temperature rise of the heating roller, during rotation of the heating roller, from the start of rotation or after the start of rotation of the hearing roller, but before the warm-up period ends.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing device to heat and fix an unfixed image such as a toner image carried on a recording member in an image forming apparatus such as electrophotographic copiers, printers, facsimiles and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fixing devices used in image forming apparatuses such as copiers, printers, facsimiles and the like which form print images by electrophotographic methods generally are provided with a rotating heating member such as a heating roller, heating belt or the like to heat and fix an unfixed image on a recording member, and a recording member bearing an unfixed image such as a toner image is passed between a heating member and a rotating pressure member such as pressure roller or pressure belt arranged opposite said heating member, so as to accomplish heat-fixing of the unfixed image under pressure.
Heretofore, rotating heating members heated by radiant heat from a heater such as a halogen lamp heater have been used frequently. In fixing devices using rotating heating members which utilize halogen lamp heaters or the like as a heat source, however, the speed of the temperature rise is quite slow from the time current starts flowing to said heater until the surface of the rotating heating member attains a predetermined constant temperature, thereby making the apparatus difficult to use due to the lengthy preheating time (i.e., the so-called warm-up time) required from the moment the image forming apparatus main power source is turned ON until the rotating heating member attains a predetermined constant temperature. In order to slightly alleviate this disadvantage, fixing devices have been realized which have thinner and smaller diameter rotating heating members, and so require less heat capacity.
An example of reducing the warm-up time by adding a smaller heat capacity by using a thin-layer rotating heating member is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 59-189381, which proposes using a heating roller formed so as to rotate a resistance heating member, which comprises a material that generates heat via a current flow, in conjunction with a core roller, and using an electromagnetic induction heating means including an induction coil arranged in close proximity to a rotating heating member.
Although the thin-layer rotating heating member can be heated rapidly, the surface temperature of such rotating heating member fluctuates greatly due to the small heat capacity even with slight heat transfer from the rotating heating member to other elements, unlike thick-layer rotating heating members. Naturally, this tendency becomes greater as the rotating heating member becomes thinner.
This condition results in a rapid drop in the temperature of the rotating heating member as the rotating heating member is rotated after warm-up when heat is lost to the rotating pressure member which is rotated in contact with said rotating heating member, and when heat is lost to a recording member directly after said recording member is inserted between the rotating heating member and the rotating pressure member.
Inadequate fixing and fixing of irregular strength results when an unfixed image is fused to a recording member with the temperature of the rotating heating member in the aforesaid reduced state.
Of course, although the temperature of the rotating heating member is normally controlled at a predetermined temperature via feedback control by detecting the surface temperature of the rotating heating member using a temperature detecting means, the temperature detecting means (typically a thermistor) used in such temperature control has poor responsiveness and results in temperature dispersion until the temperature detecting means responds. The influence of temperature dispersion is particularly excessive in regulating a constant temperature when accomplishing fixing under heat and pressure using a rotating heating member having a small heat capacity, and makes it difficult to maintain the surface temperature of the rotating heating member at a constant temperature.
Although the temperature dispersion of the rotating heating member is minimized if printing starts after the rotating heating member temperature is adjusted as the rotating heating member is rotated so as to allow adequate heating of the rotating pressure member and peripheral elements, this arrangement controverts the object of shortening the warm-up time by reducing the heat capacity of the rotating heating member, such that when the heat capacity of the rotating heating member is reduced, a temperature drop cannot be avoided when a recording member is inserted even when, for example, printing starts after the rotating pressure roller and peripheral elements have been adequately heated.
In this regard, Japanese Patent No. 61-45831 discloses on Lines 14 through 22 of column 3, Page 2, "The embodiments of the present invention provide that, in the fixing device of FIG. 1, a heating member 4 is forcibly turned ON directly after a slow warm-up of the sensitivity of a temperature detector 3, to forcibly heat a fixing roller 1 until the temperature of the peripheral elements is elevated and the sensitivity of said temperature detector 3 attains a suitable level." In the case of fixing devices using a heating roller having a built-in heater, the image forming apparatus using said fixing device initially turns ON a heater until the heating roller attains a predetermined temperature, and said heater is forcibly turned ON when the heating roller starts to rotate and the fixing device starts operation after the warm-up ends so as to prevent a temperature drop of the heating roller during the initial period of use of the fixing device, and thereby avoid concomitant inadequate fixing.
It is not desirable, however, to have the heater always turned ON by at same power level when forcibly turning ON the heater after warm-up ends. The situations are completely different when again warming up directly after printing several sheets, and when starting warm-up with the pressure roller pressed against the heating roller and the elements peripheral to the fixing device all in low temperature states as when the image forming apparatus has not been used for an extended period.
That is, when the pressure roller and peripheral elements of the fixing device are warm before the start of the heating roller warm-up, as when reheating the heating roller directly after printing several pages, there is only slight heat transfer from the heating roller to the other elements when the heater is forcibly turned ON after the aforesaid warm-up and the heating roller attains an excessively high temperature, thereby causing the unfixed toner to become too molten and transfer onto the heating roller with the likely possibility of causing so-called high-temperature offset. The problem of high-temperature offset becomes more pronounced as the heating roller becomes thinner and the heat capacity becomes smaller.
The present invention provides a fixing device comprising a rotating heating member heated by a heating means, a rotating pressure member which presses against said rotating heating means, a temperature detecting means to detect the temperature of said rotating heating means, and a control means to control the electric power supplied to said heating means based on the temperature detected by said temperature detecting means, said fixing device being of a type which fixes an unfixed toner image on a recording member by having a recording member bearing an unfixed toner image pass between said rotating heating member and said rotating pressure member, and wherein the warm-up time of said rotating heating member can be shortened by using a thin-layer rotating heating member and a heating means capable of rapidly and directly heating said rotating heating means, and wherein temperature fluctuation of the rotating heating member is controlled when a recording member is inserted between said rotating heating member and said rotating pressure member after the rotating heating member has been warmed up so as to produce fixed images of excellent quality. And the present invention provides A heating method comprising steps of warming-up a rotating member, rotating said rotating member before end of said warming-up step, detecting the temperature of said rotating member, and controlling the temperature of said rotating member to maintain a predetermined temperature after said warming-up step, in accordance with the rate of temperature rise during rotating operation of said rotating step.


A system and method for monitoring disposal of wastewater in a disposal well includes: an event monitor sensor configured to identify a wastewater disposal event; and a second sensor configured to collect data about one or more characteristics of the wastewater during the wastewater disposal event. The data from the second sensor at the disposal well is analyzed to determine a classification of the wastewater, which is then reported to an operator or another interested party.

In oil-producing and gas-producing regions, hydrocarbon exploration and production companies require water when drilling wells using hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, producers need a location to dispose of both the used fracturing fluid (flow-back water) and the water that is produced naturally alongside the hydrocarbons (produced water).
In many cases, depending on state, regional, or federal regulations, the flow-back and produced water is deposited into a dedicated disposal well. Such a disposal well may also be referred to as a saltwater disposal well (SWD) or a wastewater disposal well. Disposal wells are often operated in remote areas, often unmanned by any staff or management to oversee disposal events. Subsequently, operators often lack insight into key details of the daily operations of a disposal well. These details include, among others, site security, recordkeeping, billing, and scheduling of preventative maintenance.
In many instances, wastewater disposal events are self-reported by the driver of a disposal truck. The operator has little recourse to verify that information regarding a disposed quantity of water, such as the type and volume of water, is accurate or even correct. An operator may charge vastly different rates for disposal of different fluid types and is incentivized to ensure there is as little error as possible. Furthermore, paper records are often the only records of disposal events, which may be difficult to audit to verify that events were reported accurately.
Additionally, operators may be actively engaged in buying or selling services in a water disposal marketplace where operational data is valuable. For instance, an operator may advertise its current prices for its disposal services in an effort to attract truck drivers who are hauling waste to use those services. Factors that influence the price might include, but are not limited to, disposal capacity, traffic volumes, well pressures, tank levels, or volumes of different types of wastewater over time. If the operator can automatically measure and communicate these types of data to the wider market, it can realize certain operational efficiencies.

System and method for monitoring disposal of wastewater in one or more disposal wells


This invention relates to novel compounds suitable for labeling by 18F and to the corresponding 18F labeled compounds themselves, 19F-fluorinated analogs thereof and their use as reference standards, methods of preparing such compounds, compositions comprising such compounds, kits comprising such compounds or compositions and uses of such compounds, compositions or kits for diagnostic imaging by Positron Emission Tomography (PET).

Molecular imaging has the potential to detect disease progression or therapeutic effectiveness earlier than most conventional methods in the fields of oncology, neurology and cardiology. Of the several promising molecular imaging technologies having been developed as optical imaging and MRI. PET is of particular interest for drug development because of its high sensitivity and ability to provide quantitative and kinetic data.
For example, positron emitting isotopes include carbon, iodine, fluorine, nitrogen, and oxygen. These isotopes can replace their non-radioactive counterparts in target compounds to produce tracers that function biologically and are chemically identical to the original molecules for PET imaging, or can be attached to said counterparts to give close analogues of the respective parent effector molecule. Among these isotopes 18F is the most convenient labeling isotope due to its relatively long half life (110 min) which permits the preparation of diagnostic tracers and subsequent study of biochemical processes. In addition, its high β+ yield and low β+ energy (635 keV) are also advantageous.
The 18F-fluorination reaction is of great importance for 18F-labeled radiopharmaceuticals which are used as in vivo imaging agents targeting and visualizing diseases, e.g. solid tumours or diseases of brain. A very important technical goal in using 18F-labeled radiopharmaceuticals is the rapid preparation and administration of the radioactive compound due to the fact that the 18F isotopes have a half-life of about 110 minutes that is beneficial for clinical use on the one hand, but is challenging for production processes of such compounds on the other hand.
The best known example for PET imaging of diseases is 2-[18F]fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG), which is the most widely used PET radiopharmaceutical [J Nucl Med (1978), 19: 1154-1161].
However, a number of pitfalls and artifacts have been ascribed to FDG imaging and more continue to surface as the worldwide experience with FDG increases. Altered FDG uptake in muscles, brown adipose tissue, bone marrow, the urinary tract, and the bowel is demonstrated in a significant proportion of patients, which can hide underlying malignant foci or mimic malignant lesions (Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, 40, 283 (2010)). Although PET is a sensitive tool for detecting malignancy. FDG uptake is not tumor specific. It can also be seen in healthy tissue or in benign disease as inflammation or posttraumatic repair and could be mistaken for cancer. The experienced nuclear medicine physician mostly manages to differentiate malignant from non-malignant FDG uptake, but some findings may remain ambiguous (Euro. Radio., 16, 1054 (2006)).
The area most common for interpretative pitfalls with FDG is related to uptake in active skeletal muscle. Many benign conditions can cause high accumulation of FDG creating the potential for false positive interpretation. Such pitfalls include variable physiologic FDG uptake in the digestive tract, thyroid gland, skeletal muscle, myocardium, bone marrow, and genitourinary tract and benign pathologic FDG uptake in healing bone, lymph nodes, joints, sites of infection, and cases of regional response to infection and aseptic inflammatory response. In many instances, these physiologic variants and benign pathologic causes of FDG uptake can be specifically recognized and properly categorized; in other instances, such as the lymph node response to inflammation or infection, focal FDG uptake is non-specific (J. Nucl. Med. Tech. 33, 145 (2005), Radiographics, 19, 61 (1999), Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, 34, 122 (2004); 34, 56 (2004), J. Nucl. Med. 45, 695 (2004)).
To overcome at least some of these limitations of FDG, other adaptations of the tumor metabolism beyond enhanced glycolysis need to be exploited to provide an improved PET imaging agent for tumors. Tumors in general often have to cope with severe conditions of oxidative stress. Thiol containing molecules like the amino acid L-cysteine and the tripeptide glutathione (GSH) are the major cellular components to overcome these conditions and are consumed for detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other electrophiles, such as chemotherapeutics. Thus, a continuous supply of GSH and its precursors are critical for cell survival and provide a selective advantage for tumor growth. L-Cysteine plays a key role as reactive oxygen species scavenger by itself and is the rate-limiting building block for GSH biosynthesis. In the blood the oxidized dimer L-cystine is the dominant form and the availability of L-cysteine is limited. However, L-cystine can be efficiently provided to cells via the cystine/glutamate exchanger xCT (SLC7A11). Subsequently L-cystine is reduced inside the cells to yield two molecules of L-cysteine. An increased xCT expression is found in many tumors. The xCT transporter was first described by Bannai and Kitamura in 1980 as a Na+-independent, high-affinity transporter for L-cystine and L-glutamate in human fibroblasts (J. Biol. Chem. 255 (1980) 2372-2376). It is a heteromeric amino acid transporter for anionic amino acids and the main transporter for L-cystine (Pflugers Arch 442 (2001) 286-296, Pflugers Arch 447 (2004) 532-542). It is important to note that the xCT transporter is not able to discriminate between its natural substrates L-cystine and L-glutamate for the inward directed transport (Neuropharmacology 46 (2004) 273-284). Radiolabeled amino acid derivatives targeting the xCT transporter have been described before. [18F]fluoroalkyl- and [18F]fluoroalkoxyl-substituted glutamic acid derivatives are disclosed in WO2008052788, WO2009141091, WO2009141090. Furthermore, WO2009141090 comprises fluorobenzyl- and fluoropyridylmethyl-substituted glutamic acid derivatives.
As one example, 4-(3-[18F]fluoropropyl)glutamic acid was shown to be a promising agent for tumor imaging (WO2009141091, example 4). A biodistribution study in A549 tumor bearing nude mice demonstrated very good tumor targeting (1.6% ID/g at 1 h post injection), Kidney (6.4% ID/g at 30 min post injection) and pancreas (8.5% ID/g at 30 min post injection) were found to be the non-tumor organs with highest tracer uptake. Beside 18F labeled glutamic acid derivatives, also 18F labeled cystine derivatives were investigated regarding the potential to target xCT activity in tumors (WO2010125068). However, it is well known, that the uptake of L-cystine is pH dependent, with less uptake at low pH as typically found in tumor environment. In contrast, uptake of glutamate and its derivatives via xCT is independent of pH (J Biol Chem 256 (1981) 5770-5772).
Due to the half life of 18F isotope of about 110 min, an 18F radiopharmaceutical demands a daily production. Key factor for successful routine use of such radiotracer are a robust and high yield radiosynthesis on the one hand and reliable and fast analytical methods for determination of radiochemical purity, specific activity and by-products. Well established analytical methods comprise liquid chromatography (e.g. HPLC, UPLC) using radiodetector and UV-detector.
A drawback of the most promising 18F labeled xCt substrates described so for is a missing chromophor to enable a standard detection by UV detectors. To measure specific activity or presence of by-products, derivatization methods (e.g. pre-column derivatization, post-column derivatization) using for example OPA, ACCQ, Fmoc, Ninhydrin reagents can be used. However, a simple direct analysis of the radiopharmaceutical compositions would be advantageous.

Radiolabeled amino acids for diagnostic imaging


The present invention aims to provide a highly reliable light-emitting device capable of simplifying alignment of optical axes of light-emitting element and optical fiber and making optical coupling between them with high efficiency, and a light-emitting device manufacturing method, by which such light-emitting device can be manufactured with high productivity. Since a lens made of radiation sensitive resin is formed directly on a light-emitting element to be located just above a light-emitting surface, it becomes possible to provide a highly reliable light-emitting device capable of allowing the optical axes of the light-emitting element and the optical fiber to be aligned more easily and making optical coupling between them with high efficiency. Further, it becomes possible to provide a manufacturing method capable of manufacturing a highly reliable light-emitting device and comprising the steps of forming a resist layer on a light-emitting element wafer having a plurality of light-emitting surfaces, masking portions of the resist layer just above the light-emitting surfaces, removing the resist layer except the masked portions, and shaping the resist layer into lenses.

This invention relates to a light-emitting device and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a light-emitting device with lens function and a method for manufacturing the same.
Examples of light-emitting element used for optical communication are a semiconductor laser and a LED. In order to optically couple such light-emitting element highly efficiently and easily to an optical fiber which is an optical transmission medium, rapid developments are being made on a light-emitting element module of the type in which a light-emitting element and a lens are combined and a light-emitting device of the type in which a light-emitting element itself is given with lens function. These conventional light-emitting devices will be described by referring to FIGS. 6 to 8.
FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view showing a state of optical coupling between a light-emitting element, a lens and an optical fiber which are disposed separately, FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing a state of optical coupling between a light-emitting device having an integral lens and an optical fiber, and FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view showing a state of optical coupling between a light-emitting device a portion of which is lens-shaped and an optical fiber. In FIGS. 6 to 8, the reference numeral 18 denotes a light-emitting element, 19 a light-emitting surface, 20 a lens, 21 an optical fiber, 22 a lens united with the light-emitting element, 23 an adhesive, and 24 a lens formed in a portion of the light-emitting device. As shown in FIG. 6, when disposing the light-emitting device 18 and the lens 20 as separate parts, the optical axes of the lens 20 and the optical fiber 21 are each required to be aligned with that of the light-emitting element 18 so that the efficiency of optical coupling between the light-emitting element 18 and the optical fiber 21 is increased, and therefore the optical axis alignment is troublesome and takes a considerable length of time. To cope with this, the lens 22 is placed just above the light-emitting surface 19 and fixed to the light-emitting element 18 with the adhesive 23 so that the lens 22 is united with the light-emitting element 18 as shown in FIG. 7, and a portion of the light-emitting element 18 located just above the light-emitting surface 19 is lens-shaped so as to give the lens function to the light-emitting device as shown in FIG. 8, in which cases the optical axis alignment can be simplified because the separate operation for aligning the optical axis of the lens can be dispensed with and the number of parts required for the coupling between the light-emitting device and the optical fiber can be decreased.
However, in the conventional light-emitting device with lens function described above, when fixing the lens to the light-emitting element with an adhesive and the like, there are involed problems that the process of gluing the lens to the light-emitting element is needed and that the glued portion between the light-emitting element and the lens lacks in long-term stability and reliability. Meanwhile, in the light-emitting device a portion of which is lens-shaped as well, since the process of shaping into the lens form, e.g., ion etching, is still in the technologically developing stage, there is involved a problem that it is difficult to shape into the desired form and hence the efficiency of optical coupling to the optical fiber is low and the productivity of the light-emitting device is low.
The present invention aims to solve the above problems of the prior arts and an object of the invention is to provide a highly reliable light-emitting device which is constructed such that a lens made of radiation sensitive resin is formed directly on a light-emitting element so as to be located just above a light-emitting surface and which is capable of allowing the optical axes of the light-emitting element and optical fiber to be aligned more easily and making optical coupling between them with high efficiency, and a light-emitting device manufacturing method capable of manufacturing a highly reliable light-emitting device with high productivity, which device is capable of allowing the optical axes of the light-emitting element and optical fiber to be aligned more easily and making optical coupling between them with high efficiency.

Light-emitting device and method for manufacturing the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., LTD.


In providing packet forwarding policies in a virtual service network that includes a network node and a pool of service load balancers serving a virtual service, the network node: receives a virtual service session request from a client device, the request including a virtual service network address for the virtual service; compares the virtual service network address in the request with the virtual service network address in each at least one packet forwarding policy; in response to finding a match between the virtual service network address in the request and a given virtual service network address in a given packet forwarding policy, determines the given destination in the given packet forwarding policy; and sends the request to a service load balancer in the pool of service load balancers associated with the given destination, where the service load balancer establishes a virtual service session with the client device.

Field
This invention relates generally to data communications, and more specifically, to a virtual service network.
Background
Service load balancers such as server load balancers or application delivery controllers typically balance load among a plurality of servers providing network services such as Web documents, voice calls, advertisements, enterprise applications, video services, gaming, or consuming broadband services. A service is used by many client computers. Some services are offered for few clients and some services are offered to many clients. Typically a service is handled by a service load balancer. When there are many clients utilizing the service at the same time, the service load balancer will handle the distribution of client service accesses among the servers. However, as the capacity of the service load balancer is reached, a network administrator cannot easily add a second service load balancer, since a service is typically assigned to an IP address of the service load balancer. Adding another service load balancer having the same IP address for the service is not possible in a data network. Network nodes in the data network would not be able to determine which service load balancer to send a client service access to.
The scaling of service demand has not been a problem in the past as computing capacity of service load balancer was able to keep up with client service demand. However, as mobile computing becomes pervasive and as more traditional non-networking services such as television, gaming, and advertisement are migrating to data networks, the demand for client services has surpassed the pace of processing improvement. The need to scale to a plurality of service load balancers to support a network service is imminent.
The present invention describes a virtual service network wherein network nodes in the virtual service network are capable of processing client service sessions of a network service and forwarding the sessions to a plurality of service load balancers.

Forwarding policies on a virtual service network


A pipemarker consists of an elongated sign, which has a front face for bearing identifying information and a rear face with a bracket-receiving channel, and at least one bracket that can be attached to a pipe with strapping. The bracket includes a rachet for tightening the strapping and an outward projection containing a compression spring which snaps into the bracket-receiving channel of the sign.

The proper identification of pipes and their contents is highly desirable. Proper identification, in addition to increasing efficiency, can prevent industrial accidents and personal injuries by making readily available important information to workers and emergency response personnel.
Governmental units, both local and national, have adopted pipe marking standards designed to promote safety. The standards usually include marking the pipes with a specific color which indicates whether or not the fluid contained therein is hazardous, gaseous, or liquid. They also may require markings that show the normal direction of flow through the pipe. The standards are intended to ensure that critical information is readily available by a simple visual inspection.
Various approaches have been tried to satisfy the requirements of those standards. One approach has been to paint the pipes the appropriate color and to paint the required information in a contrasting color directly upon the pipes. However, that approach has not been completely successful because where the pipes are rusted or covered with grease, the paint doesn't stay on the pipes. Another approach has been to paint the pipes an appropriate color and to apply pressure sensitive adhesive labels bearing the desired information directly onto the pipes. However, if the pipe gets hot, or if the pipe is dirty, the labels may not stay in place even if the paint stays on the pipe.
The most promising approach has been to attach a sign to the pipe. The sign can either be of the appropriate color or it can bear a label of the appropriate color and any desired markings. The sign is usually secured to a pipe by tape or bands or straps that pass through slots in the sign and encircle the pipe. This type of pipemarker works quite well, however, there is still room for improvement because it can be difficult to install. Furthermore, it usually requires the use of custom tapes, bands or straps.


Provided herein are processes for conversion of methane to acetic acid. In one embodiment, the processes are for direct, selective conversion of methane to acetic acid in a single step.

Natural gas is abundantly available and provides a power source as a combustible fuel. However, the use of natural gas as fuel is often inconvenient for reasons of storage and handling. Accordingly, it would be desirable to convert components of natural gas to more valuable hydrocarbons. For example, conversion of natural gas to a liquid fuel would obviate certain problems of storage and handling. The main component of natural gas is methane. An efficient technology to economically convert methane directly to useful products, including acetic acid is desirable. The direct, selective conversion of methane to useful products is challenging because the C—H bonds of methane are strong, and efficient catalysts that can economically, selectively, and directly convert methane to functionalized molecules are needed.
Available methods for conversion of methane to acetic acid include a three-step process based on the high-temperature conversion of methane to syn-gas, conversion of syn-gas to methanol and finally carbonylation of the methanol to acetic acid. This process is capital and energy-intensive.
Therefore, there is a continuing need for a method for direct, selective conversion of methane to acetic acid.

Process for converting methane to acetic acid


Systems and methods utilize a game rules script that defines a set of winning outcomes. The games rules script may be parsed into a game rules data structure that may be utilized by a gaming application. The gaming system generates a game outcome, and uses the game rules data structure defined by the game rules script to determine if the game outcome matches at least one winning outcome in the set of winning outcomes defined in the script.

Today's gaming terminal typically comprises a computerized system controlling a video display or reels that provide wagering games such as slots, video card games (poker, blackjack etc.), video keno, video bingo, video pachinko and other games typical in the gaming industry.
In order to prevent players from becoming bored, new versions of wagering games, and alterations to existing games are constantly being developed. In the case of card and dice games, the new rules associated with the game also requires the development of specialized evaluation software that is executed during the game to determine if the outcome generated by the game is a winning outcome. For example, for a video poker game, an evaluation routine is executed during game play that decides if the player's hand matches a winning hand.
It is typically long, complex, and difficult to produce, test and debug a new evaluation routine that implements new gaming rules. Additionally, evaluation routines are generally inflexible. For example, an evaluation routine written for a "Jacks or Better" 5-card draw game will not work for a 7-card stud game. Generally the evaluation routine needs to be totally re-written every time a new game is developed.
In view of the above-mentioned problems and concerns, there is a need in the art for the present invention.

Systems and methods for evaluating a gaming outcome using a game rules script


A drive circuit for a brushless motor includes position detectors for detecting a rotational position of a rotor of the brushless motor, thereby generating position detection signals. A plurality of amplifiers have respective transistors at least in its output stage and feed an electric power to stator windings of the brushless motor through the transistors of the output stage in a timing in accordance with the position detection signals from the position detectors respectively. Each amplifier has an amplification degree varied based on a speed control signal. A voltage detector detects an output voltage of each amplifier. A power supply adjusting device controls a power supply voltage applied to each amplifier based on a detection voltage of the voltage detector.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drive circuit for a brushless motor including amplifiers energizing stator windings of the brushless motor through transistors of its output stage in accordance with a position detection signal generated by position detecting means detecting a rotational position of a rotor of the brushless motor, the amplifiers having an amplification degree controlled based on a motor speed control signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 4 shows an above-described type drive circuit for a three-phase brushless motor, for example. Position detecting elements 1a, 1b and 1c are provided for detecting a rotational position of a rotor 3 of the brushless motor. The position detecting elements 1a, 1b, 1c are connected to respective input terminals of a three-phase matrix circuit 2. Three amplifiers 4a, 4b and 4c are provided for supplying drive voltages to stator windings 3a, 3b and 3c of the brushless motor respectively.
Since the above-described amplifiers have the same electrical arrangement, only the amplifier 4a will now be described. The amplifier 4a is composed of a signal amplifying circuit 5a provided in an input stage, an NPN transistor 6a and a PNP transistor 7a both provided in an output stage. An input terminal of the signal amplifying circuit 5a is connected to an output terminal Pa of the three-phase matrix circuit 2. The signal amplifying circuit 5a has a control input terminal Ca to which a speed control signal S is delivered from a control circuit (not shown). The emitters of the transistors 6a, 7a are connected to each other such that the transistors 6a, 7a forms a series circuit. The collector of the transistor 6a is connected to a DC power supply terminal V.sub.CC and the collector of the transistor 7a is grounded. The bases of the transistors 6a, 7a are connected in common to an output terminal of the signal amplifying circuit 5a in common.
One terminal side of the stator winding 3a is connected to the emitters of the transistors 6a, 7a in common and the other terminal side of the stator winding 3a is connected to the other terminal sides of the other stator windings 3b, 3c in common.
In accordance with the above-described arrangement, the three-phase matrix circuit 2 delivers, to the amplifiers 4a-4c, voltage signals in accordance with the position detection signals supplied from the position detecting elements 1a-1c respectively. In this case, the delivered voltage signals each have a phase difference and a constant amplitude for the stator windings 3a-3c of each phase respectively. In each of the amplifiers 4a-4c, an amplification factor is varied in accordance with the speed control signal S so that a necessary electric power is supplied to the stator windings 3a-3c.
The transistors 6a-6c and 7a-7c in the output stages of the amplifiers 4a-4c deliver drive voltages V.sub.a, V.sub.b and V.sub.c in accordance with base signals supplied to them from the signal amplifying circuits 5a-5c respectively, whereby the brushless motor is driven at a set speed even when the torque applied to the motor varies.
Furthermore, in the above-described prior art arrangement, the drive voltages V.sub.a -V.sub.c are supplied to the stator windings 3a-3c by the linear operation of the amplifiers 4a-4c respectively such that rotation of the rotor is accelerated, and moreover, the electric power generated at the stator windings 3a-3c brings about a braking operation. In particular, the above-described arrangement presents fine characteristics when a load with large torque variations is driven and when a load is driven at a low speed with reduced torque ripples induced by the motor.
However, the conventional arrangement described above has the following disadvantage: the transistors 6a-6c and 7a-7c are linearly operated in the respective amplifiers 4a-4c. The transistors 6a-6c and 7a-7c share, as a voltage drop, the voltage obtained by subtracting the delivered drive voltages V.sub.a -V.sub.c from the power supply voltage V.sub.CC. In this case, an electrical loss W.sub.s depends upon the product of the above-mentioned voltage drop and a current I.sub.m flowing in the stator windings 3a-3c in the transistors 6a-6c and 7a-7c. Accordingly, the electrical loss W.sub.s is increased with a large rate of change toward a peak value with increase in the current I.sub.m, as shown in FIG. 5. Consequently, in the case where the brushless motor is driven under the condition that its rotational speed is controlled by the amplifiers 4a-4c, the transistors 6a-6c and 7a-7c of the respective amplifiers 4a-4c generate heat when the electrical loss W.sub.s is increased as described above, which prevents an efficient drive control.


In a machine tool spindle device, a draw bar is arranged inside a center hole of a spindle, and a disc spring is arranged inside a spring member arrangement space between the draw bar and the center hole. A draw bar inner pipe is inserted inside a through hole of the draw bar, and the interior of the draw bar inner pipe is used as a coolant passage. A gap between the draw bar inner pipe and the through hole is used as an air passage for supplying the purge air, and the interior of the spring member arrangement space is used as a coolant supply passage for supplying coolant to cooling jackets of the spindle.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine tool spindle device, and more specifically, relates to a spindle device equipped with a system for supplying coolant to a spindle bearing part, a system for supplying coolant to a processing point, and a system for supplying purge air to a tapered bore of a tool holder lock.
Description of the Related Art
A machine tool spindle device has a constitution with the spindle installed so as to be freely rotatable inside a spindle head, and with a draw bar installed inside the spindle energized in the tool holder locking direction by a disc spring. With this spindle device, when thermal expansion in the radial direction of the spindle becomes large, the durability of the spindle bearing decreases, so to prevent this, conventionally, the spindle is cooled, coolant is supplied to the processing point, and chips adhered to the tapered bore of the tool holder locking are removed.
For example, the disc spring arrangement space or draw bar center hole are used as flow paths for coolant or coolant as disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication Nos. H07-024687, H01-092048, and H10-080839. Further, an air passage is provided to communicate from the spindle side surface to the tapered bore as disclosed by, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H07-024687. Further, a washing passage is branched so as to have communication from the coolant flow path of the draw bar center hole to the tapered bore as disclosed by, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2007-307651 and 2007-307679.
With the machine tool spindle device, it is preferable to provide passages for three systems including for coolant for cooling the spindle bearing part, coolant for cooling the processing point, and air for removing chips. By combining the constitutions noted in each of the publications noted above, it is possible to realize a spindle device equipped with the three system passages. However, there is concern about the spindle device becoming larger due to issues with the combined structure.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. For example, certain features of the preferred described embodiments of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages and/or providing certain advantages, such as, e.g., disadvantages and/or advantages discussed herein, while retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.


An abnormality determination apparatus for an oxygen sensor provided on the downstream side of a catalyst includes: a first determination portion that determines whether amount of decline in output value of the oxygen sensor during a period from when amount of intake air or exhaust gas declines before a fuel cut is started to when the fuel cut is started is smaller than a reference amount of decline; a second determination portion that determines whether degree of change in the output value when the output value changes from a first reference value to a second reference value that shows a leaner state than the first reference value is more gradual than a set degree of change after the fuel cut is started; and a third determination portion that determines whether the oxygen sensor is abnormal based on determinations by the first determination portion the second determination portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an abnormality determination apparatus for an oxygen sensor which determines the presence/absence of an abnormality of an oxygen sensor that is provided downstream of a catalytic converter of an internal combustion engine, and also to an abnormality determination method for the oxygen sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In internal combustion engines, removal of exhaust gas components has been carried out through the use of catalysts for use for exhaust gas purification which are provided in an exhaust passageway. The removal of exhaust gas components by catalysts is efficiently performed if the air/fuel ratio of the mixture burned in the internal combustion engine is within a predetermined range. Therefore, it is a common practice to provide an oxygen sensor that detects the oxygen concentration in exhaust gas at an upstream side of a catalyst, and perform an air/fuel ratio feedback control of detecting the air/fuel ratio of mixture on the basis of an output signal of the oxygen sensor, and finding an air/fuel ratio correction value for the amount of fuel injection such that the detected air/fuel ratio becomes equal to a target air/fuel ratio, and correcting the amount of fuel injection to the increased or decreased side through the use of the air/fuel ratio correction value.
Furthermore, in order to grasp the state of removal of exhaust gas components by a catalyst, it is also a common practice to provide an oxygen sensor at the downstream side of the catalyst, and perform a so-called subsidiary feedback control of air/fuel ratio in which the air/fuel ratio of the exhaust gas having passed through the catalyst is detected on the basis of the output value of the oxygen sensor, and an amendment value for the air/fuel ratio correction value is calculated according to the detected air/fuel ratio.
In the foregoing subsidiary feedback control, since the output value of the oxygen sensor at the downstream side of the catalyst is utilized, occurrence of abnormality in the oxygen sensor will give rise to a risk of failing to perform normal control and, in turn, failing to sufficiently purify exhaust gas.
Therefore, it has been proposed to adopt an apparatus that executes a fuel cut of stopping the fuel injection from fuel injection valves, and then determines the presence/absence of an abnormality of the oxygen sensor on the basis of the degree of change in the output value of the oxygen sensor at the downstream side of the catalyst after the output value begins to change to a value that shows a leaner state at the time of introduction of fresh air into the exhaust passageway (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-170966 (JP-A-9-170966), Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-343339 (JP-A-2003-343339), and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-169776 (JP-A-2008-169776)).
For example, the apparatuses disclosed in JP-A-9-170966 and JP-A-2008-169776 measure as a response time the amount of time that is taken for the output value of the oxygen sensor at the downstream side of the catalyst to change from a first threshold value to a second threshold value that shows a leaner state than the first threshold value after the fuel cut is executed. Then, if this response time is longer than a reference response time that is set beforehand, it is determined that the oxygen sensor at the downstream side of the catalyst is abnormal.
By the way, even when the oxygen sensor at the downstream side of the catalyst is not abnormal, it sometimes happens that the output value of the oxygen sensor gradually changes to a value that shows the leaner state, during the period after the fuel cut is executed but before fresh air reaches the oxygen sensor at the downstream side of the catalyst (hereinafter, this phenomenon will be referred to also as "pre-fresh-air-arrival output decline phenomenon"). If despite occurrence of this phenomenon, the abnormality determination regarding the oxygen sensor is performed on the basis of the response time, there is possibility of making a false determination that the oxygen sensor is abnormal when the oxygen sensor is actually normal.
In order to reduce such false determinations as much as possible, the apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-169776 determines whether or not fresh air has reached the oxygen sensor at the upstream side of the catalyst, and detects the output value produced by the catalyst-downstream-side oxygen sensor immediately after it is determined that fresh air has reached the upstream-side oxygen sensor. Then, if the detected output value is less than or equal to a criterion value that is set beforehand, the apparatus prohibits the determination that the catalyst-downstream-side oxygen sensor is abnormal.
As stated above, the apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-169776 determines whether or not the foregoing pre-fresh-air-arrival output decline phenomenon has occurred on the basis of the output value of the catalyst-downstream-side oxygen sensor that is produced immediately after the arrival of fresh air at the catalyst-upstream-side oxygen sensor. However the accuracy of this determination cannot be said to be sufficiently high, and therefore has been desired to be further improved.

Abnormality determination apparatus and method for oxygen sensor


A laptop support assembly includes a pair of elongated bases each having a top side, a bottom side, a first end and a second end. A pair of supports is provided. Each of the supports is attached to one of the bases and extends upwardly therefrom. A panel is attached to and extends between the supports. A front side of the panel has a plurality of apertures extending therethrough. Each of a pair of clips is selectively positionable in one of the apertures. Each of a pair of rods includes a loop attached thereto. The rods are each extendable through of the apertures. A tether has a pair of ends terminating with hooks. Each of the hooks is releasably securable to one of the loops. A laptop computer is positionable on the clips and the tether positioned across the laptop computer to secure the laptop to the panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to laptop support devices and more particularly pertains to a new laptop support device for supporting a laptop computer in a vertical, or beyond vertical, orientation so that the laptop computer may be comfortably used by a person who is lying on their back or positioned in any manner including being seated upright.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of support devices is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,343 describes a book support device for supporting a book in a vertical orientation. Another type of support device is U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,535 having a configuration adapted for holding a keyboard in a generally vertical orientation where the keyboard is electrically coupled to an adjacently positioned computer.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device that supports a laptop computer in a vertical orientation so that a person lying on their back may use the laptop computer. The device should be adjustable for allowing various angles of support for the laptop and should also be adjustable so that the device is adapted for holding a plurality of differently sized laptops.


A driver circuit is configured to deliver drive signals from an output pin to a power switch to control ON/OFF switching of the power switch. A first detection pin of the driver circuit is configured to receive a first signal associated with the power switch, wherein the first signal indicates a voltage drop over the power switch and a voltage drop over one or more other circuit elements. A second detection pin is configured to receive a second signal, wherein the second signal indicates a voltage drop over one or more matched circuit elements, wherein the one or more matched circuit elements associated with the second signal are substantially identical to the one or more other circuit elements associated with the first signal. The driver circuit is configured to determine the voltage drop over the power switch based on a difference between the first signal and the second signal.

Power switches are used in a wide variety of applications in order to control power being delivered to a load. As examples, a power switch may comprise a Field Effect Transistor (FET), a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), a gallium nitride (GaN) switch, a silicon carbide (SiC) switch, or possibly a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR). Examples of FETs may include, but are not limited to, junction field-effect transistor (JFET), metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (MOSFET), dual-gate MOSFET, insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), any other type of FET, or any combination of the same. Examples of MOSFETS may include, but are not limited to, PMOS, NMOS, DMOS, or any other type of MOSFET, or any combination of the same. MOSFETs may be formed in silicon, gallium nitride, silicon carbide, or other materials. Examples of BJTs may include, but are not limited to, PNP, NPN, heterojunction, or any other type of BJT, or any combination of the same.
Power switches are typically controlled by a driver circuit via a modulation control signal, such as pulse width modulation (PWM), pulse frequency modulation (PFM), pulse duration modulation, pulse density modulation, or another type of modulation control signal. Modulation control signals can be applied to the gate of a power switch so as to control on/off switching of the power switch, and thereby control the average amount of power delivered through the power switch to a load. The on/off switching of the power switch effectively chops its power delivery up into discrete parts. The average value of voltage and/or current fed to a load can be controlled by turning the switch on and off at a fast rate. The longer the switch is on compared to the off periods, the higher the total power supplied to the load. In many applications, two different power switches are configured in a high-side and low-side configuration, and the on/off switching of the two power switches is synchronized in order to deliver the desired power to a switch node positioned between the high-side and low-side switch. Moreover, in some system, different sets of high-side and low-side switches may be used to control different phases of a multi-phase electrical motor.
The ability to detect the junction temperature associated with a power switch is highly desirable. To do so, conventional techniques often use external components, such as negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors or semiconductor-based temperature sensors (e.g., temperature sensitive diodes) that are mounted close to the power switch. Unfortunately, these conventional techniques can be imprecise and may result in delayed reactions to temperature-related problems with the switch. For example, external components may measure the temperature of the housing of the switch or a temperature close to the switch with a certain intrinsic delay, but these measurements are not always precisely indicative the junction temperature within the power switch itself.

Differential techniques for measuring voltage over a power switch


Systems and methods are disclosed for executing an online auction of diverse online advertisements. One method includes receiving inventory information for serving ads on a publisher web page, the inventory information including at least a first ad configuration different from a second ad configuration, each of the first and second ad configurations defining one or both of an ad size and an ad attribute; receiving or generating a plurality of ad bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and to serve ads in the second ad configuration; and awarding impressions to one or both of the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and the second ad configuration, in a proportion based at least in part on a revenue amount associated with the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration.

Internet advertisers often create online advertising campaigns that include numerous advertisements (e.g., "banner ads") designed to be placed on websites during a specified period of time. For example, a company may design several types or sizes of advertisements for a product, and may wish to have the advertisements placed on websites during the sale of the product. Each time one of these advertisements is shown to a website visitor is known as an "impression." When shown the advertisement, the user may select, or "click," on the advertisement or may take another "action" such as completing an online form to request more information. If the user later purchases the product, the purchase is referred to as a "conversion" of the impression.
Advertisers may be interested in impressions (e.g., if they are trying to increase awareness of a brand), clicks (e.g., if they are trying to provide more information about a product), or conversions (e.g., if they are trying to make sales or get new users to sign up for services). Advertisers may pay based on, for example, impressions, clicks, or conversions over the course of an advertising campaign. An advertiser may have a spending plan that specifies how the advertiser wishes to spend its budget during a campaign. For example, the advertiser may wish to spend money only on certain days during the campaign, or may wish to spend evenly over every day of the campaign. Each advertiser may have a daily budget (e.g., $1,000 per day) and/or a daily goal of impression volume (e.g., 1000 impressions per day), known as "daily delivery" or "pacing." Each advertiser may also desire an ad campaign to perform certain types of consumer targeting and/or achieve a particular distribution of advertisements across various websites ("spreading"). Moreover, an advertiser may desire to control which types and sizes of their ads are displayed.
As a result, various techniques are used to manage online ad delivery within and among advertising campaigns. In certain advertising networks, ad servers receive impression requests from publishers (e.g., websites or other entities with an inventory of online ad space). The ad servers may group ad requests from various advertising campaigns, e.g., according to impressions to be "targeted" based on a combination of attributes defined by the ad requests. In addition to targeting requirements, each ad request received from an advertiser generally includes a "bid price" and possibly a "bid allocation." The bid price is the amount of money offered by the ad request for placement of the targeted impression. The bid allocation, if present, is the ratio (e.g., point value from 0 to 1) of targeted inventory the ad campaign is willing to purchase at the bid price. The list of ads that target a certain impression request may be sorted in descending order according to their bid price, and then placed in groups such that the sum of their bid allocations equals 1. If the ad request with the highest bid price has a bid allocation of 1, or if the bid allocation does not exist, it will always win the impression. Such ad delivery methods ensure that the advertiser with an ad with the greatest expected value is able to purchase as much inventory as desired. These methods also reveal both the marginal value of the impression inventory (e.g., the cost required per impression), and the amount of volume (e.g., the number of impressions) purchased at each price.
In this type of competitive bidding marketplace, publishers typically auction their advertising inventory units based on a preset arrangement or layout designed for their web pages. For example, one publisher might plan for a blog page or news page to always be substantially filled with publishing content except for a "leaderboard" ad (e.g., having 728×90 pixels) at the top of a page, and a "wide skyscraper" ad (e.g., having 160×600 pixels) at the right-hand side of a page. Thus, that publisher might consistently submit requests for bids on those two ad formats each time the publisher's page is displayed. In some cases, a publisher might know that they have available advertising space that could fit, for example, either two "medium rectangle" ads (e.g., having 300×250 pixels) or one "half page" ad (e.g., having 300×600 pixels), but not both. In other words, the publisher might have to decide whether to request the display of two small ads each time the publisher's web page is displayed, or to request the display of one larger ad each time the page is displayed. This also may be true of ad attributes other than shape or size. For example, a publisher might have an ad cell on its page that could accommodate either a standard, image-type display ad, or a rich, e.g., video or flash-type ad. Again, the publisher might have to decide whether to request the display of a standard image-type display ad each time the publisher's web page is displayed, or to request the display of a rich, e.g., video or flash-type, ad each time the page is displayed.
This existing system is less than optimal for several reasons. First of all, the requirement for publishers to statically set the desired sizes and attributes of requested ads results in sub-optimal revenue yield. For example, at some particular time of the day, advertisers' bids may result in higher revenue for impressions of the two smaller ads, whereas at another time of day, advertisers' bids might result in higher revenue for impressions of the one larger ad. More generally, the existing regime results in less variety and selection available for advertisers to consider and purchase. While this lack of variety and selection ultimately expresses itself in lower revenue, it also has the effect of contributing to reduced satisfaction among advertisers. For instance, an advertiser might be interested in purchasing a very large volume of some particular size or type of advertisement, only to find that an online ad auction contains mostly impression requests for another type of ad.
Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods for facilitating online auctions of diverse electronic advertisements. More specifically, a need exists for systems and methods for auctioning electronic advertisements having diverse sizes and attributes. The present disclosure is directed to improving the auction of web and mobile advertising by solving one or more of the above-mentioned challenges.

Systems and methods for online auction of diverse electronic advertisements