A hand applicator of encapsulated liquids, such as cosmetic, hygienic, and pharmaceutical formulations or household chemicals, of different viscosity. When the user squeezes the applicator in her hand, the capsule inside it ruptures, possibly with a clap, and releases a liquid that after being collected by the drain passes through the perforated dissector to get evenly distributed in the absorber and then evenly applied on skin or other surfaces. Inert and impermeable capsules ensure stability of stored liquid formulations. Pressurized capsules are easily tactilely located and crashed. A capsule may be permanently or elastically fixed within the applicator. The applicator may include several capsules that may contain different liquids. A refillable applicator can be refilled with new capsules and used more than once. A transparent impermeable back side the applicator enhances hygiene and creates visibility of the capsule. An impervious glove-applicator for applying hazardous substances is disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cosmetics, personal care products, and external use pharmaceuticals, and more particularly to topical applicators of encapsulated liquids used for cosmetic, hygienic, or medical purposes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that liquid cosmetic, hygienic, and external use pharmaceutical formulations can be manufactured in hermetically sealed single-use capsules that ensure a better stability over the storage period, than is allowed by reopened bottles, jars, and other sorts of containers or by packages of moisturized tissues and wipes. A single applicator containing both an absorber (usually, a sponge) and a capsule of a liquid that is crashed by the user in her hand before an application obviates the need of having a separate container of a liquid and an applicator for it.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/198,055 (filed Jul. 19, 2002) describes a cosmetic applicator containing a bubble (of an unspecified material) of a cosmetic product, upon burst of which the product migrates through the body (polyurethane foam) of the applicator to its front (working) surface. A distinctive feature of the disclosed applicator is having a protective removable cover (polyethylene) over the front surface of the applicator.
The inventors propose a number of solutions to alleviate the problem of delivering a cosmetic product to the working surface of the applicator. First, the user should apply additional pressure to the backing layer of the applicator to force migration of the cosmetic product through the applicator body to the front surface. Second, the side of the bubble adjacent the rear surface of the applicator is made weaker than the opposite side of the bubble to ensure that the product is released on the side facing the rear surface to facilitate its migration through the applicator body to the front surface. Third, a cosmetic product is placed substantially centrally of the applicator. Fourth, the description of the manufacture process of applicators and bubbles might imply that a bubble can be fixed within the applicator.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/986,264 (filed Nov. 8, 2001) discloses a cosmetic article (a wipe) comprising a substrate (a sponge) with which a dry cosmetic composition and breakable capsules (of an unspecified material) or microcapsules including a liquid (water) are associated. Upon breaking of the capsules, the liquid wets the cosmetic composition.
A major problem outlined in that application is that capsules are often hard to crash in hand. In order to inhibit movement of bigger capsules, the inventor suggests fixing them with positioning members or by an adhesive. The inventor also proposes a compressing device where pulling an article containing capsules between rolls or squeezing it in a special compartment ensures breakage of the capsules. The problem of an even distribution of a cosmetic composition in the substrate is solved by preliminarily applying the composition in an aqueous solution to the substrate followed by drying the substrate. When later the applicator is squeezed, multiple microcapsules of water dispersed in the substrate break and the released water reconstitutes the formulation.
Accordingly, the primary object of this invention is to create a practically operable hand applicator of encapsulated liquids of different consistencies that would guarantee breakage of a capsule from a regular manual effort and a quick delivery of the released liquid to the working surface of the applicator. Another important object is to ensure an even distribution of the liquid over the whole working side of the applicator and hence an even application of the liquid on skin or other surfaces. Other objects of this invention are:                provide with an applicator that allows dosing a formulation being applied;        enhance stability during storage of formulations contained in capsules;        make an applicator convenient in use, particularly in terms of easily locating a capsule by the user, having an indication of its successful breakage, and conveniently holding the applicator in hand;        make an applicator more hygienic in use;        devise a more economical way of applying encapsulated liquids; and        depict applications of this invention beyond cosmetics, personal care, and medicine.


A textile, such as a hairpiece, includes a plurality of fiber single-ply threads. The plurality of fiber single-ply threads are grouped such that designs may be created on desired portions of the plurality of fiber single-ply threads, such as a decolorized portion. The textile includes a fixed part to hold the fiber single-ply threads. A variety of techniques may be used to create a design on the plurality of fiber single-ply threads with precision. For example, various dispersion dyes on transcription paper could be applied to a surface of the single-ply threads with a heat pressing process. The textile, exhibiting designs on a plurality of fiber single-ply threads, is also configured to be attached or adorned.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to decorated textiles that include decorations or designs formed or created on a plurality of fibers or threads, which may include hair attachments, extensions, and pieces.
2. Background
Individuals often dye their natural hair fibers for a variety of reasons or occasions. However, it is often difficult to create precise designs on natural hair fibers, as the designs have a tendency to smudge or streak as the dye is being applied. Although heat may be applied to prevent dye dispersion, the individual may not want their natural hair strands, which are composed of substances such as proteins, to become damaged from the process.
Further, individuals may be reluctant to frequently change designs or decorations on their natural hair strands because such actions are relatively costly and high maintenance. Also, these individuals may be reluctant to develop any further damage to their natural hair strands.
Accordingly, there is a need for a hairpiece and a method of decorating a hairpiece to include, for example, designs formed on the plurality of fibers that would overcome one or more of the problems described above.

Decorated hair pieces and method for decorating hair pieces


This invention relates to the thermal management, extraction of light, and cost effectiveness of Light Emitting Diode, or LED, electrical circuits. An integrated circuit LED submount is described, for the packaging of high power LEDs. The LED submount provides high thermal conductivity while preserving electrical insulation. In particular, a process is described for anodizing a high thermal conductivity aluminum alloy sheet to form a porous aluminum oxide layer and a non-porous aluminum oxide layer. This anodized aluminum alloy sheet acts as a superior electrical insulator, and also provides surface morphology and mechanical properties that are useful for the fabrication of high-density and high-power multilevel electrical circuits.

Over the past several decades, the performance of light emitting diodes (LEDs) has increased in many ways, including improvements in efficiency, flux output, color rendering, stability of color, and stability of the correlated color temperature of white light. These improvements, and the high reliability of LEDs, make them useful for a wide range of high-brightness illumination applications, including automotive forward lighting and various display applications. However, in order for high-power LEDs to achieve the high lumens output and flux density (as a white light source) that is needed to replace conventional technologies such as incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lighting, and metal halide light sources, the LEDs must be driven at high current levels, which in turn results in high levels of heat generation. Special packaging techniques need to be employed to prevent the degradation of LED quantum efficiency, due to temperature increases. Although some LED applications allow the use of electrically-conducting submount or substrate materials, electrical insulation (high electrical resistance, or low electrical conductivity) is required in many applications. However, many of the best materials for good thermal conductivity are also electrically conducting. Therefore, the development of a high thermal conductivity LED submount or substrate materials that also provides superior electrical insulation, is one of the key issues for addressing LED heat dissipation.
Several types of submount/substrate material, such as PCB (printed circuit board), MCPCB (metal core printed circuit board), ceramic substrate, direct copper bonded substrate and LTCC-M (low temperature co-fired ceramic on metal) substrate have been developed and employed in the prior art as LED submount packages.
The thermal conductivities of dielectric insulator materials such as PCB and MCPCB are about 0.36 W/m°K and about 2 W/m°K, respectively. For ceramic substrate and direct copper bonded substrate, the most frequently used dielectric insulator materials are Al2O3, and AlN. These materials have a higher thermal conductivity, with typical values of 20-230 W/m°K. For LTCC-M substrate, the major compositions of dielectric material are SiO2, MgO, Al2O3, and the value of thermal conductivity is much less than 20 W/m°K.
The supporting submount materials, such as FR-4, semiconductor material, pure metals, compound metal alloys, and compound ceramic materials, are commonly applied during the circuit fabrication process. As indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,885,035, semiconductor material was primarily used for the submount circuit. The thermal conductivity for typical semiconductor material is about 150 W/m°K. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,455,930, LTCC-M was invented for heat sinking packages. Ceramic materials and a Cu—Mo—Cu related metal compound material were made for circuit boards. However, the complicated process and high production cost will limit the application of these materials.
In another example of the prior device, the ANOTHERM™ circuitry submount uses high temperature anodized 3003/6061 aluminum substrate, that grows up to 35 μm of oxide layer for electrical insulation. The substrate thermal conductivity is about 173 W/m°K and basically the circuit board is fabricated by using a screen printing method.
Another consideration in providing the submount for LED devices involves the morphology and mechanical properties of the submount. To form a stable and firm bond between the LED chip and the submount and between bonding wires and the submount, the morphology of the submount is preferably smooth, and the submount preferably is of sufficient thickness so that it can mechanically support bonds to the LED chip and bonding wires.

Light emitting diode submount with high thermal conductivity for high power operation


Each of an image coding apparatus and an image decoding apparatus uses a motion compensated prediction using virtual samples so as to detect a motion vector for each of regions of each frame of an input signal. Accuracy of virtual samples is locally determined while the accuracy of virtual samples is associated with the size of each region which is a motion vector detection unit in which a motion vector is detected. Virtual samples having half-pixel accuracy are used for motion vector detection unit regions having a smaller size 8×8 MC, such as blocks of 8×4 size, blocks of 4×8 size, and blocks of 4×4 size, and virtual samples having ¼-pixel accuracy are used for motion vector detection unit regions that are equal to or larger than 8×8 MC in size.

An image coding standard, such as MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) or ITU-T H.26x, includes the steps of dividing each frame into a plurality of square blocks each of which consists of 16×16 pixels of a luminance signal (contains 8×8 pixels of a chrominance difference signal), which is called a macroblock, estimating a movement with respect to a reference frame by performing a motion compensated prediction for each of the plurality of macroblocks, and coding both a signal (i.e., a predictive residual signal) corresponding to an estimated error and motion vector information. Furthermore, in the case of MPEG-2, there has been provided a technique for dividing each macroblock into two field regions and performing a motion prediction for each of the two field regions. In the case of H.263 and MPEG-4, there has been provided a technique for dividing each macroblock into four 8×8 pixel subblocks and performing a motion prediction for each of the four 8×8 pixel subblocks. Particularly, in the case of MPEG-4, it is known that the adaptation of the size of blocks for motion predictions causes an increase in the amount of coded data about motion vectors, but provides an improvement in the traceability of more-violent and more-fine movements, and it can be expected that an appropriate mode selection provides an improvement in the performance of the image coding method.
Furthermore, the accuracy of motion vectors is provided as another technical aspect of motion compensated predictions. Although digital image data originally have only information about discrete pixels (referred to as integer pixels from here on) generated by sampling, a technique for producing virtual samples to be arranged among integer pixels by performing interpolation calculations, and for using those pixels as a predicted picture is used widely. It is known that this technique provides two advantages of improving the prediction accuracy by producing an increase in the number of candidate points for predictions, and of improving the prediction efficiency by reducing the number of singular points included in the predicted picture according to a filtering effect caused by the interpolation calculations. On the other hand, because it is necessary to improve the accuracy of motion vectors each of which represents the amount of movement as the accuracy of virtual samples is improved, it should be noted that the amount of codes of each motion vector is also increased.
In the case of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, half pixel prediction that can accept up to ½-pixel accuracy as the accuracy of virtual samples is used. FIG. 1 shows generation of samples having ½-pixel accuracy. In the figure, A, B, C, and D denote integer pixels, respectively, and e, f, g, h, and i denote virtual samples having half-pixel accuracy, which are generated from the integer pixels A to D, respectively.e=(A+B)//2f=(C+D)//2g=(A+C)//2h=(B+D)//2i=(A+B+C+D)//4(// shows a division with rounding)
When this procedure for generating virtual samples having half-pixel accuracy is applied to a certain block, extra data about integer pixels that are placed outside of the block and are apart from the boundaries of the block by one pixel are needed. This is because it is necessary to calculate virtual samples that are placed outside of the block and are apart from the boundaries (i.e., the end integer pixels) of the block by one half pixel.
In the case of MPEG-4, ¼-pixel accuracy prediction using virtual samples having up to ¼-pixel accuracy is adopted. When using ¼-pixel accuracy prediction, after half-pixel samples are generated, samples having ¼-pixel accuracy are generated by using them. In order to suppress an excessive smoothing when half-pixel samples are generated, frequency components included in an original signal are maintained as much as possible by using a filter having a large number of taps. For example, when using ¼-pixel accuracy prediction according to MPEG-4, a virtual sample a having half-pixel accuracy, which is generated for generation of virtual samples having ¼-pixel accuracy, is generated by using eight pixels that are placed in the vicinity of the virtual sample a as follows. The following equation shows only a process of calculating a horizontal component of the virtual sample a having half-pixel accuracy, and a relationship between the virtual sample a having half-pixel accuracy, which is generated for generation of virtual samples having ¼-pixel accuracy, and the X−4 components X−4 to X4 of integer pixels in the following equation is shown in FIG. 2.a=(COE1*X1+COE2*X2+COE3*X3+COE4*X4+COE−1*X−1+COE−2*X−2+COE−3*X−3+COE−4*X−4)//256(COEk shows a filter coefficient (the sum of all filter coefficients is 256), and // shows a division with rounding) When this procedure for generating virtual samples having ¼-pixel accuracy is applied to a certain block, extra data about integer pixels that are placed outside of the block and are apart from the boundaries of the block by one to four pixels are needed. This is because it is necessary to calculate virtual samples that are placed outside of the block and are apart from the boundaries (i.e., the end integer pixels) of the block by ¼ pixel.
However, a problem is that when calculating virtual samples at the boundaries a target block for prediction, because data about extra pixels that are placed outside of the target block, the number of pixels depending on the number of filter taps, are needed for filtering calculations, the memory bandwidth necessary for generation of a predicted image is increased according to the number of filter taps.
To solve this problem, particularly in ¼-pixel accuracy prediction according to MPEG-4, although a measure for reducing the number of pixels to be newly read, which is required for generating a predicted picture, by mirroring end pixels in the vicinity of the boundaries of a target block for prediction is installed, a natural filtering at the boundaries of the target block for prediction is prevented and the measure is therefore not preferable in view of the coding efficiency.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image coding apparatus, an image coding method, an image decoding apparatus, and an image decoding method that can improve the coding efficiency while reducing the memory bandwidth even when dividing each image frame, such as a macroblock, into small regions and individually performing a motion compensated prediction on each of the small regions, and a communication apparatus having at least one of the image coding apparatus and the image decoding apparatus.

Image coding device, image coding method, image decoding device, image decoding method and communication apparatus


In response to snooping a read-type memory access request of a requestor on a system fabric of a data processing system, a memory channel interface forwards the request to a memory buffer and starts a timer. In response to the forwarded request, the memory buffer performs a lookup of a target address of the request in a memory controller cache. In response to the target address hitting in a coherence state permitting provision of early data, the memory buffer provides a response indicating early data and provides a copy of a target memory block of the request to the memory channel interface. The memory channel interface, responsive to receipt prior to expiration of the timer of the response indicating early data, transmits the copy of the target memory block to the requestor via the system fabric prior to receiving a combined response of the data processing system to the request.

The present invention relates in general to data processing, and in particular, to decreasing data access latency in a data processing system by providing early data from a lower level cache memory.
In high performance computer systems, the design trend over many years has been to scale systems to ever larger numbers of processor chips, each having an ever increasing number of processor cores. Increasing the number of processor cores increases the volume of data consumed by execution of the processor cores, and accordingly places pressure on external data storage devices (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM), magnetic and optical disks, flash drives, storage area networks (SANs), etc.) and the associated interconnects to supply the required volume of data.
In particular, DRAM access latency, while continuing to slowly improve over recent years, has not kept pace with increases in processor core clock rates. Consequently, external memory access latency, as measured relative to processor clock rates, has actually degraded. The conventional technique for compensating for external memory access latency has been to implement larger and deeper on-chip cache hierarchies to buffer frequently used data closer to the consuming processor cores. However, limits in overall chip sizes forces a tradeoff between the number of processor cores and the amount of cache memory on the chip. Consequently, the opportunity to improve effective memory access latency simply by increasing on-chip cache capacity is limited.

Provision of early data from a lower level cache memory

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provide a workpiece exchanging system in a CNC lathe having two spindle heads. The workpiece is machined by a spindle head A (S1, S2), a spindle head B is moved toward the spindle head A while loading a servo motor controlling a feed axis for the spindle head B to a torque limit (S3, S4). An error (d) of the feed axis is detected when this movement is completed, and it is determined whether the workpiece is normally clamped by a chuck mounted at a spindle head (S5, S7). The workpiece is machined as it is in accordance with the error of the feed axis (S9), is machined after being moved by a coordinate corresponding to the error (S8), an alarm is displayed, and the CNC is stopped (S10).

Conventionally, a four-axis lathe including two spindle heads and two tool posts is widely used for a more effective machining of a workpiece. In the four-axis lathe, a turning is carried out by a chuck of one spindle head, and when that machining is finished, the workpiece is clamped by a chuck of another spindle head and a turning of the surface opposite to the machined side is carried out.
A brief description of the prior art is now given, with reference to the attached drawings. FIGS. 4 (a), (b) and (c) are respectively diagrams illustrating the exchanging the workpiece in a CNC lathe having two spindle heads. FIG. 4 (a) shows an outline of a workpiece exchanging operation. In the FIG. 4 a chuck A2 is mounted at a spindle head A1 and is clamping the workpiece 5, and when the machining thereof by a tool post A3 is completed, a spindle head B6 is moved close to the workpiece 5, and the workpiece 5 is clamped by a chuck B7 mounted at the spindle head B6. At that time, the chuck A2 is opened, the spindle head B6 is returned to the machining position, and the workpiece 5 is machined by a tool post 8. FIG. 4 (b) shows the state wherein the workpiece 5 is normally clamped by the chuck B7 of the spindle head B6, and FIG. 4 (c) shows the state wherein the workpiece 5 is not normally clamped by the chuck B7 of the spindle head B6.
According to a workpiece exchanging system in a conventional CNC lathe having two spindle heads a clearance exists between the workpiece and the chuck. For example, when a foreign substance has intruded between the workpiece and the chuck, the workpiece is again machined, and as a result, the finished workpiece is not accurately machined to a desired dimension. In addition, on occasion, problems arise such that the workpiece is not correctly clamped by the chuck, and thus falls out during the machining, or the tool and the workpiece come into violent contact due to a quick feeding thereof.


A secondary battery comprises an electrode assembly comprising a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate and a separator interposed between the first and second electrode plates; and a battery case accommodating the electrode assembly, the battery case comprising a first portion, a second portion, and an adhesive layer that contacts a surface of the first portion and a surface of the second portion, wherein the adhesive layer is continuous between the first and second portions.

1. Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A lithium secondary battery or rechargeable battery can be manufactured in a bare cell, and the bare cell may include an electrode assembly having a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate, and a separator, and a case for receiving the electrode assembly.
In general, a case for a bare cell is typically formed of an aluminum can or a composite aluminum pouch.
When the case is formed of an aluminum can, it is typically heavy while having a high strength. By contrast, when the case is formed of a composite aluminum pouch, it is typically poor in strength while being lightweight.
Accordingly, research is being conducted in secondary batteries having a case that is rigid and lightweight.


An exhaust gas control system of an internal combustion engine includes a urea water tank, a heater, a purifying device, a notification device, and a controller. The controller is configured to determine whether frozen urea water is left or not. The controller is configured to determine whether liquid urea water capable of being pumped out is not left or not. The controller is configured to estimate a suppliable amount of the urea water to the urea water tank in response to a state where the frozen urea water is left, and the controller configured to control the notification device so as to give a notification for prompting a supply of the suppliable amount of the urea water to the urea water tank in response to a state where liquid urea water capable of being pumped out is not left.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an exhaust gas control system of internal combustion engine for purifying exhaust gas by adding urea water pumped out from a urea water tank to the exhaust gas.
2. Description of Related Art
Urea SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) apparatus is known as an exhaust gas control system of internal combustion engine. Urea SCR apparatus is arranged to add urea water to exhaust gas. The urea water is thermally decomposed and hydrolyzed with exhaust gas heat, leading to generation of ammonia. With use of generated ammonia serving as a reduction agent, nitrogen oxide (NOx) in exhaust gas is subjected to reduction reaction on a selective reduction catalyst. This leads to a decomposition of NOx into water and nitrogen. Such a urea SCR apparatus is provided with a urea water tank for storing urea water, and a urea water addition valve for adding urea water pumped out from the urea water tank to the exhaust gas.
Urea water gets freezing at −11° C. or lower. During cold period, urea water in the urea water tank is possibly frozen so as not to be allowed to be supplied to the urea water addition valve. In a urea water SCR apparatus in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-115784 (JP 2008-115784A), the urea water tank is provided with a heater for melting frozen urea water in the urea water tank by heating with the heater.
When an internal combustion engine is left for a long time while stopping under cold circumstance, urea water in the urea water tank entirely freezes. In this circumstance, the internal combustion engine may start operating. In this instance, after the internal combustion engine starts operating, the heating is initiated with a heater. The urea water is gradually melted from a periphery of the heater, and the melted urea water is pumped out with a pump, and supplied to the urea water addition valve. However, when the urea water is consumed at a speed larger than a melting speed of the heater, the melting urea water is exhausted, not allowing to be added to the exhaust gas. Besides, the urea water is entirely pumped out at the periphery of the heater, leaving a void space between residual frozen urea water and the periphery of the heater within the urea water tank. In this condition, the heat of the heater is hardly transmitted to the frozen urea water, causing delay in restart of the melting of urea water and addition of urea water.

Exhaust gas control system of internal combustion engine


Techniques are disclosed for deterring theft of media recording devices. Input received from a sensor, or some portion of the input, is encrypted prior to storing a media file. A decryption key must be provided when the media file is to be played back. If the key is not provided, then the file is preferably still played back, but is played back in a degraded manner. For example, a background color or other filler may be rendered in place of the encrypted portion. Additional parts of the file may also be degraded during playback. By making the playback unpleasant for the listener/viewer, theft of the recording device will be much less desirable—yet recording can continue uninterrupted, thereby minimizing disruption to legitimate users. The disclosed techniques may also be used to deter theft of the recorded media.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cryptography, and deals more particularly with methods, systems, and program instructions for encrypting media files to deter theft of a media recording device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Media recording devices continue to evolve in terms of functionality and design, with a trend towards increased function and improved recording quality in smaller devices. Digital cameras, as one example, are becoming more compact while offering many useful features. Video cameras (also known as "camcorders") are another example. Until recent years, personal or consumer-grade video cameras were large, cumbersome devices that displayed real-time feedback (i.e., in the eyepiece viewer) only in grayscale; these models have now been replaced with models that are relatively small and lightweight, and which display real-time feedback in full color.
Consumer-grade digital cameras and video cameras currently sell for hundreds to thousands of dollars. Their professional counterparts may sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
As devices of this type become smaller, they become easier targets for theft; as their functionality and value increase, they become more desirable targets. Once stolen, these devices may be nearly impossible to recover and return to their rightful owners.
What is needed are theft deterrent techniques for media recording devices.

Deterring theft of media recording devices by encrypting recorded media files


A robot controller for easily moving a desired axis of a robot by applying a force to a front end of the robot, and a robot system including the robot controller. The robot controller has: a force measuring part which measures a force applied to the front end; an operation force calculating part which calculates an operation force for moving each axis based on the measured force; an operation commanding part which outputs a command for moving the robot; and an operation axis specifying part which specifies an operation axis to be moved in response to the force, and determines a direction of movement of the operation axis as a function of a direction of the force. When two or more operation axes are specified, the operation axis specifying part determines as to whether or not each operation axis can be moved, depending on a status of the movement operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot controller for moving a robot based on a force applied to the robot, and relates to a robot system including the robot and the robot controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an operation method for moving a robot by applying a force to the robot, or a method for moving a robot by applying a force to the robot so as to teach a position, direct teaching is well known. In direct teaching, by directly guiding the robot by applying a force to the robot in a desired direction of movement, the robot can be moved to a desired position and/or orientation on an orthogonal coordinate system.
As relevant prior art documents, JP S56-085106 A discloses a method for moving the position and orientation of a front end of a robot arm, based on a signal generated by a force detector when a manual operation part attached to the front end of the robot arm is operated.
Further, JP H06-250728 A discloses a direct teaching device for a robot, wherein a force sensor arranged on the robot detects a force applied by a human to an end effector, and a robot arm is guided only in a direction determined by an operation direction setting means, when the motion of the robot arm is to be controlled based on a force signal obtained by the force sensor.
In the method of JP S56-085106 A, the position and/or orientation of the front end of the robot on the orthogonal coordinate system are moved in response to the force. However, in this method each axis cannot be moved to a desired position during the direct teaching.
In the device of JP H06-250728 A, when the robot is moved by direct teaching, the direction of movement of the robot is limited so as to move the robot only in the limited direction, and therefore operability of the robot may be improved. The limited direction relates to a direction regarding the position or orientation of the front end of the robot on a Cartesian coordinate system. Therefore, JP H06-250728 A does not describe a method regarding limiting an axis to be driven, wherein each axis is controlled so that only a desired axis is moved, etc.

Robot controller and robot system for moving robot in response to force


In battery voltage monitoring ICs for measuring voltages of unit cells of an assembled battery, communication with a system control unit is realized in consideration of fail-safe. The system control unit and the battery voltage monitoring ICs are coupled to each other by a communication path using a daisy chain. Each battery voltage monitoring IC has a placement setting pin designating, by a binary code, a unit cell group to which the IC is coupled, in the unit cell groups. When it is detected that the Hamming distance between the code indicative of coupling to a group of the highest potential or a group of the lowest potential and a state actually set in the placement setting pin is 1, some failure such as line disconnection, short-circuit, or the like in the placement setting pins is detected, and the communication path is interrupted.

At present, an electric vehicle using a motor as a drive source for vehicle travel is being developed by not only automobile makers but also many companies and organizations. To drive a motor, an in-vehicle power supply having high voltage of hundreds volts is necessary. The power supply is realized by a battery system using an assembled battery constructed by coupling a number of battery cells (unit cells) each generating a voltage of a few bolts in series. In such a battery system, states of each battery cell (for example, battery voltage, battery impedance, temperature, charge remaining amount, and the like) have to be monitored in all of use environments at the time of travel of a vehicle, charging, and the like. Since a battery system has a severe risk such as firing or explosion at the time of occurrence of a failure, to safely operate it, state data of battery voltage and the like of each of a plurality of battery cells measured in a voltage measuring device have to be transferred to a system control apparatus and calculated in a real-time manner, and a proper control has to be performed on the basis of the state data.
To monitor the states of each of battery cells, a battery control system is configured. The battery control system is to monitor and control each of the battery cells with high precision. The battery control system is usually constructed by a monitoring IC (Integrated Circuit), a fault monitor IC, an MCU (Micro Controller Unit) operating as a system control unit, and the like.
The monitoring IC monitors the states of a battery cell and outputs state data (mainly, battery voltage). The monitoring IC measures the battery voltage of a battery cell with precision of, for example, about ±5 mV and outputs a measurement result in accordance with an instruction from the MCU. The fault monitor IC monitors the voltage of the battery cell and, in the case where the monitored voltage exceeds predetermined voltage, outputs a signal. For example, the fault monitor IC outputs a signal indicative of an over discharge state in the case where the battery voltage becomes 2V or less and outputs a signal indicative of an overcharge state in the case where the battery voltage becomes 4.5V or higher. The MCU controls the monitoring IC and the fault monitor IC and, on the basis of output results of the monitoring IC and the fault monitor IC, controls the battery control system. The MCU calculates the state data output from the monitoring IC in a real-time manner and performs a proper control on the basis of the state data.
The monitoring IC and the fault monitor IC usually have the function of monitoring a lithium (Li) ion battery in which 12 to 14 cells are coupled in series. A battery monitoring module is constructed by a module substrate on which one monitoring IC, one fault monitor IC, and peripheral elements are mounted and 12 to 14 battery cells coupled in series. Therefore, for example, in the case of a Li ion battery, an output of one battery monitoring module is about 43.2V to 50.4V. Consequently, an assembled battery of hundreds volts is constructed by stacking a plurality of battery monitoring modules. The plurality of (for example, eight) battery monitoring modules stacked are controlled by a single MCU. The MCU controls the battery monitoring modules individually by communication lines coupling the monitoring ICs of the plurality of battery monitoring modules in parallel or in series.
To individually control the battery monitoring modules by the MCU, for example, an address has to be set in each of, for example, eight monitoring ICs stacked. For this purpose, many monitoring ICs have a plurality of pins for setting addresses. By changing coupling (pull-down/pull-up) of the pins, an address is set. For example, in the case of eight monitoring ICs stacked, at least three address setting pins are necessary.
Patent literature 1 discloses an electricity storage system provided with an address recognizing device having an address detection pin to which analog current is supplied and specifying the address of an electricity storage module on the basis of the direction and magnitude of the supplied current. A plurality of electricity storage modules (B1 to B14) each obtained by coupling a plurality of electricity storage cells (E1 to E10) in series or in parallel are coupled in series or in parallel via coupling pins (11a, 12a), an address detection pin (S1) is provided for each of the electricity storage modules, and the address detection pins are mutually coupled. The address detection pins (S1) in the electricity storage modules (B1 to B14) are short-circuited by a cable (6), and the cable (6) is coupled to the ground. With the configuration, the directions of currents flowing from discharge lines (21) into a current detection circuit (23) from the electricity storage module (B1) toward the electricity storage module (B14) become constant. Only by comparing the magnitudes, an address can be specified. In the electricity storage system, according to a signal of an amount of the current of the current detection circuit (23) transmitted from a control circuit (M) via pins (S2 and S3) of a transformer (5) on the basis of a voltage signal received by a microcomputer, addresses are automatically assigned to the electricity storage modules (B1 to B14) by a host computer.
Patent literature 2 discloses an assembled battery in which a plurality of unit cell boards and a battery management unit are coupled by a loop communication path. The unit cell board is provided for each unit cell, digitizes measurement values such as voltage, internal resistance, and temperature of the unit cell, ambient temperature, and the like, holds the values, and transmits them to the battery management unit in accordance with a token-ring communication control protocol. Since the communication path has a loop shape, most of couplings are between the adjacent unit cell boards. Since the potential difference between the adjacent unit cells is not large, the configuration of a level shift circuit is simple.
Patent literature 3 discloses an electricity storage apparatus having master-side control means (23) controlling the electricity storage apparatus and a plurality of slave-side control means (14) monitoring battery voltage. The electricity storage apparatus stores the address of itself which is set by process operations of the master-side control means (23) and each of the slave-side control means (14) into a storage unit, adds the address of itself to a control signal based on the battery voltage detected by a voltage detection circuit (13), and transmits the resultant signal to the master-side control means (23).
The slave-side control means (14) is constructed by, for example, a microcomputer to which a signal of the battery voltage transmitted/received to/from a control unit (1) and another assembled battery (5) via a communication interface circuit (12) and detected by the voltage detection circuit (13). In the case where the battery voltage detected by the voltage detection circuit (13) exceeds a limit voltage value of a secondary cell (3), the slave-side control means (14) recognizes the fact. As will be described later, a control signal as failure information is transmitted with the address which is set to the control unit (1) via the communication interface circuit (12). Consequently, the control unit (1) can specify and recognize the assembled battery having the failure. The slave-side control means (14) has a random-number generating unit (15) for generating a temporary address and a storage unit (16) for storing a set address.
The slave-side control means (14) receives the command, performs a command receiving process (step 50), and determines the kind of the command (step 51). In the case where it is determined by the determination that the command is an address resetting command, a random number of 1 to N or less (N is a predetermined upper limit value and is 255 in this case) is generated by using the random-number generating unit (15) (a random number generation program using battery voltage detection data as a seed) held in the slave-side control means (14), and the random number is set as a temporary self address (step 52) Subsequently, the slave-side control means (14) prepares return data (step 53), counts the temporary address as wait time, performs a process of adjusting return wait time by the employed random number (step 54), performs a process of returning the temporary address, and transmits the temporary address to the master-side control means (23) (step 55). The master-side control means (23) which receives the temporary address transmitted from the slave-side control means (14) performs a process of receiving the temporary address (step 41) and determines whether the number of pieces of valid reception data is the same as the number of kinds of temporary addresses or not (step 42). In the case where the number of pieces of valid reception data and the number of kinds of temporary addresses are not the same in the determination in step 42, the master-side control means (23) returns to step 40, issues an address resetting command, and repeats the operation until the number of pieces of valid reception data and the number of kinds of the temporary address become the same for the following reason. On the side of the master-side control means (23), when all of the slave-side control means (14) have different temporary addresses, the number of pieces of valid reception data and the number of kinds of temporary addresses are supposed to finally become the same. In the case where the number of pieces of valid reception data and the number of kinds of temporary addresses become the same in step 42, the master-side control means (23) determines whether there is overlap in the temporary addresses or not (step 43). In the case where there is overlap in the temporary addresses in the determination, the master-side control means (23) returns to step 40, issues the address resetting command, and repeats the operation until there is no overlap in the temporary addresses. When there is no overlap, on assumption that different address data is distributed to all of the slave-side control means (14), the master-side control means (23) issues an address determination command, and transmits it to all of the slave-side control means (14). The slave-side control means (14) receives the transmitted address determination command, performs a command receiving process (step 50), and determines the kind of the command (step 51). In the case where the command is determined as the address determination command by the determination, the slave-side control means (14) stores the temporary address as the genuine self address of the master-side control means (23) into a storing unit 16 (step 56), and performs the processes in step 53 to step 55. In such a manner, the addresses of the plurality of battery monitoring devices 2 can be automatically determined. By generating a temporary address from the random-number generating unit (15) and performing the process to determine the temporary address as the self address as described above, the self address can be easily set in each of the battery monitoring devices (2).
Patent literature 4 discloses a system having a central processing unit (1) and a plurality of input/output units (2 to 5) coupled by a system bus (6), in which an address is automatically set in the input/output units. The central processing unit (1) and the plurality of input/output units (2 to 5) are coupled by a daisy-chain data line (7). First, an address for automatically setting addresses is set in the system. The address is designated, and the central processing unit (1) transmits the head value of an address to be set to the input/output unit (2) at the first stage in the daisy-chain data line (7). The input/output unit (2) at the first stage sets the received address, adds an address of the amount of the memory of the unit itself, and transmits the head value of an address to be set to the input/output unit (3) at the next stage. By repeating the operation up to the input/output device (5) at the final stage, the addresses of the input/output units (2 to 5) can be mapped.

Semiconductor device and battery voltage monitoring device


The present invention provides isolated human and bovine TNF-α convertases, nucleic acids and recombinant vectors encoding the same, host cells comprising the nucleic acids and vectors, and methods for making the convertases using the host cells. This invention further provides antibodies and antigen binding fragments thereof which specifically bind to the convertases and are useful for treating medical conditions caused or mediated by TNF-α. Also provided are screening methods for identifying specific inhibitors of mammalian TNF-α convertases, and for identifying nucleic acids encoding such convertases.

TNF-α, also known as cachectin, is a 17 kDa (kilodalton) protein produced by cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage, and by other cells. A variety of biological effects, both beneficial and deleterious, have been attributed to TNF-α. TNF-α is beneficial, e.g., in that it is believed to be a part of host anti-tumor defenses. It also produces detrimental effects, however, including, e.g., cardiovascular (shock, ARDS, capillary leakage syndrome), renal (nephritis, acute tubal necrosis), and gastrointestinal (ischemia, colitis, hepatic necrosis) effects, and effects on the central nervous system (fever, anorexia, altered pituitary hormone secretion). In view of the foregoing, a consensus view has developed that TNF-α is a key mediator of inflammation (including inflammatory diseases such as arthritis) and mammalian responses to injury, invasion by pathogens, and neoplasia.
The biosynthesis of human TNF-α proceeds by way of a membrane-bound precursor containing 233 amino acid residues [Wang et al., Science 228:149–154 (1985); Muller et al., Nature 335:265–267 (1987)], which is processed during cellular activation by cleavage of a 76-residue peptide to produce the mature, secreted form of TNF-α. The enzyme(s) responsible for this cleavage, called TNF-α convertase, has until the present invention been elusive for most mammalian species.
A putative TNF-α convertase, called PR-3, has been isolated and cloned from human neutrophils, and it has been suggested that this enzyme can be used in screens to identify TNF-α convertase inhibitors. See International Patent Applications Publication Numbers WO 94/00555 and WO 95/24501. This enzyme, however, is not believed to be the physiologically relevant human TNF-α convertase because it is a serine protease, whereas the relevant enzyme is believed to be a metalloproteinase. Moreover, the source of the serine protease, neutrophils, is not believed to be important in the production of TNF-α, and the serine protease does not cleave the precursor form of TNF-α (proTNF-α) at the point expected for the physiologically relevant human enzyme.
Mohler et al. [Nature 70:218 (1994)] have partially purified another TNF-α convertase from the human monocytic cell line THP-1. This preparation, however, was very impure, and little could be said about the nature of the TNF-α convertase in the crude protein mixture of Mohler et al.
In view of the important role of TNF-α in many disease processes, there is a need for agents that can selectively block the biosynthesis of mature, secreted TNF-α. The search for such agents would be greatly facilitated by the availability of substantially pure mammalian TNF-α convertases.


A treating agent comprises a nitrile group-containing highly saturated polymer rubber latex (A) having an iodine value of 120 or less, a rubber latex (B) other than the highly saturated polymer rubber latex, and a water-soluble resorcinol/formaldehyde condensate in amounts of 15 to 80%, 5 to 70% and 2 to 15%, all by weight in terms of solids, respectively. A rubber-reinforcing fiber product is coated with the treating agent. A rubber article such as a toothed belt, a tire and the like is made using this rubber-reinforcing fiber product. The glass fiber product coated with the treating agent may be further coated with a halogen-containing polymer-based adhesive as a secondary treating agent. Thus, the treating agent exhibits a large bonding force between the reinforcing fiber product and a matrix. Even if the rubber article is repeatedly subjected to a flexing stress, the strength thereof cannot be reduced. A peel-off cannot occurs between the reinforcing fiber product and the rubber matrix. Moreover, the rubber article has sufficient heat and water resistances.

Reinforcing fibers such as a glass fiber have been conventionally widely used as a reinforcing material for rubber articles such as a rubber belt, a tire and the like.
The rubber articles such as the rubber belt may be repeatedly subjected to a flexing stress to cause a flex fatigue, resulting in a reduced performance, a peel-off between the reinforcing material and a rubber matrix and a wearing of the reinforcing fiber. Further, the strength is liable to be reduced. Such phenomena tend to be particularly accelerated by a heat and water. In order to prevent a peel-off due to such a flex fatigue and to provide a sufficient reinforcing effect, it is necessary to increase the conformity and adhesion between the reinforcing fiber and the rubber and to provide the rubber article with heat and water resistances. For this purpose, various treating agents may be applied onto the surface of the reinforcing fiber.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.221433/89, a treating agent has been proposed which employs, in combination, a water-soluble resorcinol-formaldehyde condensate, a vinylpyridine/butadiene/styrene terpolymer latex, a dicarboxylated butadiene/styrene copolymer latex and a chlorosulfonated polyethylene latex.
The use of such a treating agent makes it possible to satisfy the adhesion between the reinforcing fiber and the rubber matrix and the heat and flex resistances of the treating agent itself to a certain extent, but is accompanied by a disadvantage that when a reinforcing fiber coated with such treating agent is used, sufficiently satisfactory heat, water and flex resistances cannot be obtained because of a insufficient water resistance of the treating agent itself and hence, it is difficult to provide an excellent rubber article.
The present inventors have previously invented and proposed a rubber-reinforcing glass fiber cord coated with a composition consisting essentially of a water-soluble resorcinol/formaldehyde condensate having an improved adhesive strength to a heat-resistant rubber, and a nitrile group-containing highly saturated polymer rubber having an iodine value of 120 or less (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.270877/88). This invention and proposal have been accomplished by finding that the strength of a rubber film and the adhesive strength to the matrix rubber are enhanced by using a nitrile group-containing highly saturated polymer rubber having an iodine value of 120 or less, preferably 0 to 100.
Even in the above-described invention by the present inventors, a scope for improvement for water and flex resistances has been left.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reinforcing fiber product in which the disadvantages associated with the prior art are overcome, and which exhibits a large bonding force between a reinforcing fiber and a rubber matrix, and which cannot be reduced in strength, even if it is repeatedly subjected to a flexing stress, and which cannot produce a peel-off between the reinforcing fiber product and the rubber matrix and moreover, has sufficient heat and water resistances.


A modular helmet system with a removable/detachable/interchangeable exterior shell, an inner force-absorbing layer releasably connected to the rigid exterior shell layer, and a multiple fastening devices associated with the shell which allow the shell to be interchanged/replaced/reconfigured at will. The shell as a single piece unit, or combinable components bear the fastening devices designed to enable rapid, secure interchange of the helmet system's layers, therefore allowing the helmet to be adapted for climatic, functional, and aesthetic preferences.

Helmets and other types of protective headwear have become increasingly popular in recent years, as the long-term implications of even minor instances of head trauma have become better understood. Early designs for protective helmets were simple and narrowly focused on maximizing impact protection. Newer designs have evolved to include more sophisticated shapes and features, but the technological improvements offered to consumers have been largely insubstantial. The incorporation of adjustable features has been mostly limited to chin straps and vents, with other advancements lacking verifiable safety benefits.
A common practice in the design of modern helmets involves molding a rigid, puncture-resistant shell and permanently fastening the shell atop an inner, crushable layer designed to collapse during a substantial impact. This method can produce a safe, aesthetically attractive helmet, which may be finely tuned for a particular activity or environment.
For consumers, an optimal helmet would be safe, lightweight, properly ventilated, aesthetically pleasing, and economical. Unfortunately, most of these criteria are only available as a trade off to one another. For example, a helmet which is sufficiently ventilated often sacrifices safety by decreasing the total surface area available for impact absorption. A helmet made with durable materials for exceptional crash protection will often be uncomfortably cumbersome, poorly ventilated, and prohibitively expensive.
Some helmet designs allow the outer shell of the helmet to be removed. A fastening mechanism may be included for fastening the shell but is exposed to direct impact. The helmet system described below provides a fastening mechanism that is protected.

Safety helmet with interchangeable layers


A method of characterizing a fractured reservoir in a field includes measuring seismic reflection coefficient of the fractured reservoir as a function of angle of incidence and azimuth, predicting seismic reflection coefficient of the fractured reservoir as a function of angle of incidence and azimuth using an elastic stiffness tensor and an elastic compliance tensor of the fractured reservoir, determining components of an excess compliance tensor due to the presence of fractures in the fractured reservoir by matching the predicted seismic reflection coefficient to the measured seismic reflection coefficient, and characterizing one or more properties of the fractured reservoir using the excess compliance tensor.

Characterization of fractured reservoirs plays an important role in optimizing production from fractured reservoirs. Such characterization may include, for example, determining variations in fracture density and permeability of the fracture network and determining orientation of fractures in the fracture network. Areas of high fracture density can represent "sweet spots" of high permeability and therefore can be targeted for placement of infill wells. Fractures with largest aperture at depth tend to be oriented along the direction of the maximum in-situ horizontal stress and may therefore lead to significant permeability in the reservoir, which would lead to permeability anisotropy. For optimum drainage it is important that infill wells are more closely spaced along the direction of minimum permeability than along the direction of maximum permeability. Fracture orientation is useful in determining trajectory of a deviated well. For maximum recovery, the trajectory of the well can be chosen such that as many fractures as possible are intersected.
It is known that oriented sets of fractures lead to direction-dependent seismic velocities. As a result, use of seismic waves to determine the orientation of fractures has received much attention. For example, Lynn et al. use the azimuthal variation in reflection amplitude of seismic P-waves to characterize naturally fractured gas reservoirs in the Bluebell Altamont Field in the Uinta Basin, Northeastern Utah. (Lynn, H. B. Bates, C. R., Layman, M., and Jones, M. "Natural fracture characterization using P-wave reflection seismic data, VSP, borehole imaging logs, and in-situ stress field determination," SPE 29595, (1995).) Reflection amplitudes offer advantages over seismic velocities for characterizing fractured reservoirs since they have higher vertical resolution and are more sensitive to the properties of the reservoir. However, interpretation of variations in reflection amplitude requires a model that allows the measured change in reflection amplitude to be inverted for the characteristics of the fractured reservoir.
Current models used to describe the seismic response of fractured reservoirs make simplified assumptions that prevent fractured reservoirs from being characterized correctly. For example, most models assume a single set of perfectly aligned fractures (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,973 issued to Mallick et al.), while most reservoirs contain several fracture sets with variable orientations within a given fracture set. Use of a model of a fractured reservoir that assumes a single set of fractures in a reservoir containing several fracture sets can give misleading results. For example, consider a vertically fractured reservoir containing a large number of fractures with normals being isotropically distributed in the horizontal plane. For such a fractured reservoir there would be little or no variation in reflection coefficient with azimuth, and an interpretation of the reflection amplitude versus azimuth curve using an assumption of a single set of aligned fractures would predict incorrectly that the fracture density is zero.
From the foregoing, there continues to be a desire for an improved method of characterizing a fractured reservoir using seismic reflection amplitudes.

Method of characterizing a fractured reservoir using seismic reflection amplitudes


An elongate floor-supported platform having sliding handgrips mounted thereon. In a preferred embodiment, the handgrips, which are constrained to move only along a track, which may be linear or curvilinear and lying in a substantially horizontal plane, are interconnected by linking means such as belts. The linkage is such that the handgrips remain equidistant from a fixed centerline midway between the handgrips throughout their range of motion. In the preferred embodiment, the linking means are belts that are supported by pulleys housed within the floor-supported platform. In yet a further embodiment, the platform includes wall and/or ceiling attachment means and can be employed for performing pull-ups.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exercise device and, more particularly, to a push-up device comprising a floor-supportable platform having a pair of handgrips slidably mounted thereon.
2. Prior Art
Ignaczak, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,930, provides a description of the prior art relating to the present invention, and the discussion of the prior art recitated in '930 is incorporated herein by reference thereto. Ignaczak '930 discloses a push-up trainer having a base and a pair of handgrip assemblies. The handgrip assemblies are each slidably mounted to the base, permitting lateral movement of the handgrips during use. Each handgrip assembly allows for rotation of each handgrip around a vertical axis and around its horizontal lengthwise axis. Each of the sliding and rotational motions may selectively be allowed or locked out using a spring biased pin. The handgrips may be set a fixed distance apart along the platform or they may slide relative to one another. The '930 device lacks means for maintaining the handgrips equidistant from a centerline between the handgrips during motion thereof. Thus, when performing push-ups, the center of mass of the exerciser may not be positioned over the centerline and may result in an imbalance with possible injury. There remains a need for a push-up device which is supportable by a floor and wherein the handgrips are slidably mounted and remain equidistant from a fixed centerline therebetween throughout the range of sliding motion of the handgrips.


A system for designing a power grid for an integrated circuit system forms a plurality of half pitch tiles that do not have a via violation, where each half pitch tile has a different orientation. The system generates sub tile arrays from each of the half pitch tiles. The system then forms a plurality of quarter pitch tiles that do not have a via violation, where each quarter pitch tile has a different orientation. The system generates deep sub tile cell arrays from each of the quarter pitch tiles. The system then covers a plurality of adjacent individual sub tile cells of the power grid with one of the sub tile arrays, and covers a plurality of adjacent individual deep sub tile cells of the power grid with one of the deep sub tile arrays.

Very-large-scale integration ("VLSI") circuits and other integrated circuits are made up of interconnected cells that include a group of transistors and interconnect structures. Each cell must be powered from a power supply through a power grid. The power grid of the circuit refers to the wires or buses used to supply current to the logic devices of each cell and to ground buses used to take current away.
As electronic circuit densities increase and technology advances, for example, in deep-sub-micron circuits, skilled designers attempt to maximize the utilization of the design layout and the manufacturability and reliability of the circuit. One area where design layout is particularly important is in the area of metal layers and vias. A via is used to connect, for example, two design geometries, one on each of two consecutive conductive layers (e.g., a metal line on each of two consecutive metal layers) of an electronic circuit. For example, it can be important to ensure that each connection area between two conductive layers has at least a certain number of vias and/or has vias placed appropriately to reduce the risk of via failure due to vacancy concentration of isolated vias.
However, correctly placing vias in an IC design is a very complex process. An electronic design automation ("EDA") tool or any computer based circuit design tool generally requires a long time to determine via placement for a dense circuit, and generates a very large database. For example, the fastest EDA tools typically require approximately 4 hours to generate a large via database on a 1500×3000 micron integrated circuit design.


An apparatus, system and method for checking the version of a cached applet on a client device against version information stored on a host server is provided. By checking the version of the applet, it can be determined whether or not the applet is still usable with the host server. If an applet is not usable with the host server, the applet is either automatically updated to a current version or the user is provided with information as to how to update the applet to the current version. If an applet is usable with the host server but is not a current version of the applet, the user may be informed of this fact and given the opportunity to either update the applet or continue to execute the older version of the applet.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to an apparatus, system and method for detecting old versions of an applet in a client browser's Java™ Virtual Machine (JVM). In particular, the present invention provides a mechanism by which old versions of an applet are identified and a determination is made as to whether the applet is still functional with the server or needs to be updated.
2. Description of Related Art
An applet is a program written in the Java programming language which can be included in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) pages much in the same way an image is included. Applets provide functionality to Web pages for providing users with information, entertainment, and for gathering information from users.
When a user employs a Java technology enabled browser in his/her client device to view a web page that contains an applet, the applet's bytecode is transferred to the client device's browser system and executed by the browser's Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Typically, a browser will cache the Java classes which make up an applet. This becomes a problem when a developer updates and deploys the Java code on the server that makes up the applet. The problem arises in that the cached version of the applet in the client JVM may not be compatible with the updated Java code on the server.
In such a case, a two principal situations may arise. First, if the developer has added any new classes in this updated Java code, the older cached Java classes will not work with these new Java classes. In this case the applet will halt with an exception.
The details of such an exception can be seen clearly in the Java Console of the browser. However, most end users are lay people and are not able to understand what happened to cause the exception. As a result, the end user may become frustrated, thereby creating a customer satisfaction issue.
To resolve this customer satisfaction issue, the end user typically will either abandon their efforts on the web page and search elsewhere or will contact a customer support representative. In the latter case, resolving this issue takes up customer support time because the support representative must recreate the user scenario and then guide the user in clearing the cached Java classes.
Clearing the cached Java classes is not a simple operation. Just clearing the regular browser cache does not clear the cached Java classes in the JVM. Furthermore, the two most popular browsers, Netscape Communicator™ and Microsoft Internet Explorer™, have different procedures to clear the cached classes.
Even if no new classes were added in the updated Java code, if a database transaction message format with the host server was changed by the update to the Java code, then the cached applet will have problems communicating with the host server. As a result, the user will experience a number of communication errors which again results in a customer satisfaction and support issue.
Thus, it would be beneficial to have an apparatus, system and method for detecting old versions of an applet in a client browser's JVM. It would further be beneficial to have an apparatus, system and method that identifies old versions of an applet and a determines whether the applet is still functional with the host server or needs to be updated.

Apparatus, system and method for detecting old version of an applet in a client brower's JVM


An apparatus and method are described to estimate a fraction of carbon dioxide present in a downhole fluid. The apparatus includes a carrier configured to be conveyed through a borehole penetrating the earth. The apparatus also includes a pressure sensor disposed at the carrier and configured to measure an ambient pressure of the downhole fluid and an ambient temperature sensor disposed at the carrier and configured to measure a temperature of the downhole fluid. A processor of the apparatus receives the ambient pressure and the ambient temperature measurements and solves for the fraction of carbon dioxide in the downhole fluid using a correlation function with the ambient pressure and the ambient temperature as inputs to the correlation function.

Natural gas, when recovered from a well, typically includes a mixture of gases and also includes carbon dioxide. For example, natural gas may include mole percentages of approximately 85% for methane, approximately 5% ethane, approximately 2% propane, and smaller percentages of other gases. The carbon dioxide component can affect the drilling, production and processing operations related to the recovery of natural gas. For example, the carbon dioxide can affect the quality of the drilling fluid. In addition, the carbon dioxide has to be removed during processing before it can be transported in a pipeline to customers. The cost of removing the carbon dioxide plus the cost of sequestering it can affect the economics of a well. Hence, it would be appreciated in the drilling industry if an amount of carbon dioxide in natural gas could be quickly and accurately determined.

Carbon dioxide content of natural gas from other physical properties


A piston engine and a method for controlling a diesel-type piston engine including at least one combustion chamber formed by a cylinder, a movably arranged piston in each cylinder, which piston is connected to a crankshaft, an injection device designed to inject fuel directly into the combustion chamber and turbo system comprising a low pressure turbo and a high pressure turbo. The thermal efficiency of the internal combustion is increased while requirements relating to nitrogen oxide and soot particle emissions continue to be maintained.

In a standard direct-injection diesel engine for heavy goods vehicles, i.e. a diesel engine with a cubic capacity between 0.5 and 4 liters per cylinder, the engine is controlled for a combustion at a maximum cylinder pressure amounting to about 180 bar at 22 bar BMEP. In such an engine, fuel is injected directly into the combustion chambers at about 30 crank angle degrees when the internal combustion engine is under maximum load. At maximum load, the injection is usually initiated 10-15 degrees before upper dead center and continues up to about 15-20 degrees after dead center depending on the operating point of the engine. A conventional internal combustion engine of this type is fitted with a turbo system having a turbo map efficiency amounting to about 55-60%. The maximum charge pressure from the turbo system amounts to about 330 kPa absolute pressure. Conventional diesel engines of the above-stated type have a thermal efficiency amounting to about 45-46% at maximum. By thermal efficiency is meant that share of the energy content of the fuel which is released during combustion which the engine is capable of converting into useful mechanical work.
For the turbo map efficiency ηturbo, the following relation is valid: ηturbo=ηcompressor·ηturbine·ηmechanical, where ηcompressor is the efficiency of the compressor stage, ηturbine is the efficiency of the turbine and ηmechanical is the efficiency of the power transmission between turbine and compressor. The respective efficiencies for compressor and turbine stage are drawn from charts produced by testing, alternatively calculation, with a non-pulsating flow over the component. By turbo map efficiency is meant the efficiency obtained by multiplying together efficiency values for the turbine stage and the compressor stage, drawn from such charts, for the operating points under which the device is driven, and multiplying the result by the relevant mechanical efficiency.
In recent years, statutory requirements pertaining to emissions from diesel engines, especially relating to discharges of nitrogen oxide compounds and particles, have been tightened. The substance quantity of nitrogen oxides which is formed when fuel is combusted in a cylinder is dependent on the temperature at, and duration of the combustion. Higher temperature leads to a greater share of the nitrogen in the air being converted into nitrogen oxides. One way of reducing the quantity of formed nitrogen oxide is to reduce the temperature at combustion. Reducing the temperature at combustion, however, creates problems. In certain operating conditions, the quantity of soot particles increases, which can result in an engine, for this reason, failing to win approval under prevailing emissions legislation. Moreover, the thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine may diminish when the temperature falls. Nitrogen oxides formed during the combustion can be reduced, however, and hence re-converted into nitrogen by the after-treatment of exhaust gases in catalytic reaction chambers located in the exhaust pipe. The presence of catalytic reaction chambers raises, however, the exhaust-gas back-pressure. An increased exhaust-gas back-pressure causes a fall in the thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, the demands for reduced discharges of soot particles can necessitate the use of so-called particle traps, should the internal combustion engine, in certain operating points, generate excessive particle quantities, in order to satisfy prevailing emission requirements. Particle traps also give rise to increased exhaust back-pressure and hence lower thermal efficiency for the internal combustion engine.
One problem facing manufacturers of internal combustion engines on which statutory requirements are imposed with respect of maximally permitted emission levels of soot particles and nitrogen oxide compounds lies in the fact that the required permitted emission levels are constantly being lowered. Demands for reduced emission levels mean, firstly, that the engine cannot be optimized for low fuel consumption and, secondly, that emission-reducing peripheral equipment is called for which contributes to reduced thermal efficiency for the internal combustion engine.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Turbo charged diesel-type piston engine and method for controlling such an engine


The present invention provides the capability to easily access many different application programs over the WWW via a common user interface. By providing standard procedures, routines, tools, and software "hooks" for accessing software applications over the WWW, software developers can concentrate on the functionality of the application program and easily use HTML to provide a GUI interface for the application program. HTML is a well-known language which can be used by almost any computer system on the market today. In addition, since HTML is a fairly well controlled and standardized language, new software application features can be added as they are developed and supported by HTML. In addition, since HTML is a widely adopted, non-proprietary technology, the present invention can provide open access to a large market for even very small software developers. Further, the present invention also allows software developers to adopt a standard access protocol, which allows them to provide support for any computer system which is capable of utilizing a HTML cognizant browser. Finally, by providing easy-to-implement, standardized solutions to the issues of user interface, authentication/security, and web transaction support, the common user interface of the present invention overcomes the limitations existing in previous solutions.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to interactions on the world-wide web, and more specifically relates to an apparatus and method for providing access to software applications via the world-wide web.
2. Background Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely sophisticated devices, and computer systems may be found in many different settings. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware (e.g., semiconductors, circuit boards, etc.) and software (e.g., computer programs). As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer hardware higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than those that existed just a few years ago.
Computer systems typically include operating system software that control the basic function of the computer, and one or more software applications that run under the control of the operating system to perform desired tasks. For example, a typical IBM Personal Computer may run the OS/2 operating system, and under the control of the OS/2 operating system, a user may execute an application program, such as a word processor. As the capabilities of computer systems have increased, the software applications designed for high performance computer systems have become extremely powerful.
Other changes in technology have also profoundly affected how we use computers. For example, the widespread proliferation of computers prompted the development of computer networks that allow computers to communicate with each other. With the introduction of the personal computer (PC), computing became accessible to large numbers of people. Networks for personal computers were developed to allow individual users to communicate with each other. In this manner, a large number of people within a company could communicate simultaneously over a network with a software application running on a single computer system.
One significant computer network that has recently become very popular is the Internet. The Internet grew out of the modern proliferation of computers and networks, and has evolved into a sophisticated worldwide network of computer systems linked together by web pages that collectively make up the "world-wide web", or WWW. A user at an individual PC (i.e., workstation) that wishes to access the WWW typically does so using a software application known as a web browser. A web browser makes a connection via the WWW to other computers known as web servers, and receives information from the web servers that is displayed on the user's workstation. Information displayed to the user is typically organized into pages that are constructed using a specialized language called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Web browsers that use HTML are now available for almost every computer system on the market, making the WWW accessible to practically anyone who has access to a computer and a modem. Although the WWW is becoming increasingly popular, the rapid growth and expansion of computer users accessing the WWW has brought along with it concomitant problems. Some of these problems are identified below.
With the growing popularity of the Internet and the WWW, businesses have recognized that the Internet provides a new way to boost both sales and efficiency. If a user with a web browser can interact directly with a company's software application, a given transaction will be simplified. For example, let's evaluate how a person typically reserves a rental car. The person calls the rental car agency, and then gives his or her information (i.e., name, address, credit card number, etc.) to the rental car agent over the phone. The agent must enter the information into the car rental software application to initialize the process to reserve a car. A more efficient car reservation system for web users would allow the user to interact directly with the car rental software application. This would eliminate many of the tasks that the car rental agent now performs. However, devising a car rental software application that is capable of interacting directly with web users would require creating custom interface software. Likewise, a custom user interface must be created for each different software application that is to be accessed via the WWW. The preferred interface would be a graphical user interface (GUI). The process of generating a custom GUI for a software application is time consuming and expensive, and typically results in a proprietary user interface that cannot be used for communicating with other software applications. This means that a company has a significant disincentive that would prevent them from providing access to their software applications via the WWW.
In addition, many computer users have adopted very different forms of hardware/software computer platforms. For example, while the IBM-compatible personal computer is the most common type of computer system available today, other vendors have developed very different product lines with significant numbers of computer systems presently installed and in use. These disparate hardware systems typically utilize completely different operating systems. The existence of these various different hardware and software systems will typically require a completely new programming and development effort to "port" or translate the custom GUI for a given software application to each different hardware platform. Many companies will only support the most popular hardware/software combinations, thereby limiting market share and reducing the number of users who have access to the software application.
The problem of multiple unrelated user interfaces highlights yet another problem that may also prevent the rapid adoption of software applications via the WWW. Assuming a company has absorbed the cost of developing a custom GUI for a given software application, the GUI developed by one company will most likely differ significantly from the GUI developed by another company for their respective software applications. Typically, each software vendor will create a custom GUI for each specific software application so that whenever a user accesses the software application via the WWW, the user can access the specific features of the software application. However, since every product has different features and every vendor has differing standards for application/user interaction, the result is often a vastly different user interface for each and every software application that the user encounters. The user is often forced to "re-learn" basic skills for interacting with each and every software application they wish to access.
The current situation for accessing software over the WWW is somewhat analogous to the early days of the personal computer. In the early 1980s, the IBM personal computer (PC) was introduced and was quickly adopted as the industry standard hardware platform. However, even though the hardware platform was relatively standard, each independent software vendor created significantly different user interfaces for their respective application programs. This, in turn, proved to be an impediment to the rapid adoption of new application programs by the users of personal computers. Because users were unable to efficiently use new software applications without extensive training, many new software applications were not adopted.
Today, however, new standards have been developed and adopted for personal computer software applications which dramatically reduce the amount of re-learning that must take place for new software applications. State-of-the-art GUI operating systems such as IBM's OS2 have standardized many common user actions and provided independent software developers and vendors with the "hooks" or programming tools necessary to access most standard user interface components and features, thereby dramatically reducing the learning curve for end-users. Unfortunately, this standardization effort has not yet penetrated the WWW In fact, the ready availability of the WWW as a delivery system for software applications has exacerbated the rapid proliferation of the disparate software now available over the WWW. In addition, some of the most powerful software applications available have non-intuitive, non-graphical user interfaces. The process of re-learning a new interface for each new application tends to be tedious, time-consuming and non-productive. Therefore, even though many software applications may be accessible over the WWW today, learning how to access these various programs can be time-consuming, frustrating, and intimidating for the end-user.

Computer apparatus and method for providing a common user interface for software applications accessed via the world-wide web

International Business Machines Corporation


A device for separating non-ions from ions is disclosed. The device includes a plurality of electrodes positioned around a center axis of the device and having apertures therein through which the ions are transmitted. An inner diameter of the apertures varies in length. At least a portion of the center axis between the electrodes is non-linear.

Ion funnels are increasingly being used in mass spectrometers to improve sensitivity. Ion funnels collect diffuse ion plumes from ion sources, utilizing a large entrance, and then focus the ion beam by progressively reducing the inner diameter of the circular apertures. A 180° out-of-phase RF waveform is applied to adjacent circular apertures to confine ions radially and prevent their loss to the electrodes. A DC gradient is applied to create a driving force for ions to be transported through the funnel.
An example of a prior art ion funnel is shown in FIG. 1. The ion funnel 100 consists of a stack of electrodes 110 the inner apertures of which progressively decrease along the funnel. The ion funnel has an entry 150 corresponding with the largest aperture, and an exit 160 corresponding with the smallest aperture. As shown in FIG. 1 the entrance 150 and exit 160 are on a line-of-sight, and the center axis 120 between the electrodes 110 is a straight line with no offset.
Ion plumes that are introduced into the ion funnel are accompanied by expanding gas that contains partially solvated ions, droplets, and neutral particles. In cases where large gas loads enter the funnel from, e.g., multi-inlet or large bore inlets these non-ionic particles have significantly adverse effect on the performance of the ion funnel as well as the ion optics downstream of the ion funnel. These adverse effects lead to non-robust operations and frequent instrument downtime for cleaning ion topics.

Device for separating non-ions from ions


A method and apparatus for cooling of a controller (16) of a transmission of a motor vehicle (6). A motor vehicle (6) has a transmission (2) in which or on which is provided a control mechanism (16, 18) actuated by a control fluid (40). The control electronic system (30, 32, 38) of the controller (16) is compulsorily cooled by a ducted supply of a control fluid (40) to the electronic system (30, 32, 38) or through the control electronic system (30, 32, 38). The control fluid (40) may be driven by a conveyor mechanism through a cooling channel (36) upon which the control electronic system is mounted with optimum heat conductivity.

Electronic systems for the control of the gearshift cycles are being increasingly used in mechanical transmissions. It is advantageous that the electronic system be accommodated on or in the transmission. The electronics is, of course, here exposed to extreme environmental conditions.
German Utility Model No. G 93 07 228 has disclosed a transmission control which is mounted within the transmission housing. The control here can be surrounded by transmission oil and radiate heat to the oil via cooling elements. The cooling of the control is essentially assumed by the transmission oil. In this arrangement, damage to the transmission control can only be rectified when the transmission is removed and dismounted from the vehicle. This requires an enormous after-sale expense which is in no proportion to the exchange of eventually inexpensive parts. The electronic system is constantly surrounded by aggressive transmission oil which, in case of damage to the seal or paint, results in an interruption in operation of the electronics.