A feedback information transmission method, a feedback information transmission device, a UE, a base station and a computer-readable storage medium are provided. The feedback information transmission method includes: receiving configuration information from a base station, and determining the quantity of beam groups based on the configuration information; determining the quantity of bits of an HARQ-ACK based on the quantity of the beam groups; and generating an HARQ-ACK sequence corresponding to the quantity of the bits and transmitting the HARQ-ACK sequence to the base station.

Currently, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a UE is capable of merely receiving one Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in one serving cell within one subframe. For a Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) system, a feedback sequence is n-4, i.e., the PDSCH received within a subframe n-4 may be subjected to Acknowledgement/Non-Acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) feedback within a subframe n. For a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) system, different feedback sequences are provided for different TDD uplink/downlink configurations. As shown in Table 1, the PDSCH received within a subframe n-k is subjected to ACK and/or NACK feedback within the subframe n, where a set K may include more than one element. At this time, it means that the PDSCHs received within a plurality of downlink subframes need to be subjected to the ACK and/or NACK feedback within a same uplink subframe n. The UE orders the ACKs and/or NACKs based on an order of scheduled downlink subframes, so as to acquire an ACK and/or NACK feedback information sequence including a plurality of bits. A same ordering rule is adopted by the UE and a base station, so when the ACK and/or NACK feedback information sequence is acquired, the base station may accurately determine an ACK and/or NACK feedback bit corresponding to the PDSCH within each scheduled subframe, so as to perform a retransmission operation accurately.
TABLE 1downlink subframe index set K: {k0, k1, . . . kM−1}corresponding to uplink subframes in the TDD systemUplink/downlinkSubframe numberconfiguration01234567890——6—4——6—41——7, 64———7, 64—2——8, 7,————8, 7,——4, 64, 63——7, 6,6, 55, 4—————114——12, 8,6, 5,——————7, 114, 75——13, 12,———————9, 8,7, 5,4, 11,66——775——77—*annotation: K corresponding to each uplink subframe is given by taking one radio frame as an example, where n − k < 0 represents a downlink subframe of a previous radio frame.
However, along with the development of the mobile communication service, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) have started to study a new radio communication system, e.g., a 5th-Generation New Radio Access Technique (5G NR) system. In the 5G NR system, the UE may receive two PDSCHs at the same time in one serving cell. The two PDSCHs may carry different Transport Blocks (TBs), and they may be derived from different Transmission Reception Points (TRPs). The PDSCHs from different TRPs may use different beams for transmission. The two PDSCHs need to correspond to the ACK and/or NACK feedback information, and the ACK/NACK feedback information corresponding to the two PDSCHs needs to be transmitted through a same uplink channel at a same time point. There is no relevant definition of this case in the LTE system.
In other words, there is currently no definite scheme about how to perform the ACK and/or NACK feedback on a plurality of PDSCHs received simultaneously in a same serving cell in the related art, so it is impossible to accurately feed back the ACKs and/or NACKs.

Feedback information transmission method and device, user equipment, base station and storage medium

DATANG MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


At occurrence of jamming, a downstream-side conveying roller pair is stopped, while an upstream-side conveying roller pair continuously rotates, whereby a sheet between the downstream-side conveying roller pair and the upstream-side conveying roller pair is ejected from a sheet conveying path opened by a movable guide portion. At this time, a conveying force of a stepping motor driving the upstream-side conveying roller pair is made larger than the conveying force before the occurrence of jamming.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tandem image forming system in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are serially connected, a sheet conveying device arranged between the image forming apparatuses, and a control method of the sheet conveying device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A tandem image forming system constituted by serially connecting two image forming apparatuses (hereinafter referred to simply as an "image forming system") is known. According to the image forming system, when an image is to be formed on both surfaces of a sheet, an image is formed on the front surface of the sheet by the upstream image forming apparatus, and an image can be formed on the back surface of the sheet by the downstream image forming apparatus, for example. By sharing processing for forming images on the front surface and the back surface of the sheet by the respective image forming apparatuses, productivity can be improved as compared with formation of images on the both surfaces of the sheet with one image forming apparatus (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-143964).
In such type of the image forming system, a sheet conveying device might be arranged between the two image forming apparatuses. In the image forming system provided with the sheet conveying device, at occurrence of jamming, a work of removing the sheet in the sheet conveying device or the sheet conveyed to the sheet conveying device from the image forming apparatus arranged on the upstream side of the sheet conveying device is performed. Therefore, in such type of the sheet conveying device, a technology for removing the sheet easily is in demand.
On the other hand, a configuration has been proposed that the sheet conveying device is provided with a guide portion for opening a conveying path between two conveying rollers, and if jamming occurs, the guide portion is opened so as to eject the sheet being conveyed to an outside of the sheet conveying path (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-18923). In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-18923, the sheet conveying device is configured to deflect the sheet by stopping or reverse feeding later the conveying roller on the downstream side and continuously forward feeding the conveying roller on the upstream side and to open the guide portion by pressing of the deflected sheet. As a result, the jammed sheet is automatically ejected to the outside of the sheet conveying path.

Sheet conveyance device, image forming system and control method of sheet conveyance device


A self-contained calcination plant is enclosed in a feed-storage silo. The plant consists of a vertical reactor, a separation cyclone and a pair of heat exchangers connected by appropriate piping and immersed in the feed material stored in powdery form in the silo. A positive displacement blower creates an air stream that is preheated in one of the heat exchangers and fed in part to a gas burner and in part to a feed pipe at the bottom of the reactor. The feed material is kept in a fluidized state in the silo by air heated in the other heat exchanger and blown upward from the bottom of the storage compartment, from where the material is dropped into the feed pipe through rotary valves prior to injection into the reactor. The feed pipe is connected tangentially to the reactor so as to produce an upward swirling flow around the burner's flame. The fluidized reaction products are passed through a cyclone to separate the calcined oxides from the hot gases, which are then fed serially through the heat exchangers to preheat the process air used for the blower and the storage compartment. The solid product is recovered from the bottom of the cyclone. The entire plant is enclosed in the silo and, during operation, all units are immersed in the fluidized hot feed material that provides excellent heat transfer among all components and a sufficiently uniform temperature in the reactor to produce optimal calcination.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of calcination of inorganic minerals and materials. In particular, it relates to a self-contained, thermally insulated flash calcination unit that promotes reaction temperature control and reduces energy consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
Carbonate and hydrate inorganic minerals, such as limestone, dolomite, magnesite, brucite, and other materials, are subjected to calcination to produce oxides for industrial utilization. The process of calcination has been carried out in a variety of vessels, ranging from rotary kilns to fluidized-bed reactors, with a high input of energy dedicated to maintaining the relatively high temperature required for calcination.
For instance, limestone is converted to calcium oxide and carbon dioxide in an endothermic decomposition reaction that is carried out optimally at a temperature of at least 1,700.degree. F. The required heat is typically provided by gas burners in the reaction zone. The prior art discloses several types of equipment for carrying out the calcination of limestone and similar minerals, all directed at improving various aspects of the process. Such inventions are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos., 3,862,294, 4,118,177, 4,747,773, 4,483,831, 4,932,862, 5,132,102, 5,174,749 and 5,260,041.
For convenience, limestone is used in the description of the present invention because of its importance and because it is typical of the feed material subjected to calcination in prior-art processes. In flash calcination processes, limestone particles in a preheated fluid suspension are exposed to a high-temperature flame that activates and sustains the decomposition reaction. If the temperature in the reactor reaches levels above about 2,450.degree. F., sintering of the particles may occur with a resulting degraded product. If the temperature declines below the optimal range of about 1,700 to 2,450.degree. F. prior to completion of the reaction, the quality of the product is again degraded by the presence of unreacted material. Thus, optimal reaction conditions are present when the reactive bed is maintained within the desired temperature range throughout the reactor bed.
This result has been difficult to achieve in all prior-art reactors because of the complex thermal effects produced by the combined dynamics of the fluidized bed, reaction thermodynamics, and heat transfer occurring within the reactor and with the surrounding environment. When the flame temperature is maintained at an optimal level to initiate the reaction, the temperature downstream tends to decrease too rapidly to support full conversion. If, on the other hand, a higher flame temperature is used to provide sufficient heat to maintain an adequate temperature throughout the reactor, some initial sintering of the feed material is found to occur, which is undesirable for product quality. Therefore, there is still a need for improved apparatus that produces more uniform temperature conditions through the reactor than are currently attainable with known equipment.

Pneumatic flash calciner thermally insulated in feed storage silo


Kits and methods of play for creating decorative objects are disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, a kit comprises a plurality of rubber sticks, each stick with a continuous internal pattern that extends down the entire length of a longitudinal axis of the stick; a coring device, wherein the coring device includes a core cutter that is designed to cut holes through the plurality of rubber sticks; a cutting device designed to cut segments from the plurality of rubber sticks; and, a plurality of retainers designed to couple a plurality of segments together.

Beaded jewelry has been around for a long time. Kids and adults alike have long found entertainment in placing beads of various colors, shapes and sizes together on some sort of string in order to make necklaces, bracelets and other forms of jewelry. Recently, it has been popular to use beads made from lava stone and other organic stones to create beaded jewelry.
One problem with creating beaded jewelry is that the beads are very small and very easy to lose. Before the beads are restrained together into a necklace or bracelet, it is easy for some of them to be dropped and roll away. The beads' small size can make them difficult to locate and retrieve once dropped.
Another problem with using beads to make jewelry is that beads have a limited amount of variation. Beads come in various sizes and colors but only a limited amount of artistic expression can be achieved by varying size and color, regardless of the possibilities within the variations of size and color.
To this end, it would be beneficial to have apparatus, kits and methods that allowed a wider variation of expression when making decorative objects such as jewelry. It would also be beneficial to use a medium that was easier to keep track of and not so easily lost.


The invention uses optically active dyes or other optically active materials to perform digital data processing and logic functions on optical data. The data is carried in pulses of photons of wavelengths appropriate to interact with the optically active materials to excite or de-excite them. The use of the invention in performing various optical processing functions is described.

The invention relates to the use of active optical materials to perform logic operations using optical signals.
In the field of digital electronics, specific logic functions are performed by electronic circuits. These logic functions are commonly known by those skilled in the art of digital electronics. Examples of the logic functions and their electronic analogs are known as the AND gate, the NAND gate, the OR gate, the NOR gate and various other logic based circuits that can be designed to perform particular electronic functions. These functions are based on a truth table or logic table that defines the output when a set of selected input conditions are present. It is possible to design electronic circuits so that they replicate the results of these truth tables. In these designs substantial flexibility is available by manipulating the outputs of the gates with electronic changes such as the addition of a state inverter, which can be used with circuits to switch the nature of one gate to that of another gate or can otherwise be used to invert the digital state of a signal. Often these logic circuits are utilized in large numbers to make electronic computers.
The use of optically active materials, especially semiconductor lasers and optical fibers for data transmission, has led to increasing interest in optically driven circuits that can be driven directly by incoming photons carrying information. Eliminating the need to switch from an optical to an electrical signal improves the ability of networks to handle more data.
If entire computers could be built with optically driven circuits, they could also operate at higher speed. Because of this, it has been a goal in computer technology to build computers using optically based switching circuitry. It is thought that such optically based circuits will provide advantages in addition to improved computing speed and could find application in advanced computing techniques such as quantum computing.
In addition these optically based circuits would improve the performance and abilities in various other applications such as transmission networks and resistance to ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EMP), and other electromagnetic disturbances. However, there are a myriad of challenges before technologists to accomplish such advanced goals. In particular the creation of suitable optical logic circuits has challenged computer technologists giving rise to a need for improved optical switches that can operate individually or be made into logic gates or other information processing constructions.


An apparatus for increasing scheduling efficiency in network devices may include (1) at least one memory device that stores at least one data chunk included in a packet, (2) a scheduler device that (a) schedules transmission of the packet that includes the data chunk and (b) issues a request to transmit the packet based at least in part on the scheduled transmission, and (3) a packet-delivery device that (a) receives the request to transmit the packet from the scheduler device, (b) prepares the packet for transmission at a faster rate than the scheduler device schedules the transmission of the packet, and then (c) facilitates transmitting the data chunk included in the packet to a computing device. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

Network schedulers are often responsible for managing the sequence of packets transmitted from network devices. In order to manage this sequence of packets, traditional network schedulers may need to perform various scheduling and packet-delivery tasks. For example, a traditional scheduler may make certain scheduling decisions regarding the order of outgoing packets within a transmission queue. In addition to making these scheduling decisions, the traditional scheduler may also control the delivery of data chunks included in the outgoing packets.
Such scheduling and packet-delivery tasks may have different levels of complexity. For example, scheduling tasks may have a higher level of complexity than packet-delivery tasks. As a result, these scheduling tasks may effectively limit the rate at which the traditional scheduler is able to perform the relatively simpler packet-delivery tasks. Unfortunately, this limiting effect may impede the traditional scheduler's overall efficiency and/or performance.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for systems and methods for increasing scheduling efficiency in network devices.

Apparatus, system, and method for increasing scheduling efficiency in network devices


A lens device includes a focus lens unit mounted movably to a base, first and second lens units mounted in a main barrel, and a resilient light blocking sheet connected to the focus driving unit. The first and second lens units are movable in the in the main barrel along the axis between an extended position, where the first and second lens units cooperatively define a second gap therebetween, through which light passes and is reflected by the main barrel toward a first gap between the focus lens unit and the focus driving unit, and where the light blocking sheet spans the first gap so as to block passage of the light through the first gap, and a retracted position, where the second lens unit extends into the first gap and causes the light blocking sheet to flex.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lens device, more particularly to a lens device capable of blocking unnecessary light.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional lens device 10 is zoom adjustable along an axis (L), and is adapted for use with a digital camera. The conventional lens device 10 includes a base 11, a focus lens unit 12, a focus driving unit 13, a main barrel 14, a first cam barrel 15, a first lens unit 16, and a second lens unit 17. The digital camera includes an image sensing component 100 disposed on the base 11 and aligned with the focus lens unit 12 along the axis (L).
The focus lens unit 12 is mounted movably to the base 11. The focus driving 13 is mounted to the base 11 and is operable to drive the focus lens unit 12 to move along the axis (L). The main barrel 14 is slidably connected to a second cam barrel 153 mounted to the base 11, and has an inner annular surface 141, three first guide slots 142 (only one is shown) extending parallel to the axis (L), and three second guide slots 143 (only one is shown) extending parallel to the axis (L). The first cam barrel 15 is sleeved rotatably on the main barrel 14, and is formed with three first cam slots 151 (only one is shown) and three second cam slots 152 (only one is shown).
The first lens unit 16 is sleeved in the main barrel 14, and includes a first lens frame 160, a plurality of first lenses 161 secured to the first lens frame 160, and three first connecting pins 162 (only one is shown) extending respectively through the first guide slots 142 and retained slidably and respectively in the first cam slots 151. The second lens unit 17 is sleeved in the main barrel 14, and includes a second lens frame 170, a plurality of second lenses 171 secured to the second lens frame 170, and three second connecting pins 172 (only one is shown) extending respectively through the second guide slots 143 and retained slidably and respectively in the second cam slots 152. The image sensing component 100 of the digital camera is aligned with the first and second lenses 161, 171 along the axis (L).
The first cam barrel 15 can be driven to move rotatably along the axis (L) by a motor 191 and a driving unit 192 through a rotary drive barrel 193. The main barrel 14 that is sleeved inside the second cam barrel 153 will then be driven to move along the axis (L) by the first cam barrel 15. Since the first connecting pins 162 of the first lens unit 16 are retained respectively in the first cam slots 151 in the first cam barrel 15, and since the second connecting pins 172 of the second lens unit 17 are retained respectively in the second cam slots 152 in the first cam barrel 15, the first and second lenses 161, 171 will also move along the axis (L), thereby resulting in zoom adjustment.
However, when the first and second lens units 151, 152 move to an extended position (see FIG. 1), where the second lens unit 17 moves in a direction away from the focus lens unit 12, the focus lens unit 12 and the focus driving unit 13 will cooperatively define a first gap 18 therebetween, and the first and second lens units 16, 17 will cooperatively define a second gap 181. Therefore, ambient light (as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1) can pass through the first lenses 161 of the first lens unit 16 and the second gap 181, be reflected by the inner annular surface 141 of the main barrel 14, and finally reach the image sensing component 100 via the first gap 18, thereby resulting in poor image quality.


A link-type seismic tie is provided between a steel structural support and a buckstay, and includes two horizontally arranged, parallel, and spaced apart link members, which are connected at their ends to large vertical pins. Each of the link members includes two horizontally arranged and parallel longitudinal outboard stringers and a horizontally arranged and parallel longitudinal center stringer centered between the two outboard stringers. Each link member further includes finger plates standing upright and spaced apart from each other relatively perpendicular to the longitudinal stringers. The finger plates are held between each of the outboard stringers and the longitudinal center stringer. A gusset plate connects the outboard stringers to a pin plate, which is connected to a large pin at the buckstay. The other end of the link members is connected to a large pin at the steel structural support via the ends of the outboard stringers.

The present invention relates generally to the field of steam generators and in particular to a new and useful link type seismic tie for a boiler system for absorbing and dissipating seismic force or energy to limit the displacement of the boiler system, including support steel frames and piping.
During an earthquake, seismic energy is dissipated by damping due to plastic behavior of the structural system. The structural system consists of the supporting structural steel, boiler ties, and the boiler itself. Using certain techniques, the structural steel may be designed to enhance damping by plastic behavior. However, it is not practical to configure the boiler for enhanced plastic behavior. This is because the boiler's overall configuration is governed by the pressure part design and arrangement.
There are a variety of seismic ties currently available for dissipating seismic energy or forces. A typical link-type seismic tie is shown in FIG. 1, wherein two link members 32, 33 are attached by pins to a buckstay beam 36 at one end and structural steel 37 at the other. Finger plates 38, as shown in FIG. 2, are typically located in the ends of the buckstay beam 36 to further dissipate seismic energy by plastic behavior.
Japanese Patent JP6002804 to Minoru et al. discloses a link-type seismic tie comprising two link members arranged separately in a horizontal direction and two vertical pin members connecting both ends of the upper and lower link members. One of the pin members is attached to a bracket for connection to a supporting iron frame and the other pin member is attached to a buckstay connected to a boiler main body.
Japanese Patent 9112805 also discloses a supporting structure for load reduction of a boiler during an earthquake. The supporting structure includes a pair of links arranged between and connected to a pair of binders wherein one of the binders is attached to a buckstay of a boiler and the other binder is attached to a support structure. Elastic-plastic elements are provided between the binders and parallel to the links. The elastic-plastic elements contain a rounded diamond-shaped opening. A sheer plate is secured between the binders but faces in a direction perpendicular to the direction that the elastic-plastic elements face. Relative displacement caused by an earthquake, causes the binder near the buckstay to deform the elastic-plastic elements and the sheer plate, generating a restriction force. The involvement of the sheer plate in generating the restriction force reduces the number of elastic-plastic elements required.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,025 to Ott et al. discloses a steam generator support arrangement for loading forces resulting from seismic accidents. The support arrangement is provided between a ring girder encircling the steam generator and a concrete housing, and includes a pair of V-shaped link arrangements hinged at an apex and a snubber arranged between the link arrangements and connected to the apexes of the link arrangements.
Japanese Patent 5141607 discloses an assembly for transmitting furnace internal pressure from a buckstay to a supporting steel frame, absorbing the thermal expansion of the furnace pressurization. The assembly includes a coupling member attached to the buckstay. The coupling member is arranged between two separated link members, which lie along the same plane as the coupling member. The coupling member is attached to both link members at one end via a pin. Steel frames are attached to the link members via pins at the opposite end of the link members.
Japanese Patent 9178109 discloses a conventional prior art supporting structure for load reduction of the boiler during an earthquake. The supporting structure includes a pair of links connected to a pair of perpendicular binders which are a link mechanism for holding two or more elastic-plastic elements between a buckstay and a support frame, which are deformed upon the occurrence of an earthquake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,549 to Eisinger discloses that it may be desirable to use rigid ties with springs and dampers for securing a steam generator to the upstanding members of a frame. The dampers react to displacement of components to which they are attached, to absorb energy as well as to carry load transmitted between the steam generator and frame. Springs are used as deformable structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,665 to Juchtern discloses a seismic tie attached to adjacent portions of a tube bank and furnace wall to limit relative movement and prevent distortion and damage to the furnace wall as a result of lateral forces caused by seismic disturbances for example.
The straight-bar link-type tie of the prior art provides only a very limited ability to dissipate seismic energy. At best, it may buckle providing some damping by plastically bending. However, this means of energy absorption is relatively ineffective and not easily or accurately predicted or controlled by design calculations. Also, unacceptably large boiler displacements may be necessary before any significant seismic energy would be absorbed.
In addition, because a large all-welded boiler is a very stiff body, it is important that damping plasticity be supplied at any location where it is possible to do so. One of the few possible locations at which damping may be added is where the boiler connects with the structural steel. The boiler tie links provide this location opportunity.
There is a need in the art for greater or more effective dissipation of seismic energy in connection with boiler seismic ties.

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc.


In a load driving circuit, a detection current Is (=Io/N), 1/N of a driving current Io, flows in a detection resistor, where N indicates a shunt ratio between a current (=driving current Io) that flows in an output source (S1) and a current (=detection current Is) that flows in a detection source (S2). The shunt ratio is determined by a cell ratio between the output source (S1) and the detection source (S2).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a load driving circuit such as a motor driver and, more particularly, to a load driving circuit having a current detection function for detecting a driving current with a current mirror arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a motor and a driving circuit according to the related art. FIG. 8 shows transistors Tr 801–811, a power supply voltage VM, a motor 819, a current detection amplifier 821 and a detection resistor 823 for detecting a driving current Io. A dotted line in the figure indicates the driving current Io flowing through Tr 805→a V-phase driving terminal→W-phase driving terminal→Tr 811.
Referring to FIG. 8, a node C between an end of the detection resistor 823 and the transistors Tr 803–811 is connected to an inverting input terminal of the current detection amplifier 821. The other end of the detection resistor 823 is grounded. A non-inverting input terminal of the current amplifier 821 is grounded. An output terminal of the current detection amplifier 821 is connected to a control circuit (not shown). The control circuit controls a gate voltage of the transistors Tr 801–811 in accordance with an output voltage of the current detection amplifier 821.
More specifically, when the driving current Io varies and a voltage at the node C varies accordingly, the output voltage of the current detection amplifier 821 varies. When detecting that the driving current Io grows to an excess current, the control circuit (not shown) controls the current by controlling the gate voltage of the transistors Tr 801–811, in accordance with the output voltage of the current detection amplifier 821.
The driving current Io is controlled according to the related art in a procedure as described above. Employing a circuit construction as shown in FIG. 8, however, presents a problem in that the voltage generated across the detection resistor 823 is counted as a loss of the power supply voltage VM.
One method to address the above problem is a current detection circuit in which one of two n-channel MOSFET transistors connected in parallel is used as an output transistor and the other is used as a detection transistor (see FIG. 1 of patent document No. 1). By using this current detection circuit, it is possible to eliminate a detection resistor from a path of a driving current connecting a power supply with a power ground.
[Patent document No. 1] Japanese Patent No. 2570523
There is a problem, however, in that, for proper operation of a current detection circuit, the resistance of a detection resistor should be low, and the low resistance causes the detection of voltage to become difficult. The patent document No. 1 proposes a current detection circuit (FIG. 3) in which the driving current is not diverted into a power unit and a detection unit. In order to operate this current detection circuit, however, it is necessary to provide a constant-current source for detection.

Load driving circuit with current detection capability


A connection assembly includes: a support member including a support body and an accommodating groove in the support body; a first clamping member including a fixing part and a first clamping part, the fixing part and the support member being buckled to form an accommodating space with the accommodating groove, the accommodating space having an opening, and the first clamping part is detachably clamped to a first clamping groove in a to-be-connected body by an external force; a second clamping member including a second clamping part which is at least partially in the accommodating space and can be extended or retracted from the opening of the accommodating space to be clamped into or separated from a second clamping groove in the to-be-connected body; and a clamping face of the first clamping part and a clamping face of the second clamping part that are in different planes.

With the development of wearable devices and the needs of users, smartwatches or smart bracelets have become popular smart wearable electronic devices, watchbands or wristbands acting as connection carriers need to not only conform to human engineering and but also be disassembled conveniently during use of the smartwatches or smart bracelets.
During use, a user has higher requirements not only on the functionality and performance of an electronic device, but also on accessories of connection carriers. the connection carriers are prone to damage during repeated use. Specifically chain-type metal watchbands and plastic watchbands with diversified appearances need to be replaced frequently, and additionally, connection carriers in different styles also need to be replaced frequently due to the pursuit of personalized styles by users.

Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.


A low pressure liquid chromatographic cartridge is provided having a tubular polymer container adapted to receive a chromatographic packing material. The container has an outlet port located at a downstream end of the container and container threads formed on an upstream end of the container. A polymer cap having cap threads located on the cap threadingly engage the container threads. An inlet port is located on an upstream end of the cap. A resilient fluid tight seal is interposed between the polymer cap and container suitable for use in low pressure liquid chromatography. A locking tab on a skirt of the cap engages a recess on the container when the seal engages the cap and container to lock the cap in position relative to the container.

This invention relates to method and apparatus involving cartridges for use in flash chromatography and low pressure liquid chromatography equipment.
Chromatographic analysis passes fluids through columns containing specially treated sorbent which allows the chemicals in the fluid to be eluted at different times and thus form separated peaks on a chromatogram. In order to prepare or clean up the fluid being analyzed the fluid is often passed through a sorbent under pressure. Further, for low pressure liquid chromatography (LPLC) or flash chromatography the fluid may be passed through a sorbent at a pressure of 20-100 psi. This operating pressure is sufficiently high that these cartridges, which have relative large diameter bodies leak at the seams. Threaded connections are thus not used to form the body when the body is made of polymers. Thus, these cartridges are traditionally made of plastic and have sonically welded ends. But even that welded construction will leak if there are defects in the welds. That welded construction and the accompanying manufacturing and material costs cause in undesirably high costs, especially as the cartridges must be either discarded, or must under go extensive and thorough cleaning after a single use, or at most after a few uses with similar fluids. There is thus a need for a low cost, disposable cartridge.
Further, the welded construction requires the chromatographic packing material be placed in the cartridge before it is welded, or it requires careful packing of the column under pressure, both of which limit the usefulness of the cartridge and increase its cost.
Recently one company has introduced a disposable cartridge made of molded polypropylene having an end fitting that uses openings in a number of cantilever members to engage detent members which fit into the openings to create an interference fit to snap-lock the end fitting onto the cartridge. This is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,745. But this interference fit is created at the factory and again creates a cartridge that does not allow the user to easily vary the contents of the cartridge. There is thus a need for a cartridge that can be sealed to function under LPLC pressures but which allows the user to access the inside of the cartridge before it is sealed.
In LPLC the fluid sample is sometimes prepared by passing it through one or more cartridges of different material, each of which has a different sorbent to clean the fluid of particular undesirable materials or chemicals. Because the fluid sample can vary, a wide variety of cartridges with different sorbents sealed in the cartridges must be maintained. Further, the removal and reconnection of these various cartridges is cumbersome and time consuming, and the cost of each cartridge is expensive. There is thus a need for a way to reduce the complexity and cost of using different sorbents.
Sometimes a Y fitting is used to inject one or more fluids into the LPLC cartridge. The connection and use of these Y fittings is cumbersome. Further, the fitting must be either discarded or cleaned after each use. There is thus a need for a better and less expensive way to introduce fluid or materials into the cartridge.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


This invention relates to methods of inducing dephosphorylation of a hyperphosphorylated cell cycle regulatory protein in a tumor cell in which hyperphosphorylation of said protein contributed to cell transformation, the method comprising contacting the tumor cell with a procyanidin oligomer of five monomeric units connected via a C-4→C-8 linkage. Examples of such compounds are [EC-(4β→8)]4-EC, and [EC-(4β→8)]3-EC-(4β→8)-C, wherein EC is epicatcchin and C is catechin.

The proanthocyanidins have attracted a great deal of attention in the fields of medicine and nutrition due to the wide range of their biological activities (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,971). Applicants have now discovered specific anti-cancer properties of procyanidins and derivatives thereof and their effect on regulation of proteins involved in the regulation of the cell cycle. Examples of such proteins are Cdc2, AKT, forkhead transcription factor, p53 and pRb.
Cdc2 is a protein kinase which is important in the control of both cell cycle and apoptosis [Konishi, Y. et al., Molec. Cell, 9: 1005-1016, 2002]. Phosphorylation of Cdc2 Tyr15 residue is inhibitory to its function and causes resistance to paclitaxel (Taxol®)-induced apoptosis [Tan, M. et al., Molec. Cell, 9: 993-1004, 2002].
AKT, encoded by a known oncogene, also known as protein kinase B, is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a central role in promoting the survival of a wide range of cell types [Khwaja, A., Nature, pp. 33-34 (1990)]. Inhibition of AKT induces apoptosis of human ovarian cancer cells which demonstrates that AKT may be an important target for cancer treatment and other proliferative disorders [Zang, Q. Y., et al, Oncogene, 19 (2000)]. In fact, AKT is commonly used as a marker for ovarian and breast cancers. AKT promotes cell survival by phosphorylating forkhead transcription factor (FKHR) at amino acid position Ser256, which results in inhibition of FKHR function [Brunet, A., et al., Cell, 96:857-868 (1999)]. AKT-mediated phosphorylation of Ser256 of FKHR inhibits apoptosis through decreasing FKHR-controlled Fas ligand expression [Jackson, J. G. et al., Oncogene, 198: 4574-4581, 2000; Nakamura, N. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 20: 8969-8982, 2000; Rena, G. et al., EMBO J., 21: 2263-2271, 2002.]
Early genetic changes associated with malignancy involve genes that regulate cell cycle progression and often these changes result in a loss of G1 checkpoint in tumor cells, due to defects in retinoblastoma (pRb) and p53 cell cycle pathways [Lomazzi, M. et al., Nat Genet., 31:190-194, 2002]. Post-transcriptional modification of these proteins appears to be an important mechanism of their functional regulation.
For example, phosphorylation of Ser392 of p53 activates specific DNA binding functions by stabilizing p53 tetramer formation [Keller, D. M. et al., Molec. Cell, 7: 283-292, 2001; Fiscella, M., et al., Oncogene, 9:3249-3257, 1994]. Several stress stimuli are reported also to phosphorylate Ser392 (Ser389 in mouse). In addition, recent analysis of p53 phosphorylation in human tumors revealed that among 10 sites analyzed, hyperphosphorylation of residues Ser15, Ser 81, and Ser392 and acetylation were among the most frequent modifications [Minamoto, T. K., et al., Oncogene, 20: 3341-3347, 2001]. Increased phosphorylation of p53 at Ser392 in human tumors is frequent [Furihata, M. et al., J. Pathol., 197: 82-88, 2002].
The serine residues of pRb are also critically involved in G1/S transition. It is known that cyclin D-Cdk4 phosphorylates pRb at Ser780 and possibly Ser795 [Kitagawa, M., at al., EMBO J., 15: 7060-7069, 1996; Panigone, S. et al., Oncogene, 19: 4035-4041, 2002]. Both transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and retinoic acid have been reported to cause G1 cell cycle arrest by dephosphorylating pRb at Ser780, Ser795 and Ser807/811 [Hu, X. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 276: 930-939, 2000; Dimbert, A. et al., Blood, 99: 2199-2206, 2002].
Thus, the cell cycle regulatory proteins are useful targets for tumor therapy. At present, there is a need in the art for compounds that can target hyperphosphorylation and/or overexpression of these proteins to prevent and/or treat proliferative growth. It has now been found that compounds of this invention and compositions thereof are effective for these uses.

Methods and compositions for treating cancer


A variable power optical system having a mechanical system capable of moving a lens holder and a mirror holder having a predetermined relationship. A driving force moves the lens holder and the mirror holder. The movement of the mirror holder is controlled so as to control the magnification power of the optical system. The present optical system permits a widened power range to be employed without making the total capacity of a machine large.

The present invention relates to a movement controlling device for use, for example, as a variable power optical system used in a copying machine designed to make a magnifying power variable by moving a fixed focus lens, and more particularly to an improved mechanism for driving mirrors placed in between a lens and a projection image plane, for example a circumferential surface of a photoconductive drum, to move synchronously with the movement of the lens.
In a so-called electronic copying machine designed to take copies by an electrophotographic duplicating process, an original mounted on an original tray is illuminated with light emitted from a light source, such as a fluorescent lamp, and an image thus exposed to the light from the light source is formed on an electrophotographic photoconductive drum via an image forming system comprising a lens and mirrors.
A recently developed variable power optical systems is such that the magnifying power of a projected image is varied by varying the distance between the original plane and the lens, and the distance between the lens and the projection image plane (i.e., the surface of the photoconductive drum) by moving the lens as part of the image-forming system in the direction of the optical axis. The aforementioned optical system has a so-called variable power function for taking copies of the original, ranging from original size copies to enlarged or reduced size copies.
In such a conventional variable power optical system employing a fixed focus lens (having a fixed focal length), as shown in FIG. 1, there is provided a mirror unit "C", wherein two mirrors are disposed opposite to each other at right angles between a lens "A" and a photoconductive drum "B". The mirror unit "C" is used to invert an optical path and simultaneously move correspondingly to variations of the distance between the original plane and the lens "A" resulting from the movement of the lens A (direction "X" in FIG. 1) so that an optical image corresponding to an image on the original is formed on the circumferential surface of the photoconductive drum "B".
The lens "A" and the mirror unit "C" are disposed as shown in FIG. 2 and moved.
More specifically, a lens holding member 1A holds lens 1 and is slidable fitted into a guide member 11 provided on a chassis of a machine, whereas a mirror holding member 2 for holding mirrors is slidably fitted into a guide member 13 provided thereon likewise. In the lend holding member 1A, an endless wire 6 is wound on pulleys 12, 12 as well as on pulley 3 which is driven by a motor (not shown) and the lens holding member 1A is driven to move by the endless wire as the motor rotates.
The mirror holding member 2 has to be moved in a predetermined relationship with the movement of the lens 1. The mirror holding member 2 is moved by causing a cam follower 25 provided on the mirror holding member 2 to follow a cam 4 which is driven to synchronously rotate with the rotation of pulley 3 for driving the lens that holds member 1A holding the lens 1.
Although almost no problem occurs as long as the magnifying power of the projected image is within a narrow range of 1.4-0.6 times, the movement of the mirrors naturally tends to become greater when the variable range of the magnifying power is widened up to 2.05-0.48 times. With the aforementioned conventional arrangement, the displacement of the cam thus increased allows the cam follower not to follow the cam; the problem is that the mirrors will become unmovable.
In order to solve the above problems, there has been proposed an arrangement wherein the lens and the mirrors are driven by different motors respectively synchronously with each other. However, an increase in production cost becomes unavoidable in this case.


A method of processing data from a plurality of probes which monitor traffic over a network, which includes a plurality of segments to which are connected a plurality of nodes, the method including the steps of polling the probes for monitoring data; receiving polled data from the plurality of probes; storing the polled data in a plurality of records, each of the records identifying at least a probe, a source node, a destination node, and a measure of traffic between the identified source node and destination node in that record; for a selected source-destination node pair, determining which of the plurality of probes produced a most complete report of traffic associated with that selected source-destination node pair; identifying those records among the plurality of records that designate both the probe which produced the most complete report of traffic and the selected source-destination node pair; and distinguishing within the plurality of records the identified records from the other records.

The invention relates generally to computer networks, and more specifically to determining information representative of computer network topologies.
Network managers typically use commercially available network monitors or probes that are attached to the segments to collect the information about traffic over those segments. From a central location or distributed locations, the network manager periodically polls those monitors for the data that they have collected. With this collected data from the monitors, the network manager can use a reporting package to generate various reports about the operation and performance of the network. For example, often it is desirable to generate a report about the traffic load on each network segment or machine/server so as to identify overloaded segments and/or equipment which may have too many active nodes attached to them and under-utilized segments and/or equipment to which it may be desirable to transfer active nodes. However, to make an accurate report of the traffic that is generated and access patterns by nodes attached to a given segment, it is necessary to have some knowledge about which nodes are attached to which segments.
One common approach has been to provide a map of the network to the network manager's computer. Thus, the network manager knows a priori were every node is initially located and that information can be used to generate reports about network performance and utilization. Another approach is to use a commercially available tool which generates a map of the network by using what is referred to as a ping sweep. There are several problems with such approaches however. First, these approaches are generally quite slow. Secondly, the network manager has to determine where all of the nodes are located and then enter that information into the system. Thirdly, not all protocols have a ping capability. And fourth, if nodes are moved or the network reconfigured, the map immediately is out of date and must be revised before accurate and reliable reports about network activity and performance can be generated. Particularly in large networks, it is not at all unusual for nodes to be moved to different locations, for segments to be added or removed, and for other similar changes to be made to address the changing needs of the community that is using the network or to address local problems in the subnetworks which make up the entire network. Unfortunately, the network manager often is not aware of some of these changes so he or she will not know that the map that was originally entered is no longer accurate or, if that is known, how to change it to accurately reflect the new topology. Moreover, if the network manager is not aware that the topology of the network has changed, he or she may use erroneous information from an out-of-date map.
An alternative approach has been to use complex algorithms to create an actual map of the network. But such algorithms are time consuming and are prone to error.
Thus, there is a need for a better, efficient way of discovering what a network's topology is and using that information to help in generating reports about the network.

Method and apparatus for discovering network topology


The invention is made in the field of coding of images of high dynamic range.

Images, whether still images or image frames of an image sequence, are generally represented on a limited number of bits (for instance 8, 10, 12 or more bits), corresponding to a limited range of values to represent the luminance signal. Images represented in such way are called images of low dynamic range or, shortly, LDR images. However the human visual system is able to perceive a wider range of luminance. The limited representation most often does not allow for reconstructing correctly small signal variations, in particular in image areas of extremely dark or bright luminance. The HDR (High Dynamic Range) format consists in significantly extending bit-depth of signal representation to integer representation with more bits e.g. 20 to 64 bits, or even to floating representation, in order to keep a high accuracy of the signal on its entire luminance range.
HDR images can be captured in various ways. For instance, Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras can use bracketing technique to capture successive images of the same scene with different exposures wherein exposure is the total density of light allowed to fall on the imaging medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking an image. Those images of different exposures are represented as LDR images. Under-exposed images capture details in the bright areas whereas over-exposed images capture details in the dark areas, as exemplarily depicted in FIG. 1 for different exposure values EV.
By fusion of these differently exposed LDR images an HDR image can be produced with a floating point representation, the produced HDR image containing all details those in dark areas as well as those in bright areas.
An HDR image cannot be used in its source format with devices designated for use with LDR images, e.g. set-top-boxes, PVR, and legacy displays. Anyway, a process called Tone Mapping, allows representing the image while ensuring a good restitution of the different signal intensity segments, in particular, in dark and bright intensity ranges. Tone Mapping creates, from an HDR image, a LDR image where all the elements are correctly exposed. The LDR image is much more detailed both in dark areas and in white areas. This is exemplarily depicted in FIG. 2.
HDR is used, in particular, in post-production. All special effects tools are dealing with HDR images with a floating point representation. The mixing being natural scene and special effects is also realized in HDR representation. At the end of the post-production process Tone Mapping is applied to create a standard 8/10/12-bit master under the control of the Director of Photography.
Mantiuk et. al.: "Backward Compatible High Dynamic Range MPEG Video Compression", Proc. of SIGGRAPH '06 (Special issue of ACM Transactions on Graphics), 25 (3), pp. 713-723, 2006, propose a backward-compatible HDR video compression (HDR MPEG) method which introduces a compact reconstruction function that is used to decompose an HDR video stream into a residual stream and a standard LDR stream, which can be played on existing MPEG decoders, such as DVD players. Mantiuk's residual stream creates about 30% bitstream overhead compared to the LDR stream only.
Motra and Thoma: "An Adaptive LogLuv Transform for High Dynamic Range Video Compression", Proceedings of 2010 IEEE 17th International Conference on Image Processing, September 2010, Hong Kong, describe an approach of how an existing encoder can be used for encoding HDR video sequence with an adaptive LogLuv transform proposed by the authors. Motra and Thoma further describe using the high bit depth profile of MPEG AVC to encode those data.

Method of and device for encoding an HDR image, method of and device for reconstructing an HDR image and non-transitory storage medium

Abstract: The invention is based on the concept of Frame Compatible format. The idea is to transport, in a frame, down-sampled LDR content together with additional information allowing reconstructing HDR content from the LDR content.

Abstract: Thus, it is proposed a method of encoding an HDR image of high dynamic range according to claim 1. Said method comprises down-sampling (DWN) an LDR image and additional data, the LDR image providing a lower dynamic range depiction of the HDR image content and the additional data allowing for reconstructing the HDR image from the LDR image.


A floating platform system comprises first and second outer longitudinal beam members securing a truss frame having a plurality of truss elements. The floating platform system may further include at least one biasing device exerting a force on the longitudinal beam members and/or the truss frame. The floating platform system may further include a platform interface and/or at least one flotation device secured to the longitudinal beam members and/or the truss frame. The floating platform system may further include a plurality of inner longitudinal beam members interposed between the platform interface and/or the flotation device and the outer longitudinal beam members and/or the truss frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to platforms, and more particularly, to a floating platform system or apparatus and method of making the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shoreline landing structures such as docks have generally been subjects of challenging structural design because of adverse conditions in which they typically must persist. Some dock structures involve rows of wooden beams used for decking installed on a frame bed with support posts rooted in the ground beneath the water. However, the ground under water is typically soft and structural posts need to extend sufficiently far beneath the ground to provide adequate support for secondary supports and the decking. Equipment and tools required for underwater drilling and installation of posts could thus be expensive and the methods extremely difficult. Furthermore, such docks are generally rigid and their position does not vary with changing waterline or shoreline near which they are installed. Accordingly, at the time of construction, they must be sized to accommodate predictable changes in the proximate shoreline and waterline over their estimated lifetime.
In more recent times floating docks have emerged, which make use of pontoons to maintain the dock structure above the water surface. Although these docks are more flexible and easier to construct than those requiring wood posts, the floating docks have given rise to new obstacles. For example, the amount of material used in such docks results in heavy structures, presenting transport and floating difficulties. Additionally, in absence of posts in the ground, some floating docks incorporate structural decking, which adds to the complexity of the design and to the weight and price of the material and which limits the options for designs and materials used for decking. Moreover, since floating docks lack rigid grounded supports at their transverse boundaries, they may lack sufficient torsional rigidity and be vulnerable to instability when subjected to uneven loading on their decking or on their mooring on the sides of the dock.
A method of constructing and a system for a floating platform is needed that is compact, exhibits sufficient torsional rigidity, and is easy and cost-effective to construct.

Floating platform and method of constructing the same


A technique is disclosed for performing an incremental recompile of an electronic design that has been previous compiled and then changed by a designer. This is accomplished by identifying a xe2x80x9csub-netlistxe2x80x9d within the larger netlist of the changed design. The sub-netlist contains the sphere of influence of the designer""s changes to the original design. During incremental recompile, only the sub-netlist is compiled; the remainder of the netlist is left as is from the previous compile. After the sub-netlist is synthesized, it is integrated back into the synthesized netlist from the previous compilation. The newly synthesized netlist for the changed design is mapped to logic cells which are then fit onto a target hardware device.

This invention relates to incremental compilation of changed electronic designs. More specifically, it relates to methods, machine readable media, and apparatuses for delineating the range of influence of a design change in an unsynthesized netlist.
Electronic design automation (xe2x80x9cEDAxe2x80x9d) is becoming increasingly complicated and time consuming, due in part to the greatly increasing size and complexity of the electronic devices designed by EDA tools. Such devices include general purpose microprocessors as well as custom logic devices including Application Specific Integrated Circuits (xe2x80x9cASICsxe2x80x9d). Examples of ASICs include non-programmable gate arrays, field programmable gate arrays (xe2x80x9cFPGAsxe2x80x9d), and complex programmable logic devices (xe2x80x9cPLDsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cCPLDsxe2x80x9d). The design of even the simplest of these devices typically involves generation of a high level design, logic simulation, generation of a network, timing simulation, etc. Usually, timing simulation cannot be performed until the design has been compiled to the point where the various gate level entities are synthesized and placed and the lines therebetween routed on a target hardware device. This compilation requires that a design project (or a significant piece of it) be functionally completed.
Meeting timing requirements is essential to the correct operation of an integrated circuit. For example, for a plurality of D-type flip-flops (xe2x80x9cDFFsxe2x80x9d) to feed through some logic to another plurality of DFFs, it is generally required that the signals form the first set of DFFs must finish propagating through any intermediate logic and have settled to their final state on the D-input of each of the destination DFFs before the next rising edge of the clock. (In fact they must finish before the next clock edge by an amount known as the setup delay of the register Tsu.) If the delay through the resulting logic is greater than the time between rising clock edges, then the state that the desitination DFFs will hold on the next clock edge will be undefined.
Quite typically, a designer (or the compiler itself) will modify a design after an initial compilation. This may be required when a timing simulation conducted after compilation indicates a problem. Or, the product requirements may change in the middle of the device""s development. Regardless of why a design change is necessary, that change requires a recompile. Unfortunately, each compilation consumes significant time, so multiple recompiles translates to significantly longer development times. This can greatly slow the time to market for an integrated circuit under design. Because PLDs rely on a short time to market as a major selling point, slow development can erase any commercial advantage.
The problem is compounded because maximum CPLD device sizes are increasing at a speed slightly greater than that predicted by Moore""s law (i.e., each new chip contains roughly twice as much capacity as its predecessor, and each chip is released within 18-24 months of the previous chip). If compilation time was a linear function of design size then it would be expected that the time to compile the largest device on the most powerful computer would remain approximately constant. Unfortunately, compile times are typically proportional to n2, where n is the number of logic elements on a device. This means that a design twice as big takes four times as long to compile. Consequently, the compile times for the largest devices are accelerating. It is not uncommon for large projects to compile for about 24 hours or more on a modern workstation. Obviously, the fastest compilers will become critical components of integrated circuit design environments.
Large designs often benefit from performing and comparing multiple compilations, each based upon a different compilation parameters or slight design changes. Obviously, given long compile times, most designers do not have the luxury of running multiple compilations for comparison.
An important advance in the effort to reduce compilation time for large devices is incremental compilation. In essence, incremental compilation involves using a previously compiled design such that only a fraction of that design must be recompiled after a user or compiler makes one or more changes to the design. Incremental compilation requires at least two steps: (1) delineating a sphere of influence of user changes in a previously compiled design (the sphere of influence typically being defined within a netlist), and (2) recompiling the logic from within this sphere of influence into appropriate logic elements available within a target hardware device. To maximize efficiency, the compiler should limit recompile to a minimum region of the electronic design (and a corresponding region of a target hardware device) which is directly affected by the design change.
One suitable technique for recompiling the changed logic (step 2) involves resynthesizing the changed logic, remapping the changed logic to logic elements (defined by the target hardware), and then fitting the remapped logic cells at positions on the target hardware device. Preferably, during incremental refitting, unchanged logic cells remain fixed in the same hardware positions that they occupied after the original compilation. If the compiler cannot fit the new design under this constraint, the compiler gradually relaxes the constraints on movement of unchanged logic cells. This technique is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/958,436 filed on the same day as the instant patent application, naming J. Tse et al. as inventors and entitled xe2x80x9cFITTING FOR INCREMENTAL COMPILATION OF ELECTRONIC DESIGNS.xe2x80x9d That application was previously incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
At this point, an effective incremental compiler cannot be realized until development of an efficient technique for delineating the portion of an electronic design influenced by a user""s design change. Thus, there is a need for an incremental recompile technique that efficiently and correctly identifies logic cells that are effected by a user""s design changes.
The present invention provides a technique and associated compiler for delineating those logic gates in an electronic design that should be resynthesized during an incremental recompile. It accomplishes this by identifying those logic gates within a netlist that are new or are affected by the modification. To understand how this works, recognize that an xe2x80x9coriginal electronic designxe2x80x9d has already been fully compiled. Now, a user has made one or more changes to the original electronic design to produce a xe2x80x9cchanged electronic design.xe2x80x9d This invention identifiesxe2x80x94at the netlist levelxe2x80x94where those changes lie and how widely effects of those changes propagate. The gates flagged as changed are then recompiled, while the remainder of the gates from the original design are left as is. The invention operates such that a minimal number of changed gates are identified while capturing all gates necessary to accurately program the user""s changed electronic design. The segment of a netlist encompassing this minimal number of changed gates is referred to herein as a xe2x80x9csub-netlist.xe2x80x9d
In one aspect, the invention may be characterized as a methodxe2x80x94typically implemented on a compilerxe2x80x94having the following sequence of operations: (a) receiving an unsynthesized netlist for an original electronic design, a synthesized netlist for the original electronic design, and an unsynthesized netlist for a changed electronic design; (b) identifying one or more new logic nodes in the unsynthesized netlist for the changed electronic design that have been directly changed from the unsynthesized netlist for the original electronic design; (c) in the unsynthesized netlist for the changed electronic design, tracing signal propagation paths between at least one of the new logic nodes and one or more external nodes, such that nodes encountered on the signal propagation path are designated as affected nodes which together with the one or more new logic nodes form the changed portion the unsynthesized netlist for the changed electronic design; (d) synthesizing the changed portion of the unsynthesized netlist for the changed electronic design to produce a synthesized changed portion; (e) incorporating the synthesized changed portion in the synthesized netlist for the original design to produce a synthesized netlist for the changed electronic design; and (f) completing compilation of the synthesized netlist for the changed electronic design.
In this method, the external nodes include xe2x80x9chard registersxe2x80x9d and I/O pins which may be identified as follows. The compiler compares the unsynthesized netlist of the changed electronic design with the synthesized netlist of the original electronic design to identify as external nodes those hard registers and I/O pins which are (i) common between the unsynthesized netlist of the changed electronic design and the synthesized netlist of the original electronic design and (ii) output a common signal. From the perspective original synthesized netlist, a hard register is any register except one that (a) implements a different function from the corresponding register in the unsynthesized netlist of the changed design or (b) has been substituted for, or substituted by, another register that implements the same function.
In order to speed compilation, (d) is preferably performed without synthesizing the unchanged portion of the changed electronic design. Also to speed compilation, the compiler may identify one or more new synthesized logic nodes in the synthesized netlist for the changed electronic design that have been directly changed from the synthesized netlist for the original electronic design. Then, when compilation is completed (stage f), it is limited to a portion of the synthesized netlist for the changed electronic design, which portion is delineated by the new synthesized logic nodes.
The process of tracing signal propagation paths (stage c), preferably includes one or both of (i) tracing a path forward from an output of a new logic node to one or more external nodes, and (ii) tracing a path backward from an input of a new logic node to one or more external nodes.
Further details and advantages of the invention are provided in the following Detailed Description and the associated figures.

Generation of sub-netlists for use in incremental compilation


Transporting an essentially sheet-like element, particularly for transporting a sheet of printing material in a printing press, in which the sheet-like element is picked up in the area of its leading edge by at least one rotating transport at a pickup site, transported to a delivery site, and then delivered there, wherein the sheet-like element is curved over a rotational or curvature radius during transport. The sheet-like element is forced between the pickup site and the delivery site by at least one guide element, that is, an intermediate guide element, that blocks at least in the centrifugal direction, in order to maintain the radius of curvature.

A well-known sheet-like element transport apparatus is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,655. The apparatus therein includes, in particular, a rotating transport with two gripper-like pickups, namely, slots into which the leading edge of a sheet can be fed, at any one time, by infeed rollers in the area of a pickup site. Additionally, separate knurled rollers are arranged in the area of the pickup site that knurl and reinforce the sheets in the lateral direction, particularly their tail ends, in order to ensure a controlled transport movement of the sheet up into this tail area. The knurled rollers in the area of the pickup site are arranged in such a way that they do not impede the feeding by the infeed rollers, not even when the radius of the transport is changed. The knurled rollers also have a radial distance from the rotational axis of the transport that is larger than the minimal radius and smaller than the maximum radius of the transport.
A printing press, particularly a printing press operating electrophotographically, should be able to print the most diverse printing materials, particularly paper having different sheet lengths and paper weights. If an especially heavyweight paper is to be used, it is necessary, due to the stiffness of the paper, to curve this paper over a large curvature radius, in order to prevent permanent damage to the paper. At the same time, however, it is difficult to curve heavy paper over a large radius. The larger radius, however, also automatically effects a larger curvature circumference or path; that is, a larger path between the pickup and delivery sites. Thus, papers that are both short and heavy are especially difficult to handle. For example, for a paper weight of 300 grams per square meter, it is necessary to provide a minimum curvature radius of 90 mm. This necessarily leads, however, to a curvature length that is at least equal to the length of a DIN A4 sheet. Landscape or smaller formats can therefore flatten the curve over a wide area of the transport path due to their stiffness, thus impairing or endangering the transport as a whole. In order to solve this problem, it is not enough to assist the threading of the sheet in the area of the gripping roller by the knurled rollers, as recommended in the above-mentioned patent.

Transporting an essentially sheet-like element, particularly in a printing press


In an electric power converter, a stacked-layer unit has a plurality of semiconductor modules arrayed as layers along a stacking direction, each semiconductor module containing a semiconductor element and a pair of power terminals protruding outward in a protrusion direction at right angles to the stacking direction, each pair consisting of an AC terminal and a positive-polarity or negative-polarity power terminal. The semiconductor modules are arranged with the positive-polarity and negative-polarity power terminals in a single column at one side of the stacked-layer unit, and respectively connected to a positive-polarity busbar and negative-polarity busbar which are located at that side and which are separated by a fixed spacing in the protrusion direction, while the AC terminals of each layer-adjacent pair of semiconductor modules are connected in common to a corresponding one of a plurality of AC busbars.

1. Field of Application
The present invention relates to an electric power converter having a plurality of semiconductor modules arrayed in successive layers, each semiconductor module having an internal semiconductor element and two power terminals.
2. Background Technology
Types of electric power converter are known, for converting between DC power and AC power, based on a stacked-layer unit having a plurality of successive layers of semiconductor modules, each semiconductor module incorporating an internal semiconductor element and two power terminals, and a plurality of cooling tubes arranged in layers corresponding to those of the semiconductor modules, for cooling the semiconductor modules. An example of such an electric power converter is described in Japanese patent publication No. 2011-135737, referred to in the following as reference D1.
FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating the electric power converter of reference D1, and FIG. 8 is a corresponding plan view with a positive-polarity busbar 93a and negative-polarity busbar 93b removed. As shown in FIG. 9, the electric power converter 9 incorporates a stacked-layer unit 910 having alternating layers of cooling tubes 911 and semiconductor modules 92, held within a rectangular frame 96, with the semiconductor modules 92 each having a pair of power terminals collectively designated by numeral 921. The power terminals of each semiconductor module 92 consist of an AC terminal 921c (for supplying AC power to a load) and either a positive-polarity power terminal 921a or a negative-polarity power terminal 921b (for connection to the positive-polarity or negative-polarity side of a DC power source, respectively). The semiconductor modules 92 are arranged in successive layers each containing two semiconductor modules, thereby forming two columns of semiconductor modules each extending along the x-direction (i.e., the stacking direction). In each layer, the positive-polarity power terminal 921a of one semiconductor module 92 is connected to the positive-polarity busbar 93a, the negative-polarity power terminal 921b of the other semiconductor module 92 is connected to the negative-polarity busbar 93b, and the two AC power terminals 921c of that layer are connected in common to a corresponding one of a set of three AC busbars 94.
Respective end portions of the AC busbars 940 constitute external connection terminals 940, which are mounted on a terminal strip 95, for connecting to an external apparatus such as a 3-phase AC motor (not shown in the drawings). Two terminals 950 of a smoothing capacitor (not shown in the drawings) are also mounted on the terminal strip 95, with the external connection terminals 940 and capacitor terminals 950 arrayed in a single column along the x-direction as shown.
The terminal strip 95 is positioned adjacent to one side of the frame 96 (with respect to the y-direction, i.e., width direction), oriented along the x-direction. Due to the column of terminals which are mounted on the terminal strip 95 and the necessary spacings between these, the length of the terminal strip 95 along the x-direction must be made relatively large. However since the semiconductor modules 92 are arranged in two columns, the stacked-layer unit 910 is relatively short as measured along the x-direction, so that the length L1 of the frame 96 is relatively small. Thus there is a mismatch between the length L2 of the terminal strip 95 and the length L1 of the frame 96. This results in a dead space (unoccupied space) S shown in FIG. 9, which is a hindrance to minimizing the overall size of the electric power converter 9.
In addition with such a configuration, the AC busbars must be formed with respectively different shapes. This is a hindrance to reducing the manufacturing costs of the electric power converter 9 by minimizing the number of different component parts. In addition, since each AC busbar must reach both of the AC power terminals 921c in the corresponding layer of semiconductor modules 92, the AC busbars are substantially elongated. Furthermore if the overall (y-direction) width of the electric power converter 9 is minimized as far as possible, the AC busbars become spaced closely together. Hence, at least a part of each AC busbar must be made substantially narrow, to prevent contact between adjacent busbars. Such an elongated narrow shape of the AC busbars is disadvantageous from the aspects of increased electrical resistance and difficulty of forming the AC busbars (e.g., from sheet metal).

Electric power converter having plurality of semiconductor modules arrayed in successive layers


Device to reduce the lateral force generated by an aerial refueling boom (11) of an aircraft characterized in that it has at least one plate (31), the plate (31) has two cantilevered wings (32, 33), the wings (32, 33) have perforations (34), so that the wake produced in the boom (11) has a lower dynamic pressure than that of the free stream.

One of the procedures currently in use to perform aerial refueling of aircraft involves the use of a cylindrical beam (boom) with a telescopic tube through which fuel is passed from the tanker aircraft to the receiver aircraft. The boom is articulated with two degrees of rotational freedom at the attachment point to the tanker. A pair of independently moving fins (ruddevators) attached to the boom at a distance to the articulation, allow the boom operators to fly the boom, controlling its position in space, to guide the telescopic tube into the receptacle of the receiver.
The boom cross section must be symmetric and have a low drag, so that for a given control force in the ruddevators a large operational flyable envelope can be achieved. This need for a low drag boom section is even more important when the boom is to be capable to refuel large aircraft, as this operation is performed in specific conditions that increase the drag.
The low thickness-low drag airfoils typically used in aeronautics generate a large amount of lateral force (lift) when they are subjected to local sideslip (incident current out of the section plane of symmetry). For the typical applications of these airfoils, this is beneficial, as the requirement is to have the largest lift to drag ratio possible. Nevertheless, for the particular application of the boom at sideslip, this lateral force is detrimental, as it opposes the control force introduced by the ruddervators, thus reducing the operational envelope of the system. This problem is aggravated by the boom flexibility. The lateral force generated by the ruddevators to control de boom twist the boom in the sense to increase the local sideslip, with the corresponding increment of the opposing force generated by the boom and associated reduction of the flyable envelope.
A possible way to solve this problem is to use circular or quasi-circular boom cross-sections, which generate much less lift than an airfoil, but they also produce a much larger drag than an airfoil, with the corresponding impact on the operational envelope.
Another way to address this issue is by the use of thick airfoils (70% thickness ratio for instance) that when at sideslip (due to a turn as rigid solid of the boom around the articulation or due to its elastic deformation) generate negative lift which adds to the ruddevators control force and does not oppose it. This type of airfoils has several disadvantages:                non-linearities in the lift-incidence relationship, which complicate the control laws design;        larger drag with the corresponding impact on the operational envelope;        high sensitivity to variations in section geometry and flight conditions (Mach number, Reynolds number, elevation angle, turbulence) which complicate control and may even induce the loss of the inverse lift effect;        they are prone to aeroelastic instability problems (divergence, flutter, galloping, etc.).
The present invention comes to solve these drawbacks.

Device to reduce the lateral force generated by aerial refueling boom cross-section


The present invention provides a miniature live-action surfing attraction and associated surf game specifically adapted for use with one or more surf toy action figures. The surf toy action figures are mountable to a surf board appropriately sized and weighted to provide relatively stable or semi-stable surf-riding action upon a sheet flow of water flowing up an inclined ride surface of the reduced scale attraction. Various surf action figures may be set free upon the ride surface, or they may be constrained or partially constrained by wires, strings, magnets or the like, as desired. Alternatively, or in addition, they may be controlled via a remote control, or radio control transmitter, as desired. Thus, a fun and entertaining game is created that provides realistic live-action surfing within a relatively small or confined area.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of toy action figures and games and, in particular, to a surf toy action figure and associated simulated surfing game for play simulation of a live-action surfing experience.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the last several decades, surfing and associated wave riding activities, e.g., knee-boarding, body-boarding, skim-boarding, surf-kayaking, inflatable riding, and body surfing (all hereinafter collectively referred to as "wave-riding") have grown in popularity along the world's surf endowed coastal shorelines.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,280, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, first disclosed the concept of an artificial simulated wave water ride attraction having an inclined ride surface covered with an injected sheet flow of water upon which riders could perform water skimming maneuvers simulative of actual ocean surfing. Sheet flow water rides are currently in widespread use at many water parks and other locations around the world. Such rides allow the creation of an ideal live-action surfing wave experience even in areas that do not have access to beaches or an ocean.
However, live-action water rides are generally expensive to construct and operate and, therefore, are not particularly well suited for very small-scale operations such as local family entertainment centers, arcades or similar venues. For these venues video-simulated surfing games have been used to recreate a surfing-like experience within a compact enclosure or game console. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,950 discloses a video game in which the game player is able to move a figure of a surfer on a video screen by standing on a simulated surfboard and moving the board with his feet; movements of the board from side to side and forward and backward are translated instantaneously to corresponding movements of the surfboard shown on the video screen, allowing the surfing figure to be maneuvered around obstacles, and up and down waves.
While such video-simulated surfing games are generally well-suited for small scale applications, such as video arcades and the like, they lack the realistic live-action, hydro-dynamic surfing experience of actual ocean surfing.

Surf toy action figure and simulated surfing game


Proteins consisting of, from amino to carboxyl terminus, a first PDGF-D growth factor domain polypeptide, a linker polypeptide, and a second PDGF-D growth factor domain polypeptide, and materials and methods for making the proteins are disclosed. Each of the first and second PDGF-D growth factor domain polypeptides consists of a sequence of amino acid residues as shown in SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:4 from amino acid x to amino acid y, wherein x is an integer from 246 to 258, inclusive, and y is an integer from 365–370, inclusive. The linker polypeptide consists of from 11–40 amino acid residues. The proteins can be used to stimulate the production of bone and/or connective tissue in both humans and non-human animals.

In multicellular animals, cell growth, differentiation, and migration are controlled by polypeptide growth factors. These growth factors play a role in both normal development and pathogenesis, including the development of solid tumors. Polypeptide growth factors influence cellular events by binding to cell-surface receptors, many of which are tyrosine kinases. Binding initiates a chain of signalling events within the cell, which ultimately results in phenotypic changes, such as cell division, protease production, and cell migration.
Growth factors can be classified into families on the basis of structural similarities. One such family, the PDGF (platelet derived growth factor) family, is characterized by a dimeric structure stabilized by disulfide bonds. This family includes the PDGFs, the placental growth factors (PlGFs), and the vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs). The PDGFs are a group of disulfide-bonded, dimeric proteins. Four PDGF polypeptide chains have been identified and named A, B, C, and D chain. The A and B chains forms dimers with themselves and each other, resulting in AA, BB, and AB dimers. See, in general, Ross et al., Cell 46:155–169, 1986 and Hart et al., Biochem. 29:166–172, 1990. Recombinant forms of these proteins, including truncated and substitutional variants, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,801,542; 4,845,075; 4,849,407; 4,889,919; and 5,895,755. Two additional PDGF polypeptides, designated C and D, have been described. See, WIPO Publication WO 00/34474; WIPO Publication WO 00/66736; Bergsten et al., Nature Cell Biol. 3:512–516, 2001; LaRochelle et al., Nature Cell Biol. 3:517–521, 2001; and Uutela et al., Circulation 103:2242–2247, 2001. PDGF-C is also known as "zvegf3" (WO 00/34474), and PDGF-D is also known as "zvegf4" (WO 00/66736).
PDGF-C and PDGF-D have a multidomain structure that comprises an amino-terminal CUB domain and a carboxyl-terminal growth factor domain joined by an interdomain region of approximately 70 amino acid residues. The growth factor domain of PDGF-D, which comprises approximately residues 250–370 of human PDGF-D (SEQ ID NO:2), is characterized by an arrangement of cysteine residues and beta strands that is characteristic of the "cystine knot" structure of the PDGF family. The CUB domain shows sequence homology to CUB domains in the neuropilins (Takagi et al., Neuron 7:295–307, 1991; Soker et al., Cell 92:735–745, 1998), human bone morphogenetic protein-1 (Wozney et al., Science 242:1528–1534, 1988), porcine seminal plasma protein and bovine acidic seminal fluid protein (Romero et al., Nat. Struct. Biol. 4:783–788, 1997), and Xenopus laevis tolloid-like protein (Lin et al., Dev. Growth Differ. 39:43–51, 1997).
PDGF-C and PDGF-D form homodimeric proteins (PDGF-CC and PDGF-DD) that are proteolytically cleaved to produce the active species, in each case a growth factor domain dimer. The active PDGF-DD protein binds to and activates the α/α, β/β and α/β isoforms of the PDGF receptor. PDGF-DD dimers are mitogenic for a variety of mesenchymal cells (Bergsten et al., ibid.; LaRochelle et al., ibid.). In addition, mice infected with a PDGF-D adenovirus construct showed proliferation of endosteal bone (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/540,224).
Production of biologically active, recombinant PDGF-DD has been found to be problematic. See, for example, Bergsten et al., ibid. There is a need in the art for materials and methods for producing recombinant PDGF in economically feasible amounts.

Materials and methods for preparing dimeric growth factors