This invention relates to an automated apparatus for subjecting samples to one or more selected test procedures at one or more test stations comprising a conveyor line for transporting samples contained in uniquely labeled containers, said line having at least two lanes for routing said containers to one or more selectable test stations, at least one of said lanes being a transport lane and at least one of said lanes being a queue line, and having a container interface device for transferring containers to said testing device from the queue lane and back again onto said queue lane.

Automated apparatus for subjecting samples, for example biological samples such as blood, urine, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid and other biological materials to one or more of a series of selectable clinical tests such as hematological tests, urinalysis, immunoassay, toxicology or other specific chemical tests, is known. In general such automated apparatus for clinical tests is constructed to test samples of biological materials which are obtained by a tester, such as a doctor or clinician, from a test subject, and which are sent for testing contained in tubes which are labeled to enable them to be associated with the originating test subject. Such automated apparatus generally comprises a conveyor line for transporting the samples in containers such as tubes to selected test stations at which tests are carried out, usually by presenting the sample in the tube, or a withdrawn specimen of the sample to test equipment. Test equipment of this type which is adapted to be used in combination with such a conveyor line is well known in the art. At each test station test result data is recorded and associated, usually by electronic data processing equipment, with the identity of the sample, thereby enabling this test result data to be related to the test subject from whom they originated.
There is a need for such automated testing apparatus to process samples at a high rate, so as for example to provide the tester, and ultimately the originating subject, with the results of the tests as quickly as possible. However it is also essential that the achievement of a high processing rate in such apparatus does not sacrifice accuracy of testing and reliable correlation of test result data with the identity of the sample.
It is an object of this invention to provide an automated apparatus for subjecting samples, particularly biological samples to tests, which increases the rate of processing of samples while maintaining such accuracy and reliability. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.


Disclosed herein are embodiments of systems, methods, and products comprises an analytic server, which uses scalable vector graphic (SVG) format to encapsulate building floorplan and metadata. The analytic server creates a floorplan map in SVG format that includes both a graphic map and a specification file. When a user issues an information request by clicking on one graphical element, the analytic server determines the object identifier of the clicked graphical element, queries the specification file to receive metadata about the clicked graphical element based on the object identifier, and renders a user interface to display the metadata about the graphical element. When the user modifies the graphical element, the analytic server determines new data of the graphical element and updates the corresponding object metadata with the new data in the specification file.

Large buildings, such as office campuses or shopping malls, can be disorienting and confusing to navigate. This problem is particularly acute when many buildings and floors look the same, which can be troublesome for employees/customers unfamiliar with the buildings. In order to help patrons navigate, some institutions provide floorplans indicating various features and points of interests within a building. However, most building floorplans, used by existing and conventional methods, are stationary and non-interactive, which may be frustrating for users and may create a negative user experience. Even though some existing methods provide navigation applications having interactive floorplans that allow a user to click on different features on the map to obtain more information (e.g., the room number, conference room names, and the like), these conventional methods and solutions have created several technical shortcomings and a new set of technical challenges.
For example, existing methods generally utilize two files to operate and support the navigation application: a visual representation (e.g., map diagram) of the floorplan and a separate metadata file that includes coordinates of each of the locations of the rooms (e.g., using x/y/width/height along with the room number for those coordinates). The navigation application may monitor users' interactions (e.g., mouse clicks on the diagram or floor map) and map the interactions to the coordinate of the given room's metadata. The navigation application may then query the metadata file to display the room number for that room. However, it may be difficult to keep the graphical representation of the floorplan synchronized with the metadata corresponding to each feature displayed on the floorplan. For example, when a user edits the map diagram to change the size of a room (or other features displayed on the map), conventional applications may require the user (or an administrator) to go to a separate metadata file and update the metadata associated with the room to match the edited diagram. Furthermore, if the image of a diagram is resized, the user must separately scale the coordinates to match the new/modified data, which is a tedious and error-prone process. As a result, conventional solutions require updating multiple files, which has been proven to be technically inefficient.

Use of scalable vector graphics format to encapsulate building floorplan and metadata

United States Automobile Association (USAA)


A system for data reconciliation is provided. The data reconciliation system includes a data processing subsystem. The data processing subsystem includes a computation module, configured to generate hash values for a set of tables located in a source database by a hashing technique and also configured generate hash values for a set of tables located in a destination database by the hashing technique. The data processing subsystem also includes an analysis module, configured to analyse the hash values located in the source database and the hash values located in the destination database by a pre-determined rule. The data processing subsystem also includes a suggestion module, configured to suggest output based on the analysis result. A data memory subsystem is configured to store the generated hash values for the source database and the generated hash values for the destination database. Present invention provides safe migration or transferring of data.

Information in database systems is stored based on tables comprising data entries for a plurality of rows and at least one column. A database is an organized collection of data, generally stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. While transferring data from one database system to another database system data may go missing or may get replicated unnecessarily. Such situations happen quite often, for example data is replicated when transferring of data takes place from one database system to another database systems. There is always a need to compare the transferred data in an easy and efficient manner. Such comparisons become more complicated if a source database and a destination database is located in two different data stores. A data store is a repository for persistently storing and managing collections of data which include not just repositories like databases, but also simpler store types such as simple files, emails etc.
In one approach, a system uses hashing techniques for comparing data of two databases. Such comparing of datasets enable usage of limited hashing techniques to find provide results. More efficient approach would be to use different hashing techniques for comparing set of data stored in tables of two databases. Moreover, such system should also enable comparing a source database and a destination database is located in two different data stores.
Further, a system would be more efficient if any attributes like samples of faults in the replicated data or a root cause analysis of the replicated data is provided along with the analysed result. Thereby, manual effort of a user may be reduced to certain extent.
Hence, there is a need for an improved system for data reconciliation and a method to operate the same and therefore address the aforementioned issues.

System and method for data reconciliation


An image forming apparatus includes a waste toner conveying device including a primary conveyor to convey waste toner discharged from a plurality of primary cleaners and a secondary conveyor to convey waste toner discharged from a secondary cleaner. A relay conveyor conveys the waste toner discharged from the primary conveyor and the secondary conveyor. A waste toner container receives the waste toner discharged from the relay conveyor. The primary conveyor, the secondary conveyor, and the relay conveyor are disposed at one end of the image forming apparatus in a front-to-rear direction thereof. A secondary conveyor outlet of the secondary conveyor is disposed below a primary conveyor outlet of the primary conveyor and above an inlet of the waste toner container.

1. Field
Example embodiments generally relate to an image forming apparatus and a waste toner conveying device, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus for forming a toner image and a waste toner conveying device for conveying waste toner that is installed in the image forming apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, facsimile machines, printers, or multifunction printers having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile, plotter, and other functions, typically form an image on a recording medium according to image data. Thus, for example, a charger uniformly charges a surface of each of a plurality of photoconductive drums; an optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the respective photoconductive drums to form an electrostatic latent image on the respective photoconductive drums according to the image data; a development device supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the respective photoconductive drums to render the electrostatic latent image visible as a toner image; the toner images formed on the photoconductive drums are primarily transferred onto an intermediate transfer belt to form a color toner image thereof; the color toner image is secondarily transferred onto a recording medium; finally, a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the recording medium bearing the color toner image to fix the color toner image on the recording medium, thus forming the color toner image on the recording medium.
Such image forming apparatuses may include the plurality of photoconductive drums aligned below the intermediate transfer belt. After the primary transfer of the toner images formed on the plurality of photoconductive drums onto the intermediate transfer belt, a plurality of primary cleaners removes residual toner failed to be transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt and therefore remaining on the photoconductive drums therefrom, respectively. The removed toner is discharged from the primary cleaners and collected into a waste toner container as waste toner. Additionally, after the secondary transfer of the color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt onto the recording medium, a secondary cleaner removes residual toner failed to be transferred onto the recording medium and therefore remaining on the intermediate transfer belt therefrom. The removed toner is discharged from the secondary cleaner and collected into the waste toner container as waste toner.
For example, the waste toner discharged from the primary cleaners is conveyed through a primary conveyor pipe in communication with a primary inlet of the waste toner container that is situated in proximity to the front of the image forming apparatus. Conversely, the waste toner discharged from the secondary cleaner is conveyed through a secondary conveyor pipe in communication with a secondary inlet of the waste toner container that is situated in proximity to the rear of the image forming apparatus. Thus, the waste toner removed from the plurality of photoconductive drums and the waste toner removed from the intermediate transfer belt are collected into the identical waste toner container through the separate conveyor pipes and inlets, respectively.
The primary conveyor pipe that conveys the waste toner discharged from the primary cleaners is situated in proximity to the front of the image forming apparatus to communicate with the primary inlet of the waste toner container that is also situated in proximity to the front of the image forming apparatus. Conversely, the secondary conveyor pipe that conveys the waste toner discharged from the secondary cleaner is situated in proximity to the rear of the image forming apparatus to communicate with the secondary inlet of the waste toner container that is also situated in proximity to the rear of the image forming apparatus.
Accordingly, the front, primary conveyor pipe and the rear, secondary conveyor pipe sandwich the photoconductive drums and the intermediate transfer belt in the front-to-rear direction of the image forming apparatus, upsizing the image forming apparatus in the front-to-rear direction thereof.
Additionally, since the waste toner container has the two inlets, that is, the primary inlet in communication with the primary conveyor pipe and the secondary inlet in communication with the secondary conveyor pipe, two shutters and seals are attached to the two inlets, respectively, increasing manufacturing costs of the waste toner container.

Image forming apparatus and waste toner conveying device incorporated in same


A cardiac therapy system for use with a conventional cardiac pacemaker ciit is controlled by activity signals of the autonomous nervous system (ANS) in a patient's body which constitute a measure for the patient's cardiovascular output requirement. The system includes pickup circuitry for detecting at least the autonomous nervous system activity signals in the patient's body, a control circuit for generating control signals as a function of time and/or intensity of the autonomous nervous system signals picked up in the patient's body, a neurostimulator for changing vascular resistance by nerve stimulation of the patient in adaptation to the patient's intracardial output requirement, in response to control signals from the control circuit, an arrythmia suppressor for generating anti-arrhythmia stimulation pulses to the patient's heart which are controlled by control signals from the control circuit, and a pump assist for assisting the pumping of the patient's heart in response to control signals from the control circuit.

1. Field of The Invention
The invention relates to a cardiac therapy system of the type including control by activity signals of the autonomous nervous system.
2. Background Information
In connection with cardiac pacemakers it is known to utilize values picked up from the patient's body and representing external stress or the stress on the body's organs to control cardiac stimulation. Additionally it is known to utilize those signals which are exclusively a measure for the cardiovascular heart output requirement and thus constitute information from the autonomous nervous system (ANS).
It has been found that a number of heart diseases cannot be treated solely by pacemaking stimulation pulses.

BIOTRONIK, Mess- und Therapiegerate GmbH & Co., Ingenieurburo Berlin


Sterile surgical fluid is maintained in one or more temperature controlled basins provided at the top of a cabinet. One or more insulated temperature controlled compartments are formed in the cabinet for storing supplemental supplies of the surgical fluid at the temperatures close to the temperatures of the basins to facilitate replenishing and/or replacing the fluid in the basins. The storage compartments can be used for long-term temperature controlled fluid storage when basin temperature is not being controlled (i.e., between surgical procedures).

1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to improvements in the method and apparatus for providing sterile surgical saline solution in the operating theater. In particular, the invention simultaneously provides temperature controlled basins for surgical fluid and accessible integral temperature controlled storage for supplemental containers of the required liquid and is an improvement of the methods and apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,659 (Keyes et al), U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,152 (Templeton), U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,299 (Faries, Jr. et al), U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,820 (Faries, Jr. et al), U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,326 (Faries, Jr. et al), U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,616 (Faries, Jr. et al) and the aforesaid U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/399,976. The entire disclosures in these patents and patent applications are expressly incorporated herein.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Some surgical procedures require that an accessible supply of temperature controlled surgical slush be maintained for cooling organs or body parts. In some instances warmed sterile surgical saline is mixed with the slush to produce chilled sterile fluid at selectively controlled temperatures.
A surgical slush producing system having a cabinet with a heat transfer basin at its top is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,659 (Keyes et al). A refrigeration mechanism in the cabinet takes the form of a closed refrigeration loop including: an evaporator in heat exchange relation to the exterior of the heat transfer basin; a compressor; a condenser; and a refrigeration expansion control, all located in the cabinet. A separate product basin is configured to be removably received in the heat transfer basin and separated from the basin by spacers.
During use, the space between the product basin and the heat transfer basin is filled with a liquid such as alcohol or glycol serving as a thermal transfer medium between the two basins. A sterile sheet of material impervious to the thermal transfer medium is disposed between the product basin exterior and the liquid thermal transfer medium to preserve the sterile nature of the product basin. Surgically sterile liquid, such as sodium chloride solution, is placed in the product basin and congeals on the basin side when the refrigeration unit is activated. A scraping tool is used to remove the congealed sterile material to form slush of desired consistency in the basin.
Subsequently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,152 (Templeton) disclosed an improved apparatus wherein the product basin function is replaced in favor of a sterilized drape impervious to the sterile surgical liquid, the drape being made to conform to the basin and directly receive the sterile liquid. Congealed liquid is scraped from the conformed drape side to form the desired slush. The Templeton patent also discloses a system having two operating modes. In one mode the basin is cooled to a temperature below the freezing point of the sterile liquid. In the other mode the contents of the basin are heated to a temperature slightly elevated with respect to normal body temperature, typically on the order of 105.degree. F.
In a more recent improvement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,801 (Faries et al), a surgical slush machine is provided with two operating modes, a first mode operating in the range of -10.degree. F. to -70.degree. F. (nominally about -40.degree. F.) for rapidly bringing sterile liquid temperature down to its freezing temperature, and a second mode operating in the range of 20.degree. F. to 40.degree. F. for maintaining the basin near the freezing temperature of the medium.
Placing selectively and individually temperature controlled basins for providing surgical slush and warmed sterile liquid in close adjacency is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,326 (Faries et al). This arrangement allows the surgical staff to adjust the consistency of the sterile slush by the selective addition of warmed sterile solution, and further supports the availability of more than a single sterile compound as is occasionally required in some surgical procedures. What has not heretofore been readily and conveniently available has been an auxiliary supply of bottled sterile compound maintained at appropriate chilled and warmed temperatures for timely replenishment of the contents of the basins. Specifically, it is desirable to pre-chill or pre-warm the stored sterile liquid in order to reduce the time required to achieve desired temperature after the liquid is poured into the drape container. Storing additional bottles in separate warming and cooling units outside the surgical theater necessitates inefficient and time-consuming passage into and out of the operating room by otherwise better occupied medical personnel during the procedure.

Method and apparatus for providing supplemental temperature controlled bottles of sterile fluid


A nonaqueous electrolytic solution and a lithium battery employing the same include a lithium salt, an organic solvent, and a halogenated benzene compound. The use of the nonaqueous electrolytic solution causes formation of a polymer by oxidative decomposition of the electrolytic solution even if a sharp voltage increase occurs due to overcharging of the battery, leading to consumption of an overcharge current, thus protecting the battery.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonaqueous electrolytic solution with improved safety and a lithium battery employing the same, and more particularly, to a nonaqueous electrolytic solution with improved safety when the battery is overcharged, and a lithium battery employing the polymer electrolyte.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lithium battery includes a cathode, an anode and an electrolytic solution providing a movement path of lithium ions between the cathode and the anode, and generates electric energy by oxidation and reduction when the lithium ions are intercalated into/deintercalated from the cathode and anode.
When a battery is overcharged due to, for example, malfunction of a charger, resulting in a rapid increase in voltage, excessive lithium is extracted from the cathode with a corresponding excessive insertion of lithium at the anode, thermally destabilizing both the cathode and the anodes. As a result, an organic solvent contained in the electrolytic solution is decomposed and a rapid exothermic reaction occurs, leading to thermal runaway, which severely impairs safety of the battery.
To overcome these problems, a method of adding additives to the electrolytic solution has been proposed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,968 discloses that thermal runaway occurring due to overcharge current is prevented by adding a benzene compound such as p-chloroanisole to an electrolytic solution. U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,834 discloses that aromatic additives such as biphenyl, 3-chlorothiophene, and furan are added to an electrolytic solution, and such additives are electrochemically polymerized at abnormally high voltages, thus increasing the internal resistance of a battery and protecting the battery.
However, according to the above-described methods, compounds added as additives may be electrochemically polymerized at normal operating conditions of a battery or generate a large amount of gas due to oxidative decomposition, so that swelling of the battery may increase, and battery performance such as a high-rate characteristic or a life characteristic may be decreased, making it difficult to put the batteries manufactured by the methods into practice.

Nonaqueous electrolytic solution with improved safety and lithium battery employing the same


This invention is related to equipment and techniques for fast neutron activation analysis of explosives and /or other warfare agent. The techniques are based on 14 MeV fast neutrons from D-T fusion reaction, the kinematics of the nuclear reaction and fast coincidence between α-particles of the D-T reaction and γ-quanta from fast neutron induced reactions. A fast neutron generator with effective target cooling and different operation modes provides high neutron yield, long life, and simple maintenance of the equipment and good geometric resolution of the directional neutron beam. High positional resolution of the directionally scanning neutron beam, high time resolution of the coincidence and high neutron yield provide the real time robust screen of explosives with high speed and/or high sensitivity, flexibility for big and small items and overall high probability of detection (PD) and low probability of false alarms (PFA). The remote video scan device also has zooming capability to change solid angle.

This invention relates to explosives detection by directional fast neutron beams scan with associated particles.
Existing means of inspection, such as X-ray screening and trace/vapor sensing are very deficient for detecting explosive substances. The former attempts to detect the explosives in the inspected items by looking at the shapes of the item. The latter attempts to collect traces or vapor from the outside of the inspected item. Both of these inspections techniques provide information that may or may not be related to the presence of explosives' inside the item.
Nuclear techniques, such as neutron-neutron, neutron-gamma and gamma-gamma, may detect explosives automatically through detection of its elemental constituents, primarily nitrogen and secondarily hydrogen. Due to the long penetration depth of neutrons (thermal and fast) and gamma ray, these nuclear techniques can provide the explosives elemental constituent's information deep inside the inspected items.
In neutron-based techniques, fast or thermal neutron induced (n, n gamma) reactions may provide information about the elemental composition in the depth of an inspected item. A fast neutron technique using "tagged neutrons" from a sealed neutron tube has recently been developed. This technique is promising. However, the usefulness of the technique is questionable because its sensitivity is low due to its use of a sealed neutron tube. As such, methods of detecting explosives in items are still needed that are more accurate and effective.

Explosives detection by directional fast neutron beams scan with associated particles


The present invention relates to a light guide for lighting vehicles, preferably motor vehicles. Light rays emitted from the light source of the light guide are reflected off of reflecting surfaces toward a light exit surface. The reflected surfaces are arranged to allow full illumination of the light exit surface.

There are known light guides essentially rectangular in shape and comprising lighting means in the form of LEDs arranged in series side-by-side on one narrow end. With them, light is fed into the light guide, and reflected from reflecting surfaces towards the light exit side. A uniform illumination is thus not assured.
The object of the invention is to configure the generic light guide such that an optimum illumination of the light guide is assured with simple design conformation.
This object is accomplished according to the invention, in the light guide, of the present invention.

Light guide for lighting vehicles, preferably motor vehicles


A process and apparatus for the liquefaction of natural gas including at least one liquid expander for providing expansion of a high-pressure stream and powering a generator capable of producing electricity to be used to drive a compressor located elsewhere in the liquefaction apparatus. Particularly, a liquid expander is used to expand a high-pressure refrigerant stream and to power an electrical generator. The electricity provided by the generator can be used to power a compressor located in the same or a different refrigeration cycle as the liquid expander.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for liquefying natural gas. In another aspect, the invention concerns an improved liquified natural gas (LNG) facility employing one or more liquid expanders for reducing the pressure of a process stream and generating electricity that is used to at least partially power a compressor located elsewhere in the facility. In still another aspect, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for reducing the pressure of a refrigerant stream in one of the closed or open refrigeration cycles in the LNG facility using a liquid expander, and generating electricity through this expansion to at least partially power a compressor situated in a location within the LNG facility that is remote from the liquid expander.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The cryogenic liquefaction of natural gas is routinely practiced as a means of converting natural gas into a more convenient form for transportation and storage. Such liquefaction reduces the volume of the natural gas by about 600-fold and results in a product which can be stored and transported at near atmospheric pressure.
Natural gas is frequently transported by pipeline from the supply source to a distant market. It is desirable to operate the pipeline under a substantially constant and high load factor but often the deliverability or capacity of the pipeline will exceed demand while at other times the demand may exceed the deliverability of the pipeline. In order to shave off the peaks where demand exceeds supply or the valleys when supply exceeds demand, it is desirable to store the excess gas in such a manner that it can be delivered when demand exceeds supply. Such practice allows future demand peaks to be met with material from storage. One practical means for doing this is to convert the gas to a liquefied state for storage and to then vaporize the liquid as demand requires.
The liquefaction of natural gas is of even greater importance when transporting gas from a supply source which is separated by great distances from the candidate market and a pipeline either is not available or is impractical. This is particularly true where transport must be made by ocean-going vessels. Ship transportation in the gaseous state is generally not practical because appreciable pressurization is required to significantly reduce the specific volume of the gas. Such pressurization requires the use of more expensive storage containers.
In order to store and transport natural gas in the liquid state, the natural gas is preferably cooled to −240° F. to −260° F. where the liquefied natural gas (LNG) possesses a near-atmospheric vapor pressure. Numerous systems exist in the prior art for the liquefaction of natural gas in which the gas is liquefied by sequentially passing the gas at an elevated pressure through a plurality of cooling stages whereupon the gas is cooled to successively lower temperatures until the liquefaction temperature is reached. Cooling is generally accomplished by indirect heat exchange with one or more refrigerants such as propane, propylene, ethane, ethylene, methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or combinations of the preceding refrigerants (e.g., mixed refrigerant systems). A liquefaction methodology which is particularly applicable to the current invention employs an open methane cycle for the final refrigeration cycle wherein a pressurized LNG-bearing stream is flashed and the flash vapors (i.e., the flash gas stream(s)) are subsequently employed as cooling agents, recompressed, cooled, combined with the processed natural gas feed stream and liquefied thereby producing the pressurized LNG-bearing stream.
As is typical with numerous processes of this type, the cooling of high-pressure streams can be achieved through the flashing or rapid expansion of the stream. This expansion is commonly affected through the use of joule-Thompson (J-T) expansion valves. The use of J-T valves results in the adiabatic expansion of the stream. Other types of equipment, such as liquid expanders, can be used to perform this expansion. Liquid expanders generally result in tropic expansion and have the benefit of producing work as the stream passes therethrough. This work can be harnessed via a shaft connected to another piece of equipment such as a compressor. The main disadvantage with this type of direct mechanical coupling of an expander and a compressor is that both pieces of equipment must be located in very close proximity to one another. Therefore, such optimizations must be considered when originally designing the LNG facility in order to most efficiently situate the equipment and conduit lines. It is difficult to retrofit an existing facility with this type of direct mechanically coupled expander/compressor arrangement due to the fact that the high-pressure stream may not be located near the stream needing to be compressed. Therefore, a real need exists for a method and apparatus for enabling the extraction of energy from high-pressure streams in an LNG facility and using that energy elsewhere in the facility without necessitating major reconfigurations of the plant design so that the expander and compressor can be positioned in close proximity to each other.

Optimized LNG system with liquid expander


An engine life counter electrically connected to an engine restart switch through a power source of an engine. The counter includes a mechanical type counter having a coil; a quartz crystal oscillating at a stable frequency; a frequency demultiplier having an output terminal and a reset input terminal. The frequency demultiplier is connected to the quartz crystal to produce a standard frequency output. A stabilizing circuit is connected between the power source and the reset input terminal to stabilize and filter power from the power source. A transistor circuit is connected to an input of the coil and the output terminal of the frequency demultiplier for producing a series of pulses in cooperation with the frequency demultiplier. The pulses magnetize the coil at predetermined intervals. When the restart switch is actuated to start the engine an output from the output terminal of the frequency demultiplier produces a first pulse through the transistor circuit after 32 seconds to magnetize the coil and thereafter produces a pulse through the transistor circuit which magnetizes the coil every 36 seconds until the engine is switched off. The first pulse thereby increases the accuracy of the counter when the engine is restarted.

The present invention relates to an engine life counter.
Conventional engine life counter works on the basis of the travel kilometer number shown on the odometer. However, such counter can not measure the idling motion of the engine. Thereby, the measured data will be quite different from the actual operation of the engine and great error exists therebetween. Another type of engine life counter adopts an oscillator to drive a stepped motor and reduced gears which further drive mechanical numeral wheels. Such structure is complicated and the cost thereof is high, and moreover, the error of tooth number of the gear always causes insufficent accuracy.
Still another type of counter employs an RC oscillating circuit to supply a series of pulses with 36 second period for magnetizing a coil of a mechanical counter. The oscillating frequency of such counter is apt to be interfered by the temperature or noise to cause a great error in oscillating frequency. Moreover, the oscillating frequency thereof must be corrected by a resistor so that a human error is easy to take place.
Another type of counter employs quartz crystal with 36 second oscillation period and .+-.0.1% accuracy.


Provided is a backlight unit including one or more white light emitting diodes (LEDs) for generating light; an LED module having a printed circuit board (PCB), the LED module supporting and driving the white LED; a sensor for detecting the color temperature of the white LED; a heat generating element connected to the LED module; and a controller for controlling the sensor, the LED module, and the heat generating element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight unit and a method of driving the same, which uses a white light emitting diode (LED) as a light source and can achieve high efficiency and reliability in controlling a color temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the rapid development of the semiconductor industry, products have been reduced in size and weight, and the performance thereof has become much stronger. Cathode ray tubes (CRT) which are widely used in information display devices have a number of advantages in terms of performance and price. However, the CRTs have a disadvantage in terms of size and portability. To overcome such a disadvantage, liquid crystal displays (LCD) are proposed as one measure. The LCDs have a number of advantages in terms of size, weight, power consumption. Therefore, the LCDs are being considered to be a substitute which can overcome the disadvantage of the CRTs. Currently, the LCDs are mounted on almost all information processing equipments which require display devices.
LCDs are referred to as display devices which apply a voltage to a specific molecular arrangement of liquid crystal to change into another molecular arrangement and converts changes in optical properties of liquid crystal cells, which emit light through such a molecular arrangement, into visual changes. That is, the LCDs use modulation of light caused by the liquid crystal cells. The optical properties of the liquid crystal cells include a birefringence property, optical rotary power, dichroism, a light scattering property and so on.
Such an LCD is a passive element which does not emit light. Therefore, the LCD illuminates an LCD panel by using a backlight unit attached on a rear surface of the LCD panel. The light transmittance of the LCD panel is adjusted by an applied electrical signal. Accordingly, a still image or moving image is displayed on the LCD panel.
In the backlight unit which supplies light to the LCD panel, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) has been widely used. Recently, however, various types of display devices such as a portable device, a field sequential color LCD and so on and backlight units using an LED are being widely used through an enhanced driving method.
The LED is a point source of light having a smaller light emission area than the CCFL. Light emitted from the LED is incident on a side surface of a light guide plate which guides a light path, and the light guide plate changes the light emitted from the LED into a surface source of light to supply to the LCD panel.
In general, to represent a natural color, the LED uniformly controls the luminance of three kinds of red, green, and blue LEDs such that white chromaticity coordinates are adjusted. At this time, the luminance of each LED should be controlled in such a manner that the luminance of light emitted from the backlight unit and the white chromaticity coordinates are adjusted. For this, a voltage control method is used, in which a constant voltage is applied to the LED and the time span of the applied voltage is adjusted so as to control the luminance and the white chromaticity coordinates.
However, when the luminance and the white chromaticity coordinates are controlled by the above-described method, a constant voltage is applied to each LED, and a pulse width of the constant voltage is modulated so as to supply power to the LED. Then, a time span where the LED is lit is adjusted. Therefore, as the pulse width increases, the LED itself is deteriorated. Accordingly, the life span of the LED is reduced, and the luminance is reduced. Then, the white chromaticity coordinates become unstable.
To solve such a problem, Korea Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-44885 discloses a technique in which when the luminance and color temperature of each LED is changed depending on a temperature, a sensor detects the color temperature of each LED, and a controller attached to each LED changes an applied current of the LED such that the luminance and white chromaticity coordinates of the LED is uniformly controlled.
However, when the backlight unit is formed using only a white LED composed of a phosphor and a blue or near ultraviolet LED, not three kinds of red, green, and blue LEDs, the temperature of a light emitting section continuously changes until it reaches a steady state from when power is applied to the backlight unit, that is, when the backlight unit is driven. Therefore, although the sensor capable of detecting a color temperature is provided, it is impossible to continuously control the color temperature. Accordingly, it is difficult to uniformly maintain the white chromaticity coordinates, even though the luminance can be constantly maintained.

Backlight unit and method of driving the same controlling temperature of the backlight unit


An optical amplification unit comprises at least one optical amplifier for amplifying an optical signal and a filter preceding or following the optical amplifier. The optical amplifier comprises a first measuring device for measuring a property of an input signal of the optical amplifier, a second measuring device for measuring a property of an output signal of the optical amplifier, and a control circuit for controlling a gain characteristic of the optical amplifier in dependence of said input and output signal properties. The filter exhibits a wavelength-dependent attenuation of the optical signal. The optical amplification unit is connectable to an optical fiber span and the filter is adapted to compensate for a span loss tilt caused by said optical fiber span. An optical transmission system with at least one such optical amplification unit and corresponding methods.

Optical amplification units are used e.g. in fiber optical transmission systems. Such systems normally comprise an optical fiber line with a plurality of optical fiber spans interconnected by a plurality of these optical amplification units.
In such optical transmission systems, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), in particular Dense WDM (DWDM), permits simultaneous transmission of multiple channels over a common optical fiber line. Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA) provide a cost-effective means for optical amplification in such systems, as EDFAs amplify all the wavelengths simultaneously, enabling the composite optical signals to travel large distances without regeneration.
However, transmission power is influenced by fiber attenuation which is partly due to Rayleigh scattering. The fiber attenuation is responsible for a transfer of power from lower wavelength channels to higher wavelength channels. Consequently, lower wavelength channels encounter a higher span loss in an optical fiber span than higher wavelength channels, thus causing a span loss tilt in the per channel loss in an optical fiber span, see e.g. FIG. 6 for the span loss dependence of wavelength channels in a wavelength range from 1530 nm to 1565 nm.
The number of wavelength channels may vary due to a fiber break for example, when only a few channels remain. The number of channels may also vary in fiber optical systems, in particular ultra long haul (ULH) optical systems with multiple reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexing (ROADM). In ROADM systems the number of multiplexed frequency channels may vary, e.g. between 1 and 80.
If the optical amplification unit works in constant gain mode, the operating point of the optical amplification unit is conventionally determined to compensate for the average span loss in full load configuration, when all or most of the channels are present. The span loss tilt is then conventionally taken into account by tilting the gain of the optical amplifier using a filter, e.g. a variable optical attenuator (VOA) exhibiting a constant loss versus wavelength, comprised in the optical amplifier. A VOA is usually used within the interstage of an EDFA to adjust the EDFA tilt. By changing the attenuation of the VOA, the overall gain of the EDFA changes (if the input power and the output power are kept constant, the output power depends mainly of the pump power set within the EDFA), and generates a tilt (the inversion parameter of the Erbium doped fiber changes and it modifies the gain shape).
The operating point for an optical amplification unit which compensates for the average span loss in the full load configuration is 19.9 dB in the example of FIG. 6. This operating point conventionally remains constant, even when the load configuration is changed and the number of channels carried by the fiber optical system is changed. If, for example, only a few channels are present around e.g. 1530 nm, the span loss encountered by these channels due to the span loss tilt will be 20.2 dB (cf. FIG. 6). As the operating point of the optical amplification unit is 19.9 dB in this example, the optical amplification unit will still be controlled to have a gain of 19.9 dB. Therefore, the gain error will be 0.3 dB per fiber span in this example case. After 20 optical amplification units and following fiber spans, the accumulated error will be 6 dB, which is not acceptable. Tilting the gain of the optical amplifier, e. g. using a VOA, has not the desired compensation effect, as the remaining channels are located at the same wavelength.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,906 B1, an optical amplifier for a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system is described that comprises a filter for inverting the tilt of the WDM signals. The filter is. All the EDFAs installed contain a Gain Flattening Filter (GFF) as a part of the control loop of the optical amplifier to minimize the gain excursion versus the wavelength generated by the natural gain shape of the Erbium doped Fiber.

Optical amplification unit with span loss tilt compensation, fiber optical transmission system comprising the same, and corresponding methods


An aspect of the present invention provides a lens-interchangeable camera which has operability equal to a right-handed user and a left-handed user without necessity of any addition of extra members and without sacrificing a design for a smaller size. Since a camera according to the present invention does not need any extra members, a user-friendly camera which eliminates any disadvantage for a use by left-handed persons at a high level that any conventional cameras have not yet achieved can be achieved. Also, since a camera body can be disposed on a left side as needed even for a right-handed user and the right-handed user can operate the camera body only with his/her left hand, this form is convenient when the user picks up images while the user is operating another apparatus with his/her right hand.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera, in particular, a camera having a camera body with a grip part to and from which an interchangeable lens part having an image pickup device can be attached and removed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-344943 discloses a digital camera which includes a low-profile camera body having a connector, and the digital camera is adapted to right-handed and left-handed persons by selectively replacing an accessory for right-handed persons and an accessory for left-handed persons which are provided with operation buttons such as a shutter release button and attaching the selected accessory to the camera body via the connector.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-66522 discloses a digital camera which includes a camera body, a lens cover for covering a lens for image pickup at a front surface of the camera body, and the digital camera is set to be a camera for right-handed persons upon a detection of a position of the lens cover when the lens cover is slided to the left side of an image pickup optical system relative to the front surface of the camera body, while the digital camera is set to be a camera for left-handed persons upon a detection of a position of the lens cover when the lens cover is slid to the right side of the image pickup optical system relative to the front surface of the camera body.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-142107 discloses a lens-interchangeable digital camera which includes a camera body having an image pickup device and a rectangular camera mount part at a front surface of the camera body, and a rectangular lens mount for a lens barrel of the interchangeable lens is removably mounted to the camera mount part.


A method, device for processing web content and a storage medium, the method comprising: determining, in a histogram statistical array of a webpage snapshot, a starting position and an ending position of a longest continuous image along a longitudinal axis direction; determining, based on a resolution of the webpage snapshot, a first starting position and a first ending position of a body in the webpage snapshot along the longitudinal axis direction in a range from the starting position to the ending position in the longitudinal axis direction; determining, based a rendering tree of the webpage snapshot, a second starting position and a second ending position of the body in the webpage snapshot in the longitudinal axis direction in a range from the first starting position to the first ending position.

In order to avoid frequent page turning operations, content in the webpage may be extracted and spliced into one webpage based on an user's request when there are multiple pages of news-type or novel-type body content on the website. In order to extract the body content required from the webpage, a location of the body can be found according to a position of a button label of a next page in the webpage, or a label attribute corresponding to the body may be recorded through manually traversing webpages of various websites, and then a label element of the body can be found based on the attribute. Although an extraction of the body content required in the webpage can be achieved by means of this method, an inaccurate extraction of the body is achieved due to frequent changes of the webpage layout or the label attribute, thereby affecting the user's reading experience.

Method, device for processing webpage content and storage medium


To provide an X-ray CT apparatus and an image reconstruction method that can generate an image in which motion influence of a site to be scanned is reduced, the image processing device 403 of the X-ray CT apparatus 1 calculates a reconstruction data range which is a range of projection data to be used for reconstruction based on a motion direction of the site to be scanned. An image is reconstructed using the projection data in the calculated reconstruction data range. The reconstruction data range is set as the projection data in a projection range of at least 180 degrees or more including a projection direction that approximately corresponding to the motion direction of the site to be scanned.

When a moving site of the human body is scanned by an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, artifacts caused by motions occur in an acquired image. An X-ray CT apparatus generally scans an object from a plurality of projection angles in a circumferential direction to reconstruct a tomographic image using at least 180 degrees of projection data. Therefore, the above artifacts include at least 180 degrees of motion artifacts.
In order to reduce such motion artifacts, the method in which a motion amount and a motion speed of a site to be scanned are measured using a biosensor such as an electrocardiograph and a respiration sensor, a phase with the minimal motion amount is calculated, and an image is reconstructed by selecting projection data of the calculated phase has been proposed (Patent Literature 1).

X-ray CT apparatus and image reconstruction method


A vehicle washing system includes a frame disposed above a vehicle treatment area, and a reciprocal guide system coupled to the frame. The guide system is configured to move vertically relative to the frame, and supports a vehicle treatment component such as a rotatable brush. The brush may be lowered and raised relative to the vehicle treatment area by extending or retracting the guide track. When the guide system is retracted upward, there are no downwardly extending guides or rails that extend downward from the bottom of the guide system. The guide system is collapsible in a vertical direction, and may be a scissors mechanism or a telescoping mechanism or other collapsible mechanism. The guide system may be actuated directly or may be actuated dependent on a separate vertical drive mechanism, such as a windable belt.

Vehicle wash systems are in common use to clean passenger vehicles such as automobiles. These vehicle wash systems may include a number of washing components that may be used to clean different sections of the vehicle. For example, wash systems may include a top brush that cleans the top surfaces of the vehicle and side brushes that clean the side surfaces of the vehicle. The top brush is typically raised and lowered relative to the vehicle to clean the varying heights inherent in the top surfaces of vehicles. The top brush may also be moved fore-and-aft to travel along the length of the vehicle, or the vehicle may be conveyed past the top brush to cover the length of the vehicle. The side brushes, similar to the top brush, may be translated fore-and-aft relative to the vehicle to cover the length of the vehicle, either by translating the brush relative to stationary vehicle, or conveying the vehicle past stationary brushes.
To adjust the height of the top brush with respect to a vehicle treatment area, the brush may be carried on a vertical rail system, with the brush extending horizontally between opposing rails. The rails are disposed on opposite sides of the vehicle, and the brush extends across the width of the vehicle between the rails. During vertical movement of the top brush, the brush will become in the path of the vehicle, either in front of or behind a portion of the vehicle. Accordingly, substantial damage to the brush and rails can occur in the event that the vehicle moves when the top brush is in a lowered position and in the path of the vehicle. Similarly, because the top brush is moved relative to the vehicle, either by translating the brush or conveying the vehicle, the top brush may collide with the vehicle in the event the vertical movement of the top brush is not controlled properly relative to the for-and-aft movement relative to the vehicle. Again such contact with the brush can cause significant damage to the top brush and/or rail system necessitating repair thereof and also causing significant down time of the wash system. Additionally, the rails of these prior systems are fixed and do not retract as the top brush retracts from the path of a vehicle. As such, they are susceptible to unwanted vehicle contact and thus damage. Moreover, because these top brush systems remain in a single vertical plane, they require an advanced control system, such as including torque sensors and feedback, to follow the contour of the car as the brush moves relative to the car.
In view of the above, there is a need for an improved vehicle wash system.

Vehicle wash system having a vertically operated top brush with collapsible guide track system


A hybrid photodetector employing both transmissive and reflective detection techniques for detecting objects having differing light transmission and reflection properties are in conveyance.

Typically, the use of a beam of light as a detection tool for various objects is based on either measuring reflection or transmission of the detection beam by way of a photo sensor. The effectiveness of such methods depends largely on the optical qualities of the object in question; some objects are most effectively detected by way of reflection-based detection while other objects are most effectively detected using transmission-based detection.
Applications involving multiple objects in which each object has a different optical characteristics generally require multiple photodetectors


In a projection type image display apparatus, a projector optical unit for projecting an image onto a screen while magnifying a size of the image to be projected with respect to an original size of the image displayed by an image forming element, has a group of lenses for magnifying the size of the image with respect to the original size thereof, and an optical path extending from the image forming element to the screen to transmit the image along the optical path.

The present invention relates to a projection type image display apparatus in which an enlarged image is projected on a screen to perform an image display, a rear projection type image display apparatus in which the enlarged image is projected on a rear surface of the screen, and a projector optical unit usable in these display devices.
JP-A-5-134213 (document 1), JP-A-2000-162544 (document 2) and JP-A-2002-357768 (document 3) disclose projector optical units in each of which an image is projected onto a screen in a direction oblique to the screen so that a sufficiently enlarged size of the image is obtained on the screen with a short projecting distance.

Projector optical unit, projection type image display apparatus, and rear projection type image display apparatus


Method and system to enable a user to view large collections of hierarchically linked information on a computer based display. A tree structure visualization is created which presents a representation of the complete collection of information on the display. The visualization fits completely within a fixed area of the computer based display, negating the need to scroll information into the display area. The visualization is based on identified focus nodes and through calculation of a Degree of Interest (DOI) for each of the nodes based in the structure. Layout and presentation of the visualization structure is based on the DOI values in combination with considerations of available display space. A user may dynamically manipulate views of the structure by selecting one or more focus nodes, thus causing a recalculation of the degree of interest.

Many applications of computers to practical problems involve the display of representations of linked information such as hierarchical data. Linked information refers to information that has some logical or organizational relationship. Examples are organization charts, computer programs, Web sites, filing systems, or biological taxonomies. These data structures are often much larger than will conveniently fit on the screen of a computer display monitor so that information can be easily extracted. But finding a way of presenting these structures to users such that (1) they can find elements in the structure quickly and (2) they can understand the relationship of an element to its surrounding context is an important enabler to many uses of such data.
One example is in the area of linked hierarchical data. Linked hierarchical data is often displayed in a tree structure. Several types of methods have been used to display such tree structures:
(1) Uniform layout of trees. Trees can be laid out uniformly. The number of nodes at the leaves of all the subtrees is computed and multiplied by an amount of space per node plus spacing between nodes and between subtrees. Then the nodes are scaled so that this fits across the display. This method works for small trees, but any attempt to portray a tree structure of moderate size, say 600 nodes, scaled to the width of a display will have the approximate appearance of a horizontal line, since the width increases exponentially while the height increases only linearly.
(2) Compressed layout of trees. The space required for the tree can be opportunistically compressed by sliding portions of deeper subtrees underneath shallow subtrees. If the tree has uniform depth, this is of no help. If the depth is non-uniform, more nodes can be accommodated in the same space, but this technique is only a limited improvement and cannot handle very large trees.
(3) Treemaps. Treemaps are described by Johnson, B. and Shneiderman, B. in the publication entitled "Treemaps: A space-filing approach to the visualization of hierarchical information structures", Proceedings of IEEE Information Visualization '91, 275-282. Treemaps is a technique in which lower subtrees are contained within higher nodes of the tree. A space is divided, say vertically, into a number of sections equal to the number of branches. Each section is then divided horizontally according to the number of branching at the next level down in the tree. The next level is then divided vertically again and so on alternating between vertical and horizontal definition of the space until it is too small to divide. Since creating a tree in this way does not allow any room for the content of nodes, the technique can be modified so that each division has extra space to be devoted to the node contents. This technique stays within predetermined space bounds, but as nodes become smaller and smaller they no longer have room for content (except for maybe a uniform color), the aspect ratios of the nodes vary widely, obscuring simple relationships.
(4) Techniques of variable manual expansion. Some techniques allow the user to choose which nodes are displayed. In this way, there need not be space for all nodes at the same time and those visible are ones more interesting to the user. One such technique was introduced in by Engelbart, D. C. and English, W. K., "A Research Center for Augmenting Human Intellect", AFIPS Conference Proceedings of the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference, San Francisco, Calif., December 1968, Vol. 33, pp. 395-410 (AUGMENT, 3954,). Republished in Computer Supported Cooperative Work: A Book of Readings, Irene Greif [Editor], Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., San Mateo, Calif., 1988, pp. 81-105. The user indicates the higher and lower level numbers of the tree to be expanded. This technique allows the user to look horizontally across a tree structure. For example, a user might look at all the procedure call and variable declarations in a program, while suppressing the code itself, which resides at lower levels in the tree. The limitation of this technique is that there is no guarantee the tree will all fit on the display in any of these views and the user cannot expand one part of the tree, but not another. So the technique is usually paired with scrolling.
Another example of such a technique is used in the user interface of the Apple Hierarchical Filing System used on computer systems available from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino Calif. Each level in the tree can be expanded individually by clicking on a small triangle to the left of the level. Thus the user can expand portions of the tree that are to be compared on the screen, while keeping other portions of the tree compressed by eliding nodes below the compressed subtree root. But this technique also needs to be paired with scrolling and considerable manual manipulation must be performed by the user to constantly adjust views.
(5) Fish-eye Views. Fish-eye views were described by Furnas, G. W. (1981/1999), in the publication "The FISHEYE View: A new look at structured files", reprinted in Card, S. K., Mackinlay, J. D.; and Shneiderman, B. (eds.) (1999), Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think. San Francisco: Morgan-Kaufmann. Fish-eye views describes a class of techniques in which nodes are displayed or elided according to the user's computed degree-of-interest (DOI) in them. The estimated
DOI of a node=Intrinsic Importance+Distance from a focus node.
The Intrinsic Importance of a node is its distance from the root and the Distance of a node is the number of nodes that must be traversed by following parent and child links from the node of interest until reaching the subject node. All those nodes whose DOI lies below a certain threshold are not displayed. If the user indicates interest in some node, say by selecting it, this calculation is performed and the display elides those nodes below the threshold. In this way, the display of the tree follows the user's changing interest. The problem with this technique is that there is no guarantee the displayed trees will fit in any display bounds, thus wasting useful information space. The technique is especially problematic when there are a large number of sibling nodes in the tree.
(6) Focus+Context Displays. Focus+context displays are variants of fish-eye views that use various sorts of techniques to devote more space or detail of the display to some areas of interest, compressing other parts of the displayed structure to mainly support the context of the focus elements and showing the user where to select to navigate to a new position in the structure. One example of a focus+context hierarchical structure is cone-trees (see Robertson, G. G., Mackinlay, J. D. and Card, S. K. (1991). Cone trees: Animated 3D visualizations of hierarchical information. Proceedings of CHI '91. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems New York, 198-194.). Cone-trees arrange the nodes in a 3-D tree. Selecting a node rotates a branch of the cone-tree, bringing related nodes into the foreground while sending other nodes into the background. This technique uses natural perspective to achieve some of the effect of Furnas's fish-eye views. Furnas' fish-eye view technique can be combined with cone-trees, thus allowing the display of larger trees. Because this is a 3-D display, some of the nodes occlude each other.
(7) Hyperbolic Trees. In hyperbolic trees the space itself is stretched according to a hyperbolic projection (see Lamping, J. and Rao, R. (1994), "Laying out and visualizing large trees using a hyperbolic space", Proceedings of UIST '94, ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 13-14). An implementation of a hyperbolic tree structure visualization is available from InXight Software, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.). Selecting a node moves it to the center (or side) of the display. Nodes further out are smaller and closer to each other. The display stays within fixed boundaries. But only a limited number of links out from the focus node can be seen. Moreover, it is more complicated to model complex user's DOI.
Despite such methods and techniques there remains a need to effectively display and extract useful information from large bodies of linked data.

System and method for browsing hierarchically based node-link structures based on an estimated degree of interest


A high pressure fitting configured to be weldingly coupled to high pressure tubing is provided. The high pressure fitting and/or the tubing welded thereto may be chamfered to provided a smoother welded joint. The interior surface finish of the fitting is smoothed via an abrasive fluid flowed through the fitting's fluid passageway. In fittings comprising a corner, the inner edge of the corner may be rounded by forcibly flowing an abrasive fluid through the fitting. Electropolishing further smoothes the interior surfaces. The inventive fitting allows flow system tolerancing to be tightly controlled by determining a desired distance between two high pressure fittings to be coupled, and adjusting the desired distance by a welded length variable.

The present invention relates generally to the field of the high pressure fittings and specifically to fittings that supply ultra clean high pressure gas for use in semiconductor processing.
High pressure processing of semiconductor devices provides improved filling of vias and other high aspect ratio surface features. However the equipment costs associated with machining and assembling the fittings that deliver high pressure fluid (e.g., high pressure gases) to a processing chamber, and the down time associated with fitting repair, reduces the desirability of high pressure processing.
In order to understand the significance of the present invention, it is first necessary to understand conventional high pressure fitting designs. FIG. 1 shows a side elevational view representative of a conventional high pressure fitting 11, a high pressure tube 13 and a coupling assembly 15 for coupling the high pressure tube 13 to the high pressure fitting 11. Within FIG. 1 all parts are shown in section to facilitate explanation of their interior surface features.
The high pressure fitting 11 comprises a fluid passageway 17 having an abrupt direction change (i.e., a corner 19) having an inner edge 21a and an outer edge 21b; and a cavity having a threaded interior surface (i.e., threaded cavity 23). The fluid passageway 17 has a chamfered region 25 that connects the threaded cavity 23. Similarly the high pressure tube 13 has a coned end 27 with a chamfer that corresponds to the chamfer of the fluid passageway 17's chamfered region 25. A fluid tight seal is formed between the high pressure fitting 11 and the high pressure tube 13 which (because they are both metal parts such as stainless steel) exhibit metal to metal deformation when forced against each other as described below. The high pressure tube 13 further comprises a threaded region 29 for mating with the coupling assembly 15.
The coupling assembly 15 comprises a nut 31 and a collar 32. The interior surface (not shown) of the collar 32 is threaded so as to threadingly engage the threaded region 29 of the high pressure tube 13.
The nut 31 has openings at both of its ends and a continuous passageway therebetween such that the nut 31 may be slidably mounted on the high pressure tube 13. The nut 31 has an interior surface profile that comprises a first interior region 33 having an interior diameter sized to receive the collar 32 with minimum clearance, and a second interior region 35 having an interior diameter sized to receive the high pressure tube 13 with a small clearance. A sloped region 37 on the interior of the nut 31, which matingly corresponds to a chamfer 39 on the collar 32, transitions between the first and second interior regions 33, 35. The exterior surface of the nut 31 comprises an exterior threaded region 40 and a sextagonal head region 41.
In operation, to assemble a flow system the nut 31 is slid over the high pressure tube 13 and the collar 32 is then threaded on the threaded region 29 of the high pressure tube 13, and the nut 31 is slid toward the collar 32 until the collar 32 is completely recessed within the first interior region 33 of the nut 31. The exterior threaded region 40 of the nut 31 is then screwed into the threaded cavity 23 of the high pressure fitting 11. Because the interior region 33 of the nut 31 presses against the collar 32, the collar 32, which is threadingly coupled to the high pressure tube 13, forces the coned end 27 of the high pressure tube 13 against the chamfered region 25 of the high pressure fitting 11, forming a fluid tight seal therebetween.
Sufficient threaded engagement must exist between the exterior threaded region 40 and the threaded cavity 23 of the high pressure fitting 11 to withstand the forces applied thereto by the high pressure flow which is transmitted therethrough. If the collar 32 is threaded onto the high pressure tube 13 too far from the chamfered end 27 (e.g., too far in the direction of the arrow "A" of FIG. 1) the nut 31 will not be able to move far enough toward the high pressure fitting 11 (e.g., far enough in the direction of the arrow "B" of FIG. 1) to achieve sufficient threaded engagement therebetween. Additionally the angle of the chamfered end 27, which may vary from tube to tube, controls the depth with which the high pressure tube 13 extends into the fluid passageway 17 of the high pressure fitting 11, and thus controls the overall length of the assembled high pressure fitting 11 and the high pressure tube 13 (i.e., the fitting/tube assembly).
In order to form a flow system the assembly process described above is repeated. That is, another coupling assembly 15 may be slid onto another high pressure tube 13, assembled, and screwed into an additional threaded cavity (not shown) within the high pressure fitting 11, and/or an additional collar 32 can be screwed onto a second chamfered end (not shown) of the high pressure tube 13, and an additional coupling assembly assembled and screwed into an additional high pressure fitting, etc.
As discernible from the above description, due to the many interlocking parts and the numerous chamfered and/or threaded surfaces, conventional high pressure fittings are complex and costly to manufacture and assemble. Moreover, conventional high pressure fittings are inherently subject to particle generation. For example, within a corner, particles of the inner edge 21a may wear off during high pressure operation. Particles also may be generated when screwing one surface to another, or when pressing metal surfaces against one another (e.g., the coned end 27 of the high pressure tube 13 against the chamfered region 25 of the high pressure fitting 11) to achieve metal to metal deformation. Further, after repeated uses the metal surfaces of the high pressure tube 13 and the chamfered region 25 of the high pressure fitting 11 are unable to deform an amount sufficient to form a fluid tight seal. Conventional fittings and tubes therefore must be frequently replaced.
Perhaps the most troublesome feature of these conventional fittings is the difficulty associated with fitting replacement and the difficulty associated with forming a flow system which is compact and symmetrical. Due to the high cost of clean rooms, and the need to access processing chambers without obstruction, a flow system's overall size and symmetry are important. With conventional high pressure fittings, the variable length of each fitting/tube assembly renders building a symmetrical flow system nearly impossible, and removal of a single coupling assembly 15 from a high pressure fitting 11 extremely difficult and time consuming. To remove a coupling assembly 15 from a high pressure fitting 11 the coupling assembly 15 must be unscrewed and the high pressure tube 13 withdrawn from the threaded region 23 of the high pressure fitting 11, which, if achieved, will move not only the relevant coupling assembly 15 away from the high pressure fitting 11 but also will move the entire high pressure tube 13 and any other high pressure fittings 11 coupled thereto. Accordingly, once assembled a conventional high pressure flow system experiences virtual grid lock; reconfiguration or repair of a single fitting/tube joint is impossible without adjustment of numerous surrounding fitting/tube joints.
Accordingly a need exists for a new high pressure fitting which facilitates assembly and repair while being inexpensively manufacturable and less likely to generate particles.


A graph database is described for use in connection with a contact center. The graph database includes a plurality of nodes and relationships that describe the operations, entities, personnel, and attributes in the contact center. Also included in the graph database is an attribute tree that enables a work assignment engine in the contact center to make proximity-based work assignment decisions.

Contact centers originally developed as an analogy to a customer service line. In particular, queue theory has dominated the development of contact centers to date.
Within the last several years, however, significant advances in contact center architecture have been made and movement away from a traditional work/agent queue has developed. One example of such a contact center is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,619,968, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. This implementation of the queueless contact center represented a brand new way of thinking about contact centers and how they should be constructed. Through the development of the queueless contact center, some obstacles have been identified and, in most situations, overcome. In general, there are significant advantages to implementing a queueless contact center.
At its core, however, the queueless contact center is still dependent upon a large number of discrete modules and systems interconnecting and communicating with one another. Specifically, the work assignment engine is separate from the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, which are both separate from Work Force Management (WFM) systems. The work assignment engine is also separate from, Work-Flow (front and back-office), Voice Portal and other interactive voice response (IVR) systems as well as additional reporting and forecasting systems.
A primary problem with existing contact center solutions is that they do not provide a clean or easy way to have the above-mentioned contact center components interoperate. Another problem with the movement away from traditional queue-based contact centers is that the rigid structure of the queue naturally limited the type of data that was considered interesting for purposes of work assignment, reporting, etc. Thus, without the existence of a queue, the amount of data associated with work items and agents (e.g., attributes) has expanded exponentially. Current contact center databases do not easily support the creation of attribute sets (e.g., a set of attributes describing a particular work item or agent). In fact, the contact center database has been manually updated to support each new attribute set or possible attribute set. As a single attribute is added to the contact center, the possible number of attribute sets multiplies. This data expansion severely pushes the limits of current database structures used in contact centers.
What is needed is a more comprehensive solution for developing a contact center, whether queueless or queue-based. In particular, a completely new model is needed to enable the next quantum leap in contact center development.

Mechanism for creation and utilization of an attribute tree in a contact center


A method for converting a non-driven tag axle system to a driven axle system is disclosed where a forward driven axle system is converted to drive an interaxle drive shaft. The interaxle drive shaft is connected to a drive axle head mounted within the tag axle housing. Drive axles are connected to drive axle head. In another embodiment, a forward driven axle system is removed from a first position on the vehicle frame and the tag axle is removed from a second position on the vehicle frame. A differential is installed in the tag axle and it is located in the first position. The forward driven axle system is located in the second position and connected to the differential in the first position.

Single drive axle trucks with a tag axle are known for their lighter weight, improved fuel economy, low installation cost and reliability in operations over tandem drive axle configurations. The North American truck market, however, is dominated by the tandem drive axle configuration in part due to single drive axle trucks having a low resale value. The low resale value can be partly attributed to the high cost associated with converting a single drive axle truck to a tandem drive axle truck. Conversion costs can be high since current tag axles have a different profile and wheel equipment than the drive axle, thus requiring a retrofitter to discard the tag axle, the suspension bracketry and the wheel equipment and install a new drive axle, suspension bracketry and wheel equipment.
In light of the disadvantages of the prior art, it would be advantageous to convert a non-driven tag axle to a driven axle by re-using much of the original equipment of the vehicle. It would also be advantageous to provide the vehicle with a tag axle assembly and a driven axle assembly that have substantially identical profiles that they can be interchanged with one another. It would also be advantageous for a truck fleet owner to have the ability to purchase a single drive axle truck and then later convert it to a tandem drive axle truck for resale.

Method for converting a non-driven tag axle system to a driven axle system


A skin external preparation containing an ascorbic acid-2-phosphate derivative is characterized in that only a sodium ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-palmitate is formulated as the ascorbic acid-2-phosphate derivative, and the skin preparation further includes at least one betaine-type amphoteric surfactant selected from the group consisting of compounds represented by the following general formula (1) or (2) (wherein R1 represents a linear or branched alkyl group of 6 to 30 carbon atoms, and R2 represents a linear or branched alkyl group of 8 to 30 carbon atoms).R1—N+(CH3)2—CH2COO−  (1)R2—CONH—CH2—CH2—CH2—N+(CH3)2—CH2COO−  (2)

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and various derivatives thereof are known to be compounds that exhibit effectiveness and efficacy in terms of skin whitening effects, antioxidative effects and collagen synthesis promotion effects and the like, and are therefore frequently added to pharmaceutical preparations, cosmetic materials and animal feed and the like.
Among ascorbic acid derivatives, ascorbic acid-2-phosphate derivatives in which the hydroxyl group at position 2 of ascorbic acid is converted to a phosphate ester are widely used due to their resistance to oxidation in air. Examples of known ascorbic acid-2-phosphate derivatives include ascorbic acid-2-phosphate and ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid esters in which the hydroxyl group at position 6 of ascorbic acid-2-phosphate is esterified with a higher fatty acid such as palmitic acid. These ascorbic acid-2-phosphate derivatives are usually used in the form of salts. Typical examples of these salts include the sodium salt and magnesium salt of ascorbic acid-2-phosphate, and the sodium salts of ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid esters.
Among the above derivatives, salts of ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid esters, and particularly sodium ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-palmitate (hereinafter abbreviated as APPS), show considerable promise for application to skin preparations for external use such as cosmetic materials, because they are amphiphilic and therefore exhibit excellent compatibility with living organisms and their migration into biological tissues such as skin is rapid.
The advantages of APPS over other ascorbic acid derivatives are disclosed in Patent Document 1.
However, when salts of ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid esters such as APPS are formulated as skin preparations for external use, decomposition tends to occur within the preparation, causing problems such as a change in the external appearance. This decomposition occurs mainly due to hydrolysis of the higher fatty acid bonded via an ester linkage to the hydroxyl group at position 6 of the ascorbic acid. As a result of this decomposition, higher fatty acid salts such as sodium palmitate that are insoluble in water are produced, and these appear as a precipitate within the preparation. In the case of a white turbid formulation such as a cream, this precipitate cannot be seen visually, but in a transparent lotion or beauty essence or the like, the precipitate appears as turbidity or sediment that causes a change in the external appearance of the product. Such a problem (caused by turbidity or sediment) tends to significantly occur in accordance with an increase in the length of higher fatty acid portions of ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid esters, because such an increase raises the hydrophobicity of higher fatty acid salts generated by decomposition of the esters.
In response to these types of problems, various methods have been proposed for stabilizing the skin external preparation by adding other components to the ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid ester salt.
For example, Patent Document 2 discloses a method of stabilizing a skin external preparation containing a salt of an ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid ester by adding a water-soluble synthetic polymer compound such as a carboxy vinyl polymer and water to the preparation. It is stated that this method inhibits the decomposition and decrease of the salt of the ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid ester within the skin external preparation, and can therefore suppress the generation of precipitates within the skin external preparation over time.
Patent Document 3 discloses a method of stabilizing a skin external preparation containing a salt of an ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid ester by adding a polyhydric alcohol. It is stated that this method can suppress turbidity and the generation of precipitates within the skin external preparation over time.
Patent Document 4 discloses a method of stabilizing a skin external preparation containing a salt of an ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid ester, wherein a polyglycerol fatty acid ester formed from a polyglycerol having an average polymerization degree of 8 to 12 and an unsaturated fatty acid residue of 14 to 22 carbon atoms, and a polyglycerol mono-fatty acid ester formed from a polyglycerol having an average polymerization degree of 2 to 6 and an unsaturated fatty acid residue of 14 to 22 carbon atoms are used as emulsifiers to form an emulsion having an average emulsion particle size of 1 to 200 nm. It is stated that this method inhibits the decomposition of the salt of the ascorbic acid-2-phosphate-6-higher fatty acid ester within the skin external preparation, thereby improving the storage stability and enabling better retention of a beautiful transparent or semi-transparent external appearance.

Skin external preparation and method of producing same


A stabilization mechanism limits rotational vibration in a module enclosure containing plural objects, such as computer disk drives, that produce rotational vibration about a rotational axis. The mechanism includes stabilizer structure coupled to an outer surface of the module enclosure and constructed to transmit a force toward the object that is effective to stabilize the object in the module enclosure. The stabilization mechanism may be formed as first and second spring-loaded contacts that each apply a constant force to the object.

The present invention relates generally to enclosures for plural modular objects, such as computer disk drives or other data storage modules, that produce rotational vibration. More particularly, the present invention concerns a stabilization or dampening mechanism that can be coupled to an enclosure for data storage modules to limit undesired effects of rotational vibration caused by high speed computer disk drives.
Data storage equipment components typically comprise plural data storage modules that slidably dock within a module enclosure. Examples of such enclosures are shown in the following two patents, U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,361 to Anderson et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,278 to Tanzer et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Each of those patents disclose examples of a representative removable module enclosure system, also referred to as a disk-drive chassis or disk-drive enclosure.
A typical data storage module will include many (e.g. 15) disk drives, and each drive includes an internal drive mechanism and a drive platter that spins at high speeds during operation. Typical applications for data storage modules include data centers that have one or more servers and plural removable module enclosures. As shown in the incorporated references, there are many known data storage module enclosures, but none deal effectively with the problem of the undesired effects of rotational vibration caused by high speed computer disk drives.
Conventional drive platters spin at speeds of greater than 7200 rpm creating gyroscopic forces that result in rotational vibration. That rotational vibration causes undesired effects on the operation of the disk drives themselves. Those undesired effects include slight vibrations in the read/write arm of the disk drive in the same plane as the drive platters, which in turn cause undesired read/write errors in the data collection, thereby reducing performance. Conventional proposals have been somewhat effective to reduce external vibrations but have not been as effective in limiting or dampening the above-described rotational vibrations that are created internally within the platters.
The invention may be thought of as a stabilization mechanism that limits rotational vibration in a module enclosure containing plural objects, such as computer disk drives, that produce rotational vibration about a rotational axis. Alternatively, the invention may be thought of as a dampening mechanism. In either case, the invention includes a stabilizer (or dampening) structure coupled to an outer surface of the module enclosure and constructed to transmit a force toward the module enclosure that is effective to stabilize the module enclosure and the disk drive. The stabilization mechanism may be formed as plural, such as first and second, spring-loaded contacts that apply a constant force to the module enclosure and disk drive. The first spring-loaded contact is positioned adjacent that section of the disk drive containing the drive mechanism and the second spring-loaded contact is positioned adjacent that section of the disk drive containing the drive platter. The second spring-loaded contact transmits a force that is greater than the force transmitted by the first spring-loaded contact. The force transmitted by the second spring-loaded contact is in the range of about 12-17 pounds, and the force transmitted by the first spring-loaded contact is in the range of about 3-7 pounds.

Stabilization mechanism for limiting rotational vibration in a module enclosure


A device for adjusting a seat height of a personal mobility includes a hollow seat frame extending in a longitudinal direction, a seat support shaft coupled to an upper portion of the seat frame and configured to slide upward and downward, a pedal shaft coupled to a lower portion of the seat frame, a lifting screw shaft extending downward in a state of being fixed to the seat support shaft inside the seat frame, and a rotation screw shaft fastened to the lifting screw shaft inside the seat frame and configured to raise and lower the lifting screw shaft by rotating based on operation of the pedal shaft.

In recent years, sharing services for renting a personal mobility such as an electric bicycle and an electric scooter are developing. This phenomenon is because when it is too close to move by car but it is difficult to walk, using an electric bicycle or the like can move easily and comfortably.
However, because heights and physical conditions are different depending on users, there are cases where the seat height of a shared personal mobility needs to be adjusted. In this case, the user adjusts the seat height by releasing the tightening of a seat height adjusting device while the personal mobility is stopped.
However, because the user must unfasten the seat while getting off the personal mobility, manually adjust the seat height, and then fix the seat again, it is difficult and cumbersome to adjust the seat height of such a seat height adjusting device.

Seat height adjusting device for a vehicle and vehicle including the same


A circuit for enabling and disabling generation of an output clock signal is disclosed. The circuit includes a PLL lock detect circuit that generates an active lock control signal when an output reference signal of a phase lock loop (PLL) circuit is phase locked relative to an input reference signal to the PLL. The output reference signal of the PLL, and the lock signal from the lock detect circuit, are both provided to a clock enable circuit. The clock enable circuit includes a negative edge-triggered D-type flip-flop and a two-input AND gate. The lock signal is applied to the D-input of the flip-flop, while the clock signal is applied to the clock input of the flip-flop. The lock signal is generated asynchronously relative to the input clock signal. Therefore, the flip-flop samples the lock signal on each falling edge of the clock signal so as to synchronize the lock signal relative to the input clock signal. The sampled lock signal, and the input clock signal (formed from the PLL output reference signal) are provided on respective input terminals of the AND gate. The output of the AND gate defines the output clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for enabling clock signals, and, more particularly, to a system that enables and disables clock signals based upon a lock state of a PLL circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been much investigation concerning the design of clock generating circuitry, owing in no small part to its importance in modern synchronous systems, including computing systems. Specifically, there has been some progress in the development of clock generation circuitry that meets modern day performance requirements. One requirement is that the circuitry only output clock signals having stable frequencies. Moreover, another requirement is that such circuitry output only valid frequencies. In a common configuration, a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit is employed to generate an output reference signal that is phase locked relative to an input reference signal.
One design approach taken in the art has been merely to use the output reference signal of the PLL as an output clock. This approach has, depending on the application, several shortcomings, not the least of which includes the existence of a condition where the output reference signal is neither of a valid frequency, nor is stable. This situation almost always occurs when the device containing such clock generation circuitry is initially powered up. By way of background, it is fairly well known that a PLL circuit is characterized by an overall transfer function. Accordingly, before a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) portion (or equivalents thereof) of the PLL locks its output to the PLL input reference signal, a period elapses wherein the VCO output signal oscillates, relative to the input reference signal (i.e., it undershoots, and overshoots the input reference signal). Thus, before a steady state, phase-locked condition is achieved, an interval known as a "pull in" or "settling" interval occurs. Thus, it should be appreciated that although the output of the PLL may be at a valid frequency (temporarily), such frequency is not stable, but rather, may only be a transitory condition. This condition, although perhaps lasting several clock cycles, is not a steady-state phase-locked condition. Therefore, directly using a PLL output may be undesirable for certain applications.
Another approach taken in the art has addressed the above-described power up oscillation. This approach selectively enables and disables the output clock signal for preselected intervals (fixed and arbitrarily selected). The structure for accomplishing this may include a conventional power-on-reset circuit, used in combination with a delay circuit. The conventional power-on-reset circuit may generally be formed using resistor chains, and provides a low-level output until the power supply has reached a predetermined operating level, and has stabilized, at which time it outputs a high level signal. This high level signal is then delayed by a predetermined amount by the delay circuit. The delay circuit output is then used to enable and disable clock signals.
One disadvantage of this approach is that, unless the enabling circuitry is very conservatively designed, the output clock signal may be permitted to be generated, even though the PLL is not phase locked. In particular, the predetermined amount of delay inserted by the delay circuit, in addition to the delay associated with the conventional power-on-reset circuit, must be selected to be long enough to accommodate the worst case PLL lock time. This is not a good solution since the overall design of such a circuit with an adequate delay is fairly difficult. Further, in some cases, the output clock signal will still be disabled, even though the PLL has, in fact, reached "lock".
Moreover, the use of the conventional power-on-reset circuitry may introduce reliability problems into the operation of the overall circuit. Specifically, the above-referred to conventional approach for designing power-on-reset circuits (resistor chains) may result in a device that exhibits performance parameters (i.e., trip levels) that are undesirably variable across both fabrication process variations, as well as temperature (operating) variations. Thus, the power-on-reset circuit could, under some circumstances, trip at a level that is either too high or too low. For purposes of illustration only, assume that for a 3.3 volt device, a conventional setup specifies a nominal power-on-reset trip point of 2 volts. However, due to the above-described undesirable variations in performance, the power-on-reset circuit may, in fact, trip at 3.0 volts. Further, in a common configuration, a 3.3 volt part may be specified to operate within a range of between 3.0-3.6 volts. Thus, an undesirable situation arises wherein the circuit could trip even though the power supply is operating within specification. Finally, the conventional approach using conventional power-on-reset circuits only works during power-up of the device.
Thus, there is a need to provide an improved system for enabling, and disabling clock signals that minimizes or eliminates one or more of the problems as described above.

Enabling clock signals with a phase locked loop (PLL) lock detect circuit