A tool for extracting threaded inserts from threaded holes. The tool includes a drive shaft and one or more blades extending from the drive shaft at its insertion end. Upon insertion of the tool into a hole containing a threaded insert, the blades cut grooves into the top coil of the insert. The tool is configured such that the blades have an outer radius greater than the inner radius of the threaded insert but less than the inner radius of the parent threads. By rotating the tool, the user may then exert pressure against the sides of these grooves and rotate the insert out of the hole. In a preferred embodiment, the tool also includes a guide shaft at the insertion end of the tool, for aligning the tool in the hole and reducing the risk of contact between a blade and the parent threads. The engagement end of the drive shaft, located opposite the insertion end, may be configured to engage a drive mechanism.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a tool for extracting threaded inserts from threaded holes. More particularly, the present invention is related to a tool which is capable of cutting at least one groove in the interior surface of a threaded insert and then applying torque to the edge of the groove to twist the insert out of a threaded hole without risk of damage to the parent threads.
2. Technical Background
Threaded inserts are commonly used in the repair and refurbishing of mechanical mechanisms. In many situations it is common for threaded holes to be damaged such that the threads are no longer in their original usable condition. For example, it is common for a bolt placed within a threaded hole to become lodged. Removal of the bolt may require the application of forces sufficient to damage the threads within the threaded hole. Alternatively, simple wear and tear may eventually result in such damage to the threads within a hole that they will no longer satisfactorily perform their intended functions.
Once a set of threads is damaged, however, there are a limited number of steps that can be taken in order to reuse or replace the mechanical part which includes a threaded hole. One alternative is to discard the part. This alternative is only practical, however, when the part is relatively inexpensive and replacement parts are readily available. In the case of damaged threads included on large, complex, or expensive pieces of machinery, it may not be practical to simply replace the part. Rather, refurbishment of the part may be required.
One method of partially repairing damaged threads involves drilling out the damaged threads and then re-threading the new larger hole. It is obvious, however, that the new hole will no longer be capable of holding a bolt of the same size as the original hole. In order to solve this problem, it is conventional to insert a threaded insert, such as those sold under the Helicoil.RTM. tradename, into the newly threaded hole.
A threaded insert is essentially a coiled helix. Such a device is a coiled strand, shaped in the same general manner as a coiled spring. The strand may be a rhombus or some other shape in cross-section. The insert is inserted into the newly threaded hole by first winding or compressing the coil in the same manner that a coil spring would be wound. Specialized tools are commercially available for winding a threaded insert for insertion. The diameter of the coil is reduced during the winding step, providing for easy insertion of the coil into the threaded hole. When the insertion tool is removed, the coil unwinds and expands, seating the coil into the parent threads. Thus, the coil engages the parent threads through friction.
Once the threaded insert is secured in place, it is possible to insert a bolt of the same size previously used in the device because the gap between the bolt and the parent threads is filled by the threaded insert. Thus, it is not necessary to replace the device having the damaged threads, or to resort to a larger sized bolt. As mentioned above, this mechanism is used in many different contexts, from small engines to very large and complex machinery.
Threaded inserts are commonly used in connection with aluminum. Because of its light weight compared to steel and many other metals, aluminum is a favored material for the construction of aircraft components and other parts employed in weight-sensitive contexts. However, aluminum is not as strong as heavier metals. Consequently, torque values which may be maintained in aluminum threads are necessarily limited. By utilizing a threaded insert, the parent threads may be bigger, thereby enhancing the torque per surface area ratio and resulting in stronger attachment of the bolt to the threads.
One problem that has been frequently encountered in the use of threaded inserts is the difficulty in removal of the inserts from the threaded holes after insertion. It is often necessary, over the life of a piece of machinery, to remove and replace the threaded inserts. Refurbishment of space shuttle booster motors, for instance, requires the removal of hundreds of threaded inserts; the nozzle assembly alone includes over 1500 holes in which threaded inserts are utilized. Reasons for removal may include corrosion between the insert and the parent threads, damage to the threaded insert during use, or a need to fully refurbish the mechanical part in which the insert is seated.
It is conventional in the art to remove threaded inserts by using a standard wedge-shaped extraction tool, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,244,824 to H. Caminez. Such an extraction tool is wedged down into the interior of the threaded hole until it engages the threaded insert. The wedge is generally provided with sharpened edges which are driven into the inside diameter of the first coil of the threaded insert. Once the tool has engaged the coil, the tool is twisted in the appropriate direction to back the insert out of the parent threads.
It will be appreciated that this type of tool has serious drawbacks in extracting threaded inserts. One drawback relates to the forces which are exerted on the insert. In order for the wedge to securely maintain engagement with the insert during extraction, the wedge must continuously be forced toward the bottom of the hole. Because the wedge is triangular, forcing the wedge toward the bottom of the hole also forces the threaded insert outward against the parent threads. This outward force in turn increases the friction between the insert and the parent threads, making it harder to remove the insert. The outward force may also damage the parent threads.
Another disadvantage of the prior art wedge-shaped tool is apparent when the first thread of the insert lies appreciably below the top of the hole. In this situation, the wedge may directly engage and damage the parent threads. The hole must then be drilled out, rethreaded, and fitted with two threaded inserts instead of one to permit continued use of bolts of a given diameter. Use of a second insert in this manner may be unacceptable due to the time required, the proximity of other holes to the damaged hole, or other engineering constraints.
Yet another drawback of the wedge tool is the lack of any structure to align the tool with respect to the hole. Misalignment may permit one blade of the wedge to cut completely through the threaded insert and damage the parent threads when pressure is applied to the tool to secure it in engagement with the threaded insert.
A further drawback of the wedge tool is the tendency of the tool to induce carpal tunnel syndrome or similar ailments in workers who repeatedly employ the tool to remove threaded inserts. The top of the tool is fitted with a T-shaped handle, rather than a hex-shaped head or other configuration suitable for engaging the tool to a drive mechanism such as a ratchet or a motor. Moreover, even if a drive mechanism were attached, workers would still be required to manually maintain alignment, since the wedge tool lacks any structure to align the tool to protect the parent threads.
An additional drawback of prior art devices arises from the fact that many applications employ a flange above the hole. The flange prevents the user from visually determining whether there is a threaded insert in the hole. If the wedge tool is inserted in a hole that contains no insert, the wedge blades may engage and damage the parent threads before the leading tip of the wedge reaches the bottom of the hole. The tool of this invention, by contrast, permits a tactile determination of whether an insert is present without engaging the grooving edge of the blades against the parent threads.
Thus, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a tool for extraction of threaded inserts which overcomes the drawbacks of existing extraction tools. More particularly, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a threaded insert extraction tool which is capable of extracting inserts without the necessity of wedging the tool into the interior of the insert. Such an advancement would reduce both the risk of damage to the parent threads and the friction between the insert and the parent threads that opposes extraction.
It would also be an advancement in the art to provide such a removal tool which is capable of extracting threaded inserts positioned at various distances below the top of the hole without risking damage to the parent threads.
It would be an additional advancement to provide a tool whose blades are maintained in alignment with the hole, thereby reducing the danger of destroying the parent threads.
It would be a further advancement in the art to reduce the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome and similar ailments in workers by providing a threaded insert removal tool suitable for use with a drive mechanism.
It would also be an advancement to provide a threaded insert tool configured to permit a tactile determination of the presence or absence of an insert without significant risk to the parent threads of empty holes.
Such an apparatus is disclosed and claimed herein.


A power service unit suited for providing conditioned power to a consuming device at a remote location. The power service unit includes a charger/rectifier, a back-up power supply, together an automated dialer that contacts a central monitor in the event there is a disruption in the operation of the power service unit. The charger/rectifier accepts an external AC power and converts the external AC power to an internal DC power. The internal DC power maintains the back-up power supply in a fully charged state and the converter accepts the internal DC power and converts the internal DC power to an external DC power as required by the consuming device.

Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a power service unit suited to condition commercial electric power for use by a fiber optic modulator/demodulator unit, provide back up power in the event of failure of the primary power source and notify personnel when there is a disruption in the operation of the power service unit.

Power service unit with automated dialer and other enhancements


Evaluating future healthcare event risks of a patient includes receiving, at one or more computers, patient healthcare data for the patient, wherein the patient healthcare data represents a healthcare event and includes one or more healthcare codes, accessing, with the one or more computers, a database that associates the healthcare event and the healthcare codes with risks of potentially preventable healthcare events, and presenting, with the one or more computers, indications of the risks of potentially preventable healthcare events to a user to facilitate mitigation of the risks of potentially preventable healthcare events for the patient.

In the healthcare field, patient readmissions are a source of waste and contribute to increased overall costs for the system, which translate to higher payment costs for insurers and higher healthcare coverage of individuals. In addition, some major payers such as Medicare have begun to impose substantial payment penalties to hospitals that have high readmission rates. As a result, hospitals are making major investment in processes and programs to reduce patient readmission. In order to be most effective, efforts to reduce readmissions should begin and occur during a patient's stay in the hospital.

Predicting risk for preventable patient healthcare events


An automatic transmission includes a plurality of frictional engagement elements for constructing plural shift stages with combinations of engagement and disengagement thereof, a control portion for controlling the engagement and the disengagement of the frictional engagement elements, a switching device switching to a learning mode for learning a precharge time, and a precharge time determination device. The precharge time determination device transits the frictional engagement elements to an engagement side by maintaining the hydraulic pressure for determining the precharge time at a first precharge pressure while maintaining input shaft rotational speed at the learning mode at a vehicle stop state. A first precharge time defined from a start of maintaining the first precharge pressure until variation of an input value assumes significant is obtained. And a second precharge time at a second precharge pressure is obtained to be set for learning by a predetermined formula.

A known hydraulic pressure control system for an automatic transmission forms clutch pressure by directly controlling the hydraulic pressure from hydraulic pressure source with a solenoid valve without adopting an accumulator. With the foregoing known hydraulic pressure control system, the following method is proposed for achieving the smooth and high responsive gearshift feeling by swiftly supplying oil to frictional engagement elements (i.e., frictional clutches, frictional brakes) at shifting. According to the known method, the communication between the frictional engagement elements and line pressure is established at the start of the hydraulic pressure supply, and the direct communication between the frictional engagement elements and the line pressure is blocked when the supply of the hydraulic pressure is completed to hold at pressure corresponding to the pressure of return spring by establishing the communication between the frictional engagement elements and a pressure control valve, that is, the method for transiting to the pressure control after the flow control (i.e., precharge control).
With this regard, because the flow control depends on the individual differences deriving from the movement of a clutch piston, the input and the output volume of the oil, and the leakages of the oil, or the like, and also varies depending on the piece-to-piece individual variations such as the automatic transmission and the engine, a method for compensating for individual differences is desired at the initial state for shipment. It has to be considered that the determination of the hydraulic pressure characteristic value at the initial state for shipment is conducted at the vehicle stop state without running the vehicle, and all conditions for actual shift cannot be reproduced. Particularly, a large volume of the operational fluid is consumed when switching the oil path at the shift and when the transmission is controlled to charge the fluid suddenly at the initial stage of the shift, and the operational fluid is unlikely sufficiently supplied by the pump output volume for the determination of the precharge time, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication JP10(1998)-96466A2 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication JPH10(1998)-68462A2. Thus, the decline of the line pressure influences on the tested value further than the piece-to-piece individual variations of the automatic transmission and the engine.
As shown in FIG. 12 showing the oil pump performance used for the automatic transmission, the pump output volume is increased proportional to the rotational speed of a pump. A variable volume type vane pump and a gear pump with flow control valve, or the like, is adopted for controlling the output volume to be minimal to restrain the excessive flow when the engine rotational speed reaches a predetermined rotational speed which corresponds to the unnecessary flow amount determined every automatic transmission. The pump output volume increases in accordance with the increase of the engine rotational speed within the range of the actually required oil amount.
Although it is recognized that the sufficient oil volume is not necessarily ensured at a low rotational range such as at the idling state with the pump of the foregoing kind, in the industry, the loss of the oil pump is apt to be reduced by reducing the size of the oil pump. Accordingly, in case of increasing the precharge pressure at the test for a "garage shift" driving such as the shift from the neutral range (i.e., N range) to the drive range (i.e., D range) and from the neutral range to the reverse range (i.e., R range), the line pressure is declined to largely vary the precharge time for every individual, which requires to decreases the precharge pressure within the range to restrain the influence of the decline of the line pressure.
FIG. 13 shows each oil pressure value during the test operation for obtaining the precharge time of the frictional engagement elements at the actual shift when the turbine rotation is at the rotational speed corresponding to the idling state and the variation of the turbine rotational speed. FIG. 14 shows each oil pressure value during the test operation for obtaining the precharge time of the same frictional engagement elements when the turbine rotation is at the rotational speed corresponding to the normal operation (i.e., normal shift) and the variation of the turbine rotational speed. The oil pressure characteristic value of the frictional engagement elements used at the normal shift may be determined along with the frictional engagement elements for the "garage shift" driving at the stage of initial state for shipment. However, as shown in FIGS. 13–14, in case the test of the oil pressure characteristic value of the frictional engagement elements used at the normal shift is conducted at the idling operation, the decline of the line pressure assumes larger, and the maximal precharge time (max) at the idling operation assumes longer than the maximum precharge time (max) tested at the approximate to the actual condition (shown in FIG. 14). Further, at the idling state, because the consumed flow amount cannot be sufficiently compensated by the pump output volume, the leakage at each portion highly influences to further increases the variations of individual differences of every automatic transmission, which provides the unstable test result. With this regard, although the variations may be restrained by determining the precharge pressure low likewise the test at the "garage shift" driving, it is not preferable to change the precharge pressure of the normal shift for the purpose of the test because the higher precharge pressure is applied at the normal shift in order to swiftly supply the oil to the clutch.
The test (i.e., the setting of the precharge time by learning) is conducted either by operating a throttle pedal by the tester or by the control by the engine. With the operation for learning requiring the operation of the throttle pedal by the operator, the safety of the engine rotation may not be necessarily ensured and producers and dealers may have more burden who have been having other operations for the adjustment requiring large number of man-hour. Further, the control by the engine may not be applicable to the all vehicles and may generate the periodical fluctuation of the engine, which generates further problems for the test guarantee.
A need thus exists for a method for a precharge time determination for automatic transmission and an automatic transmission provided with a determination function for the precharge time with the method thereof.

Automatic transmission and method for determining hydraulic pressure characteristics value for automatic transmission


Disclosed herein is an optical connection. In the present invention, an element wire is removably fastened to the optical connector by tightening a main wire connection member using a tightening member from a state in which a plug, a main wire aligning member, a spring, a fastening member, the main wire connection member and the tightening member are previously assembled together. Consequently, only a related optical line need be repaired or replaced with another one, so that the optical line connection work is markedly simplified and can be performed conveniently. Furthermore, there is an advantage of efficient reuse of components.

Other many times, the optical connectors have been widely used in optical fiber distribution frames and optical network units, in connecting optical lines to each other, in connecting optical fiber cables to each other, and as input-output terminals for optical measuring equipment.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional optical connector includes a housing 100 which surrounds and protects components, a plug 200 which is movably inserted in the housing 100, and a main wire aligning member 300 which is movably inserted in the plug 200. The optical connector further includes a fastening member 500 which is inserted into the plug 200 while surrounding a portion of the main wire aligning member 300 that protrudes into the plug 200, a spring 400 which is inserted into the fastening member 500 and elastically supports the main wire aligning member 300 in one direction, and a protective cover 600 which covers an end of the fastening member 500. An optical fiber (OF) is inserted into the fastening member 500 after passing through the protective cover 600. A main wire (B) of the optical fiber (OF) is inserted through and fastened to the main wire aligning member 300. Here, the reference character "A" denotes an element wire, that is, denotes the optical fiber (OF) which includes a core, a clad and a jacket (a first covering). The main wire (B) includes only the core and the clad, from which the covering is removed.
An optical line connection work using the conventional optical connector having the above-mentioned structure will be described herein below.
First, the element wire (A) is sequentially inserted into the protective cover 600, the fastening member 500 and the spring 400. After the jacket of an end of the element wire (A) is removed from the element wire (A), the main wire (B), from which the jacket is removed, is inserted through the main wire aligning member 300 and bonded to the main wire aligning member 300 using a bonding agent such as epoxy resin. To reduce connection loss, a portion of the main wire (B) which protrudes outside the main wire aligning member 300 is cut off, and the end of the main wire (B) is ground.
Subsequently, the main wire aligning member 300 is inserted into the plug 200, and the spring 400 and the fastening member 500, which are fitted over the element wire (A), are moved to the main wire aligning member 300, until the fastening member 500 is inserted into and fastened to the plug 200. Then, the main wire aligning member 300 is elastically supported by the spring 400 in one direction.
Thereafter, the protective cover 600, which is fitted over the element wire (A), is coupled to the fastening member 500. Subsequently, the plug 200 is inserted into the housing 100, thus completing the optical connector assembly.
The optical connector, assembled through the above-mentioned process, is removably coupled to an optical adaptor (not shown). As such, when the optical connector and the optical adaptor are coupled to each other, the main wires (B) of the optical fiber (OF), which are disposed in the optical connector and the optical adaptor, are coaxially brought into contact with each other. The coupling structure between the optical connector and the optical adaptor is a well known technique in related industries, therefore further explanation is deemed unnecessary.
However, in the conventional optical connector, because the main wire (B), which is exposed to the outside by removing the jacket from the element wire (A), is directly inserted through the main wire aligning member 300 and, thereafter, the free end of the main wire (B), which protrudes from the main wire aligning member 300, is cut off, ground, and directly connected to the element wire (not shown)) of the optical adaptor, optical line connection work and optical line repair and replacement work are very complex. Furthermore, it causes a problem of an increase in connection loss due to inaccuracy in the cutting and grinding process.
A more detailed description about thereof follows.
The free end of the main wire (B) which protrudes from the main wire aligning member 300 must be precisely cut and ground to reduce connection loss of the optical connector. In conventional arts, because the main wire (B) of the element wire (A) is directly connected to the optical adaptor, a worker must directly conduct a process of precisely cutting and grinding a main wire (B) every time at an optical line connection site. Due to this, the optical line connection process and the optical line repair and replacement process become very complex and difficult.
Furthermore, the process of cutting and grinding the main wire (B) requires high accuracy. However, because a worker must manually perform this process at an optical line connection site, tolerance may be increased according to conditions such as the skill of the worker and tools in use. Therefore, connection loss at a junction between optical lines connected by the optical connector is greatly increased.
Moreover, in the conventional optical connector, because the main wire (B) of the element wire (A), which is inserted through the main wire aligning member 300, is bonded to the main wire aligning member 300 using a bonding agent such as epoxy resin, optical line repair and replacement work is very complex and difficult. As well, when it is desired to repair an optical line or replace it with another one, because the whole main wire aligning member 300 along with the element wire (A) must be replaced with another one, a problem of a waste of recourses occurs.


A safety apparatus for a secondary battery, which can interrupt current flow in a reliable manner, and a secondary battery having the same, are provided. The safety apparatus includes a case made of an insulating resin material, sealed to have a space inside and mounted inside the secondary battery, at least a portion of the case being shrinkable by an increase in external pressure, and an electrical connection member installed to penetrate the case such that its one end is electrically connected to an electrode plate of an electrode assembly of the battery and the other end is electrically connected to a terminal portion of the electrode plate, the electrical connection member being cut by the shrinking portion of the case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a secondary battery, and more particularly, a safety apparatus for a secondary battery and a secondary battery having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Secondary batteries are generally rechargeable and can be made into a smaller size with high capacity. Typical examples of secondary batteries include nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries, lithium (Li) batteries and lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries.
Secondary batteries are classified into cylindrical batteries using a cylindrical aluminum can, rectangular batteries using a rectangular aluminum can, and pouch type batteries accommodated in a thin-film pouch type casing, according to the outer appearance of a casing accommodating a power generating element, that is, an electrode assembly.
A need exists in secondary batteries for a safety device that automatically shuts operation of a battery down when the battery is not operating normally. For example, an internal or an external short circuit in a secondary battery can lead to overheating of the battery and a build up of pressure in the battery. Without the presence of a safety device, the battery would continue to overheat and reach excessive pressures until the battery explodes. In order to prevent such a dangerous explosion, safety devices are used to stop the battery from generating power when the battery starts to act abnormally but before the battery explodes.

Safety apparatus for secondary battery and secondary battery having the same


A cable connector (20) for terminating a plurality of cables (26) in a clamping manner and matable with a complementary connector (10). Cable connector (20) includes a housing (32) and a backshell subassembly (62) having a pair of covers (66,68) and a pair of inserts (70,72) and can include a ground assembly (120) for gang termination of ferrule-terminated braid portions of shielded signal cables. Ground assembly (120) includes a commoning strip (122) compressed between ferrules (58) of the two rows of cables (26), and further includes a conductor (124) extending to a ground terminal (128) in housing (32).

Electrical connectors are known for termination to a plurality of electrical cables and matable to complementary connectors at an input/output port of an electronic apparatus such as test equipment. Each such cable connector must provide a strain relief so that strain applied to the connector by the cables reacts to the connector housing to protect the terminations of terminals to the conductors of the cables, and various clamping mechanisms have been utilized in electrical connectors by strain relief sections of the connector housing generally compressing the insulative jackets of the cables at the connector's cable exit.
In arrangements where shielded signal lines are to be connected to the electronics of an apparatus, it has been conventional to utilize coaxial cables and to provide separate connections by way of respective single-cable electrical connectors mounted at separate panel cutouts of the apparatus. It is desired to provide a single connector for a plurality of such shielded signal lines.
It is desired to provide a strain relief for such a connector that establishes a ground connection of a ground terminal at the connector mating interface, with the shielding braids of a plurality of cables, when shielded cables are utilized to provide protected signal paths.
It is further desired to provide such a strain relief in a connector that is capable of being disassembled to permit removal and replacement of one or more such shielded cables, and then reassembled.

Electrical connector strain relief with shield ground for multiple cables


A data restoring apparatus of an optical disk reproducing system restores data recorded on an optical disk from an RF signal read from the optical disk. The apparatus includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) for digitally converting the RF signal in response to a recovery clock signal and generating the digitally converted signal as a digital RF signal, a viterbi decoder for decoding the digital RF signal with a viterbi decoding method and generating a decoded bit stream as restored data, an adaptive phase error compensator for obtaining the phase error between the RF signal and the recovery clock signal and generating a control voltage corresponding to the phase error, and a voltage controlled oscillator for generating the phase-compensated recovery clock signal by varying the frequency of the recovery clock signal corresponding to the control voltage, wherein the adaptive phase error compensator adds a predetermined number of successive digital RF signals generated around a reference voltage and obtains the addition result as the phase error. It is thereby possible to restore correct data since, when the digital RF signal obtained by digitally converting the RF signal passes the reference voltage, the phase error and the cumulatively added error value is correctly extracted by adding a prior value to the post value and the phase and the reference voltage are compensated for according to the phase error and the cumulatively added error value. Also, it is possible to simply realize and control the filter since the digital filter has a cut-off frequency that is irrespective of disk rotation speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk reproducing system such as a compact disk player (CDP) and a digital video disk or a digital versatile disk (DVD) player, and more particularly, to a data restoring apparatus in an optical disk reproducing system for restoring data recorded on an optical disk from a radio frequency (RF) signal read from the optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical disk reproducing system, a pick-up circuit includes a photodiode which senses light transmitted to a disk, and reflected from the disk according to the presence of pits on the disk, and converts the sensed, reflected optical signal into an analog RF signal according to whether the voltage of the RF signal is higher or lower than a reference voltage (Vref). The decoded data stream is eight-to-fourteen modulation (EFM) demodulated and is restored to effective 8-bit data.
In such an optical disk reproducing system, the data is classified according to the lengths of the pits on the surface of the disk. However, for a rotating disk, the effective pit lengths vary with disk rotation speed. For example, a faster rotation speed causes the pits to appear shorter in length. To address this issue, a recovery clock signal used for restoring EFM data from an RF signal is locked to the RF signal. Namely, it is possible to restore correct data since the frequency and phase of the recovery clock signal are locked to those of the RF signal even for a time period where the disk rotates at a variable or non-constant speed. A phase locked loop (PLL) is used for locking the frequency and phase of the recovery clock signal to those of the RF signal. In conventional technology, an analog PLL is primarily used.
In the case of a CDP, the recovery clock signal (or a channel bit clock signal) is at a frequency of 4.3218 MHz. In the case of a DVD, the recovery clock signal is 26.16 MHz. In each case, it is possible to obtain a desired data stream when the recovery clock signal is locked to the RF signal when data is reproduced at 1xc3x97 speed. However, as the data transmission rate becomes higher and when the method of controlling the rotation speed of the disk changes from a constant linear velocity (CLV) to a constant angular velocity (CAV), it is necessary to more finely control the frequency and phase of the recovery clock signal. Also, when the conventional PLL is used, the frequency of the recovery clock signal becomes unstable during the control of the phase since the phase of the recovery clock signal is controlled not by fixing the frequency but by locking the phase by instantaneously changing the frequency.
With recent increasing rotation speeds, the data restoring ability according to the rotation speed of the disk and the data restoring ability by the instability and the distortion factor of the RF signal become the primary variables that affect the performance of the optical disk reproducing system. It is desired that data recorded on disks of various speeds can be correctly restored by a single optical disk reproducing system. Although the RF signal can be unstable due to frequency and phase error or due to a cumulatively-added error value, correct data should be restored by compensating for the instability of the RF signal. However, according to the conventional analog method, filters having cut-off frequencies corresponding to the respective speeds and circuits for controlling the filters are required. Also, in the analog system, data can be lost since it is impossible to variably restore data corresponding to the variety of types of optical disks, the differences between processes of manufacturing the optical disks, and the instability of the optical disk used a recording medium. In particular, as higher-speed transmission and higher data density are required, data-restoring performance deteriorates due to the interference between signals when data is restored according to the analog method.
To address the above limitations, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for restoring data in an optical disk reproducing system by which it is possible to restore correct data by digitally calculating frequency and a phase error between a recovery clock signal and an RF signal and compensating for the frequency and a phase error.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for restoring data of an optical disk reproducing system by which it is possible to restore correct data by digitally compensating for the asymmetry in the RF signal.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for digitally and correctly compensating for the asymmetry of an analog signal.
Accordingly, to achieve the first object, there is provided a data restoring apparatus in an optical disk reproducing system for restoring data recorded on an optical disk from an RF signal read from the optical disk, comprising an analog to digital converter (ADC) for digitally converting the RF signal in response to a recovery clock signal and generating the digitally converted signal as a digital RF signal, a decoder for decoding the digital RF signal and generating a decoded bit stream as restored data, an adaptive phase error compensator for obtaining the phase error between the RF signal and the recovery clock signal and for generating a control voltage corresponding to the phase error, and a voltage controlled oscillator for generating the phase compensated recovery clock signal by varying the frequency of the recovery clock signal according to the control voltage, wherein the adaptive phase error compensator adds a predetermined number of successive digital RF signals generated around a reference voltage and obtains the sum as the phase error.
To achieve the first object, a data restoring apparatus of an optical disk reproducing system for restoring data recorded on an optical disk from an RF signal read from the optical disk preferably comprises an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for digitally converting the RF signal in response to a recovery clock signal and generating the converted signal as a digital RF signal, an edge detector for detecting an edge at which the digital RF signal crosses the reference voltage, and generating the detected edge as an edge detection signal, a frequency error compensator for detecting the frequency error between the digital RF signal and the recovery clock signal, generating a control voltage for compensating for the frequency of the recovery clock signal according to the detected frequency error, and locking the control voltage when the frequency of the recovery clock signal is locked to that of the digital RF signal, a phase error compensator for obtaining a phase error indicating whether the phase of the recovery clock signal lags or leads that of the RF signal, and a viterbi decoder for decoding the phase compensated digital RF signal generated by the phase error compensator with a viterbi decoding method and generating the decoded bit stream as restored data.
To achieve the first object, a data restoring apparatus of an optical disk reproducing system for restoring data recorded on the optical disk from the RF signal read from the optical disk comprises an analog-to-digital converter for digitally converting the RF signal in response to the recovery clock signal and generating the converted signal as a digital RF signal, an edge detector for receiving the digital RF signal, detecting an edge at which the digital RF signal crosses the reference voltage, a frequency error compensator for obtaining a maximum coefficient value by cumulatively adding a predetermined value K or the digital RF signal according to the edge detection signal during the duration of the maxim duty signal (14T or 11T) in the RF signal in a period of the predetermined term, a phase error compensator for obtaining a phase error according to whether the phase of the recovery clock signal lags or leads that of the RF signal and generating the phase compensated digital RF signal, and a viterbi decoder for decoding the phase-compensated digital RF signal generated by the phase error compensator by a viterbi decoding method and generating the decoded bit stream as restored data.
To achieve the second object, there is provided a data restoring apparatus of an optical disk reproducing system for restoring data recorded on the optical disk from the RF signal read from the optical disk, comprising an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for digitally converting the RF signal in response to a recovery clock signal, an adder for adding a reference voltage compensation value to the signal generated by the ADC and generating the addition result as a digital RF signal, a reference voltage for obtaining a cumulatively added error value by adding a predetermined number of digital RF signals successively generated around a reference voltage and generating a reference voltage compensation value according to the obtained cumulatively added error value, and a viterbi decoder for decoding the digital RF signal by a viterbi decoding method and generating the decoded bit stream as restored data.
To achieve the second object, a data restoring apparatus of an optical disk reproducing system for restoring data recorded on the optical disk from the RF signal read from the optical disk preferably comprises an analog-to-digital converter for digitally converting the RF signal in response to a recovery clock signal and generating the digitally converted signal, a digital sum value (DSV) controlling portion for receiving the digitally converted signal and generating a voltage compensation value so that the number of signals having levels higher than a reference voltage is equal to the number of signals having levels lower than the reference voltage, an adder for adding the voltage compensation value to the signal generated by the analog-to-digital converter and generating the addition result as a digital RF signal, and a viterbi decoder for decoding the digital RF signal by a viterbi decoding method and generating the decoded bit stream as restored data.
To achieve the third object, there is provided an apparatus for compensating for the asymmetry of a received analog signal, comprising an analog to digital converter for digitally converting the analog signal in response to a recovery clock signal, an adder for adding a reference voltage compensation value to the signal generated by the ADC and generating the addition result as a digital signal, and a reference voltage for obtaining a cumulatively added error value by adding a predetermined number of successive digital signals around the reference voltage when the digital signal approaches the reference voltage and generating the reference voltage compensation value according to the obtained cumulatively added error value.
To achieve the third object, an apparatus for compensating for the asymmetry of a received analog signal preferably comprises an analog-to-digital converter for digitally converting the analog signal in response to a recovery clock signal, a DSV controller for receiving a digital signal generated by the ADC and generating a voltage compensation value so that the number of signals having levels larger than a reference voltage is equal to the number of signals having levels smaller than the reference voltage, and an adder for adding the voltage compensation value to the signal generated by the ADC and generating the addition result as a digital signal whose asymmetry is compensated for.

Restoration of data and asymmetry compensation in an optical disk reproducing system


Preparing for the full-fledged aged society, measures to prevent senility are required. Senility is prevented by extracting signals of prescribed bands from a speech signal using a first bandpass filter section having a plurality of bandpass filters, extracting the envelopes of each frequency band signal using an envelope extraction section having envelope extractors, applying a noise source signal to a second bandpass filter section having a plurality of bandpass filters and extracting noise signals corresponding to the prescribed bands, multiplying the outputs from the first bandpass filter section and the second bandpass filter section in a multiplication section, summing up the outputs from the multiplication section in an addition section to produce a Noise-Vocoded Speech Sound signal, and presenting the Noise-Vocoded Speech Sound signal for listening.

It is known from past research into speech signal recognition that even if a subject hears a speech signal not "as is" and components of the speech signal are subjected to noise degradation using a predetermined method, words can still be recognized to a considerable extent. For example, such technology has been described in non-patent document 1, non-patent document 2, and non-patent document 3.
According to the documents, a signal is produced by summing up signals produced by dividing a speech signal into 4 frequency bands (0-600, 600-1500, 1500-2500, and 2500-4000 Hz), obtaining amplitude envelopes for each frequency band by subjecting the respective speech signals to half-wave rectification and low-pass filtering at 16 Hz, and overlaying the envelopes on band noise corresponding to each frequency band. Such a signal is called Noise-Vocoded Speech Sound. An intelligibility of about 80% has been reported when presenting normal-hearing subjects with Noise-Vocoded Speech Sound.
[Non-patent document 1] Shannon, R. V., et al.: "Speech Recognition with Primarily Temporal Cues", Science, Vol. 270, pp. 303-305 (1995)
[Non-patent document 2] Yoshihisa Obata, Hiroshi Riquimaroux: Speech perception based on temporal amplitude change with spectrally degraded synthetic sound, Materials of the Auditory Research Forum of The Acoustical Society of Japan, H-99-6 (1999).
[Non-patent document 3] Yoshihisa Obata, Hiroshi Riquimaroux: Intelligibility of synthesized Japanese speech sound made of band noise—preliminary study for a speech recognition processor utilizing central auditory function—, Materials of the Auditory Research Forum of The Acoustical Society of Japan, H-2000-3 (2000).

Apparatus and method for preventing senility


A system and method of detecting redundant subroutine calls in a software system is provided. Call path data is obtained for the software system and stored into a call tree comprising a plurality of nodes, each node representing a software routine of the software system, the call tree describing the calling paths between the plurality of software routines. At least one focal node is identified among the plurality of nodes in the call tree for redundancy analysis. The calling redundancy to the focal node is analyzed by determining a common ancestor node list for the focal node and by generating call path data for each of the common ancestor nodes on the list. The common ancestor list data may be sorted and call trees generated for the common ancestors in relation to the focal node. This data may then be displayed on a graphical user interface for redundancy analysis of the focal node.

1. Technical Field
The technology described in this patent application is generally directed to the field of software performance analysis and diagnostics. More specifically, the technology provides a system and method for detecting redundant subroutine calls in software applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Complex software applications typically comprise hundreds or even thousands of subroutines or functions, each of the subroutines typically performing a particular function or set of functions. The subroutines of the software application communicate with one another by calling one another in a variety of distinct calling paths. A call path is a communication path between two or more subroutines. Oftentimes, the calling paths in complex applications can become redundant as between two subroutines, meaning that there are several communication paths between the subroutines.
In order to visualize theses calling paths, a call tree is often developed. The call tree is a tree representation of all the software subroutines that are called while a program is executing. Within the call tree, each subroutine is represented by a node, and links between the nodes represent call paths. Several commercially available software performance analysis and diagnostic tools are available that can generate such a calling tree, such as Rational Quantify™ and Intel Vtune™, for example. This call tree data can be expressed as: (i) routine x was called; (ii) routines a and b called x; (iii) routine x calls routines c, d, and e; and (iv) repeat the above sequence (i)-(iii) for each routine in the call path.
By using this call tree data, a complete call path for every routine of the program under analysis can be generated. The number of times that a routine is called, and how often it is called within a particular call path may also be generated along with the call tree data. By analyzing the data in the call tree, a performance analyst may be able to identify a performance bottleneck.
FIG. 1 is an example call path diagram 10 showing the execution path between four functional software routines or nodes of an exemplary computer program. In this diagram, the four nodes—afoo 12, bfoo 14, cfoo 16, and foo 18—communicate with one another through a particular set of execution paths. In this example, the software routine afoo 12 makes a direct call to bfoo 14, cfoo 16 and foo 18. In addition, the routine bfoo 14 makes a direct call to foo 18 and cfoo 16, which in turn makes another direct call to foo 18. Thus, the routine afoo 12 makes four calls to the routine foo 18, one direct call, and three indirect calls through the functions bfoo 14 and cfoo 16. This relationship between afoo and foo is generally termed redundant because of the plurality of calling paths between the two functions.
Upon determining the redundant relationship between afoo 12 and foo 18, a performance analyst may determine that a majority of the execution time was spent in foo 18, and then a software developer may attempt to rewrite the foo 18 routine to make it faster. Alternatively, the software developer may change afoo 12 to call foo 18 only once, and then cache the data returned therefrom and pass it along to bfoo 14 and cfoo 16 so as to eliminate the need for these routines to make another call to foo 18, thereby eliminating any redundancy.
Although this may seem like a straightforward approach to fixing the performance problem, in reality these redundant situations are very difficult to detect and diagnose using the commercially available performance analysis tools. Because a typical software application may have hundreds or more of inter-related routines, the resulting calling path data and call trees may become extremely difficult to analyze. Moreover, in determining how a particular function is performing, it is necessary to understand and analyze the calling path of any parent functions. The commercially available tools do not provide sufficient intelligence or functionality to enable this type of problem to be diagnosed by the performance analyst or the software developer.

System and method for detecting redundant subroutine calls


A metallic plate member is provided. A first punch is operable to perform a first forging work to mold a first member in the plate member. The first member has a first function. A second punch is operable to perform a second forging work to mold a second member in the plate member. The second member including at least one kind of positioning member. The first forging work and the second forging work are performed at a single stage.

The present invention relates to a forging work method used in manufacturing parts to be incorporated in a liquid ejection head or the like. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head using such a forging work method.
Forging work is used in various fields of products. For example, it is thought that a pressure generating chamber of a liquid ejection head is molded by forging metal material. The liquid ejection head ejects pressurized liquid from a nozzle orifice as a liquid droplet, and the heads for various liquids have been known. An ink jet recording head is representative of the liquid ejection head. Here, the related art will be described with the ink jet recording head as an example.
An ink jet recording head (hereinafter, referred to as "recording head") used as an example of a liquid ejection head is provided with a plurality of series of flow paths reaching nozzle orifices from a common ink reservoir via pressure generating chambers in correspondence with the orifices. Further, the respective pressure generating chambers need to form by a fine pitch in correspondence with a recording density to meet a request of downsizing. Therefore, a wall thickness of a partition wall for partitioning contiguous ones of the pressure generating chambers is extremely thinned. Further, an ink supply port for communicating the pressure generating chamber and the common ink reservoir is more narrowed than the pressure generating chamber in a flow path width thereof in order to use ink pressure at inside of the pressure generating chamber efficiently for ejection of ink drops.
According to a related-art recording head, a silicon substrate is preferably used in view of fabricating the pressure generating chamber and the ink supply port having such small-sized shapes with excellent dimensional accuracy. That is, a crystal surface is exposed by anisotropic etching of silicon and the pressure generating chamber or the ink supply port is formed to partition by the crystal surface.
Further, a nozzle plate formed with the nozzle orifice is fabricated by a metal board from a request of workability or the like. Further, a diaphragm portion for changing a volume of the pressure generating chamber is formed into an elastic plate. The elastic plate is of a two-layer structure constituted by pasting together a resin film onto a supporting plate made of a metal and is fabricated by removing a portion of the supporting plate in correspondence with the pressure generating chamber. Such a structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-263799A, for example.
In the related-art recording head, since the thickness of the partition wall is very thin, a close attention has been paid to obtain the recessed shape of the pressure generating chambers exactly. However, in a case where a plate-shaped member such as a chamber formation plate in which the pressure generating chambers are formed is joined to the other elastic plate and nozzle plate, positioning structure for assembly must be provided with high accuracy in connection with the pressure generating chambers. Particularly, in a case where this positioning structure is manufactured by forging work, measure to counter a deformation phenomenon produced in metal material is required.
Meanwhile, according to the above-described related-art recording head, since a difference between linear expansion rates of silicon and the metal is large, in pasting together respective members of the silicon board, the nozzle plate and the elastic plate, it is necessary to adhere the respective members by taking a long time period under relatively low temperature. Therefore, enhancement of productivity is difficult to achieve to bring about a factor of increasing fabrication cost. Therefore, there has been tried to form the pressure generating chamber at the board made of the metal by plastic working, however, the working is difficult since the pressure generating chamber is extremely small and the flow path width of the ink supply port needs to be narrower than the pressure generating chamber to thereby pose a problem that improvement of production efficiency is difficult to achieve.


A pizza cutting an serving tool is provide having manually closeable pivoted-jaw cutting blades. The blades close upon a serving spatula which may be triangular or rectangular in shape. The spatula includes peripheral groove means for receiving the blades. The grooves assist proper pizza shear and may receive the blades snugly to form sealed side walls of a serving tray.

The present invention relates to a pie cutting and serving tool which is particularly well adapted for cutting and serving slices of pizza pie of the kind which has become enormously popular in the United States only within the past 20 years. Earlier this century, prior art pastry cutting and serving tools have been developed including pivoted blades such as those disclosed by King et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,182,726; or Gans 634,330. Prior devices have been designed mainly for cakes and pastry pies and are not well adapted for the problems peculiar to sanitary serving of pizza pie. They do not include groove means for positively severing pizza cheese, pepperoni or pizza dough. Prior art blades are pivoted at the handle instead of at the rear edge corners of the spatula where the pivots are needed to apply sufficient pressure for positively cutting stringy pizza cheese. Cheese that may otherwise become festooned across a serving table in an un-sanitary fashion possibly requiring manual contact that may contaminate the cheese and or soil the hands with grease and cooking oil. Accordingly, there exists a modern need for an improved cutting and serving tool which can accommodate positive and complete cutting of pizza crust and cheese to obviate the need for touching any part of the pizza or dangling ribbons of cheese during the serving process.
The present invention is a pizza cutting and serving tool including pivoted blades that cooperate with a grooved spatula to sever and serve pizza in a quick, sanitary and convenient manner. The spatula has peripheral grooves formed therein for receiving cutting edge portions of pivoted blades when the blades "clamp-down" like a pivoted jaw to sever a slice of pizza. The blades can be locked in their closed position engaging the grooves to form sealed side walls of a handy serving tray.


A coding method, apparatus, and medium with software encoded thereon to implement a coding method. The coding method includes jointly encoding joint events that each are defined by a cluster of consecutive non-zero-valued coefficients, each joint event defined by three parameters: the number of zero-valued coefficients preceding the cluster, the number of non-zero-valued coefficients in the cluster, and an indication of which trailing coefficients up to a maximum number of M trailing coefficients have amplitude greater than 1, with the coding using a 3-dimensional joint VLC table. The method further includes encoding the amplitude of the non-zero-valued trailing coefficients that have amplitude greater than 1 encoding the amplitude of any remaining non-zero-valued coefficients in the clusters that have more than M non-zero-valued coefficients.

Transform coding and decoding of video data usually includes what is called entropy coding. For compression, the pixel information of a picture, e.g., of a residual picture after motion compensated prediction, or of a picture for intra-coding is divided into blocks. The blocks are transformed, e.g., by a discrete cosine transform (DCT) or a similar transform, and the resulting transform coefficients are quantized. The quantized transform coefficients are ordered, e.g., from low to higher frequencies along a path in the two dimensional transform domain. The ordered series of quantized transform coefficients is then losslessly encoded by an entropy coding method. One popular entropy coding method is variable length coding in which one or more events, representing one or more quantized coefficients of properties thereof, are encoded by codewords such that events that are more likely-to-occur are encoded on average by codewords that are shorter than are events that are less likely-to-occur. Variable length coding (VLC), due to its nice tradeoff in efficiency and simplicity, has been widely used in entropy coding, particularly when the codec is desired to have low computational complexity.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/069,621 to Chen et al. published as US 20060039615, patent application Ser. No. 11/385,183 published as US 20070019877, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/270,138 published as US 20060056720 describes joint amplitude and position coding methods for variable length coding of quantized transform coefficients as occur in transform image and video compression methods. The methods described in these applications were found to be relatively efficient in coding consecutive nonzero transform coefficients compared to separately encoding runs and the amplitude levels. Assuming conventional transform and quantization of image blocks in which the most-likely-to-occur quantized transform amplitude is 0, and the next most-likely-to-occur amplitude is 1, some of the coding methods disclosed in the above-mentioned patent publications takes into account that the most likely to appear non-zero-valued coefficient has amplitude '1' in an ordered series of quantized transform coefficients and encodes the appearances of amplitude-1/non-amplitude-1 coefficients together with coefficient positions using a multi-dimensional variable length code (VLC) mappings, e.g., a multi-dimensional VLC table. In other words, in one implementation, the following quantities are coded jointly by one variable length codeword: run-length of zeros that precede one or more nonzero coefficients, run-length of the nonzero coefficients, and which of those nonzero coefficients have a magnitude of 1. A separate 1-D VLC is then used to code the amplitudes of non-1 non-zero coefficients.
Experimental results have shown that the joint amplitude and position coding described in the above-mentioned patent publications are successful entropy coding schemes. However, in the joint-coding implementation, the size of the code table used to carry out the joint encoding can grows exponentially as the run-length of nonzero coefficients increases. This may require a prohibitive amount of memory for some applications such low cost and/or low power implementations.
A method that allows for smaller code table sizes while preserving much of the coding efficiency is therefore desirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Joint amplitude and position coding of coefficients for video compression


A system for determining particle parameters. The system may, for example, may optically determine parameters common to a hematology analysis. Such parameters may include a red blood cell count, a platelet count, a mean cell volume and a red cell distribution width. A hematocrit parameter may be calculated. Also, a measurement of hemoglobin in a blood sample may be obtained leading to a calculation of a mean mass of hemoglobin in a red blood cell and a mean cell hemoglobin concentration. The system may be implemented in a portable cartridge type cytometer.

The present invention claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/676,403, filed Apr. 29, 2005. U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/676,403, filed Apr. 29, 2005, is hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention pertains to determining characteristics of particles. Particularly, the invention pertains to determining the count and size of particles, and more particularly, it pertains to determining such characteristics of cells.
Patents and applications related to the present invention may include: U.S. Pat. No. 6,597,438, issued Jul. 22, 2003, and entitled "Portable Flow Cytometry"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,970,245, issued Nov. 29, 2005, and entitled "Optical Alignment Detection System; U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,750, issued Nov. 17, 1998, and entitled "Electrostatically Actuated Mesopump Having a Plurality of Elementary Cells"; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/027,134, filed Dec. 30, 2004, and entitled "Optical Detection System with Polarizing Beamsplitter; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/908,543, filed May 16, 2005, and entitled "Cytometer Analysis Cartridge Optical Configuration"; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/908,014, filed Apr. 25, 2005, and entitled "A Flow Control System of a Cartridge"; all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.


A door assembly providing an airtight seal for a chamber. The door assembly includes a link assembly that allows a door to move inward toward a gasket sealing an opening into the chamber.

In many applications, it is necessary to provide a fluid-tight seal around an opening to a chamber to prevent a medium (e.g., a gas or fluid) from escaping from the chamber, and visa versa, to prevent a medium outside the chamber from passing into the chamber.
In some applications, such as by way of example and not limitation, an industrial washer for washing medical instruments and equipment, a large sized door is required to seal a large access opening. Moreover, to allow for maximum access to the opening and a chamber therebeyond, the door must be capable of moving completely away from the opening.
The present invention is directed to a door assembly for providing a fluid-tight seal around an opening to a chamber, the door assembly being particularly well suited for sealing a large chamber having a large access opening.


For disassembly purposes, a holder holds the bearing assembly of a spindle assembly so that a free end of the spindle of the spindle assembly extends upward from the bearing assembly. A guide aligns a disassembly striker with the free end of the spindle and the disassembly striker drives the spindle at least partially through the bearing assembly. The holder defines a lower collection chamber that the spindle falls into. For assembly purposes, the holder holds the bearing assembly and the spindle so that the spindle extends through the bearing assembly and the free end of the spindle extends upward from the bearing assembly. The guide aligns an assembly striker with the spindle and a collar that encircles the spindle. An internal surface of the assembly striker includes a annular first portion that abuts the collar. The assembly striker drives the collar onto the spindle until a stop arrests movement of the assembly striker and the collar. The stop is a second portion of the internal surface of the assembly striker that abuts a portion of the bearing assembly to arrest movement of the assembly striker and the collar relative to the spindle and the bearing assembly.

Spindles are common mechanical components that rotate or support rotating components. For example, FIG. 1 is an exploded pictorial view of a conventional spindle assembly 20 that is part of a cotton picking machine. The spindle assembly 20 includes a spindle 22 having a gear 24 at one end. The gear 24 defines a shoulder 26 that encircles and extends perpendicularly from a journal 28 of the spindle 22. The spindle 22 further includes a tapered end 30 that fits through a bearing assembly 32 so that the journal 28 is journaled within the bearing assembly. The bearing assembly 32 includes a nut portion 34, an upper portion 36 extending upward from the nut portion, and a lower portion 40 extending downward from the nut portion. The upper portion 36 includes a beveled surface 38 and the lower portion 40 has a threaded exterior surface. An axial passage 42 is defined through the bearing assembly 32 and is open at the upper and lower ends of the bearing assembly. An annular bushing 44 is within the passage 42 and protrudes slightly from the lower end of the passage 42. Another annular bushing is within the passage 42 proximate to the upper end of the bearing assembly 32. The opening to the passage 42 at the upper end of the bearing assembly 32 is enlarged and can be characterized as a countersink 46. The countersink 46 is concealed from view in FIG. 1; therefore, it is depicted by broken-lines. A collar 48, which holds the spindle 22 to the bearing assembly 32, includes an upper beveled surface 50 and a lower cylindrical portion 52 that fits into the countersink 46 when the spindle assembly 20 is assembled. The spindle assembly 20 is shown fully assembled in FIGS. 2 and 8.
When the spindle assembly 20 is assembled, it can be attached to a machine, such as a cotton picking machine, by threading the lower portion 40 of the bearing assembly 32 into a threaded port. The gear 24 meshes with a drive gear, and a spool can be fit over the tapered end 30 of the spindle 22. Rotation of the spindle 22 rotates the spool to wind cotton onto the spool. Like many moving mechanical parts, spindle assemblies 20 become worn or broken with use and must be disassembled and reassembled for maintenance purposes.
Some conventional tools and methods for assembling and disassembling spindle assemblies 20 leave much to be desired. A conventional arrangement for disassembling a spindle assembly 20 is depicted in FIG. 2. The spindle assembly 20 depicted in FIG. 2 is fully assembled and lower surfaces of the nut portion 34 of the bearing assembly 32 are resting upon upper surfaces of a pair of blocks 54. Further, a ram 56 of a conventional hydraulic or screw-type press is positioned above the tapered end 30 of the spindle 22. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that forcing the ram 56 downward against the tip of the tapered end 30 forces the spindle 22 to move downward relative to the bearing assembly 32 and the collar 48. When the collar 48 encircles the tapered end 30 of the spindle 22, the spindle is no longer held to the bearing assembly 32 by the collar.
While the above-described conventional method of disassembling a spindle assembly 20 can be effective, it has some drawbacks. For example, presses of the type that include overhead rams 56 are relatively expensive and bulky items. Also, if the spindle assembly 20 is not axially aligned with the ram 56, it is possible for the spindle assembly 20 to pivot about a horizontal axis while the ram is forced downward against the tapered end 30 of the spindle 22. This can hamper disassembly efforts or damage the spindle assembly 20, and may cause the spindle assembly, portions of the spindle assembly, or the blocks 54 to be unexpectedly propelled in a manner that can cause injury to the person operating the ram 56.
A conventional arrangement for assembling the conventional spindle assembly 20 is depicted in FIG. 3. To achieve the arrangement depicted in FIG. 3, the spindle assembly 20 is partially assembled by passing the tapered end 30 of the spindle 22 through the bearing assembly 32, and then placing the collar 48 over the tapered end 30 of the spindle 22. Then, the tapered end 30 of the spindle assembly 22 is inserted into a pipe 58 so that the configuration depicted in FIG. 3 is achieved. The pipe 58 is depicted in side cross-sectional form in FIG. 3. As depicted in FIG. 3, the cylindrical portion 52 (FIG. 1) of the collar 48 is within the countersink 46 (FIG. 1) of the bearing assembly 32, and the gear 24 is distant from the bushing 44. The pipe 58 is completely cylindrical and is selected so that a portion of the beveled surface 50 of the collar 48 abuts the upper end of the pipe 58, and no other portions of the spindle assembly 20 contact the pipe 58 during the assembly of the spindle assembly.
With the spindle assembly 20 and the pipe 58 arranged as depicted in FIG. 3, those skilled in the art will appreciate that forcing the ram 56 downward against the gear 24 forces the spindle 22 through the bearing assembly 32 and the collar 48 until the shoulder 26 abuts the exposed rim of the bushing 44. This has the effect of pressing the collar 48 onto the spindle 22 so that the spindle assembly 20 becomes assembled. The person operating the ram 56 must be careful to properly assembly the spindle assembly. The spindle assembly 20 is properly assembled when the collar 48 and the shoulder 26 abut the opposite ends of the bearing assembly 32 to prevent axial movement of the spindle 22 relative to the bearing assembly 32, and the spindle 22 can easily rotate about its elongate axis within and relative to the bearing assembly 32.
While the above-described conventional method for assembling a spindle assembly 20 can be effective, it also has some drawbacks. For example, it is common for the collar 48 to be pressed too far onto the spindle 22 so that there is too much friction between the opposite ends of the bearing assembly 32 and the collar 48 and the shoulder 26, respectively. When this friction is too great, rotation of the spindle 22 about its elongate axis relative to the bearing assembly is restricted. Also, if the ram 56 is lowered too far, the spindle assembly 20 can be damaged. Further, if the spindle assembly 20 or pipe 58 are not axially aligned with the ram 56, it is possible for the spindle assembly 20 or pipe 58 to pivot about a horizontal axis while the ram is forced downward. This can hamper assembly efforts or may damage the spindle assembly 20, and may cause the spindle assembly, portions of the spindle assembly, or the pipe 58 to be unexpectedly propelled in a manner that can cause injury to the person operating the ram 56.
A further drawback to both the above-discussed conventional methods is that rams 56 are typically located in machine shops, or the like, that are remote from the locations, such as farming fields, where the spindles assemblies 20 are used. It is very inconvenient to have to go to a machine shop every time maintenance needs to be performed on a spindle assembly 20.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved tool for assembling and disassembling spindle assemblies.

Spindle assembling and disassembling tool and method


A device to hold soap flakes and the like includes a container body having a dispensing meter built into the container. The container has front, rear, and side walls that form an opening at the top. Vertical walls within the container define baffles that allow powder to flow into a dosing compartment for dispensing from the container. A removable cover seals the top of the container and has an opening through which soap powder is dispensed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the utility model of a device to hold soap powder, and the like, and, more specifically, a device to hold soap powder, with a dose meter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently soap powder, and the like, such as soapies and powder detergents are sold in paperboard packages.
Even though such packages are satisfactory for their use, they bear a few inconveniences.
One of such inconveniences refers to the fact that the material used to make such packages, as already mentioned, generally paperboard, is not resistant to humidity, i.e., is not waterproof, therefore does not grant adequate protection to the powder contained therein, as such products are kept close to humid sites, such as beside the washing vat or washing machine.
Another inconvenience found on such conventional packages of powder soap lies in that they do not have a selective opening and closing cover, i.e., after the package is opened by breaking the perforated line, it is not possible to close it again, thus the contents become exposed to the effects of humidity which inevitably reached the internal portion of the package, causing the powder to form lumps.
Another inconvenience verified in such conventional packages refers to the fact that they do not bear a powder measurer or dosing device, causing waste of product when it is used for washing.

Construction device to hold soap powder and the like

Plasutil Industria e Comercio de Plasticos Ltda.


A platooning controller, a vehicle system including the same, and a method thereof are provided. The platooning controller includes a processor that identifies information about outside vehicles around a platooning line based on sensing information of platooning vehicles, determines whether views of the outside vehicles are obstructed by the platooning line based on the information about the outside vehicles, controls the platooning vehicles such that the views of the outside vehicles are obtained, and performs collision avoidance control and a storage storing the sensing information or a result of determination of whether a view is obstructed.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Platooning is a manner which exchanges motion and context information of a leading vehicle through real-time communication between vehicles, maintains a certain interval from the leading vehicle, and drives several vehicles together. Because such platooning maintains the certain interval from the leading vehicle to drive the several vehicles together, it reduces air resistance of following vehicles to save fuel efficiency and reduces the risk of accident.
Such platooning vehicles integrate information about obstacles around a platooning line, detected by each of the platooning vehicles, to evaluate the risk of collision with a forward vehicle and control braking or steering to avoid the collision. Because of considering only the risk of collision between a platooning line and the forward vehicle, it is unable to avoid the risk of collision between outside vehicles around the platooning line because views of users of the outside vehicles are obstructed by the platooning line or because sensor sensing areas of the outside vehicles are limited by the platooning line.
In other words, as shown in FIG. 1, outside vehicles OV1 and OV2 which are traveling around a platooning line during platooning are hidden due to platooning vehicles and do not recognize each other. When the outside vehicle OV1 changes its lane, collision may occur.
As views of users of outside vehicles which are traveling around a platooning line within a short range from the platooning line are limited by the long platooning line, when there occurs an accident of collision between the outside vehicles, platooning vehicles are affected by the accident and are involved in a secondary accident.

Platooning controller, system including the same, and method thereof


An optical spectrometer for combustion flame temperature determination includes at least two photodetectors positioned for receiving light from a combustion flame, each of the at least two photodetectors having a different, overlapping bandwidth for detecting a respective output signal in an ultraviolet emission band; and a computer for subtracting a respective output signal of a first one of the at least two photodetectors from a respective output signal of a second one of the at least two photodetectors to obtain a segment signal, and using the segment signal to determine the combustion flame temperature.

The invention relates generally to optical flame detection.
Flame temperature sensors are needed for control ling a wide range of combustion processes. Some combustion processes that require tight control of fuel-to-air ratios for increased fuel burning efficiency and reductions in emission pollution are present in, for example, building heating systems, jet aircrafts, locomotives, and fossil fueled electric power plants and other environments wherein gas and/or steam turbines are used.
Unnecessarily high combustion temperatures can compromise fuel efficiency and increase emission pollution. For example, in a gas turbine designed to emit nine nitrogen oxide (NOx) particles per million (ppm), an increase from 2730° F. (1499° C.) to 2740° F. (1504° C.) reduces turbine efficiency by about two percent and increases NOx emissions by about two ppm.
Previous silicon carbide flame detectors such as described in Brown et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,682, issued Dec. 31, 1996, detect the presence of a flame and measure the intensity of the flame's photon flux over a wide range of wavelengths. The measured intensity, however, does not always correlate to flame temperature, because intensity is a function of the number of emitting molecules or the amount of fuel being consumed. A ratio of two signals is required to cancel the intensity or fuel factor.
In commonly assigned, Brown, U.S. application Ser. No. 09/561,885, filed May 1, 2000, a continuation-in-part of aforementioned Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,434, an optical spectrometer for combustion flame temperature determination includes at least two photodetectors positioned for receiving light from a combustion flame and having different overlapping optical bandwidths for producing respective output signals; and a computer for obtaining a difference between a first respective output signal of a first one of the at least two photodetectors with respect to a second respective output signal of a second one of the at least two photodetectors, dividing the difference by one of the first and second respective output signals to obtain a normalized output signal, and using the normalized output signal to determine the combustion flame temperature.
Although the method and system described above provide enhanced flame temperature measurement over conventional methods, disadvantages exist regarding the complexity and cost of multiple photodetector systems. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art of optical flame temperature measurement for a system which provides accurate measurements in a more efficient manner.

System and method for optical monitoring of a combustion flame


A modified bitumen sheet material and method for a protective moisture barrier, particularly for masonry surfaces. The sheet material has a bitumen layer modified by the addition of a minor amount of a long-chain polybutadiene-isocyanate urethane polymer and optionally, a modifying amount of a hydrocarbon oil to provide a stable, non-flow and selected tackified surface properties to the bitumen layer. The sheet material includes a releasable casting paper film on one surface of the bitumen layer, to be removed prior to use, and a cross-linked polyethylene film bonded to the other outer surface of the bitumen layer as a handling or moisture barrier sheet. The sheet material is prepared by casting the hot, melted bitumen as a layer onto a casting paper sheet and applying the outer film to the exposed bitumen surface to bond to the top surface.

Asphalt is a solid or viscous, typically semisolid, mixture of hydrocarbons which are amorphous, and the predominant constituents of asphalt are bitumens derived from refinery petroleum. Asphalts and/or bitumens are typically employed for paving, road coatings, roofings, sealing and also for carpet backing, such as a bitumen-backed carpet tile.
Asphalt or bitumen has been employed as a backing layer for carpet material. Such bitumen employed as a backing layer has been modified by the addition of various polymers, for example, styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymers as well as mixtures of high and low density polyethylene polymers, and by urethane polymers as described more particularly in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,764, issued Mar. 17, 1992, hereby incorporated by reference. Bitumen used as a backing layer for a carpet material has been modified by employing therein a urethane reaction product composed of a hydroxyl-terminated, long-chain diene hydrocarbon and a polyisocyanate to provide a carpet material which is heat stable during a wet steam process printing operation. The liquid hydroxyl-terminated homopolymers of butadiene employed as the modifying polymers in the bitumen carpet backing layer are commercially sold as Poly-BD.RTM. liquid resins (a trademark of ELF-Atochem SA of Hauts-de-Seine, France), and their use with various polymers and components are described in an advertising brochure "Poly bd.RTM. resins In Urethane Elastomers", also hereby incorporated by reference.
Asphalt or bitumen has a primary use as a moisture barrier for masonry, such as poured concrete, in the construction of commercial and residential buildings wherein a bitumen coating is typically applied to the exterior wall after the concrete foundation has been poured to prevent the penetration of moisture. The use of bitumen coatings as a moisture-protective barrier by itself is difficult, since bitumen tends to be too fluid, therefore usually requiring a backing and also a filler, such as a modified polymer, like the styrene-butadiene-styrene, in order to stiffen the bitumen as a moisture barrier. However, bitumen even with a filler and a styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymer is not satisfactory at normal operating ranges, since at the high temperature end of the application of the bitumen as a moisture barrier, say for example 80.degree. F. to 110.degree. F., the bitumen is too fluid, while at low temperatures, the bitumen exhibits diminished surface tackiness, for example, in the 10.degree. F. to 30.degree. F. range, so that the bitumen does not stick to the masonry it is designed to protect.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide for a new, improved, modified bitumen composition sheet material and method as a moisture barrier in which the modified bitumen sheet material may be employed over a range of temperatures with satisfactory characteristics, such as preventing the passage of moisture, tackiness and flexibility.

Method of preparing moisture barrier sheet material


A novel class of proton transfer, bis-benzazole, fluorescent compounds, i.e., fluors, is disclosed. The novel fluors include substituted or unsubstituted 1,4-bis(2-benzazolyl)-2-hydroxybenzenes and 1,4-bis(2-benzazolyl)-2-amidobenzenes wherein the benzazolyl group may be benzoxazolyl, benzimidazolyl, benzothiazolyl, and the like. The benzazolyl groups may be substituted with one or more alkyl groups to improve solubility in organic matrix materials such as solvents, monomers, resins, polymers, and the like. The novel fluors may be used in the manufacture of fluorescent coatings, objects, scintillators, light sources and the like. The novel fluors are particularly useful for radiation-hard, solid scintillators for the detection and measurement of high energy particles and radiation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to large Stokes shift fluorescent materials which fluoresce in the visible radiation spectrum. More particularly, this invention relates to improved organic scintillator systems useful for detecting high energy particles and electromagnetic radiation.
2. Description of Related Art
Bis-benzazoles connected through a central phenylene group have been used as fluorescent whitening or brightening agents, for instance as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,737,516; 3,293,258 and 3,575,996.In particular, bis-benzoxazoles are disclosed containing a central phenylene group which may be substituted with lower alkyl groups or halogen atoms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,894 discloses the use of bis-benzoxazolyl compounds in scintillators. This patent discloses that the compound must be free of ionizable or dissociable units, such as --OH groups or the --NH groups of imidazole compounds.
Bis-benzazolyl hydroquinones and their alkoxy, alkylcarbonyl, lower alkyloxycarbonyl, benzoyl and phenoxycarbonyl derivatives are disclosed in Orlando et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,673,202 in which it is disclosed that the compounds fluoresce in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum when exposed to ultraviolet light. The compounds are photochemically and thermally stable and can be dissolved in organic solvents. Referring to the hydrogen substitution on the hydroquinone moiety, i.e., "R", Orlando et al. indicate that when the R substituents are other than hydrogen, they increase the solubility of the compounds in organic solvents The compounds can be incorporated in various polymers which can be used to produce films, molded objects, or applied as coatings on ultraviolet lamps to produce various colored lights when energized. In a publication (Chemical Communications, 1971, Pages 1551-1552) entitled "Red-and Near-infrared-luminescent Benzazole Derivatives", Orlando et al. compare the luminescent properties of 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzazoles to those of bis-2,5-(2-benzazolyl)hydroquinones and their methyl ether derivatives wherein the benzxazole moiety is benzthiazole, benzoxazole, and benzimidazole. The ultraviolet spectra of the bis-benzazolehydroquinones in dimethylformamide was reported to have intense absorption from 320 to 410 nm (epsilon 26,000 to 43,000). From luminescence determined in the solid state, they observed that ultraviolet stimulated luminescence of the bis unsubstituted compounds was in the red and near infrared, and when substituted with methyl a hypsochromic shift of the emission band occurred. In comparison, they noted that the unsubstituted hydroxyphenylbenzazoles emitted in the blue end of the visible region and that the replacement of the o-hydroxy group by an o-methoxy group renders these benzazoles non- luminescent. In neither reference did Orlando et al. report or suggest that the bis-2,5-(2-benzazolyl)hydroquinones are soluble in styrene, vinyltoluene, xylene, or other such high efficiency scintillator solvents.
Mordzinski et al. have investigated excited-state proton-transfer reactions in 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole (J.Phys.Chem., 1986, 90, 5503-5506), in 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)hydroquinone (Chemical Physics Letters 1984, 111, No. 4,5; 383-388), and 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)-4-methoxyphenol (J.Phys.Chem. 1986, 90, 1455-1458). In the latter study, Mordzinski et al. indicates that 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)hydroquinone dissolved in 2-methyl tetrahydrofurane has an extinction coefficient of about 20,000 at about 24,000 cm.sup.-1 (417 nm) and that 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)-4-methoxyphenol has an extinction coefficient of about 25,000 at about 27,000 cm.sup.-1 (370 nm). Also in the latter study, Mordzinski et al. reported that 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)-4-methoxyphenol exhibits dual luminescence arising from primarily excited and proton-transferred species and that from temperature studies of relative fluorescent quantum yields (from 300.degree. to 12.degree. K.), they concluded that excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (hereinafter identified as ESIPT) was found to occur effectively at 77.degree. K.
A number of plastic scintillators have been developed for the detection of high energy particles and radiation. Such plastic scintillators typically are comprised of a polymeric matrix, e.g., poly(vinyltoluene) (PVT) and a fluor (fluorescent compound), e.g., 3-hydroxy flavone (3-HF). Portions of such scintillators are expected to withstand radiation levels in excess of 10.sup.4 to 10.sup.5 Gy/yr without degradation of scintillator performance. Standard commercial plastic scintillators are known to suffer significant changes in performance at such radiation levels, typically due to formation of yellow to brown coloration in the matrix which absorbs substantial luminescence in the blue to UV spectral region. Attempts to restore the performance of radiation discolored plastic scintillators by treatments, such as by annealing or with oxygen, have only met with limited success. The issue of "radiation hardness" of plastic scintillators was the subject of a workshop on Mar. 19-21, 1990. (See Proceedings of the Workshop on Radiation Hardness of Plastic Scintillator; Mar. 19-20, 1990; Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla.; Editor, Kurtis F. Johnson.) In these Proceedings, Clough et al., Pages 15-28, discusses radiation effects on scintillating fiber optics for the Super-conducting Super Collider (SSC); Zorn, Pages 1-14 discusses the design of a radiation-hard plastic scintillator for high luminosity HADRON colliders; and Kasha et al., Pages 49-60, discusses the molecular electronic criteria for the selection of radiation-hard scintillators each of which is included herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,179 discloses a method of reducing reabsorption effects in scintillators by using solutes with large Stokes shifts, i.e., a large shift towards the red in the emitted luminescence from the region of the absorbed radiation. 3-hydroxy flavone (3-HF) is proposed as such a solute in a scintillator matrix such as poly(vinyltoluene) (PVT).
Although advances have been made to produce a radiation hard scintillator, there still exists a need to produce radiation hard fluors which are characterized by: a very high extinction coefficient in the near ultraviolet; a Stokes shifted fluorescence emission which is free of phosphorescence emission and is spectrally matched to the sensitivity of photodetection systems used; a high fluorescence efficiency at room temperature; a short fluorescence lifetime to provide fast system response times; and substantially no self-absorption of the emitted fluorescence by the fluor. Moreover, there still exists a need for a fluor that is soluble in the polymeric matrix as well as the monomer precursors thereto; is substantially stable during addition polymerization of the polymeric matrix and during prolonged exposure to high energy radiation; and is photochemically stable and resistant to ambient oxidation.

Proton transfer bis-benzazole fluors and their use in scintillator detectors


A microelectronic device comprises a conductive line and a transistor adjacent to the conductive line. The transistor comprises a channel material extending into the conductive line, the channel material contacting the conductive line in three dimensions, a dielectric material adjacent to the channel material, a conductive material adjacent to the dielectric material, and a passivation material adjacent to the channel material. The microelectronic device further comprises a conductive contact adjacent to the channel material, the conductive contact including a portion extending between opposing portions of the channel material. Related microelectronic devices, electronic devices, and related methods are also disclosed.

Fabrication of a microelectronic device includes forming transistors which may be used to access, for example, a storage component of a memory cell of the microelectronic device. The transistors include a channel region comprising a semiconductor material formulated and configured to conduct a current responsive to application of a threshold voltage and hinder the flow of current in the absence of the threshold voltage.
A continuing goal of the semiconductor industry has been to increase the memory density (e.g., the number of memory cells per memory die) of memory devices. While the footprint of the memory cells, including transistors, continues to be scaled down to increase the memory density of the memory device, decreasing the size of one or more components of the memory cells may negatively affect performance of the memory cells. For example, for a conventional transistor including a channel region formed of a semiconductor material (e.g., silicon, polysilicon), reducing a thickness of a gate dielectric material between the channel region and a gate electrode can initially decrease the off current (Ioff) of the transistor. However, as the thickness of the gate dielectric material is decreased, a limit in the minimum thickness of the gate dielectric material is reached at which the off current begins to undesirably increase due to band-to-band tunneling and the relatively low band gap of the conventional semiconductor materials. In addition, the decreased size of the channel region may result in a reduced contact area between the channel region and conductive contacts. The reduced contact area results in an increased resistance between the channel region and the conductive contacts. The increased resistance causes the on-state current to decrease, which ultimately reduces the speed of the transistor and associated memory cell.
In microelectronic devices including vertical memory cells, the transistors associated with the vertical memory cells may be vertical. Forming such transistors includes forming a stack of materials that will eventually form the transistors of the vertical memory cell, the materials including source and drain contacts, channel regions, and gate electrode materials. The materials of the stack are patterned to form pillars including the stack of materials.
The channel regions of the vertical transistors include a semiconductor material. Traps and defects in the channel regions of conventional microelectronic devices including vertical transistors may increase the off current of the vertical transistors. In some instances, the traps and defects may result in the presence of so-called "sub-band gap" states (also referred to herein as "sub-gap" states). As one example, deep traps and deep donors may alter the off state leakage of the transistors. Accordingly, defects and traps in the channel regions may result in an increase in the off current of the transistors, reducing the charge retention ability of the transistor, such as by allowing the leakage of charge through the transistor in the off state. The increased leakage due to the increased off state current leakage results in leakage of stored charge through the transistors, necessitating a more frequent refresh of the memory bit associated with the transistor.

Microelectronic devices including passivation materials, related electronic devices, and related methods