A novelty cake stand device 10 including a base member 20 and a cake support member 30 defining a peripheral opening 50 around the device 10 wherein the opening 50 is dimensioned to receive a portion of an elongated support arm 41 having one end attached to a figurine member 40 and the other end rotatably disposed within the base member 20 such that the figurine member 40 is disposed in an orbiting relationship to the base member 20 and/or the cake support member 30 to provide an amusing appearance to the device 10.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of rotatable supports in general, and in particular to a cake stand having a rotatable novelty component.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,191,437; 5,024,168; 5,479,867; and 5,572,936, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse support devices having a rotatable component.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and unique way to design a cake stand having an orbiting novelty component that circles the base of the cake support stand.
As most parents and pet owners are aware, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find a new and unique way to present a cake or other celebratory confectionery foodstuff on special anniversaries such as birthdays or the like.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved cake stand having a rotatable novelty component disposed in an orbiting relationship to the base of the cake stand, and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.


Battery element 2 is sandwiched between and surrounded by casing films 4, 5 each having a thermo-fusing resin layer, and is sealed by thermally fused region 6 formed by thermally fusing around the overall periphery. Cross-link structure portion 13 is formed in part of thermally fused region 6 by cross-linking casing film 5, and gas release chamber 12 is formed with its leading end positioned in cross-link structure portion 13. Gas release chamber 12 is a portion which is surrounded by thermally fused region 6 along its periphery, and in which casing films 4, 5 are not thermally fused. Tube 14 which is open at both ends is connected to gas release chamber 12, while sandwiched between casing films 4, 5, with its leading end positioned in gas release chamber 12.

One type of film-covered electric device is a film packed battery. Conventionally, there is known a film packed battery which includes a battery element sandwiched by casing films from both sides in its thickness direction, with the opposing casing films bonded to each other along the periphery of the battery element, to hermetically seal (hereinafter simply called "seal" as well) the battery element together with an electrolytic solution. A laminate film which has a laminate of a metal layer and a thermo-fusing resin layer is generally used for the casing films, and the casing films are bonded to each other by thermally fusing the thermo-fusing resin layers to each other.
Incidentally, when a voltage beyond a rated range is applied to a battery in use, gas species can generate within the battery due to electric decomposition of an electrolytic solvent. Further, when a battery is used at high temperatures beyond a rated range, materials which cause gas species are also generated due to decomposition of electrolyte salt and the like. Basically, it is ideal to use a battery within a rated range to prevent the generation of gases. However, if a control circuit of a battery does not normally operate for some reason to apply an abnormal voltage, or if the temperature abnormally rises around the battery for some reason, a large amount of gases can generate within the battery in some cases.
The generation of gases within a battery results in an increased pressure within the battery. In order to prevent a battery from bursting due to an extremely increased inner pressure, many of batteries which use a highly rigid packing material such as a metal can and a thick resin molding have a pressure safety valve for letting gases escape to the outside of the battery when the inner pressure of the battery increases. However, in film packed batteries which employ a film for a packing material, it is structurally difficult to provide a pressure safety valve. If the inner pressure extremely increases in a film packed battery, a space which contains a battery element swells, and the film is eventually burst, causing gases to blow out from the burst site. However, it is impossible to identify where the burst occurs. Therefore, the burst can adversely affect surrounding devices and members depending on the location at which the film is burst.
It is often the case that batteries are also used as energy sources for vehicles such as a car and a variety of machines, by way of example, or their-electric parts. Since gases generated from the interior of batteries can contain a combustible material and a corrosive material, importance should be placed on how to handle gases which blow out. JP2003-45380A (Patent Document 1) describes a car-mounted battery which includes a gas flow path within a battery box, where the gas flow path is coupled to an exhaust pipe through which gases generated within the battery box are discharged to the outside of a car.
JP2002-324526A (Patent Document 2) in turn describes a film packed battery which comprises a battery element sealed in layers by aluminum foil and covered with a plurality of covering materials, made of film, each having an opening. Each covering material is thermo-contractile, and covers the battery element such that their openings do not overlap with each other. According to the battery described in Patent Document 2, when gases are generated from the battery element, the aluminum foil breaks, causing the gases to blow out therefrom. The blowing gases sequentially pass through the openings of the respective covering materials from the inside to the outside, and are discharged to the outside of the battery. When the battery is heated, the respective covering materials contract such that the opening of the covering material on the inner side is sealed by the covering material on the outer side. In this way, external air including oxygen is prevented from flowing into the inside of the battery, thus preventing firing and the like of the battery.
Around a battery, there are often elements, such as terminals of the battery, a peripheral circuit connected to the terminals, contacts of the battery, and the like which, when applied with an electrolytic solution, give rise to troubles such as corrosion, malfunction and the like. Gases which blow out of the battery can contain a mist of electrolytic solution, so that in order to prevent troubles due to the blow-out of the gases, the gasses are preferably guided to and discharged from a location spaced away from those elements which can give rise to troubles, using a pipe, as described in Patent Document 1. In this event, the pipe must be hermetically connected to the packing material. As in Patent Document 1, in a car-mounted battery, the packing material is generally a highly strong member which itself has a sufficient thickness and rigidity. For such a member, it is easy to hermetically connect a pile thereto by employing an appropriate fitting structure, or adding a sealing member such as an O-ring.
However, a structure generally employed for film packed batteries to discharge internally generated gases from a particular site involves forming an area which has a lower bonding strength than the remaining area in a portion of a bonding region of a film which is a packing material, and discharging the gas from that area. Conventional film packed batteries give rise to the aforementioned troubles because there has only been proposed a structure for releasing gases immediately adjacent to the batteries. Thus, it is contemplated to connect a pipe to a film packed battery for guiding gases. However, a simply connected pipe results in difficulties in ensuring the sealability with a film because the pipe is connected to the film at a position from which gases are discharged, i.e., in a region which presents a low bonding strength. As a result, depending on a stress applied to the joint of the film with the pipe, the film peels off at the joint with the pipe to let gases leak, thus possibly failing to guide the gases to a desired position. On the other hand, in the film packed battery described in Patent Document 2, openings of the respective covering materials which cover the battery element in layers are simply shifted, without the need for forming an area with a lower bonding strength, so that a pipe can be hermetically connected to the outermost opening. However, since the film packed battery described in Patent Document 2 covers the battery element in layers, not only the amount of used covering materials extremely increases, as compared with ordinary film packed batteries, but also covering steps are also largely increased.
Such problems are common to film-covered electric devices which have electric device elements that can generate gases, sealed by casing films, not limited to the film packed battery.

Film-covered electric device and method of manufacturing same


The present invention relates to transmit apodization using a sinc function in an ultrasound system. The ultrasound system includes: a transmission unit operable to generate transmit pulse signals with transmit apodization applied by using a sinc function; a probe operable to generate ultrasound signals based on the transmit pulse signals to thereby form a transmit beam and transmit the transmit beam along a predetermined scan line among a plurality of scan lines in a target object, the probe being further operable to receive ultrasound echoes reflected from the target object; and a reception unit operable to form receive signals corresponding to a plurality of scan lines based on the ultrasound echoes.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to ultrasound systems, and more particularly to transmit apodization using a sinc function in an ultrasound system.
2. Background Art
An ultrasound system has become an important and popular diagnostic tool since it has a wide range of applications. Specifically, due to its non-invasive and non-destructive nature, the ultrasound has been extensively used in the medical profession. Modern high-performance ultrasound diagnostic systems and techniques are commonly used to produce two or three-dimensional diagnostic images of internal features of an object (e.g., human organs).
Generally, the ultrasound system may transmit an ultrasound beam formed with a set of ultrasound signals to a target object and receive ultrasound echoes reflected from the target object. The ultrasound system may form ultrasound images based on the received ultrasound echoes. When operated to form the ultrasound images, a frame rate is very important for diagnosing the target object (especially moving objects) in real time. The frame rate may be in inverse proportion to the number of transmission times of the transmit beam for obtaining one frame. That is, if the transmit beam is transmitted at a relatively less number of transmission times, then the frame rate may become high, However, distortion of the ultrasound image may occur due to a low amount of data.

Transmit apodization using a sinc function in an ultrasound system


A method and apparatus for dispersing user equipments (UEs) to non-preferred frequencies in a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MEMS) system is provided. Information regarding a time required until a next session of the MBMS service is started is received. A determination is made as to whether to set a layer dispersion indicator (LDI) in a session stop message, according to the time required until the next session is started. The determined session stop message is sent to the UEs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for dispersing user equipments (UEs) to non-preferred frequencies using time information for session start notification in a MBMS system.
2. Description of the Related Art
With developments of various communication technologies, mobile communication systems using a wideband code division multiple access (CDMA) scheme are developing into systems for multimedia broadcast/communication capable of providing a conventional voice service, as well as a multimedia service and a packet communication service for transmitting large amounts of data. To support the multimedia broadcast/communication, MBMS service provided from one or more multimedia data sources to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) is being implemented.
The term "MBMS service" refers to a service for transmitting through a wireless network the same multimedia data to a plurality of receivers. As a result, radio transmission resources can be efficiently used because the receivers share one radio channel. The MBMS service supports the transmission of multimedia, such as, realtime video and voice, still images, text, and the like. The MBMS service, which requires a large amount of resources for transmission, simultaneously transmits voice data and video data according to a type of multimedia transmission. Because an MBMS service must transmit the same data to a plurality of cells in which users are located, a Point-to-Point (PtP) or Point-to-Multipoint (PtM) connection is made according to the number of users located in each cell.
Recent MBMS systems are supporting frequency layer convergence (FLC) technology for allocating a preferred frequency for each of the MBMS services provided, and allowing UEs to receive desired MBMS services in a preferred frequency layer (PL). FLC information indicates preferred frequencies mapped to MBMS services. MBMS FLC is a method for moving UEs to a preferred frequency for each service such that one service can be provided at only one frequency, rather than all frequencies overlapped in an identical area.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional structure of cell layers overlapped in an identical service area and an example of MBMS FLC.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cell structure in which different frequencies, that is, Frequency 1, Frequency 2, Frequency 3, and Frequency 4, are overlapped in an identical area. Reference numerals 101, 111, 121, and 131 comprise Frequency 1, Frequency 2, Frequency 3, and Frequency 4, respectively. Reference numeral 141 comprises a controlling radio network controller (CRNC) for controlling cells of the frequencies. FLC is a method for moving UEs to a preferred frequency for each service such that each service can be provided at only one frequency, without providing one service from all cells of Frequency 1, Frequency 2, Frequency 3, and Frequency 4 overlapped in an identical area, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
In FIG. 1, the CRNC 141 receives a session start message, which notifies that a specific MBMS session will be started from a serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) support node (SGSN) (not illustrated) over an Iu interface in Process 1. When receiving the session start message, the CRNC 141 selects a preferred frequency for an MBMS service in Process 2. In FIG. 1, an assumption is made that Frequency-2 111 has been selected as the preferred frequency for the service session. In Process 3, information of Preferred Frequency-2 111, for the MBMS service selected in Process 2, is sent to cells of all frequencies, that is, Frequency-1 101, Frequency-2 111, Frequency-3 121, and Frequency-4 131.
Among the UEs requesting to receive the MBMS service session after receiving the preferred frequency information, UEs at non-preferred frequencies 101, 121, and 131 move to the preferred frequency 111 in Process 4. The UEs at the preferred frequency 111 continuously remain at the preferred frequency 111. The above-described Process 4 is referred to as the FLC. The UEs requesting to receive the service session, according to the FLC, concentrates at the preferred frequency 111.
When the session ends, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the UEs concentrated at the preferred frequency 111 need to be dispersed to many different frequencies.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus that disperses the UEs, which are concentrated at a preferred frequency, to many different frequencies in a MBMS system.

Method and apparatus for dispersing user equipments to non-preferred frequencies in a multimedia broadcast/multicast service system


A fuel injector includes an auxiliary valve member that can assist in raising a mean injection pressure, increase a nozzle valve opening pressure, and hasten the closure rate of a nozzle valve member over an equivalent fuel injector without the auxiliary valve. The auxiliary valve member is fluidly positioned between a needle control chamber and a high pressure space, which includes a fuel pressurization chamber within the fuel injector. The auxiliary valve member includes a closing hydraulic surface exposed to fluid pressure in the high pressure space. The plumbing and the auxiliary valve member allow high pressure fuel to act upon a closing hydraulic surface of the nozzle valve member to increase valve opening pressure and mean injection pressure. The needle control chamber may be vented or may be a closed volume when the auxiliary valve member is in its closed position. The invention is potentially applicable to any fuel injector, but finds the preferred application in cam actuated fuel injectors that include an electronically controlled spill valve.

In one class of fuel injector, a plunger is driven downward within the injector to pressurize fuel for each injection event. Between injection events, the plunger retracts and the fuel injector returns to a relatively low pressure state. The plunger can be driven to move in any of a number of ways including via a rotating cam or possibly even via hydraulic fluid pressure from a common rail. In many instances, the plunger and the nozzle portion of the fuel injector are housed in a common injector body. In other instance, these two functions are separated with each nozzle assembly having a dedicated unit pump. In any event, those skilled in the art have generally come to recognize that higher injection pressure levels can generally be exploited to reduce undesirable engine emissions, including but not limited to NOx. unburned hydrocarbons and soot. Most of these fuel injectors include a nozzle valve member that moves between positions that either open or close the nozzle outlets to facilitate spray of fuel into an engine cylinder. These nozzle valve members are usually biased toward their closed position by a compressed biasing spring, but other biasing strategies are available such as by using hydraulic fluid pressure to bias the nozzle valve member toward its closed position. By carefully choosing a pre-load on the biasing spring and adjusting surface areas on the nozzle valve member, along with the possible use of a shim, a valve opening pressure for the nozzle valve member can be reliably and consistently set among a group of fuel injectors. However, there are often urges to increase the valve opening pressure of the nozzle valve member, but doing so by increasing the pre-load on the biasing spring can be problematic. Simply increasing the pre-load on the biasing spring can undermine the fuel injector's ability to inject relatively small amounts of fuel, especially when the engine is operating at a low speed and load condition.
Since the nozzle valve member biasing springs of the prior art inherently bias the nozzle valve member to the same magnitude across the engine operating range, there is also inherently some compromise in choosing a valve opening pressure for the nozzle valve member via a biasing spring pre-load. Those skilled in the art recognize that optimizing the biasing spring pre-load for low speed and low load operating conditions can be entirely different than optimizing the spring pre-load for high speed and load operating conditions. On one hand, excessively low injection pressures can lead to increased production of undesirable engine emissions, while on the other hand, elevated injection pressures can introduce variability issues among fuel injectors via a difficulty in making injectors behave consistently. Thus, there is often a conflict between maintaining acceptable controllability and minimizing variability among fuel injectors verses a motivation to increase mean injection pressure levels and/or the nozzle valve member's valve opening pressure.
The present invention is directed to one or more of the problems set forth above.


A detachable decoration system including a first releasably interlockable fastener permanently connected to an article to be decorated and second releasably interlockable fastener permanently connected to a decoration adapted to selectively interlock with the first fastener. Once the interlockable fasteners are disengaged, the decoration is wholly disconnected from the article, thus permitting the article to be washed without damaging the decoration.

It is popular for young children to wear socks decorated with bows. The bows are securely sewn to the knit socks with thread, and are usually of a contrasting color with the sock, so as to stand out.
Despite the popularity of decorated socks with children, however, these socks are often worn only on special occasions. This is because after only relatively few washings, the bows are usually damaged or faded.
Efforts have been made to overcome this problem by improving the quality of the dies and material used in making the bows. While socks with higher quality bows are better able to withstand the washing process, they tend to be relatively expensive and, over time, are also damaged by the washing process.
Often the decorated socks will not be of a color which matches the outfit which the child is to wear. As a result, the child is either unhappy that it is unable to wear its decorated socks or a set of decorated socks must be purchased to go with the child's outfit.
Thus, the need remains for an improved decorated sock.


An overhead electrical fixture including a lowerable serviceable fixture portion that may be readily lowered by a portable lowering tool to facilitate servicing by a technician at ground level. The overhead fixture includes a mounting base adapted to be secured relatively high above ground level, such as in a church. In the normal operating position, the serviceable fixture portion is releasably secured to the mounting base by a relatively short length of cable secured at one end to the serviceable fixture portion, and at the opposite end to a cable connector, such as a ring. The ring rests against the mounting base adjacent a slotted opening in the normal operating position. The ring may be engaged by a hook of the lowering tool and rotated so that the ring may pass through the slotted opening in the mounting base to effect release and lowering of the serviceable fixture portion. The portable lowering tool includes a series of telescoping sections, a winch including a supply of cable stored thereon, and a brake to prevent paying out of the cable when the winch handle is released by the user. The supply of cable from the winch of the portable lowering tool is payed out to lower the serviceable fixture portion and may be rewound to raise the serviceable fixture portion to the operating position after servicing is completed.

In many lighting applications, especially commercial lighting applications, an overhead lighting fixture is mounted relatively high above ground or floor level. The overhead lighting fixtures in a church are exemplary of this type of commercial lighting application. These fixtures may be fifteen to forty feet above the level of the floor. In addition, access immediately beneath the fixtures is limited due to the placement of rows of closely spaced pews.
Thus, replacement of the lights carried by such lighting fixtures is greatly complicated by the inability to position a conventional self-supporting or folding ladder on the floor below the fixture because of the pews. Moreover, many such self-supporting ladders do not have sufficient height to permit a technician to reach the lighting fixtures. A conventional extension ladder, although perhaps having sufficient reach to extend to the lighting fixture, may not be supported with sufficient stability to provide adequate safety. Accordingly, many burned-out lights must go unreplaced or worker safety unnecessarily compromised to replace the lights.
There are many other commercial settings where overhead lights are also difficult to access with conventional ladders. For example, in a factory setting, operating machinery or other work areas may be utilized beneath the lighting fixture making access with a conventional ladder impossible.
Attempts have been made to address the problem of servicing lighting fixtures which are suspended high above the ground or floor, or otherwise difficult to access using conventional equipment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,694 to Koivumaki discloses a series of ceiling mounted fixtures mounted on horizontal tracks or rails so that the lighting fixtures can be laterally moved to another adjacent area for servicing. This approach requires an initial investment in rails and other hardware and presumes that an adjacent space provides better access. This approach is unusable or undesirable in many applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,473,713 to Thompson, and dating from 1919, discloses a lighting fixture having a fixed mounting base including a rotatable pulley, and wherein a length of rope is fed over the pulley and connected between a ground level location and the lowerable fixture. U.S. Pat. No. 1,454,855 to Larkins shows a similar fixture having a link chain in place of the rope.
Unfortunately, a rope or chain permanently connected to the lowerable fixture portion must be sufficiently long to extend down to adjacent ground level and permit lowering of the fixture portion. Accordingly, such a rope or chain is unsightly, interferes with efficient utilization of the space below the fixture, and creates an additional maintenance problem of ensuring the integrity of the ropes or chains on a periodic basis. For a large number of fixtures, or relatively high mounting of such fixtures, the ropes or chains are simply impractical.
While overhead lighting fixtures represent a particular and well known example requiring intermittent access for service or maintenance, other overhead electrical fixtures may also have a serviceable fixture portion requiring periodic or intermittent access for maintenance. For example, public address systems, scoreboards, and the like may include portions that are most conveniently and safely serviced adjacent ground level.

Overhead electrical fixture and portable lowering tool therefor


In an image forming device including a service provision program providing service for an application program, the service provision program is constituted by a plurality of modules that operate exclusively to each other and are connected together. Change information of the service provision program is recorded on a change information recording unit in response to a service provision request. A service modifying unit detects a service provision request from the application program to the service provision program, and causes the service provision program to change any of the plurality of modules based on the change information recorded on the change information recording unit in response to the detected service provision request.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device, such as copier, printer, scanner, facsimile, composite machine or multi-function peripheral, an information processing method, an information processing program, and a recording medium, such as SD memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a composite machine or multi-function peripheral which is provided with a copier function, a printer function, a scanner function and a facsimile function has come to be marketed. The composite machine or multi-function peripheral is configured to print an image on a copy sheet when it functions as a copier or a printer. The composite machine or multi-function peripheral is configured to read an image from an original document when it functions as a copier or a scanner. The composite machine or multi-function peripheral is configured to transmit an image to or receive an image from an external device through a communication line when it functions as a facsimile. For example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-084383.
In recent years, various kinds of application program and platform have come to be implemented in the composite machine or the multi-function peripheral. What is concerned about under such circumstances is that it may be difficult to adapt the existing platform for new application programs which are implemented successively. It is very difficult to take into consideration, at the time of design of a platform, the differences between the currently developed application programs developed, or predict the functions of application programs that will be developed in the future. There may be a possibility that a certain application program does not operate normally under the influence of the platform according to the kind of the application program.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a mechanism for adapting the platform to conform to various changes of the application programs appropriately.

Image forming device, information processing method, information processing program, and recording medium


A compact motor-drive unit wherein each component can be stably fixed to the unit. A motor-drive unit has a plurality of substrates each having a circuit for driving a motor; semiconductor devices mounted on the respective substrates; at least one smoothing capacitor mounted on at least one of the substrates; and a heat radiator having a heat-transferring surface adjacent to the semiconductors. The smoothing capacitor is positioned within a swept area formed by moving the first substrate arranged generally parallel to a base surface, in a counter-front direction, so that the smoothing capacitor is separated from the first substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor-drive unit having a heat radiator for releasing heat from a semiconductor device mounted on a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in a case that a circuit of a motor-drive unit having a heat radiator is designed by using one printed board, an area of the motor-drive unit viewed in a front direction (or a direction perpendicular to the printed board) is approximately equal to the printed board when the printed board is attached to the motor-drive unit. Therefore, depending on the area of the printed board, the motor-drive unit (or the heat radiator) is enlarged. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-246779 discloses a heat sink to which two circuit boards orthogonal to each other are attached, in order to reduce a volume occupied by the entire heat sink.
Further, as another example for downsizing a heat radiator, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2010-187504 discloses an inverter unit wherein a capacitor board on which a capacitor is mounted and a printed board on which a semiconductor device is mounted are attached to different planes of a heat radiator, in order to thermally separate the capacitor board from the printed board.
In the heat sink as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-246779, the circuit board is fixed to the heat sink at a single site thereof, or the circuit board is configured as a cantilever structure. Therefore, the fixing of the circuit board may be unstable. Further, since each circuit board is independent from each other, the area of the board in the front direction may be increased depending on a design of the circuit, whereby the width of the board in the front direction may be increased.
On the other hand, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2010-187504, the capacitor board is positioned at a lateral side of the heat sink. However, since the smoothing capacitor has a certain height in order to have a predetermined capacitance, even when the capacitor board is positioned at the lateral side of the heat sink, the width of the board in the front direction cannot be significantly decreased.


In a V-type six cylinder engine, cylinder groups are provided in which a plurality of cylinders are arranged divided into left and right first and second banks. An intake pipe, a first exhaust pipe, and a second exhaust pipe are connected to the cylinder groups of the banks. A first upstream three-way catalyst and a first control valve are provided in one exhaust pipe while a second upstream three-way catalyst and a second control valve are provided in the other exhaust pipe. The exhaust pipes are communicated together upstream of the upstream three-way catalysts and the control valves by a communicating pipe. A third control valve that adjusts the flowrate of exhaust gas is provided in the communicating pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an internal combustion engine having two cylinder groups in which a plurality of cylinders are arranged divided into two banks, and upstream sides of exhaust passages of the cylinder groups are connected together by a communicating passage, and as well as to a control method for the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical V-type multiple cylinder engine, a cylinder block has two banks on its upper portion that are angled at a predetermined angle, with a plurality of cylinders provided in each bank, thereby forming two cylinder groups. Pistons are movably fitted in the plurality of cylinders provided in each bank. The pistons are all connected to a crankshaft that is rotatably supported at a lower portion. Also, combustion chambers are formed by a cylinder head being fastened onto the upper portion of each bank of the cylinder block. An intake port which can be opened and closed by an intake valve, and an exhaust port which can be opened and closed by an exhaust valve, lead into and out of each combustion chamber. An intake pipe is connected to the intake ports of each bank while exhaust pipes are connected to the exhaust ports of each bank. An upstream control catalyst is mounted in these exhaust pipes, and a downstream control catalyst is mounted in an exhaust gas merger pipe into which the two exhaust pipes merge.
In this kind of a V-type multiple cylinder engine, in order to warm up the upstream control catalyst to activate it early on when the engine is started at a low temperature, bank control is made possible by providing communication between the two exhaust pipes with a communicating pipe upstream of the upstream control catalyst and providing a control valve in each exhaust pipe. Accordingly, when the engine is started at a low temperature, the control valve in one of the exhaust pipes is closed, which forces the exhaust gas from the bank on the side with the closed control valve to flow through the communicating pipe and into the other exhaust pipe, where it merges with the exhaust gas from the bank on the other side. The heat from this large amount of exhaust gas efficiently warms the upstream control catalyst, thus enabling it to be activated early on.
Also, with this kind of V-type multiple cylinder engine, a turbocharger is provided for only one of the banks. In this case, when the turbocharger is operating, the control valve in the exhaust pipe without the turbocharger is closed, which forces the exhaust gas from the bank on the side with the closed control valve to flow through the communicating pipe and into the exhaust pipe with the turbocharger, where it merges with the exhaust gas from that side. This large amount of exhaust gas drives a turbine in the turbocharger, which in turn drives a compressor that is integrated with the turbine and compresses air. Introducing this compressed air into the combustion chamber enables a large pressure boost to be obtained as well as suppresses thermal degradation of the upstream control catalyst on the side of the exhaust pipe without the turbocharger.
Moreover, when the downstream control catalyst mounted in the exhaust gas merger pipe is a NOX storage reduction catalyst that stores NOX in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio is lean and releases the stored NOX when the air-fuel ratio is rich, and reduces the released NOX using an added reducing agent (fuel), the NOX purifying efficiency drops when sulfur components in the exhaust are stored. Therefore, controlling the banks such that the exhaust gas from the cylinder group of one bank is lean (i.e., the exhaust gas air-fuel ratio is lean) and the exhaust gas from the cylinder group of the other bank is rich (i.e., the exhaust gas air-fuel ratio is rich) enables sulfur components accumulated in the NOX storage reduction catalyst to be released and the NOX storage reduction catalyst to be recovered using an oxidation exothermic reaction that takes place when the lean exhaust gas and the rich exhaust gas merge just upstream of the NOX storage reduction catalyst.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 08-121153 (JP-A-08-121153) describes such an internal combustion engine.
In a V-type multiple cylinder engine, combustion in the cylinders takes place at predetermined intervals and the force generated by this combustion (i.e., engine output) differs depending on the operating state of the engine. Therefore, positive pressure waves of the exhaust gas reach the exhaust pipes that are connected to the cylinder groups of the two banks. A plurality of these positive pressure waves transmitted inside the exhaust pipes generate exhaust gas pulsations inside the communicating pipe. These exhaust gas pulsations that are generated in the communicating pipe prevent the exhaust gas in the combustion chamber from discharging properly into the exhaust pipes through the exhaust ports such that some of the exhaust gas remains in the cylinders. This adversely effects combustion, causes knocking, and adversely effects fuel efficiency and output.
Also, in an engine provided with a turbocharger for one bank, depending on the operating state of the engine, the pressure of the exhaust gas upstream of the turbine may become higher than the pressure (boost pressure) of the intake air downstream of the compressor, which increases the amount of residual gas in the combustion chamber and adversely effects combustion, as described above, so the good capability of the turbocharger cannot be realized. In an engine provided with a NOX storage reduction catalyst, the lean exhaust gas from the cylinder group in one bank ends up merging with the rich exhaust gas from the cylinder group of the other bank in the communicating pipe due to the exhaust gas pulsations generated in the communicating pipe. As a result, not only does an oxidation reaction take place inside the communicating pipe, thus generating heat there, but the oxidation exothermic reaction in the NOX storage reduction catalyst is insufficient which prevents the sulfur components accumulated in the NOX storage reduction catalyst from being properly released.

Internal combustion engine and control method thereof


The present invention relates to specific acylhydrazone compounds, their use as oxidation catalysts and to a process for removing stains and soil on textiles and hard surfaces. The compounds are substituted with a specific cyclic ammonium group adjacent to the acyl group. Further aspects of the invention are compositions or formulations comprising such compounds.

Metal complex catalysts with hydrazide ligands have in generally been described as oxidation catalysts, for example, in DE 196 39 603. However, the compounds disclosed are not active enough.
In WO 2009/124855 metal complex compounds having hydrazide ligands, preferably with electron withdrawing groups adjacent to the acyl group are described. The respective acylhydrazone ligands and their use are also described. The instant compounds differ from those described in WO 2009/124855 by being substituted with a specific cyclic ammonium group adjacent to the acyl group. This specific substitution pattern ensures a significantly higher bleaching activity as compared to prior art complexes or ligands.
The instant compounds are used especially for enhancing the action of H2O2 or peroxides, for example, in the treatment of textile materials, without at the same time causing any appreciable damage to fibres and dyeings. There is also no appreciable damage to fibres and dyeings if these compounds are used in combination with an enzyme or a mixture of enzymes.


A cabling connection system provides cabling connection for an equipment box. A unit input connector is placed on the equipment box. A unit output connector is also placed on the equipment box. The unit input connector and the unit output connector are of identical shape and gender. A cover plate is placed on the equipment box over the unit input connector and the unit output connector. The cover plate has a first opening which allows access to the unit input connector and has a second opening which allows access to the unit output connector. The first opening is a different shape than the second opening. This results in the first opening acting as a first keying feature for the unit input connector and the second opening acting as a second keying feature for the unit output connector.

The present invention concerns interconnecting equipment together and pertains particularly to using keyed interconnection sockets in order to distinguish between input connections and output connections.
In various applications, it is necessary to connect electronic equipment together. Generally cables with standard connections are used to provide the connections.
In many applications, a single equipment box may include both an input and an output. In such a system it is often important to make a clear distinction between inputs and outputs. For example, when connecting together stackable hubs of a network together, it is important that an input from one hub be connected to an output of another hub. If two hub inputs are connected together or two hub outputs are connected together, the network will fail to operate properly.
Typically, when it is necessary to make a clear distinction between an input on an equipment box and an output on an equipment box, the unit input connector and the unit output connector on the equipment box are of a different gender. That is, the unit input connector on the equipment box is a male and the unit output connector on the equipment box is a female, or alternately, the unit input connector on the equipment box is a female and the unit output connector on the equipment box is a male. A cable used to connect such equipment boxes together will likewise have a male connector at one end of the cable and a female connector at the other end of the cable.
Typically, the male connectors will include pins and the female connectors will include sockets. These pin and socket interconnects can be prone to damage especially when cabling them up. If a customer attempts to plug the male connector of the cable into the male connector of the equipment box, damage can occur to the pins in the male connector of the cable and the male connector of the equipment box.

Keyed interconnection for distinguishing input connections and output connections


A TOC recording/reproducing device which can shorten the time required to read TOC by searching a closer TOC between two identical TOCs recorded at both starting terminals on first and second recording surfaces of the tape on the basis of tape position information detected from tape reproduction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TOC recording/reproducing device provided with a recording medium operable in two different directions, such as S--DAT (Stationary-head Digital Audio Tape Recorder).
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, digital technology has been applied to a large number of technical fields such as acoustics and image processing, and techniques relative to players, R--DATS (Rotary-head Digital Audio Tape Recorder), digital VTRS, etc. have been developed. Among them, the technique of pursuing comfort for use, such as high speed search, as well as the basic technique of recording/reproducing PCM signals have become important.
Among the high speed search techniques, attention has been paid to the method named `TOC` (Table of Contents) in which the beginning of a desired musical piece is searched and reproduced using a table of base (head) addresses of musical pieces.
The conventional search method using TOC is disclosed in e.g. "JAS Journal" published by Nippon Audio Association, Nov., 1987, pp. 26-27.
An explanation will be given of the conventional high speed search method.
FIG. 10 shows a record of the tape for realizing the conventional high speed search. A TOC recording area named `U--TOC`, where a user can record, is located at the starting end of the tape. The U--TOC area is succeeded by audio data which is divided into units called programs. Usually, one musical piece corresponds to one program. Each program is numbered by a corresponding `program number`. The absolute times indicative of the absolute addresses on the tape are recorded on the tape.
The format of the absolute time and TOC in DAT system is described in "DIGITAL AUDIO TAPERECORDER SYSTEM" published by DAT Conference, Jun. 1987, pp. 72-77.
An explanation will be given of the method of searching a program number using TOC.
When a cassette is inserted into a reproducing device, the U--TOC area at the tape starting terminal is searched to read TOC to be stored. Thereafter, if a direction of searching a program number is issued, the absolute time indicative of the head of the directed program is read from the stored TOC, thereby searching the position on the tape on which the absolute time has been recorded. Since the absolute times have been continuously recorded on the tape, if a user carries out the high speed search while reading the absolute time to compute the difference between the current position and a target position and earlier decelerate the speed, he can realize the optimum speed control. Thus, the time taken for the program search can be shortened. However, the conventional TOC recording/reproducing device, in which the TOC data is recorded only at the starting terminal of a tape, takes a relatively long time to initially read first.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A crank gearwheel assembly for use with a bicycle, mainly includes a hollow crank body and a pair of integrated gearwheels of different diameters coupled to the crank body thereby avoiding an angular deviation between the gearwheels, and offering easy assembly, accurate speed-change, and reduced weight for a more light and speedy bicycle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bicycle used for cross-country, particularly an improved crank gearwheel assembly for providing a variable speed arrangement for such a bicycle.
2. Description of Prior Art
As known, a variety of bicycles are continuously proposed in compliance with different demands in the present bicycle industry. Especially in bicycling for cross-country, it is hard to maintain a more light and speedy feature of the bicycle body under the consideration of safety.
A crank gearwheel assembly used in a conventional bicycle, as shown in FIG. 1, generally includes a crank body 1A of which a top end integrally forms a coupling portion 4A. The coupling portion 4A is further configured with five retentive claws 41A to which larger diameter and smaller diameter gearwheels 5A, 6A together are secured thereto. In manufacture, the gearwheels of different diameters 5A, 6A are separately fabricated by a lathe process and then screwed to the five retentive claws 41A. Through a stamping process, it often occurs that some burrs appear on the gearwheels 5A, 6A resulting in an inadequate quality and inaccurate assembly. Additionally, due to separate fabrication of the gearwheels 5A, 6A, the gearwheels 5A, 6A may have inconsistent fit tolerances with regard to the crank body 1A when both of the gearwheels 5A, 6A are respectively screwed to the crank body 1A. Accordingly, an angular deviation may appear between the screwed gearwheels 5A, 6A resulting in an inaccurate action of a derailleur system used in conjunction with the crank gearwheel assembly. Therefore, it is understood that such a crank gearwheel assembly basically lacks economic effectiveness and usefulness.
Recently, although some bicycles utilize the feature of separately fabricating the crank body 1A and the coupling portion 4A to constitute two independent structures, thereby achieving a better quality in manufacture, the crank body 1A is still formed as a solid construction and also screwed together with the coupling portion 4A. Not only may the above-mentioned problem not be resolved, but also another problem of weighting the whole bicycle results.

Bicycle with an improved crank gearwheel assembly


A coding apparatus for coding a video signal by way of total data amount control. The video signal is coded by high efficient predictive coding to produce first encoded data. A data amount of the first encoded data is counted and converted to a target data amount within a reference data amount. In response to the target data amount, quantization is controlled in the high efficient predictive coding. The coding is again carried out to produce second encoded data under quantization control. The quantization is corrected in the high efficient predictive coding in response to the target data amount and a data amount of the second encoded data. The second encoded data is outputted at a specific data transfer rate.

The present invention relates to a moving picture coding apparatus with total data amount control.
There is a conventional moving picture coding apparatus with total data amount control. The conventional apparatus carries out twice coding operations in the total data amount control. High efficiently encoded data of data amount suitable for storage capacity of a storage medium to store the encoded data is output from the coding apparatus at a variable rate.
In the first coding operation, encoded data amount of a video signal is checked to decide a target data transfer rate and a target data amount with respect to the storage medium. In the second coding operation, the video signal is again encoded by a quantization scale corrected based on the target data amount. The encoded data whose amount is changed to the target amount is stored into a buffer memory. The stored encoded data is outputted from the buffer memory at the target transfer rate.
The conventional apparatus, however, does not check the encoded data amount in the second coding operation. Therefore, the conventional apparatus has a disadvantage in that the encoded data amount outputted from the buffer memory, in the second coding operation, is not necessarily suitable for the storage capacity of the storage medium. Further, picture quality of the video signal to be reproduced from the storage medium depends on the data sufficiency of the buffer memory.

Moving picture coding apparatus with total data amount control


A method of manufacturing a cake-shaped decorative accessory made of a towel by setting a mount, which becomes a framework for forming a towel cloth in a cake shape, on a towel cloth, and folding the towel cloth together with the mount into a cake shape. More specifically, a cake-shaped decorative accessory made of a towel is obtained by: setting a polygonal shape mount, which has a folding piece extending from each one of sides thereof, on a towel cloth which is larger than the mount; folding the towel cloth together with the folding piece of the mount to form a folded item; and placing the folded item in a cake cup with a top face portion of the mount facing above, thus forming the folded item into a cake shape.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a decorative accessory made of a towel and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a cake-shaped decorative accessory made of a towel that closely resembles a real cake.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, towels sold as, for instance, a gift are folded in various manner and arranged in a storage box, and the top side of the storage box is covered with a transparent film, so that the customers can see the arranged towel(s) inside the box through the film, thus drawing the attention of the customers and increase the customer's desire to purchase. Among these, with the focus on characteristics such as the towel's texture, thickness, and flexibility, some towels are formed into animals and dolls by way of attaching the towel cloth by sewing or fastening with a pin or the like, thus being offered exclusively as decorations.
Cake-shaped decorations using towels are known, and towels folded into a rolled cake shape and towels entirely packaged in decorative containers are also known well, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 3-39488, 3-22795 and 3-22796.
However, the towel folding processes are almost all performed manually by persons; and even if the original towel size is the same, due to the differences in force applied during the folding process, or the like, variations in shapes and sizes occur in the towels folded into, for instance, a cake.

Method of manufacturing a cake-shaped decorative accessory made of a towel


This invention relates to compounds for the inhibition of histone deacetylase. More particularly, the invention provides for compounds of formula (I)

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compounds for the inhibition of histone deacetylase.
2. Description of Related Art
In eukaryotic cells, nuclear DNA associates with histones to form a compact complex called chromatin. The histones constitute a family of basic proteins which are generally highly conserved across eukaryotic species. The core histones, termed H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, associate to form a protein core. DNA winds around this protein core, with the basic amino acids of the histones interacting with the negatively charged phosphate groups of the DNA. Approximately 146 base pairs of DNA wrap around a histone core to make up a nucleosome particle, the repeating structural motif of chromatin.
Csordas, Biochem. J., 286: 23-38 (1990) teaches that histones are subject to posttranslational acetylation of the N-terminal lysine residues, a reaction that is catalyzed by histone acetyl transferase (HAT1). Acetylation neutralizes the positive charge of the lysine side chain, and is thought to impact chromatin structure. Indeed, Taunton et al., Science, 272: 408-411 (1996), teaches that access of transcription factors to chromatin templates is enhanced by histone hyperacetylation. Taunton et al. further teaches that an enrichment in underacetylated histone H4 has been found in transcriptionally silent regions of the genome.
Histone acetylation is a reversible modification, with deacetylation being catalyzed by a family of enzymes termed histone deacetylases (HDACs). The molecular cloning of gene sequences encoding proteins with HDAC activity has established the existence of a set of discrete HDAC enzyme isoforms. Grozinger et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96:4868-4873 (1999), teaches that HDACs may be divided into two classes, the first represented by yeast Rpd3-like proteins, and the second represented by yeast Hd1-like proteins. Grozinger et al. also teaches that the human HDAC-1, HDAC-2, and HDAC-3 proteins are members of the first class of HDACs, and discloses new proteins, named HDAC-4, HDAC-5, and HDAC-6, which are members of the second class of HDACs. Kao et al., Gene & Development 14:55-66 (2000), discloses an additional member of this second class, called HDAC-7. More recently, Hu, E. et al. J. Bio. Chem. 275:15254-13264 (2000) disclosed another member of the first class of histone deacetylases, HDAC-8. Zhou et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 98: 10572-10577 (2001) teaches the cloning and characterization of a new histone deacetylase, HDAC-9. Kao et al., J. Biol. Chem., 277:187-93 (2002) teaches the isolation and characterization of mammalian HDAC10, a novel histone deacetylase. Gao et al, J. Biol. Chem. (In press) teaches the cloning and functional characterization of HDAC11, a novel member of the human histone deacetylase family. Shore, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97: 14030-2 (2000) discloses another class of deacetylase activity, the Sir2 protein family. It has been unclear what roles these individual HDAC enzymes play.
Studies utilizing known HDAC inhibitors have established a link between acetylation and gene expression. Numerous studies have examined the relationship between HDAC and gene expression. Taunton et al., Science 272:408-411 (1996), discloses a human HDAC that is related to a yeast transcriptional regulator. Cress et al., J. Cell. Phys. 184:1-16 (2000), discloses that, in the context of human cancer, the role of HDAC is as a corepressor of transcription. Ng et al., TIBS 25: March (2000), discloses HDAC as a pervasive feature of transcriptional repressor systems. Magnaghi-Jaulin et al., Prog. Cell Cycle Res. 4:41-47 (2000), discloses HDAC as a transcriptional co-regulator important for cell cycle progression.
Richon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 95: 3003-3007 (1998), discloses that HDAC activity is inhibited by trichostatin A (TSA), a natural product isolated from Streptomyces hygroscopicus, which has been shown to inhibit histone deacetylase activity and arrest cell cycle progression in cells in the G1 and G2 phases (Yoshida et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265: 17174-17179, 1990; Yoshida et al., Exp. Cell Res. 177: 122-131, 1988), and by a synthetic compound, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA). Yoshida and Beppu, Exper. Cell Res., 177: 122-131 (1988), teaches that TSA causes arrest of rat fibroblasts at the G1 and G2 phases of the cell cycle, implicating HDAC in cell cycle regulation. Indeed, Finnin et al., Nature, 401: 188-193 (1999), teaches that TSA and SAHA inhibit cell growth, induce terminal differentiation, and prevent the formation of tumors in mice. Suzuki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,905, EP 0847992 and JP 258863/96, disclose benzamide derivatives that induce cell differentiation and inhibit HDAC. Delorme et al., WO 01/38322 and WO 2001/070675, disclose additional compounds that serve as HDAC inhibitors. Other inhibitors of histone deacetylase activity, including trapoxin, depudecin, FR901228 (Fujisawa Pharmaceuticals), and butyrate, have been found to similarly inhibit cell cycle progression in cells (Taunton et al., Science 272: 408-411, 1996; Kijima et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268(30):22429-22435, 1993; Kwon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95(7):3356-61, 1998).
Research in the past decade has uncovered a new classification of inherited neurodegenerative diseases, the polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion diseases. In each, the underlying mutation is an expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat that encodes polyQ in the respective disease protein. All are progressive, ultimately fatal disorders that typically begin in adulthood and progress over 10 to 30 years. The clinical features and pattern of neuronal degeneration differ among the diseases, yet increasing evidence suggests that polyQ diseases share important pathogenic features. In particular, abnormal protein conformations promoted by polyQ expansion seem to be central to pathogenesis. This class of PolyQ expansion neurodegenerative disease are Huntington's Disease (HD), Dentatorubralpallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA), spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), and five spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA1, SCA2, SCA3/MJD (Machado-Joseph Disease), SCA6 and SCA7).
It is known that certain HDAC inhibitors, for example SAHA, CBHA and pryoxiamide can cross the blood brain barrier at sufficient amounts to significantly inhibit HDAC activity causing the accumulation of acetylated histones in the brain (WO 03/032921). This discovery therefore provides for the use of HDAC inhibitors for inhibiting HDAC in the brain, for the treatment of polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion diseases.
The art provides data that HDAC inhibitors are promising novel therapeutics for polyglutamine expansion diseases. Other data support a therapeutic benefit of HDAC inhibitors for Huntington's disease. Sadri-Vakili and Cha (Nature Clinical Practice Neurology, 2006, 2(6):330-338), and references cited therein, for example, review the current state of knowledge regarding the status of histones in Huntington's Disease and teach that recent studies have shown a therapeutic role for hisone deacetylase inhibitors in a number of Huntington's Disease models. In vivo, HDAC inhibitors arrest ongoing progressive neuronal degeneration induced by polygluatmine repeat expansion, and they reduce lethality in two Drosophila models of polyglutamine disease (Steffan et al., 2001, Nature 413: 739-743). Similar findings were observed with sodium butyrate and TSA (Zhao et al., 2005, J. Expt. Biol., 208:697-705). Gardian et al. (2005, J. Biol. Chem., 280:556-563) showed that phenylbutyrate is capable of improving survival and attenuating brain atrophy in the N171-82Q transgenic mouse model of Huntington's Disease. In the R6/2 model of Huntington's Disease, sodium butyrate extended survival, improved motor deficits and delayed neuropathological sequelae (Ferrante et al., 2003, J. Neurosci., 23:9418-9427). In that same model, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) was also active in improving the motor impairment (Hockly, 2003, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 100:2041-0246). Ying et al. (2005, J. Biol. Chem., 281:12580-12586) showed that sodium butyrate improved life span and motor deficits in a mouse model for DRPLA. Bates et al. (2006, The Journal of Neuroscience, 26(10):2830-2838) reported that in Caenorhabditis elegans expressing a human huntingtin fragment with an expanded polyglutamine tract (Htn-Q150), knockdown of C. elegans hda-3 suppressed Htn-Q150 toxicity. Neuronal expression of hda-3 restored Htn-Q150 toxicity and suggested that C. elegans HDAC3 acts within neurons to promote degeneration in response to Htn-Q 150.
These findings suggest that inhibition of HDAC activity represents a novel approach for intervening in cell cycle regulation and that HDAC inhibitors have great therapeutic potential in the treatment of polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion diseases, such as Huntington's Disease. It would be highly desirable to have novel inhibitors of histone deacetylase.

Dibenzo[b,f][1,4]oxazepin-11-yl-N-hydroxybenzamides as HDAC inhibitors

Abstract: wherein

Abstract: Q, J, L and Z are as defined in the specification.


A firearm system includes a bolt carrier with an internal cavity, a piston disposed within the internal cavity, a forward configuration where the piston is in a forwardmost position relative to the bolt carrier, and an aft configuration where the piston is in a rearmost position relative to the bolt carrier. The piston slides forward and aft relative to the bolt carrier. In the forward configuration, the entire piston remains disposed within the bolt carrier.

Many law enforcement and military personnel carry large quantities of ammunition. Traditional metallic case ammunition is heavy, which limits the amount of ammunition that can be carried and/or limits other important supplies (e.g., firearms, medical supplies, food, water, clothing, communication equipment).
To increase safety and effectiveness of military personnel, law enforcement, and other relevant operators, it may be desirable to design new primerless ammunition and related firearm systems to minimize weight.

Light weight ammunition and firearm systems


A printer includes a print generator for generating a print signal at a predetermined constant rate according to a predetermined resolution, a data transducer for downloading raw data, a printhead for printing the raw data downloaded by the data transducer, an encoder for recording the relative position of the printhead, and a controller for receiving the print signal and for controlling the printhead to print the data corresponding to the print signal. When receiving a current print signal and the printhead has not completed printing the data corresponding to a previous print signal, the controller controls the printhead to print the data corresponding to the print signal after the data corresponding to the previous print signal is printed, and does not wait for the next print signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, and more specifically, to a printer which is capable of controlling a data printing period.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the rapid development of printing equipment, printers have become necessary peripheral devices. Inkjet printers, due to their cheap prices and excellent print quality, have become one of the most popular printing apparatuses.
Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an inkjet printer 10 according to the prior art. FIG. 2 shows a waveform of a phase signal produced by a phase encoder 11 shown in FIG. 1. The inkjet printer 10 comprises the phase encoder 11, a print signal generator 12, a data transducer 14, a head driver 16 and a printhead 18. The phase encoder 11 produces phase signals A and B for recording the position of the printhead 18 as the printhead 18 moves. The print signal generator 12 produces a print signal as the printhead 18 moves at a constant speed to a predetermined position. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the print signal generator 12 will generate a print signal whenever the printhead 18 moves to the position N, N+1, N+2, etc. (as the phase signal A or B changes), where the distance between N, N+1, N+2, etc. is fixed. After receiving a printing signal, the data transducer 14 will download the raw data, and ultimately, the head driver 16 will drive the printhead 18 to print the downloaded data.
Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a stable signal diagram, where the horizontal axis represents time, showing that the printed resolution at which the printer 10 prints is higher than the normal mode. Supposing that the normal mode of the printer 10 is 600 dpi (dots per inch), if the printer 10 works under the resolution of 600 dpi, the print signal generator 12 produces a print signal P1 as the printer 18 reaches the position N, produces a print signal P5 as the printer 18 reaches the position N+1, produces a print signal P9 as the printer 18 reaches the position N+2, and so on. If the printer 10 is operated in high resolution mode, the print signal generator 12 will determine a predetermined inkjet distance based on the selected high resolution and generate a print signal at the predetermined inkjet distance. For instance, when the printer 10 for which the normal mode is 600 dpi works at the high resolution of 2400 dpi, the printer 10 controls the printhead 18 to eject three ink drops between an interval of every two drops originally printed in normal mode by using interpolation. In other words, the print signal generator 12 will divide the time in which the printhead 18 previously took to move from the position N−1 to the position N into three equal ejecting times based on the desired resolution, and produces a print signal P2, P3, P4 at a constant rate. After receiving the print signal, the data transducer 14 will download the corresponding data in turns, and the head driver 16 will drive the printhead 18 to print the downloaded data. In this way, the printed resolution increases as the ejecting time in the unit length increases.
In order to eject additional ink drops with adequate time, however, the printhead 18 needs to slow down in the process of printing at the high resolution.
Please refer to FIG. 4 in conjunction with FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is an actual signal diagram showing that the printed resolution at which the printer 10 prints is higher than the normal mode. Even though the print signal generator 12 is capable of generating a print signal at each predetermined time according to the predetermined resolution, as previously mentioned, the printhead 18 must slow down in the process of printing at the high resolution. Nevertheless, the moves of the printhead 18 will be unstable at low speed due to mechanism used to move the printhead. As a result, even though the time which the print signal generator 12 generates a print signal is fixed, due to the unstable moving speed of the printhead 18, ejecting ink drops may possibly fall on the incorrect predetermined positions. As shown in FIG. 4, when Data8 has not yet been completely printed by the printhead 18, and the next print signal P9 is received by the transducer 14 and the raw data Data9 is downloaded, at this moment, the printhead 18 is printing the previous data Data8 with unstable velocity. Consequently, the print data generator 12 will ignore the print signal P9, and not inform the data transducer 14 to download the corresponding data Data9. When an upcoming print signal P10 is generated, the data transducer 14 will download the raw data Data9 instead, and the data transducer 14 will download the raw data Data10 as the print signal P11 is generated. Despite the total printed distance for each swath being predetermined, as well as the required times of the print signal for each swath, it is possible that after all required print signals for each swath are generated, some of the data still has not been downloaded and printed, causing a print error. As a result, downloading and printing the data corresponding to the print signals successfully is a problem desired to be solved.

Shan-Ting Tsun, Gueishan Hsiang, Taoyuan County


Aspects of an efficient, wide voltage range, power converter system are described. In one example, a power converter system includes a first power converter, a second power converter, and a controller for the power converter. An input of the first power converter and an input of the second power converter are connected in series across an input voltage for the power converter system, and an output of the first power converter and an output of the second power converter are connected in parallel at an output of the power converter system. The controller is configured to regulate the second power converter and to determine whether or not to regulate the first power converter based on the input voltage for the power converter system and an output voltage of the power converter system, among other factors, for greater efficiency of the power converter system over wider input and output voltage ranges.

Many commercially available electronic devices require power at a well-regulated, substantially constant, or well-defined voltage for proper operation. Among such devices, microprocessors and other high-speed logic circuits generally rely upon well-defined, stable voltages for proper operation.
Trends in microprocessor designs have featured increased levels of integration of circuitry on a single chip and the use of higher clock speeds. These design trends have also led to more stringent and complex voltage regulation requirements, possibly with specified voltage droop requirements with increasing current, to reduce power dissipation requirements at high currents. Particularly, for programmed microprocessors, voltage regulation requirements with very high current slew rates are needed. High efficiency is also demanded since many microprocessor applications derive power from batteries which can limit the time of operation before the batteries become excessively discharged. Small size and weight and low cost are also very desirable, particularly for use with microprocessors.
Many of these requirements impose conflicting constraints and trade-offs which may be difficult to accommodate. For example, accommodation of high current slew rate can be achieved with large output filter capacitances, but such output filters compromise accurate voltage control and increase size, weight, and cost. Similarly, the requirement for lower power supply output voltages generally compromises efficiency since a lower output voltage generally increases the voltage step-down achieved by a DC/DC converter. At the same time, sophisticated power converter designs are required to achieve even small increases in efficiency. On the other hand, some voltage converter designs are known to provide characteristically high efficiency, but these designs cannot achieve other desired characteristics while maintaining such efficiency or present other intractable design problems.
A voltage regulator module (VRM) is a power converter that provides one or more working voltages to microprocessors, such as central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), among other processing circuitry in computing systems. As one example, a VRM may convert a voltage potential of +5 V, +12 V, +24 V, or +48V to one or more lower voltages for microprocessors. VRMs can be used to permit a number of different microprocessors to be mounted onto the same board, increasing the level of integration. VRMs can be integrated with and mounted onto or separated from motherboards.
Some microprocessors incorporate voltage regulation components. A voltage regulator integrated in the same package or die as a microprocessor is typically referred to as an integrated voltage regulator (IVR). Many modern CPUs and GPUs are designed for power supply potentials of less than 1.5 V. The use of lower voltages helps to reduce power dissipation and the requirements for complicated and expensive cooling systems. Some VRMs provide a fixed power supply to microprocessors, but many VRMs are capable of monitoring for a varying level of demand for power over time and adjusting for the demand. Thus, a VRM can act as a continuously-variable adjustable regulator.

Efficient wide voltage range quasi-parallel voltage regulator

VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES, INC.


In manufacturing molded product of urethane foam, a releasing agent mainly composed of organopolysiloxane is applied on the inner surface of the mold maintained at 60.degree. C. The agent is prepared by dissolving the base composed of organopolysiloxane composition in an organic solvent. The organopolysiloxane composition comprises (a) a first organopolysiloxane of which 0.1 to 5.0% of all organic groups bonded with Si atoms are vinyl groups and at least 80% of the remaining organic groups are methyl groups, and (b) a second organopolysiloxane containing at least three Si bonded hydrogen atoms in one molecule, wherein the first and second organopolysiloxanes contain Si vinyl groups and SiH groups at a ratio in a range of 1:0.5 to 1:5, and do not substantially contain unreactive siloxane. The agent is cured by irradiation with ultraviolet rays, and a thin and uniform film of releasing agent is formed on the inner surface of the mold. Inside the mold coated with this film of releasing agent is injected a raw liquid of urethane foam of cold cure-type, and after the curing step, a molded product of urethane foam in a desired shape is manufactured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of urethane foam molded products used, for example, on vehicle seat cushions, furniture, beds and other cushions, and more particularly to a manufacturing method of urethane foam molded products suitable for manufacturing molded products of cold cure-type urethane foams.
2. Description of the Related Art
Molded products of urethane foam used in automobile seats or the like are formed in a desired shape by injecting the raw liquid of urethane foam into a mold kept at a specific temperature, foaming and curing.
Hitherto, in manufacturing molded products of cold cure-type urethane foam cured around 60.degree. C., wax such as polyethylene was used as a releasing agent. As compared with hot cure-type urethane form cured around 100.degree. C., the cold cure-type urethane foam is low in its treating temperature, and therefore migration of releasing agent onto the surface of the urethane foam molded product is less, even in the case of wax with a relatively low melting point.
In the conventional wax in paste form, however, when urethane foam is molded, the surface of the agent on the internal surface of the mold is disturbed. When the agent is repeatedly applied on the mold, therefore, much wax is unevenly accumulated on the internal surface of the mold, and the asperities of the agent on the mold internal surface become significant. When manufactured by using such mold, the surface of the molded product of the urethane foam becomes very poor.
Besides, the releasing agent migrates, although very slightly, onto the surface of the molded product of urethane foam. Even a slight amount may cause induction of an unusual noise depending on the application of the urethane foam molded product. For example, in the case of the urethane foam molded product used in an automobile seat cushion when the urethane foam molded product is contacted with a metallic frame, if the agent is left over on the molded product, an unusual noise may be caused when the molded product rubs against the metallic frame.
To solve this problem, it has been proposed to use organopolysiloxane (hereinafter called also silicone) as a releasing agent. The silicone agent is, like the conventional releasing agent, applied on the internal surface of the mold, and cured, and the urethane foam raw liquid is injected into the mold, foamed and cured.
Generally, the silicone agent hardly migrates onto the surface of the urethane foam molded product, and when the application of releasing agent is repeated, the agent is likely to accumulate on the internal surface of the mold. Accordingly, all silicone releasing agents are not always suited to the manufacture of urethane foam molded products. For example, practical prior art processes are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,244,912, 4,681,714, 4,769,204, and 4,220,727.
If a silicone releasing agent which cannot be applied uniformly on the internal surface of the mold is used, the thickness of the agent on the internal surface of the mold is uneven or a part of the agent may be locally separated from the internal surface of the mold. Therefore, every time the application of releasing agent is repeated, the agent is accumulated unevenly on the internal surface of the mold, and asperities exceeding the allowable limit may be produced shortly on the internal surface of the mold.
Still more, since the treating temperature of cold cure-type urethane foam is as low as around 60.degree. C., in the conventional silicone releasing agent, the curing was very slow and it was not suited to practical use. If the urethane foam is molded, while a part of the releasing agent is stuck uncured on the internal surface of the mold, the surface of the molded product of urethane foam is very rough, and the value as a product is lost.

Manufacturing method of urethane foam molded products


A modular construction system in which a number of three dimensional construction elements are adjoined to form a modular wall, ceiling or floor assembly. In their pre-assembly condition, each three dimensional construction element is formed from a planar metallic sheet (10) sub-divided by fold lines (12a, 12b) into panels (14, 16, 18) defining a multi-panelled sheet. Each panel lies in a common plane and at least one of the panels is deformable along its fold lines out of said common plane to form an assembled three-dimensional construction element for adjoining to other three-dimensional construction elements. At least one panel is provided with an opening (14a, 16a) dimensioned to allow the passage of a reinforcement or stabilizing material through the assembled three-dimensional construction element.

When building large structures it is beneficial to reduce labour costs and minimise build times. This is particularly relevant to the construction of nuclear power plants where such efficiencies are necessary to allow nuclear power to become a more viable and realistic alternative fuel source to fossil fuels or other low capacity alternative sources.
Nuclear power plants and other sensitive structures including nuclear waste processing and/or storage facilities are required to withstand natural events such as earthquakes and hurricane force winds, and to contain large over-pressures. This necessitates substantial reinforcement of the building structure. Known reinforcement means employ a complex and expensive assembly of layered planar steel plates braced apart by a separate internal lattice of stiffening members and/or tie bars and/or shear studs, examples of which are shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b. A highly specialised and skilled work force—which itself is expensive and difficult to source—is required to assemble those presently available solutions.
Consequently, there exists a need for a simpler, more efficient and more cost-effective means of providing structural reinforcements to the nuclear and other industries.


System, methods and apparatus are described that facilitate transmission of data between two devices. A data transfer method includes receiving first data from a first interface, the first data being received in signaling transmitted by a first device according to a first protocol, determining a mode of operation for a communication link to be used for transmitting the first data to a second device, transmitting the first data to the second device over an optical path of the communication link in a first mode of operation, transmitting the first data in accordance with the first protocol to the second device over an electrical path of the communication link in a second mode of operation, and in a third mode of operation, translating the first data to obtain second data, and transmitting the second data in accordance with a second protocol to the second device over the electrical path.

Field
At least one aspect generally relates to high-speed data communications interfaces, and more particularly, extending the range of standards-defined interfaces used for communicating between integrated circuit devices.
Background
Manufacturers of mobile devices, such as cellular phones, may obtain components of the mobile devices from various sources, including different manufacturers. For example, the application processor in a cellular phone may be obtained from a first manufacturer, while the display for the cellular phone may be obtained from a second manufacturer. Moreover, multiple standards are defined for interconnecting certain components of the mobile devices. For example, there are multiple types of interface defined for communications between an application processor and display and camera components of a mobile device. Some components employ an interface that conforms to one or more standards specified by the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance. For example, the MIPI Alliance defines protocols for a camera serial interface (CSI) and a display serial interface (DSI).
MIPI CSI-2 and MIPI DSI or DSI-2 standards define a wired interface between a camera and application processor, or an application processor and display. The low-level physical-layer (PHY) interface in each of these applications can be MIPI C-PHY or MIPI D-PHY. Optical media can be used to extend the range of the MIPI C-PHY or D-PHY physical layers. However, some interfaces require that bidirectional and/or low-power modes of operation be implemented, neither of which requirements can be met by a conventional optical interface, which is unidirectional by nature.
Accordingly an improved range-extending interface is needed.

Low-power mode signal bridge for optical media


The embodied mobile cranes have a travelling base structure that allows for travel of the crane over a surface. The cranes have a revolving superstructure mounted on the base structure and a boom and a backmast. The boom and backmast are each hinged about an associated pivot axis to horizontal the superstructure. The crane has a main load hoisting manner associated with the boom for hoisting a load. A superstructure ballast is supported on the superstructure. The cranes have a superlift ballast and associated connection manners to connect the superlift ballast to the backmast while the superlift ballast is resting on the surface and/or suspended from the backmast above the surface. The travelling base structure is provided with superlift ballast support to support the superlift ballast on the base structure so that the superlift ballast is movable along with the mobile crane while being supported by the base structure.

Mobile cranes are often employed for several lift jobs at a single construction site (for example, a chemical plant). For each job, the crane has to be moved to a new location and prepared for the new job. Typically, the crane has to be moved several tens or hundreds of meters.
A disadvantage of prior art mobile cranes relates to the practice described above, wherein the crane is moved from one location to the next. With most prior art cranes, additional cranes and transport vehicles are needed in order to move the superlift ballast to the new location. The use of additional cranes and transport vehicles is time consuming and poses additional safety hazards to personnel.
In some examples of the prior art, the superlift ballast is mounted on a separate wheeled ballast car attached to the superstructure, having steerable wheels driven by associated drive means. The problem is that this construction requires an extraordinary robust and expensive ballast car, which undesirably increases the costs of the crane. In another example, a mobile crane has a ballast car attached to the superstructure by a telescopic beam. Like the first example, this construction also has steerable wheels, resulting in an undesirable complex and costly ballast arrangement.
As another example, the Demag CC 8800 crane has a superlift ballast car (max 600 ton) attached to the base structure via a telescopic beam. This crane further has a superstructure ballast mounted on the rear end of the superstructure. For further stabilizing, the Demag CC 8800 crane uses a "central ballast" (max 100 ton) on the chassis of the base structure. This "central ballast" construction is done by providing the front and rear beam of the base structure with a centrally arranged support platform on which metal ballast plates can be stacked.
As another example of prior art, a crane is not provided with a superstructure ballast. Rather, the crane has a horizontal beam attached to the superstructure, wherein the horizontal beam carries the superlift ballast.
A need exists to provide an improved mobile crane, having provisions for handling the superlift ballast, which allows for a more efficient use of the crane at affordable costs.
The embodiments meet these needs.
The embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.


A wireless communication system includes a serving base station, a mobile station, and peripheral base stations. The mobile station communicates with the serving base station. The serving base station includes a sending unit. The sending unit in the serving base station sends, to the mobile station, a signal indicating that communication is going to be performed in cooperation with the peripheral base stations. The mobile station includes a sending unit. The sending unit in the mobile station broadcasts a predetermined request signal to the peripheral base stations in accordance with the reception of the signal. The peripheral base stations, which have received the predetermined request signal, each include a notifying unit. The notifying units individually notify the serving base station of selection information that is information on the peripheral base station that is going to communicate with the mobile station in cooperation with the serving base station.

In a wireless communication system in which communication is performed by mobile stations via base stations, in order to maintain a predetermined communication quality, there is a related technology in which a base station sends and receives a signal to and from a mobile station by cooperating with a peripheral base station that is other than the base station. In this wireless communication system, first, a mobile station receives a signal from a base station that is currently performing communication (hereinafter, referred to as a "serving base station") and a peripheral base station and then measures, from the received power, the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) thereof, which is the electrical power ratio between the serving base station and the peripheral base station. Then, based on the measurement result of the SIR, the mobile station selects a peripheral base station with which the serving base station is to cooperate. For example, when a mobile station selects a base station that has the maximum received power from among the peripheral base stations as the counterpart for cooperation, the mobile station sends a signal, to the serving base station, that requests cooperation with the selected base station. The serving base station that receives the request signal from the mobile station sends, to the selected peripheral base station, information needed for cooperation control. Consequently, a plurality of base stations cooperate with each other and thus communication is available with the mobile station.                Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-154262        Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-239417        Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-239303        Patent Document 4: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-225137
However, with the technology described above, because the cooperation control is led by a mobile station functioning as a terminal, there is, for example, the following problem. Even after the serving base station completes the scheduling of a mobile station accommodated in the serving base station's own cell, the serving base station, due to the occurrence of a cooperation request from the mobile station, needs to re-schedule by taking into consideration the effect on other mobile stations accommodated in the serving base station's own cell. Furthermore, when the peripheral base station is selected as the target for cooperation, because an additional request other than the scheduling to be performed for the selected peripheral base station occurs, there may sometimes be a case in which it is not possible to accurately obtain the channel quality or propagation loss in the uplink direction that is needed for the scheduling. In such a case, the mobile station is not able to accurately predict communication quality with each peripheral base station. Consequently, the mobile station may possibly select a peripheral base station that is not suitable for cooperation as the counterpart for cooperation with the serving base station. This prevents high-quality communication between the mobile station and the plurality of base stations.

Wireless communication system, mobile station, base station, and communication method


Thin automobile components, such as a transmission case made of an aluminum alloy, are provided which are less likely to create vibration-derived noise. An aluminum alloy member, with an insert provided therein, possessing improved damping capacity, comprising: an austempered graphite cast iron member inserted into an aluminum alloy with the thickness of a section constituting a product being not more than 6 mm. A process for producing an aluminum alloy member, with an insert provided therein, wherein cooling is performed so as for the temperature of a graphite cast iron material to reach 400.degree. C. or below within 10 sec after pouring of an aluminum alloy. The graphite cast iron material comprises by weight 2.5 to 4.0% of carbon, 2.0 to 3.5% of silicon, 0.1 to 0.8% of manganese, and at least one member selected from the group consisting of 0.1 to 2.0% of copper, 0.1 to 2.0% of nickel, and 0.05 to 0.5% of molybdenum with the balance consisting of iron and unavoidable impurities. The aluminum alloy comprises by weight 2.0 to 4.0% of copper, 7 to 12% of silicon, and not more than 0.3% of magnesium with the balance consisting of aluminum and unavoidable impurities.

In recent years, an attempt to reduce the weight of automobiles has been carried forward from the viewpoints of resource saving and energy saving. In order to reduce the weight of automobiles, a change in structure and a change in materials for various components constituting automobiles have been enthusiastically performed in the art. In particular, a change in the material from iron having high specific gravity to a light alloy, such as an aluminum alloy, has been performed because the reduction in weight can be simply achieved.
Components for which the material is changed from iron to the aluminum alloy range from engine components occupying about 20% of the weight of the vehicle to drive system components and suspension system components. For example, the transmission case has hitherto been made of iron. However, use of a light alloy for forming the transmission case has been studied for the above reason. The transmission case covers the outside of a transmission portion having a number of gears which serve to transmit the output from an engine to a drive shaft and change number of revolutions. A rear cover requires a bearing-holding hole for supporting the drive shaft and is formed in a small thickness because the mechanical strength of the body is not required to be very high.
An increase in performance and grade of automobiles in recent years has led to an ever-increasing demand for a reduction in vibration and noise level. In this case, the preparation of a transmission case containing a number of gears, which are rotated at a high speed, and a rear cover for the transmission case using an aluminum alloy poses a problem of noise derived from vibration. Specifically, in the case of the conventional transmission case made of iron, the above problem is not very serious because the damping capacity of the material per se is high, whereas use of the aluminum alloy instead of iron poses the above problem due to low damping capacity of the material per se (aluminum alloy).

Aluminum alloy member, with insert provided therein, possessing improved damping capacity and process for producing the same