The invention relates to a voice activity detecting device and a voice activity detecting method. An object of the invention is to adapt to various characteristics of noise which may possibly be superimposed on an aural signal to thereby reliably discriminate between an active voice segment and a non-active voice segment. For this purpose, the voice activity detecting device comprises: a speech-segment inferring section 11 for determining the probability that each of active voice frames given in order of time sequence belongs to the active voice segment, based on the statistical characteristic of the aural signal; a quality monitoring section 12 for monitoring the quality of the aural signal for each active voice frame, and a speech-segment determining section 13 for weighting the determined probability with the above quality to obtain for each active voice frame the accuracy that the active voice frame belongs to the active voice segment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voice activity detecting device for discriminating between an active voice segment and a non-active voice segment of the aural signal, and it also relates to a voice activity detecting method which is applied to the voice activity detecting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, digital signal processing technologies have been highly progressed, and in a mobile communication system and other communication systems, these digital signal processing technologies are applied to perform various kinds of real time signal processing for an aural signal which is transmission information.
Furthermore, at a transmitting end of a communication system like the above, a voice activity detecting device for detecting an active voice segment and a non-active voice segment of the aforesaid aural signal and for allowing transmission to a transmission channel only in this active voice segment is mounted for the purpose of achieving compression of a transmission band and effective utilization of a radio frequency and saving power consumption.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a radio terminal equipment in which the voice activity detecting device is mounted.
In FIG. 12, a microphone 41 is connected to an input of a voice activity detecting device 42 and a modulation input of a receiving/transmitting part 43, and a feeding point of an antenna 44 is connected to an antenna terminal of this receiving/transmitting part 43. An output of the voice activity detecting device 42 is connected to a transmission control input of the receiving/transmitting part 43, and to a control input/output of this receiving/transmitting part 43, a corresponding input/output port of a controlling part 45 is connected. A specific output port of the controlling part 45 is connected to a control input of the voice activity detecting device 42 and a demodulation output of the receiving/transmitting part 43 is connected to an input of a receiver 46.
In the radio terminal equipment as configured above, the receiving/transmitting part 43 radio-interfaces aural signals, which are transmission information to be transmitted/received via the microphone 41 and the receiver 46, with a radio transmission channel (not shown) which is accessible via the antenna 44.
The controlling part 45 plays a leading role in channel control which is required for forming this radio transmission channel by operating in association with the receiving/transmitting part 43.
The voice activity detecting device 42 samples the aforesaid aural signals at a predetermined cycle to generate a sequence of active voice frames. Moreover, the voice activity detecting device 42 discriminates, based on the characteristic of the aural signal, which of an active voice segment and a non-active voice segment each of the active voice frames corresponds to, and outputs a binary signal indicating the result of the discrimination.
Note that the aforesaid characteristic includes, for example, the following items. having a dynamic range of approximately 55 decibel Amplitude distribution can be approximated to by a standard probability density function. Values of energy density and a zero crossing frequency in the active voice segment are different from those in the non-active voice segment respectively.
The receiving/transmitting part 43 refrains from transmitting during a period when a logical value of the binary signal indicates the aforesaid non-active voice segment.
Therefore, unwanted transmission by the receiving/transmission part 43 is restricted during a period when any available information is not included as transmission information in the aural signal. Consequently, suppression of interference with other radio channel and effective utilization of a radio frequency as well as reduction in power consumption can be realized.
In the conventional example as described above, however, a difference in a feature value (for example, the aforesaid zero crossing frequency) between in the active voice segment and in the non-active voice segment becomes small during a period when noise of a high level is superimposed on the aural signal which is given via the microphone 41.
Furthermore, even in the active voice segment, amplitude of the aural signal is generally distributed more at small values compared with that in a vowel segment when it is a consonant segment.
Therefore, it is highly possible that the consonant segment is discriminated as the non-active voice segment, so that a corresponding active voice frame is not transmitted in the consonant (active voice) segment which has been mistakenly discriminated as explained above, which is very likely to cause unwanted deterioration in speech quality.
Furthermore, when the level of the aforesaid noise is excessively high, there is a possibility that transmission of the whole active voice frame which corresponds to most part of the aural signal on which the noise is superimposed is restricted.
Incidentally, these problems can be solved, for example, when a threshold value for the feature value or the like which serves as the basis of the discrimination is set at such a value to cause the active voice frame to be easily discriminated as the active voice segment.
When the threshold value as mentioned above is applied, however, the probability is increased that the active voice frame is discriminated as the active voice segment even though it corresponds to the non-active voice segment and an hour rate of the active voice segment may possibly become excessively high, so that there is a possibility that reduction in power consumption, suppression of interference, and effective utilization of a radio frequency as stated above cannot be fully realized.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a voice activity detecting device which is flexibly adaptable to various features of an aural signal and to noise be superimposed on the aural signal and is capable of discriminating between an active voice segment and a non-active voice segment with high accuracy, and also to provide a voice activity detecting method.
It is another object of the present invention that even when an active voice segment includes many segments such as a consonant segment in which the quality of an aural signal is low because of its low amplitude, the segments are determined as a part of an active voice segment with high reliability.
It is still another object of the present invention to determine each active voice frame as a part of an active voice segment with high accuracy.
It is yet another object of the present invention to reduce required throughput or enhance responsiveness.
It is yet another object of the present invention to determine even active voice frames having noise of a high level superimposed on and a low SN ratio as a part of an active voice segment with high accuracy.
It is yet another object of the present invention that communication equipments and other electronic equipments to which the invention is applied, are able to flexibly adapt to an acoustic environment in which an acousto-electric converting section for generating an aural signal is disposed, or to a characteristic and performance of an information source of the active voice signal, and they are able to discriminate between an active voice segment and a non-active voice segment of this aural signal with high reliability so that desired performance suitable for the discrimination result and effective utilization of resources can be achieved.
The above-described objects are achieved by a voice activity detecting device and a voice activity detecting method which are characterized in that a probability that an active voice frame belongs to an active voice segment, and the quality of the active voice frame are determined on an active-voice-frame basis, and the probability is weighted with the quality to output the resultant.
According to the voice activity detecting device and the voice activity detecting method as structured above, the higher quality each of the active voice frames has, with higher probability discriminated it is as the active voice segment and also with lower probability discriminated it is as a non-active voice segment.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device and a voice activity detecting method which are characterized in that a probability that an active voice frame belongs to an active voice segment, and the quality of the active voice frame are determined on an active-voice-frame basis so that the level of the active voice frame for which the probability is to be determined is set at a lower value as an active voice frame has higher quality.
According to the voice activity detecting device and the voice activity detecting method as structured above, since a heavier weighting is given to instantaneous values of the aural signal included in each of the active voice frames as the active voice frame has lower quality, it is possible to determine, at a large value, an accuracy that the resulting aural signal given as a sequence of instantaneous values belongs to the active voice segment.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device and a voice activity detecting method which are characterized in that a probability that an active voice frame belongs to an active voice segment and the quality of the active voice frame are determined on an active-voice-frame basis so that a gradient in or a threshold value of a companding characteristic is set at a larger value as the active voice frame has higher quality, the companding characteristic being to be applied to companding processing of the active voice frame for which the probability is to be determined.
According to the voice activity detecting device and the voice activity detecting method as structured above, the companding processing is performed such that the lower quality an aural signal has, the more heavily weighted instantaneous values of the aural signal included in each of the active voice frames are.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device which is characterized in that a feature of an active voice segment and/or a feature of a non-active voice segment is/are determined for each active voice frame, and these features are employed as quality.
According to the voice activity detecting device as structured above, it is possible to obtain the quality of an aural signal with stability under application of various technologies which realize active voice analysis or speech analysis.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device and a voice activity detecting method which are characterized in that assessed noise-power is determined for each active voice frame and the assessed noise-power is employed as quality.
According to the voice activity detecting device as structured above, the assessed noise-power is generally calculated by a simple arithmetic operation.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device which is characterized in that assessed noise-power and an assessed value for an SN ratio are determined for each active voice frame, and values given as a monotone nonincreasing function of the former and as a monotone nondecreasing function of the latter are employed as quality.
According to the voice activity detecting device as structured above, it is possible to determine, as non-active voice segment, even active voice frames having noise of a high level superimposed on and a small SN ratio with high accuracy.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device which is different from the voice activity detecting devices previously described in that a standardized random variable is employed in replace of assessed noise-power.
In the voice activity detecting device as structured above, a large absolute value of the standardized random variable signifies that a peak value of amplitude of an active voice frame is larger than standard amplitude of an aural signal, and that there is a high possibility that noise of a high level is superimposed on this active voice frame, and, that is, xe2x80x98the larger the absolute value is, the higher the possibility becomesxe2x80x99. On the other hand, when the absolute value is smaller than the standard amplitude, it signifies that the peak value of the amplitude of the active voice frame is smaller than the standard amplitude of an aural signal, and the level of the noise superimposed on this active voice frame is low, and, that is, xe2x80x98the smaller the absolute value, the smaller the peak value and the lower the level of noisexe2x80x99.
Therefore, the standardized random variable can substitute for the aforesaid assessed noise-power.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device which is characterized in that a standardized random variable is calculated approximately based on amplitude distribution of an active voice frame and the maximum value of the amplitude distribution.
According to the voice activity detecting device as structured above, the aforesaid standardized random variable can be calculated by a simple arithmetic operation.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device which is characterized in that previously obtained qualities on an active-voice-frame basis are integrated in order of time sequence to employ the resultant as quality.
According to the voice activity detecting device as structured above, it is able to reduce or suppress components of steep fluctuation which may accompany with the quality of aural signals obtained in order of time sequence.
The above-described objects are also achieved by a voice activity detecting device which is characterized in that previously obtained qualities on an active-voice-frame basis are integrated in order of time sequence to employ the resulting values as quality, the values being obtained by weighting the integration result with a smaller value as the integration result is larger.
According to the voice activity detecting device as structured above, subsequently given active voice frames are determined as active voice segment with higher accuracy as previously given active voice frames have higher quality and the high quality is gained at a larger hour rate.

Speech detecting device and speech detecting method


The present invention relates to a color cathode ray tube and more specifically to a color cathode ray tube in which mechanical stress due to internal pressure made by evacuation is decreased. According to an aspect of the present invention, a cathode ray tube comprises a panel on inner surface of which a phosphor screen is formed; a funnel joined to the panel; an electron gun generating electron beams; and a deflection yoke which is mounted within the funnel to deflect the electron beams, wherein radius of curvature of outer surface of said panel is in the range of 5000 mm to 100000 mm, and said panel satisfies: 1.0≦(OAH*CFT)/USD≦1.5 wherein OAH is overall height of said panel measured along defrection axis X, USD is diagonal length of effective screen of said panel and CFT is thickness of center portion of said panel. According to the present invention, a manufacturing cost is decreased by lightness of the cathode ray tube through variation of the panel and the funnel of the cathode ray tube, and the yield is improved by decrease of breakness of the cathode ray tube. Furthermore, by optimization of the structure of the panel and the funnel, the vacuum stress is decreased and the shockproof is improved. Furthermore, a bad effect to human body is prevented by interception of the X-ray.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color cathode ray tube and more specifically to a color cathode ray tube in which mechanical stress due to internal pressure made by evacuation is decreased.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a general color cathode ray tube. As shown in FIG. 1, the color cathode ray tube generally includes a glass envelope having a shape of bulb and being comprised of a faceplate panel 1, a tubular neck 13, and a funnel 2 connecting the panel 1 and the neck 13.
The panel 1 comprises faceplate portion and peripheral sidewall portion sealed to the funnel 2. A phosphor screen 4 is formed on the inner surface of the faceplate portion. The phosphor screen 4 is coated by phosphor materials of R, G, and B. A multi-apertured color selection electrode, i.e., shadow mask 3 is mounted to the screen with a predetermined space. The shadow mask 3 is hold by main and sub frames 7 and 8. An electron gun is mounted within the neck 13 to generate and direct electron beams 6 along paths through the mask to the screen.
The shadow mask 3 and the frame 7 constitutes a mask-frame assembly. The mask-frame assembly is joined to the panel 1 by means of springs 9.
The cathode ray tube further comprises an inner shield 10 for shielding the tube from external geomagnetism and a reinforcing band 12 attached to the sidewall portion of the panel 10 to prevent the cathode ray tube from being exploded by external shock. The cathode ray tube further comprises external deflection yokes 5 located in the vicinity of the funnel-to-neck junction and a magnet 11 attached to the rear side of the deflection yokes 5 for amending electron bean trajectory.
Process for making the color cathode ray tube comprises generally pre-process and post-process. During the pre-process, phosphor materials are deposited on the inner surface of the panel.
The post-process comprises further sub processes as follows. Firstly, after the phosphor materials are deposited, sealing process is performed. In the sealing process, the panel 1 to which mask-frame assembly is mounted and the funnel 2 on the inner surface of which frit is deposited is sealed together in a high temperature furnace. Then, evacuating process is performed where electron gun is inserted in the neck 13. Thereafter, an evacuating and sealing process is performed, in which the cathode ray tube is evacuated and sealed.
Since the cathode ray tube is evacuated, it suffers from high tensile and compressive stress. Therefore, a reinforcing process is conducted where reinforcing band 12 is attached to the panel to distribute the stress over the panel.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of distributions of stresses generated in the panel and funnel glasses after the evacuation process. As shown in FIG. 2, stress is generated by pressure difference of inside and outside of the glass envelop because the inside of the glass is evacuated. The stress changes a shape of the glass because the stress is generated at the whole glass envelop. That is, compression stress is generated at the faceplate panel and backplate funnel. Accordingly the tensile stress is generated at conor portion of the panel 1 and sealing portion of the panel and the funnel 2. In FIG. 2, dotted and solid lines represent compressive and tensile stresses, respectively.
Meanwhile, when a glass get a shock from outside, cracks appear in the glass. Tensile stress may hasten increase of the cracks such that the glass may even be broken by the cracks. On the contrary, compressive stress disturb increase of the cracks. Central portion of the panel gets compressive stress while corner portion and seal line portion get tensile stress. Therefore, the central portion is relatively strong against shock. However, the corner portion and the seal line portion is easily broken by outside shock.
Moreover, as recently cathode ray tube becomes thin on account of wide and flat screen, the stress is generated seriously. That is, the stress is generated seriously by vacuum of the glass envelop because of slimness of the cathode ray tube, maintenance of vacuum grade of the inside of the glass envelop and decrease of volumn of the cathode ray tube. Furthermore, in a case of the cathode ray tube having rectangular neck for decreasing consumption power of the deflection yoke, the cathode ray tube has constructional defect by shape of the funnel. Therefore, because high tensile stress is generated, the cathode ray tube is easily broken in heat process.
In order to solve these problems, conventional art discloses method for reinforcing the glass envelop physically by generating the compression stress through decreasing tensile stress of the glass envelop stably and performing heat process for increasing shockproof. However, in the conventional art, high tensile remain stress is generated together with the compression stress on account of ununiform temperature distribution. Therefore, because the compression stress is limited to predetermined level, to decrease weight is limited.
Furthermore, X-ray is generated when the phosphor screen is lightened by the electron beam. The X-ray which penetrates through the faceplate panel have bad influence upon human body.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Cathode ray tube having specific panel dimensions


Copolycondensation of .alpha.-naphthol and .beta.-naphthol with an aldehyde compound gives a poly-hydroxynaphthalene compound having an average molecular weight of 300 to 2,000. This compound is useful as a curing agent for epoxy resins and as a precursor of epoxy resins. Epoxy resin compositions include (1) compositions comprising an epoxy resin and the poly-hydroxynaphthalene compound as a curing agent and (2) compositions comprising an epoxy resin obtained by reacting the poly-hydroxynaphthalene compound with an epihalohydrin and a curing agent. The epoxy resin compositions of the invention are characterized in that the cured resins have a high glass transition temperature and high heat stability and high moisture resistance, scarcely allowing package cracking even in soldering treatment. Therefore the compositions are suited for use in encapsulating semiconductors.

The present invention relates, in one aspect, to a poly-hydroxynaphthalene compound which is of value as an epoxy resin curing agent or an epoxy resin precursor, and in another aspect, to a highly dependable epoxy resin composition for use as a semiconductor encapsulant.
To protect semiconductor elements against the external environment, it is common practice to encapsulate them with an epoxy resin composition. This composition generally comprises an epoxy resin, a curing agent, a curing accelerator or promoter, a filler and several additives. The epoxy resin is an epoxidized version of a novolac resin which is obtainable by reacting a phenolic compound with formaldehyde and is typically an epoxidized o-cresol novolac. As the curing agent, phenol-formaldehyde novolac resin is typically employed. Further, as highly efficient curing agents, novolac resin obtained by reacting .alpha.-naphthol with aldehyde compounds, and epoxy resin derived from said novolac resin are known. But they have rather high softening points and fusion viscosities to be subjected to further processes such as molding, hence have not been put to practical use. On the other hand, it is known that .beta.-naphthol which has poor reactivity to aldehyde compounds cannot be adopted.
The increasing density and size of semiconductor elements and the implementation of multi-pin flat packages in recent years are tending to reduce the amount of epoxy resin relative to the encapsulated semiconductor element. As a consequence, the semiconductor is more likely to be exposed to large stresses in the encapsulating operation. Moreover, as the surface-mounting method involves dipping of the encapsulated semiconductor in a molten solder bath, the semiconductor is not only subjected to intense thermal stresses but exposed to the adverse environment such that the water within the resin is rapidly vaporized to cause an expansion of resin volume.
When a large capacity semiconductor is encapsulated with the above epoxy resin, the problem of a cracked package may occur, causing deformation or corrosive breakage of the bonding wire and cracking of the passivation film of the element. Therefore, several high-performance epoxy resins have heretofore been proposed but none have overcome the problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a poly-hydroxynaphthalene compound which is of use as a curing agent for epoxy resin or an epoxy resin precursor and capable of providing a cured body which has a high glass transition temperature and improved heat and moisture resistance and is able to prevent cracking of a semiconductor package.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel epoxy resin composition and an epoxy resin, which have a high glass transition temperature and improved heat and moisture resistance and are adapted to prevent cracking of a semiconductor package.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an epoxy resin composition and an epoxy resin, which are of use as a semiconductor encapsulant.

Poly-hydroxynaphthalene compounds and epoxy resin composition


The invention is an assembly for moving and rotating a conveyor from a operational orientation to a transport orientation. The assembly includes: an actuator operatively connecting to a first frame; an arm operatively connecting to the actuator and pivotally connecting to a first frame; a support sub-assembly operatively connected to the first frame and selectively rotatable around an axis and moveable forward and rearward along the axis, the support assembly operatively connecting to a conveyor frame; a first turnbuckle pivotally connected to the arm and to the support sub-assembly; and a second turnbuckle pivotally connected to the first frame and to the support sub-assembly. The assembly may further include a second actuator operatively connected to the first frame and operatively connected through a plurality of pivotally attached connection arms to a hopper.

Processes for harvesting potatoes are well known. In a typical commercial practice potatoes are removed from the earth by a mechanized harvester having a plurality of hoppers and conveyors that collect, transport and elevate harvested potatoes to an elevated terminal discharge end of a final conveyor, the final conveyor frequently being a boom. The potatoes are then dropped from the terminal discharge end and piled into a mechanized transporter, the transporter frequently being a truck having a bed with a conveyor system therein. After being first piled into the truck's bed, potatoes may then be transported to a climate controlled storage or processing site.
Potatoes are typically grown in a series of spaced apart rows and use of wider conveyors on a harvester can accordingly produce greater ease, efficiency and speed in harvesting potatoes. Conversely, however, use of wider conveyors on a mechanized harvester can increase the harvester's width and thereby make the process of transporting the harvester from one harvest site to a next harvest site more difficult, time consuming and expensive. Greater harvester width can even result in a harvester being precluded by law or by physical limitations like, for example, limited road width from using otherwise convenient paths between harvest sites.
Various inventions to reduce the transport dimensions of a harvester during transport have accordingly been proposed. These typically involve complicated assemblies or time consuming means for folding and reorienting conveyors associated with the harvester. Some involve the complicated folding of multiple frame segments of a single conveyor. Some require use of multiple, separate actuators and even additional tools to effectuate the folding and reorientation of even a single conveyor from an operational orientation to a transport orientation. Yet further, many involve reconfiguration of the conveyor in a transport orientation that differs significantly from the conveyor's operation orientation and which can markedly reposition the harvester's center of mass and even affect the harvester's stability.
While various devices particularly from outside the potato processing field include some of the general structural and operational features of the present invention, no previously known device includes the overall structural and functional features of the present invention. These overall structural and functional features promote efficiency, simplicity and ease of operation and allow the present invention to: (1) rapidly and selectively rotate a conveyor around a single axis between a stable operational orientation and a stable transport orientation while simultaneously moving the conveyor rearward along the axis to clear a path for rotation of a hopper from an operational configuration beneath a discharge end of the conveyor to a folded transport configuration; and (2) selectively rotate the conveyor around the single axis between the transport orientation and the operational orientation while simultaneously moving the conveyor forward along the axis to an operational configuration with a discharge end of the conveyor positioned over the hopper.

Assembly for moving and rotating conveyor


A PDL or other type of line drawing program mathematically generates an edge between white and black regions. For curved edges, the edge is transformed into a plurality of piecewise linear edge segments (20). Pixels (u,v) in the vicinity of the edge are identified (12). Each pixel is assigned a magnitude value in accordance with its distance from the mathematically defined edge relative to a width or gray span (22) of the selected vicinity. The magnitudes in each of a plurality of subregions of the selected vicinity define a sloping plane (42). The threshold (t), such as a value mid-way between the extremes of the selected vicinity, defines a plane (44) which intersects the sloping plane. The line (46) of intersection defines the edge. A hyperacuity printer receives slope of the plane relative to a scan and orthogonal directions of the printer, and a magnitude for each pixel. Based on the slope and magnitude information, the printer determines (16) intensity and fast scan direction offset of a corresponding exposure value and prints (17) a corresponding dot.

The present application relates to the hyperacuity printing arts. It finds particular application in conjunction with text rendering and lineart drawing or line stroking and will be described with particular reference thereto. It is to be appreciated, however, that this technique will also find application in other areas.
In bit map rendering and drawing techniques, an image is divided up into a rectangular grid of very small cells, each of which may be black or white. Because each cell may be only black or white, the picture can then be stored as a series of bits, one bit for each cell, i.e., a bit map of the image.
One difficulty with bit map images resides in the stair-stepping artifact that occurs when producing straight edges that are not perfectly aligned with the vertical or horizontal structure of the bit map. The stair-stepping artifact is most pronounced when the edge to be rendered is almost horizontal or vertical. In such straight lines, the edge passes along a line of pixels for a distance which is dependent upon the degree of offset from horizontal or vertical, then steps to a next adjoining line of pixels for some distance, then steps again to the next adjacent line, etc. This stair-stepping seriously degrades the visual quality of the resultant image.
To suppress the stair-stepping, drawing generation programs, such as page decomposition language (PDL) programs, typically increase the resolution, i.e, more bits per line and more lines per inch. This, of course, does not remove the stair-stepping, but merely make finer or smaller steps such that it is harder for the human eye to detect the steps. Resolution, however, is expensive in that halving the bit size doubles the number of bits per line and doubles the number of lines per inch, i.e., requires four times as much information, hence, four times as much processing time and much more precise scanning and printing equipment.
A hyperacuity printer improves the image quality by eliminating or reducing stair-stepping, without increasing overall resolution. In hyperacuity printing, information concerning the location where the edges are to be printed is maintained with a high degree of accuracy, but without increasing the resolution of the input data. Instead of using a bit map of the desired image of text (or lineart) to be printed, a bytemap is used. Each bit position is replaced with a multi-bit byte of coded information, such as a gray value or pixel. The information contained in these multi-bit gray pixels is processed with neighboring gray pixels within the hyperacuity printer to generate an identification of where the edges should be placed. This information, in turn, is used to adjust the exposure in the printer in an optimal manner in order to produces edges that do not have stair-stepping, but remain straight. Typical exposure parameters include intensity which adjusts the overall size of the printer dot (typically used for edge adjustments in a direction transverse to the fast scan direction) and timing to shift the position of the dot along the fast scan direction. An appropriate hyperacuity printer is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,289 of the inventor herein.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved technique to convert line information generated by drawing programs, such as PDL programs and others, into appropriate format for display on a hyperacuity printer.

Technique for generating and storing edge phase information for rendering text and lineart in hyperacuity printers


An internal combustion engine includes an engine block including a cylinder a piston positioned within the cylinder and configured to reciprocate in the cylinder, an electronic throttle control system comprising a motor and a throttle plate, a fuel system for supplying a controlled amount of fuel to the cylinder including a fuel injector, and an engine control unit coupled to the fuel system and the electronic throttle control system. The engine control unit is configured to determine engine speed data comprising a current engine speed, a previous engine speed, and a desired engine speed and control a fuel injection duration based on the engine speed data.

The present invention generally relates to internal combustion engines and outdoor power equipment powered by such engines, such as lawn mowers, snow throwers, portable generators, etc. More specifically, the present invention relates to an engine operation control system for an engine.
Outdoor power equipment includes lawn mowers, riding tractors, snow throwers, fertilizer spreaders, salt spreaders, chemical spreaders, pressure washers, tillers, log splitters, zero-turn radius mowers, walk-behind mowers, wide area walk-behind mowers, riding mowers, stand-on mowers, pavement surface preparation devices, industrial vehicles such as forklifts, utility vehicles, commercial turf equipment such as blowers, vacuums, debris loaders, overseeders, power rakes, aerators, sod cutters, brush mowers, etc. Outdoor power equipment may, for example use an internal combustion engine to drive an implement, such as a rotary blade of a lawn mower, a pump of a pressure washer, the auger of a snow thrower, the alternator of a generator, and/or a drivetrain of the outdoor power equipment.

Engine with control unit for lean burn operation


A method and apparatus for managing a session key for allowing a mobile terminal to access a wireless local area network (WLAN). The invention provides for establishing a first secure channel between an access point and a virtual operator, and suggesting a session key to the virtual operator from the access point. A second secure channel is established between the virtual operator and a user, and the session key is sent to the user via the second secure channel upon successful user authentication. The mobile terminal accesses the WLAN using the session key.

The current wireless local area network (WLAN) Authentication, Authorization, Accounting (AAA) solutions do not provide adequate support for WLAN operators to maintain business relationships with multiple virtual operators, and in particular, with respect to management of session keys used for WLAN access. Failure to properly control and mange the session keys could result in potential security and management problems.
WLANs are increasingly being deployed in hot spots such as hotels, airports and cafés. A sound and efficient AAA (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) solution would be of great importance for enabling secure public wireless LAN access. In particular, such an AAA solution should be able to support a virtual operator concept in which third party providers such as ISPs, cellular operators and pre-paid card providers offer AAA services to the public WLANs and the wireless users. This way, wireless users do not have to open an account or pay by credit each time they go to a different hot spot; instead, they can use existing ISP accounts, cellular accounts or a pre-paid card purchased anywhere to gain access to the public WLAN. This could significantly increase the business opportunities for the WLAN operators as well as third party virtual operators. However, the current wireless LAN access solutions are all designed for local set-ups such as a corporate environment in which only a single authentication server is used. For example, the IEEE 802.11 standard body chooses IEEE 802.1x as the solution for WLAN access control, and the current usage models use authentication servers to control session key assignments. While this is sufficient for a corporate environment or the like, it is certainly problematic in a public hot spot where multiple authentication servers belonging to different business entities may coexist. It is very difficult, if at all possible, for these authentication servers to coordinate key assignments for an access point.
Current key distributions will now be described. In one scenario, a mobile user in a public WLAN hot spot does not have a prior trust relationship with the WLAN access point. The user intends to use a third party service provider (e.g. an Internet service provider (ISP)) as a trust bridging entity. A service provider may be referred to as a virtual operator. The user maintains an account with this virtual operator, which has a business relationship with the WLAN operator. Because the user has an established trust relationship with the virtual operator, she is able to authenticate herself with the virtual operator in a secure manner. The virtual operator then securely transmits a session key to the user as well as the WLAN access point (because the virtual operator also has a trust relationship with the WLAN). Because of this shared session key, the wireless LAN then knows that the user is authorized to access the network and thus grants access to the user. Note that in this scheme, the virtual operator assigns the session key since it has a trust relationship with both the user and the WLAN.
The session key is used for local access and should be local to the WLAN access point, e.g., assigned and maintained by the access point. When multiple virtual operators are present, the above mentioned key management scheme is problematic in at least two areas. First, for the virtual operator, it is often problematic to assign and manage session keys for tens of thousands of access points belonging to different entities, that is, to accommodate different encryption algorithms and key lengths for different types of access points. Secondly, for the access point, it may be difficult to make sure that multiple virtual operators assign session keys in a consistent manner, e.g. it has to make sure two users are not using the same key assigned by two different virtual operators at the same time.
A key difficulty is that the access point does not share a secret with the wireless user, thus it is not secure to directly send a session key from the access point to the user. In one solution to this problem is that the virtual operator notifies the access point (AP) about the user's public key upon successful user authentication. The AP then encrypts the session key using the user's public key and then sends the result to the user. Since only that specific user is able to decrypt the session key using her corresponding private key, the session key can be securely established between the AP and the wireless user. However, this scheme requires the use of public/private keys, which may not be compatible with the actual authentication methods between the wireless user and the authentication server. It is likely that the user has to maintain two different types of keys (private key for decrypting session key and password type of key for authenticating with the authentication server). This not only increases the client software complexity, but also increases the difficulty in securely maintaining keys. Further, this scheme does not work with IEEE 802.1x, which is becoming a standard in WLAN security.
Therefore, a need exists for a solution in which keys are locally assigned and managed by an access point, yet wireless users are able to securely obtain session keys without a prior trust relationship with the access point.

Session key management for public wireless LAN supporting multiple virtual operators


An ink-jet head comprises a reservoir unit that includes an ink reservoir. The reservoir unit includes an introduction passage that connects an ink introduction port and an inflow port facing the ink reservoir, and a filter that extends within the introduction passage. The introduction passage has such a configuration that, on both sides of the filter, ink can flow along the filter toward the inflow port. An ink non-passing area is formed within the reservoir unit. The ink non-passing area extends continuously, from at least a part of an area on a plane of the filter opposed to the inflow port, in a direction away from the inflow port.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet head that ejects ink onto a record medium to thereby conduct a recording.
2. Description of Related Art
An ink-jet head is applicable to a recording apparatus such as printers and facsimile machines, etc. The ink-jet head comprises a plurality of nozzles, pressure chambers that communicate with the respective nozzles, an actuator that selectively applies ejection energy to ink contained in the pressure chambers, and the like. Ink is supplied from an ink supply source such as an ink tank, and then distributed among the respective pressure chambers. Upon driving of the actuator, the ink is ejected from the nozzles that communicate with the pressure chambers. According to one of known techniques, this type of ink-jet head comprises, for the purpose of stable ink supply to the pressure chambers, a reservoir that stores ink having supplied from the ink supply source and supplies the ink directly to the respective pressure chambers (see Japanese Published Unexamined Application No. Hei 6-255101).
In the aforementioned technique, the reservoir is provided with a filter that serves to remove foreign materials from ink, so that ink having no foreign materials can be supplied to the pressure chambers, without causing a clogging of the nozzles. However, since the filter blocks out air bubbles as well as foreign materials contained in the ink, the air bubbles stay on the filter, and growth of the air bubbles may cause a change in passage resistance of ink. When the passage resistance changes, ink ejection performance becomes unstable and therefore good image recordings cannot be performed. When the reservoir, even without any filter formed therein, includes a region where ink flows less smoothly, air bubbles stay within the region to cause unstable ejection performance.


In a base station providing a large-distance service area (large area) such as a mobile communication system WLL of the CDMA method, the time required for performing call search (path search) is reduced so as to reduce the call connection time. When performing a path search in the base station (8), a predetermined offset value from a reference time is set so that path search is performed only in a doughnut-shaped service area (30). Thus, there is no need of performing path search in the vicinity of the base station (8) and search is performed only in the doughnut-shaped service area (30). Thus, it is possible to reduce the path search time and reduce the call connection time.

There is a mobile communication system employing the CDMA system. In this kind of communication system, as shown in FIG. 1, a base-station wireless apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a base station) 8 provides CDMA communication service, which ideally has a service area concentrically extending around the centrally located base station 8 as shown in FIG. 1(a) by ordinary. Since this is always the same regardless of the size of the service area, a long-distance service area also concentrically extends as shown in FIG. 1(b) in the same manner as (a).
As shown in FIG. 2, since the base station 8 always searches the service area for a calling party (a person who telephones by radio) as rippling out from the center to the circumference that is the end of the service area, the base station 8 takes a longer time (call connection time) to search for the calling party as the service area that covers the circle becomes large.

Base station and call search method used for the same


Disk drives with a Channel System and Write Driver Preamp architecture that dynamically adjusts the write driver's signal wave-shape depending on the write data signal pattern are described. The wave-shape control signal is generated in the Channel and transmitted to the Write Driver Preamp. Embodiments of the invention provide discrete n-level overshoot amplitude control using amplitude-level modulated (AML) signal. One embodiment implements a look-ahead strategy overshoot amplitude control where the overshoot amplitude for each transition depends only on the subsequent (following) bits in the data stream and not on any previously recorded data.

A prior art disk drive 10, see FIG. 1, typically includes a main integrated circuit, which is typically called a system on a chip (SOC) 11 that contains many of the electronics and firmware for the drive including the read/write channel system 31. Each disk (not shown) can have thin film magnetic material on each of the planar surfaces. Each disk surface normally has a dedicated pair of read and write heads packaged in a slider 13 that also includes fly-height control components. The sliders are mechanically mounted on an actuator (not shown) with various flexible components to allow appropriate degrees of movement during operation. Each slider is a sub-component of a head gimbal assembly (HGA) that typically includes a suspension assembly with a laminated flexure with copper traces to carry the electrical signals to and from the heads. The read and write heads (sensors) heads and associated connections are conventionally formed using thin film lithographic patterning in which a series of thin films deposited and patterned on the trailing surface slider.
The sliders are selectively positioned over tracks on the rotating disk by the actuator (not shown). The actuator also supports the electrical connections to the slider components and contain the arm electronics (AE) chip 12 which typically include preamplifiers (preamps) for the read heads, write drivers and fly-height controls. The number of signal lines that can be connected between the Channel 31 and AE 12 is relatively small because of the space limitations; therefore, improvements that do not require additional signal lines are preferred.
Unless otherwise noted, the term actuator will be used herein to include all of the mechanical and electrical components that are required for the sliders to function. A flex cable (not shown) connects the SOC 11 to the AE 12. The AE typically include digital and analog circuitry that control the signals sent to components in the slider and processes the signals received from the slider components. The write driver preamp 18 generates an analog current signal that is applied to the inductive coil in the write head 15 to write data by selectively magnetizing portions of the magnetic material on the surface of the rotating disk and creating magnetic transitions. An adjacent pair of magnetic transitions is generally called a dibit.
Current-mode logic (CML) is a digital input/output (I/O) interfacing logic scheme typically used between the channel and the write driver preamp. CML is a differential logic family that is used to transmit serial data to the write driver preamp to produce the pre-programmed wave shape at the write driver's output. The write driver's signal is then applied to the write transducer that writes the data to the disk media.
The control of the shape and amplitude of the current signal that is applied to the inductive coil in the write head 15 by the write driver preamp 18 is critical for optimizing the recording performance. Conventionally disk drives use write current overshoot amplitude (OSA) control to ensure that the write current reaches a peak value before the next magnetic transition. Write pre-compensation circuits are also used to compensate for non-linear bit shift caused by closely spaced transitions. An efficient magnetic field is particularly important when writing a relatively long magnetic section (called a long magnet) on a data track. A long magnet is an area of a track that is magnetized in one direction with a relatively long spacing between transitions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,826,003 to Subrahmanyam (Nov. 30, 2004) describes a disk drive with a pattern dependent overshoot circuit for controlling write current overshoot. Predetermined patterns in the write data cause adjustments to the write current overshoot amplitude (OSA).
Disk storage areal densities continue to increase, which results in narrower data track pitches. Portions of previously written adjacent tracks can degrade as repeated writes to the same track can create interference/erasure on the adjacent tracks. FIG. 2 illustrates the adjacent tracks erasure problem for repeatedly written tracks on disk 20. The adjacent tracks next to the track where write head pole 21 is positioned are subject to erasure from the field that extends beyond the width of the target track. In addition the shields in the slider can also cause stray magnetic fields which place nearby tracks at risk of being inadvertently erased. The read head sensor is positioned between two shields 22. These shields 22 can also result in erasure at track positions that are relatively far from the track where the write head pole 21 is positioned. Similarly the write-around shield (WAS) can cause erasure at track positions other than the immediately adjacent track.
Test measurements have shown that adjacent and nearby by track erasure varies with the write data's frequency and/or pattern. Embodiments of the present invention address the problem of track erasure dependence on written data frequency and/or pattern. A timing circuit has been described in the prior art to address the problem of track erasure in a similar application, but in that case the peak current for a particular magnetic transition could only be adjusted depending on the previous bits (i.e., a look-back algorithm). However, this look-back strategy cannot be used to, for example, adjust the overshoot current of the first transition within a dibit or the first transition preceding a long magnet, both of which have historically been problematic.

Disk drive with channel and preamp with dynamic write-current control for write head


Disclosed are an anti-angiogenic compound, represented by Chemical Formula I, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, a preparation method thereof, and a pharmaceutically acceptable composition including the same. Because the compound of Chemical Formula I potently suppresses the angiogenesis, the compound of Chemical Formula I is applicable to the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by aberrant activity of vascular endothelial growth factor, and available as an anti-angiogenic agent.

In spite of extensive worldwide studies conducted on cancer, it is in practice difficult to cure cancer because of the diversity of cancer itself and the variable pathogenic mechanisms of cancer. There have been incessant attempts made to develop new anti-cancer agents that can overcome the problem with chemoresistance without causing side effects. However, pertinent, efficient drugs still remain in need of development.
The growth of a tumor is incapacitated without the formation of new vessels which supports the growth. As a tumor grows, it rapidly outgrows its blood supply, becoming oxygen insufficient therein. This tumor hypoxia leads to tumor necrosis. In addition, tumor vasculature is destroyed by the pressure of the tumor itself, aggravating the hypoxia. To detour the problem therewith, a tumor expresses proteins necessary for the formation of new vessels to encourage angiogenesis therefore.
So far, much research into the formation of new vessels has resulted in the appearance of various factors involved in angiogenesis or neovascularization, including angiogenic factors, such as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), bFGF (basic fibroblast growth factor), HGF (hepatocyte growth factor), EGF (epithelial growth factor), and angiopoietin, angiogenic factor receptors with tyrosine kinase activity, such as FGFR (fibroblast growth factor receptor), Flk-1/KDR, Flt-1, Flt-3, Tie-1, Tie-2/Tek, and Eph, and endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors, such as angiostatin and endostatin, giving an insight into relationship between angiogenesis or neovascularization and human diseases as well as the mechanism of angiogenesis and neovascularization, and suggesting various methods for regulating angiogenesis. Inter alia, VEGF has aroused a great interest as a target for the selective inhibition of angiogenesis because it is found to have a close correlation with cancer progression and cure rate and its receptor Flk-1/KDR is expressed on endothelial cells with high specificity.
With regard to the relationship between cancer and vessel formation, it was first hypothesized in 1971 by Dr. Folkman that angiogenesis would play an essential role in tumor growth (J. Folkman, Tumor Angiogenesis: Therapeutic Implications. New England Journal of Medicine, 285, 1182-1186, 1971). Since the report on the selective inhibitory effect of fumagillin, a complex biomolecule from a microbial organism, on angiogenesis in 1990, keen attention has been paid to anti-angiogenic agents as therapeutics for cancer (D. Ingber, T. Fujita, et al. Synthetic analogues of fumagillin that inhibit angiogenesis and suppress tumor growth. Nature, 348, 555-557, 1990). In addition, endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors, such as angiostatin (M. S. O'Reilly, L. Holmgren, Y. Shing, C. Chen, R. A. Rosenthal, M. Moses, W. S. Lane, Y. Cao, E. H. Sago and J. Forkman., Angiostatin: a novel angiogenesis inhibitor that mediates the suppression of metastases by a Lewis Lung Carcinoma, Cell, 79, 315-328, 1994), and endostatin (M. S. O'Reilly, T. Boehm, C. Chen, et al., Endostatin: an endogenous inhibitor of angiogenesis and tumor growth. Cell, 88, 277-285, 1997) have recently been verified to have potent anticancer activity in animal models, attracting great attention to the use thereof as anticancer agents.
Moreover, angiogenesis inhibitors have advantages as anticancer agents over other anticancer agents in the following aspects: because angiogenesis is essential for the growth and metastasis of cancer, an angiogenesis inhibitor can block cancer growth and metastasis, simultaneously; and an angiogenesis inhibitor targets normal diploid vascular endothelial cells rather than aneuploid, cancer cells, entailing no problems with resistance attributed to the heterogeneity and genetic instability of cancer cells; an angiogenesis inhibitor can exert inhibitory activity against any kind of cancers for the growth of which angiogenesis is indispensible while other anticancer agents show a narrow therapeutic spectrum of specific or several cancers; and since angiogenesis is rare in adults, except for several cases, such as wound healing, menstruation, etc., side effects incurred by other anticancer agents would be greatly reduced upon the use of an angiogenesis inhibitor.
In addition to involvement in the growth and metastasis of cancer, angiogenesis is a direct cause of various angiogenic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (Kwon, Ho-Jung, Journal of the Korean Endocrine Society, Vol 16, No. 3, 2001), diabetic retinopathy (Kwoak, No-Hoon, Journal of the Korean Endocrine Society, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2001), ophthalmic diseases such as keratitis, hyperemia, macular degeneration, choroidal neovascularization, and neovascular glaucoma (Y S Kwon, H S Hong, J C Kim, J S Shin, Y S Son. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. February 2005 vol. 46 no. 2 454-460), and corneal neovascularization (Kim, J. H., Lee J. Y., Chung S. K., and Joo C. K. Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society, Vol. 40, No. 3, 662-666), psoriasis (D. Creamer, D. Sullivan, R. Bicknell and J. Barker. Angiogenesis Volume 5, Number 4, 231-236), hemangiomas, which may cause the blockage of the airway in lung, threatening life (Birgit M. Kraling et al. American Journal of Pathology, Vol. 148, No. 4, April 1996), and obesity, and thus is expected to be usefully applicable to the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with vascular proliferation as well as cancer.

Compound having angiogenesis inhibitory activity, method for preparing same, and pharmaceutical composition comprising same


A locking device for mounting a heat sink to a CPU mounted on a printed circuit board, includes a back plate mounted below the circuit board and having a plurality of fasteners extending upwardly beyond the circuit board, and a plurality of retainers. Each retainer includes an operating member resting on a heat sink, a locking member extending through the operating member, and a pushing member extending through the locking member. The locking member includes a locking structure extending through the heat sink to engage with one of the fasteners. The pushing member includes a taper bottom portion. The pushing member is downward movable to cause the taper bottom portion to disengage the locking structure from the one of the fasteners.

As computer technology continues to advance, electronic components such as central processing units (CPUs) of computers are made to provide faster operational speed and greater functional capabilities. When a CPU operates at a high speed in a computer enclosure, its temperature increases greatly and dramatically. It is desirable to dissipate the generated heat quickly, for example, by using a heat sink attached to the CPU in the enclosure. This allows the CPU and other electronic components in the enclosure to function within their normal operating temperature ranges, thereby assuring the quality of data management, storage and transfer. Generally, a locking device is required for mounting the heat sink to the CPU.
FIG. 5 shows a conventional locking device for mounting a heat sink 200 to a CPU 600. The CPU 600 is mounted on a printed circiut board 500 which defines mounting holes 502 about the CPU 600. The heat sink 200 forms a pair of extension arms 202 each of which defines a through hole 204 corresponding to one of the mounting holes 502 of the printed circuit board 500. The locking device comprises a pair of push-in pins 300 and a pair of springs 400 installed around the pins 300 respectively. In assembly, the pins 300 are inserted and extend sequentially through the respective springs 400, through holes 204 of the heat sink 200 and mounting holes 502. The bottom ends of the pins 300 are engaged with the printed circuit board 500 below the mounting holes 502. The springs 400 are compressed between the top ends of the pins 300 and the heat sink 200 to thereby exert downward force to the heat sink 200 to cause the heat sink 200 to intimately contact with the CPU 600.
However, it is difficult to detach the push-in pins 300 from the printed circuit board 500 in disassembly. Furthermore, the springs 400 are prone to fatigue after a long time using. As a result, the heat sink 200 is not capable of intimately contacting with the CPU 600 in an acceptably long-used period.

Locking device for heat dissipating device


A method for contour forming in a fiber placement system. The method includes painting multiple sliced layers on a stationary form to create a composite component. The sliced layers include multiple hoop tows. One or more overlap splices are formed in each of the hoop tows. The method includes applying a layup heat to multiple target areas on the sliced layers during the painting. The target areas are spatially arranged to permit a slippage in the splices. The method further includes draping the composite component on a curved tool with the hoop tows oriented perpendicular to an axis of curvature of the curved tool, and applying a curing heat to the composite component after the composite component has been contoured by the curved tool. The curing heat inhibits a further slippage in the overlap splices.

Off-line fiber placement techniques allow a composite skin to be formed independent of a vehicle on which the composite skin is subsequently applied. After forming, the composite skin is picked up, placed in position, and secured to the vehicle. Issues with the off-line fiber placement techniques include a criterion for an off-line layup surface used to form the composite skin to have a similar contour to the final skin, and there is a risk of wrinkles. Layup on contoured tools adds cost to layup machinery, adds costs to tooling, and increases a foot print used in manufacturing. Alternatively, a hot drape form can be used that adds verification complexity and has thickness limitations without incurring significant heating time.

Contour forming in fiber-placement system


A method for serial operation of a motor vehicle with a transmission having a first electric machine, which is operated as a motor for driving the motor vehicle, and a second electric machine, which is operated as a generator, includes, after a generation of a change-over signal, switching the first electric machine from the operation as a motor to the operation as a generator, and switching the second electric machine from the operation as a generator to the operation as a motor in order to drive the motor vehicle.

A multitude of transmissions is known from the prior art, which are installed in motor vehicles and with the aid of which a serial operation of the motor vehicle can be implemented. EP 1 610 038 B1, for example, discloses a dual clutch transmission including a dual clutch and two electric machines. The dual clutch transmission is designed in such a way that a serial operation of the motor vehicle is implementable. In order to implement the serial operation, one electric machine is operated as a motor in order to drive the motor vehicle, while the other electric machine is operated as a generator in order to deliver the necessary electrical energy. DE 10 2006 036 758 A1 discloses a dual clutch transmission including a form-locking dual clutch and two electric machines.
One disadvantage of the transmissions known from the prior art is that the electric machine utilized for driving the motor vehicle is heavily thermally loaded during a serial operation having a slow ground speed and a high driving resistance, such as during travel on an uphill slope. Therefore, a serial operation can be maintained only for a limited time, because the electric machine would otherwise overheat. The other electric machine, which is operated as a generator, is not thermally overloaded, because the rotational speed of the other electric machine is not coupled to the ground speed, but rather to the rotational speed of the internal combustion engine.

Method for a serial driving mode of a motor vehicle


A system and method for continuous decomposition of organic material to produce biogas and compost in which successive reactor zones in a primary reactor are used in turn to receive organic material which is decomposed in situ anaerobically followed by aerobic decomposition and excavation of raw compost from the same reactor zone where it is received into the organic treatment facility. Organic rich liquor recovered during anaerobic decomposition is further decomposed in a secondary reactor from which spent liquor is returned to the primary reactor while biogas harnessed from both the primary and secondary reactors is treated, and optionally used to fuel the operation of the organic treatment facility or for sale as fuel or electricity.

Organic by-products and residues produced from many sources require active management which can range from simple to complex in nature. On the simple end of the scale, agricultural manure and non-commercial forestry residue can be reduced in size and incorporated into the soil as conditioning agents. Much more complexity and cost is associated with the management of organic residues produced in commercial or residential activities such as meal preparation. In general, the closer the organic material comes to the consumer, the more complex and costly the management of organic residue becomes.
The highest standard of care for organic residues is generally associated with management of residential organic waste. The majority of solid organic waste including that from residential, commercial and industrial sources has traditionally been managed by placement in solid waste landfills designed to limit the infiltration of moisture, and limit anaerobic degradation and biogas production. The objective of this management practice has been to minimize environmental impact by leaving the waste materials in place indefinitely. The permanent entombment of waste in landfills has become an increasingly undesirable waste management practice for many reasons, real or perceived, including the following:                Risk of eventual liner failure and/or groundwater contamination        Waste of valuable resources        Potential for gas migration and explosion hazards        Global warming impact        NIMBY (not in my backyard) factor in getting new facilities approved        Lack of land space in some areas        Social pressure to find alternatives to landfill        The permanency of waste placed in a landfill
Nevertheless, society continues to generate organic waste in ever greater quantities, and despite increased interest in "diversion from landfill" initiatives, the economically efficient management of solid waste remains a significant challenge for most communities. During the past twenty years, the diversion of source separated recyclable materials from residential, industrial and commercial generators has become an established component of most communities' waste management systems. The recovery of aluminum, steel, glass, fibre and plastic is now normal practice in many communities and provides valuable raw materials for a wide range of industrial uses. The single largest component of the solid waste stream that has yet to be economically diverted from landfill on a large scale is organic waste. While leaf and yard waste is routinely collected and composted in many communities, household organic waste (primarily food) is not.
Many attempts have been made to develop large scale economically viable in-vessel processing technologies to manage this waste stream but, as yet, these have met with minimal success for a number of reasons including:                The heterogeneity of residential organic waste        The cost to construct and operate        The failure to create a technology that achieves the economies of scale of the landfill and thereby provides an economically viable alternative to landfill. Most technology to date has tried to prepare and process solid and semi-solid organic waste through pipes and vessels using process engineering principles and techniques.        Poor odour control        Difficulty in dealing with the sheer volume of material generated in a community on a daily basis and that requires immediate "treatment".
Incineration with energy recovery has also been used widely, particularly in regions where space is at a premium. Like landfill, incineration is viewed as a "disposal" option (particularly in North America) without resource recovery (although energy is often recovered), is expensive, and because of air emissions, is perceived negatively by many.
In recent years, public and political pressure has led to initiatives to divert the valuable solid and semi-solid organic waste stream away from disposal, whether it be landfill or incineration, and towards compost (aerobic processing) and biogas (anaerobic) production plants. One of the great advantages of the landfill and its bioreactor hybrid is that it is relatively cheap to build and operate compared to the competing technologies.
Within a solid waste landfill both aerobic and anaerobic processes take place. Landfills continue to digest waste and produce landfill biogas gas for years or decades depending on many factors including the size of the fill, nature of the waste, moisture content, site design and local climate. Since the majority of material found in a landfill typically consists of inert materials intermingled with organics, no compost product of any value can be economically recovered. But the landfill tolerates any manner of foreign objects and contamination without adverse effect on the biological processes.
Considerable work is currently being carried out to support the operation of landfills as bioreactors. The bioreactor concept is focused on the accelerated degradation of the organic materials contained in a landfill in order to more quickly stabilize the waste mass, to increase the effective yield of the airspace by reducing the volume of waste through organic degradation and to render the waste left in the landfill relatively inert following landfill closure. However, the bioreactor is a landfill because waste remains in place following closure.
Aerobic composting is normally carried out either in open air windrows (e.g. leaf and yard waste) or in simple channel reactors inside a building (food waste) followed by final curing in windrows. It is less complex and less costly per unit weight processed than anaerobic digestion. It is also relatively tolerant of foreign matter in the feedstock. However, because the process is comparatively slow, it requires a substantial amount of space per unit weight of material treated compared to anaerobic digestion, and no energy recovery is possible.
In-vessel anaerobic digestion is very efficient at killing pathogens, is capable of producing valuable energy, is relatively rapid and uses less time and energy per unit weight processed than aerobic composting. On the other hand it tends to produce very powerful odours which need to be contained and treated. This in turn means the process has to be conducted in an enclosed building and in sealed vessels with elaborate odour control systems. Because of the greater degree of technical sophistication, the process is costly both to build and to operate. Also, relatively minor amounts of foreign matter in the feed can damage the plant and restrict its throughput, further increasing costs.
However, in-vessel anaerobic digestion is a proven technology in the treatment of organic materials including wastes such as sewage, animal waste and food processing waste. Typically, the technology is applied in a process plant environment where the organic feedstock is moved through a processing plant, usually as a liquid but sometimes as a solid and, because of this, a high degree of control of process parameters such as feedstock quality and chemical composition, viscosity, temperature, Carbon/Nitrogen (C:N) ratio, pH, reactor retention times, flow rates etc. is necessary to provide effective treatment. In this type of operating environment, it is critical that the control parameters are maintained within narrow operating ranges. There are many technologies commercially available to anaerobically treat organic liquid or solid materials within the plant processing model where the material is moved through a series of pipes and vessels in order to complete the process. Because the material is being processed through pumps, pipes and vessels of relatively low capacities, control of process parameters including retention times are critical for treatment and economic success. However, solid organic waste as it is generated from municipal source separated organic waste collection programs for example, can be a very heterogeneous feedstock, and consequently difficult to economically process through this type of plant.
A unique feature of this invention is that it eliminates the movement of the organic feedstock through pipes and vessels (with vessel retention times measured in the "hours-to-days" operating range) and instead places the organic feedstock in a large reusable engineered containment structure where it remains through a sequence of anaerobic-aerobic treatment environments until treatment is complete. In this invention, the organic material remains stationary, and the treatment process moves. As a result the retention time in the reactor is measured in the "months-to-years" range and thereby eliminates one of the key production challenges of the processing plant "pipe and vessel" approach. This invention incorporates the economies of scale and proven anaerobic degradation processes that occur in the landfill/bioreactor with the continuous treatment capability of the anaerobic and aerobic processing plant approach. With this invention, the constructed containment capacity is not sacrificed as it is in the landfill/bioreactor, but is available for repeated reuse as it is in the processing plant environment.
In the patent literature Ham et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,580, issued Nov. 16, 1999 describes a method of improving conventional landcharging techniques wherein the waste to be landcharged is comminuted to yield homogeneously-sized waste particles, mixed with liquid and then placed into a sanitary containment site with a leachate and gas collection system such that moisture is distributed uniformly throughout the waste mass. Leachate is recirculated to accelerate the anaerobic degradation processes, thereby maximizing the production of landfill gasses and accelerating the stabilization of the site within years instead of decades to reduce environmental impact and enhance landfill gas production. However, no useable compost is recovered from the bioreactor and its constructed containment structure cannot be reused since the treated waste remains in place.
Hudgins et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,572, issued Apr. 2, 2002, describes an aerobic landfill bioreactor whereby decomposing municipal solid waste in the landfill is aerobically degraded using various techniques to inject air and by recirculating the leachate to achieve certain moisture levels and temperatures. An objective of this invention is to prevent the generation of landfill gas and so energy recovery is not possible.
Layton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,929, issued Nov. 19, 2002 also describes a method for the accelerated and enhanced aerobic bioreduction of municipal solid waste within the landfill by the use of a novel moisture and air injection system followed by the optional excavation of the landfill cell materials for separation into usable compost materials, and reclamation of recyclable plastic, metal and glass. Because this process does not allow anaerobic digestion to occur, landfill gas recovery is not contemplated, nor is the continuous reuse of the constructed containment structure that is the landfill considered.
Pliny Fisk, U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,394 issued Oct. 7, 1977 describes a process to treat sewage that begins with an anaerobic stage followed by an aerobic stage and final curing. While the patent incorporates an anaerobic-aerobic treatment sequence, it is provided through a complex material handling and processing plant, does not contemplate the processing of solid material of any type and does not incorporate energy recovery.
Hater et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,676 issued Sep. 4, 2001 describes a sequential aerobic-anaerobic solid waste landfill operation whereby as the landfill is constructed in vertical lifts, systems for the removal and re-circulation of liquids and gases are installed to accelerate anaerobic and/or aerobic degradation of the municipal solid waste in order to increase landfill capacity. This patent does not provide for the removal of stabilized materials and the reuse of the containment structure.
An objective of this invention is to efficiently convert solid and semi-solid organic material, potentially supplemented by liquid organic material and/or water into two valuable products: energy and soil conditioners by combining several proven unit operations including feedstock preparation, anaerobic digestion, aerobic composting, biogas recovery and conversion to power, excavation and product finishing.

System for the production of biogas and compost from organic materials and method of operating an organic treatment facility


A method of manufacturing methylidene-group-containing .alpha.,.omega.-unsaturated oligomers from .alpha.,.omega.-diolefins in the presence of a catalytic amount of organoaluminum compounds, wherein the .alpha.,.omega.-diolefins are reacted in the liquid phase, at 150.degree.-350.degree. C., and the organoaluminum compounds have formula AlX.sub.3 or AlX.sub.2 H, where X represents an aliphatic, alicyclic, or aromatic hydrocarbon group with 1-30 C atoms. The higher molecular weight hydrocarbons manufactured according to this method are substantially linear oligomers which contain reactive double bonds.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing methylidene-group-containing .alpha.,.omega.-unsaturated oligomers from .alpha.,.omega.-diolefins in the presence of organoaluminum compounds as catalysts, and to compositions produced by this method.
2. Discussion of the Background
It is known that .alpha.-olefins when heated with catalytic amounts of trialkylaluminums or dialkylaluminum hydrides react to form mixtures containing a predominance of .beta.-branched .alpha.-olefins having twice the number of carbon atoms compared with the initial olefin. For example, the main product in the dimerization of propene is 2-methyl-1-pentene and the main product in the dimerization of 1-butene is 2-ethyl-1-hexene (see German Pats. 878,560 and 925,291; also 629 Liebigs Ann. Chem. 121-166 (1960)).
When the above reaction is employed with hydrocarbons having two terminal vinyl groups (.alpha.,.omega.-diolefins), the principal products isolated are cyclic. Thus, butadiene results in a mixture of methyldimethylenecyclopentanes (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,356,704 and 3,391,209; 1969 J. Org. Chem., 34, 1931-1935), and 1,5-hexadiene and 1,6-heptadiene are cyclized to methylenecyclopentane and methylenecyclohexane, respectively (70 Angew. Chem. 862-863 (1967) ; 1976 Tetrahed. Lett., 1257-1258). The same observation was made in studies of bis-hydroalumination of .alpha.,.omega.-diolefins (28 J. Org. Chem. 3237-3238 (1963)). There was only parenthetic mention of the production of small amounts of higher homologs from the .alpha.,.omega.-diolefins, which was not the stated purpose of the synthesis. Methods of manufacturing polymeric hydrocarbons starting with .alpha.,.omega.-diolefins and using organoaluminum compounds as catalysts are not known.

Method of manufacturing methylidene-group-containing .alpha.,.omega.-unsaturated oligomers from .alpha.,.omega.-diolefins in the presence of organoaluminum compounds as catalysts


Aerial vehicles may be equipped with collapsible lift propellers and thrust propellers. The collapsible lift propellers may include retractable tips that may pivot or rotate from a first orientation substantially co-aligned with a main body of the collapsible lift propellers during ordinary operations and a second orientation substantially transverse to the main body of the collapsible lift propellers when rotation of the collapsible lift propellers is stopped. The collapsible lift propellers may further include biasing elements, e.g., springs for biasing the retractable tips into the second orientation, and mechanical stops for inhibiting the pivoting or rotation of the retractable tips beyond the first orientation.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles such as helicopters having two or more propellers is increasingly common. Such vehicles, which may include quad-copters (e.g., a helicopter having four rotatable propellers), octo-copters (e.g., a helicopter having eight rotatable propellers), or other vertical take-off and landing (or VTOL) aircraft having two or more propellers.
The availability of excess lift is most essential during take-off and landing evolutions of an unmanned aerial vehicle. Precision control of altitude is critical when an unmanned aerial vehicle attempts to take off from or land at a given location, in order to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to avoid any surrounding objects, structures, animals (e.g., humans) or other unmanned aerial vehicles that may be located nearby when taking off or landing. Accordingly, multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles are commonly equipped with greater lift capacity than is commonly utilized during most transiting operations, such that excess lift is available when needed, primarily in take-offs or landings.
In order to conserve onboard electrical power when excess lift is not desired, rotation of one or more propellers of a unmanned aerial vehicle may be shut down when the unmanned aerial vehicle is transiting, or in a thrust mode, such as after the unmanned aerial vehicle has successfully taken off, and recommenced when the unmanned aerial vehicle prepares to land at a given location. For example, an unmanned aerial vehicle may feature sets of thrust propellers and lift propellers. When a maximum amount of lift is desired, both the thrust propellers and the lift propellers may be operated. When the maximum amount of lift is no longer desired, however, the operation of the lift propellers may be stopped, thereby reducing the amount of electrical power consumed during operations. A propeller that is provided on an operating unmanned aerial vehicle and is at rest may create undesirable drag and restrict the stability of the unmanned aerial vehicle during transiting operations.


An unloading system for a grain bin. The unloading system includes a sweep conveyor for sweeping grain from the interior of the grain bin to a well in the floor of the grain bin. The sweep conveyor includes an elongated frame, a first sprocket at one end of the frame, a second sprocket at the other end of the frame, an endless chain extending between the first and second sprockets, a plurality of spaced apart paddles attached to the chain, and a motor for causing the chain to rotate whereby the paddles will drag or sweep grain to the well in the floor of the grain bin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a system for unloading grain from a grain bin.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Systems for unloading grain bins typically include a discharge auger positioned under the floor of the grain bin for conveying grain from a well or sump in the floor of the grain bin to a discharge point outside the grain bin. The grain falls by gravity into the well into the discharge auger. Once the level of grain falls below a certain level, it will no longer fall through the well by gravity. Workers will then have to enter the grain bin and either manually sweep or shovel grain into the well or use a sweep auger positioned above the floor of the grain bin for mechanically conveying grain into the well. The following patents appear to be relevant to the present invention: Harrison, U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,816, issued Feb. 22, 1977; Siemens, U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,318, issued Dec. 1, 1992; and Weikel, U.S; Pat. No. 6,039,647, issued Mar. 21, 2000.
Nothing in the known prior art, either singly or in combination, discloses or suggests the present invention. More specifically, nothing in the prior art discloses or suggests an unloading system including an elongated frame for position on the grain supported on the floor of a grain bin, the frame having a first end and a second end, the first end of the frame being position adjacent a well in the floor of the grain bin; a first wheel rotatably attached to the frame adjacent the first end of the frame; a second wheel rotatably attached to the frame adjacent the second end of the frame; a belt passing about the first and second wheels; a plurality of spaced apart paddles attached to the belt; and power means for rotating one of the wheels to cause the belt to rotate about the first and second wheels and cause the paddles to sweep grain from the floor of the grain bin to the well of the grain bin.
The basic concept of the present invention is to provide a drag chain-type unloading system for unloading grain from the interior of a grain bin.
The unloading system of the present invention includes an elongated frame for position on the grain supported on the floor of a grain bin, the frame having a first end and a second end, the first end of the frame being positioned adjacent a well in the floor of the grain bin; a first wheel rotatably attached to the frame adjacent the first end of the frame; a second wheel rotatably attached to the frame adjacent the second end of the frame; a belt passing about the first and second wheels; a plurality of spaced apart paddles attached to the belt; and power means for rotating one of the wheels to cause the belt to rotate about the first and second wheels and cause the paddles to sweep grain from the floor of the grain bin to the well of the grain bin.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a safe, efficient unloading system for unloading that portion of grain stored within a grain bin that will not fall by gravity into the unloading well.


A blood separation composition for use in blood collection tubes. The composition comprises a fatty acid amide(s) blended with a gel-like material which is the main ingredient of said composition. The amide(s) render(s) stable and less flowable the blood separation composition during storage, allowing it to form a stable partition barrier in each collection tube when centrifuged, with the blood cells above the barrier being prevented from remaining within the serum. The blood separation composition containing the fatty acid amide(s) does not release any harmful oily substance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blood component-separating composition (hereinafter referred to as "blood separation composition") which is employed in a centrifugal separation method to separate serum or plasma from whole blood, wherein the difference in specific gravity between them is utilized.
2. Prior Art
Many kinds of blood separation compositions which have been proposed are useful in the centrifugal method of blood separation. Those prior art separation compositions contain as their main ingredient a gel-like material such as silicone oil, a chlorinated polybutene, an acrylic polymer or a copolymer of an .alpha.-olefin and a diester of maleic acid. Typical additives blended with the main ingredient are a thixotropic agent for enhancing important properties of the gel-like material; and an inorganic substance. The thixotropic agent causes the gel-like material not to flow within the blood collection tubes but to stay on the bottom of the tubes while being transported. When centrifugal force is applied to the collection tubes filled with blood, the gel-like material moves upwards and forms a partition barrier between the serum (or plasma) and the clot. The thixotropic agent also enhances the strength and stability of the partition barrier. On the other hand, an inorganic substance such as titanium dioxide and calcium carbonate is blended with the gel-like material so as to adjust its specific gravity.
The molecules of the thixotropic agents in the prior art blood separation compositions generally have functional groups capable of forming hydrogen bonds. The thixotropic agents are thus either inorganic fine powders such as silica and clay, or organic gelling agents.
There are observed many disadvantages inherent in the prior art thixotropic agents, as summarized below. The inorganic powder such as silica has a specific density which is too high compared with that of the gel-like material used as the main ingredient. If the inorganic powder is blended at a content sufficient to realize a required level of viscosity, then the specific gravity of the blood separation means will often rise above a desirable range of 1.035 to 1.060. On the contrary, adjustment of the specific gravity to fall within this range will be accompanied by an undesirably low viscosity. Thus, it has been difficult to meet the requirement of specific gravity concurrently with the requirement of viscosity. It is another problem that, due to the high specific gravity of the inorganic powder, the actual specific gravity of the blood separation means cannot be kept at a constant level but varies among production lots thereof and over the course of time. In addition, poor compatibility of a rich content of inorganic powder with the gel-like material will cause some fractions of the separation composition to be dispersed in the serum phase (or plasma phase), forming an oily substance which floats therein. Such floating particles are likely to clog the nozzles in an automatic analyzer. Further, because of insufficient strength of the partition barrier, perfect centrifugal isolation of the serum (or plasma) from the clot is not ensured. A number of blood cells will remain in the serum phase above the partition, thus impairing the separation accuracy.
In a case wherein the thixotropic agent added to the blood separation composition is an organic gelling agent, for example, a sorbitol-aromatic aldehyde condensation product, a very low content suffices for a desired level of thixotropy. The extremely low content however brings about inevitably a large variation of viscosity between production lots of said separation composition. The use of such a blood separation composition forms an unstable partition barrier. Moreover, the intermoleoular attraction of such an organic gelling agent becomes intensive during the course of time to such a degree as to increase the minimum shear stress for solation of the separation composition. This means poor stability during storage, and the blood separation composition after being stored for a long time will not smoothly rise (or "ascent") within the centrifuged collection tube, thus lowering its separation capability.


A telecommunications system includes an infosphere having a mobile telephone. A first telecommunications device may request to be added to the infosphere by sending a request to a registry server. In response to the request, the registry server adds the first telecommunications device to the infosphere by creating a network address for the first telecommunications device, the network address being related to the telephone number of the mobile telephone. In some embodiments of the telecommunications system, the registry server may require authorization from a second telecommunications device in the infosphere before adding the first telecommunications device to the infosphere.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to telecommunications, and more particularly, to systems and techniques that allow a user on one telecommunications device to access another telecommunications device.
2. Background
Recent advances in technology has drastically increased the commercialization of consumer telecommunication devices. Today, most consumers of telecommunication products own, in addition to a mobile telephone, a plethora of Internet devices. These Internet devices may include, by way of example, a personal and laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a telephony device, a game console, a digital camera, and media devices, just to name a few. As consumers begin to rely more and more on these telecommunication devices to support their daily activities, it becomes increasingly more important to provide users with a simple, convenient and efficient means to access these devices.
Currently, a new generation of mobile telephones exist that provide Internet access. A user simply launches a program that connects the mobile telephone to the Internet and then enters the Internet protocol (IP) address of the Internet device that the user seeks to access. This approach, however, is not limited to mobile telephones. A user on an Internet device, such as a computer, may access any one of his Internet devices using the same approach. In theory, this approach works well. However, as the number of Internet devices that a user needs to access expands, it becomes increasingly more difficult for a user to remember the IP address for each device. Moreover, many Internet devices do not have a permanent IP address, but rather a dynamic IP address that changes with each new Internet session. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a more efficient methodology for accessing the various Internet devices of a user.

Accessing telecommunication devices using mobile telephone numbers


An electronic key card lock has a card reader having both card reading electronics and a visual interface integrated into a single unit. Portions of the card reader are made from a light transmitting material that act as both a physical guide for the card and a lens that can distribute light toward the outside of the lock. The light transmitting material houses the card reading electronics and also surrounds a slot that accommodates the key card. A slot in a trim panel of the lock exposes a slot and the front edge of the card reader. When a key card is inserted into the slot of the card reader, one or more light sources in the card reader illuminate to reflect whether the inserted card can open the lock. The light transmitting material distributes the light from the light source so that the front edge of the card reader around the card reader slot is evenly illuminated.

Door locks used in hotels often use electronic key cards rather than normal mechanical keys to control operation of a lock. Electronic key cards and electronic locks are easily programmable and therefore provide added security in a convenient manner. Unlike mechanical keys and locks, however, electronic key cards and electronic locks do not provide any physical feedback to the user to alert the user as to whether the card is inserted correctly into the lock or whether the key card is correctly programmed to open the lock.
To aid the user, electronic locks provide visual feedback in the form of indicator lights that illuminate in response to card insertion and/or removal. Depending on the desired visual effect, one or more lights can be programmed to, for example, illuminate a green light if the inserted card opens the lock and a red light if the card is inserted incorrectly or if the card is not programmed to open that particular lock.
The indicator lights in currently known electronic locks act as a visual interface that is separate from the card slot and its associated mechanisms. The card slot is visible through a slot cut in a trim panel of the electronic lock, and the indicator lights are visible and accessible via a separate plurality of holes cut in the trim panel. The indicator lights themselves are often LEDs that either extend through their corresponding holes or illuminate behind translucent or transparent lenses disposed in the holes.
Cutting the holes in addition to the card slot in the trim panel increase the overall cost of the manufacturing the lock. If lenses are used, they add yet another level of cost and complexity to the lock. Moreover, the additional holes needed to provide the visual interface create additional entry points that allow environmental contaminants (e.g., passing air, moisture, etc.) to reach the electronic components of the lock, potentially hastening degradation of the components. These holes may also act as an additional entry point that may be used in attempts to breach the electronic lock.
There is a desire to provide an illuminated visual interface for an electronic lock that accommodates key cards while reducing the number of openings in the lock trim panel that such an interface would normally require.