A wind power generation system mainly includes a wind catching mechanism slidably mounted on a guide rail mechanism. The wind catching mechanism includes a wind-catching means that is selectively oriented to face wind blowing against it, so as to cause the entire wind catching mechanism to slides along the guide rail mechanism before the wind and pulls a linking cable connected to a dynamo, so that the dynamo is actuated to generate power.

The present invention relates to a wind power generation system, and more particularly to a wind power generation system that is environmentally friendly and could be economically constructed to efficiently transmit kinetic energy of wind to actuate a high-power dynamo to generate power.
With the quick development in technologies and the quick changes in our living environment, electric power has become prerequisite to our life. Electric power has decisive influence on industrial and economic developments and is a very important index to the modernization of a country. In view of the deep reliance of human beings on the electric power, as well as the quickly increased power consumption, it necessitates all countries in the world to widely propagate the important concept of energy saving and to exploit new source of power to keep necessary economic and industrial progresses.
There are various types of power generation systems known in the art. In the case of a power generation plant that is addressed to high-power outputs in an economical mode, steam turbines are typically used to actuate power generators. Currently, sources of heat for producing steams needed by the steam turbines include coal, nuclear energy, etc. In the case of heat power generation, there are different types of fuels, such as coal, oil, gas, etc. In either case, waste gases and carbon dioxide are produced to pollute our living environment. Particularly, the carbon dioxide results in the worldwide temperature increase to largely affect the climate of the earth, forming an important issue in many highly developed countries. In the case of nuclear power generation, it is strongly repulsed by environment-protection people due to the problems of radiation of nuclear waste.
Another type of power generation that should also be mentioned is the hydroelectric power generation. In this type of power generation, water head is utilized to impact blades of water turbines to actuate power generators. That is why water turbines are usually mounted at an outlet of a dam. The advantage of hydroelectric power generation is low environmental pollution and is therefore environmentally friendly.
However, cost for hardware of hydroelectric power generation is extremely high and surprisingly high volume of water would be consumed. Since it is uneasy to find locations that are suitable for construction of power stations, hydroelectric power generation has never been widely developed. And, although the hydroelectric power generation is environmentally friendly, the construction of a dam would inevitably have influences on the ecologies of the surrounding areas.
There are also other sources of energy, such as solar energy and tide power. Such sources of energy are typically employed only in small-power generation due to limited locations suitable for providing such energies and incomplete development in related hardware.
In the case of wind power generation, windmill is a common device used to actuate a dynamo to transform wind force into electric power. However, as a limitation in structure, the windmill usually has blades of small wind areas and therefore has low dynamic transfer efficiency and low power generation capacity. Normally, highlands or widely open lands are locations that would supply sufficient wind force for wind power generation. However, the common windmill is suitable for setting up only on wide and open ground that is not easily found on the densely populated earth now. In view that wind force is indeed a rich resource of power generation, it should be well utilized to solve the problems concerning power generation we currently encounter with.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a wind power generation system that has simple structure and high wind catching efficiency to achieve power generation in an economical and environmentally friendly manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wind power generation system that has simple structure and is therefore particularly suitable for mounting at distant locations providing rich wind force.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a wind power generation system that includes a wind catching mechanism that is easily adjustable in response to different wind directions in different seasons to stably work all the year round.
To achieve the above and other objects, the wind power generation system of the present invention mainly includes a wind catching mechanism slidably mounted on a guide rail mechanism. The wind catching mechanism includes a wind-catching means that is selectively oriented to face wind blowing against it to enable the entire wind catching mechanism to slides along the guide rail mechanism before the wind and pulls a linking cable connected to a dynamo, so that the dynamo is actuated to generate power.

8F, No. 30-2, Denggung Road, Danshuei Jen


A method for enhanced oil recovery in a reservoir having a substantial silicon content where an organosilicone surfactant is co-injected with steam to generate a foam. The organosilicone surfactant component of the foam prevents a dissolution of the silicon-containing formation since local equilibrium is assured. Prevention of formation dissolution reduces caving near the wellbore and minimizes permeability reduction away from the wellbore.

In the recovery of oil from oil-containing formations, it is usually possible to recover only minor portions of the original oil in-place by the so called primary recovery methods which utilize only the natural forces present in the formation. Thus, a variety of supplemental recovery techniques have been employed in order to increase the recovery of oil from subterranean formations. These techniques include thermal recovery methods, e.g., steam-flooding, water flooding, carbon dioxide and miscible flooding.
In an oil reservoir, the rocks may be capable of exhibiting high vertical and horizontal absolute permeability, although the mobility (i.e., permeability divided by viscosity) of fluid within the reservoir may be low and/or in-homogenous due to variations in reservoir lithology and fluid distribution within some or all of the pore spaces. In such a relatively non-stratified reservoir, fluids tend to become segregated by density. When a stratification of mobility is encountered it is usually due to a distribution of the oil, for example, in a layer above the water-rich, or below a gas-rich, portion of the reservoir.
When steam is flowed through such a reservoir at a pressure less than the fracturing pressure, steam tends to form a finger or channel that overrides a significant portion of the reservoir due to gravity segregation. Such a channel usually rides or runs along the upper portion of the reservoir, due to the effects of gravity. However, where an oil-rich layer overrides a water-rich layer, a steam channel may run along the upper portion of the water layer, near its junction with the oil layer. As is known to those skilled in the art, in such reservoirs, a steam channel can be relatively quickly formed and extended between horizontally separated injection and production locations for example, by injecting steam at a pressure near or less than the fracturing pressure while producing fluids as rapidly as possible.
In addition to the problems of channeling, diatomaceous intervals of a formation present additional problems. As is known, diatomaceous intervals comprise soft bulky solid material (88% silica) that is composed of skeletons of small prehistoric aquatic plants related to algae (diatoms). This type of formation is characterized by high porosity and low permeability. Steam-flooding is the most viable method to be utilized, from the standpoint of varying oil composition and viscosity in such formations or reservoirs. However, the nature of the formation with the significant silicon content renders a steam-flooding operation ineffective. This occurs because silicon salts in the formation become more soluble in a liquid component of steam at high temperatures and pH's. Continued steam-flooding in such a formation results in a dissolution of the silicon salts which can lead to formation caving near the wellbore. Additionally, it may lead to considerable formation damage due to the migration of fine (small sized, less than 30 microns) sand particles resulting in further permeability reduction away from the wellbore.
Therefore, what is needed is a method of steam-flooding in a diatomaceous or siliceous formation which will not remove silicon salts and avoid caving near the wellbore and permeability reduction away from the wellbore.

Enhanced oil recovery from low permeability reservoirs using organosilicone surfactants


A device for the lateral separation of paper webs, including: a paper introduction region with at least one driven web supply roller; a buffer region, in which the web is prepared for discontinuous forward motion; a cutting device; and a paper lead-off region with discontinuous web forward motion; the device further including at least a first tube group having two tubes which may be moved relative to at least a third tube of the tube group, perpendicular to the web. The tube group (120; 150) is arranged intermediate the paper introduction region having merger region tubes and a discontinuously driven paper web roller in order to form a turning web loop of varying length. The length as determined by the separation between the tubes of the tube group is regulated by a controller, in connection with the driven web supply roller and the discontinuous web forward motion.

These cutting devices have been known for some time. They are mainly employed for cutting printed paper webs such as those that are required by larger companies in the finance or insurance industry. These are high performance paper processing lines that typically include high speed printers, power cutting devices as well as sorting and optionally enveloping devices and that are directed to a mostly automated operation.
In order to ensure the safe operation at such high turnovers and speeds a number of precautions need to be taken. For example, the calm and safe guidance of the paper web is of central importance. Another problem is the introduction of the paper into the cutting device. In order to conduct a safe lateral paper separation with sufficient quality for all purposes that should not show any traces of paper rupture the paper web must be halted for a short moment prior to and during its lateral separation. Consequently, it follows that the paper web is moved at different speeds at the location of the lateral separation device or experiences different phases of movement. Next to a phase of constant speed that may be short or even absent during practical operation, phases of acceleration as well as a phase of braking to a complete stop are also required. This results in an average speed that corresponds to the speed of paper introduction and equals the operation speed of a continuously working device.
Because these high performance paper processing lines should operate mostly continuously and without interruption, measures must be taken to accumulate the paper web in a certain region of the processing line or the cutting device (braking or stopping phase) in order to reduce the accumulated material subsequent to the effected lateral separation during an acceleration phase and to continue with normal motion (constant speed). When doing this one has to ensure that the acceleration phase does not last too long because ruptures of the paper web could occur.
From DE 100 11 006 a device for cutting paper webs with a pneumatic paper retarding device is known, where the paper web is guided by means of an air stream acting from below the web through a loop directed upwards.
The web retardation of a device for cutting paper webs described in EP 1 268 329 and WO 01/66448 relies on the above principle.
It is unsatisfactory for these known devices that the accumulated paper web is unguided for a moment and because of this it can make uncontrolled movements upon subsequent acceleration. A further disadvantage is that in this manner only one paper web can be retarded at a time.
It is therefore a first object of the invention to offer a device, wherein the paper web is guided loosely despite its accumulation, i.e. without too much tension, actually being in contact with a mechanical guide means at all times. According to the invention this object is solved while at the same time avoiding the disadvantages of the state of the art by a first embodiment of the invention.
The invention also relates to a method for the lateral separation of fast moving paper webs.
Applicant's investigations leading to the present invention have demonstrated that it is actually possible to increase the turnover of such a processing line even further by employing wider paper webs that are separated longitudinally prior to being introduced to the lateral separating device. For this purpose the paper web is initially introduced to a longitudinal separating device, i.e. before entering the buffer region of the device, which cuts the paper web in machine direction and produces two paper webs arranged on top of each other of half the width of the paper web. By mechanical measures it is ensured that that both partial webs run synchronically so that their further processing can be done simultaneously. Subsequently, both partial webs are guided to the buffer region. There the webs are slowed down independently of one another and accumulated and again accelerated.
In order to optimally benefit from such a longitudinal separating device it is necessary to introduce both formed partial webs simultaneously into the cutting device or its own cutting devices. When doing this the problem must be solved that the device for accumulating the paper web in the buffer region of the processing line cannot serve both partial webs at the same time und would therefore have to be provided twice, thus leading to a significant additional effort for its design, this not having been cost-effective for devices of the state of the art. Furthermore, the requirement of synchronized movement of the partial webs poses an unsolved problem.
Hence, it is a second object of the invention to provide a relatively simple design for the device in the buffer region of the processing line that can process both partial webs at the same time while minimizing the risks of loosing synchronicity, i.e. the synchronous movement of the webs, this being achieved with the embodiments.
Skilled people in the art designate the number of partial webs as group size. If the paper web is separated longitudinally once, the group size is 2. However, it is another object of the invention to provide a design for the buffer region that can also process group sizes larger than 2 or even odd groups. With odd group sizes it can be the case that only one paper web is moved forward. In this case the difference in length of the lower and upper paper web is compensated by the buffer.
In general the present invention offers a device and a method for the lateral separation of paper webs, comprising a paper introduction region, which optionally may include a longitudinal separation device for longitudinally separating the paper web into two partial webs, a buffer region, where at least one web is prepared for the discontinuous forward motion, a controller, a cutting device and a paper lead-off region. The paper introduction region optionally includes a longitudinal separation device with a cutting means that is arranged at the desired location of separation, typically in the middle of the device, the exact position of the cutting means being finely adjustable. The region for the paper introduction comprises the driven web supply roller(s) for supplying the paper web or the partial paper webs. The paper introduction region is positioned at that location of the processing line where—depending on the specific embodiment—the original paper web is introduced or at the exit of the device for the longitudinal separation of the paper web, where both partial webs are introduced for further processing.
The buffer region that is arranged between the paper introduction region and the paper lead-off region comprises one tube group with two tubes that are movable relative to at least one third tube perpendicular to the web. The tubes of this group are more like tubes or tubular surfaces on which the paper web glides. This tube group is arranged between the continuously or discontinuously driven web supply roller and the discontinuously driven web feed in order to form a double turning web loop of variable length. The length of this web loop, that is determined by the distance between the tubes of the tube group, is controlled by a controller. By moving the movable tubes away from the stationary tubes the device adapts to the double format length of the lateral separating device. Because no driven tubes participate in this action and instead the paper webs are dragged over smooth tube surfaces no undesired or erroneous pulling or dragging of the web occurs that would involve the danger of rupture. In contrast to the devices of the state of the art no air is blown into the web loop for it not to collapse but instead the loop is guided by means of at least three non-driven tubes making up a tube group, where the guidance is dictated by the additional paper material present. The control of the aims with the movable tube is the task of the controller.
A paper web being termed as "fast moving" in accordance with the invention is one working satisfactorily at a speed of at least about 120 meters per minute (m/min), preferably at least about 160 m/min and, in particular, in the range of about 180 to 210 m/min. The term "about" used in this context is meant to designate a deviation range of ±20%.
A speed in the latter mentioned range allows for a cutting frequency of about 40000 cuts per hour during operation, the use of two webs bringing this to twice the number of documents.
If the processing line has an upstream longitudinal separation device, the above mentioned device must be present twice in the buffer region, one for each partial web. According to the invention this is solved by arranging a laterally reversed but otherwise identical tube group, which also comprises at least three stationary tubes, adjacent to the first group, so that the carrier means to which these tube groups are attached are arranged symmetrically to the plane and each encompasses an angle of about 75° together with the paper web.
The controller is connected to the continuously or discontinuously driven web supply roller and the discontinuous web forward motion and calculates the necessary spreading of the movable tubes from the difference in forward motion. Furthermore, the controller determines the continuous web forward speed (for the continuous forward motion) and initiates the discontinuous web forward motion that is coordinated with the cutting operation.
The paper web stops for the cutting operation. At this point in time the paper webs moved by the continuous or discontinuous web supply have accumulated and the movable tube pairs of the tube groups move away from the stationary tubes to take up the accumulated material. Their guides are tilted a little from the line vertical to the paper moving direction towards the cutting device. When each of the tube groups has picked up paper of a predetermined length l from a side to be cut, the cutting step is effected and the discontinuous web feed motion starts again and accelerates the webs to a higher speed than the continuous or discontinuous web feed in minimal time. At the same time the tube groups move together again and release the accumulated material. The acceleration of this synchronized web forward motion is calculated so that it reaches the continuous or discontinuous web speed or switches to the braking phase at that point, when the complete accumulated reserve is stretched. Then, a further braking is initiated to take up the web length l before a next cut is initiated, where both partial webs are separated simultaneously.
The continuous or discontinuous web supply is accomplished by two adjacently positioned driven rollers that are located before to the buffer region. The discontinuous paper forward motion is accomplished by the driven rollers in the web lead-off region following the buffer region.
A piece of paper passing the lead-off device after lateral separation is not processed further and will now, for example, be placed alone or with other separated paper pieces in an envelope or is collected together with further separated paper pieces in a stack for packaging purposes. However, these further steps are well known to the skilled person in this field and do not require any further explanation. Also, they are not part of this invention.
A general advantage of the present invention is the possibility to process paper webs continuously with high throughput. A further advantage is that the synchronized forward motion mechanism does not affect the whole web but only the accumulated parts of the paper webs. This means that smaller masses need to be accelerated and decelerated, thus making the use of engines with lots of power and large torque obsolete even though the discontinuous forward motion requires considerable accelerations. On the other side, there are no special requirements for the continuous or discontinuous web supply drive. The packaging machine that fetches the documents in groups determines the cycle time. This mode of operation allows for stopping the cutter after each separation.
An important advantage of the device according to the invention is that the paper webs are guided at any point in time, i.e. they always have contact to some rollers or tubes, whether driven or not, over the whole length of the accumulated material. This leads to a better engine smoothness and ensures that the webs do not have an undesired opportunity to be crinkled or ruptured.

Lateral separating device for paper webs


A beater for a drum pedal has a main body, a sleeve, a striking head, a distance adjusting unit, an inner fastening unit, an angular adjusting unit, a fastening set, and a stem. The sleeve is mounted around the main body. The striking head is mounted on the sleeve. The distance adjusting unit is mounted inside the main body. The inner fastening unit is mounted inside the distance adjusting unit. The angular adjusting unit is mounted through the distance adjusting unit and the inner fastening unit. The fastening set is connected to the inner fastening unit and abuts against the sleeve. The stem penetrates the sleeve, the main body, the inner fastening unit, and is connected to the angular adjusting unit. Operating the fastening set can tighten or loosen the inner fastening unit and adjust the distance adjusting unit and the angular adjusting unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drum pedal, and more particularly to a beater that can be adjusted in angle and distance between the striking head and the drumhead.
2. Description of Related Art
A drum pedal is a musical instrument for playing drums. With reference to FIG. 7, a conventional drum pedal 90 comprises a seat 91, two erect frames 92, a shaft 93, a driven block 94, a chain 95, a pedal 96, and a beater 97. The two erect frames 92 are mounted on the seat 91. Each erect frame 92 has an upper end away from the seat 91. The shaft 93 is rotatable and has two opposite ends. The two opposite ends of the shaft 93 are respectively mounted on the two upper ends of the two erect frames 92. The driven block 94 is mounted around the shaft 93. The chain 95 has a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The first end of the chain 95 is connected to the driven block 94. The pedal 96 has two opposite ends. One of the two opposite ends of the pedal 96 is pivotally mounted on the seat 91. The other opposite end of the pedal 96 is connected to the second end of the chain 95. The beater 97 is connected to the shaft 93 and has a striking head 971. A musician steps on the pedal 96 to pull the driven block 94 and drive the beater 97 sweeping to strike a drumhead of a drum. Since the beater 97 of the conventional drum pedal 90 lacks adjusting structures, the musician has to move the drum pedal 90 close to or away from the drum to adjust the distance between the striking head 971 and the drumhead. Therefore, the beater 97 of the conventional drum pedal 90 is inconvenient in use.
To overcome the shortcomings of the beater of the conventional drum pedal, the present invention provides an adjustable beater for a drum pedal to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


A method and apparatus for performing load-based packet marking within a network is described. In one aspect, a first group of one or more packets of a data flow are marked with a first behavioral treatment value that directs devices within the network to treat the first group of one or more packets with a first quality of service treatment. The bandwidth that is currently being achieved for the flow within the network is determined based on data traffic within the network. Based on the achieved flow bandwidth within the network a second behavioral treatment value is then determined. Thereafter, a second group of one or more packets of the data flow is marked with a second behavioral treatment value that directs devices within the network to treat the second group of one or more packets with a second quality of service treatment. The process of dynamically marking the packets for a particular data flow may be performed multiple times.

A computer network typically comprises a plurality of interconnected entities that transmit ("source") or receive ("sink") data frames. A common type of computer network is a local area network ("LAN") that generally comprises a privately owned network within a single building or campus. LANs employ a data communication protocol (LAN standard) such as Ethernet, FDDI, or Token Ring, that defines the functions performed by the data link and physical layers of a communications architecture (i.e., a protocol stack), such as the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model. In many instances, multiple LANs may be interconnected by point-to-point links, microwave transceivers, satellite hookups, etc., to form a wide area network ("WAN"), metropolitan area network ("MAN") or Intranet. These internetworks may be coupled through one or more gateways to the global, packet-switched internetwork generally known as the Internet or World Wide Web (WWW).
Each network entity preferably includes network communication software, which may operate in accordance with Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP/IP generally consists of a set of rules defining how entities interact with each other. In particular, TCP/IP defines a series of communication layers, including a transport layer and a network layer. At the transport layer, TCP/IP includes both the User Data Protocol (UDP), which is a connectionless transport protocol, and TCP, which is a reliable, connection-oriented transport protocol. When a process at one network entity wishes to communicate with another entity, it formulates one or more messages and passes them to the upper layer of the TCP/IP communication stack. These messages are passed down through each layer of the stack where they are encapsulated into packets and frames. Each layer also adds information in the form of a header to the messages. The frames are then transmitted over the network links as bits. At the destination entity, the bits are re-assembled and passed up the layers of the destination entity's communication stack. At each layer, the corresponding message headers are stripped off, thereby recovering the original message that is handed to the receiving process.
One or more intermediate network devices are often used to couple LANs together and allow the corresponding entities to exchange information. For example, a bridge may be used to provide a "bridging" function between two or more LANs. Alternatively, a switch may be utilized to provide a "switching" function for transferring information, such as data frames or packets, among entities of a computer network. Typically, the switch is a computer having a plurality of ports that couple the switch to several LANs and to other switches. The switching function includes receiving data frames at a source port and transferring them to at least one destination port for receipt by another entity. Switches may operate at various levels of the communication stack. For example, a switch may operate at Layer 2, which in the OSI Reference Model, is called the data link layer, and includes the Logical Link Control (LLC) and Media Access Control (MAC) sub-layers.
Other intermediate devices, commonly known as routers, may operate at higher communication layers, such as Layer 3, which in TCP/IP networks corresponds to the Internet Protocol (IP) layer. Conventionally, IP data packets include a corresponding header that contains an IP source address and an IP destination address. Routers or Layer 3 switches may re-assemble or convert received data frames from one LAN standard (e.g., Ethernet) to another (e.g., Token Ring). Thus, Layer 3 devices are often used to interconnect dissimilar subnetworks. Some Layer 3 intermediate network devices may also examine the transport layer headers of received messages to identify the corresponding TCP or UDP port numbers being utilized by the corresponding network entities. Many applications are assigned specific, fixed TCP and/or UDP port numbers in accordance with Request For Comments (RFC) 1700. For example, TCP/UDP port number 80 corresponds to the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), while port number 21 corresponds to File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service.
Allocation of Network Resources
A process executing at a network entity may generate hundreds or thousands of traffic flows that are transmitted across a network. Generally, a traffic flow is a set of messages (frames and/or packets) that typically correspond to a particular task, transaction or operation (e.g., a print transaction) and may be identified by various network and transport parameters, such as source and destination IP addresses, source and destination TCP/UDP port numbers, and transport protocol.
The treatment that is applied to different traffic flows may vary depending on the particular traffic flow at issue. For example, an online trading application may generate stock quote messages, stock transaction messages, transaction status messages, corporate financial information messages, print messages, data backup messages, etc. A network administrator may wish to apply a different policy or service treatment ("quality of service" or "QoS") to each traffic flow. In particular, the network administrator may want a stock quote message to be given higher priority than a print transaction. Similarly, a $1 million stock transaction message for a premium client should be assigned higher priority than a $100 stock transaction message for a standard customer.
Computer networks include numerous services and resources for use in moving traffic throughout the network. For example, different network links, such as Fast Ethernet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) channels, network tunnels, satellite links, etc., offer unique speed and bandwidth capabilities. Additionally, the intermediate devices also include specific resources or services, such as number of priority queues, filter settings, availability of different queue selection strategies, congestion control algorithms, etc.
Individual frames or packets can be marked so that intermediate devices may treat them in a predetermined manner. For example, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) describes additional information for the MAC header of Data Link Layer frames in Appendix 802.1 p to the 802.1 D bridge standard.
FIG. 1A is a partial block diagram of a Data Link frame 100 that includes a MAC destination address (DA) field 102, a MAC source address (SA) field 104 and a data field 106. According to the 802.1 Q standard, a user_priority field 108, among others, is inserted after the MAC SA field 104. The user_priority field 108 may be loaded with a predetermined value (e.g., 0–7) that is associated with a particular treatment, such as background, best effort, excellent effort, etc. Network devices, upon examining the user_priority field 108 of received Data Link frames 100, apply the corresponding treatment to the frames. For example, an intermediate device may have a plurality of transmission priority queues per port, and may assign frames to different queues of a destination port on the basis of the frame's user priority value.
FIG. 1B is a partial block diagram of a Network Layer packet 120 corresponding to the Internet Protocol. Packet 120 includes a type_of_service (ToS) field 122, a protocol field 124, an IP source address (SA) field 126, an IP destination address (DA) field 128 and a data field 130. The ToS field 122 is used to specify a particular service to be applied to the packet 120, such as high reliability, fast delivery, accurate delivery, etc., and comprises a number of sub-fields. The sub-fields may include a 3-bit IP precedence (IPP) field and three one-bit flags that signify Delay, Throughput, and Reliability. By setting the flags, a device may indicate whether delay, throughput, or reliability is most important for the traffic associated with the packet.
FIG. 1C is a partial block diagram of a Transport Layer packet 150 that preferably includes a source port field 152, a destination port field 154, and a data field 156, among others. Fields 152, 154 preferably are loaded with the TCP or UDP port numbers that are utilized by corresponding network entities.
Differentiated Services
Currently, a Differentiated Services (DS) model is under development by the Internet Differentiated Services Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The main idea behind DS is the classification and possibly conditioning of traffic at network boundaries. The classification operation entails the assignment of network traffic to behavioral aggregates. The behavioral aggregates define a collection of packets with common characteristics that determine how they are identified and treated by the network.
To achieve the classification, the Internet Differentiated Services Working Group has proposed replacing the ToS field 122 of Network Layer packets 120 with a one-octet differentiated services (DS) field 132, which is assigned a differentiated services codepoint (DSCP) value between "0" and "63". (for additional details see RFC2474 "Definition of the Differentiated Services Field in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers"). Layer 3 devices that are DS compliant ("DS nodes") apply a particular per-hop forwarding behavior to data packets based on the contents of their DS fields 132. This mechanism provides a method for dividing or allocating bandwidth of a network between the different flows, and is generally referred to as the per-hop-behavior (PHB). Examples of per-hop forwarding behaviors include expedited forwarding (EF) and assured forwarding (AF). Additional information on AF and EF forwarding can be found in RFC2597 and RFC2598.
In a typical differential services environment, DS nodes located at the border of the DS domain ("edge devices") mark or "color" each IP packet for a particular flow with a specific DSCP value based on the currently established QoS policies. Such coloring may involve loading the DS field 132 of a packet with a particular DSCP value. Thereafter, the interior DS compliant devices along the path apply the corresponding forwarding behavior to the packet based on the particular DSCP value.
For example, a QoS policy typically includes a filter or Boolean expression that indicates which packets are to be colored, and with what DSCP values. Conventionally, a network administrator selects one or more QoS policies based on a predetermined priority factor. For example, a network administrator may select a QoS policy that colors all Voice Over IP (VoIP) packets with a high priority DSCP value (for example "60") but which marks all email packets with a low priority DSCP value (for example "10"). Thus, various DSCP values may be associated with various services.
Deficiencies of Past Approaches
In general, the network administrator is responsible for defining the QoS provided within a network. Conventionally, to achieve a specified per-hop-behavior for a particular QoS, a policy management station instructs DS-compliant network nodes that are within its management domain to color each packet for a particular flow with a static DSCP value. Thereafter, the DS nodes within the DS domain forward the packets through the network based on packet's color. However, a drawback with coloring the packets for a particular flow with static DSCP values is that the per-hop-behavior that is applied to each flow does not take into account the dynamic state of the network. In particular, the then-current loading or available bandwidth of the network is not taken into account. Thus, the coloring of packets based on the static DSCP values can reduce the throughput or bandwidth that is achieved within a DS domain as unutilized bandwidth cannot be shared among the different flows. As a result, network performance suffers.
For example, an online trading application that generates stock quote messages may be assigned a DSCP value "60" that provides a target bandwidth of fifty percent (50%). Additionally, the corporate financial information messages may be assigned a DSCP value of "45" that provides a target bandwidth of forty percent (40%), while the data backup messages may be assigned a DSCP value of "15" that provides a target bandwidth of ten percent (10%). Thus, regardless of the current bandwidth that is available in the network for each particular flow, all stock quote message packets are colored with a DSCP value of "60", all corporate financial information message packets are colored with a DSCP value of "45", all data backup message packets are colored with a DSCP value of "15". Therefore, even if the network has more available bandwidth (for example because the network is not currently routing any stock quote messages), all incoming data backup message packets will be colored with the static DSCP value of "15" and thus not take advantage of the available unused bandwidth.
Moreover, the bandwidth that is allocated for each color (DSCP value) must be shared between all flows having the same color (i.e., assigned the same "Service Level"). Thus, the actual forwarding behavior that is applied to a particular flow is determined not only by the color of a particular flow (i.e., GOLD, SILVER, BRONZE, etc.), but also by the number of active flows that are currently associated with the same color (i.e., having packets with the same DSCP value).
For example, all VoIP flows may be associated with the color GOLD so that they are allocated fifty percent (50%) of the network bandwidth while all email flows may be associated with the color Bronze so that they are allocated twenty percent (20%) of the network bandwidth. However, if five VoIP flows are currently active in the network, each flow will allocated approximately ten percent (50% divided by 5 equals 10%) of the network bandwidth. In addition, if there is only one email flow that is currently active in the network, the email flow will allocated twenty percent (20% divided by 1 equals 20%) of the network bandwidth. Thus, in certain situations, a flow that is colored GOLD may actually receive less network bandwidth than a flow that is colored BRONZE.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for a mechanism that can take advantage of unused network bandwidth in applying QoS within a DS domain.
There is also a need for a mechanism that takes into account the actual traffic load of the network at the time packets are colored within a DS domain.
In addition, there is also a need for mechanism that can provide a higher degree of control and predictability of the traffic patterns that exist within a network when applying a QoS within a DS domain.

Marking network data packets with differentiated services codepoints based on network load


Methods and apparatus for efficiently establishing communications connections, e.g., for a secondary application, are described. A device to device communications network has established routing paths, e.g., corresponding to a first application. Different segments of the network use different gateways. Individual communications devices within a segment of the network may have incomplete information on the routing within the segment. A wireless communications device advertises the gateway device which it uses for the first application. A first communications device seeking to establish a communications connection with a second communications device for a second application uses obtained gateway information to make transmission and/or routing decisions, e.g., identifying a third communications device which can bridge a routing path gap between two segments of the network.

There is an ever increasing demand for deploying and using device to device communications networks as more devices are produced to include communications capabilities, e.g., with multiple alternative interfaces, and new applications are offered. In addition, there are benefits in terms of cost, interference, and/or security to keeping signaling local and operating at low power levels.
Because of the dynamic nature of many device to device networks and the number of potential communications devices which may desire to have connections at a particular time, efficient routing can be problematic. It may not be practical for a communications device to download a full set of routing paths for a device to device network into the communications device, as the routing paths may change over time and/or the amount of information may be too large.
In some deployments, a set of routing path information may already exist for a first application implemented in a first network, e.g., with each routing path in the first network including a gateway device at one end which can be used to connect to another network, e.g., a cellular network. It would be beneficial if new methods and apparatus were developed which allow a second application to make use of the existing routing information and efficiently establish new connections for a second application, e.g., without the need for communicating large amount of overhead signaling related to connection establishment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The effervescent system for effervescent tablets and/or effervescent granules contains, on the one hand, particles of a solid, edible, organic acid and, on the other hand, particles of at least one alkali metal bicarbonate, of which at least 1, preferably from 2 to 4, but at most 10, preferably at most 8, % by weight are superficially converted into dry alkali metal carbonate free of water of crystallization. The acid particles, preferably citric acid particles, can be covered in a manner known per se by partial reaction with at least one carbonate and/or bicarbonate, preferably from about 20 to 40% by weight thereof. The conversion mentioned is carried out by a procedure in which commercial alkali metal bicarbonate particles are heated in a vacuum vessel at less than 40, preferably less than 20, in particular less than 10, mbar at above 60.degree. C., preferably between 80.degree. C. and 120.degree. C., in particular at about 100.degree. C., and are cooled to below 60.degree. C., preferably to below 50.degree. C., after a time predetermined by the desired layer thickness, while maintaining the vacuum. The alkali metal carbonate particles evolve only a little CO.sub.2 even on storage at elevated temperature, and the formation of free salicylic acid (fSA) from any acetylsalicylic acid mixed with the effervescent system remains very small.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an effervescent system for effervescent tablets and effervescent granules according to the precharacterizing clause of claim 1, and a process for the preparation of the effervescent system according to the precharacterizing clause of claim 5. Such an effervescent system has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,105,792, the content of which is hereby considered to have been disclosed for the purposes of the present description, and according to which alkali metal bicarbonate is heated for a short time to relatively high temperatures or for a longer time to lower temperatures, for example spread over large cups over which air flows.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known that, on the one hand, the stability of sodium bicarbonate to organic acids, for example citric acid or tartaric acid, is reduced by virtue of the fact that, without special measures, reactions occur between sodium bicarbonate and the acid owing to residual moisture which is always present. On the other hand, the sodium bicarbonate tends to undergo thermal decomposition by itself, even at only slightly elevated temperatures, according to the formula EQU 2NaHCO.sub.3 =Na.sub.2 CO.sub.3 +CO.sub.2 +H.sub.2 O.
The reaction with the acid can be prevented--but only partially--by passivating it, i.e. causing it to undergo a partial reaction at the surface with a carbonate or bicarbonate. A further improvement in the stability results if the sodium bicarbonate particles themselves are partially converted at the surface to sodium carbonate, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,105,792. The resulting water is at least partially incorporated as water of crystallization in the sodium carbonate, which however is in turn reactive by its very nature.
However, a more exact investigation of the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,105,792 showed that it was possible to achieve an improvement compared with commercial alkali metal bicarbonate particles with regard to the stability of the effervescent system and any active ingredients, for example acetylsalicylic acid, using alkali metal bicarbonate particles which are coated with alkali metal carbonate. However, the degree of improvement was still unsatisfactory, particularly in the case of relatively long storage times and/or relatively high temperatures, as may readily occur in hot countries.

Effervescent system for effervescent tablets and effervescent granules


An orthotic apparatus includes a garment, first and second switches, a power source, an indicator and a series of electrical conductors. When a patient wearing the garment assumes an undesirable position, the switches are activated and the indicator produces an audible, visual or other prompt to remind the patient to change position.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a child in a W-sitting position. In this position, the medial aspect of both knees contacts the ground and the child's lower legs and feet extend outwardly and away from the knees. W-sitting can cause various short term and long term effects on a child's hips, knees, ankles and gait.
An orthotic apparatus may include a garment, a first switch having a first portion and a second portion connected to the garment, a second switch having a first portion and a second portion connected to the garment, a power source connected to the garment, an indicator connected to the garment, a first electrical conductor electrically coupled to the first portion of the first switch and the power source, a second electrical conductor electrically coupled to the power source and the indicator, a third electrical conductor electrically coupled to the indicator and the first portion of the second switch and a fourth electrical conductor electrically coupled to the second portion of the first switch and the second portion of the second switch.
In some embodiments of the invention, the indicator is activated when the first portion of the first switch contacts the second portion of the first switch and the first portion of the second switch simultaneously contacts the second portion of the second switch.
In other embodiments of the invention, the second portion of the first switch and the second portion of the second switch are integrally formed with the garment.

Method and apparatus for discouraging W-sitting


A fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement comprising a sheet layer of reinforcing continuous filament bundles (1) arranged parallelly spaced out from each other, auxiliary covering yarns (3, 4) arranged on both sides of the sheet layer in such a manner that each of the covering yarns intersects respective reinforcing filament bundles (1) while meandering along the longitudinal direction of the reinforcing filament bundles on at least one side of the sheet layer and auxiliary chain-stitching yarns (6) which interconnects the auxiliary covering yarns on one side of the sheet layer with the auxiliary covering yarns on the other side of the sheet layer through individual spaces among adjacent reinforcing filament bundles in a warp knitting structure.

Social problems have recently arisen from the brittleness and durability of cement structures, for example, destruction of bridges caused by earthquakes, rust formation on reinforcing bars caused by the neutralization of concrete, the fatigue of reinforcing steels caused by a sharp increase in traffic volumes, and the like. Replacing the structures with new ones is naturally satisfactory. However, replacing them is very costly.
When a pier of an elevated structure is taken as an example, a method for reinforcing the pier by bonding a steel sheet to the column containing concrete with an adhesive and a method for reinforcing it by bonding sheet-like reinforcing layers containing carbon fibers have been employed as countermeasures. In particular, the latter method has come to be adopted recently because the reinforced structures show significant reinforced effects and excellent durability, and because the reinforcing operation is simple. In the sheet-like reinforcing layers containing carbon fibers mentioned above, a number of carbon fibers are arranged in parallel in one or two directions. For example, Japanese Patent Kokai Publication Nos. 5-332031 and 7-243149 propose fibrous sheets for structure reinforcement in which carbon fibers are arranged in one direction. According to the former patent publication, carbon fiber bundles each containing a number of collected carbon fibers are arranged on an auxiliary sheet in one direction through an adhesive layer. According to the latter patent publication, carbon fibers are unidirectionally pulled mutually in parallel and in a sheet-like manner to form a sheet surface, and a weave structure is formed with transverse direction secondary fiber bundles and longitudinal direction secondary fiber bundles parallel to the carbon fibers, both types of the bundles being situated on respective sides of the sheet, to hold the sheet-like carbon fiber bundle arranged in one direction.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Kokoku Publication Nos. 57-52221 and 8-23096 propose fibrous sheets for structure reinforcement in which carbon fibers are bidirectionally arranged.
According to the former patent publication, two carbon fiber bundles the carbon fibers of which are pulled unidirectionally and mutually in parallel in a sheet-like manner within each bundle and which face each other form a bidirectional sheet surface. The sheet surface is made to form a weave structure by longitudinal secondary fibers and transverse secondary fibers which are parallel to the respective fiber bundles, and is integrally held. According to the latter patent publication, a bias fabric is formed by a longitudinal carbon fiber bundle and a transverse carbon fiber bundle extending obliquely in relation to the longitudinal carbon fiber bundle, and the carbon fibers are bidirectionally arranged on the bias.
These unidirectional or bidirectional fibrous sheets for structure reinforcement are prepared to display the excellent high strength and high elastic modulus of the carbon fibers in the fiber axial direction as much as possible. Moreover, an auxiliary sheet and secondary fibers other than the carbon fibers are used to integrally hold the carbon fibers and obtain a fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement having a decreased fiber slippage within a sheet. That is, though a woven fabric is generally prepared by mutually intersecting warps and wefts to have a decreased fiber slippage, the constituent fibers are markedly bent at the intersectioning points of the warps and wefts. As a result, when a stress is applied to the fabric, the stress is concentrated at the bent portions, and in a woven fabric consisting of carbon fibers, the inherent high strength and high elastic modulus of carbon fibers cannot be displayed.
However, in spite of the improvement of the fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement as described above, a coarse fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement having a decreased fiber slippage, a high toughness unidirectionally or bidirectionally and numerous spaces among reinforcing fibers in a sheet is not obtained currently. To reinforce, for example, a column containing concrete by the use of the fibrous sheets for structure reinforcement, the concrete to be reinforced is first coated with an adhesive and the concrete is subsequently wound with the fibrous sheet while the sheet is being pressed, followed by coating the fibrous sheet with an adhesive to form a reinforcing layer. In order to make the fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement function as a reinforcement layer, it is important that the adhesive should penetrate sufficiently among fibers within each of the fiber bundles and among the fiber bundles. To meet the requirement, the fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement must have spaces the adhesive can penetrate among the reinforcing fibers forming the fibrous sheet, namely among fibers within each of the fiber bundles and among the fiber bundles. In general, when the spaces among the fibers in the fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement become large, there arise problems that the slippages among fibers become large and that the toughness falls in the arrangement direction of the fibers. Accordingly, the fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement can fulfill its role as a reinforcing layer of a member to be reinforced only after the fibrous sheet sufficiently meets the three requirements mentioned above.
Disclosure of Invention
An object of the present invention is to solve the problems associated with the prior art as mentioned above, and provide a fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement which has a decreased slippage within the sheet, a high toughness in the arranged directions of the fibers (one or two directions), numerous spaces among fibers and good penetration of an adhesive, as a fibrous sheet for reinforcing not only general structures but also piers of elevated structures, columns and walls of buildings, and the like, which also facilitates handling during execution of works and which has lightness of the reinforcing layer, and a structure reinforced with the sheet.
The present inventors have intensively conducted investigation to meet the following requirements simultaneously so that the above object is achieved: prevention of fiber slippage within the fibrous sheet for reinforcement, high toughness in the arranged direction of the fibers, and numerous spaces among fibers. As a result, they have elucidated that the problems can be solved only after adopting a specific warp knitting structure.
That is, according to the present invention, the following fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement is provided.
A fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement comprising
a sheet layer of reinforcing continuous filament bundles arranged parallelly spaced out from each other, PA1 auxiliary covering yarns arranged on both sides of said sheet layer in such a manner that each of said covering yarns intersects respective reinforcing filament bundles while meandering along the longitudinal direction of said reinforcing filament bundles on at least one side of said sheet layer, and PA1 auxiliary chain-stitching yarns which interconnects the auxiliary covering yarns on one side of said sheet layer with the auxiliary covering yarns on the other side of said sheet layer through individual spaces among adjacent reinforcing filament bundles in a warp knitting structure.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, the following structure is provided.
A structure formed by covering a structure member to be reinforced with the fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement as mentioned above in the peripheral and/or longitudinal direction through an adhesive.

Fibrous sheet for structure reinforcement and structure reinforced with same


In a chip type solid electrolytic capacitor including a capacitor element and a packaging resin covering the capacitor element, the packaging resin has a mount surface and a side surface adjacent to the mount surface. A terminal is electrically connected to the capacitor element and coupled to the packaging resin. The terminal extends along the mount surface and the side surface to have an outer surface exposed from the packaging resin and to have an inner surface opposite to the outer terminal surface. The inner surface has a stepwise shape formed by forging.

The present invention relates to a chip type solid electrolytic capacitor and to a method of manufacturing the same.
An example of a chip type solid electrolytic capacitor comprises a capacitor element, a packaging resin covering the capacitor element, and anode and cathode terminal which are electrically connected to the capacitor element and coupled to the packaging resin. The packaging resin has a mount surface and a side surface adjacent to the mount surface. A chip type solid electrolytic capacitor of the type is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 291079/1993 and will be described in detail in conjunction with the drawing.
In case where such a chip type solid electrolytic capacitor is tried to be reduced in size and in height, a volume ratio of the anode and the cathode terminals relative to the chip type solid electrolytic capacitor is increased. When the volume ratio of the anode and the cathode terminals is increased, the ratio of the volume of a portion of the capacitor element which contributes to capacitance with respect to the total volume of the capacitor, i.e., the volume efficiency is reduced. For example, when the thickness (height) of the capacitor (the package resin) is 0.8 mm, the volume efficiency of capacitor element may be as small as 20% or less.

Chip type solid electrolytic capacitor having a small size and a simple structure


A method of playing a two card poker game by at least one player and a bank r who is preferably also the dealer. The game features multiple rounds of dealing out of the same deck(s). The player has the option to wager against the dealer, wager against a predetermined payout schedule, or both. Additional optional bets may be offered.

The present invention relates to gaming and to card games. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a method of playing a new type of poker game especially adapted for casino gaming, both in live table and electronic video formats.
Gaming establishments continually require new games to offer their players. Casinos seek games that are easy to play and deal and that also create many decisions per hour. In popular casino poker games such as "Three Card Poker", "Let It Ride" and "Caribbean Stud Poker" they have found such games that are faster that the traditional poker room type game (which also requires a larger table).
The problems associated with the above mentioned games are in the speed of the delivery to the customers. Players get bored waiting for the constant shuffling before they get to see a new hand. In each of the above listed popular casino poker games, each game only deals one hand to a player and then there is a shuffle. Therefore there is a constant need for the casino to get more "hands per hour" to increase the casino hold. The game of two card poker solves this problem by dealing more than one round of cards from the same deck (s) thus increasing the speed of the game. Time is saved by not having to shuffle as frequently. The players are happier because they get hands to them more quickly.
Insofar as the prior art is concerned, the art is particularly void of any disclosures or showings of a two card poker game or of any game that deals more than one round from a single deck (s). The patent to Webb U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,823 discloses a card game which may either be played in either a three card variation, or a five card variation. While the patent mentions a two card version of the game it includes a wild card to make a three card hand. Hence, the wagering system is dependant upon a three card hand and is not dependant upon the best hand with two cards. Webb fails to disclose a two card capability to make a two card straight or flush or the dealing of more than one round of cards from the same single deck, and or more than one round from at least two decks.
Insofar as the prior art is concerned, the art is void of any disclosures or showings of a two card poker game that appreciates a 2 card straight or a 2 card flush by dealing only two cards. Additionally, the art is of any disclosures or showings of any poker game, which deals more than one round of poker from at least a single deck(s) and before a shuffle. The game features multiple rounds of poker being dealt from the same deck(s) and before a shuffle. This feature, which is non-obvious and novel, shall be incorporated into poker hands that can be featured in either two card poker games, three card poker games, four card poker games, five card poker games, six card poker games and or any other predetermined amount of cards for a poker game(s).
The patent to Goldman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,002 discloses a poker style casino game which uses a 52 card standard deck plus an additional 5 jokers for a total of 57 cards. The game concludes with the comparison f a five card poker hand between the dealer and the player (s). Goldman reveals that the jokers used are not wild and thus are bad for a player to get because they can not now complete their five card hands. Goldman fails to reveal any capability to make a two card poker hand or deal more than one round from a single deck (s).


A network device decrypts a record, received from a client device, that is associated with an encrypted session between the client device and an application platform. The network device incorporates decrypted record data, from the decrypted record, into a payload field of a transmission control protocol (TCP) packet to be transmitted to another device, identifies a record header in the record, and determines, based on the record header, a record type associated with the decrypted record. Based on the record type, the network device marks the one or more TCP packets as including urgent data by setting a TCP urgent control bit in a header of the one or more TCP packets, and sets a second field, in the header of the TCP packet, to a second value that identifies an end of the urgent data, which corresponds to an end of the decrypted record data in the payload field.

A cryptographic protocol, such as secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol, transport layer security (TLS) protocol, and/or the like, may be used to encrypt a communications session between a first device and a second device. In some cases, the first device and/or the second device may transmit various types of encrypted information in the encrypted session, such as encrypted application data, encrypted alert data, encrypted handshake data, encrypted heartbeat data, and/or the like.

Transmitting and storing different types of encrypted information using TCP urgent mechanism


A method of modifying the rheology of a thermoplastic resin that includes the steps of providing a thermoplastic resin and blending interpolymer resin particles with the thermoplastic resin. The interpolymer resin contains a styrenic polymer intercalated within a polyolefin, such that the thermoplastic resin is present as a continuous phase and the interpolymer resin is present as a dispersed phase. The method provides a rheology modified thermoplastic resin with improved physical characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to methods of modifying the rheology of thermoplastic resins and in particular to compositions containing thermoplastics and polyolefin containing interpolymers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Thermoplastics, such as polyolefins are often used in applications such as blown film, cast films, solid sheets, injection molded articles, thermoformed articles, blow molded articles, rotomolded articles, compression molded articles, and functional films. In many processing operations, the throughput rate, melt elasticity, processibility and physical properties such as strength properties, heat seal properties, rheological properties, diffusion properties, and optical properties of the polyolefins do not meet the needs of the end user and/or are slow and/or difficult to process.
As a non-limiting example, the low shear viscosity of many thermoplastics is too low under normal processing conditions and thermoformed articles made from the polyolefin are non-uniform with thin sections that create weak points in the structure of the article.
In another non-limiting example, many thermoplastics can be too elastic under processing conditions resulting in poor processibility and low throughput rates.
As a further non-limiting example, many thermoplastics can be too viscous under processing conditions, also resulting in poor processibility and low throughput rates.
Thus, there is a need in the art for thermoplastic, and in particular polyolefin and elastomer compositions that provide an adequate balance between viscous and elastic properties to provide good processibility while maintaining good physical properties such as strength properties, heat seal properties, and optical properties.

Method of modifying the rheology of a thermoplastic resin


Example methods are provided for a host to perform authentication offload in a virtualized computing environment that includes the host and a destination server. The method may comprise detecting, from a virtualized computing instance, a packet destined for the destination server. The method may also comprise: in response to determination that the detected packet is an authentication request, obtaining, from the virtualized computing instance, metadata associated with a client application for which authentication is requested; and sending the authentication request and the metadata to the destination server to cause the destination server to authenticate the client application based on the metadata.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Virtualization allows the abstraction and pooling of hardware resources to support virtual machines in a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). For example, through server virtualization, virtual machines running different operating systems may be supported by the same physical machine (e.g., referred to as a "host"). Each virtual machine is generally provisioned with virtual resources to run an operating system and applications. The virtual resources may include central processing unit (CPU) resources, memory resources, storage resources, network resources, etc. For example, in practice, a virtual machine may run a client application that requires access to resources or services provided by a remote server. For security reasons, authentication of the client application may be performed to verify whether the client application should be have access to the resources or services. However, conventional authentication approaches may not be suitable for virtualized computing environments.

Authentication offload in virtualized computing environments


The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for determining annotations for a map. Location information for mobile devices and contextual information associated with users of mobile devices may be utilized to determine such annotations.

1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to annotations for a mapping application.
2. Information
A mobile device, such as a cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or any other mobile wireless device may from time to time determine its location or position. A mobile device may include a graphical user interface or display for presenting a mapping application program. For example, such a mapping application program may present a map indicating a current location of a user's mobile device and various structures and/or topology in a surrounding area. In one example, a mapping application program may display a street-level map and a user's location on the map. A map may include various annotations, such as street names and/or names of various buildings/structures on the map. For example, a mapping application program may present one or more streets and buildings, such as a police station and public high school.
However, displaying structures, by themselves, may not provide sufficient information for a user to determine the identity of certain structures. For example, merely displaying structures of buildings on a high school campus may not provide enough information for a user of a mapping application to determine, for example, a name of the high school or the location of a principal's office within the high school. Some mapping application programs display certain labels on a map, such as a school name. A programmer may manually add such labels to a map and may periodically manually update such labels to reflect changes on a map.

Method and system for building annotation layers based on location aware user context information


A covering for architectural openings including a roller; a shade wrapped around the roller, the shade configured to extend from or retract onto the roller when the roller rotates; a retraction motor operably coupled to the roller for biasing the roller in a direction to retract the shade, wherein the retraction motor includes a spring having a first end rotatable with the roller and a second end fixed against rotation of the roller, wherein rotation of the roller unwraps or further wraps the spring to store energy therein; and a positioning device including: a circumferential track including at least one seat; and a pin engaging the circumferential track, wherein the pin selectively enters the at least one seat of the circumferential track to hold the shade, and is selectively releasable therefrom for additional extension or retraction.

Field
The present disclosure relates generally to retractable shades for architectural openings and more particularly to locks for positioning retractable shades at desired orientations and heights.
Related Art
Retractable shades have been popular for many years and generally extend across or are retracted from covering architectural openings such as windows, doorways, archways, and the like. Such retractable coverings may include a roller rotatably supported with a shade material suspended therefrom. The shade material can either be wrapped about the roller when retracting the shade or unwrapped from the roller when extending the shade.
Many retractable coverings are operated with flexible operating cords which may extend, for example, downwardly through or adjacent to the shade material to the bottom rail of the covering from the head rail and be operated from free ends of the cords. The free ends of the cords may be exposed adjacent to one end of a head rail for manipulation of an operator.
Operating and pull cords can be an issue with retractable coverings, as in some instances the cords may become tangled and difficult to use, fray or break, damage the covering from repeated wear, and may sometimes form loops that may present a risk to users.

Position lock for roller supported architectural coverings


Techniques are directed to a method of displaying data storage system widgets to a user within a graphical user interface of a data storage system management application running on a computing device. The method includes (a) during operation of the data storage system management application, repeatedly calculating, by the computing device, relevancy scores for a plurality of available data storage system widgets based on expected needs of the user, (b) during operation of the data storage system management application, repeatedly selecting, by the computing device, a set of widgets having the highest calculated relevancy scores from the plurality of available widgets, and (c) during operation of the data storage system management application, repeatedly displaying the selected set of widgets to the user on a display screen, the displayed widgets each presenting data storage system management data to the user. A computer program product and apparatus are also provided.

Data storage systems are used to store large quantities of data in a fast and integrated manner. Data storage systems are often configured to provide a management interface to a user, such as a storage administrator, operating a management console or a management application running on a computer in network communication with the data storage system. The management application allows the user to view information about the configuration and operation of the data storage system.


A system for obtaining real time measurements of at least one variable, such as temperature, of a molten metal bath where the variable is measured by immersion of an expendable primary element. The system includes a data transmitting assembly which receives the output of the primary element and when that output is within a predetermined range, indicating a valid reading, transmits a digital radio signal indicative of the magnitude of the variable. A data receiving assembly operates to receive the transmitted radio signal and a display device responsive to the output of the receiving device displays the magnitude of the variable.

This invention relates to data gathering systems for obtaining real time measurements of a number of different variables normally measured in molten metal processes, such as the steel making process. These variables include the temperature of the steel, its carbon content, its oxygen content, its aluminum content; as well as the manganese, magnesium and silicon content and the carbon equivalent. Measurements of this type, in molten metal baths, in industrial surroundings, have been made for a number of years using hard wired connections between the primary element or sensor which detects the magnitude of the variable being measured and the instrument being used to display or record the magnitude of the variable.
Typical of such measurements is the measurement of temperature in molten steel by the use of platinum thermocouples mounted at the end of a lance which serves to immerse the thermocouple either manually or automatically into the molten steel. Such thermocouples are usually housed in a protecting case which melts upon immersion to allow exposure of the couple to the molten steel so that the couple will develop an output potential which is directly related to the temperature of the steel. When the primary element is a thermocouple, the connection to the indicating or recording instrument is usually by way of compensating leadwire, as is well known in the thermocouple art.
In many molten metal applications where it is desired to make measurements by automatically immersing sensors into the molten metal, the use of hard wired connections becomes a source of many problems. Workers working at sites using such automatic systems have found that they occasionally trip on the wires and that the wires become damaged to such an extent that they miss important readings. In addition to the disadvantage occasioned by the missed readings, there is added disadvantage which results from the maintenance required to repair the damaged wires. In those applications where it may not be necessary to use an automatically operated lance for immersion hard wired connections are still found to be an inconvenience in operating such a device.
It is an object of this invention to provide a data gathering system which will allow the indicating and recording of the magnitude of both a single variable as well as a plurality of variables in molten metal processes in such a way as to avoid the inconvenience and costly maintenance involved in hard wired systems such as have been used in the past.

Wireless data gathering system for molten metal processing


An object of the present invention is to provide a technology that enables highly sensitive atmospheric-pressure real-time mass spectrometry of a volatile substance. The present invention provides a coupling device for a mass spectrometry apparatus that is an interface member to be connected to an atmospheric-pressure real-time mass spectrometry apparatus, the coupling device including (A) an excitation gas introducing port, a sample gas introducing port, and an ionized sample gas discharging port, (B) a channel through which the excitation gas introducing port and the ionized sample gas discharging port are in communication, and (C) a space for mixing excitation gas and sample gas being formed in a region of a portion of the channel recited in (B), by the coupling device having a structure in which the sample gas introducing port and the channel recited in (B) are in communication.

A mass spectrometry method is a technique that is widely used as a means for analyzing various substances in many technical fields. Given the great demand for mass spectrometry, ionization methods for ionizing samples are under development, thus increasing the applicability of mass spectrometry to various samples, and making it possible to analyze a large variety of substances.
However, many conventional mass spectrometry methods require a special space (closed environment) for ionizing an analysis sample under conditions such as a high temperature, a vacuum, a high voltage, laser irradiation, and the like. That is, in principle, it is necessary to seal a sample in a sealed ionization chamber and ionize the sample, and these methods place significant restrictions on performing sample analysis (see Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example).
In such a situation, new technologies such as the DART method and the DESI method have been developed as ionization methods that can achieve real-time direct ionization of a sample under ambient conditions (see Non-Patent Documents 1 to 4, for example).
Here, the DART (direct analysis in real time) method is a method in which an interaction between molecules (particularly water molecules) in the atmosphere and a sample is induced by discharging excitation gas at the sample under the atmospheric environment to ionize the sample. The DART method is an excellent method with which the sample can be directly ionized merely by being held close to an ion source in an open system.
The DESI (desorption electrospray ionization) method is a method in which electrically charged minute droplets of a solvent for ionization are attached to the surface of a sample by spraying the solvent onto the surface of the sample using a capillary to which voltage is applied, and mass spectrometry is performed on the ionized sample desorbed from the surface of the sample at that time.
Although the DART method and the DESI method are excellent methods that enable atmospheric-pressure real-time mass spectrometry, there is a disadvantage in that these methods are unsuitable for analysis of a volatile substance in principle.
These methods are methods in which ionization is performed in an open system and thus there is an inherent fundamental problem that if a volatile substance is analyzed, the ionized sample is scattered by diffusion or the like because of the structure of an apparatus, resulting in a marked decrease in detection sensitivity.
As described above, with the mass spectrometry methods using an ion source of conventional technologies, there is no technique for analyzing a volatile substance with a high sensitivity in real time under ambient conditions.
As a technique of a conventional technology for improving the detection sensitivity of a volatile substance, the only means is to analyze a gaseous sample or the like collected in a collection bottle, a sampling bag, or the like during a certain period of time, and therefore, a technique for analyzing a volatile substance with a high sensitivity "in real time under ambient conditions" has been anticipated. Moreover, it is desired that this analysis can be realized with a simple operation.
It should be noted that there is a technique in which a volatile substance is analyzed by gas chromatography (GC method) as a mass spectrometry method that enables highly sensitive analysis, but it requires pretreatment of the sample and a long measurement time (specifically one hour or more), and thus real-time analysis is not possible.

Coupling device for mass spectrometry apparatus


The present invention provides organometallic compounds and methods of forming thin films including using the same. The organometallic compounds include a metal and a ligand linked to the metal. The ligand can be represented by the following formula (1):

Materials having a high dielectric constant may be used for forming a thin film in a semiconductor device such as a gate insulation layer of a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor, a dielectric layer of a capacitor or a dielectric layer of a flash memory device. The thin film including a high-dielectric (k) material may possess a thin equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) and may reduce the leakage current between a gate electrode and a channel, or between a lower electrode and an upper electrode. The thin film may also improve the coupling ratio of the flash memory device.
Examples of a high-k material include tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), yttrium oxide (Y2O3), hafnium oxide (HfO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), niobium oxide (Nb2O5), barium titanium oxide (BaTiO3), strontium titanium oxide (SrTiO3), etc.
A thin film including strontium titanium oxide (SrTiO3) may be formed using a strontium compound, a titanium compound as an organometallic compound and an oxidizing agent. A thin film including strontium ruthenium oxide (SrRuO3) may be formed using a strontium compound, a ruthenium compound as an organometallic compound and an oxidizing agent.
Examples of the strontium compound for forming the thin film including strontium titanium oxide or strontium ruthenium oxide may include strontium tetramethyl heptadione (Sr(TMHD)2) or strontium methylethoxy tetramethyl heptadione (Sr(METHD)2). Methylethoxy tetramethyl heptadione may serve as ligands for the organometallic compound.
A strontium oxide layer formed using Sr(TMHD)2 or Sr(METHD)2 may have a high dielectric constant. However, Sr(TMHD)2 or Sr(METHD)2 may be vaporized in a canister having a temperature of higher than about 250° C. In order to form the strontium oxide layer at a temperature of lower than about 250° C., considerable time may be involved to provide Sr(TMHD)2 or Sr(METHD)2 into a chamber. As the amount of time increases, throughput in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices may decrease. Additionally, it may be beneficial to provide a method of forming a metal oxide layer having a high dielectric constant and a good step coverage using a material with suitable volatility.

Organometallic compounds and methods of forming thin films including the use of the same

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 are each independently hydrogen or an alkyl group. The thin films may be applied to semiconductor structures such as a gate insulation layer of a gate structure and a dielectric layer of a capacitor.


A self-timed multiplier and method are disclosed together with an analog to digital converter (ADC), which reduces ADC latency without requiring large silicon areas for implementation. The self-timed multiplier may be utilized by delta-sigma ADCs to perform gain compensation multiplications at the end of convolution, or may be used by other ADC designs or ADC systems for multiplications required during each convolution. The self-timed multiplier utilizes cascaded adders that produce completion signals to isolate the operation of the self-timed multiplier from the system clock of the ADC. The multiplier disclosed provides a self-timed, asynchronous circuit that will complete the desired multiplication in the time it takes for the required additions to propagate through the cascaded adders. This propagation time preferably falls within a single system clock cycle of the ADC, and the self-timed multiplier disclosed is particularly advantageous for ADCs with relatively slow system clock speeds for which a multiplication may be completed within a single system clock cycle. The self-timed multiplier may also be made data dependent to save power and to reduce the time required for the additions to propagate through the cascaded adders.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multiplier circuits for analog to digital converters (ADCs). More particularly, the present invention relates to implementations for multiplier circuits to perform gain compensation multiplications and other multiplications required by an ADC during each convolution and to reduce latency in ADC performance.
2. Description of Related Art
Multiplication of two binary numbers, such as an M.times.N bit multiplication, is an inherent part of analog to digital converters (ADCs). Some ADCs require a multiplication during each system clock cycle, whereas others require multiplication only once per conversion to gain up or down the digital word at the end of each convolution of the filter. The latency of an ADC, which refers to the delay time it takes for an ADC to receive an input and provide a converted output, is dependent upon the multiplications required by the ADC and the implementation chosen to accomplish these multiplications.
In general terms, a multiplication may be achieved in an integrated circuit by performing a sequence of add and shift operations. Numerous implementations have been developed for performing a multiplication, such as parallel, partially parallel, serial/parallel, and serial architecture implementations.
In fully parallel architectures, all partial products for the multiplication are formed first, and then added to give the desired result. Partially parallel architectures form some of the partial products and then combine them to give the desired result. Depending on the system clock frequency and the size of the operands, parallel architectures can be made fast so that the multiplication is completed in one system clock cycle. Thus, by using parallel multipliers to perform required multiplications, ADCs have obtained decreased latency and increased throughput. Parallel and partially parallel multipliers, however, make poor use of silicon area, because at any point in time most of the adders in the multiplier are idle.
With an M.times.N bit multiplication using serial/parallel architecture and serial architecture multipliers, the number of cycles required to complete multiplications typically increases resulting in a corresponding increased latency in the performance of ADCs. However, the silicon area required for implementation of these architectures typically decreases, depending upon the particular design. Fully serial multipliers take M.times.N cycles to complete a multiplication, but have the best use of silicon area. Serial/parallel multiplier implementations require M+N cycles using carry-save adders, and require M+1 or N+1 cycles using carry propagate adders. Depending on the multiplier implementation utilized, therefore, it may take 1, N+1, M+1, M+N, or M.times.N cycles to complete a required multiplication.
Serial architectures for ADC multipliers, therefore, provide the best use of silicon area but create the highest latency in the ADC performance, while parallel architectures create the lowest latency in ADC performance but have the worst use of silicon area. In addition, for ADCs that require only a single multiplication operation per convolution, such as a single gain compensation multiplication, parallel and partially parallel multipliers are impractical because of the severe cost in silicon area required for these implementations, and serial multipliers are impractical because they create too much latency in ADC performance.

Self-timed multiplier for gain compensation and reduced latency in analog to digital converters