A container, capable of construction from polymeric injection molding, comprising a plug and ring closure, the plug having first and second locking arms for extending into the ring, each locking arm having a locking tab located adjacent to a distal end for selectively securing the plug within the ring when the locking tabs reside within an undercut of the ring.

The present invention relates generally to plastic containers and closures therefore; specifically to a plastic paint container and a closure therefore.
With the increased efficiency of molding techniques for various types of polymeric materials, the container industry, among others, is experiencing a conversion to polymeric materials to take advantage of the many beneficial characteristics of the various polymers which the packaging industry has come to employ. Unlike many other sectors of the packaging industry, the paint container industry has not achieved a successful conversion from the standard steel paint can that has been in existence for many years. While these steel cans provide high structural integrity and good sealing, they are also susceptible to denting and rusting.
Filling and sealing of paint containers is typically performed by automated equipment. This usually includes filling a container with a white base paint and then capping the container with a plug (commonly referred to as a lid). Between the filling operation and the capping operation, the plug is placed on the filled container by a lid dropper/placer. At the lid dropper/placer the plugs are manually loaded into a trough and indexed down onto the containers. Accordingly, the profile of the plug must consider its movement through the indexing trough of this industry standard equipment, so that the plugs do not jam, as well as the requirements of sealing the container.
As the plug is transferred to the container, it must xe2x80x9cfind it""s centerxe2x80x9d and the ring (the portion of the container designed to accept the plug) and plug should be profiled to facilitate this. The plug and corresponding ring must allow for insertion of the plug by automated equipment as well as re-sealing by the consumer. However, the plug and ring must also provide security against unwanted release of the plug from the ring while allowing the consumer to remove the plug without undue force.
Typically, after paint containers are filled with the white base paint and then capped, a label and then a bail (i.e. handle) are applied, and container is then packed in a carton. Alternatively, some manufacturers may label, bail and then fill. Cartons of full containers are shipped and stacked vertically in warehouses on pallets and then re-shipped to retailers for sale. The retailer removes the plug, ads tint color and re-closes the plug. Alternatively, some retailers punch a hole in the plug, add tint color through the hole and install a plastic stopper in the hole.
When paint containers are filled and capped, air is typically trapped in the headspace between the liquid level and the plug. When the plug compresses the air, the internal pressure of the container is increased and acts in conjunction with the weight of the liquid product forcing the bottom profile of the container to distend. Extensive distention may interfere with the proper operation of some capping, bailing or packaging equipment and may render the containers unstable in stacking.
Paint containers are generally stored in warehouses in vertical stacks up to, or exceeding, 12 containers high. A container""s ability to sustain an axial load is therefore important to prevent buckling of the container under the weight of those containers above it. Prior to this invention, it was thought that the axial load resistance of a plastic container would be directly proportional to the plastic material and sidewall thickness of the container. However, because injection molding the body of a plastic container requires that the sidewall be at some minimal angle to its central axis to allow release of the sidewall from the mold, prior plastic containers gradually thinned the sidewall thickness from bottom to top in order to provide the necessary release angel. The thickness at the base of such sidewalls consumed high amounts of resin.
Accordingly, there is a need for a plastic container adapted to contain standard volumes of paint and which will allow for relatively easy opening and sealing of the plug without being susceptible to accidental opening and which container will have dimensions necessary to be compatible with standard filling, capping, labeling and bailing equipment in the industry while being capable of sustaining the axial loading and other rigors to which paint cans are typically subjected.
It is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a paint can that is resistant to denting and rusting.
It is an object of the invention to provide a container having a plug closure capable of sealing the inside of the container from unwanted exposure to the atmosphere while minimizing insertion force of the plug.
It is another object of the invention to provide a container having a plug closure capable of sealing the inside of the container from unwanted exposure to the atmosphere while minimizing removal force of the plug without undue exposure to accidental release of the plug from the container.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a container having a body capable of sustaining axial loading while minimizing material necessary to construct the body.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a container having high hoop strength resistant to ovalizing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a container having a bottom panel capable of preventing substantial distention while minimizing material necessary to construct the body.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a polymeric container having a plug closure capable of sealing the inside of the container from unwanted exposure to the atmosphere while minimizing insertion force of the plug.
It is another object of the invention to provide a polymeric container having a plug closure capable of sealing the inside of the container from the unwanted exposure to atmosphere while minimizing removal force of the plug.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a polymeric container having a body capable of sustaining axial loading while minimizing material necessary to construct the body.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a polymeric container having high hoop strength resistant to ovalizing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a polymeric container having a bottom panel capable of preventing substantial distention while minimizing material necessary to construct the body.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a polymeric paint container.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a container constructed a polymeric resin to approximate the dimensions of a steel paint can necessary to allow manipulation of the container by standard filling and handling equipment employed for the steel paint can.

Molded container including plug with multiple locking arms


Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for assessing non-native speech proficiency. A non-native speech sample is processed to identify a plurality of vowel sound boundaries in the non-native speech sample. Portions of the non-native speech sample are analyzed within the vowel sound boundaries to extract vowel characteristics. The vowel characteristics are used to identify a plurality of vowel space metrics for the non-native speech sample, and the vowel space metrics are used to determine a non-native speech proficiency score for the non-native speech sample.

It is often desirable to measure a person's ability to vocally communicate in a particular language. Such assessments may measure a person's ability to communicate in the native language of the person, or the assessments may measure the person's ability to speak a foreign language. Oftentimes, speech proficiency examinations are scored by one or more human scorers. For example, a person (examinee) may read a provided text aloud, and the one or more human scorers, who listen to the person's reading live or via a recording, provide a score representing a perceived ability of the examinee to communicate in the language being tested. The present inventors have recognized a need for improved automated systems for assessing non-native speech.

Systems and methods for assessment of non-native speech using vowel space characteristics


In general, in one aspect, a method includes receiving data from one or more motion sensors of a mobile device and calculating, after the period of time, a statistical measurement of the motion sensor data. The method also includes comparing the calculated statistical measurement to one or more threshold values, and, based on the comparing, determining a dynamic state of the mobile device. The method also includes, based on the determined dynamic state, determining an orientation of the mobile device.

Many modern mobile devices include at least one visual display for displaying text, images and/or videos to a user. Determining the proper orientation of the mobile device display is more challenging than determining the proper orientation of a stationary device display due to its mobility. For example, a user may manipulate the physical orientation of a mobile device in three dimensions. Such changes in the physical orientation of a mobile device may make displayed information difficult for the user to view.

Multi-stage device orientation detection


Systems, methods, and apparatus for servicing landfill conduits are disclosed. These systems, methods, and apparatus employ structures which facilitate access to and the servicing of buried landfill conduits, for example, one or more buried landfill laterals. In one aspect, the systems include an enclosure, at least one inlet conduit passing into the enclosure, at least one outlet conduit passing out of the enclosure, and at least one service conduit having a valve and an access port positioned between the inlet conduit and the outlet conduit. In another aspect, methods and portable apparatuses are provided for introducing high-pressure fluids or vacuum to a landfill conduit, for example, by means of the access port in the service conduit, to remove or dislodge obstructions. Conduits connected to blowers and pumps are used to introduce or withdraw fluids from the landfill conduits, for example, from predetermined locations within the landfill conduits identified by remote sensing devices.

Landfill conduits are increasingly being installed into new and existing solid waste landfills to extract landfill gases and liquids and to inject liquids. Landfill gases principally comprise methane and carbon dioxide, with small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, mercaptan and other trace gases. Landfill liquids typically comprise, for example, landfill leachate or other fluids. Liquids may be injected into landfills to, among other things, increase the biostabilization rates of the landfilled material. The typically horizontal landfill conduits may extend in trenches beneath or within the landfill and are typically perforated to collect landfill leachate and gases. The collected leachate and gases are typically passed to a central location for removal and treatment, for example, burning of the combustible landfill gases. However, these landfill conduits may be susceptible to failure due to becoming obstructed, for example, by an internal build-up of solids or fluids, for instance, becoming "water logged", that is, the back-up and stagnation of liquids in the conduits and related trenches.
In the past, buried landfill conduits that became obstructed with solids or liquids and became unusable to extract fluids from the landfill and were often abandoned because it was commonly believed that the obstructions in such conduits could not be effectively removed by prior art methods and devices. For example, one prior art method of removing obstructions in buried conduit includes the use of high-pressure water jets, for example, high-pressure rotary turbine cleaning jets. These high-pressure water jets can be effective in removing obstructions from some landfill conduits, for example, leachate lines designed to drain landfill liquids, but such methods are not effective in removing all types of obstructions from landfill conduits. For example, water jets are not effective in removing obstructions from gas extracting leachate lines that become water logged. Typically, water jets simply exacerbate the already undesirable water logging.
Other prior art methods of removing liquids obstructing landfill conduits include vacuum trucks or vacuum tanks that provide a source of vacuum at the terminal end of a landfill conduit. However, the vacuum supplied to the end of the conduit typically dissipates as the vacuum encounters the perforations in the conduit, perforations that may be typically far removed from the source of obstruction. Thus, such terminal vacuum sources are not effective in removing remotely located pockets of fluids, for example, liquids and gases. In addition, gases that are removed by such end-of-pipe vacuum sources may typically be combustible and undesirably provide a potential source of fire hazard or explosion hazard in and around the vacuum truck or vacuum tank.
One other prior art method of removing liquid obstructions in landfill conduits is to insert a pump into the conduit to draw out the obstructing liquids. However, such insertable pumps typically can only remove liquids and cannot effectively remove the mixture of liquid and gases that are typically encountered in such landfill conduits.
Aspects of the present invention overcome these and other limitations of the prior art.

Landfill conduit servicing systems and methods for servicing landfill conduits


The present invention provides a method for interfacing a mobile device with a system including a plurality of RF ports and a cell controller adapted to communicate a data signal with the mobile unit through the RF ports. The method includes associating the mobile device with a first RF port using at least one security parameter for communicating the data signal, receiving a request message from the mobile device to roam from the first RF port to a second RF port, and associating the mobile device with the second RF port without changing the at least one security parameter.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communications systems, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for roaming on a wireless network.
2. Description of the Related Art
This invention relates to wireless data communications networks, and in particular to arrangements for communications between mobile data handling units and a central computer using wireless data communications.
The assignee of the present invention supplies a wireless data communications system known as the Spectrum24® System, which follows the radio data communications protocol of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) Standard 802.11. In the system as implemented, mobile units are in data communication with a central computer through access points. The access points may communicate with a central computer or several computers over a wired network. Each of the mobile units associates itself with one of the access points.
The access points in this system perform the duties in the standard protocol, including, association, roaming, packet formulation, parsing, packet fragmentation, packet re-assembly, encryption, and system access control. To maintain order and reduce radio communications each access point determines which of the data communications received over the wired network from the central computer is addressed to a mobile unit associated with that particular access point. This requirement adds a significant computational burden to the access point, increasing the cost thereof. In addition, in applications that must support a high volume of data communications from multiple users, such as a self service shopping system, a hospital system, a systems that includes paging or voice data links to many users, or a system supporting communication with electronic shelf labels, additional access points are required to support the data communications traffic, increasing the overall system cost. The cost of an operational access point is dependent not only on the complexity thereof and the requirement for high speed processing of data packets for purposes of selecting those destined for mobile units associated with an access point, but also on the additional cost of the installation of electrical power to the location of the access point and the cost of a power supply to convert AC electrical power to DC power for the circuits of the access point. Further cost may be involved in physically mounting the access point hardware and antenna.
Current 802.11 implementations employ a lengthy, 12-15 packet exchange between a mobile unit and an access point when the mobile unit roams to the access point. Each access point operates independently of the others from a security standpoint. Hence, if the mobile device roams and wishes to transfer between access points, the lengthy association exchange is repeated between the mobile device and the new access point. The size of the exchange significantly affects the time required for a mobile unit to associate with access points. In latency sensitive applications, such as multimedia or voice over internet protocol (VOIP), the quality of the service may be affected by the significant roaming delay. Service interruptions may occur during the roaming process.
In prior systems, as discussed above, each access point is connected on a wired network (e.g., Ethernet) to the central computer. The access points determine the identity of mobile units that have become associated with them and extract from the data packets on the network those packets addressed to each mobile unit associated with the access point. This procedure generates a significant processing burden for the access points that increases cost for the access points.
Prior systems may also have a large number of access points, each with a memory containing program instructions for carrying out the various required functions. This distribution of program instructions makes it difficult to upgrade a system or to provide changes in system configuration, because any upgrade or change may require changes to the program instructions in each of the access points. Such distribution of processing functions also makes system management functions, such as load balancing or access control, more difficult.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.

Method and apparatus for roaming on a wireless network


A ground penetrating impulse radar system provides three-dimensional images of targets. A moving array of transmitting and receiving antennas provides narrow beamwidths and high gain by real and synthetic aperture beam processing. Narrow pulsewidth impulse signals are utilized to obtain high resolution. Round trip time is calculated for each three-dimensional pixel in a search volume, and is used to process three dimensional imagery. Analog to digital conversion can be utilized, so all signal processing is accomplished digitally. The radar system is applicable to detecting small objects near the surface by using very narrow pulses, and also can be applied to detect large, deep objects by wider pulses.

There has been a recognized need for ground penetrating radars (GPR) to locate, map, identify and image underground objects. Numerous applications for ground penetrating radars exist in both civilian and military applications. Civilian applications include road surface assessment, underground utility mapping, geophysical exploration, environmental surveys, road and bridge surface evaluation, archaeological exploration, and building wall (or other structural element) internal investigation. Military applications include land mine detection, explosive ordnance disposal, and underground bunker location; there are many other applications. Some of these applications are served by human portable ground-based system, some by vehicle carried mobile ground-based systems, and others by airborne systems.
The potential benefits of GPR has spurred numerous design and systems approaches. Initially these were centered on continuous wave system approaches including frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) and pulsed frequency modulated (PFM) approaches. Physical size limits the number of antennas, so the array gain is low, resulting in inadequate resolution and low penetration into the ground. The systems are wideband, which limits the coherent processing of an underground return. As a result, target imaging, detectability, and false alarm capabilities are below those desired.
Current ground based portable GPRs generally require that the antennas be in contact with the ground. This limits applicability to suitable terrain, and the requirement to reposition the antennas is very time consuming.
Airborne Side Looking radars are known utilizing synthetic aperture beam processing, resulting in excellent two-dimensional resolution; however this approach is not suitable for ground penetrating radar, where a three-dimensional image is required.
More recently, impulse radar (also known as ultrawideband radar) has been used in ground penetrating radar. Impulse radars and various applications for them are well known; see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,361,070 to McEwan; 5,589,838 to McEwan; 5,523,760 to McEwan; and 5,517,198 to McEwan, all incorporated herein by reference. Impulse radars utilize the time, rather than the frequency domain, transmitting a single pulse rather than a train of sinusoidal signals, and have advantages over frequency based radar systems. The pulse width (duration) can be varied to match target size and depth characteristics. Impulse radar lends itself to digital rather than analog processing. Current GPR designs using this approach have several disadvantages, however. Systems that utilize large antenna arrays to achieve the desired resolution require a large number of antenna elements and the required electronic beam steering system is very complicated. Systems that scan each element of the three-dimensional search space require extreme amounts of data to be processed, resulting in severe processing requirements.
A need exists for a radar for penetrating ground or other material (e.g. water, building walls, etc.) that has improved resolution and depth capability and which can provide three dimensional imaging capability. There is a need for such a radar for portable, mobile, and airborne applications. Applications range from detecting small objects near the surface of the ground (or other material) to those that detect large objects buried deeply.

Imaging radar suitable for material penetration


A method of monitoring an uplink transmission cancellation instruction and a terminal are provided. The method of monitoring an uplink transmission cancellation instruction is applied to a terminal and includes: when the terminal switches a BWP, determining, according to first preset configuration information, whether to perform monitoring of uplink transmission cancellation instruction during a BWP switching process; when the monitoring of the uplink transmission cancellation instruction is determined to be performed, monitoring the uplink transmission cancellation instruction during the BWP switching process; when the monitoring of the uplink transmission cancellation instruction is determined not to be performed, not monitoring the uplink transmission cancellation instruction during the BWP switching process.

Compared with legacy communication systems, a future fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system needs to adapt to more diverse scenarios and business needs. Main scenarios of the new radio (New Radio, NR) include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type of communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). These scenarios require a system having high reliability, low latency, large bandwidth, and wide coverage.
In order to meet different service requirements and different application scenarios, a subcarrier spacing of the NR system is no longer a single 15 kHz like that in long term evolution (LTE). The system may support multiple subcarrier spacings, and different subcarrier spacings may be applied to different scenarios. For example, for a high frequency band and a large bandwidth, a relatively larger subcarrier spacing may be configured. In such a case, a large subcarrier spacing corresponds to a short symbol length in a time domain, which may meet requirements of low-latency services.
In NR Rel-15, a maximum channel bandwidth(channel bandwidth) of each carrier is 400 MHz. However, considering capability of a terminal, a maximum bandwidth supported by the terminal may be less than 400 MHz, and the terminal may operate on multiple small bandwidth parts (BWP). Each bandwidth part corresponds to a numerology (Numerology), a bandwidth, and a frequency location. Each terminal may be configured with one or more BWPs, and a base station needs to inform the terminal which BWP to operate on, that is, which BWP is activated. The activated BWP of the terminal may be dynamically switched through downlink control information (DCI).
When downlink (DL) BWP switch or uplink (UL) BWP switch occurs, a behavior of the terminal detecting and receiving an UL cancellation indication (CI) needs to be clarified to solve the problem that the terminal has an ambiguity understanding before and after the DL/UL BWP switch.

Uplink transmission cancellation instruction monitoring method and terminal


A polyvinylacetal resin powder with a low metal content, being excellent in transparency, moisture resistance and electrical insulating properties and having a large specific surface area, and a process for its production, are presented. A polyvinylacetal resin powder obtained by reacting polyvinyl alcohol and an aldehyde in the presence of an acid catalyst, which has an acetalization degree of at least 60 mol %, a specific surface area of from 1.50 to 3.50 m2/g, a bulk density of from 0.12 to 0.19 g/cm3, an average particle diameter of from 0.5 to 2, 5 μm and a metal content of at most 80 ppm.

Polyvinylacetal resins are widely used for various coating materials, adhesives, binders and molded products. Heretofore, for the production of a polyvinylacetal resin, it has been common to employ a process which comprises reacting polyvinyl alcohol and an aldehyde in an aqueous solution in the presence of an acid catalyst, neutralizing the resulting resin slurry of polyvinylacetal resin with an alkali, followed by dehydration, washing and then drying to obtain it in the form of a powder. Further, it is common to employ a process which comprises reacting polyvinyl alcohol and an aldehyde in an aqueous solution in the presence of an acid catalyst till the desired final acetalization degree in one step, neutralizing the obtained resin slurry with an alkali, followed by dehydration, washing and then drying to obtain it in the form of a powder.
In such a case, an alkali neutralizing agent such as sodium hydroxide used for neutralization, will react with the acid catalyst to form a metal salt. Such a metal salt, an unreacted alkali neutralizing agent and an unreacted acid catalyst (hereinafter referred to as metal components) will be taken into particles of the polyvinylacetal resin or will deposit on the surface of particles of the resin. Such metal (alkali) components may be removed to some extent by repeating washing with water, but usually, it is difficult to remove metal components taken into particles of the resin.
A metal component remaining in the resin, such as an alkali metal is likely to impair the characteristics of the polyvinylacetal resin, such as the transparency, moisture resistance, electrical insulating properties, etc. and thus brings about a problem from the viewpoint of the product quality especially in an application to a molded product for which a high level of transparency or moisture resistance is required or to an adhesive for electronic materials for which electrical insulating properties are required. Thus, an improvement is required in this respect. In order to solve such a quality problem of the transparency, moisture resistance, electrical insulating properties, etc. caused by an alkali, various proposals have been made from the viewpoint of the reaction scheme or the production method. For example, there are a method of adding an alkylene oxide when the predetermined acetalization degree has been reached, to let it reacted with the remaining acid catalyst to terminate the acetalization reaction (e.g. JP-A-4-55404), a method of carrying out the acetalization reaction and precipitation with vigorous stirring (e.g. JP-A-11-349629), a method of employing a loop-shaped reactor (e.g. JP-A-5-59117), a method of employing a reactor having a flat smooth surface (e.g. JP-A-4-275310), a method of employing a reactor made of a corrosion-resistant material (e.g. JP-A-5-140216), a method of neutralizing the reaction product slurry while applying ultrasonic vibration (e.g. JP-A-5-97919) and a method of precipitating the reaction product slurry in a powder form, followed by purification by electrodialysis (e.g. JP-A-2000-38456).
Further, the polyvinylacetal resin is likely to adhere various materials such as metals, plastics or glass, and in its production in an industrial scale, it tends to stick to the interior of the reactor or pipings, which tends to cause a serious technical problem.
With a polyvinylbutyral resin synthesized by a conventional process, it has not been sufficient to remove a metal component in the resin by washing, and a polyvinylacetal resin which is excellent in removability of a metal component by washing and which has a low content of a metal component, and a process for its production, have been desired. Further, a production process free from sticking in the interior of the reactor or pipings, has been desired. The present inventors have conducted a research and development to meet with such demands, and as a result, have found a polyvinylacetal resin which is excellent in the removability by washing of an alkali metal component such as sodium remaining in the resin and which scarcely sticks to the production equipment such as a reactor or pipings and has a low content of a metal component, and a process for its production. The present invention has been accomplished on the basis of these discoveries.

Polyvinylacetal resin and process for producing the same

Abstract: It is produced, for example, by feeding a reaction fluid containing polyvinyl alcohol, an aldehyde and an acid catalyst into a first reactor, to carry out an acetalization reaction, discharging the reaction fluid wherein the acetalization degree has reached from 10 to 60 mol %, and feeding the same into a second reactor to carry out a further reaction to bring the acetalization degree of polyvinylacetal to at least 65 mol %.


The invention relates to a convertible vehicle (1) provided with a moveable roof (2) which comprises a flexible roof covering in at least certain areas (4), said flexible roof covering being retained by a partial section of the outer edge thereof (6) via at least one retaining strip (11) on at least one frame part (7;8) of a roof stand (3). The retaining strip (11) extends in an essentially parallel manner in relation to the frame part (7;8) of the roof stand (3) when in a connecting position and is retained thereon. The invention is characterised in that that the retaining strip (11) can be connected to the frame part (7;8) due to displacement thereof using a displacement component (15) extending parallel to the extension thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a convertible vehicle with a movable roof, which is furnished partially or completely with a flexible roof covering.
2. Description of the Related Art
A convertible vehicle of this type often has—beyond a rear window—a flexible roof covering over its entire roof or may have, for example, a rigid roof section in the front area of the roof and a flexible covering that extends over the width of the vehicle only in the rear area of the roof. In any case, the roof covering can be connected both to lateral frame parts of a roof frame that supports the movable roof and in its rear area to a frame part that is designed as a tension bow and runs essentially transversely to the vehicle, and, with the roof closed, the roof covering can be stretched over the roof frame, resting on a section of the automobile body.
To ensure sufficient tightness at the edges of the roof covering and to prevent bulging of the roof at high speeds, a stable connection of the edge regions with the respective frame parts along a line is necessary.
To this end, it is known that edges of the roof covering can be connected with cleats, for example, by stitching along a line. The cleats are then connected with the respective frame part by several rivets following in succession in the course of the respective frame parts and set transversely to these frame parts. Replacement of the roof covering that may be desired after damage or wear has occurred then requires that all of the rivets be drilled out, which makes the replacement process more difficult.


A cost-efficient method that utilizes encryption techniques to prevent the unauthorized use of telephone customer calling card account and personal identification numbers (access codes), by electronic telephone network eavesdroppers and telephone company employees. The access codes are encrypted by the telecommunications carrier's access code collection device. The encrypted access codes are subsequently used instead of the clear-text access codes in all subsequent transmissions and subsequent processes that make use of access codes including billing and printing of calling card access codes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications and more particularly to security techniques including cryptography within a telecommunications network.
2. Related Art
The emergence of telephone company calling cards have caused significant changes to the way many telephone company customers make phone calls while away from the home or office. The burdensome practice of rounding up large quantities of coins needed for long distance calls has been alleviated by the use of telephone calling cards.
Today, calling card customers originating calls from typical public facilities need not deposit even a single coin. The process of making calls using a calling card includes entering an account number and a personal identification number or "PIN" into a telephone key pad device. This enables a calling card customer to make one or more calls from that location. Charges for those calls are subsequently billed to the customer's calling card account. Calling cards can also be used to avoid having to pay additional surcharges when making calls from certain public facilities such as hotels or the like.
Unfortunately, along with the conveniences and other advantages brought about by the advent of telephone calling cards, significant problems have arose. Calling card account numbers along with valid PINs, (the combination of which is to be hereinafter referred to as "calling card access codes"), have become valuable commodities to persons in our society that have a propensity for theft and fraud. It is well known that a modern crime has arisen that thrives on the sale of illegally obtained calling card access codes.
Typically, once calling card access codes are illegally obtained they are rapidly communicated to a multitude of people that use or sell telephone services activated or enabled by the use of the stolen codes. Generally, many calls are completed by the time the telephone company discovers the misuse and deactivates the stolen access codes. Consequently, the telecommunications industry has reported substantial revenues losses based on theft and fraudulent misuse of telephone access codes.
Account numbers by themselves are generally not regarded as confidential. They usually comprise the area code and telephone number of the calling card account customer. However, the Personal identification number (usually comprised of 4 digits) is considered confidential. It is the combination of the account number and the PIN that is particularly vulnerable to misuse as discussed herein.
Several methods have been used to misappropriate calling card access codes from unsuspecting calling card users. One type of misappropriation may be termed out-of-network theft, and a second type, in-network theft. The present invention relates to the prevention of the latter type. However it is useful to describe the former in order to clearly understand the problem.
Out-of-network theft involves direct interaction with calling card customers. This can be accomplished either by stealing the physical card itself, or by simply examining a card that contains an account number and PIN directly on its face. Alternatively, a thief can obtain the same information by eavesdropping on a calling card customer (which is often accomplished with the aid of high powered surveillance equipment), and capturing the sequence of numbers as they are entered into the telephone keypad.
Out-of-network theft may have subsided somewhat due a general awareness of the problem and various solutions thereof. However, this and other types of calling card access code theft remains to be a significant problem and a continuous revenue loss for the telecommunications industry.
In-network theft is achieved by extracting calling card access codes after they have been entered into the telephone network. This can occur by two different methods. The first method is undertaken by individuals known as "hackers" who engage in electronic eavesdropping of the telephone network. The hackers covertly and illegally attach computer equipment to the telephone network for the purpose of capturing the signals therein. Valuable calling card access codes are included in many network transmission signals as they are being routed across the network for billing purposes, validation purposes and the like. These codes are extracted and used to defraud the telephone company as discussed herein.
The second method of in-network theft occurs within the telephone companies themselves. Calling card access codes are vulnerable to theft by telephone company insiders due to the large number of employees that have access to the codes as part of their regular employment. This leads to security problems which may be difficult and expensive to control.
A solution to in-network theft is to use cryptography techniques to encrypt calling card access codes prior to transporting them across the telephone network. The access codes are subsequently decrypted only within secure internal telephone company computer systems. Only the encrypted versions of the telephone access codes are transported over the telephone network, thereby preventing in-network theft by hackers.
However, a solution that involves conventional encryption/decryption techniques presents several problems. First, it requires multiple iterations of the encryption/decryption process because access to the codes are generally required on numerous occasions and at numerous sites, throughout the call and billing cycle. Consequently the implementation of encryption/decryption techniques may require changes to many methods and procedures used by a telecommunications carrier.
Second, the solution requires the maintenance, management and security of "encryption keys". An encryption key, as the name implies, is the key to deciphering an encrypted message. Clearly, the security of any encryption scheme is only as good as the security of the encryption keys themselves. Consequently, conventional methods of encryption/decryption techniques require a significant amount of overhead for encryption key management and security. Finally, this solution only addresses in-network theft perpetrated by telephone company hackers. Since only the encrypted codes are transported over the telephone network, in-network theft caused by hackers as discussed herein is effectively prevented. However, in-network theft perpetrated by telephone company employees are not resolved by conventional encryption/decryption techniques because valuable decrypted access codes are still accessible to many telephone company employees.

Encryption of telephone calling card codes


An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a latent image forming unit to form an electrostatic latent image on a charged image carrier, a developing device to form a developer image by developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier by a developer and a charge removing unit to discharge the image carrier before transferring the developer image and reduce the electrostatic adsorbing power of the developer image to the image carrier. The charge removing unit includes a charge removing light source to apply the charge removing light to the image carrier and the developer image and the charge removing charger to remove the charge by discharging the image carrier and able to control the discharge output. The charge removing unit is controlled to be adjusted a charge removing capacity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus to form images according to an electrophotographic system such as a copying machine, printer, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrophotographic copying machines, printers, etc. are widely known as image forming apparatus. On electrophotographic copying machines, etc., after a photosensitive drum is uniformly charged by a main charger, an original document placed on a document table is exposed and by its reflected light is focused on the photosensitive drum, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum. The electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum is developed by supplying toner particles from a developing device and a toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum. The formed toner image is transferred on a transfer paper that is charged by a transfer charger and a reproduced image is formed on this transfer paper.
On this kind of electrophotographic copying machines, copying speed has been increased in recent years. For the reasons of the increases in the diameter and peripheral speed of the photosensitive drum, etc. pursuant to the increase in the copying speed, the transfer efficiency of toner image electrostatically adhered on the photosensitive drum tends to become worse.
That is, when a toner image formed on the photosensitive drum is transferred on a transfer paper, if electrostatic adsorbing power of a toner to the photosensitive drum is too large, a toner image on the photosensitive drum is not sufficiently transferred on a transfer paper. As a result, defective images such as, for instance, a blurring of image on a transfer paper, insufficient image density, worse image minuteness, and transfer void are generated. These defects tend to increase pursuant to the increase in the copying speed.
In order to efficiently transfer a toner image electrostatically adhered to a photosensitive drum on a transfer paper, a charge removing means is often provided after developing an image and before transferring it. This pre-transfer charge removing means functions to weaken the electrostatic adhesive power between a toner and a photosensitive drum by removing the electric charge after developing and before transferring an image and efficiently transfer a toner on a transfer paper.
This pre-transfer charge removing means is broadly divided into two: a pre-transfer charge removing light source (PTL) to remove the electric charge on a photosensitive drum and a pre-transfer charger (PTC) to remove the electric charge on a photosensitive drum by the discharge from a wire, etc. and to improve the transfer efficiency of a toner itself.
The pre-transfer charge removing light source (PTL) is a means to weaken the electrostatic adhesive power of a toner to a photosensitive drum by removing the electric charge on a photosensitive drum by applying the light and a cold-cathode tube, LED, etc. are generally used. Further, with the increased speed of copying machines in recent years, it has become desirable to increase the transfer efficiency and for this purpose it is effective to increase the quantity of light of the pre-transfer charge removing light source. In many cases, a cold-cathode tube having a larger quantity of light than an LED is used for a pre-transfer charge removing light source.
The pre-transfer charger (PTC) is a means to weaken the electrostatic adhesive power between a photosensitive drum and a toner by discharging the photosensitive drum and charging the toner by a charger to facilitate the transfer of a toner image on a transfer paper. For this pre-transfer charger, a device to discharge DC charge of charged polarity and reverse polarity (that is the same polarity as a toner) of a photosensitive drum from a such very thin wire as platinum, tungsten oxide, etc. or a device to discharge AC charge after DC biased to the charged polarity and reverse polarity (that is, the same polarity of a toner) are used.
As described above, in case of electrophotographic copying machines, especially on copying machine with a photosensitive drum having increased speed for increasing a copying speed, a cold-cathode tube is often used as a pre-transfer charge removing light source to promote the toner image transfer efficiency in order to increase the transfer efficiency. However, when a cold-cathode tube is used as a pre-transfer charge removing light source, such problems as shown below are pointed out as characteristics of the cold-cathode tube.
That is, a large fluctuation of the quantity of light of a cold-cathode tube is pointed out. After a cold-cathode tube was continuously turned ON, that is, after the continuous copying by a copying machine, the cold-cathode tube was turned OFF and left for an hour and then turned ON, the quantity of light immediately after the cold-cathode tube is turned ON is low and gradually becomes clear.
Therefore, the quantity of light of a cold-cathode tube is set up so that the quantity of light when it is kept continuously turned ON prevents such defective images as transfer voids, etc. In this case, the quantity of light of the pre-transfer charge removing light becomes insufficient immediately after it is turned ON after left for an hour, the transfer efficiency may become worse and the transfer void can result. For this reason, after left for an hour, it is necessary to set the quantity of light of a cold-cathode tube immediately after it is turned ON at a sufficient quantity of light so as not to generate the transfer void. However, in this case the quantity of light of a cold-cathode tube when continuously kept ON becomes excessive and defects may be caused on an image such as image memory, etc. That is, when using a cold-cathode tube, the optimum width of quantity of light generating no image defects both immediately after and during when continuously kept ON is narrow (the margin of the quantity of light for transfer void and image memory is less).
Further, a cold-cathode tube has a characteristic that its quantity of light decreases under a low temperature environment, for instance, under environmental conditions of 5-10.degree. C., 20 RH %. Therefore, when a cold-cathode tube is used under a low temperature environment, the quantity of light becomes insufficient and transfer void and other image defects are generated.
On the other hand, the pre-transfer charger discharges a photosensitive drum by discharging the reverse polarity for the charged polarity of a photosensitive drum. As this is equivalent to the same polarity charge as a toner, a toner of the image portion is charged to increase the transfer efficiency. However, some quantity of weakly charged toner adhered on a non-image portion (the white ground), so-called fog toner on a photosensitive drum, is also charged. This weakly charged toner is conveyed to a cleaning portion without being transferred if there is no pre-transfer charger, however, as it is easily transferred if charged by a pre-transfer charger, the fog on a transfer paper becomes very large. Thus, use of a pre-transfer charger may be troublesome in that the fog level becomes worse.
Defective images, such as fog caused by a pre-transfer charger occur most frequently when a photosensitive drum nears the end of its service life (due to increase of the white ground potential) or under humid conditions (due to decrease in developer charged amount).

Image forming apparatus having pre-transfer charge removing means


An optical telemicroscope, also called an optical interferometer, uses split optical beams and an intensity detector to precisely measure the difference between two optical beam paths. By measuring the difference in path lengths, and/or by measuring changes in the relative difference between the two paths as the optical beams are scanned over a surface, the topology of an object's surface may be precisely measured. Similarly, by measuring changes in the relative difference between the two paths as a material etching or material deposition or growth process is performed, the amount of material added or removed from an object's surface may be precisely metered. The optical telemicroscope includes an optical beam source that generates a monoenergetic optical beam, an optical beam splitter that splits the beam into first and second optical beams having different trajectories, and an optical beam intensity detector that receives a reflected portion of the first and second optical beams after they have been reflected from distinct positions of a target surface and generates an intensity signal indicative of the received beams combined intensity. A controller that receives the intensity signal, and analyzes changes in the intensity signal to determine relative changes in path lengths of the first and second optical beams.

As of 1996, the most advanced production-line silicon semiconductor circuit manufacturing processes use 0.35 micron technology, meaning that the minimum size of any circuit feature is 0.35 microns. This, in tum, requires the tools used to measure semiconductor device features to be accurate to approximately 0.035 microns. Production of devices with minimum feature sizes of 0.25 microns, 0.18 microns and less will be likely to take place within by 2001, and production of devices with 0.07 micron sizes is predicted to take place by 2010. However, it is not yet clear what metrological tools will be used to preform the measurements of such devices necessary to develop and accurately model the associated manufacturing processes.
SEMs can generally be used to perform measurements with accuracy on the order of 0.05 microns. However, it would appear that SEM technology has been pushed to its limit. Further improvements in the accuracy of SEM based measurements of semiconductor devices are likely to be too limited to perform the metrology required for supporting semiconductor devices using feature sizes of 0.18 microns or less.
The manufacture of integrated circuits is a complicated and expensive process sometimes involving dozens of process steps. To ensure that this manufacturing effort is not wasted, steps of the IC fabrication process modeled in process simulators to determine beforehand whether resulting device features will have the desired width, thickness, cross-sectional profile,etc.
Results generated by process simulators, such as PROLITH/2.TM. and SAMPLE.TM. are typically verified through scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination of a cross section and feature widths of a photolithographically defined surface. However, while SEM verification is adequate for relatively large-scale features (i.e., a few microns and up), SEMs are generally not able to capture critically important cross-sectional details of features defined by submicron photolithography.
One reason for this is that SEMs charge the sample under examination with electrons, which has the effect of blurring edges on photographs taken of the imaged surface. While blurring is not a significant problem for surfaces with macroscopic features, it tends to obliterate submicron details. Another problem with SEM metrology is that, typically, IC feature sizes are determined by direct measurement of the SEM photographs with a precision ruler. Besides the obvious problem of making measurements from the blurred edges described above, direct measurement can result in additional errors due to (1) incorrect placement of the ruler on the edge of a photographed feature (assuming the feature edge is identifiable) and (2) the difficulty of measuring the pitch or angle of a cross-sectional feature with a ruler. In the case of submicron devices, these errors can amount to a significant percentage of the feature being imaged. Additionally, SEMs can physically alter the device features being measured.
Other aspects of process models in need of verification include basic process variables such as the developing rate associated with a particular developing solution. By developing a semiconductor wafer in stages and measuring the change in surface profile after each stage, developing rates can be better quantified, resulting in a more accurate process model. However, given the above mentioned measurement errors associated SEM surface imaging, it is not possible to accurately quantify such process variables using SEM metrology.
Moreover, given the inherent lack of reliability (i.e., reproducibility of measurements) of SEM metrology as applied to submicron features, it is not possible to use SEM measurements to iteratively adjust the process simulator to model better the results of a particular IC manufacturing process. That is, the SEM is better suited to rough verification of a model rather than incremental improvement of a model.
Finally, given the current lack of a reliable method for verifying and updating process models with respect to submicron IC device features, it is not currently possible to modify IC manufacturing/processing steps in accordance with the predictions of an improved process simulator.
Consequently, there is a need for an IC process model verification system that incorporates a measuring device that can accurately measure the cross sections of submicron device features. There is also a need for a measuring device that can measure surface profile changes during the performance of semiconductor processing steps.

Optical interferometer using beam energy modulation to measure surface topology


A portable hyperbaric chamber system includes a soft-sided, foldable hyperbaric chamber and a substantially rigid, removable, external support structure. The chamber generally includes a wall of a substantially non-breathable, soft-sided, and foldable material and an accessway sealable with a non-breathable closure so as to maintain a hyperbaric pressure within the chamber. The chamber also includes at least one fastener, such as a bolt or threaded stud, extending from the wall that permits the chamber to be removably attached to the support structure, thereby to maintain the chamber in an uncollapsed state when the chamber interior is not maintained at a hyperbaric pressure. The support structure includes structures complementary to the fasteners (e.g., apertures to pass bolts and locking knobs to secure bolts).

a. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to hyperbaric chambers. In particular, the instant invention relates to a portable hyperbaric chamber system including a removable external support structure.
b. Background Art
Certain activities, such as mountaineering and skiing, subject participants to reduced pressures. These reduced pressures can lead to what is commonly referred to as mountain sickness, with symptoms including nausea and headache. Other activities, such as diving and deep sea construction, subject participants to elevated pressures. If the participant returns to normal atmospheric pressures too rapidly, the participant may experience the detrimental health effects of decompression sickness.
To treat either mountain sickness or decompression sickness, it is known to place the patient in a high-pressure environment. Hyperbaric chambers are a convenient way to provide such a therapeutic environment. A hyperbaric chamber is a chamber in which a pressure greater than ambient, over and above the range of pressure variation encountered in the course of normal weather fluctuations, can be achieved. U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,829 to Gamow et al. ("Gamow") and U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,543 to Bower ("Bower"), the disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entireties, provide examples of such hyperbaric chambers.
Extant hyperbaric chambers, however, generally require a tradeoff between portability and capacity. That is, higher-pressure hyperbaric chambers tend to be more rigid and less portable, while portable chambers tend to be lower pressure. The hyperbaric chamber of Gamow, for example, is a portable chamber capable of achieving pressures up to about 10 psig, which are suitable for treating mild symptoms of pressure sickness. As one of skill in the art will recognize, higher pressure chambers are useful for treating more severe symptoms of decompression or mountain sickness, as well as for other conditions including carbon monoxide poisoning, wound healing, and burns.
Further, to the extent that a portable chamber is also collapsible, a rigid internal frame, generally made of metal, is often used to retain the uncompressed chamber in a substantially uncollapsed configuration. This aids in ingress to and egress from the chamber when it is in an unpressurized state (e.g., before or after treatment). Installation of this rigid frame into the interior of the chamber may be difficult and time consuming. In addition, an exposed metal frame within the chamber is not aesthetically pleasing and may also be physically uncomfortable for the chamber occupant.


A debrider apparatus is disclosed. The debrider includes a first tubular member that is adapted to connect to a first potential of an electrosurgical generator. A second tubular member is at least partially disposed within the first tubular member and is adapted to connect to a second potential of the electrosurgical generator. At least one tubular member is selectively movable relative to the other. A first set of teeth is disposed around at least a portion of a distal periphery of the first tubular member. A second set of teeth is disposed around at least a portion of a distal periphery of the second tubular member. At least one switch is operably coupled to at least one of the tubular members and activates movement of one tubular member and supplies respective electrical potentials to the tubular members.

Debriders are generally used by physicians to cut tissue at a tissue treatment site, e.g., during sinus or arthritis surgery. Generally, these surgical instruments utilize a cutting tube mounted within an outer cutting housing. The cutting tube is hollow and may be connected to a source of suction. The cutting tubes either rotate or reciprocate within the outer tube housing to cut tissue that is located between the two tubes. The suction source is used to remove debris, e.g., the sheared tissue, from the tissue treatment site.
After such a surgical treatment is utilized, bleeding may occur from the surgical site and it is often desirable to cauterize or coagulate tissue that has been cut. Debriders that are used in the prior art do not have the capability to coagulate or cauterize tissue. Accordingly, a separate coagulation or cautery tool is subsequently used to coagulate the tissue.


A display system is disclosed. The present system comprises a display device and an image processing device, wherein the display device transmits a control signal for controlling an external image source device to the image processing device in response to a signal received from a remote controller, and the image processing device processes an image received from an image source device, transmits the processed image to the display device, and transmits the control signal received from the display device to the image source device. The image processing device identifies a state change of the display device in response to control signal transmission, and transmits a signal for changing an operation mode of the remote controller to the display device if no change is identified, and when the signal for changing the operation mode of the remote controller is received, the display device transmits the received signal to the remote controller.

With the development of electronic technology, methods of using content providing external devices, such as a set-top box, a DVD, and an audio, that connect to a display device are being developed. In addition, with display devices becoming gradually thinner, main processors and key components are separated and provided as external devices. The various external devices connected to the display devices are disadvantageous for ruining the interiors of homes or businesses. Accordingly, users wanting a clean exterior have come to prefer hiding external devices such as a set-top box or an external image processing device of a display in furniture and to show only the display device externally.
Based on external devices such as the set-top box or the image processing device being placed in furniture, the infrared (IR) receiver may be covered leading to a situation where a user is unable to control the external device with a remote controller using IR. To solve this problem, the display device that is always externally exposed has come to receive a signal of the remote controller and transmit the signal to various external devices.
However, there is the disadvantage of a user experiencing discomfort based on a position of an external device being variously changed generating a situation of a display device not being able to normally transmit a signal of a remote controller to the external device and the remote controller not operating according to positional movement of the external device.

Image processing device and display device including same, and control method therefor


An electrical connector with a first U-shaped section and a second section. The first and second sections each have a conductor receiving channel. The channels have center axes that extend along parallel planes, but are angled relative to each other. One embodiment has the second section with a U-shape orientated generally reverse to the first section and sharing a common bottom. A set of compression dies are provided to allow the first and second sections to be compressed onto respective conductors at the same time.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to a connector for connecting two conductors to each other at the same time.
2. Prior Art
The Burndy Electrical division of Framatome Connectors USA Inc. sells various different types of electrical connectors that are attached to conductors by hydraulic compression tools. In order to connect perpendicular crossing grounding conductor lines to each, a Burndy type YGL-C cross connector is used which requires two compressions at separate ends of the connector. The YGL-C cross connector has an L-shaped bar section between its two connection ends. U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,615 discloses an H-shaped connector.


Methods and arrangements for dynamic memory management. Data are accepted for thread local storage, and memory usage is monitored in thread local storage. A memory block is allocated to thread local storage for storing accepted data, based on the monitored memory usage.

Generally, memory management presents challenges inasmuch as a monitoring application therefor normally shares memory on the monitored system itself.
In cloud or data center monitoring, a system allocates different threads to monitor different VMs (virtual machines). Each thread maintains monitoring information or logs about the VM it is monitoring and is configured to generate associated reports in real-time. This leads to a need for an overwhelming use of system memory by monitoring threads.
In contexts of dynamic thread migration (e.g., with "Java"), there is a need to monitor the execution state of Java threads internal to JVMs ("Java Virtual Machines") and transfer this state to a target node on which execution can be restored. Other challenges addressed thereby are workload balancing, a co-location of computation and data, a need to follow a user in his/her movements, and mobile computing. Both application-level and JVM-level implementations involve very significant overhead and have a decisive effect on performance.

Dynamic memory management with thread local storage usage

International Business Machines Corporation


A state of charge of a battery is estimated by a battery model specific to the battery. The battery model provides a section-wise defined correlation of terminal voltage values depending on state of charge values. Each of sections of the battery model delimits a monotonic dependence of the correlation from others of the sections. By segmenting the correlation of terminal voltage values depending on a state of charge value into sections, each segment within such the section-wise defined correlation of terminal voltage values depending on state of charge values is mathematically spoken a bi-unique function suitable for transformation into an inverse function defined within the section.

Rechargeable batteries have become increasingly important mainly to supply energy storages in stationary or e-mobility applications (e.g., electric vehicles such as cars and aircrafts) or electronic equipment such as mobile devices.
A state of charge value or SoC value indicates a usable capacity of the battery. This value is usually provided in percentage of a full capacity of the battery for maintenance personnel or an end user such as driver or a pilot. The state of charge cannot be measured directly as a quantity; the state of charge is estimated instead. As part of an energy storage system, a battery management system (BMS) is usually responsible for the estimation of the state of charge, which is crucial to be sufficient and reliable in safety- and life-critical applications.
Continuous monitoring of the state of charge of batteries is to be as accurate as possible for users in many applications to avoid a stoppage or an interruption of the operation of the equipment served by such batteries. Existing battery cell capacities may only be fully utilized by state-of-charge monitoring.
Devices for estimating the state of charge of batteries are known in the art. The state of charge estimation may be provided by the Battery Management System using data from voltage measurements of each battery cell potential and a load or charge current measurements imposed on the battery or a battery pack.
According to a method heretofore known, a terminal voltage value (e.g., a voltage of a battery while loads connected to the battery), an upper voltage limit defining the end of the battery charging cycle, and a lower voltage limit defining the end of the battery discharging cycle are measured. Between these ends, a non-linear behavior of the battery is considered by an estimation algorithm applying a non-linear battery model as a correlation (e.g., mathematically, a function) of a voltage value over the state of charge. Such battery model used for estimating the state of charge of a battery in operation may be provided beforehand using, for example, empirical methods of experimentally obtaining a function of an open circuit voltage value (e.g., the voltage of a battery without load) of a reference battery depending on a corresponding state of charge. The state of charge of a battery to be estimated may then be inferred by measuring the open circuit voltage and determining a respective state of charge according to the battery model. Instead of determining the open circuit voltage of the battery under regular conditions, a normal discharge process may be done, thereby adding a correction to the measured terminal voltage in order to determine open circuit voltage characteristics.
A major drawback of this method heretofore known is caused by an indeterminacy in inferring the state of charge derived from the non-linear function by a currently measured voltage value, as the function of the voltage value over the state of charge provided by the battery model may not always return a single state of charge value for a given voltage value. In other words, the function of the voltage value over the state of charge may return more than one state of charge value for a given voltage value.

Method and apparatus for estimating a state of charge of a battery

Abstract: The estimated state of charge may be continuously refined by an iterative feedback loop including coulomb counting for estimating a battery charge value, where refined estimated battery charge values state of charge values at a previous cycle are projected forward to the current cycle.


A tubular product has a tubular base layer, a tubular innermost layer made of plastic by continuous extrusion, and a tubular tie layer of foamed plastic between and adhered to the base layer and the innermost layer. The tie layer is made of melt processable adhesion plastic, is extruded simultaneously with the innermost layer against the base layer, and has better adhesions to the base and innermost layers than the base and innermost layers have to each other.

The invention relates to a tubular product comprising at least three layers, a base layer, an innermost layer made of plastic by continuous extrusion, the base layer and the innermost layer having poor adhesion to each other, and a tie layer between the base layer and the innermost layer.
The invention further relates to an extrusion apparatus comprising means for extruding a multilayer parison comprising at least an inner plastic layer and a tie layer.
The invention also relates to an extrusion method wherein a multilayer parison comprising at least an inner plastic layer and a tie layer is extruded.
In this type of extrusion apparatus, pressures are high and mechanical stresses are great in the nozzle section, i.e. in the area of the central extrusion conduit. The present structures also needlessly prevent some of the possibilities of use of the apparatus.


The initialization of the CoMP Resource Management Set for a given mobile terminal is based, at least in part, on an estimation of the mobile terminal's geographical location, which can be estimated using network positioning of the mobile terminal. One example method begins with the acquisition (410) by a network node of a geographical position estimate for the mobile terminal of interest. The network node then selects (420) a set of one or more CSI-RS resources for measurement by the mobile terminal, based on the estimated geographical position of the mobile terminal. Finally, the network node configures the mobile terminal to measure the selected CSI-RS resources by sending (430) control information identifying the set to the mobile terminal.

The present invention generally relates to wireless communications networks, and more particularly relates to techniques for selecting channel-state information resources for use by mobile terminals in providing received-power feedback to the wireless network.
Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The best improvements in performance are available if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with and use multiple antennas, which results in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and/or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO.
Standards for the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network have been developed by members of the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The LTE standard continues to evolve to provide enhanced MIMO support. One core component in LTE is the support of MIMO antenna deployments and MIMO related techniques. For instance, support for a spatial multiplexing mode, which can include the use of channel-dependent precoding, is introduced in Release 10 of the 3GPP standards, which includes a number of new features that are part of an upgrade to LTE technology commonly referred to as LTE-Advanced.
LTE-Advanced's spatial multiplexing mode is aimed for high data rates in favorable channel conditions. An illustration of the spatial multiplexing operation is provided in FIG. 1.
As seen in FIG. 1, information-carrying symbol vector s, which includes symbols from each of several layers, is multiplied by an NT×r precoder matrix NTT×r. With a properly selected matrix, this precoding operation serves to distribute the transmit energy in a subspace of the NT-dimensional vector space, where the NT dimensions of the vector space correspond to NT antenna ports at the transmitter. The precoder matrix is typically selected from a codebook of possible precoder matrices, and is typically indicated by means of a precoder matrix indicator (PMI), which specifies a unique precoder matrix in the codebook for a given number of symbol streams. Each of the r symbols in the symbol vector corresponds to a layer—r is referred to as the transmission rank. In this manner, spatial multiplexing is achieved, since multiple symbols can be transmitted simultaneously, using the same time/frequency resource element (TFRE). The number of symbols r is typically adapted to suit the current channel properties.
LTE uses Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in the downlink and Discrete-Fourier-Transform (DFT)—precoded OFDM in the uplink. Hence the received NR×1 vector yn for a certain TFRE on subcarrier n (or alternatively data TFRE number n) can be modeled by:Yn=HnWNT×rsn+en  (1)where en is a noise/interference vector obtained as realizations of a random process. The precoder matrix WNT×r, can represent a wideband precoder, which is constant over frequency, or can be frequency selective.
In order for the mobile terminal (referred to as User Equipment, or UE, in 3GPP terminology) to generate feedback regarding the current channel conditions, a set of pre-defined channel-state-information reference signals (CSI-RS) are transmitted by the base station (referred to as an evolved Node B, or ENB, in 3GPP terminology), for measurement by the mobile terminal. Using the CSI-RS, a UE can estimate the characteristics of the propagation channel between the eNodeB and the UE and consequently also figure out which precoder best suits the particular channel.
In LTE Release 10 and later, there is support for a transmission mode for up to S-layer spatial multiplexing for eight transmission antennas, meaning that the CSI-RS will be an vector x8×1. For the purpose of CSI feedback determination, the UE assumes that each of the rows in x8×1 corresponds to an antenna port (ports 15-22) on which a CSI-RS is transmitted. The first row represents antenna port 15, second row antenna port 16 and so on. Each CSI-RS port is typically transmitted from a physical antenna of its own, meaning that there is a direct correspondence between an antenna port and a physical antenna.
To meet the increasing demand for data capacity in the networks, heterogeneous network deployments, sometimes referred to as "HetNet," are seen as an important additional means to provide increased network capacity. With the HetNet approach, relatively low-power transmission nodes/points (often referred to as "pico" or "femto" nodes) are deployed within the coverage area of conventional macro cell nodes. This overlapping of signal coverage, which can be concentrated in user "hot spots" or in areas where signal strength from the macro network is relatively weak, permits significant extensions of high-throughput coverage within the macro network.
FIG. 2 depicts an example of macro and pico cell deployment in a heterogeneous network 100 comprising a macro cell 110 and three pico cells 120. The most basic means to operate a heterogeneous network is to apply frequency separation between the different layers, i.e. between the macro cell 110 and the pico cells 120 in the heterogeneous network 100 in FIG. 2. The frequency separation between the different layers is obtained by allowing the different layers to operate on different non-overlapping carrier frequencies. Another way to operate a heterogeneous network is to share radio resources on same carrier frequencies by coordinating transmissions across macro and pico cells. For example, certain radio resources may be allocated for the macro cells during some time period, while the remaining resources can be accessed by the pico cells without interference from the macro cell. Depending on the traffic situations across the layers, this resource split can change over time to accommodate different traffic demands. In contrast to the above mentioned split of carrier frequencies, this way of sharing radio resources across layers can be made more or less dynamic depending on the implementation of the interface between nodes in the heterogeneous network. In LTE, an X2 interface has been specified in order to exchange different types of information between base station nodes.
The members of 3GPP are currently developing the Release 11 specifications for LTE. These developing standards will include specifications for improved support for coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission/reception, where transmissions and receptions are coordinated among several transmission nodes to increase received signal quality and reduce interference. CoMP transmission and reception refers to a system where the transmission and/or reception at multiple, geographically separated antenna sites is coordinated in order to improve system performance. In some cases, the coordination is distributed, in which case equipment at the various transmission sites exchange coordination information. In other cases, the coordination is handled by a central coordinating node that sends coordinating instructions to each of the participating transmission points, as necessary.
CoMP is being introduced in LTE to improve the coverage of high data rates, to improve cell-edge throughput, and to increase system throughput. In particular, the goal is to distribute the user perceived performance more evenly in the network, by taking better control of the interference. CoMP operation targets many different deployment scenarios, supporting coordination between sites and sectors in cellular macro deployments, for example, as well as several configurations of heterogeneous deployments. For instance, with CoMP, a macro node can coordinate its transmission with pico nodes operating within the macro coverage area.
There are several different CoMP transmission schemes that are being considered. One approach is called Dynamic Point Blanking, where multiple transmission points coordinate transmissions so that a neighboring transmission point mutes transmissions on the TFREs that are allocated to UEs that are experiencing significant interference. Another approach is called Dynamic Point Selection, where the data transmission to a UE may switch dynamically (in time and frequency) between different transmission points so that the transmission points are fully utilized. In another approach, called Coordinated Beamforming, transmission points coordinate transmissions in the spatial domain by beaming the transmission power in such a way that the interference to UEs served by neighboring transmission points is suppressed. With another approach, called Joint Transmission, a given transmission to a UE is simultaneously transmitted from multiple transmission points, using the same time/frequency resource.
One common denominator for the various CoMP transmission schemes is that the network needs CSI information not only for the serving transmission point, but also for the radio channels linking neighboring transmission points to a mobile terminal. For that reason, the notion of a CoMP Measurement Set has been introduced in LTE. The CoMP Measurement Set enables the eNodeB to configure a set of CSI-RS resources that the UE will use to perform channel measurements for providing CSI feedback to the network. A CSI-RS resource, which generally corresponds to a particular transmission point, can loosely be described as a pattern of time/frequency resource elements on which a particular CSI-RS configuration is transmitted. A CSI-RS resource is determined by a combination of LTE parameters, including "resourceConfig" and "subframeConfig", which are configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. The CSI feedback provided by the UE can include any of several metrics, such as Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Precoder Matrix Indicator (PMI), and Rank Indicator (RI).
It should be noted that the CoMP Measurement Set must be limited to a small number of CSI-RS resources, since the UE processing becomes increasingly complex (prohibitive) with large configurations. Accordingly, the CoMP Measurement Set will likely be limited to two or three CSI-RS resources, although larger set sizes are possible.
To obtain the full benefits of CoMP, it is important that the network (e.g., the eNodeB) is able to configure the most appropriate CoMP Measurement Set for each UE, so that the UE performs channel measurements for the correct neighboring transmission points, using the CSI-RS resources that correspond to those transmission points. Since the size of the CoMP Measurement Set will be constrained to a small number, the room for error in the configuration is small. Accordingly, it is an agreed working assumption for LTE Release 11 to introduce a new, simpler measurement and corresponding measurement report, for measurements performed on a configured set of CSI-RS resources. 3GPP has recently named these resources the "CoMP Resource Management Set." Basic signal received power measurements (and/or received quality measurements) are thus made on a more extensive set of CSI-RS resources than could practically be assigned to a CoMP Measurement Set; by evaluating these CSI-RS based received powers/qualities for a larger set of CSI-RS resources, an eNodeB can configure the UE with the most appropriate CoMP Measurement Set. For example, the eNodeB might define the CoMP Measurement Set to include the N (e.g., two) CSI-RS resources with the highest reported reference signal received powers/qualities in the CoMP Resource Management Set. The UE can then begin the more excessive measurements and reporting to provide CSI (PMI/CQI/RI) feedback for the relatively few CSI-RS resources of the configured CoMP Measurement Set. Moreover, such reported reference signal received powers/qualities can be used to configure appropriate interference measurements in a UE; for example, it can be used to configure one, or multiple, Interference Measurement Resources (IMR), for a UE.
Accordingly, it is an agreed working assumption for LTE Release 11 that the network can configure a UE to report reference signal received powers based on measurements performed on CSI-RS resources configured in a CoMP Resource Management Set. Such a measurement could be done coherently, in which case the UE needs to know the particular CSI-RS sequence that is transmitted on the CSI-RS resource, or incoherently, in which case the transmitted actual sequence can be unknown, i.e., "transparent," to the UE. In either case, an estimated signal power/quality corresponding to the CSI-RS resource and derived from the measurement performed on the CSI-RS resource is fed back from the UE to the eNodeB. In the discussion that follows, the fed back reference signal received power/quality values are collectively referred to as "CSI-RS received power" (CSI-RSRP), but it should be understood that CSI-RSRP encompasses any quantity that represents a received quality of a CSI-RS signal.
As mentioned above, the network configures the terminal to measure CSI-RSRP on a set of CSI-RS resources, which set is referred to herein as the CoMP Resource Management Set. In other contexts this set might also be referred to as the "RRM Measurement Set", "CoMP RRM Measurement Set", "CSI-RSRP Measurement Set", or "Extended CoMP Measurement Set," for example. The CoMP Resource Management Set provides a useful tool for the eNodeB to acquire information on which transmission points (i.e., which CSI-RS resources) are most suitable for inclusion in the CoMP Measurement Set, such as the two or three transmission points having the highest CSI-RSRP.
Even though measurements of CSI-RSRP are substantially less computationally complex than a full CSI (CQI/PMI/RI) report, there is nonetheless a UE complexity involved. For that reason, the CoMP Resource Management Set will be limited in the maximum allowed size, i.e., limited in the number of CSI-RSRP measurements the UE shall be capable of performing. A likely limit in CSI-RSRP size is on the order of five to eight.

Configuring channel-state information resources used for reference-signal-received-power feedback


An automobile mirror assembly in which a value of resistance of a rotary variable resistor with an actuator that is driven to rotate by a mirror push-pull operation shaft being moved in its axial direction at time of adjusting a posture of a mirror in the assembly, varies generally linearly when the mirror push-pull operation shaft moves linearly in the axial direction. The mirror push-pull operation shaft has a flat rear end face, and the actuator has one end that forms arc-shaped in which the flat rear end face thereof contacts the one end thereof, and in which the other end of the actuator is fixed to a rotation shaft of the rotary variable resistor. The arc of the arc-shaped one end of the actuator is included within a revolving plane within which the actuator is rotated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mirror assembly for an automobile in which a position or posture of a mirror thereof is detected and adjusted electrically.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been provided one type of a mirror assembly for an automobile having a mechanism for electrically detecting and adjusting a position or posture of a mirror thereof, for the purpose of realizing a better mirror position or posture which depends upon a position or posture of a driver in a car equipped with the mirror assembly (see Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-37856, for example).
On the other hand, there has been suggested another type of mirror assembly for an automobile, the general construction of which is shown in FIG. 2, which is so constructed that a mirror position detector (mirror posture detector) 4 is mounted on a rear end side of a mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 mounted on a rear side of a mirror 1. It is to be noted that FIG. 2 is a plan view, as an explanatory view, showing partially in cross section a mirror assembly for an automobile according to one embodiment of the present invention, where its basic construction is common to the construction used in the conventional mirror assembly.
With reference to FIG. 2, and FIG. 1 in which a main part, indicated by a circle, of FIG. 2 is conventional, a description is made below on the conventional mirror assembly for the automobile.
In FIG. 2, which illustrates the one embodiment of the present invention, a reference numeral 1 denotes a mirror; 3 denotes a mirror holder for holding the mirror 1 from the rear side thereof; 2 denotes a mirror push-pull operation shaft one end of which is connected to the mirror holder 3 and the other end of which has a rear end face 60; 5 denotes a rotary variable resistor for detecting an angular change of the mirror 1 as a change of value of resistance thereof; 8 denotes an actuator that is fixed to the rotary variable resistor 5 and that has a contact face 12 forming on the side of the rear end face 60 of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2; 9 denotes a drive unit for moving the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 in its axial direction; and 4 denotes a mirror position detector (mirror posture detector) that includes both the rotary variable resistor 5 and the actuator 8. All these parts and members are accommodated in an unshown visor.
Referring to the figure, when the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 is driven to move axially by the drive unit 9, the mirror holder 3, which supports the mirror 1 and which is supported by a pivotal support portion, inclines universally, while the position of the mirror 1 is detected by the mirror position detector 4. The mirror holder 3 has a holding portion for holding the mirror 1 on a peripheral part of its front face, a connecting portion to which the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 is connected on a peripheral part of its rear face, and a pivotal support portion for allowing the mirror holder 3 to universally incline about its central part.
The one end, as described above, of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 is connected to the mirror holder 3. With the mechanism, the mirror 1 is driven to incline when the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 is moved axially. At this time, the other end of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 rotates the actuator 8 of the mirror position detector 4 with the rear surface 60 of the other end of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 contacting the contact surface 12 of the actuator 8 so that the position or posture of the mirror 1 is detected.
More specifically, the mirror position detector 4 is constructed as follows. That is, the actuator 8 is fixed to a rotation shaft 13 of the rotary variable resistor 5, and a center of rotation of the actuator 8 (namely, a direction in which the rotation shaft 13 extends) is perpendicular to the axial direction of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2.
The rotary variable resistor 5 detects a change in rotational angle of the actuator 8 as a change in value of resistance. Accordingly, an axial linear displacement of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 2 is first converted into a change in rotational angle of the rotary variable resistor 5, and then the change in rotational angle of the rotary variable resistor 5 is converted into a change in value of resistance thereof.
With the mechanism, the position or posture of the mirror 1 can be detected from the change in value of resistance of the rotary variable resistor 5 in the mirror position detector 4, or from the change in rotational angle thereof.
In the conventional mechanism, a contacting part between a mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 and an actuator 108 is as follows. That is, referring to FIG. 1, a rear end face 106 of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 is flat in shape, and a contact face 112 of the actuator 108 is square-bar shaped or plate shaped, in which these parts 106, 112 are normally kept in contact with each other.
However, the conventional mirror assembly for the automobile shown in FIG. 1 has a following technical problem.
Namely, when the rear end face 106 of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 is positioned at a rear end face upper position 106a or a rear end face lower position 106b, relative to a standard position shown by a solid line in the figure, where a distance or displacement between the rear end face upper position 106a and the standard position is equal to a distance or displacement between the rear end face lower position 106b and the standard position, the actuator 108 is positioned at an actuator upper position 108a or an actuator lower position 108b, respectively, with respect to the standard position. In FIG. 1, the distance between the rear end face upper position 106a and the standard position, and the distance between the rear end face lower position 106b and the standard position, are both indicated by a displacement .DELTA..times..
In the operation, when the actuator 108 is at the actuator standard position, the contact point between the actuator 108 and the rear end face 106 of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 is at a contact standard position 111. Meanwhile, when the actuator 108 is at the actuator upper position 108a, the contact point between the actuator 108 and the rear end face 106 of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 is at a contact upper position 111a. Meanwhile, when the actuator 108 is at the actuator lower position 108b, the contact point between the actuator 108 and the rear end face 106 of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 is at a contact lower position 111b. In the operation, the distance between the contact upper position 111a and a center of the rotation shaft 13, is greater than the distance between the contact lower position 111b and the center thereof.
As the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 moves axially so that the rear end face 106 thereof moves from the rear end face upper position 106a to the rear end face lower position 106b, the contact point 111 moves from the contact upper position 111a to the contact lower position 111b; namely, the contact point 111 moves over a distance corresponding to a diameter of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102.
Provided that an angle forming between the actuator at the actuator upper position 108a and the actuator at the actuator standard position is QA, and provided that an angle forming between the actuator at the actuator lower position 108b and the actuator at the actuator standard position is QB, there is a relation QA<QB therebetween; namely, the two angles are not equal to each other. This means that the actuator 108 does not rotate linearly even if the rear end face 106 of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 is displaced or moved linearly. In other words, even if the mirror push-pull operation shaft 102 is displaced or moved linearly, the change in value of resistance of the rotary variable resistor 5 is not linear, and the value of resistance of the rotary variable resistor 5 varies with a state in which the value of resistance thereof deviates from its expected linear change.
In order to compensate this deviation, there has been required a complex detection circuit; otherwise, resulting in a poor detection accuracy of the mirror position or posture.

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