An apparatus and method which can achieve high-speed data processing and long memory life and is effective to elimination of defragmentation of data, for example, is provided. A recording medium includes a logical-physical conversion table for storing correspondence of a logical address to a physical address of a block in a recording region. The recording medium has a function of replacing correspondence of a logical address to a physical address in the logical-physical conversion table, for a set of logical addresses. A data processing apparatus issues a replace command to the recording medium so that data can be rearranged on a consecutive region in the logical address space, thereby eliminating defragmentaion on the logical address space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording medium for storing digital data, and a data processing apparatus and data processing method for moving and processing the data stored in the information recording medium.
2. Related Art
As recording media capable of reading and writing digital data, recently, various semiconductor memories are developed and used, such as SD Memory Card (registered trademark), Memory Stick (registered trademark), and CompactFlash (registered trademark).
Data processing apparatuss for processing data by using these semiconductor memories are widely used in electronic products such as personal computers, audio appliances, video appliances, mobile telephones and digital cameras.
Data stored in semiconductor memory is often managed in file format to specify address and size by using a file system. For example, the SD memory card (registered trademark) is managed by FAT (file allocation table) file system.
In such a case, by repeating writing of files and erasing of files of different sizes many times in the semiconductor memory, the management information of the FAT file system is fragmented. That is, files storing data and vacant regions are present in discrete state in the logical address space. Since the management information is complicated by fragmentation, various problems are caused, such as increase of overhead of file reading, and increase of search time of vacant region for file writing. Some of the semiconductor memories are advanced in speed of write process by writing data in a specific size, but if fragmented, vacant capacity of specific size cannot be assured, and the write process may slow down.
For example, complication of management information by fragmentation causes to lower the processing speed in the following sequence. A data processing apparatus for writing and reading data in a semiconductor memory reads out the information (for example, link information) about the file system of the semiconductor memory to use it on the RAM. Usually, due to limitation of RAM capacity, the data processing apparatus does not load all information of the file system on the RAM, but loads only part of the information of the file system to use it on the RAM. If the information necessary for data access is not present on the RAM, the portion including the necessary information is loaded again. Hence, if the degree of fragmentation is high in the logical address space, when tracing the link information loaded on the RAM, partial information of the file system must be loaded again and again on the RAM, and the processing speed is lowered.
As a method of eliminating such fragmentation, a defragmentation process is proposed for relocating the data so that the data may be disposed in consecutive recording regions (see, for example, patent document 1). In defragmentation process, data of files and vacant regions discrete in the address space are rearranged to be disposed in consecutive regions, and generally it takes a long time in the moving process of data in a physical address space. Besides, the semiconductor memory is generally limited in the number of times of reading and writing, and thus the data relocating process by defragmentation causes to shorten the service life of the semiconductor memory.
Accordingly, a method of starting defragmentation process at an adequate timing (see, for example, patent document 2), and a method of defragmenting the semiconductor memory less frequently (see, for example, patent document 3) have been proposed.
Patent document 1: JP, 2000-305818, A
Patent document 2: JP, 08-339318, A
Patent document 3: JP, 2000-322307, A
In the methods of patent documents 2 and 3, when executing the defragmentation process, the data is actually moved to relocate in the physical address space of recording regions of the semiconductor memory. Thus it still takes a substantial time in defragmentation process, and the life of the semiconductor memory may be shortened.

File system defragmentation and data processing method and apparatus for an information recording medium

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


It concerns the invention of a pressure vessel (VP) which can be assembled from individual parts, and basically comprises: a plurality of wall modules (MP), at least one connection module (MC) for pipes or sensors, and closing modules (MF) that can be chosen from: have equal configuration and have different configurations. All of the modules have bores (105) distributed radially on their flat surfaces (101) and these bores (105) are distributed between a hollow drill (1051) with a seat (1151) and a torque screw bored (1052) (106) inserted therein attach a module to another adjacent module, with a sealing ring (104) therebetween.

The industry transforms raw material into compounds that will ultimately be consumed. To do so, this raw material undergoes a series of transformations, the result of one or more processings and are finally stocked until its use.
Various processes as well as end products are carried out under pressure, which may be higher or lower than atmospheric pressure.
In order for these products to be stocked or processed, closed containers with sufficient strength are used to withstand the pressures submitted to their body. In the same way, this container often also has to withstand different temperatures than the environment.
Such containers are commonly referred to as pressure vessels and generally designate all equipment in the form of watertight containers of any type, size, shape or purpose which are capable of containing pressurized fluids. Depending on the design, such vessels may operate from vacuum to pressures above 3000 kg/cm2, as well as temperatures ranging from absolute zero to greater than 1000° C.
One of the procedures for constructing a pressure vessel is calendering. In this procedure an equipment known as calender is used, which is constituted by a set of rollers or cylinders, which work with a rotating movement and a pressure that can be regulated. Bending is accomplished by passing the material, usually a sheet between the rollers or rollers which rotate and press until the bending is within the desired design specifications. The curving of thin plates can be done in the cold, however, for plates considered of great thickness, the hot bending facilitates the obtaining of a final result, in this case of application, generally a cylinder. Forging, machining and welding are also employed. In any case, the conformation processing has as a characteristic the preservation of the integrity of the materials.
A large part of the pressure vessels is constructed in this way: a plate of a certain thickness, curved to form a cylinder, which is closed by the union of the ends of the curved plate, usually by resistant welds. Depending on the pressure requirement, the cylinder wall needs to be reinforced by means of external elements. One such means may be a system of cables wound around a central steel cylinder. Such cables may be, for example, carbon fiber which has the characteristic of being light but very complex to manufacture. Others may be wound on a composite element, metals, ceramics or polymers, depending on the application and taking into account that this coating will also undergo a portion of the pressure load contained within the vessel.
Increasingly with the expansion of the industry, pressure vessels need to be larger as well. The calendering industry for this type of requirement is rare and the transportation and logistics for this type of piece of equipment is very complicated, expensive and takes a long time to be made and transported to its destination.
The pressure vessels also had to provide means for ensuring integrity for both the core and the coatings. Long screws were used to maintain the union, positioning and integrity of the seals between elements. Gradually the sizing and the demand of higher and higher pressures became a limiting factor. Examples of prior art documents illustrating the types of pressure vessels discussed so far are:                GB 1157394A—In this document the design principle is based on the elimination of the hoop stress in the thick wall thickness, and replacing it with a design that gives a uniform tension tension along its thickness. This construction consists of dividing the coating cylinder circumferentially into a series of short bonds. It is much more like a brick wall, with the overlapped bricks held together by connecting pins. The lengths of the connecting pins of the cylinder pass through the holes of the connections. The effect is a multi-sided polygon with a uniform voltage distribution across the thickness of the polygon bonding members. An inner liner or thin sealing membrane may be employed to prevent leakage of the fluid. The width of the segments and the diameter of the pivot pins are based (projected) on the shear, tensile and load resistance properties of the materials used, as well as the design of the bolted or riveted joints. As for closing the heads of this vessel it is necessary that the pivot pins are also used to fix the closing flange of the cylinder and, under this condition, they also receive the longitudinal tension;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,327 A—This patent is similar to patent GB1157394A, and still uses the filament winding system, also known to those skilled in the art, by the English term "Filament Winding", to pre-strain the vessel wall and thereby generate a structure already with a compression tension, that will be used to counterbalance the internal pressure of the pressure vessel. Filament winding is a manufacturing technique used primarily for the manufacture of uncovered cylinders or closed end structures (pressure vessels or tanks). The process involves winding filaments under tension along a rotating mandrel.
The technique still resists a way of constructing pressure vessels which have flexibility of adaptation according to the design requirements, absence of welds, dispense the calendering process, support high pressures, are simpler to manufacture, with cost and without the need for large logistics to transport to the place where it will be installed.

ATIVATEC TECNOLOGIA E DESENVOLVIMENTO LTDA—EPP


A light emitting diode (LED) lighting fixture for achieving a desired illumination pattern includes a support plate and a plurality of panels connected to the support plate. Each panel has an array of LEDs mounted to a planar surface thereof, and each of the panels is rotatable in at least two dimensions.

1. Field
Example embodiments of the present invention in general relate to a light emitting diode (LED) lighting fixture.
2. Description of the Related Art
LEDs are widely used in consumer lighting applications. In consumer applications, one or more LED dies (or chips) are mounted within a LED package or on an LED module, which may make up part of a LED lighting fixture which includes one or more power supplies to power the LEDs. Various implementations of the LED lighting fixtures are available in the marketplace to fill a wide range of applications, such as area lighting (roadway and/or parking lot illumination) indoor lighting, backlighting for consumer electronics, etc.
Conventional area lighting such as roadway lights uses high pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs which provide omni-directional light. Reflectors are used to direct some of this light, but much of the light is lost illuminating unintended spaces. For example with HPS bulbs, the typical lumen amount will be in the tens of thousands of lumens, but all of that output does not illuminate the intended area, such as a roadway area for example.
LEDs offer improved light efficiency, a longer lifetime, lower energy consumption and reduced maintenance costs, as compared to HPS light sources. Conventional HPS bulbs are susceptible to maintenance loss and surface, dirt and other losses. Conventionally, area lighting fixtures used for roadway illumination are attached on poles and include omni-directional HPS bulbs with reflectors to illuminate the roadway in different patterns based on different situations.
FIGS. 1A to 1G show types of roadway illumination. As shown in FIGS. 1A to 1G, there are five primary types of roadway illumination. The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) is the recognized technical authority on illumination and puts out specifications for the five primary types of roadway illumination.
Type I illumination is a direct illumination in two directions along the direction of the roadway (if the road is a single road) and/or in a straight directional pattern at a cross section as shown in FIG. 1B. FIG. 1C illustrates a Type II pattern and shows a lighting fixture which directs light at an angle to normal in either two directions, or in four directions as shown in FIG. 1D.
Type III illumination in FIG. 1E shows a different angled illumination from normal as compared to Type II in FIG. 1C, where the angle of illumination from normal is narrower to reflect a smaller coverage area. Type IV illumination (FIG. 1F) has an even narrower angle of illumination from normal to create a different, smaller illumination area than either Type II or Type III. The omni-directional lighting pattern across the entire intersection which characterizes Type V illumination is shown in FIG. 1G.
Conventional HPS lighting fixtures must be replaced with a completely different fixture to change the lighting pattern at a given location. In order to change the shape and brightness of light output from a given HPS fixture, there is no way to adjust the pattern other than replacing the entire fixture. Similarly for LED lighting fixtures mounted on poles for area lighting applications, to change the shape and brightness, the entire fixture typically must be replaced.


A phase locked loop (PLL) system for mitigating non-linear phase errors stemming from time-variant integral non-linearity of the LO feedback phase quantizer (TDC) is disclosed. The system includes a phase modulation circuit which is configured to generate a plurality of phase shifts for a reference signal; select a phase shift of the plurality of phase shifts and introduce the selected phase shift into the reference signal, thereby modulating the phase difference between the feedback and the reference signal. Alternatively, the above phase modulation can be applied on the feedback signal path, attaining equivalent results. TDC is configured to quantize the phase of the LO feedback signal relative to the shifted reference signal to generate a phase detection signal, effectively modulating the non-linearity contributed error away from the LO center frequency. The phase detection signal is then digitally compensated for the intentional fractional frequency shift to allow the PLL to generate LO signal the desired frequency.

Wireless communications continually increase in speed and throughput. The more throughput, the more that devices that utilize wireless communications can do.
One limitation to the speeds and throughput is the presence of noise. The noise can cause retransmissions, erroneous communications, unreliable communications and the like.
Techniques to reduce the noise present in wireless communications are needed.

Systems and methods for mitigation of nonlinearity related phase noise degradations


Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, by a load balancer, a plurality of metric values from a plurality of servers; calculating an average metric value based on the plurality of metric values; calculating a first error value based on the average metric value and a first metric value of the plurality of metric values; generating a first integral value by incorporating the first error value into a first previous integral value; and generating a first preference value for a first server of the plurality of servers based on the first integral value.

Many client-server applications, including cloud-based applications, utilize one or more up-front load balancers to distribute incoming work requests among multiple application servers. The goal of such load balancers is generally to achieve balanced server utilization while minimizing server overload. To this end, load balancers generally receive work requests, select appropriate servers for processing the work requests according to some selection method, and forward the work requests to the selected servers.


A regenerative brake device for a vehicle includes a manual brake configured to apply a brake to a wheel of the vehicle by a manual operation of a brake lever; a motor configured to be coupled to a wheel of the vehicle, the motor being driven by a power from a battery, and also alternatively acting as a regenerative brake that charges the battery with an electromotive force of the motor; a brake sensor that detects a manual brake application point at which the manual brake is actuated from an operation amount of the brake lever; and a power control unit that performs regenerative power control for charging the battery with the electromotive force of the motor based on an output signal from the brake sensor so that the regenerative brake is generated in accordance with the operation amount of the brake lever.

Recently, from ecological and health standpoints, a bicycle equipped with an electric assist is drawing attention among those who have been using cars for transportation. Electric vehicles utilizing electric assisting power such as the electric assist bicycle and the like are provided with a torque sensor that detects human power, which is a force applied to pedals, and are configured to control the electric assisting power in accordance with the detection signal as exemplified in Patent Document 1 below.
Such vehicles equipped with the electric assist need to be able to travel a longer distance with a single charge of a battery that is provided therein. In view of this point, as shown in Patent Document 2 below, a technique of using a motor as a generator during deceleration such as braking so as to recoup energy, i.e., energy regeneration, and charging the battery with the energy has been disclosed.

Regenerative brake device and motor-assisted vehicle provided with the same


A packaging box for liquid crystal display (LCD) panel components includes a body. A sidewall of the body is configured with a neck. The packaging box further includes clamping pieces. Each of the clamping pieces comprises a first arm, a second arm, and a connecting structure that connects the first area to the second arm. The first arm is inserted into the neck. The second arm is inserted into a gap formed by separation of the LCD panel and the circuit board by a flexible circuit board. The LCD panel is in a completely fixed position in a horizontal direction.

Electronic products have various characteristics such as being complex, having a high value, and are updated often. Complicated supply relationships exist among manufacturers. For a typical production and marketing of the electronic products, production of parts, and an assembly of finished products and semi-finished products, are almost always conducted in different places and done by different manufacturers. Thus, the parts and the semi-finished products of the electronic products have to be transported among the manufacturers.
Taking a liquid crystal display (LCD) industry as an example, as shown in FIG. 1, the LCD panel components 1 includes an LCD panel 11, a circuit board 12, and a flexible circuit board 13 connected to the LCD panel 11 and to the circuit board (printed circuit board (PCB)) 12. The flexible circuit board 13 separates the LCD panel 11 from the circuit board 12 by a gap 14. In the prior art, the LCD components are generally horizontally placed in a packaging box made of polypropylene plastic foam (EPP) during transportation. Generally, a length of the circuit board is less than a length of the LCD panel. Thus, a body of the packaging box has a fixed position and uses buffers on four sidewalls of the LCD panel. However, when the length of the circuit board is close to the length of the LCD panel, only three sidewalls of the box comprise the buffer to protect only three sidewalls of the LCD panel, which may not protect the flexible circuit board if the flexible circuit board is arranged on the sidewall of the box without the buffer. When the box is vibrated, the circuit board is easy to be displaced and may pull off the flexible circuit board, resulting in damage to circuits of the flexible circuit board. In addition, as the flexible circuit board is a film, the circuit board may enter into a gap between two LCD panels due to the vibration, causing a glass panel of the LCD panel to break.

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD


Method for modulating an RF signal includes the steps of modulating an RF signal using frequency shift keying (FSK) modulation to define a plurality of symbols (2030, 2031). The FSK modulation includes transitioning the modulated signal (204) between at least two different frequencies (f1 and f0) during a guard period (210). The method includes the further step of varying a frequency of the modulated signal 204 during the guard period (210) in accordance with a predetermined rate of change. The predetermined rate of change is selected to minimize a bandwidth of the RF signal.

1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate to radio frequency modulation techniques, and more particularly to an improvement in frequency shift keying (FSK).
2. Description of the Related Art
Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a conventional method for modulating an RF signal, FSK is a special type of frequency modulation which uses a baseband modulation signal to selectively vary a transmitted signal between two or more predetermined instantaneous frequency values. One common arrangement uses just two predetermined instantaneous frequencies. In such systems, it is common to refer to one frequency as the mark frequency and to a second frequency as the space frequency.
In some conventional types of FSK, there can be a phase discontinuity that occurs when the FSK modulated RF signal transitions from a sinusoidal waveform with one frequency value to a sinusoidal waveform with a second frequency value. Such a phase discontinuity can have several negative aspects. For example, such phase discontinuities can cause amplifier distortion and can result in the presence of wideband components in the modulated RF signal. In order to avoid such problems, it is known in the art that phase discontinuity in an FSK signal can be eliminated by using a technique known as continuous-phase frequency-shift keying (CPFSK). As the name implies, an RF signal that is modulated using CPFSK excludes any abrupt change in the phase angle.
Notwithstanding the continuous phase aspect of CPFSK signals, the frequency of the modulated signal can vary instantaneously when the modulated RF signal transitions from a sinusoidal waveform with one frequency value to a sinusoidal waveform with a second frequency value. Such an instantaneous frequency discontinuity can have several negative aspects. For example, such frequency discontinuities can increase the bandwidth of the transmitted signal, but not to the extent that the phase discontinuities would in the case of a non CPFSK modulator.
When FSK is received in a multi-path rich environment, a guard period is usually employed where the initial N samples of the transmitted signal are discarded in the reception process. The purpose in doing so is to avoid the use of samples that may have been corrupted by multi-path transmission of the previous symbol which may have been sent at a different frequency. The actual guard period can vary in different system designs, depending on various design considerations. For example a guard period may consist of 25% of the total time during which a particular symbol is transmitted. The guard period will typically begin when the transmitted signal transitions from one frequency to a second frequency.

Continuously variable phase frequency shift keying


To provide: a charge control agent having negative chargeability, which contributes to environmental conservation and the like to an increased degree, has high performance (high charge amount, quick rise-up of charge, excellent stability with time, and high environmental stability), and has improved dispersibility; a toner for developing an electrostatic charge image containing the charge control agent; and an image forming method and an image forming apparatus each using the toner for developing an electrostatic charge image. A charge control agent for controlling a charged state of powder, characterized by including one or more units each represented by the following chemical formula (1) in a molecule.

In recent years, biodegradable polymer materials have been finding a wide variety of applications including medical materials, drug delivery systems, and environmentally compatible materials. In recent years, in addition to those applications, the biodegradable polymer materials have been requested to provide new functions, and hence various studies have been made.
In particular, the introduction of a chemically modifiable functional group into a molecule of a polyhydroxyalkanoate typified by polylactic acid has been examined. For example, there has been reported a compound into which a carboxyl group or a vinyl group is introduced. For example, polymalic acid has been known as a polyhydroxyalkanoate having a carboxyl group at a side chain thereof. An α-type represented by the chemical formula (14) and a β-type represented by the chemical formula (15) have been known as structures of monomer units for a polymer of polymalic acid.

Of those, a polymer obtained by ring-opening polymerization of a benzyl ester of β-malolactone represented by the chemical formula (16) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,247 as β-type polymalic acid or a copolymer thereof.
(In the formula R16 represents a benzyl group.)
In addition, a polymer obtained by copolymerization of a six-membered ring diester monomer and a glicolide or lactide as a cyclic diester or a lactone as an intramolecular ring closure reaction ester of ω-hydroxycarboxylic acid represented by the chemical formula (17) is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H02-3415 as a copolymer containing any one of other hydroxyalkanoic acids typified by α-type polymalic acid-glycolic acid copolymer and glycolic acid.
(In the formula, R17 represents a lower alkyl group such as a methyl group, an ethyl group, an n-propyl group, an isopropyl group, or a t-butyl group, or a benzyl group.)
"Macromolecules" 2000, vol. 33, No. 13, p. 4619 discloses that 7-oxo-4-oxepancarboxylate is subjected to ring-opening polymerization to produce a polymer having an ester group at a side chain thereof, and the polymer is further subjected to hydrogenolysis to produce a polymer having a carboxylic acid at a side chain thereof as a polyhydroxyalkanoate having a carboxyl group at a side chain thereof. "Biomacromolecules" 2000, vol. 1, p. 275 discloses a polymer in which a benzyloxycarbonyl group is introduced into a methylene group at position α of a carbonyl group in the main chain of poly(ε-caprolactone), the polymer being obtained by: allowing lithium diisopropylamide to react with poly(ε-caprolactone); and allowing the resultant to react with benzyl chloroformate.
"Macromolecular Bioscience" 2004, vol. 4, p. 232 discloses a polymer in which a (benzyloxycarbonyl)methyl group is introduced into a methylene group at position α of a carbonyl group in the main chain of polylactic acid, the polymer being obtained by: allowing lithium diisopropylamide to react with polylactic acid; and allowing the resultant to react with benzyl bromoacetate.
"Polymeric Materials Science & Engineering" 2002, vol. 87, p. 254 discloses, as a polyhydroxyalkanoate having a vinyl group at a side chain thereof, a polymer obtained by ring-opening polymerization of α-allyl(δ-valerolactone).
Similarly, "Polymer Preprints" 2002, vol. 43, No. 2, p. 727 discloses, as a polyhydroxyalkanoate having a vinyl group at a side chain thereof, a polymer obtained by ring-opening polymerization of 3,6-diallyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione as a six-membered ring diester monomer.
There has been reported a polymer having a new function into which a structure providing functionality for a polyhydroxyalkanoate into which a chemically modifiable functional group is introduced as described above is introduced. "International Journal of Biological Macromolecules" 1999, vol. 25, p. 265 discloses the following. A copolymer of α-type malic acid and glycolic acid is obtained by ring-opening polymerization of a cyclic dimer of α-type malic acid and glycolic acid, and the resultant polymer is deprotected to obtain a polyester having a carboxyl group at a side chain thereof. Tripeptide is chemically modified to the carboxyl group at the side chain, and the resultant polymer is evaluated for cell adhesive property. At this time, a good result is obtained.
A large number of electrophotographic methods have been known. A general method involves: utilizing a photoconductive substance to form an electrical latent image on an image-bearing member (photosensitive member) by using various means; developing the latent image with toner to form a visible image; transferring the toner image onto an image-receiving material such as paper as required; and fixing the toner image onto the image-receiving material under heating and/or pressure or the like to provide a copy. Cascade development, magnetic brush development, impression development, or the like has been known as a method of visualizing an electrical latent image. A method involving: using magnetic toner and a rotation developing sleeve having a magnetic pole at its center; and allowing the magnetic toner to fly from a place on the developing sleeve to a place on a photosensitive member in a magnetic field has also been used.
Development methods used for developing an electrostatic latent image are classified into: a two-component development method involving the use of a two-component developer composed of toner and a carrier; and a one-component development method involving the use of a one-component developer composed only of toner and using no carrier. Here, a colored fine particle generally referred to as toner contains a binder resin and a colorant as essential ingredients, and further contains a charge control agent, magnetic powder, or the like as required.
A method of applying charge to toner may involve the utilization of the charging property of a binder resin itself without the use of a charge control agent. However, in this case, stability of charge with time and humidity resistance are poor, and hence it is difficult to obtain a good image. Therefore, a charge control agent is typically added for maintaining charge of toner and for controlling the charge.
Examples of a charge control agent conventionally known in the art include: charge control agents each having negative frictional charging property such as azo dye metal complexes, metal complexes of aromatic dicarboxylic acids, and metal complexes of salicylic acid derivatives; and positive charge control agents such as nigrosin-based dyes, triphenylmethane-based dyes, various quaternary ammonium salts, and organic tin compounds such as dibutyltin oxide. However, toner containing any one of those charge control agents may not sufficiently satisfy quality properties required for the toner such as chargeability and stability with time depending on the composition of the toner.
For example, toner containing an azo dye metal complex known as a negative charge control agent has a certain level of charge amount, but may be poor in dispersibility depending on the kind of a binder resin to be combined because the azo dye metal complex is a low-molecular crystal. In this case, the negative charge control agent is not evenly distributed in the binder resin, and the charge amount distribution of the resultant toner is extremely devoid of sharpness. Accordingly, an image to be obtained has low gradation and is poor in image formation ability. Furthermore, at present, an azo dye metal complex has been used only for toner having a limited hue, which is mainly black, because the azo dye metal complex has an inherent tone. When the azo dye metal complex is used for color toner, there arises a large problem in that the visibility of a colorant necessary for obtaining an image having a tone capable of coping with a severe demand is low.
Examples of a negative charge control agent which is nearly colorless include metal complexes of aromatic dicarboxylic acids. However, dispersibility may be low because a metal complex of an aromatic dicarboxylic acid is not completely colorless and is a low-molecular crystal.
On the other hand, at present, a nigrosin-based dye or a triphenylmethane-based dye known as a positive charge control agent has been used only for toner having a limited hue, which is mainly black, because the dye itself is colored. In addition, the stability of toner with time against continuous copying may not be good. In addition, a conventional quaternary ammonium salt may provide insufficient moisture resistance when it is turned into toner. In this case, stability with time is poor, and repeated use may not provide a good image.
In recent years, a reduction in waste and an increase in safety of waste have been globally perceived as problems from the viewpoint of environmental conservation. Such problems also occur in the field of electrophotography. In other words, as imaging apparatuses have become widespread, waste amounts of printed paper, waste toner that has been already used, and copying paper have increased year by year, and the safety of such waste is an important problem in terms of protection of the global environment.
In view of such a point, polymer-based charge control agents have been examined. Compounds described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,480,021, 4,442,189 and 4,925,765 are examples of such charge control agents. Furthermore, a copolymer of: styrene and/or α-methylstyrene; and an alkyl (meth)acrylate or alkyl (meth)acrylate amide having a sulfonic group is generally used as a polymer charge control agent for causing toner to exert negative chargeability. Such a material is advantageous in that it is colorless, but must be added in a large amount in order to obtain a target charge amount.
As described above, each of those compounds does not have sufficient performance as a charge control agent, and is problematic in terms of, for example, charge amount, rise-up property of charge, stability with time, and environmental safety. In addition, when not only a function but also influences on a human body and the environment are taken into consideration, a charge control agent capable of realizing: synthesis using a safer compound; a safer and more moderate synthesis process; a reduction in amount of an organic solvent to be used; and the like has been strongly demanded. However, such a charge control agent and a synthesis process for the charge control agent have not been reported yet, and a function of a charge control agent, contribution of the charge control agent to environmental conservation, and the like are susceptible to further improvement.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Charge control agent, toner, image forming method, and image forming apparatus


An interactive television (ITV) system transmitting ITV content created and received by different ITV platforms via a single ITV stream. The system provides universal time codes which are embedded into the ITV stream. Each time code is associated with a program identifier which uniquely identifies a particular program. An ITV receiver receives the ITV stream and compares the program identifier and time code with a program held in the receiver's memory. When a match is found, an interactive event indicated by the program is executed. The program may be loaded into the receiver's memory using a back channel.

Interactive television (ITV) combines conventional television with additional interactive content to present a viewer with an enhanced version of a television program or commercial. Typically, the interactive content is in some way related to the television program being viewed, such as biographical information about one of the actors in the program, additional information about a topic covered in the program, and the like. If the television program is a game show, the interactive content often allows the viewer to play along with the game. For example, a viewer may answer the same questions as the contestants on the game show.
In order to allow a viewer to experience an enhanced television program, a broadcaster encodes a television program with ITV data and broadcasts the encoded television program to the viewers. The ITV data may take many forms, such as, for example, HTML, XML, JAVA, or JAVA Script commands. If the receiving viewer's television system is equipped with an ITV receiver, the ITV receiver may decode the embedded ITV data for accessing the associated interactive content or performing an action indicated by the command.
A problem that often arises in providing an ITV program is that there may be different, dissimilar types of ITV receivers receiving the ITV program. For example, one ITV receiver may be configured with an HTML based platform while another receiver may be configured with a JAVA based platform. Similarly, there may be more than one organization responsible for developing the interactive content. Each organization may develop the interactive content using a different ITV platform. Consequently, the unique ITV data generated by one organization using one type of platform may be different, and unusable, by a receiver configured to receive and decode ITV data generated by a different organization using a different type of platform.
One approach in solving the above problem is to generate and transmit, for a particular television program, a separate ITV stream for each type of ITV platform. Each ITV stream would therefore be tailored to a particular receiver's needs. Transmitting multiple content streams, however, is laborious and results in an inefficient use of bandwidth.
Accordingly, what is desired is a system and method for transmitting ITV content created and received by different ITV platforms without having to generate and deliver content streams catered to each individual platform.

Interactive television with embedded universal time codes


The invention belongs to the field of biomedical research involving the 1,3,4-selenyldiazo derivatives that have cell protective activity. Because there are not so many heterocyclic selenium compounds, we synthesized a new type of selenium analog of BPTES. As the isoacceptor of BPTES, the compounds have antitumor activity, anti-oxidation and cell protection function. Currently many drugs contain the thiodiazo motif, so synthesis of selenyldiazo functional group could further optimize these drugs and are important in new drug development and application.

The selenium-containing heterocycle has the efficacy of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antitumor activity. The anti-tumor mechanism of selenium compounds generally includes the following aspects: with cytotoxic effect, scavenging free radicals, blocking the transmission of information of proliferation and division in cancer cells, inducing apoptosis, regulating immune function, inhibiting angiogenesis and changing the process of metabolism of certain carcinogens.
Selenium compounds include selenium-containing heterocycle, diselenide, selenide, selenium cyanide, methyl selenium acid, selenium-containing amino acids (protein), selenium sugar, etc. Selenium-containing heterocyclic compounds are a big group of organic selenium compounds, whose potential pharmacological activities have attracted more and more attention. For example, Ebselen is a kind of small-molecule compound, which most successfully imitated the glutathione peroxidase, has now entered the phase III of clinical study. Selenium cyanide is a class of selenium compounds, and the earliest selenium cyanide was 4-phenylenebi(methylene)selenocyanoate (P-XSC). Selenazole furan has a significant inhibitory effect on the H1210 leukemia of mice and it has also entered the phase I of clinical study. These organic selenium compounds aforesaid have been known to professional researchers and some effects have been obtained in clinical application, however, further improvement is required in anti-oxidation and protection of cell growth.
In view of this, other researchers have developed a kind of 1,2,5-selenadiazole compounds, which showed a great inhibitory effect on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells with both preferable stability and good consequence on cell growth. The comparison experiment showed selenium compounds had lower toxicity to the body weight, liver and kidney of mice, meanwhile, but the poisonousness of selenium on cancer cells was preserved. Therefore, this kind of selenium compounds has better prospects for clinical application.

Composition of 1,3,4-selenadiazole containing compounds with pharmacological activity


A device for use in surgical procedures involving arthroplasty, the device including a bearing member at least partially receivable within a bone engaging member and a liner positioned at least partially between said bearing member and said bone engaging member.

The inclusion of the following description of the prior art is not an admission that the prior art is part of the common general knowledge in Australia.
It is well known to use prosthetic joint replacements in patients with various kinds of disorders affecting the joints, including degenerative disorders, such as severe osteoarthritis.
Over the years, a vast array of materials have been developed and utilised in the construction and manufacture of such prostheses. This is partly because the knowledge base regarding materials, and relevantly biocompatible materials, has been growing. It is also because, despite technological advances, there are a continuing number of complications associated with joint replacement prostheses with which surgeons and patients must grapple. As a result, surgeons and other inventors in the field have had, and are still challenged with, an ongoing quest to improve on the ease of insertion of the prostheses, to reduce the incidence of long and short term complications associated with using them, and to improve on the longevity of both the bio-prosthetic interface and the prostheses themselves.
Since the present invention refers specifically to a socket portion of a joint replacement assembly, and particularly refers to an acetabular component of a total hip replacement assembly, it is the latter which the following discussion briefly addresses.
The hip joint is comprised of the head of the femur articulating with the acetabulum. The acetabulum is generally cotyloidal in shape, and is often referred to as a "cup".
One of the first designs for the acetabular component of the hip joint, which was developed around 1960, was a hemisphere of metal internally lined with a plastics hemisphere, with the latter acting as the articulation surface. The metal was cemented into the bone and the liner was either pressed into the metal cup during the arthroplasty procedure, or was incorporated into the prosthesis during manufacture. In some later designs, the preferred method of securing the prosthesis was to screw it to the bone. However, while providing good fixation, screws have been found to lead to serious complications in the hip and are now not well regarded. Consequently, some of the more recent developments in acetabular prostheses have focused on new designs for their bone contacting surfaces. For example, some acetabular prostheses have been manufactured with a self-cutting thread on their bone contacting surface, while others have relied on press fitting along with cement, or a combination of surface roughening and hydroxyapatite.
In addition to considerable variation in the designs of the outer, or bone contacting, surfaces of acetabular prostheses, however, much research has been done in order to provide improved means of engaging the head of the femur (or prosthesis thereof). Forte (U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,853), for example, describes a particular construction for the inner aspect of the acetabular prosthesis which is particularly well adapted to receive and engage a corresponding prosthetic head of a femur.
Nevertheless, while prosthetic hip joint replacements have been shown to be incredibly beneficial for patients who require them, there are still a number of problems associated with their insertion for which further developments in the method and apparatus would be advantageous. The present invention is, most specifically, aimed at improving the bone contacting surface of acetabular prostheses, and therefore addresses many of the problems raised above.

Acetabular component of total hip replacement assembly

Advanced Surgical Design & Manufacture Ltd.


An electronic device having a cover with a selected configuration, and an accessory electrically connectable to a main part. The main part has duplicate electrical connectors for use with different covers having different external configurations. The accessory makes electrical connection via a connector which is part of the cover, or is formed by pins protruding through the cover.

The invention relates to a device showing various aspects, which device is formed by a main body and a shielding body, cover of panel having a particular one of these different aspects, or configurations and on which is placed at least one accessory that can be connected to at least one contact provided on the main body.
Such a device finds applications in the field of industrialization of products which have the same function or a similar function. One often wishes these product to show different external configurations either for commercial reasons or for reasons of adaptation. For example, a telephone set may have its handset on the left or on the right, without this resulting in too high manufacturing costs.

Device having a base part, and a cover selected for external configuration


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for rendering zebra stripes on a three dimensional (3D) object. In one aspect, a method includes rendering an image of an object from the perspective of a camera For each pixel of a plurality of pixels of the image, a point on the surface of the object corresponding to the pixel is determined. An angle between a surface normal at the point and a line between the point and the light source is determined. A zebra light color for the pixel is determined using a stripe function and the angle, the stripe function specifying alternating high and low intensities for various angles. A blended pixel color for the pixel is determined by blending a material color for the point with the zebra light color.

This specification relates to three dimensional modeling on computers.
Zebra stripes are one way for designers to analyze the curvature and curvature flow of a three dimensional (3D) model. In conventional graphics systems, zebra strips are generated by application of a black and white striped environment map to the rendering process. By observing how the stripes bend as they cross an edge, a designer can determine whether the edge is a sharp edge or a smooth edge. A designer can observe stripes at a tangent edge, and if the stripes line up, the designer can confirm that the tangent edge is actually tangent.


A wrench assembly includes a first wrench, a second wrench and a bar. The first wrench includes a first driving device at an end and a second driving device at an opposite end. The second wrench includes a first driving device at an end and a second driving device at an opposite end. The bar includes a first connecting device for connection to the second driving device of the first wrench and a second connecting device for connection to the first driving device of the second wrench. A first C-clip is provided to reinforce the connection of the first connecting device of the bar to the second driving device of the first wrench. A second C-clip is provided to reinforce the connection of the second connecting device of the bar to the first driving device of the second wrench.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a wrench assembly.
2. Related Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,448 discloses a socket wrench including a handle 2, extension means 20 and a ratchet head 30. The extension means 20 includes receiving means 22 for receiving a shank 8 of the handle 2 and a shank 24 for insertion in receiving means 32 of the ratchet head 30. The shank 24 is equipped with a spring-loaded detent for abutting an internal face of the receiving means 32. The shank 8 is equipped with a spring-loaded detent for abutting an internal face of the receiving means 22. However, the detents cannot adequately retain the shank 24 within the receiving means 32 and the shank 8 within the receiving means 22. As compensation, the shanks 24 and 8 must be high enough and the receiving means 32 and 22 must be thick enough. Such large dimensions however make it difficult to use the wrench within limited space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,448 discloses a socket wrench including a handle 2, extension means 20 and a ratchet head 30. The extension means 20 includes receiving means 22 for receiving a shank 8 of the handle 2 and a shank 24 for insertion in receiving means 32 of the ratchet head 30. The shank 24 is equipped with a spring-loaded detent for abutting an internal face of the receiving means 32. The shank 8 is equipped with a spring-loaded detent for abutting an internal face of the receiving means 22. However, the detents cannot adequately retain the shank 24 within the receiving means 32 and the shank 8 within the receiving means 22. As compensation, the shanks 24 and 8 must be high enough and the receiving means 32 and 22 must be thick enough. Such large dimensions however make it difficult to use the wrench within limited space.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,504 discloses a ratchet wrench 10 including tool members 40 selectively and changeably received in a compartment 13 thereof. The tool member 40 includes a peripheral groove 43 in which a resilient ring member 43 is adapted to locate. The ring member 43 is made of rubber or other synthetic materials so that it can be squeezed. A ratchet wheel 21 is mounted between the compartment 13 and the tool member 40 and includes an inclined surface 27 on an upper portion thereof. In coupling the tool member 40 to the ratchet wrench 10, the ring member 43 is inserted into a hole defined by the ratchet wheel 21 and is squeezed in order to pass through the hole. When the ring member 43 engages the inclined surface 27, the ring member 43 returns to its original cross sectional profiles and the tool member 40 is attached to the ratchet wrench 10. In disengaging the tool member 40 from the ratchet wrench, the process is reversed. While this attachment enables easy and quick engagement of the ratchet wrench 10 and the tool member 40, it nevertheless suffers from some problems. Firstly, since the peripheral groove 43 provides no redundant recessed space into which the ring member 43 is adapted to move during the engagement/disengagement of the tool member 40 and the ratchet wrench 10, the ring member 43 will rub against the ratchet wheel 21 and gradually wears out. Secondly, since the ring member 43 is made of rubber or other synthetic material and is not forced through the ratchet wheel 21 so as to be retained on the terminate edge of the ratchet wheel 21, it has poor efficacy to reinforce connection of the tool member 40 and the ratchet wrench 10. Thus the ring member 43 is easily accidentally disengaged with the inclined surface 27. Thirdly, the ring member 43 is adapted to return to its original shape and engage with the inclined surface 27 when the tool member 40 engages with the ratchet wrench 10. However, the tool member 40 gradually loses grip with the ratchet wrench 10 as the ring member 43 wears out.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.


In a connector (23), a substantially L-shaped terminal fitting (21) is mounted in a connector housing (25). The terminal fitting (21) includes a first projecting portion (39) projecting backward from a back wall (38) of a receptacle (27) and a second projecting portion (41) bent downward substantially at a right angle from an end of the first projecting portion (39) and to be connected to a circuit board (14). The connector housing (25) is integrally formed with a protection wall (42) extending backward from the back wall (38) of the receptacle (27) and configured to cover the first and second projecting portions (39, 41) from an upper side, opposite lateral sides and a rear side with clearances formed between the protection wall (42) and both the first and second projecting portions (39, 41).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector, an electrical connection box and a connector manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an electrical connection box disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-81688 is known as the one to be mounted in a vehicle. This electrical connection box is formed such that a circuit board is accommodated in a casing made of synthetic resin. The casing includes an upper case with an open lower side and a lower case for closing an opening of this upper case. The circuit board is accommodated in an accommodation space formed by assembling the upper case and the lower case.
An opening facing forward is formed in a wall portion of the upper case, and a connector is arranged in this opening. The connector is provided with a connector housing made of synthetic resin and including a receptacle in which a mating connector is fittable. Substantially L-shaped terminal fittings are arranged in the connector housing. One end part of the terminal fitting is arranged in the receptacle. The other end part of the terminal fitting penetrates through the back wall of the receptacle and is connected to a conductive path formed on the circuit board by a known technique such as soldering.
In the conventional technology, the connector is integrally formed to the upper case. Upper sides, opposite lateral sides and back sides of parts of the terminal fittings located opposite to the receptacle are covered by the wall portion of the upper case. This suppresses the adhesion of water, dust and the like to the terminal fittings. As a result, a short circuit between the terminal fittings can be suppressed.
On the other hand, since the circuit board and the connector housing are made of materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion, a stress may be generated between the circuit board and the connector housing due to a temperature change. If this stress acts on a connecting part of the terminal fitting and the conductive path of the circuit board, electrical connection reliability between the terminal fitting and the conductive path of the circuit board may be reduced, for example, due to a crack formed in the soldered part and the like.
In the electrical connection box according to the conventional technology, parts of the terminal fittings extending backward from the back wall of the receptacle are embedded in the upper case. On the other hand, parts of the terminal fittings extending downward are exposed from the wall portion of the upper case. By the resilient deformation of the parts of the terminal fittings exposed from the wall portion of the upper case, it has been expected to relax a stress acting between the circuit board and the connector housing.
However, a stress acting between the circuit board and the connector housing may not be sufficiently relaxed only by the resilient deformation of the parts of the terminal fittings exposed from the upper case and extending downward.
The present invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to provide a connector and an electrical connection box with improved electrical connection reliability between a terminal fitting and a circuit board and provide a connector manufacturing method.

Connector, electrical connection box and connector manufacturing method


The invention involves a device and system for securing a candle to a drink cup for celebrations. The system includes a cover that secures across the top surface of the drink cup. A center portion of the cover is provided with a depression sized and shaped to cooperate with a small candle base to secure the candle in an upright position with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the drink cup. Once the candle has been blown out by the recipient, the cover can be removed from the drink cup to allow the person to consume the beverage contained within the cup.

Birthdays, as well as other celebrations in Western European countries, are often celebrated with cakes. The cakes are often adorned with candles to celebrate age or other accomplishments. This tradition may date back to Roman times.
In classical Roman culture, cakes were occasionally served at special birthdays and at weddings. These were flat circles made from flour and nuts, leavened with yeast, and sweetened with honey.
In the 15th century, bakeries in Germany began to market one-layer cakes for customer's birthdays, as opposed to only marketing cakes for weddings, and thus the modern birthday cake was born. During the 17th century, the birthday cake took on its contemporary form. These elaborate 17th century cakes had many aspects of the contemporary birthday cake, like multiple layers, icing, and decorations. However, these cakes were only available to the very wealthy. Birthday cakes became accessible to the lower class as a result of the industrial revolution and the spread of more materials and goods.
In contemporary Western cultures, the birthday cake is often decorated with small candles, secured with special holders or simply pressed down into the cake. In the UK, North America and Australia, the number of candles is equal to the age of the individual whose birthday it is, sometimes with one extra for luck. Traditionally, the person whose birthday it is makes a wish, which is thought to come true if all the candles are extinguished in a single breath.
While there are multiple theories that attempt to explain the origin of the birthday candle tradition, the actual origin is unknown. Through the years, the manner in which people gather to celebrate birthdays have changed. The celebrations are often held at restaurants where attendees celebrate with food and drink. In these gatherings, cake is not the focal point of the gathering. Instead, it is the fellowship of the group that takes precedence. In these gatherings, the participants still want to practice part of the old traditions. For example, the blowing out of a candle to grant a wish made by the birthday boy or girl. To accommodate this tradition, restaurants commonly serve a cup cake with a lit candle pushed into its center. The birthday participant makes a wish and blows out the candle. The cup cake is often discarded as too small to share with the group.
Thus, there is a need for new ways to practice older traditions, namely that of providing a lit birthday candle to one celebrating a birthday. In order to achieve acceptance by the end user, the system or device for providing a lit birthday candle to the person having the birthday must be easily and quickly assembled using minimal hardware and requiring a minimal number of components. Moreover, the system must assemble together in such a way so as not to detract from the aesthetic appearance of the lit candle.
Thus, the present invention provides a device and system for securing a lit candle to a drink cup. The device and system of the present invention provides for relative ease in the assembly, and provides a device for securing a lit candle safely to a drink cup; it also permits transport of the lit candle through restaurants, homes and the like without the need to carry the drink and candle to the table before being lit, adding to the atmosphere of the celebration as the lit candle is transported.

System and device for supporting a candle on a drink cup


Leadframes for semiconductor packages. Implementations may include a plurality of leads extending inwardly into an opening surrounded by the plurality of leads where the plurality of leads except for at least one are configured to mechanically couple at a surface of a semiconductor chip. The at least one of the plurality of leads that is not configured to mechanically coupled at the surface of the semiconductor chip be configured to electrically couple with the semiconductor chip.

1. Technical Field
Aspects of this document relate generally to leadframes, such as structures and devices used in packaging semiconductor chips.
2. Background Art
Leadframes are used to make electrical connections between a silicon die of semiconductor package and an electronic circuit board or printed circuit board (PCB). Various leadframes include leads that are mechanical structures that extend through a mold material or other packaging material/structure enclosing the semiconductor chip that connect electrical pads or connectors on the semiconductor die with corresponding electrical pads or connectors on the electrical circuit board. For various package types, the leadframe supports the die during wire bonding and during molding of package/mold compound around the die.

SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC


Systems and methods are provided for providing playing cards. An exemplary method may include retrieving data related to a selection of a set of numbers for bingo and determining matching bingo patterns on a predetermined number of cards from a library of bingo cards against the set of selected numbers. The method may further include selecting corresponding playing cards based on the matching bingo patterns on the predetermined number of cards and providing the corresponding playing cards for display. The exemplary method may be used to deal playing cards for poker using a set of selected numbers.

Electronic video poker games have been prevalent in gaming casinos for many years. A forerunner of electronic video poker gaming machines is the video Draw Poker machine that deals cards from a standard fifty-two card poker deck and displays a single five card hand to a player. The cards may be dealt based on an electronic shuffle or a random number generator. The player may choose to hold or discard each of the initial five cards that are dealt. For discarded cards, replacement cards are dealt using the starting deck of cards. After replacement of chosen cards from the initial five cards that are dealt, the remaining five cards comprise a player's final five card hand. This final hand is then analyzed based on conventional poker hand rankings. For example, if the player has achieved at least a pair of Jacks or better, the set of cards may be a winning hand. The amount of a player's winning may be determined based on a type of poker hand achieved and an amount of a player's wager.
In video Draw Poker, the conventional poker hand rankings that are winning combinations are a Royal Flush, a Straight Flush, a Four of a Kind, a Full House, a Flush, a Straight, a Three of a Kind, a Two Pair and a Pair of Jacks or Better. A payout table is established based on a number of coins wagered by the player and a type of poker hand achieved.
Some video poker games have modified the classic Draw Poker game to use Jokers, Deuces, or other cards as wild cards. "Jokers Wild" and "Deuces Wild" Draw Poker still display to the player a single five card hand and allow the player to discard unwanted cards and receive replacement cards. The payout table is modified to recognize the differing odds for achieving various poker hands when wild cards are involved. Furthermore, different poker hand rankings are used in the pay table to recognize different winning combinations that can be achieved using wild cards.
However, conventional methods for electronic pokers games use random number generators and electronic shuffles to conduct the initial deal. In addition, traditional electronic poker games do not result in a winner for each game. During each game, the player may win if the player's final hand is one of the selected hands for payout, or the player may lose if the final hand does not result in a hand selected for payout. Conventional electronic poker games also are not games of purely chance (they involve some level of skill), and they are not played against other players (they are played against the "house").

Systems and methods for providing electronic gaming pieces


A method for producing 3,3-dimethyl-2-(1-propenyl)cyclopropanecarboxylate represented by the formula (2):

3,3-dimethyl-2-(1-propenyl)cyclopropanecarboxylic acid and the ester thereof are important compounds as acidic parts of household agents for epidemic prevention (e.g. JP 54-3933 B). As the method for producing them, a method of using decarboxylation reaction has been known, and for example, 3,3-dimethyl-2-(1-propenyl)cyclopropanecarboxylic acid can be obtained by heating 3,3-dimethyl-2-(2-carboxy-1-propenyl)cyclopropanecarboxylic acid in the absence of a solvent (e.g. J. Chem. Soc., (C), 2739 (1971)). However, this reaction was not enough for industrial method because of the low selectivity.

Method for producing 3,3-dimethyl-2-(1-propenyl) cyclopropanecarboxylate

Abstract: wherein R1 represent an optionally substituted alkyl group, an optionally substituted aryl group or an optionally substituted aralkyl group, which comprises a 3,3-dimethyl-2-(2-carboxy-1-propenyl)cyclopropanecarboxylate represented by the formula (1):

Abstract: wherein R1 is as described above, is brought into contact with a copper compound and a nitrogen-containing aromatic compound, is provided.


The present invention relates to an optical communication apparatus for detecting the intensity of light in an optical modulator or the intensity of a modulation signal and for controlling the operating point of the optical modulator based on the result of detection. In the optical communication apparatus having such a configuration, the operating point of the optical modulator can be kept stable even when the input light or the modulation signal is temporarily non-existent in the optical communication apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, an optical communication apparatus which transmits wavelength-division multiplexed signal light, relates to an optical communication apparatus whose operation is stabilized irrespective of presence/absence of input light or a modulated signal to be transmitted, as well as to an optical add/drop apparatus using such an optical communication apparatus as an addition apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ultra-long-distance and large-capacity optical communication apparatuses are now required to construct future multimedia networks. Concentrated studies are now being made of the wavelength-division multiplexing as a method for realizing large-capacity apparatuses in view of such advantages that it can effectively utilize a wide bandwidth and a large capacity of an optical fiber.
In particular, studies are in progress about an optical add/drop apparatuses of the wavelength-division multiplexing method and optical modulators used in the addition section of such an optical add/drop apparatus that is required in each node of the lightwave network.
In the Mach-Zehnder interferometer type optical modulators (hereinafter abbreviated as "MZ modulator") that are used as optical modulators in conventional optical communication apparatuses, it is necessary to stabilize the output optical signal with respect to a variation and the variation with temperature and time. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 251815/1991 discloses an operating point control circuit for controlling the operating point of an MZ modulator intended for this purpose.
FIG. 20 is a block diagram of an MZ modulator having this conventional operating point control circuit.
As shown in FIG. 20, light exit from a light source 310 such as a laser diode (hereinafter abbreviated as "LD") is entered to an MZ modulator 311. A modulation signal including information to be sent and a low-frequency signal of a predetermined frequency f0 that is outputted from a low-frequency oscillator 324 are inputted to a variable gain amplifier 313. The variable gain amplifier 313 superimposes the low-frequency signal of the predetermined frequency f0 on the modulation signal and outputs it, which is then inputted to one modulation-input terminal of the MZ modulator 311 via an amplifier 314 for obtaining a predetermined signal level and a coupling capacitor 315. A bias T circuit consisting of an inductor 316 and a capacitor 317 is connected to the other modulation-input terminal of the MZ modulator 311. The capacitor 317 is grounded via resistor 318. A portion consisting of the amplifier 314, the coupling capacitor 315, the bias T circuit, and the resistor 318 are equivalent to a drive circuit of the MZ modulator 311.
The MZ modulator 311 modulates light that is supplied from the light source 310 with a signal that is given by the drive circuit and outputs a resulting signal.
Part of an optical output of the MZ modulator 311 is branched and taken out by an optical coupler 312. The branched part of the optical output is detected by a photoelectric converter 319 such as a photodiode (hereinafter abbreviated as "PD"), and the detection signal is amplified by a buffer amplifier 320 that selectively amplifies a frequency component of f0 and inputted to a multiplier 321. The low-frequency signal that is outputted from the low-frequency oscillator 324 is also inputted to the multiplier 321. The multiplier 321 compares the phases of the signal that is inputted from the buffer amplifier 320 and the low-frequency signal that is inputted from the low-frequency oscillator 324, and outputs a signal in accordance with a phase difference.
Therefore, the multiplier 321 can detect the low-frequency signal of the predetermined frequency f0 that was superimposed by the variable gain amplifier 313.
An output signal of the multiplier 321 is inputted to one input terminal of a differential amplifier 323 via a low-pass filter (hereinafter abbreviated as "LPF") 322 that allows passage of a frequency component of the predetermined frequency f0 or less. On the other hand, the other input terminal of the differential amplifier 323 is grounded. An output of the differential amplifier 323 is inputted to the inductor 316 of the bias T circuit as an error signal to be used for moving the operating point of the MZ modulator 311, whereby the bias value is variably controlled so as to correct the operating point.
In the MZ modulator having the above configuration, the superimposed low-frequency signal of the frequency f0 does not appear in the output light when the bias value is in the optimum state.
FIG. 21 is a waveform diagram showing an operation in a state that the operating point drifts in the MZ modulator having the above circuit configuration. Part (a) of FIG. 21 shows input/output characteristics of the MZ modulator, in which curve B represents an input/output characteristic in a case where the operating point has drifted to the high-voltage side from that of curve A and curve C represents a case where the operating point has drifted to the low-voltage side from that of curve A. Part (b) of FIG. 21 shows a waveform of an input signal and parts (c), (c1), and (c2) of FIG. 21 show waveforms of output optical signals of the respective input/output characteristics.
As shown in FIG. 21, when the operating point has drifted to the high-voltage side or the low-voltage side, low-frequency signal of the frequency f0 superimposed in output light appears with a phase that is inverted by 180° depending on the drift direction. Therefore, the bias voltage can be controlled by using a signal coming from the multiplier 321, whereby the drift of the operating point can be compensated for.
In this manner, a drift of the operating point can be compensated for by taking out a low-frequency signal from output light that has been produced by modulating input light with a modulation signal and the low-frequency signal and then comparing its phase with the phase of the original low-frequency signal. Therefore, the operating point control circuit described above can control the operating point to stabilize it in a case where input light (output light) and a modulation signal exist.
FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a conventional optical add/drop apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 22, after wavelength-division multiplexed signal light transmitting through an optical transmission line is amplified to a predetermined light intensity, it is then entered to an OADM (optical add-drop multiplexer) node section 350 which adds/drops on the wavelength-division multiplexed signal light. Signal light beams of predetermined wavelengths are dropped by the OADM node section 350 and subjected to receiving operations in optical dropping sections 352 that are provided in the same number of signal light beams to be branched by an optical coupler 351. Signal light beams to be added by the OADM node section 350 is generated by optical addition sections 355. The optical addition sections 355 are provided in the same number of signal light beams of respective wavelengths to be added by the OADM node section 350. The added signal light beams and the signal light that has not been dropped in the OADM node section 350 are wavelength-division multiplexed, amplified, and then outputted to the optical transmission line.
In each optical addition section 355 of this optical add/drop apparatus, light that is exit from an LD 360 for generating light of a particular wavelength is amplified by an optical amplifier 361. Output light of the optical amplifier 361 is modulated by an optical modulator 362 having the above-described operating point control circuit. The modulated optical signal is amplified by an optical amplifier 363 and then entered to an optical coupler 354. The optical coupler 354 adds this optical signal to the OADM node section 350 together with optical signals of other wavelengths that have been generated by other optical addition sections 355 having the same configuration.
Incidentally, in the MZ modulator 311 shown in FIG. 20, the following problem occurs when there is a short break in which the input light entered to the MZ modulator 311 is temporarily non-existent and then recovers.
When the input light no longer exists, there is no light output to be branched by the optical coupler 312 and hence the operating point becomes indefinite. That is, in part (b) of FIG. 21, it is impossible to judge whether the bias voltage Vb is (1) 0 V or less, (2) greater than 0 V and smaller than Vp, or (3) Vp or more.
If the input light recovers in such an indefinite state, in case (2) the optimum operating point is established by the operation of the bias T circuit. However, the optimum operating point is not established in cases (1) and (3); Vb is predetermined at 0 V in case (1) and Vb is predetermined at Vp in case (3).
By these reasons, when a short break occurs in the input light that is incident on the MZ modulator 311, the optimum operating point is not necessarily obtained.
Hitherto, the above problem did not occur because the MZ modulator 311 was used in terminal stations or the like where no short breaks occur on the input light. However, where the MZ modulator 311 is used in each optical addition section 355 of the optical add/drop apparatus of FIG. 22, it is necessary to switch the wavelength of addition light to a wavelength that is not used in a wavelength-division multiplexed signal transmitting through the optical transmission line. This necessarily causes, during such wavelength switching, a state where no input light exists. Therefore, the solving the problem of being in the above indefinite state is a particularly important issue.
On the other hand, in the optical add/drop apparatus of FIG. 22, when there is no input light to the optical modulator 362, ASE (amplified spontaneous emission), which is a noise level spontaneously generated by the optical amplifiers 361 and 363, is outputted to the optical transmission line. Further, each optical addition section 355 does not always have a modulation signal to be added. When no such modulation signal exists, not only ASE but also input light that is not modulated with any modulation signals are outputted to the optical transmission line.
Further, in optical communication networks, the judgement of malfunctions occurring therein is based on the light intensity. Therefore, the malfunction cannot be judged if ASE or input light that is not modulated with a modulation signal is inputted to an optical transmission line.

Optical communication apparatus and optical add/drop apparatus


Methods and apparatus for allowing routers in an autonomous system to implement LDP and RSVP at the same time. RSVP can be used in the network core with LDP being used in network regions surrounding the core. LDP LSPs are tunneled through the RSVP network core using RSVP LSPs and label stacking techniques. During route selection LDP LSPs which use an RSVP LSP tunnel are preferred over alternative LDP LSPs having an equal cost associated with them to create a preference for traffic engineered routes.

Communications networks such as the Internet are used for transmitting information, e.g., digital data, from one device to another. Each communications network normally comprises a plurality of nodes, implemented using, e.g., routers, which are inter-connected by links over which data and control signals can pass. For ownership and administrative purposes, routers are frequently grouped together into sub-networks. Individual sub-networks which are made up of components which can be managed by a common administrator are sometimes referred to as an autonomous systems ("AS"). ASs may interact with one another to form much larger networks.
Internet service providers (ISPS) frequently implement one or more ASs. Each ISP is normally responsible for administering the AS which it owns and implements. The Internet comprises multiple ASs which interact with one another. As the amount of Internet traffic has grown, ISPs have been confronted with the problem of having to transmit ever increasing amounts of data over networks having an ever increasing number of nodes. In addition to being confronted with ever increasing amounts of traffic, ISPs continue to confront cost pressures which make it important to use network capacity in an efficient manner.
In older systems which relied on the Internet Gateway Protocol (IGP) for routing, the routing of packets was left to individual routers which would select the next hop, e.g., route to the next node, to be used to reach a destination based on a least cost, e.g., shortest path first (SPF), algorithm. The SPF algorithm was normally applied to a set of network information obtained from a plurality of broadcast messages including network topology information. The label distribution protocol (LDP) is a protocol that is normally used in non-traffic-engineered applications where the IGP determines the routing to be used.
Allowing individual routers along a communications path to determine routing by selecting the next router to be used reduces administrative complexity. However, it tends to result in routers along the shortest path between high traffic routers to become congested while other routers may become under utilized.
In recent years, in order to use network components efficiently, ISPs have begun to rely on traffic engineering. Traffic engineering allows administrators to explicitly control the flow of traffic through a network. Thus specific routes, e.g., paths, or portions of routes, can be established for the flow of traffic between various routers. Thus, in a traffic engineered system a router at the edge of an AS can specify the path which is to be used for specific data, e.g., IP packets with a particular destination address, through the AS. Since the full path through the network can be specified, data between nodes may be made to flow along routes other than the route that would be determined using a shortest path first routing algorithm.
In order to support traffic engineering, route establishment protocols such as the Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) are frequently used to establish paths through an AS. RSVP path establishment messages are transmitted along the path being established and are not broadcast to all routers in an AS.
For numerous reasons, ISP providers have chosen to implement individual ASs by using either LDP or RSVP throughout the AS but not both. In many modern systems where the benefits of traffic engineering are desired, this means that RSVP and not LDP is used for purposes of distributing routing, e.g., path, information.
Given that there are different and distinct benefits to using the LDP and RSVP protocols, it would be desirable to be able to selectively implement LDP and RSVP in different portions of a single AS. In some cases, it would also be desirable to simultaneously implement LDP and RSVP on the same router.

Methods and apparatus for using both LDP and RSVP in a communications systems


The current document is directed to methods and systems that efficiently cache log/event messages in log/event-message systems incorporated within distributed computer facilities. The log/event-message systems provide the data-collection, data-storage, and data-querying functionalities that provide a basis for distributed log-analytics systems which, in turn, provide a basis for automated and semi-automated system-administration-and-management systems. Efficient caching significantly extends the period of time that networking failures and log/event-message processing delays can be tolerated by log/event-message systems without significant loss of information. Rather than caching individual log/event messages, message collectors that employ the currently disclosed technologies cache information regarding log/event-message types, leading to efficient compression of the cached information. As a result, message collectors can cache log/event messages without significant loss of information for time periods of several orders of magnitude greater than those achieved by caching individual log/event messages.

During the past seven decades, electronic computing has evolved from primitive, vacuum-tube-based computer systems, initially developed during the 1940s, to modern electronic computing systems in which large numbers of multi-processor servers, work stations, and other individual computing systems are networked together with large-capacity data-storage devices and other electronic devices to produce geographically distributed computing systems with hundreds of thousands, millions, or more components that provide enormous computational bandwidths and data-storage capacities. These large, distributed computing systems are made possible by advances in computer networking, distributed operating systems and applications, data-storage appliances, computer hardware, and software technologies. However, despite all of these advances, the rapid increase in the size and complexity of computing systems has been accompanied by numerous scaling issues and technical challenges, including technical challenges associated with communications overheads encountered in parallelizing computational tasks among multiple processors, component failures, and distributed-system management. As new distributed-computing technologies are developed, and as general hardware and software technologies continue to advance, the current trend towards ever-larger and more complex distributed computing systems appears likely to continue well into the future.
As the complexity of distributed computing systems has increased, the management and administration of distributed computing systems has, in turn, become increasingly complex, involving greater computational overheads and significant inefficiencies and deficiencies. In fact, many desired management-and-administration functionalities are becoming sufficiently complex to render traditional approaches to the design and implementation of automated management and administration systems impractical, from a time and cost standpoint, and even from a feasibility standpoint. Therefore, designers and developers of various types of automated management-and-administration facilities related to distributed computing systems are seeking new approaches to implementing automated management-and-administration facilities and functionalities.

Methods and systems that efficiently cache log/event messages in a distributed log-analytics system


A system for firing either a first cartridge or a second cartridge from a handgun, the first and second cartridges having dissimilar calibers. The system includes a first barrel removably mounted to the handgun, with the first barrel including a first cartridge chamber sized to permit placement of the first cartridge into the first barrel in a firing position. The first cartridge chamber is sized to prevent placement of the second cartridge into the first cartridge chamber in the firing position. A second barrel is provided, which is interchangeable with the first barrel and which is also removably mounted to the handgun. The second barrel includes a second cartridge chamber sized to permit placement of the second cartridge into the second barrel in a firing position, and the second cartridge chamber is sized to prevent placement of the first cartridge into the second cartridge chamber in the firing position.

The invention generally relates to a firearm system for a handgun which possesses an exchangeable barrel with a cartridge chamber and a breech.
In these documents, when reference is given to position, the assumption is of a normal model of a handgun in a horizontal position, and xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d is in the direction of shooting.
If a silenced weapon is to truly function without sound, the expansion noise of the gases which drive the bullet and the sound of the cartridge detonation must be suppressed. A third sound produced by the fired bullet will last as long as the bullet travels at supersonic velocity. For the suppression of the sound of the bullet, it is possible to choose cartridges, such that the velocity of the bullets is initially subsonic. Alternatively, one can excise gas relief passages in the barrel, which divert a portion of the driving gases into a silencer, and assure that the velocity of the bullet in flight does not exceed the supersonic level. This diversion of gas is only a reasonable measure when the nominal muzzle velocity of the bullet does not exceed the supersonic border. Finally, it is also possible to make use of special, somewhat experimentally made cartridges, the bullets of which do not attain supersonic velocities.
Since the 1960""s, the caliber of military weapons has become steadily smaller. In the second world war, a caliber of 6.5 mm (Italy, Japan, Sweden) was generally seen as being too small to be effective as a military bullet. The average caliber was between 7.5 to 8 mm at that time.
Today, the modern NATO caliber is set at only 5.56 mm (0.223 Remington). In the former Soviet Union, an effort was made to reduce caliber still further, striving for approximately 4.5 mm.
The bullet of a 0.223 cartridge weighs about 3.5 g. In order to maintain a sufficient energy at muzzle, the muzzle velocity of the bullet must exceed three times the supersonic level. In any event, the muzzle velocity is closely calculated and must not fall short of the calculated value.
If one would redesign this 0.223 cartridge so that with some reliability, its bullet would travel at a subsonic velocity, one would obtain a muzzle energy, which would run at only a tenth of its original muzzle energy. This would be a muzzle energy appropriate for a small bore weapon with weaker ammunition (subsonic munitions). However, this bullet would scarcely penetrate a notebook, and xe2x80x9cbulletproof vestxe2x80x9d could offer complete protective cover.
For today""s military command organizations, the greatest possible repression of sounds emanating from firing is essential. To achieve such a goal, for the above reasons, no military weaponry can be employed, even when said weapons are equipped with silencers. Namely, either the sound of the firing is not silenced enough, or the effect of the shooting is insufficient. Now, it is entirely possible to make use of a submachine gun with a silencer, when the said gun fires on a closed breech basis and not, as is usual, from an open breech basis. With such a submachine gun, precision shots can be executed. It would be, however, better to employ the conventional military rifle for the use of such a silencer, as this weapon is already commercially available and need not be specially obtained. Further, the marksmen teams are familiar with the conventional weapon.
To accomplish this goal, one can provide the handgun with an exchangeable barrel for a large caliber cartridge. The reason for this, is that the larger caliber indicates a cartridge with a greater bullet weight, and consequently a greater muzzle energy, even in the subsonic velocity range. However, the earlier cited difficulties in military application are substituted for by new problems, namely the danger of erroneous cartridge switch. Here is an historic example:
In the first world war, the Mauser pistol, which already appeared on the market in 1896, was designed for the bottle cartridge 7.63 mm, but was converted to the 9 mm German Ordnance cartridge Parabellum. This conversion occurred only by use of another barrel, wherein however, the barrel for 7.63 mm and 9 mm were fully exchangeable. Other conversions and/or modifications were not necessary. Principally, a characteristic pistol stock became a recognition signal alerting that an exchange had been made.
In fact, inadvertent switches were often made, since either of the cartridges could be loaded into either pistol. If the 9.3 mm pistol were loaded with 7.63 mm cartridges, firing was still possible, but with reduced muzzle energy, accompanied by an erratic trajectory and loading difficulties. In the reverse situation, the 9 mm bullet squeezed itself through the 7.63 bore, and widened the bore, rendering it unuseable. Possibly, the bolts which limited the recoil travel for the breeching deformed as well.
Also, the earlier Mauser-cartridge 8xc3x9757 was modified several times, whereby, fundamentally, the cartridge with the smaller caliber (about 7xc3x9757) could be loaded into the bore intended for the larger caliber. In this case, the advantage was gained, that no direct damage to the weapon could be brought about. However, the accuracy of the gun, especially the sequential bull""s-eye reliability was greatly reduced. If, for instance, the result of a commando raid depended on the results of a shot hitting its mark, then any inefficiency in the aim could not be accepted, especially when error can be attributed to a faulty loading of the weapon.
Based on the foregoing reasons, the disclosed device would provide a handheld firearm system, which would be free of the above difficulties.
A firearm system for the firing of bottle shaped cartridges from a firearm having an exchangeable barrel with a cartridge chamber and a breech closure, in accordance with the teachings of the present invention comprises an exchangeable barrel, which is designed for a bottle shaped cartridge with an essentially greater caliber than used in the original barrel of the firearm, wherein both cartridges have approximately the same length and same base measurements. The firearm system in accordance with the present invention has the feature that the bullet of the large caliber cartridge is so dimensioned, that if any effort is made to place the large caliber cartridge in the cartridge chamber of the bore for the smaller caliber, the said bullet will seat itself in the area of the cartridge section corresponding to the neck of the smaller cartridge and thereby prevent a complete insertion of the cartridge into the cartridge chamber. Additionally, the cartridge with the small caliber is so dimensioned, that any attempt to put the same into the cartridge chamber of the bore of the larger caliber, will result in its shoulder impinging against the shoulder of that section of the cartridge chamber corresponding to the larger caliber, or it will seat itself in front of this section, with the result that its complete insertion into the said cartridge chamber is prevented.
The shoulder of the large caliber cartridge is set back, in reference to the small caliber cartridge, or the large caliber cartridge exhibits at its shoulder a smaller diameter than does the small caliber cartridge, in other words, the large caliber cartridge is slimmer. The large caliber cartridge is preferably bottle shaped, but can also be slightly conical.
A cartridge that is placed in the wrong chamber will protrude from the non-fit cartridge chamber so far to the rear, that it remains unlatched by the oncoming breech block, and for this reason, the cartridge will not fire. Thus, only one barrel with, if required, a gas cylinder, silencer and munitions need be made available for the conversion of a handgun. These are parts, which, for little expense, can be purchased and kept available in the armory of a company.
The object of the disclosed device will be further explained with the aid of an embodiment presented in the accompanying schematic drawing.

Handgun system with an exchangeable barrel