The invention is cyclic organosilicon compounds described by formula ##STR1## and by formula ##STR2## and linear organosilicon compounds by formula ##STR3## and by formula ##STR4## where R.sup.1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, dichlorosilyl, trichlorosilyl, methyldichlorosilyl, dimethylchlorosilyl, and trimethylsilyl, and each R.sup.2 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyls comprising one to about 6 carbon atoms, and aryls; and methods for making the described cyclic organosilicon compounds and linear organosilicon compounds.

Since the description of hexachloroplatinic as a catalyst for hydrosilation in 1957 by Speier et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1957, 79, 974, hydrosilation has become one of the fundamental mehtods for synthesizing organosilicon compounds. In the hydrosiation process Si--H bond containing silicon compounds are reacted and added to multiple bonds of organic compounds such as carbon--carbon, carbon-oxygen, carbon-nitrogen, nitrogen--nitrogen, and nitrogen oxygen.
In 1980, Watanabe et al., J. Organomet. Chem. 1980, 195, 363, reported that when hydridasiane is reacted with acetylene in the presence in the presence of a metal catayst such as RuCl.sub.2 (PPH.sub.3).sub.3, PtCL.sub.2 (PPh.sub.3).sub.2, RhCl(PPh.sub.3).sub.3, RhH(PPh.sub.3).sub.4, or Pt(PPh.sub.3) .sub.4, vinylsilane is obained in good yield. The double hydrosilation product of 1,2-bis-silylethane was also obtained as a byproduct.
Polyakova et al., Organometallics 1991, 10, 16, reported platinum complex catalyed dehydrogenative double silation of unsaturated hydrocarbons with bis(hydrosilane) compounds Tanaka et al. examined various catalysts such as Pt(CH.sub.2 .dbd.CH.sub.2)(PPh.sub.3).sub.2, PtCl.sub.2 (PPh.sub.3).sub.2, Ru.sub.3 (CO).sub.12, Pd(dba).sub.2 PPh.sub.3, RhCl(PPh.sub.3).sub.3, PdCl.sub.2 (PPh.sub.3) .sub.2, and Pd(PPh.sub.3).sub.4.
Jung et al., U. S. Pat. No. 5,399,740, describe the reaction of silicon metal with a mixture of a dichloromethyl group containing silane and hydrogen chloride to obtain tris(silyl)methanes in moderately high yield.
Han et al., Organometallics 1997, 16, 93, reported the direct synthesis of Si--H containing tris(silyl)methanes by reacting silicon metal with a mixture of chloroform and hydrogen chloride.
Yeon et al., J Organomet. Chem. 1996, 516, 91, reported the direct synthesis of Si--H containing bis(silyl)methanes by reacting silicon metal with a mixture of methylene chloride and hydrogen chloride.
The organosilicon compounds of the present invention are useful, for example, as intermediates for forming silicon carbides by pyrolysis.

Organosilicon compounds and method for preparation

21-1303 Hyndai Apartmant, Ogum-dong, Songpa-ku

903-303 Lotte Appartment, 1058 Ilsan-3-dong, Ilsan-ku, Koyang-si

801-2401 Hyndai Appartment, Kwangjang-dong, Kwangjinku

1-906 Dongin Appartment, Kaebong-dong Kuro-ku


A conveyor (30) having a plurality of buckets (60) lined up in and fixed to an inner side of a frame (10) is supported so that the conveyor can be circulated in the shape of a loop and substantially horizontally in a substantially vertical plane via rotary shafts (20). The frame (10) is supported so that the frame can be slidingly moved in the vertical direction around guide rods (50) stood up on a river bottom. Gas-containing floats (40) are fixed to the frame (10) to float the frame on the surface of the river flowing water. The river flowing water is made to flow into the buckets (60) lined up on the outer surface of the lower circulating portion (32) of the conveyor, and the conveyor (30) is thereby circulated. A generator (70) connected to one of the rotary shafts (20) supporting the conveyor (30) is thereby rotated.

There is a generating set, which is adapted to rotate a generator by turning a water wheel by the energy of river flowing water or sea flowing water existing in the natural world, as a means for obtaining electric power from a clean energy source harmless to the earth environment.
However, none of the related art water wheel-utilizing generating sets adapted to rotate a generator by utilizing the energy of river flowing water or sea flowing water has a structure capable of effectively extracting the energy from the river flowing water or the sea flowing water, and such generating sets have not yet been developed to such a level that the generating sets satisfactorily meet the demand for electric power in the modern society in which a large quantity of electric power is consumed.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and provides a generating set utilizing river flowing water or sea flowing water, rendered capable of effectively extracting the energy from the river flowing water or the sea flowing water existing in the natural world, the generating set being capable of greatly increasing the electric power energy produced by a generator which is rotated by utilizing the energy of the river flowing water or the sea flowing water as compared with a related art generating set utilizing a water wheel.

Power generation device utilizing river flow or seawater


A system and method for initializing secure elements for use in mobile devices. A mobile device manufacturer embeds uninitialized secure elements into mobile devices. An issuer-specific seed value is securely passed into an initialization routine in the operating system of the secure element. The initialization routine diversifies the initial root keys on the secure element with the issuer seed and the unique chip serial number to create master and chip keys for use in secure communications between the issuer and the mobile device user.

The evolution of e-commerce has seen the emergence of smart card technology as an attractive solution for a range of commercial and security applications. Smart cards provide security for data storage and transactions by serving as secure portable tokens providing digital identity, hardware-based authentication, and cryptographic key storage. Many smart cards bear a resemblance to regular magnetic stripe credit cards that allow consumers to make secure transactions in stores and over the Internet. However, smart cards differ in that they use an embedded computer chip rather than a magnetic stripe. This chip allows the card to function much in the same way as a personal computer. As smart cards have become less expensive and more powerful over recent years, a broad range of industries, including telecommunications, and especially mobile devices, have rapidly adopted smart card technology by including smaller smart cards into mobile device handsets.
Smart cards in wireless devices such as mobile phones can store subscriber profile information, such as, for example, information relating to available network services and the subscriber's encoded network identification data including, for example, the telephone number of the subscriber, the subscriber's PIN, and other user data such as contact information. Smart cards contain all the key information required to activate the phone and authenticate subscriber to the network. It is desirable that such cards be secure, so that an untrusted party in possession of the mobile device or the card cannot learn the information contained on the memory of the card. It is further desirable that communications to and from the mobile device that make use of the secure-sensitive information may be encrypted to prevent malicious parties from acquiring the secure information during its transmission. Smart cards with secure element chips that store data in the smart card memory and allow for the encrypted communication of this data can provide mobile device users with secure network access, and protection from fraud and identity theft, and greater business flexibility. However, before secure communications can take place, a smart card must be installed and initialized into a mobile device in such a manner as to prevent untrusted parties from obtaining any of the encryption keys, seed values, or secure internal data.
FIG. 1 is a diagram demonstrating a known method for installing and initializing secure element chips into mobile terminals. The large boxes of FIG. 1 represent the different entities which interact during the installation and initialization process. The smart card vendor 110 produces cards with embedded secure element chips for use in mobile devices. The device vendor 120 manufactures mobile devices, such as mobile phones. The issuer 130 is the wireless service provider who will be responsible for managing the device and supporting secure wireless transactions after the mobile device has been distributed to a user. The retail outlet 140 assembles the secure element chips into mobile devices and distributes the devices to users.
The process of installing and initializing secure element chips shown in FIG. 1 begins when the smart card vendor 110 manufactures the smart cards containing initial keys in step 101. In step 102, the issuer 130 generates the master keys, stores a copy of them in a database, and then securely transmits them to the smart card vendor 110. The smart card vendor 110 uses the master keys received from the issuer 130 and the chip serial numbers to initialize the smart card chips in step 103. The smart card vendor 110 then securely transmits the chip serial numbers back to the issuer 130 in step 104. The issuer 130 stores these serial numbers in the database with the master keys in step 105, so that the issuer 130 now has both the master keys and the chip serial numbers necessary to manage the chips and to support secure wireless communications for the mobile device.
After initializing the smart card chips, the smart card vendor 110 sends the cards to a retail outlet 140 in step 106. Concurrently, in step 107, the device vendor 120 sends its mobile devices to the retail outlet 140. The retail outlet 140 assembles the initialized smart cards into the mobile devices in step 108, and can now distribute the devices to consumers in step 109.
The above-described method divides the manufacturing of mobile devices into two distinct steps: the manufacturing of the device itself, and the assembly of the initialized smart card into the mobile device. These steps are suitable in situations where the smart cards are detachable from the mobile device. However, the above method reduces the business flexibility of all entities involved, by shipping and installing only 'pre-personalized' secure element chips into mobile devices. Recently, there has arisen a need for equipping mobile devices with terminal-integrated smart card chips, which makes the above process of using 'pre-personalized' secure element chips unsuitable as the secure element chips need to be 'personalized' to the issuer only after the chips have been integrated into the mobile devices. Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved method for installing and initializing terminal-integrated secure element chips into mobile devices.

Method for issuer and chip specific diversification


A blank is stretch formed into a formed piece by bending the blank over a stationary punch. A draw ring has a step that cooperates with a pad ledge to create a step-ledge. The blank is bent with a reverse bend at the step-ledge. Subsequently, the step-ledge travels a short distance relative to the punch to stretch the blank material. Step-ledge travel is achieved by pre-charged cylinders that travel slightly in response to a force exerted on the draw ring and step-ledge by the press ram after the blank is bent into the reverse bend. The formed piece is cut along a plane through a wall thereof to make a finished piece. The finished piece free edge remains stable and in the same position as when in the press. Consequently, the free edge can be readily aligned with and welded to the free edge of a second finished piece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to metal fabricating, and more particularly to apparatus that bends and stretches metal blanks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various equipment has been developed to deep draw flat blanks of metal into three-dimensional pieces. The drawing process involves controlled flowing of material as the blank is forced over a punch of desired size and shape during a draw stroke. The blank is held around its outer margins between a draw ring and a blank holder as the blank central region is forced over the punch to from the finished piece.
To rigidly hold the blank in place during the forming process, it is known to employ draw beads in the draw ring and blank holder. The draw beads provide a very large gripping force on the blank margins such that they do not slip in the draw ring or blank holder during the draw stroke. Examples of prior equipment with draw beads may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,507,189 and 5,644,943, and in U.S. published patent application 2002/0095968. The foregoing patents and published patent application show complementary male and female components that are integral with the draw ring and blank holder. In other prior equipment, the draw beads consist of loose male members in one or other of the draw ring or blank holder, which are complementary to recesses in the other of the draw ring or blank holder.
In many instances, the blank was formed into a piece having a continuous wall, a domed end, and a flange extending outwardly from the wall. After the draw stroke was complete, the formed piece was removed from the draw ring and blank holder. The wall was often cut to remove the flange, which was discarded. The finished piece thus consisted of the wall and the domed end integral with the wall.
It is also know to employ a stationary step and ledge design to tightly grip the blank margins only at the end of the draw stroke. FIGS. 1–3 show a prior draw ring 1 with a step 3. A stationary punch 5 has a mating ledge 7. As the draw ring 1, blank holder 9, and blank 11 near the end of the draw stroke, arrow 12, the blank material is formed at reference numeral 13 into a double bend between the draw ring step 3 and the punch ledge 7. The double bend 13 tightly grips the blank 11 at the completion of the draw stroke. After the draw stroke is completed, the piece wall 15 is cut along the plane 17. The step and ledge design is sometimes used in combination with the draw beads discussed previously.
A common problem involving deep drawn pieces with continuous walls was that the wall free edges tended to spring outwardly after the flanges were cut away. The spring back occurred whether the draw beads, the step and ledge, or the combination of the draw beads and step and ledge were used to grip the blank.
For many types of pieces, the spring back was tolerable. On the other hand, some pieces could not tolerate any spring back. For example, a certain prior automotive fuel tank was manufactured by matching the free edges of two formed pieces and welding the two free edges together to make the tank. However, the spring back of the two pieces made it very difficult to align their free edges and weld them. Consequently, the scrap rate was unacceptably high.
Thus, a need exists for improvements in the process for deep drawings metal blanks.


A battery system includes a central battery management controller and a plurality of battery modules, which each have a module controller, and a readout device configured to read information. Within a scope of a start initialization, start identification features of the module controllers are detected by the battery management controller and are provided to the module controllers as future reference for identifying an unauthorized battery module replacement, and information relating to an occurred unauthorized battery module replacement is read by the readout device, which is arranged outside of the battery system.

The present disclosure relates to a battery system, which comprises a central battery management controller and a multiplicity of battery modules, which each have a module controller, and a readout device for reading information. Within the scope of a start initialization, start identification features of the module controllers are detected by the battery management controller and provided to the module controllers as future reference for identifying an unauthorized module replacement. Information relating to an occurred unauthorized battery module replacement is read by the readout device arranged outside of the battery system.
The disclosure furthermore relates to a method for identifying an unauthorized module replacement in a battery system, which serves to carry out the disclosure according to the disclosure.
It is becoming apparent that stationary applications such as wind power plants, motor vehicles designed as hybrid or electric motor vehicles, and electronic devices such as laptops or mobile telephones will in future employ novel battery systems which have placed upon them very high demands in terms of reliability, safety, performance and service life. Lithium ion batteries promise to have a key role in electrifying the drive system.
Lithium ion batteries are employed in many ways it due to the relatively high energy density. Lithium ion technology is predestined for a broad field of use in applications. It is distinguished, inter alia, by high energy density and a very low self discharge.
In the prior art, high-voltage battery systems consist of, inter alia, several cells connected by design and an associated sensor cluster/control unit (module controller, MC) and a central control unit (battery management controller, BC). The battery management controller and the module controllers are connected to one another by a bus system. Within the scope of servicing/repair, it is possible to replace one or more modules as well as the module controller.
DE 10 2009 000 504 A1 discloses a battery module with battery cells, microcontrollers and a control unit, which comprises a device for detecting a state of at least one battery cell and at least one means for transmitting at least one signal from the battery module to outside of the battery module and/or from outside of the battery module to the battery module, wherein the at least one signal is associated with at least one specific battery cell and the at least one signal can be associated with the at least one specific battery cell by means of at least one identification code.

Battery system and method for identifying unauthorized module replacement in a battery system


The invention relates to a window lock having a trigger and a bolt, the trigger being rotatable about an axis of rotation and the bolt being movable between a locked position, a first unlocked position and a second unlocked position. The bolt also includes a clip that engages first and second stops. The trigger rotates about the axis for engaging and disengaging the clip with the first and second stops. The first and second stops and the clip are all located on the same side of the axis of the trigger.

A double-hung, single hung, and double slider window assembly typically includes a window frame and a pair of window sashes mounted for vertical reciprocal sliding movement, one relative to the other, in guide rails of the master frame jamb of the window assembly.
A traditional lock mechanism of the prior art, for a double hung window assembly usually includes one part of the lock on one sash and another part of the lock on the other sash, wherein joining the two parts of the lock mechanism together results in locking the sashes to one another.
One disadvantage of this type of lock mechanism is that it normally requires the sashes be a certain distance away from one another. When the sashes are too close to one another or too far apart the lock mechanism may be ineffective. For example, if the sashes are spaced too far apart, the two parts of the lock mechanism may not be able to be joined together and the window sashes may not be locked. If the sashes are too close to one another, the parts of the lock mechanism may bind or interfere with one another, resulting in the parts not being able to mate together and therefore the window sashes may not be locked. When these problems occur during installation, the installer must adjust the window sashes and lock mechanism, numerous times, before achieving a proper fit between the sashes and lock mechanism. These problems may also occur over time when windows become old, warped, or damaged through normal wear and tear.
As a result of the foregoing disadvantage, the lock mechanism and/or window sashes may need to be replaced without any assurance that the problems will not reoccur. In addition, forcibly pushing the sashes together in order to bring them to a proper distance may result in stress upon the frame around the sashes and/or the glass panes. Continuing to use the lock mechanism and window sashes in this fashion can exacerbate the problems.
What is desired, therefore, is a window lock that is more flexible to use than traditional lock mechanisms. Another desire is to provide a window lock that accommodates changes in the spacing between the sashes. A further desire is to provide a window lock that is more resistant to damage than the traditional locking mechanism without sacrificing reliability. Yet another desire is to provide a window lock that works for sashes that have a varying distance between them. Another desire is to provide a window lock that automatically locks the sashes when they are brought together.


A wrinkle-free ironing board cover comprises a layer of fabric, a layer of padding, and a layer of a thermoplastic polymer sheet material, preferably a sheet in the form of a mesh. The thermoplastic polymer sheet layer imparts increased bursting and tear strength to the ironing board cover.

Typically, ironing board covers consist of a padding underlayer and a fabric top layer. The fabric top layer comprises the ironing surface. The padding layer can be coextensive with the padding fabric layer. Alternatively, the padding layer may be sized the same as the ironing board to be covered and the fabric layer is larger than the padding so that a marginal integral skirt is defined between the edges of the padding and the edge of the fabric layer. This construction is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,603. The fabric and padding layers may be joined by an adhesive.
The padding, which is typically a layer of foam polymeric material of approximately 1/4 inch thickness, (approximately 6.4 mm) does not substantially contribute to the tensile strength of the cover. The fabric layer, typically made of cotton or a heat resistant fabric, provides the ironing board cover with structural integrity. However, the fabric cover may become weakened due to wear from repeated use, resulting in a loss of burst strength. The adhesive which is applied to bind the fabric layer to the padding layer does not contribute to tensile strength. What is needed is an ironing board cover which combines resistance to wrinkling with enhanced structural integrity and burst strength.


The present invention relates to the heat exchanger system in a process for the cryogenic distillation of air. In particular, the present invention is an improvement to the heat exchanger system to increase the operational efficiency of the process.

Processes which separate air via cryogenic distillation require a heat exchanger system in order to make the process workable and/or to achieve a power savings. The conventional heat exchanger system employs separate heat exchangers for each type of heat exchange service. For example, the heat exchanger system will at the very least include (1) a main or primary heat exchanger for cooling the feed air to a temperature near its dew point against other warming process streams and (2) a reboiler/condenser for condensing a nitrogen-rich gaseous overhead stream against a vaporizing oxygen-enriched liquid bottoms stream. The heat exchanger system will often further comprise a subcooler for subcooling a liquid process stream to a temperature lower than its bubble point.
The problems with the conventional heat exchanger system include the high cost of purchasing separate heat exchangers as well as the pressure drop and costs associated with the piping connecting the heat exchangers. It is an object of the present invention to minimize these problems associated with the conventional heat exchanger system.

Consolidated heat exchanger air separation process


A document image scanner for reading a scanned document multiple times at resolutions different from the scanned resolution without rescanning. A sensor scans the source document to generate a digitized image that is stored in a memory at a first resolution. An input shifter is coupled to the memory for receiving a first number of pixels per line of the digitized image from memory. A vertical scaling element is coupled to the memory for changing a first vertical resolution to a second vertical resolution as the digitized image is transferred to the input shifter from memory. An output shifter is coupled to the input shifter for receiving a second number of pixels per line of the digitized image from the input shifter, wherein the ratio of the second number to the first number is the scaling factor. A horizontal scaling element is coupled to the memory for changing a first horizontal resolution to a second horizontal resolution as the digitized image is transferred to the output shifter from the input shifter. The horizontal scaling element causes the output shifter to receive the second number of pixels per line. An edge retention element is coupled to the horizontal and/or vertical scaling elements and to the input shifter for preserving an edge transition between pixels as they are transferred to the output shifter when the second resolution is less than the first resolution. The document further comprises a windowing element coupled to the vertical scaling element for selecting a portion of the digitized image to be transferred to the input shifter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to document image scanners and more specifically to such scanners capable of performing windowing and multiple scaling.
2. Art Background
In the art of document scanning with digital technology, it is typical to scan a document by feeding the document through a data acquisition mechanism such as a charge-coupled device (CCD), which generates digitized data available for downloading to a host computer such as a PC for storage or display. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art document scanner system in a simplified block diagram. A source document 11 is sent through CCD mechanism 100 to generate a gray scale version of the source document 11. The gray scale image is then image processed by an image-processor 110 to generate bi-tonal information to be output to the host 120 through a video bus 111. A typical application for the prior art system illustrated in FIG. 1 can be found in archiving checks in a bank, where checks are sent through the scanner at a given dot-per-inch ("dpi") resolution to allow the host computer to read the account information for further data processing purposes. Typically, the resolution of the scanned document is fixed as the data is output to the host computer 120.
FIG. 2 illustrates another typical prior art document scanner in a simplified block diagram. A source document 11 is first scanned by CCD 200 to generate data in gray scale format, which is then image processed 210 to generate a bi-tonal version of the data. It is then stored in data buffers 220 which hold multiple images. Data from data buffer 220 can be sent for data compression 230 and then to host 240 through SCSI bus 241 upon request from host 240. Although various operations are available for selecting various portions, zones, of the image stored in data buffers 220 through host 240, the resolution of the image stored in data buffers 230 is fixed.
A common problem associated with the prior art document scanners illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is that a document is scanned in the same resolution by a scanner which is frequently required to perform different functions, such as OCR ("optical character recognition"), bar code reading, ICR ("intelligent character recognition"), image display, creation of an image icon, tiled compression and image storage to magnetic or optical devices. These various functions require different resolutions of the scanned document, not provided for by a single resolution scanner. Furthermore, the level of resolution is inversely proportional to the speed of the scanner, and thus the throughput of the scanner is affected. It is simply impractical for a scanner to be rescanning at different resolution when reading different portions of the document. Another problem arises when a document has a number of regions with each requiring a different resolution. For example, reading a bar code requires higher resolution than reading a simple text field. However, high resolution is not needed for archiving the entire document so that the system has to make a compromise between the amount of data that has to be stored for the entire document vs. the need for a resolution within a small area of the document.
In Telle U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,885, an electronic copier is capable of processing an image signal to, inter alia, change the magnification of a portion of an original document through its windowing and scaling modes of operation. In Marshall U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,534, a method is described for changing the horizontal and vertical resolutions of an image while the image is in digitized and compressed form. However, Marshall's scaling method aims only to maintain spatial and density integrity of the image with no regard to the edge count.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the prior art systems preclude optimizing data storage costs, system speed and read accuracies. By requiring a source document to be re-scanned for reading in a different resolution, the throughput of the scanner system is hampered. By storing a source document in a higher resolution than needed, e.g. a 300 dpi resolution for mere 100 dpi text reading, the data storage capacity of the scanner system takes a toll. Also, by indiscriminately eliminating pixels for image reduction, the scanner's read accuracy suffers. Therefore, what is needed is a document image scanner capable of scaling and windowing with intelligence all in a single scan of a document such that the goals of system throughput, storage efficiency and read accuracy are achieved.

Document image scanner with variable resolution windows


An image forming apparatus includes a developing device for developing a latent image formed on an image bearing member. The developing device has a developing roller for supplying a developing agent to the image bearing member and a blade for forming a layer of the developing agent on the developing roller. The developing roller has an elastic layer for obtaining a predetermined nip width between the developing roller and the image bearing member. The blade has a plate member, a contact member attached in the longitudinal direction along the loading edge of the plate member for contacting the surface of the developing roller so as to form the layer of the developing agent, a pressing member for pressing the contact member to the developing roller and a control member attached on the plate member and positioned to each end of the contact member for controlling the amount of the contact pressure of the contact member to the developing roller. An optical device measures the amount of distortion of the surface of the developing roller when the roller is in contact with the contact member and the roller is rotated at a predetermined angle of rotation when the distortion exceeds a predetermined value. Thereby, the developing device of of the present invention is capable of obtaining high-quality images when the developing device is used or set in the image forming apparatus over a long period of time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a device for developing latent images in an image forming apparatus, such as a photocopy machine or laser printer. More particularly, the invention relates to a developing device which is capable of achieving a high-quality finished image using a one-component developing agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,231 discloses an apparatus for forming an electro-photographic latent image. The apparatus employs an impression developing method which uses a one-component developing agent. Such a method requires the use of an elastic developing roller which has electrical conductivity. In the image forming process, the developing roller is maintained in contact with an image bearing member, such as a photosensitive body, and a blade for forming a thin toner layer on the developing roller. In addition, the frictional charge of the toner is effected by the friction created when the developing roller makes contact with a predetermined nip width with the blade.
Since the developing roller has elasticity in this developing method, the surface of the developing roller is distorted by the pressure contact of the blade. Particularly, the distortion of the surface of the developing roller increases when the developing roller stops. However, a certain length of time is required for the full recovery of the developing roller which has been distorted by the pressure contact of the blade. Thus, the developing operation may be performed before full recovery from the distortion of the surface of the developing roller. The distortion of the surface of the developing roller, thus, results in a poor reproduction of the image.

Developing device for an image forming apparatus


It is disclosed a coordinator (22), a physical network controller (24, 26) and methods therein for enabling end-point mobility of a traffic engineering, TE, tunnel in a multi-domain network. Based on a request for virtual network configuration of one or both of the ingress and the egress end-points of the TE tunnel, the coordinator of a multi-domain network determines 54, S416 a second request for virtualizing said one or both of the ingress and the egress end-points of the TE tunnel. The physical network controller may then virtualize end-points of the TE tunnel, providing a virtualized end-point, VEP, TE tunnel, having end-point mobility capacity. Recovery mechanisms of tunnel paths may be efficiently implemented. The present disclosure also provides scalability improvements and operational expenditure, OPEX, savings, as compared to state of art TE tunnels.

Today, network control is converging from both a vertical and a horizontal perspective. Convergence from the vertical perspective refers to that there no more any barriers between various domains, technologies, network layers, vendors, et cetera. Convergence from the horizontal perspective refers to that an application/service layer leverages more and more on automatic network programmability, dynamically using physical resources.
Whereas the vertical convergence has been a subject of research for many years and is being increasingly utilized in market products, horizontal convergence is younger and relates to concepts like virtualization and a flexible usage of networks from an application layer providing dynamic services.
In solutions as of today, when a customer asks for connectivity among access points in a provider network, the request typically needs to be translated into a set of commands including creation of a specific tunnel with given characteristics between two end-points, such as Point-to-point (P2P) tunnel, or between one root and many leaves, such as point-to-multi point (P2MP) tunnels.
A tunnel may be considered to a mechanism for transmitting data units between end-points by wrapping data units of the same or higher layers, where end-points are well identified interfaces located in specific nodes. An end-point may be defined as a network arrangement that sources messages labelled from or sinks messages labelled to its identity (ID), and may be regarded as a host.
On top of tunnels, and label switched paths of which the tunnels may be considered to be composed, it is furthermore possible to build services connecting a multiplicity of customer sites or devices, such as Layer 3 Virtual private networks (L3VPN) and virtual networks.
Tunnels of today are hence used to connect fixed locations. This is not an issue when a network provider needs to guarantee connectivity between a number of the customer's sites or between one of his sites and the Internet.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of a 5G network, wherein label switched paths (LSPs) define TE tunnels. A home site is connected to the Internet via LSP1, an office site 1 is connected to the Internet via a LSP2 and an office site 2 is connected to the Internet via a LSP3. If a user is moving between said sites, the bandwidth in the transport network with negotiated service level agreements (SLAs) may be required to move along with the user.
FIG. 2 illustrates two network domains and a schematic control plane, which relate to network function virtualization. There is no more a need that a site A of a customer needs connectivity towards a given datacentre (DC). Thanks to inter-data centre connectivity capabilities, a virtual network function (VNF) may be moved between DCs. This may be performed to achieve an improved employment of the network or recovery mechanism for the VNF between DCs.
Suppose that a customer or end user needs a certain VNF to be instantiated for originating from his site CE1. It is further irrelevant whether the certain VNF is instantiated in DC1, DC2 or DC3, as long as the SLA, e.g. delay is met. Within FIG. 2, given a status of the network, an operator may suggest to have the VNF instantiated in DC2. If the network evolves, a need to move the VNF from DC2 to a different DC, with a consequent move of the LSP connecting the CE1 and the VNF, may arise.
In such cases, an operator would be required to manually change a configuration of the tunnel choosing different physical resources as egress point.
There is hence a need to address at least some of the issues outlined above.

Methods and arrangements for end-point mobility of a traffic engineering tunnel of a multi-domain network


A CPU instructs a VCM driver, a spindle motor driver and a servo data reading or writing circuit, to writing servo data for error detection at any of default rotation frequencies stored in a memory. A positioning error signal analyzer detects a positioning error from the written servo data for error detection, and CPU determines an optimal disk rotation frequency from this positioning error.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a servo writer and a servo writing method, for writing servo data in a magnetic disk loaded in a magnetic disk drive. More particularly, the invention relates to the servo writer and the servo writing method for writing high-quality servo data in the magnetic disk by optimizing the rotation frequency (rotation speed) of the magnetic disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a hard disk drive (HDD), or a magnetic disk drive, is used as a storage device for a desk-top type personal computer or a notebook type portable computer. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of this magnetic disk drive 1. The magnetic disk drive 1 is a device for recording and reproducing data on a recording medium (disk) 2 by using a magnetic head 3. The recording medium 2 is manufactured by coating and depositing a magnetic recording film on a disk-like substrate. The magnetic disk 2 is rotated at a high speed by a spindle motor 4. The magnetic head 3 is held in a carriage 5. The magnetic head 3 is enabled to move on the magnetic head 2 in its radial direction, by moving the carriage 5 by means of a voice coil motor (VCM) 6.
The magnetic head 3 is thus positioned in a desired place on the magnetic disk 2 by means of the voice coil motor 6. The head 3 is positioned by a so-called embedded servo method. In this method, a plurality of servo data portions are provided in the all track of a whole data face, during manufacturing of a magnetic disk drive, that is, in the process of writing servo data into the magnetic disk 2 (servo writing). These servo data portions are basically composed of cylinder code portions in which cylinder codes are embedded, and correction portions in which data to be used for detecting and correcting positional shifts are written. In the magnetic disk drive 1, a desired track is accessed by the magnetic head 3 by detecting the cylinder codes of the cylinder code portions. The current position of the magnetic head 3 is then detected and corrected by detecting discretely data recorded in the correction portions (several times for each track). The magnetic head 3 can thereby be positioned in a desired position on the magnetic disk 2 with high accuracy.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the structure of the spindle motor 4. The components of the spindle motor 4 shown in FIG. 2 are provided under the magnetic disk 2 in the magnetic disk drive 1. A hub 41 is rotated at a high speed together with the magnetic disk 2 attached thereto. A bearing 42 supports the rotary shaft of the hub 41 rotating at a high speed.
A coil 43 is wound around a stator core 44. A control current is supplied to this coil 43 by FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) 47. A magnet 45 forms an electromagnetic driving element, together with the coil 43. This magnet 45 is connected to the hub 41 via a back yoke 46. A motor base 48 holds the spindle motor 4 having the above-noted structure and is connected to the base of the casing of the magnetic disk drive 1. In the spindle motor 4 thus constructed, a control current is supplied to the coil 43, whereby the hub 41, the magnet 45 and the back yoke 46 are rotated at high speed together with the magnetic disk 2.
In recent years, it is demanded that data be recorded at high density on a smaller magnetic disk 2 so that the magnetic disk drive may become smaller. Accordingly, pitches in order of microns have been employed for data track pitches.
In order to provide such narrow track pitches in the magnetic disk drier 1, however, NRRO (Non Repetitive Run Out) of the spindle motor 4 must be reduced in the mechanical system of the magnetic disk drive, and the rigidity of the whole mechanical system including the carriage 5 must be increased. The magnetic head must be accurately positioned at a predetermined position in the magnetic disk drive. To this end, accurate servo data needs to be written in the magnetic disk.
In recent years, it is also demanded that the storage capacity of a magnetic disk drive be increased. The number of magnetic disks mounted in the magnetic disk drive is directly proportional the storage capacity of the drive. Thus, to meet the demand for increasing capacity, it is necessary to mount as many magnetic disks as possible within the limited space available in the casing of the magnetic disk drive.
As described above, in the conventional magnetic disk drive, a maximum number of magnetic disks need to be mounted within the casing to meet the request for a greater storage capacity. To provide a space accommodating the disks, the base of the casing should be thin. If the base is this, however, it cannot withstand the load, i.e., the spindle motor and the associated components. The thin base for the casing would reduce the rigidity of the mechanical system. This would increase the possibility of a resonance.
The resonance may cause inconveniences like those described hereinbelow. Servo data would be written in a vibratory manner during servo writing, making unstable the servo data referenced as a yardstick in positioning. Consequently, it would be impossible to position accurately.
If servo data has been written accurately and the resonance occur in use of the magnetic disk drive, it is impossible to keep the accuracy of positioning high level. In any case, if the resonance occur, it is impossible to keep positioning accuracy high.
FIG. 3 illustrates the deformation of the spindle motor 4 because of the occurrence of the resonance. The bearing 42 rotatably supporting the shaft 41a of the hub 41 is shown in its deformation. As shown in FIG. 3, when the magnetic disk 2 inclines and falls down, the magnetic disk 2 is displaced in its radial direction against the magnetic head 3. Such displacement of the magnetic disk 2 in its radial direction causes a positioning error and makes it impossible to position accurately. The deformation of the bearing 42 is shown in FIG. 3. However, because of the occurrence of the resonance, the motor base 48, the magnetic head 3 or the carriage 5 may be deformed. In this case, as in the case of that shown in FIG. 3, it is impossible to position accurately. The positioning error means the quantity of head positional shift from the position in which reference servo data has been written, and thus this head positional shift will be called a positioning error hereinafter.
Conventionally, writing of servo data in the magnetic disk, that is, servo writing has been performed at writing rotation frequency (rotation speed) equal to disk rotation frequency (disk rotation speed) during use of the magnetic disk drive. In recent years, methods described hereinbelow have been employed.
In the first method, the quality of servo data written in the magnetic disk is made stable by performing servo writing at such a rotation frequency that resonance is hardly occur.
In the second method, the quality of servo data is made stable by performing servo writing at a rotation frequency much lower than that of the magnetic disk used in the magnetic disk drive.
In the case of the first method, even if a rotation frequency is determined so as to make it difficult for the resonance to occur, there is variance in resonance frequencies depending on the magnetic disk drive itself, for instance, variance in accuracy or assembling of parts constituting the magnetic disk drive. Therefore, it is difficult to completely prevent the occurrence of the resonance.
In the case of the second method, servo writing is performed at a rotation frequency considerably lower than that in use, and vibrations are reduced by minimizing vibratory energy. However, this also entails some inconveniences.
When a rotation frequency is determined to low level, the floating height of the magnetic head from the magnetic disk declines and thus the head may come into contact with the disk. Therefore, even if the rotation frequency is determined to low level, it is also difficult to completely prevent the occurrence of the resonance.
A condition for using the magnetic disk drive when servo writing is to be performed, is usually different from that in using the disk drive. More particularly, since the servo writer has been connected to the magnetic disk drive, the state of the magnetic disk drive, during servo writing, is different from that when this disk drive is used singularly. Therefore, even if a rotation frequency is determined so as to prevent the occurrence of the resonance and when the magnetic disk drive is singularly used, the resonance may occur during servo writing.

Servo writer for magnetic disk drive and servo writing method


A basketball backboard formed of a structural foam material such as structural foam polypropylene. The backboard is provided with an inmolded graphics sheet formed of the same material as that used to form the backboard. The graphics sheet of material is formed with pores to receive the printing inks whereby a desired visual graphics display is provided on an exposed facing surface of the graphics sheet. The backboard is formed as a high strength rigid structure having good rebound characteristics.

The present invention relates to a basketball backboard and, more particularly, to a basketball backboard formed of a structural foam plastic material and having a graphics sheet molded into the face of the backboard.
Basketball backboards are currently made of a variety of materials and are commonly produced using a moldable plastic material. In one known backboard structure the backboard is formed of styrene which is injected into a straight injection mold to form the styrene into the final desired shape for the backboard. Further, such styrene backboards are typically formed as small backboards, i.e. less than 48 inches.
It is also known to provide the above-described styrene backboard with a front face having a graphics display to improve the appearance of the backboard. Typically, the graphics display is printed on a styrene sheet which is laid by hand into the mold for forming the backboard and alignment of the sheet is accomplished by aligning holes in the sheet on pins in the mold provided for producing the mounting holes in the backboard. Upon injecting styrene into the mold, the back portion of the graphics sheet is melted to cause it to be integrally joined to the face of the backboard.
Styrene is relatively easy to print on and therefore is conducive to the production of backboards which are provided with sheets having graphics printed thereon. However, there is a need for a molded backboard formed of a plastic material having greater structural strength than prior molded backboards and which is conducive to production of larger backboards, such as 48 inch backboards. In addition, it is desirable to provide such a backboard wherein the material forming the backboard is conducive to receiving a printed sheet of graphics material formed of the same material as that of the backboard.

Structural foam basketball backboard with inmold graphics


A silicon carbide device is presented that includes a gate electrode disposed over a portion of a silicon carbide substrate as well as a dielectric film disposed over the gate electrode. The device has a contact region disposed near the gate electrode and has a layer disposed over the dielectric film and over the contact region. The layer includes nickel in portions disposed over the dielectric film and includes nickel silicide in portions disposed over the contact region. The nickel silicide layer is configured to provide an ohmic contact to the contact region of the silicon carbide device.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to silicon carbide semiconductor devices and, more specifically, to silicon carbide semiconductor devices for power applications.
During fabrication of a semiconductor device, such as a field-effect transistor (FET), one or more contacts may be formed (e.g., in a contact region of a FET device). In general, it may be desirable for a contact to have a low resistance (e.g., an ohmic contact) when constructing, for example, a contact via in a silicon carbide FET device. Additionally, during the construction of these low-resistance contacts, certain semiconductor device manufacturing techniques (e.g., lift-off technique) may lead to defects in the resulting device structure (e.g., rough edges, stringers, torn contacts, undesired excess metal, poor adhesion, and/or other forms of damage to the device). Furthermore, other device manufacturing techniques (e.g., self-aligning techniques), including methods that work well for constructing silicon devices, often do not prove to be effective for constructing silicon carbide devices.

Systems and methods for ohmic contacts in silicon carbide devices


A stack of plastic T-shirt bags and method of making the same wherein the bags of the stack have been subjected to two corona treatments to increase the adhesion between the back wall of each bag and the front wall of the next ensuing bag with a row of pressure points being provided at the base of the central mounting tab in order to enable each bag as it is pulled open on the rack arms to initiate opening of the next ensuing bag. The mounting tab is cut to provide not only a central mounting slit, but also with a wave-like cut below the mounting slit to enable the mounting tab to be torn for removal from the central mounting element without the tear extending down into the bag walls.

During the past dozen years, plastic shopping bags, and particularly those of what are called the T-shirt type, have largely replaced paper bags in grocery stores and supermarkets. The number of T-shirt bags which are sold annually in the United States alone approaches 100 billion.
Many varieties of T-shirt bags have been devised by various inventors and, almost from the outset, efforts have been made to provide bag packs which, when mounted on a conventional twin arm rack, have the back wall of each bag of the pack detachably adhered to the front wall of the immediate following bag. The purpose of this detachable adhesion is to cause the back wall of the preceding bag, after it is filled and it is being drawn off the rack by its mounting handles, in effect, to pull the front wall of the next succeeding bag forward from its back wall and thereby open the mouth of the bag while the bag arms are still hung on the rack so the thus opened bag may be filled with purchased items by the store sales clerk or box boy.
Initially, the desired adhesion has been suggested to be accomplished by providing some adhesive spot or limited adhesive area between the back wall of each lead bag and the front wall of the next ensuing bag. Examples of such detachable adhesive bondings may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,676,378; 5,020,750; 5,307,935; 5,333,730; 5,469,970; and 5,561,967.
A second method for producing the desired detachable adhesion between the rear wall of one bag and the front wall of the next ensuing bag has been by applying pressure forces on selected spots or limited areas of the bag pack when the pack of blanks is subjected to the cutting die. An example of such method of providing the desired detachable adhesion may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5.465,846, and is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,158. The pressure point expedient, however, may also be utilized in conjunction with either adhesive, or with the third method of providing adhesion, namely, corona treatment. Examples of the latter combination may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,335,788; 5,562,580; 5,507,713; and 5,125,604.
As explained in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,788, while corona treatment may provide suitable adhesion between bags made of low density polyethylene (LDPE) or linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,234, sufficient adhesion has not been found to occur where high molecular weight high density polyethylene (HDPE) is utilized in the manufacture of the bag. It is for this reason that the inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,788 have additionally provided in that patent for pressure points or at least one localized compressed area in combination with corona treatment of HDPE bags. These last mentioned inventors have stated in their patent that there was insufficient adhesion for HDPE bags where the bags, during formation, had been subjected only to a single corona exposure and the pressure of the die as it came down on packs of blanks to cut out the bag mouths. It has been found necessary, therefore, in prior corona treated bags to supplement whatever adhesion may occur during bag cutting, with special pressure points accomplished by incorporating some type of staking element or elements in the blank cutting die.
Effecting detachable adhesion by applying adhesive to the bag walls has always presented problems in bag manufacture as, for example, the adhesive must be of a particular consistency and state and applied accurately to limited areas and, after it has been applied, the bag pack must be maintained at temperatures and other conditions which will not cause the adhesive to harden or to become too soft. Either of these results could present problems in securing the desired opening of the bags of the bag pack. Other disadvantages in use of adhesive bags are aptly described in column 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,846.
As to relying upon instruments to effect pressure adhesion at a selected point or points in the bags of the bag pack, this requires modification of the normal cutting die and, unless carefully placed and properly calculated for the quantum of pressure applied, can result in so weakening of the bags at such pressure points that the bags may tear at or about such pressure points when filled with groceries or purchased articles at the store and separation of the adhered walls is effected by pulling the leading bag from the rack arms.
It may be seen, therefore, that a need still exists for providing bag packs having a consistent type of detachable adhesion between the rear and front walls of consecutive bags with pressure points of minimum impact on the bag packs to avoid weakening walls of the bags in the pack with the resulting tearing of bags about such pressure points.

Instant pull T-shirt bag stack and method of manufacturing same


This invention relates to a method for managing the status of a connected device by publishing assertions in an immutable distributed database composed of a plurality of compute nodes, a pair of keys comprising a public key and a private key being associated with the connected device. The method comprises the steps of: receiving from a first terminal associated to a first user an instruction message; verifying that the first user is allowed to modify the status of the connected device; sending an assertion request to the immutable distributed database for publishing an assertion comprising the status information.

Most mobile devices nowadays are insured in order to be protected against accidental events such as loss, theft or destruction.
Insurance frauds have become common, whereas victims are not only the stolen person but could also be the second hand buyer of a stolen device. As an example, a stolen device can be sold in a country, where the device is not registered in any stolen device database or is not yet seen as stolen.
According to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, an identifier of the device that is declared as stolen is stored in a database of the operator. A thief is in that case able to sell the stolen device to a second hand purchaser while the legitimate owner is in the process of declaring the device stolen to the police, its operator and its insurance. If the victim tests the device at the time of purchasing it, it is perfectly functional as it is not yet seen as stolen by the telecommunication system. However, when the device connects to the network later on, it can be blocked by an operator that share the database with the original operator. The main victims are in practice the insurance companies and the second hand device buyers, the original buyer being generally refunded by its own insurance company.
In 3GPP, the identifier of the device is the International Mobile station Equipment Identity (IMEI) and the database is referred as the Equipment Identity Register (EIR). When a device is declared stolen, its IMEI is provisioned into the EIR database of an operator. When the device connects to the 3GPP network, its IMEI is sent to the EIR database and controlled against the ones that are stored in the EIR database. As already underlined, if the device has been declared as stolen, it will not be able to connect to the network. This technology has several limitations. First, the EIR database may not be shared between enough operators for the technology to be efficient. Second, the process is lengthy before a device use can really be forbidden. Then, the access to the EIR database information is limited to one or several mobile operators. It has also to be noted that this technology is limited to the declaration of stolen devices in order to forbid their use.
Another existing technology employed in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) and related to the management of the ownership of a mobile device is now discussed.
Secondary devices such as smart watch or various sort of connected sensors such as Home environment management devices, weather sensors or Key Tags have typically limited or no user interface and may only have a wireless connectivity with the Internet, for example WiFi or cellular connectivity provided by an IoT Service Provider.
For instance in the case of a connected device such as a key tag used to locate one's key set, a link needs to be established between the device and the user. Then, the key tag can be located only by its registered owner. When the owner declares that his keys are lost, the community is mobilized to relay the location of the lost keys associated to the key tag back to its owner. The key tag ownership once associated to a given owner may be transferred to another one. It is required that the new owner is the only one who is able to declare his keys as lost and who is able to locate them. Indeed, a privacy issue would be encountered if the former owner could declare the device as lost because he would be able to locate its new owner. A process to transfer the ownership of a device from a former owner to a new owner does exist but is cumbersome and lengthy. An example of such a device is the companion device called Tile (trademark) and provided by Tile Incorporated.
A secret code could also be used as the proof of ownership. Providing the secret code to the new owner could be used as a solution to the problem. However, this technique implies several drawback. The original user may have lost or forgotten the secret code. Further, the secret code could be 'sold' to multiple victims independently of the physical device. This is the case for example when IoT devices are installed in various places.
Therefore, there is a need of a technology ensuring that the ownership of a device is legitimate and allowing to transfer this ownership securely and efficiently from a first owner to a second owner.

Method for managing the status of a connected device


A hub port in a Fibre Channel loop for detecting and bypassing attached node ports in an OLD-PORT state is disclosed. The hub port includes a hub data source, a detect circuits, and an output control circuit. The hub data source supplies data to the hub port from a Fibre Channel loop. The detect circuit is configured to detect a valid non-Arbitrated Loop sequence from an attached node port indicating that the node port is in an OLD-PORT state. The output control circuit operates to bypass the node port from the loop when the valid non-Arbitrated Loop sequence is detected.

The present disclosure relates to Fibre Channel loops, and more specifically to detecting and bypassing node ports in an OLD-PORT state.
Electronic data systems are often interconnected using network communication systems. Approaches that have been developed for computer network architectures include area-wide networks and channels. Traditional networks (e.g., LAN""s and WAN""s) may offer flexibility and relatively large distance capabilities. Channels, such as the Enterprise System Connection (ESCON) and the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), have been developed for high performance and reliability. Channels often use dedicated short-distance connections between computers or between computers and peripherals.
Features of both channels and networks have been incorporated into the Fibre Channel standard. Fibre Channel systems combine the speed and reliability of channels with the flexibility and connectivity of networks. Fibre Channel products often run at high data rates, such as 266 Mbps or 1062 Mbps. These speeds are sufficient to handle quite demanding applications, such as uncompressed, full motion, high-quality video.
There are at least three ways to deploy a Fibre Channel network, which include simple point-to-point connections, arbitrated loops, and switched fabrics. The simplest topology is the point-to-point configuration, which simply connects any two Fibre Channel systems directly. Arbitrated loops are Fibre Channel ring connections that provide shared access to bandwidth via arbitration. Switched Fibre Channel networks, called xe2x80x9cfabricsxe2x80x9d, are a form of cross-point switching.
Conventional Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) protocols provide for loop functionality in the interconnection of devices or loop segments through node ports. However, direct interconnection of node ports may be problematic since a failure at one node port in a loop may cause failure of the entire loop. This difficulty may be overcome in conventional Fibre Channel technology through the use of hubs. Hubs may include a number of hub ports interconnected in a loop topology. Node ports are connected to hub ports, forming a star topology with the hub at the center. Hub ports which are not connected to node ports or which are connected to failed node ports are bypassed. Therefore, the loop may be maintained despite removal or failure of node ports.
The present disclosure includes a hub port in a Fibre Channel loop for detecting and bypassing attached node ports in an OLD-PORT state. The hub port includes a hub data source, a detect circuit, and an output control circuit.
The hub data source supplies data to the hub port from a Fibre Channel loop. The detect circuit is configured to detect a valid non-Arbitrated Loop sequence from an attached node port indicating that the node port is in an OLD-PORT state. The output control circuit operates to bypass the node port from the loop when the valid non-Arbitrated Loop sequence is detected.
The present disclosure also includes a method for detecting and-selectively bypassing an attached node port in an OLD-PORT state. The method includes detecting a valid non-Arbitrated Loop sequence from a node port, and appropriately bypassing the node port.

Old-port node detection and hub port bypass


An apparatus and a method for cleaning sand used at a foundry, wherein sand to be cleaned is screened by a screening apparatus. The screened sand and at least one liquid mixture is fed into an abrasive apparatus. After that, the screened sand is rubbed by the abrasive apparatus. The rubbed sand and at least one liquid mixture is added to a water separation screen for separating a water blend from the rubbed sand. Finally, the separated sand is transferred into an oven and cleaned thermally by rotating the separated sand in the heated oven.

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for cleaning sand used at a foundry.
In prior art methods, the sand to be cleaned is thermally cleaned by rotating the sand in a large, slightly inclined oven. Before cleaning, the sand may be pre-processed by crushing any lumps and cleaning the sand fraction by magnetic separation. In thermal cleaning, mechanically pre-processed sand and hot air is fed to a rotating oven. Finally, the cleaned sand is let run from the second end of the oven. In addition, a binder-removing additive may be added to pre-processed sand after magnetic separation to improve the cleaning of certain impurities in thermal recovery.
When the sand is thermally cleaned by rotating the sand in a large oven, a shell comprising a binder, such as resin and hardener, remains around a sand grain. Thermal cleaning works well, if the thermally cleaned sand does not need to be completely clean and binders around the sand grains are allowed. This kind of thermally cleaned sand has a high pH and electrical conductivity. The high pH may cause the sand to lump up or even glaze. However, if high purity sand, so-called foundry sand is needed, it is necessary to add a binder-removing additive, like kaolin, to the sand after magnetic separation to improve removal of binders during thermal recovery and to reduce the electrical conductivity. Use of the binder-removing additive is expensive, which significantly increases the cost of purified sand. In addition, the use of the binder-removing additive is not suitable for all sand types.


A differential drive having a drivable differential carrier rotatably supported in a drive housing, said differential carrier comprising a carrier portion and two cover parts. Two axle shaft gears are coaxially rotatably supported in the differential carrier. Further, two sets of differential gears are slidingly received on their tooth heads, in axis-parallel cylindrical bores in the carrier portion. The axis-parallel cylindrical bores are in the form of through-bores in the carrier portion. The differential gears comprise spacing journals with ends having friction bearing portions. Corresponding friction bearing sections are formed in the differential carrier, axially adjoining the carrier portion.

This invention relates to a differential drive having a drivable differential carrier rotatably supported in a drive housing and comprising a carrier portion and two cover parts closing the ends of said carrier portion. Two axle shaft gears are coaxially rotatably supported in the differential carrier. The shaft gears are received in coaxial cylindrical bores in the carrier portion and are each connectable to an axle shaft. The differential carrier receives two sets of differential gears. Each set of differential gears has at least one differential gear, having tooth heads slidingly received in cylindrical bores in the carrier portion centered on axes parallel to the axis of the carrier portion. The teeth of each of the differential gears of the two sets engage the teeth of at least one differential gear of the other set. The cylindrical bores for the differential gears are in the form of through-bores in the carrier portion. The differential gears have toothed portions followed by spacing journals. The differential gears, by means of their ends, are at least indirectly axially supported in the differential carrier.
Differential drives of the above type are known from DE 40 13 200 A1, for example. For the purpose of simplifying the production of the differential carrier, the carrier portion is provided with through-bores with a constant diameter produced simply by broaching. To axially fix the differential gears in the through-bores, it has been proposed that the differential gears be extended beyond their toothed portions, by spacing journals. The differential gears approximately correspond to the length of the carrier portion. At the ends of the through-bores, the differential gears are supported on stop or closing means usually formed by covers which close the differential carrier at its axial ends. However, it is also possible to use simply designed stop discs or securing rings inserted directly into the through-bores.
DE 40 17 800 A1 describes differential drives of a similar type wherein the differential gears only cover part of the length of the carrier portion. The partial length corresponds to the length of the toothed portions of one of the axle shaft gears plus the length of a central toothed region to permit mutual engagement of the teeth of the differential gears of the two sets. In this embodiment, the differential gears are received in blind holes provided in the differential carrier so as to start alternately across the circumference from both axial ends of the carrier portion. The blind holes are closed directly by stop discs clamped in between the covers and the carrier portion.
A characteristic feature of the differential drives of the above type is that the differential gears are supported directly in the through-bores on their tooth heads. Due to the reaction forces between the axle shaft gears and the differential gears and between the differential gears of the different sets relative to one another, the supporting means generate a high degree of friction at the tooth heads. Thus a torque-dependent self-locking effect is generated. As engagement between the teeth of the differential gears of the two sets takes place along only part of their axial length between the respective toothed portions engaged with the two axle shaft gears, the load conditions along the length of the differential gears vary. Also, because the coaxial cylindrical bores for the axle shaft gears and the axis-parallel cylindrical bores for the differential gears are penetrating each other radially, the latter are inadequately supported in the differential carrier, against inwardly directed reaction forces.

Differential drive with inner supporting means for the differential gears


Disclosed are immunofluorescence staining methods which increase the likelihood that antibodies expressed by a single B cell selected and sorted by fluorescence activated cell sorting are specific for the antigen of interest, and which also allow selection of B cells expressing antibodies of high affinity for the antigen of interest. The selection for B cells expressing antibodies to specific antigens is increased by labeling B cells with at least two antigen probes, where each antigen probe includes the antigen of interest and is labeled with a different fluorochrome. The positive selection is preferably combined with a negative selection step, in which autofluorescent cells and sticky cells are excluded out. The specificity of sorting of the desired B cells can be further enhanced by staining those antigen-specific B cells which produce the immunoglobulin isotype (typically IgG), with targeting molecules reactive with a B cell marker, such as .gamma. chain and CD19, that are conjugated with a different fluorochrome. Thus, the antigen-specific IgG-producing B cells of interest may be labeled with these unique reagents in four color FACS (including one for negative selection), which can sort the desired antigen-specific B cells at enhanced proportions. After sorting the B cells with FACS, those B cells with high affinity are preferred for analysis by the single cell-PCR procedure to amplify and clone the V.sub.H and V.sub.L segments of interest.

B cells produce antibodies, and each B cell produces an antibody having one particular antigen specificity (i.e., the antibody is monospecific). If one expands a single B cell clone, the antibodies produced by the expanded population of B cells are homogeneous. Hybridoma technology, which has been in existence since 1975, enables one to immortalize individual B cells, and thereby allows one to expand a population of individual B cell clones to obtain sufficient antibodies so that the immortalized population can be screened to isolate those B cells producing antibodies having a particular antigen specificity. The B cell hybrids of interest can be grown in a large scale to make large quantities of homogeneous monoclonal antibodies, which are useful for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Kennett, R. H,. et al., Monoclonal Antibodies (Plenum Press, New York 1980); Borrebaeck, C. A. K. & Larrick, J. W., Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies (Stockton Press, New York 1990); Winter, G. & Milstein, C. Nature 349:293 (1991).
Hybridoma technology generally works best for preparing purely murine monoclonal antibodies. Hybrids made from fusing human B cells with human or murine myeloma cells are generally unstable, and tend to lose the human chromosomes and the ability to produce antibodies. Transforming human B cells with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) offers an alternative way to immortalize them. However, the transformation frequency is relatively low and the transformants are also not stable and often lose antibody-producing ability.
An alternative method, often referred to as the "Combinational V region library" method, has been developed to identify and isolate antibody fragments having a particular antigen specificity. Sastry, L. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad, Sci. U.S.A. 86:5728 (1989); Huse, W. D. et al., Science 246:1275 (1989); Orlandi, R. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86:3833 (1989). This technique relies on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. Using degenerate oligonucleotide 5'-end primers corresponding to the leader peptides or the N-terminal framework segments of V.sub.H, V.sub..kappa., and V.sub..lambda., and 3'-end primers corresponding to the CH1 domain of a heavy chain such as .gamma. and to the constant regions of light chains .kappa. and .lambda., the V.sub.H, V.sub..kappa., and V.sub..lambda. regions of a population of B cells are amplified with PCR. The pools of these V.sub.H, V.sub..kappa., and V.sub..lambda. genes are referred to as V.sub.H, V.sub..kappa. , and V.sub..lambda. libraries of a particular B cell population. Using specially designed vectors derived from a bacteriophage, a V.sub.H segment and a V.sub.L segment can be inserted into the vector and coexpressed in an E. coli bacterial host cell. The random combination of the V.sub.H and V.sub.L libraries creates an extremely large V.sub.H -V.sub.L combinatorial library. Each pair of combined V.sub.H and V.sub.L forms a unique antibody F.sub.V fragment with a particular antigen-binding specificity.
The recombinant .lambda. phage including the expression vectors that contain the combined V.sub.H and V.sub.L genes can be cloned, and then various methods can be applied to determine the antigen-reactivity of the antibodies which are expressed. In one earlier expression system, the combined V.sub.H and V.sub.L gene segments in bacteriophage .lambda. were expressed as soluble Fab fragments in E. coli. In a more recently developed system, the combined V.sub.H and V.sub.L fragments are expressed as a part of a protein on the surface of a filamentous bacteriophage, designated fd. In this latter system, the bacteriophage expressing the antibody fragment of interest can be isolated using affinity chromatography. McCafferty, J. Nature 348:522 (1990).
When using EBV transformation or cell fusion as described above to obtain monoclonal antibodies of particular specificity, a number of factors determine the probability of isolating the desired antibodies. Some of these factors are:
1. The pre-fusion number of B cells expressing the desired antibodies in the B cell population (referred to as the frequency of desired B cells); PA1 2. The number of B cells in the B cell population which are fused with myelomas or transformed by EBV (respectively referred to as the frequency of fusion or transformation); PA1 3. The stability of the immortalized cells.
Referring to factor "1" above, the frequency of desired B cells in mice is affected by whether the mice from which the B cells are derived are unexposed, immunized, or hyperimmunized with the antigen. By some estimates, the antibody repertoire in a mouse could represent over 10.sup.10 different antibody species. However, at any given time, there may be only 10.sup.7 -10.sup.8 B cell clones in a particular mouse. Winter, G. & Milstein, C. Nature 349:293 (1991). This suggests that for most antigenic epitopes, the frequency of B cells producing reactive antibodies may be in the order of 1.times.10.sup.-5 or 1.times.10.sup.-6, or less. It is also known that in a hyperimmunized mouse, the frequency of B cells specific for the immunogen may account for several percent of the total, or more.
When making human monoclonal antibodies, the frequency of desired B cells is affected by whether the human donors from whom the B cells are derived are immunized with the antigen through infection, vaccination, or other exposure. Depending on the intensity of a viral infection, the stage in the immune response, and the immunogenicity of the particular viral antigen, the frequency of B cells in the infected person specific for a particular antigenic epitope on a viral protein may range from 1.times.10.sup.-3 to 1.times.10.sup.-5 for the more dominant epitopes and less than 1.times.10.sup.-5 for the relatively silent epitopes. The frequency of IgG-expressing B cells specific for a protein allergen will often vary among different individuals, and may vary with the concentration of the allergen in the environment. The frequencies of B cells specific for autologous antigens, such as IgG, platelet surface antigens, leukocyte surface antigens, nuclear proteins, or DNA, will also vary among different individuals. For a relatively nonimmunogenic antigenic epitope on a large protein molecule, such as the CD4 binding site on gp120 of HIV-1, the B cells expressing antibodies specific for an antigenic epitope thereof in a moderately immunized mouse or an HIV-1 infected person may only occur at a frequency of 1.times.10.sup.-5 or lower among the IgG-bearing B cells. For an antigen the B cell donor has not been exposed to, the frequency of B cells specific for the antigen may be 1.times.10.sup.-6 or lower.
In a fusion procedure for preparing murine hybridomas, immunized mouse spleen cells are fused with myeloma cells. The number of lymphocytes in a mouse spleen is about 1.times.10.sup.8. B cells account for about 10% of the total, and among B cells, IgG-expressing B cells account for about 20%. Thus, in a mouse spleen, there are about 2.times.10.sup.6 IgG-expressing B cells.
In performing a cell fusion or EBV transformation procedure to immortalize IgG-expressing B cells from a person, one may typically take 100 ml peripheral blood from the donor. There are about 1.times.10.sup.8 lymphocytes in this amount of blood. Among them, B cells account for about 1-1.5.times.10.sup.7, and IgG-expressing B cells account for about 2-3.times.10.sup.6.
If the targets of immortalization are antigen-specific IgG-expressing B cells occurring at moderately low frequency, for example, 1.times.10.sup.-5 among the IgG-bearing B cells, there will only be about 20-30 such B cells in a mouse spleen or in 100 ml of peripheral human blood. The difficulty which stems from having such a small number of B cells producing the desired antibody relates to factor "2" above: the frequency of cell fusion or transformation. A skillful technician using a good fusion protocol can generate about 10,000 hybrids from the approximately 1.times.10.sup.7 B cells which are taken from the spleen of a mouse. This corresponds to a fusion frequency of 1 in 1000 B cells. The cell fusion and EBV-transformation frequencies for human B cells are at least about 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower. Thus, if one is starting with only about 20-30 B cells with the desired antigenic specificity, the chances of immortalizing one of the desired B cells is very slim.
Factor "3" above refers to the stability of the immortalized cells. As noted above, while murine hybridomas are generally stable, human hybridomas and EBV transformants are much less stable. Sequential subcloning is usually required to obtain stable human hybrids and transformants. However, even with such subcloning, which can be a laborious procedure, stable antibody-secreting cell lines cannot be obtained for a large portion of human hybrids and transformants.
While the combinatorial library methodology can be used to produce antigen-specific antibody fragments in bacterial host cells, it also suffers certain drawbacks related to the low frequency of antigen-specific B cells. For determining whether a particular B cell expresses antibody molecules of desired antigen-binding specificity, the V.sub.H and V.sub.L segments of the mRNAs of the heavy and light chains need to be reverse transcribed into cDNA, amplified by PCR, and the resulting gene segments must be cloned, sequenced, and incorporated into expression vectors. The two gene segments must then be coexpressed in a mammalian cell or other system, and the fragments produced must be characterized for antigen-binding specificity and for relative binding affinity. In a natural immune response, the B cells expressing the antibodies specific for an antigen expand, resulting in higher representations of such cells among the B cell repertoire. The combination of the desired V.sub.H and V.sub.L gene segments are expressed only by the antigen specific B cells. The combinatorial library methodology separates the V.sub.H and V.sub.L genes and recombines them in a random fashion. If B cells secreting an antibody of desired antigen-binding specificity are present at a frequency of 1.times.10.sup.-5, the combinatorial library will expand the V.sub.H -V.sub.L library. Depending on the diversity of the repertoire in the V.sub.H and V.sub.L libraries, the original V.sub.H and V.sub.L combination will be present at a frequency of probably about 1.times.10.sup.-10. It has been suggested that certain V.sub.H- V.sub.L combinations resulting from this genetic manipulation may also have the desired antigen specificity. However, this possibility is yet to be substantiated by experimentation. Winter, G. & Milstein, C. Nature 349:293 (1991).
Screening large numbers of bacteriophage particles expressing the desired fragment is generally more efficient than screening hybridomas or EBV transformants for the corresponding antibody. The typical screening methods for bacteriophage plaques can handle up to 10.sup.6 or 10.sup.7 phages, assuming that the availability of antigen suitable for the antigen-binding assays is not a limiting factor. However, for certain soluble antigens or antigenic epitopes, screening bacteriophages incorporating the reactive antibodies is difficult, because the antigens are limited or only available in soluble form. Additionally, for certain other antigens including membrane-bound proteins, the conformational epitopes on the antigens are altered if the antigens are solubilized from the membrane, and they will not react with the fragments being screened.
Additionally, if one is screening the antibody-expressing bacteriophages on an immunoblotting plate, about 50,000 plaques can be screened on one plate. In an extremely ambitious experiment, 100 plates may be screened. This screens about 5.times.10.sup.6 plaques or phages, which is much below the theoretical number of plaques which need to be screened to obtain the desired fragment.
A new method has been described for expressing the anitbody fragment V.sub.H -V.sub.L as a part of a protein on the surface of filamentous phage. It has been claimed that the phage expressing the specific antibody can be affinity purified from a large number of phages using an antigen-conjugated affinity column. McCafferty, J. et al., Nature 348:552 (1990). Theoretically this sounds plausible, however, it is yet to be proven that the methodology can identify and purify one specific phage from 1.times.10.sup.10 phages. In addition, one major problem in immunoblotting and affinity chromatography methods is that antibodies with a moderate affinity for the antigen will be selected. This allows the inclusion of many cross-reactive or sticky antibodies, causing burdens in the sequential screening procedures.
Various methods have been employed to enrich the desired B cells when they occur at low frequency. These methods can be used to enrich the desired B cells whether one is attempting to isolate the V.sub.H and V.sub.L fragments by hybridoma fusion technology, EBV transformation, or the combinatorial library methodology. These enrichment methods include fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), panning against antigen-coated plastic surface, binding to antigen-coated magnetic beads, or rosetting with antigen-coated red blood cells.
These procedures for enriching antigen-specific B cells, however, all suffer from a certain degree of nonspecificity. For example, panning or absorbing to plates or beads yields from about one to several percent of nonspecific binding. Rosetting of cells by antigen-coated red blood cells also has about the same degree of nonspecific activity. For cell sorting using FACS, the nonspecific sorting will depend on the stringency of the gate setting, but it usually ranges from 0.1 to several percent depending on the nature of the antigen.
An additional problem in a typical FACS procedure where mixed leukocytes are screened is background noise. An FACS apparatus operates by having a number of channels, which can each view a different fluorochrome. Single cells can be selected based on their fluorescence, or lack of fluorescence. Background noise in an FACS apparatus arises primarily from two sources. One source of noise is exhibited by certain activated cells or proliferating cells of various leukocyte subpopulations that contain high concentrations of certain metabolites, which cause these cells to exhibit autofluorescence even in the absence of fluorochrome labeling. Another possible source of background noise arises because some of the activated cells, and some monocytes and macrophages, possess stickly celluar plasmamembranes. Fluorescent probes will non-specifically adhere to the sticky plasmamembrane and create an additional source of background fluorescence in the cell sample.
Assuming that the B cells expressing antibodies having the desired antigen-binding properties in a human donor occur at a frequency of about 10.sup.-5 to 10.sup.-6 (which is a reasonable estimate for B cells specific for a weak antigenic epitope in an individual with exposure to the antigen or an individual naive to the antigen) the B cell enrichment procedures discussed above are not useful. If an enrichment method provides 1% nonspecific activity, then the desired B cells will average only about one in 1000 or 10,000 B cells isolated. Obviously, the single cell-PCR procedure to be described below for identifying and isolating antibodies of desired antigen-binding specificity would not work at such a low frequency. Thus, a method to increase the proportion of antigen-specific B cells among the single B cells selected for performing the single cell procedure is needed.

Selecting low frequency antigen-specific single B lymphocytes


An optical path coupling member aligns an optical axis directed to a light condensing member of the first wavelength light having a shortest wavelength with that of the third wavelength light having a longest wavelength. A diffraction element condenses +2nd order diffracted light of the first wavelength light and +1st order diffracted light of the second wavelength light and third wavelength light into a first photodetector, the −2nd order diffracted light of the first wavelength light and −1st order diffracted light of the third wavelength light into a second photodetector, and −1st order diffracted light of the remaining second wavelength light into a photodetector, using ±2nd order diffracted light of the first wavelength light and ±1st order diffracted light of the second wavelength light and third wavelength light as signal light from an optical information recording medium. Consequently, the overall size of the optical pickup apparatus is reduced.

An optical memory technology using an optical information recording medium having a pit-shaped pattern as a high-density/large-capacity recording medium is expanding its application range, for example, digital audio disk, video disk, document file disk and, what is more, data file. According to the optical memory technology, information is recorded, reproduced or erased to/from an optical information recording medium using micro condensed light beams with high accuracy and reliability. This recording/reproducing operation or the like depends on an optical system.
Basic functions of the optical pickup apparatus which is principally composed of an optical system can be roughly divided into light condensing that forms micro spots of diffraction limits, focus control and tracking control of the optical system and detection of pit signals. These functions are realized by combinations of various types of optical systems and photoelectrical conversion/detection systems according to their purposes and applications. In recent years, a diffraction element (hologram) is used to reduce the size and thickness of the optical pickup apparatus (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-176119).
This type of optical pickup apparatus is shown in FIG. 5. Patent Document 1 describes a case where two wavelengths are used, but an apparatus using three wavelengths will be shown here and operations thereof will be explained.
A light source 101A is a light source which emits light having a first wavelength and a light source 101B is a light source which emits light having a second wavelength which is longer than the first wavelength and light having a third wavelength which is longer than the second wavelength.
Light emitted from the light source 101A is reflected by an optical path coupling member 104, condensed by a light condensing member 105, irradiated onto an optical information recording medium 106 and reflected light reflected by the optical information recording medium 106 is condensed by the light condensing member 105, passes through the optical path coupling member 104, enters a diffraction element 103 where it is diffracted so as to selectively enter predetermined photodetectors 102 (102A to 102D).
Light emitted from the light source 101B is condensed by the light condensing member 105, irradiated onto the optical information recording medium 106, reflected light reflected by the optical information recording medium 106 is condensed by the light condensing member 105, enters the diffraction element 103 where it is diffracted so as to selectively enter the predetermined photodetectors 102 (102A to 102D).
That is, if the light diffracted toward the right in the figure by the diffraction element 103 is defined as − (minus) and the light diffracted toward the left is defined as + (plus), of the diffracted light of the first to third wavelengths, +1st order diffracted light is input to the same photodetector 102A, and with regard to −1st order diffracted light, diffracted light of the first wavelength light enters the photodetector 102B and diffracted light of the second wavelength light enters the photodetector 102C and diffracted light of the third wavelength light enters the photodetector 102D. An electric signal is then output according to the amount of light received from the photodetectors 102A to 102D.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method for coupling location information from a vehicle includes the steps of providing a WLAN communication device with a controller in the vehicle; detecting an emergency condition; and attempting to create a communication link with a portable WLAN enabled device. A system for coupling location information from a vehicle includes a WLAN communication device with a controller installed in a vehicle; a WLAN enabled device in communication with the WLAN enabled controller in the vehicle using a WLAN protocol in response to an emergency condition; a wireless communication network in communication with the WLAN enabled device; and a public safety answering point in communication with the wireless communication network.

The present invention relates to a wireless communication devices, and more particularly to a method of and system for coupling location information from a vehicle to a device by way of a wireless local area network link.
As the deployment of wireless local area networks (WLAN) continues to expand, new applications for data and new channels for providing data to individuals continue to evolve. One recent application for the transfer of data can be found in the area of telematics. Telematics is a term generally related to the provisioning of data and/or services to vehicles. One particularly beneficial aspect of a conventional telematics system is the transmission of emergency and/or location information related to a vehicle in the event of an emergency condition. For example, in a conventional telematics system, if a vehicle is in an accident and an air bag is deployed, the telematics unit in the vehicle will automatically contact a public safety answering point (PSAP) and/or a call center for a service associated with the telematics unit. The telematics unit could transfer information such as the location of the device or information related to the status vehicle of systems.
Most current telematics systems include a wireless communication device embedded within the vehicle for accessing a telematics service provider. For example, conventional telematics units include a cellular telephone transceiver to enable communication between the vehicle and a call center associated with telematics service for the vehicle. The vehicle could have a handset coupled to the cellular telephone transceiver and/or include hands free functionality within the vehicle. Alternatively, a portable phone operated by the user could be coupled to a xe2x80x9ccradlexe2x80x9d which enables communication between the portable device and the cellular telephone transceiver of the telematics system. The cradle could enable synchronization between the portable and the telematics system of the vehicle.
One advantage of having a cellular telephone transceiver integrated in the telematics system of the vehicle is that a higher power transceiver could be employed within the vehicle. For example, a 3 Watt cellular transceiver could be installed in the vehicle, which provides much greater power than a conventional 0.6 mn Watt transceiver used in a portable cellular telephone. Such higher power transceivers enable greater access to telecommunication services, for example when in rural areas or where base station coverage is generally weaker.
However, some low-end telematics systems have been proposed which do not include a separate cellular communication device installed in the vehicle, but use a user""s portable wireless communication device which is coupled to the vehicle by way of a cradle or some other communication means. Although such an arrangement generally reduces cost, a portable wireless communication device may be less durable than a mobile cellular telephone installed in a vehicle. In the event of a collision, a portable wireless communication device of such a telematics communication system could become dislodged and damaged, rendering it unable to make the necessary call to the PSAP.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved telematics system which enables the communication of emergency information to a PSAP in the event a portable wireless communication device of a telematics system is damaged during an emergency condition.

Method of and system for coupling location information