The level of a storage capacitor line changes between two types, an H level and an L level. As a result of this change, the voltage applied to a liquid crystal is shifted so that a sufficient voltage is applied to the liquid crystal to perform a display operation. Then, by changing the voltage value of the difference between a first level and a second level, the contrast and screen brightness are adjusted. Furthermore, the capacitances generated at the locations where the two storage capacitor lines and the data line intersect are set to be substantially the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device having display circuits arranged in a matrix configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, liquid crystal display devices are known as low power consumption display devices that can assume a thinner and more lightweight form and are employed in various types of equipment as display devices. Liquid crystal display devices (hereinafter referred to as LCD) have two substrates with electrodes formed on opposing sides thereof, laminated with liquid crystals injected between them. A display operation is performed by applying a voltage signal across the electrodes to control the alignment of the liquid crystals, the optical characteristics of which change according to the alignment so as to control the transmissivity of light from a light source.
It is well known that when a DC voltage is continuously applied across electrodes formed on opposing surfaces of the substrates, the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules becomes fixed, namely, the problem of screen burn-in occurs. Thus, an AC voltage signal having a polarity that periodically inverts with respect to a reference voltage is conventionally used as the voltage signal for driving the liquid crystals.
Well known methods for inverting the polarity of the liquid crystal driving voltage signal in a liquid crystal display device having a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix configuration are inversion at every frame, inversion at every vertical scan (1V) or field, inversion at every horizontal scan (1H), and inversion at every pixel (dot). A frame unit corresponds to a frame in an NTSC signal, for example, and a field unit corresponds to various units (for example, odd fields and even fields) of a plurality of fields forming one frame.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-150127, the dot inversion method for inverting the polarity in one-pixel (dot) units is preferable among the above-mentioned methods as the adverse effect of inversion on display quality is least likely to appear. However, a problem was that its driving method is likely to become complex.
It should be noted that modifying the voltage of an SC line, which is a line that becomes a base for a storage capacitance, has been proposed in the dot inversion method in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-150127.


Provided is a transmission which eliminates torque loss during gear shift and with which the processing of components can be simplified. An axial force is generated in a protrusion by means of a first portion during gear shift from a low gear to a high gear, and when a low-speed transmission gear and a clutch ring separate from each other, a high speed transmission gear and the clutch ring interlock. Since relative movement of the protrusion in a neutral direction is suppressed by means of a first retaining portion during coasting, gear disengagement whereby the transmission gears and the clutch ring separate from each other can be suppressed. Since the first retaining portion can be formed in a first wall when providing a groove portion, an increase in the component processing workload can be suppressed.

A transmission that has a plurality of transmission gears in which drive gears and driven gears engage each other has been known (Patent Literature 1). In the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a plurality of hubs (clutch cam rings) are fixed to shafts, and clutch rings with clutch teeth are respectively disposed on the outer circumferences of the hubs. Inclining surfaces that incline with respect to the axial direction are formed with respect to each hub, and protrusions that protrude in the radial direction to abut on the inclining surfaces are disposed on each clutch ring. In this transmission, the clutch ring is moved in the axial direction, so that the clutch teeth of the drive gear or the driven gear (the transmission gear) and the clutch teeth of the clutch ring are engaged with each other to perform gear shift. To prevent gear disengagement whereby the clutch ring unintentionally moves in the axial direction, the clutch teeth are provided with surfaces that incline from the tooth ends toward the tooth bases so that the tooth thickness of the tooth bases is smaller than the tooth thickness of the tooth ends.
When the clutch teeth of two clutch rings simultaneously engage the clutch teeth of two transmission gears having different gear ratios during gear shift from a low gear to a high gear, a force in the rotational direction is changed by the inclining surfaces to a force in the axial direction that acts on the protrusions, so that the protrusions of the clutch ring that engages the low-speed transmission gear having the number of rotations lower than that of the high-speed transmission gear are pushed out in the axial direction by internal circulation torque. When the high-speed transmission gear is coupled to the shaft, engagement of the low-speed transmission gear and the clutch ring are released from each other (the high gear is established), so that torque loss during gear shift can be eliminated.


Methods for drying ceramic greenware in a manner that substantially compensates for otherwise non-uniform drying are disclosed. The methods generally include partially drying a piece (22) of greenware such that its end portions (22E) are drier than its middle portion (22C). The method also includes further drying the piece with radio-frequency (RF) radiation (88) generated by an electrode system (130) by conveying the piece through the electrode system. The electrode system has a main planar electrode (131E) with a longitudinal axis (AE), and an electrode concentrator (131C) formed thereon or attached thereto. The electrode concentrator has a central section (140) that runs in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the electrode and is configured so that when the piece is conveyed through the electrode system, the electrode system concentrates more RF radiation at the center portion of the piece than at the end portions of the piece.

As used herein, ceramic greenware, or greenware, refers to bodies comprised of ceramic-forming components that form ceramic bodies when fired at high temperature. The greenware may include ceramic components such as a mixture of various ceramic-forming components and a ceramic component. The various components can be mixed together with a liquid vehicle, such as water, and extruded with a formed shape such as a honeycomb structure. Immediately after extrusion, the greenware contains some water, and typically at least some of the water must be removed and the greenware must be dried prior to firing at high temperature, which forms a refractory material.
In certain instances, the greenware is sometimes not evenly dried. This is particularly true in certain two-step drying process wherein the first drying step causes some drying unevenness and the second step cannot compensate for this unevenness. Uneven drying leads to production losses. There is therefore a need for systems and methods to accomplish uniform (even) drying of extruded ceramic greenware.

Methods for drying ceramic greenware using an electrode concentrator


A miniaturized sensor device comprises at least one pair of active projecting elements or cantilevers, which are set parallel to one another and at a micrometric or sub-micrometric distance apart and are designed to be submerged at least partially in a fluid. Each pair comprises a first cantilever, equipped with actuator means, and a second cantilever, equipped with sensor means. The actuator means can cause a movement of the first cantilever, whilst the sensor means can detect a movement of the second cantilever, induced by the movement of the first cantilever, for generating accordingly a measurable signal, which represents the lubricating capacity of the fluid.

The present invention relates to a miniaturized device for the detection of characteristics of a fluid. The device according to the invention finds advantageous, even though not exclusive, application in the measurement of performance of a lubricating oil, directly on a system or an apparatus that uses the oil itself, such as for example an internal-combustion engine.
By now widely shared is the conviction that only a simultaneous measurement of many parameters enables a satisfactory characterization of the conditions of wear and contamination of a lubricating oil. Amongst said parameters of particular importance is the lubricating capacity of the oil.
In the laboratory, the oils can be conveniently tested using tools dedicated thereto, referred to as tribometers, which are able to measure quantitatively the characteristics of lubricating efficiency of the oils. On systems and apparatuses that use lubricating oils, such as an internal-combustion engine, the characteristics of the oils are instead detected via appropriate sensor devices. Said devices are generally designed to deduce conditions of wear and contamination of the lubricating oils on the basis of the measurement of parameters such as viscosity, temperature, conductivity, opacity, dielectric constant, just to mention the ones most widely taken into consideration.
The patent document No. U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,032 describes a instrument for monitoring a lubricating oil, equipped with supporting means that comprise a basic body, which has a surface of contact that can be submerged in the lubricating oil. Associated to the basic body is a lamina-like element, which can be set in vibration and has a portion of contact that rests on the aforesaid surface of contact. Associated to the lamina-like element are actuator means, designed to cause vibration of the lamina-like element, and sensor means for detecting a vibration of the lamina itself caused by the friction between said portion and the surface of contact to produce an output signal of the sensor. The sensor means and the actuator means are made of piezoelectric material.
The patent document No. EP-A-0 675 355 describes a sensor element for detecting solid particles in a fluid, such as a lubricating oil, comprising a cantilever element of dimensions such as to enable its vibration following upon a collision with a solid particle, and means for converting a vibration of the cantilever element into an electrical signal. The aforesaid means are formed by a film made of piezoelectric material. A possible embodiment envisages the use of a plurality of cantilever elements, a first one of which is used as sensor for detecting the solid particles and a second one of which is used as sensor to obtain a reference parameter necessary for the purposes of the measurement. A third cantilever element can possibly be set in vibration via the respective piezoelectric means (by inverse piezoelectric effect), so as to exploit said vibration for the purposes of detecting the degree of viscosity of the fluid.
Notwithstanding the vast literature on the subject, there has not yet been proposed a miniaturized sensor for monitoring the conditions of lubricating efficiency of a generic fluid, such as an oil.

Miniaturized sensor device for detecting characteristics of a fluid, in particular a lubricating oil


An interposer may include a base substrate supporting an array of conductive lands. The conductive land may have an identical shape and size. The conductive lands may be provided at regular intervals on the base substrate. The conductive land pitch may be determined such that adjacent conductive lands may be electrically connected by one end of an electric connection member. Alternatively, each conductive land may provide respective bonding locations to which ends of two different electric connection members may be bonded. A stacked chip package may include an interposer that may be fabricated by cutting an interposer to size. In the stacked chip package, electrical connections may be made through the interposer between an upper semiconductor chip and a package substrate, between the upper semiconductor chip and a lower semiconductor chip, and/or between the lower semiconductor chip and the package substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate generally to an interposer and a stacked chip package having an interposer and, more particularly, to an interposer that may have a plurality of regularly formed lands, and to a stacked chip package that may implement such an interposer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Package stacking technologies may involve stacking multiple semiconductor chips to achieve a high degree of integration in semiconductor devices. Due to conditions such as the sizes of the semiconductor chips to be stacked and/or the number or arrangement of chip pads thereof (for example), the chip pads of an upper semiconductor chip may be reconfigured to be stacked on a lower semiconductor chip.
An interposer may be implemented to reconfigure the chip pads of the upper semiconductor chip. Although the conventional interposer is generally thought to provide acceptable performance, it is not with shortcomings. For example, according to conventional wisdom, the interposer may be separately fabricated (and customized) according to assembly conditions of semiconductor chips and a package substrate of a particular stacked chip package.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a stacked chip package that implement a conventional interposer.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the conventional stacked chip package 1 may include a package substrate 2. A first semiconductor chip 3 may be mounted on the package substrate 2. An interposer 5 may be stacked on the first semiconductor chip 3. A second semiconductor chip 4 may be stacked on the interposer 5.
In the stacked chip package 1, an adhesive 12 may provide bonds between the package substrate 2 and first semiconductor chip 3, between the first semiconductor chip 3 and interposer 5, and between the interposer 5 and second semiconductor chip 4.
Substrate pads 6 may be provided on the upper surface of the package substrate 2. The substrate pads 6 may be electrically connected to corresponding first chip pads 7 provided on the upper surface of the first semiconductor chip 3 through bonding wires 11.
Second chip pads 8 may be provided on the upper surface of the second semiconductor chip 4. The second chip pads 8 may be electrically connected to corresponding substrate pads 6 through a first bonding pad 9a, a second bonding pad 9b, and connection wires 10 that may be provided on the upper surface of the interposer 5.
By virtue of the interposer 5, a second chip pad 8 need not be directly connected to a corresponding substrate pad 6 through a lengthy bonding wire. Instead, the second bonding pad 9b may be connected to an associated second chip pad 8 through a bonding wire 11. The second bonding pad 9b may be electrically connected to the first bonding pad 9a through the connection wire 10. The connection wire 10 may have a predetermined pattern on the upper surface of the interposer 5. The first bonding pad 9a may be connected to a corresponding substrate pad 6 through another bonding wire 11.
The first bonding pads 9a, the second bonding pads 9b and the connection wires 10, which may be implemented to reconfigure the second chip pads 8, may be custom fabricated according to fabrication conditions of the stacked chip package 1, such as the number and arrangement of the substrate pads 6, the number and arrangement of the chip pads 7 and 8, and/or the sizes of the semiconductor chips 3 and 4, for example.
That is, to interconnect the second bonding pads 9b and the second chip pads 8, the second bonding pads 9b may be provided corresponding in number and position to the second chip pads 8. Similarly, the first bonding pads 9a may be provided corresponding to the substrate pads 6.
The connection wires 10, each of which may interconnect a first bonding pad 9a and an associated second bonding pad 9b, may have predetermined patterns corresponding to the arrangement of the first bonding pads 9a and the second bonding pads 9b.
If fabrication conditions of the stacked chip package 1 are altered, for example, an increase in number and/or a change in position of the first chip pads 7 and the second chip pads 8 or a change in size of the second semiconductor chip 4 to be stacked, then a new (and customized) interposer may be fabricated according to the changed fabrication conditions.
The custom fabrication of interposers according to fabrication conditions of individual stacked chip packages may increase overall package manufacturing costs and/or adds extra steps to an overall package manufacturing process.


An auction system 200 in a networked environment. The system includes a preregistration module 201 for identifying and verifying a user of the auction system. The preregistration module checks the credit history of the user and generates a registration record of the user. The system includes an assurance module 210 for conducting a presale inspection of the merchandise item and to generate a merchandise inspection report. The system also includes a description module 215 for displaying the merchandise inspection report and a description report of the merchandise item. The system includes a bidding module 220 for processing a plurality of bids from a plurality of users. The bidding module analyzes each of the plurality of bids from each of the plurality of users to determine whether an incoming bid is higher or lower than a current high bid and to determine a current high bid. The system further includes a notification module 250 coupled to a system database for assigning each of the plurality of bids with each of the plurality of users and that notifies each of the plurality of users whether their bid is successful.

Traditional, non-Internet auction processes for heavy equipment typically involve a four-step process. First, the potential bidder travels to the auction site. Next, the potential bidder inspects the items to be auctioned. In most cases, the bidder personally inspects the item or finds and hires a qualified inspector. Once the item's condition is determined, the bidder develops a bidding strategy. Finally, the potential bidder physically bids at the auction site in hopes of buying the item below the assessed price. The potential bidder's total expense for the item includes the time invested; travel to and lodging at the auction site; the cost of the inspector; the price paid for the item; and, equipment transportation cost from the auction site to the bidder's desired location.
The seller's process and costs in the pre-Internet traditional auction process are similar. The seller normally has equipment inspected to find major deficiencies and items that should be fixed prior to sale. The bidder hopes that the seller has the proper ethics to properly fix items and not conceal any deficiencies. Potential bidders like to see the seller's technical inspection, but the seller rarely provides this inspection to the bidder. The seller's total expense includes the time invested; travel to and lodging at the auction site; transportation for the item to the action site; initial inspection and preparation of the equipment; and, the risk that the equipment is not sold.
In general, Internet auctions increase product exposure and increase the bidding pool. A bidder in Japan for example, can bid on an item in Texas against a bidder in New Jersey. This process works satisfactory for small dollar items or new items procured from the manufacturer. Used items, particularly, expensive items such as used heavy equipment, motor vehicles, and the like, add significant risk to the bidder because the seller establishes the item's description and condition.
The advantages of going to a traditional Internet auction site must be weighed against the risk that the inspection process is eliminated. Internet auction sites attempt to deal with this problem by providing past sales experiences and comments from previous buyers on the seller, or holding the transaction funds in escrow until the buyer is satisfied. Internet auction sites do not offer inspections or assurances to bidders on the equipment offered on their sites. This risk naturally affects the bid price, which results in selling items at lower prices for the seller and a higher degree of dissatisfaction with potentially misrepresented equipment condition.
The purpose of Internet auctions is to provide better markets, better prices, reduced costs (travel to sites), and in general, a more satisfactory and cost effective way to conduct auction business. However, the lack of an impartial third party inspection system to provide quality control to the auction process hinders the full potential of the Internet auction. What is needed in the art is an efficient Internet auction market with an impartial third party inspection system. The present invention fulfills this and other needs.


A jointed bar lock having a lock body and a jointed bar hoop which has a first end and a second end, said first end being permanently connected to the lock body and said second end being connectable to the lock body at a latching region of the lock body, with a bolt provided at the lock body selectively being movable into a latched position in which the bolt engages it the second end of the jointed bar hoop when it is connected to the lock body or is movable into a release position in which the second end of the jointed bar hoop is released for a removal from the lock body. The lock has an actuation device which is coupled to the bolt via a connection section and by which the bolt is movable from the latched position, into which the bolt is biased, into the release position. The lock body accommodates a combination locking mechanism to selectively block or release the bolt. The actuation device is arranged disposed opposite the combination locking mechanism with respect to the latching region of the lock body.

Such a jointed bar lock is known from DE 10 2005 040 066 A1 and serves, for example, for the securing of a two-wheeler to a bicycle stand, to a lamppost or the like. For this purpose, jointed bars of the jointed bar hoop pivotally connected to one another sequentially or in series are folded apart and a closing bar at which the second end of the jointed bar hoop is formed is latched to the lock body in order hereby to form a closed loop. This closed loop can, for example, engage around a frame section of the two-wheeler and the bicycle stand, lamppost or the like, or the jointed bar hoop only surrounds a rim of the two-wheeler to prevent unauthorized persons from riding away.
In the known jointed bar lock, a lock cylinder is used which is rotatably actuable by an associated key or another identification means to selectively move the bolt into the latched position or into the release position.
It is, however, disadvantageous in this connection that a key necessarily has to be taken along which is furthermore at risk of being lost. Many two-wheeler owners therefore prefer locks with a combination locking mechanism to secure their two-wheelers. With a customary arrangement of a combination locking mechanism at a cable lock, for example, an end face of the combination locking mechanism is freely accessible when the lock is open in order to be able to introduce a lock block axially. Such an arrangement can, however, not easily be realized with a jointed bar lock.


Digital video signals are divided in blocks, maximum and minimum values of each block are extracted, and a frequency distribution of one frame period of a dynamic range in each block is detected. The coding condition is determined by the frequency distribution and a predetermined N kinds of characteristic tables, and by determining only one characteristic table, the signal obtained by subtracting the minimum value of each block from the digital video signals of each block is coded in variable length according to the dynamic range of each block. The characteristic table shows the relationship of the distortion or the number of quantization bits between the original signal and decoded signal after coding and decoding with respect to the dynamic range of digital video signal in each block, and the picture quality of decoded image is set as a parameter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for high-efficiency coding for compressing a digital video signal at a high efficiency, and more particularly to an apparatus for high-efficiency coding of a digital video signal which controls the coding bit rate of the compressed digital data so as to keep it constant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As an apparatus for the high-efficiency coding of a digital video signal, the Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 61-144989 discloses an apparatus for determining the dynamic range defined by the maximum and minimum values of plural pixels contained in a two-dimensional block, and coding at a variable bit length corresponding to this dynamic range. Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 63-111781 discloses a constant rate instead of a variable length coding, and an apparatus for high-efficiency coding was proposed for detecting the occurrence frequency of dynamic ranges in a specific period, sequentially integrating the frequency of the adjacent dynamic ranges by starting from the maximum value or minimum value to form an integration table of the occurrence frequency, and controlling the quantity of coded digital data using the integration table.
In the composition of controlling the quantity of coded digital data by using the integration table of the occurrence frequency as mentioned above, however, the number of quantization bits assigned for each dynamic range will merely increase monotonously with an increase of the dynamic range. In this simple method of assigning the number of quantization bits, when the dynamic range becomes larger, the distortion occurring between the signal decoded from the coded digital data and the original signal (hereinafter called distortion by coding) becomes extremely large at certain dynamic ranges. On the other hand, as the characteristics of human visual sensation, the characteristics of limit of impairment perception were reported, using the level deviation within a minute subpicture block of an image, or the dynamic range, as the parameter (see the 5th Picture Coding Symposium of Japan; A study on high-efficiency coding of HDTV signal, Shibata et al., pp. 147-148), and the above phenomenon does not match with human visual sensation, and may cause a loss in the picture quality.

High-efficiency coding apparatus for compressing a digital video signal while controlling the coding bit rate of the compressed digital data so as to keep it constant

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A combination machine for trenching, for forming the edge of a bed, and for laying and burying tubing, cable, piping, and the like. The machine includes steerable caster wheels mounted on the rear of the machine which, together with a single front wheel, allow for a tight turning radius when using the machine. The machine also includes a blade height adjustment which allows for the trenching or edging blade depth to be readily adjusted in a substantially infinite variation. Other aspects of the present invention include an edging machine and a trenching machine, both being of a compact design. Both include an extendable handle which, in a preferred embodiment retracts or folds to allow for the volume of space occupied by the machines to be minimized, preferably, to the extent that either of such machines can typically be carried in a trunk of a standard automobile.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/966,477, filed Sep. 28, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,581, which is a continuation-in-part of design Application No. 29/117,980, filed Feb. 2, 2000, now U.S. Design Patent No. US D451,930 S, and the entirety of the foregoing applications is incorporated by reference.
This invention relates generally to a trenching and edging devices for digging trenches and for edging the soil for beds for flowers, shrubbery, mulch, etc.
Small trenching machines find application in those circumstances where it is necessary to dig a relatively narrow trench. This could be the case where cable TV is being buried to provide service to a residence or business, or could be when it is necessary to run a gas line, waterline, or other utility to a home or office. Further uses of such a trench could be for running irrigation line or what is known as radio or "invisible" fencing used to keep pets within a confined area, the pet then wearing a cooperating collar which is activated to shock the animal in the event the animal comes too close to the buried line.
Edging machines find use with landscapers and homeowners for defining a bed used for ornamental plantings, shrubbery, flowers, mulch, or the like and serve to form the defined edge of a bed to be created by cutting the soil to a depth, typically several inches, and then lifting the soil and moving it outwardly to form a mounded periphery for the bed. Generally, it is desirable that the turf adjacent the bed have a distinct, clean break between it and the bed. This provides for a clean definition of the bed which is desired for aesthetic and maintenance purposes.
In certain instances, use of a trencher or edging machine is complicated by the fact that such machines are large, bulky, and heavy. They may require the use of a truck or trailer for transport, and may require two or more persons in order to load or unload the machine. Once in operation, because of the size and weight of such machines, they may pose a problem for use by someone of lesser strength or stature. Further, by requiring a larger vehicle, such as a truck, or sport utility vehicle, or alternately, use of a trailer, for transport, such machines may find only limited use, and their full potential for use may not be recognized.
Trenching machines and edging machines are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,854, issued to Boren, discloses a trencher having a digging depth adjustment configuration including a rotatable handle in order to accomplish such depth adjustment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,205, issued to Falk, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,248, issued to Pollard, both disclose bed edge forming machines for forming the edge of a bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,451, issued to Garvey, et al, discloses a tiller having a cable-laying attachment and also a provision for carrying a spool of cable, and a feed tube through which the cable is inserted into a trench. U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,270, issued to Vangsgard, discloses a sod-cutting machine having an adjustable depth adjustment, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,457, issued to Doskocil, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,573, issued to Williamson, both disclose devices using caster wheels for steering. The Doskocil device includes rear-mounted casters.
In view of the foregoing known devices, there still exists a need for a combination trenching and edging device which is designed to facilitate movement and steering of the device and which also can be used to dig at varying depths.
A need also exists for a trenching machine and an edging machine which are relatively lightweight and of relatively compact size to allow their easy transport and use by a wide variety of users. Ideally, such machines would be small enough to fit into the trunk of an ordinary sedan and light enough to be loaded and unloaded by one or two persons of average strength.


The present invention is relative to a battery capacity calculating method including a reference discharge curve calculating step of finding a discharge curve, operating as a reference, a corrected voltage calculating step of correcting a measured voltage V1 of the battery with a component of an electrical resistance to find a corrected voltage V, and a capacity calculating step of finding the discharging capacity of the battery from the discharge curve, operating as a reference, using the corrected voltage V. The capacity calculating step includes a sub-step of calculating a capacity deterioration index S, as a ratio of capacity decrease caused by battery deterioration. The discharging capacity, calculated from the discharging capacity, operating as a reference, using the corrected voltage V, is further multiplied with the capacity deterioration index S to calculate the discharging capacity.

This invention relates to a battery capacity calculating method for calculating the discharging capacity or the residual capacity of a battery.
This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-139167 filed in Japan on May 14, 2002, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
As the methods for calculating the capacity of a battery, for example, a lithium ion secondary battery, a method for calculating the residual capacity by a current integrating method of estimating the capacity from the value of Coulombs, and a method of calculating the residual capacity based on the voltage across battery terminals, have so far been used.
In calculating the battery capacity, there are produced variations in the value of the Coulomb or in the terminal voltage due to the difference in measurement conditions, or in the state of deterioration, even with the battery of the same type, so that it is extremely difficult to predict the current capacity or residual capacity of the battery with the above-described pre-existing capacity calculating method. This will be explained below by referring to experimental results.
A cylindrically-shaped lithium ion secondary battery, with a diameter of 18 mm and a length of 65 mm, was provided, and was electrically charged by a constant current constant voltage charging method, as a recommended charge method. That is, a constant current of 1 A is supplied to the battery and, when the voltage of 4.2V is reached, the charging state is switched to the constant voltage charge to maintain the voltage at 4.2 V for three hours. The nominal voltage of this battery under this charging condition is 1.7 Ah.
The battery of the initial state, fully charged by the above-described charging, was discharged to 2.5V, under the operating environment of the room temperature of 20° C. and the discharging current values of 0.1 A, 0.2 A, 0.4 A, 0.8 A, 1 A and 2 A and a discharge curve was measured to find the discharging capacity during this time interval. FIG. 30 shows a discharge curve of the battery of the initial state, that is during its initial charging/discharging cycle. It is noted that, for simplifying the explanation, the residual capacity, obtained on subtracting the discharging capacity, as found from the full charging capacity, is plotted on the abscissa. Additionally, the battery was deteriorated by a cyclic test of repeatedly carrying out the charging and discharging at 20° C. and discharging curves were measured of the battery at the 100th, 300th and 500th cycles to find the values of the discharging capacity.
The charging capacity at each current value, with the discharging capacity at each current value, with the 1 A discharging of 100%, is shown in the following Table 1. The discharging capacity ratio at each charging/discharge cycle is also shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1numberof cycles0.1 A0.2 A0.4 A0.8 A1.0 A2.0 A1discharging1.70881.70731.70751.70491.70411.6885capacity Ahrdischarging100.099.999.999.899.798.8capacity ratio %100discharging1.58811.58031.58011.57661.57721.5621capacity Ahrdischarging100.099.599.599.399.398.4capacity ratio %300discharging1.47071.45281.44611.43731.43391.4072capacity Ahrdischarging100.098.898.397.797.595.7capacity ratio %500discharging1.15361.10751.10181.08871.08471.0421capacity Ahrdischarging100.096.095.594.494.090.3capacity ratio %
As may be seen from the above Table 1, the discharging capacity is decreased with the increasing discharge current. This tendency is the more pronounced the severer the deteriorated state of the battery. Thus, even when the capacity of each fully charged battery is found, the Coulomb efficiency (discharging capacity/charging capacity) is changed with the discharging current, so that, with the method of calculating the residual capacity by the current integrating method of estimating the residual capacity from the Coulomb quantity, as the pre-existing residual capacity detection method, the difference between the estimated residual capacity and the actual residual capacity is increased to render it difficult to estimate the residual capacity to a high accuracy.
Moreover, as may be seen from FIG. 30, the discharge curve undergoes voltage decrease on the whole, with the increasing discharging current, and has plural voltages for a given residual capacity. Stated differently, the discharge curve is changed with the discharging conditions, so that, with the preexisting voltage method of simply measuring the discharge voltage to find the residual capacity based on a discharge curve operating as a reference, there is a fear that he estimated residual capacity is deviated significantly from the actual residual capacity.


An in-line wheeled skate which includes one or more rollers located between the wheels and above the ground plane, thereby enabling the skater to jump up on a rail (or other supporting surface) and roll down the rail sideways, as in `extreme skating` maneuvers, by placing the skate on the rail with the rollers bearing upon the rail surface. The rollers may be, for example, cylindrical or spherical, and are preferably located between left and right side planes of the skate wheels.

The most competent or daring who use in-line roller skates perform acrobatic maneuvers. Some of the more difficult maneuvers, commonly referred to as `extreme skating`, include sliding sideways down a stair bannister rail or similar structure. The skater jumps onto a stair bannister with his skates sideways on the bannister, the bannister rail positioned under the skate frame between the second and third wheels of a four-wheeled skate. In this position, the skater slides, standing on the skates, down the rail. As this motion is substantially parallel to the axes of the wheels, the skater is essentially skidding, instead of rolling, down the railing. In popular vernacular, they are `grinding`. In some instances, the skaters use existing rails found in public places and in other instances railings are constructed specifically for this use.
To accommodate extreme skating, it is common to install `grinding plates` to the sides of the roller frame between the second and third rollers. These plates commonly are scalloped to accept a curved rail surface, and provide a wear surface against the bannister. The concave shape of the plate helps the skater to stay on the railing and it also prevents damage to the skate.
As a form of recreation, it is desired to reduce risk while the most avid extreme skaters desire higher speeds within safe limits and the ability to perform a greater variety of feats.


A cutting tool insert for machining by chip removal includes a body of a hard alloy of cemented carbide, cermet, ceramics, polycrystalline diamond or cubic boron nitride based materials onto which a hard and wear resistant coating is deposited by physical vapour deposition (PVD). The coating includes at least one layer of a NaCl-structured (TicAlaCrbMed)(CzOyNx) where Me is one or more of the elements Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W and/or Si, 0.10<a<0.60, b+d>0.20, c>0.05, 0≦d<0.25, 0.75<x<1.05, 0≦y<0.25 and 0≦z≦0.25 with a thickness between 0.5 and 10 μm. The layer has a columnar mictrostructure with an average columnar width of <1 μm, a compressive stress level of −6 GPa<σ<−0.5 GPa and a nanohardness >25 GPa.

The present invention relates to a cutting tool insert comprising of a body of a hard alloy of cemented carbide, cermet, ceramics and cubic boron nitride based materials and a coating designed to be used in metal cutting applications generating high tool temperatures. Said coating comprises at least one thermally stable, textured (Ti,Al,Cr,Me) based nitride, carbonitride, oxynitride and/or oxycarbonitride layer, where Me is one or more of the elements: Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W or Si. The coating is grown by physical vapour deposition (PVD) and preferably by cathodic arc evaporation.
Since the mid 1980's, efforts have been made to improve the properties, e.g., wear resistance and hence the performance of tool coatings. At that time, the common practice was to coat cutting tools with TiN. However, TiN suffers from poor oxidation resistance. Improved heat resistance have been achieved by alloying Al in (Ti,Al)N. To further enhance the performance of tool coatings, a wide range of ternary and quaternary systems have been investigated, some with good and some with poor results. One of the most crucial parameter in this research is to achieve a good control of the solubility behavior of the alloying elements and in turn how this would yield an optimized coating performance. Recently, it has been shown that alloying Cr in (Ti,Al,Cr)N improves the coating behavior metal cutting applications.
JP 7237010 discloses a coated cutting tool at least one layer selected from (Ti,Al,Cr)C, (Ti,Al,Cr)N or (Ti,Al,Cr)(C,N) and at least one layer of Ti, TiC, TiN or TiCN.
JP 4128363 discloses a (Ti1-x-yAlxCry)N layer where x<0.8 and 0.2<y<0.7.
JP 2000038653 discloses a (Ti1-x-yCrxAly)N layer where 0.02≦x<1.0 and 0.02≦y≦0.7.
EP 1219723 discloses a hard coating for cutting tools composed of (Ti1-a-b-c-dAlaCrbSicBd)(C1-eNe) where 0.5≦a≦0.8, 0.06≦b, 0≦c≦0.1, 0≦d≦0.1, 0≦c+d≦0.1, a+b+c+d<1 and 0.5≦e≦1.
EP 1132498 discloses a hard wear resistance coating comprising one or two layers of (AlaTibCrc) (NwO1-w) where 30≦a≦70, 30≦b≦70, 0.5≦c≦20, a+b+c=1 0 0 and 0.7≦w≦0.9.
EP 1947209 discloses a first layer of (Cr1-xMx)(BaCbN1-a-b) where 0≦x≦0.7, 0≦a≦0.2 and 0≦b≦0.5 and M is at least one of the elements W, V, Mo, Nb, Ti and Al and a second layer of (Ti1-X-YCrXAlYLZ)(BBCAN1-A-B) where 0≦1-X-Y≦0.5, 0<X≦0.5, 0.4≦Y≦0.7, 0≦Z≦0.15, 0≦A≦0.5, and 0≦B≦0.2 and L is at least either of Si and Y.
As mentioned, the metal cutting industry is continuously looking for new hard coatings with improved high temperature wear resistance and is partly biased by the ongoing development of advanced work material as well as the need for an increased productivity. In turn, these aspects typically results in an increase of the tool temperature during a cutting operation. Hence, the problem to be solved by the present invention focuses on how to provide an alternative method for making a coated cutting tool insert, drill or endmill.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a coated cutting tool insert yielding improved performance in metal cutting applications at high tool temperatures.
Surprisingly, it has been found that by alloying Cr in (Ti,Al)N and adding small amounts of the metal elements Me: Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W and/or Si in a textured (Ti,Al,Cr,Me)(C,O,N) layer structure onto a cutting tool insert improves the tool life at machining operations generating high tool temperatures.


The invention is test apparatus and methods for performing loopback tests. The tests involve generating a packet-based test message having a source address and a destination address. When the test message arrives at the destination, the addresses are exchanged and the message is returned to the source. The addresses can be level 2 addresses, such as MAC addresses, and/or level 3 addresses, such as IP addresses. The returned message and the propagation properties observed for the test message can be used to determine information about the network being tested.

Loopback testing is a well known technique for examining the operational characteristics of communication systems. In a loopback test, a message is transmitted from a source and traverses some portion of a communication system, ultimately returning to the source. Upon the return of the message, the information content of the message and/or the physical attributes of the message (e.g., signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and other parameters of interest) can be observed and compared to the same information and/or parameters as they existed when the message was initially transmitted. Information about the state of the portions of the communication system that the message traversed and indications of the quality of service that is being provided can be extracted from comparing the original message and the message upon its return.
In some communication systems, setting up a loopback test requires either or both special equipment and a disruption of the normal service provided by the communication system. In some instances, for example in certain packet-based communication systems, loopback testing can involve rather sophisticated handling of the test message. In some communication systems, loopback testing can be disrupted by the normal operation of the communication system itself.
In Ethernet networks it is common to have control protocols such as Spanning Tree. Spanning Tree includes a mechanism to detect network loops. If a loop is detected, the network monitoring software (NMS) will disable the ports on which the loop was detected, as loops waste valuable bandwidth. This means that if an apparatus, such as a test instrument, is connected that reflects frames back to the transmitter, in all likelihood, the port on which the reflector is connected will be disabled. Other protocols exist that also detect loops.
There is a need for loopback testing apparatus and methods that operate in a convenient and user-friendly manner and that can perform the desired tests without disruption by the protocols of the communication system.

Apparatus and method for performing a loopback test in a communication system


Turbine frequency tuning, fluid dynamic efficiency, and performance can be improved using an airfoil profile and/or an endwall contour including at least one of a pressure side bump, a pressure side leading edge bump, or a suction side trough. In particular, by including two endwall bumps on the pressure side and a trough on the suction side combined with a particular airfoil profile, performance can be further improved.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to turbine components for aircraft and power generation applications, and, more specifically, to turbine buckets including a base with an endwall contour, and an airfoil portion having a profile that can enhance performance.
Some aircraft and/or power plant systems, for example certain jet aircraft, nuclear, simple cycle and combined cycle power plant systems, employ turbines in their design and operation. Some of these turbines include one or more stages of buckets which during operation are exposed to fluid flows. Each bucket can include a base supporting a respective airfoil (e.g., turbine blade, blade, etc.) configured to aerodynamically interact with and extract work from fluid flow (e.g., creating thrust, driving machinery, converting thermal energy to mechanical energy, etc.) as part of, for example, power generation. As a result of this interaction and conversion, the aerodynamic characteristics and losses of these airfoils have an impact on system and turbine operation, performance, thrust, efficiency, and power at each stage.

Turbine bucket with endwall contour and airfoil profile


A communications system comprising a segmenting mechanism configured to receive a plurality of payloads and divide each of the received payloads into segments, a framing mechanism configured to insert at least one of the segments from each of the plurality of payloads into a packet, a first interface configured to transmit the packet, and a second interface configured to transmit segment information about the segments in the packet.

Computer system speeds continue to increase and more computer systems are connected to communicate with other computer systems daily. As the volume of digital data communicated between computer systems increases, there is a need to develop higher bandwidth communication links. Often, these communication links are part of a network, such as a local area network (LAN), metro area network (MAN), or a wide area network (WAN).
One network technology, such as Ethernet, employs shared bus technology and carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) access. In an Ethernet network, communication links are attached to a cable or optical fiber. The network operates at a particular bandwidth and each communication link transmits only after finding the cable or fiber channel clear. If two communication links transmit simultaneously, a data collision occurs and each of the communication links delays re-transmission for a random length of time. The original Ethernet operated at 10 megabits per second (Mbps). Later versions of Ethernet operate at other speeds, such as 10 gigabits per second (Gbps).
Typically, a communication link is coupled to many computer systems, including microprocessor based systems, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) based systems, and digital signal processor (DSP) based systems. Each of the computer systems coupled to the communication link does not require the entire bandwidth of the communication link. Instead, the computer systems share the bandwidth of the communication link.
The communication link services each of the computer systems coupled to the communication link. The communication link can service the coupled computer systems in a round robin methodology. In this approach, the communication link services one computer system at a time. All other computer systems coupled to the communication link are serviced before the one computer system is serviced a second time. Thus, with many computer systems coupled to a communication link, the latency between servicing a computer system a first time and a second time can be very large. Also, receive buffers need to be very large to avoid overflow and underflow conditions. Implementing large receive buffers in an integrated circuit chip uses space and adds cost to the chip.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.

Communications system with segmenting and framing of segments


A low-latency queue pair (QP) is provided for I/O Adapters that eliminates the overhead associated with work queue elements (WQEs) and defines the mechanisms necessary to allow the placement of the message directly on the queue pair.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to computer and processor architecture, input/output (I/O) processing, operating systems and in particular, to a low-latency queue pair (QP) for I/O adapters.
2. Description of the Related Art
I/O adapters, such as remote direct memory access (RDMA)-capable adapters or RDMA network interface cards (RNICs), such as the InfiniBand™ (IB) host channel adapters (HCAs), define queue pairs (QPs) for conveying messaging information from a software consumer to the adapter prior to transmission over a network fabric. Industry standards, such as the InfiniBand™ Architecture Specification available from the InfiniBand® Trade Association and iWarp from the RDMA Consortium, specify that the message information carried on QPs is in the form of a work queue element (WQE) that carries control information pertaining to the message. Also, one or more data descriptors point to the message data to be transmitted or the location at which received messages are to be placed.
Some QP applications, such as high performance computing (HPC), have a need to reduce the latency incurred in transferring a message from one computing node to another. Even now, the industry standard mechanisms described above are no longer adequate for high performance computing systems. There is a need for a mechanism to enhance the standard QP semantics so that the lower latencies required by these applications can be achieved, with minimal impact to existing hardware.

Low latency queue pairs for I/O adapters

International Business Machines Corporation


A strain detector for in-situ lift-out, comprises a nano-manipulator probe shaft; a strain gauge mounted on the probe shaft; and a first cut-out on the probe shaft. The first cut-out has a rectangular cross-section. There is a second cut-out on the probe shaft; the second cut-out having a semicircular cross-section. The second cut-out is positioned on the shaft opposite from the first cut-out; the first and second cut-out, thus defining a thinned region in the probe. The strain gauge is mounted on the probe shaft at the location of the thinned region. There is detecting circuitry for detecting, amplifying and conditioning the output of the strain gauge; and, wires electrically connecting the strain gauge to the detection circuitry. The wires are preferably located in a trench in the probe shaft. Other embodiments are disclosed having multiple strain gauges and detectors.

The use of In-Situ Lift-Out (INLO) for TEM sample preparation in the FIB has become a popular and widely accepted technique. INLO enables the preparation of multiple site-specific TEM samples, at different angles of inspection, and with the imaging resolution of a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), without the need for an expensive wet lab for conventional sawing, polishing and grinding, and without the need to sacrifice the wafer being inspected. The ability to perform process control on 300 mm diameter wafers without sacrificing wafers for the inspection is very important because of the value of these wafers.
However, accurate process control requires high throughput TEM sample preparation. Automation of the sample preparation process will significantly and favorably impact the analytical throughput of this process and its repeatability.
A key apparatus for INLO is an in-situ nano-manipulator that enables full wafer analysis, such as the AutoProbe 200™ manufactured by Omniprobe, Inc. This nano-manipulator can be used to lift-out a tiny wedge-shaped portion (typically 5×5×10 μm) of the sample and to transfer it to a TEM sample holder that is also present in the FIB vacuum chamber.
Ion or electron-beam assisted deposition of metal or other materials from appropriate source gases injected near the surface in the FIB can be used to attach the nano-manipulator probe tip to the excised lift-out sample. The same beam-assisted gas chemistry can be used to attach the lift-out sample to the TEM sample holder. Later, the ion beam in the FIB can be used to detach the probe tip from the lift-out sample, completing the in-situ transfer of the lift-out sample to the TEM sample holder. This lift-out sample can then be thinned to an appropriate thickness for TEM inspection (<100 nm).
Surface contact detection is a critical element of the automation of such a nano-manipulator-based operation. One of the methods that can be used to determine that the contact between the nano-manipulator probe tip and the sample surface has been made is electrical continuity detection. This method is impractical for automation due to several reasons. If the sample surface is non-conductive, the detection of the steady-state electrical continuity between the probe tip and the sample surface will not be successful. Even if the sample surface is electrically conductive, it may not be electrically connected to the sample holder, or there may be a tough native oxide on the conductive surface making continuity detection difficult. Without an electrical connection to the sample holder, continuity detection between the probe tip and sample surface will be difficult in the FIB environment. Detection of a transient electrical response due to the connection of the charged sample surface with the probe tip is also impractical for repetitive automated procedures because this effect is time and material dependent and also depends on the behavior of the charged particle beams impinging the surface.
A metal layer that covers the surface of the sample and electrically connects the surface and the sample stage may be deposited using an appropriate gas source and electron or ion beam assisted deposition in the FIB. Such a deposition operation is time consuming in the FIB, however, and may render the wafer useless for further processing. In addition, the ion beam may locally remove the metal layer at the place where the probe tip makes contact with a sample surface and hence defeat the purpose of the inspection.
What is needed is a safe and reliable method of detecting contact between the sample and the probe of the nano-manipulator, whether inside or outside of a FIB.

Strain detection for automated nano-manipulation


The present disclosure relates to extracts and sweetening compositions that may be wholly derived from fruits of the Cucurbitaceae family containing mogroside V and other terpene glycosides. The extracts have a low mogroside V content. The extracts also have a low monosaccharide content, and can be spray-dried to form a spray-dried product. The extracts may be suitable for use as a bulking agent, and can be combined with a terpene glycoside powder. The extracts and sweetening compositions can be used in a food, beverage, and dietary supplement products. Provided are also methods for preparing such extracts and sweetening compositions.

Various methods are known in the art to produce sweetening compositions from luo han guo. However, such sweetening compositions typically use maltodextrin as a bulking agent in the commercial product. Thus, there is a need in the art to produce bulking agents from luo han guo, so as to produce an all-natural sweetening composition derived from the fruit.

Extracts from fruits of the Cucurbitaceae family, and methods of preparing thereof


A self-compensating current mirroring circuit including first and second transistor devices respectively joined in the path of a current to be mirrored and the path of a mirrored current, the first transistor device being in circuit with a compensating transistor device, the sizes of the first and second transistor devices being such that the currents through the first and second transistor devices are maintained at identical levels during operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to circuitry for controlling the value of currents and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for providing improved current mirroring circuitry.
2. History of the Prior Art
In electronic circuitry, it is often desirable to provide a current which has a value identical to that of a current through some other circuit device not in series with the first device. This is typically accomplished through the use of a current mirroring circuit. By maintaining the voltage levels equal at gate and source terminals of a pair of field effect transistor (FET) devices operating in saturation, the current through the devices may be kept equal. However, there are situations in which circuit conditions tend to vary during use; and it is necessary to maintain the current equality in the face of these variations. To accomplish this, a negative feedback scheme has been used as a part of the current mirror circuitry to adjust the currents in response to current variations caused by noise, changes in ambient temperatures, or the like.
A problem with such a feedback scheme is that it produces an inherent mismatch in the drain voltages of the mirroring transistors and a degradation of the accuracy of the mirror. Sometimes more accuracy of current equality is necessary than is provided by the standard negative feedback arrangement.
It is desirable to provide circuitry which will produce a more accurate self-compensating arrangement for current mirroring.
Another problem encountered with current mirroring arrangements which use negative feedback for compensation is that such systems must be designed to operate with a particular supply voltages. For example, some portable computers are designed to perform with either five volt or 3.5 volt power supplies. To function with one system or the other, the current mirroring arrangements must be designed for the particular range. It is possible for a current mirroring arrangement which uses negative feedback to perform well in one range but improperly outside that designed range. Often circuit boards must be designed so that they may be used with more than one range of supply voltages. This has eliminated the ability to use self-compensating current mirroring arrangements.
It is desirable for a current mirror circuit to be able to mirror currents very accurately within its designed range of operation yet continue to mirror current with acceptable accuracy outside the designed range of operation.

Self-compensating geometry-adjusted current mirroring circuitry


In at least some implementations, a seal for a wire includes a body having at least one opening adapted to receive at least one wire therethrough, and an axially extending engagement surface disposed around at least a portion of each of said at least one openings. The engagement surface has at least a portion that is not parallel to an axis of the opening and is disposed at an acute included angle relative to the axis so that, when the engagement surface is contacted by another component, the size of the adjacent opening tends to be reduced.

Some fuel tanks include electrical components in an interior of the fuel tank. To power the components and/or provide electrical signals into or out of the fuel tank, wires are passed through a wall of the tank. The openings through which the wires pass need to be sealed against fluid leakage, and may also be subject to requirements regarding fuel vapor permeation. Seal assemblies for such wires are often complex and costly to implement. For example, some assemblies include metal pins that require soldering, crimping or other operations to be performed on them.


A centering apparatus for internal nondestructive testing of a tube to be inspected includes an elongated shaft member coupled to an inspection probe; a plurality of fingers, pivotally attached at a first end thereof to a mounting surface affixed to the shaft member, the plurality of fingers circumferentially surrounding the shaft member; and an expansion mechanism, disposed between the plurality of fingers and the shaft member, the expansion mechanism configured to selectively and outwardly extend a second end of the plurality of fingers with respect to a longitudinal axis of the shaft member, so as to bring the second end of the plurality of fingers into contact with an inner surface of the tube to be inspected, thereby centering the inspection probe within the tube.

Boiler tube failures are a major cause of forced shutdowns in fossil fuel power plants. As a result of various operational conditions such as heat, pressure, and wear over time, boiler tubes eventually begin to fail by developing circumferential and axial cracks, as well as experience wall thinning (through both erosion and corrosion). When a boiler tube begins to leak, for example, steam escaping through the leak is lost to the boiler environment. Unless the leak is discovered and repaired, the leak may continue to grow until the tube eventually ruptures, thereby forcing the utility operating the boiler to shut it down immediately. These failures prove to be quite expensive for utilities and, as such, early boiler tube leak detection methods are highly desirable.
To this end, there are several technologies available for nondestructive inspection of structure surfaces, including eddy current, magnetic particle, and dye penetrant techniques. In the case of remote field eddy current inspection, the technique is susceptible to material property variations inherent within a material, thus resulting in signals that can either mask a defect or that can be mistakenly interpreted as a defect. Moreover, existing eddy current techniques cannot quantify and characterize any damage that is found. With respect to magnetic particle and dye penetrant techniques, both involve large amounts of chemicals and are not suited for high speed inspection of boilers due to the time required for chemical application and signal interpretation.
Another non-destructive technique that may be used for boiler tube inspection is ultrasonic testing. In ultrasonic testing, a transducer sends pulse waves into the surface of an object, and receives a return echo indicative of an imperfection. A coupling medium (e.g., liquid) is typically used to provide an effective transfer of ultrasonic wave energy between the transducer and the surface being inspected. In order to conduct an inspection at multiple angles with a single transducer, multiple passes are typically required. Alternatively, phased array ultrasonic sensors utilize a linear or two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers that are sequentially pulsed in sequence. Through superposition of individual wavelets, phased arrays provide the capability of steering the angle of the beam. Thus, the beam angle may be set by adjusting the timing of the individual pulses.
Notwithstanding the advantages offered by phased array ultrasonic sensors, tubes used in industrial boilers present a difficult challenge with respect to inspection, as the space surrounding the tubes (and thus access thereto) is typically very limited. In boiler systems, wall-loss is a major concern for small diameter (e.g., 1-2 inch) tubing, where the outside diameter of such tubes is not accessible. As a result, inspection from the inside of these tubes is often required. However, such tubes typically also have small radius bends (e.g., 5-6 inches) and are often swaged (tapered) and the ends thereof. These constraints in tube geometry make it difficult to implement, an effective, full-length inspection of the tubes as existing ultrasonic probes cannot traverse through the extreme bends and swages present therein.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved probe for applications such as boiler tube inspection.

Boiler tube inspection probe with centering mechanism and method of operating the same


A bearing 41 of a support portion 4 for rotatably supporting a shaft 11 of a rotating body 10 to be measured with respect to the magnitude of unbalance thereof is formed into a hollow U-shape and has formed therein an injection port 41b for injecting a gas towards the shaft. As the shaft can be supported and floats without making contact with the bearing by virtue of the gas injected from the injection port, the friction can be made small and, hence, a change in rotational speed can be made small. The number and position of the injection ports are determined as required.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an unbalance measuring apparatus for measuring the magnitude of an unbalance of a small rotating body 10.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional roller-drive type unbalance measuring apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, bearings for rotatably supporting a shaft 11 of a rotating body 10 are constituted by two rollers 12a, 12b which are supported on-a support portion 4 via ball bearings. Due to this, in measuring the magnitude of unbalance of the rotating body 10, which is large in size and heavy in weight, by applying a rotational force to the rotating body before a measurement and allowing the rotating body to continue to rotate by virtue of inertial force while measuring the magnitude of unbalance of the rotating body, even with the bearings constituted by the rollers 12a, 12b, the change in rotational speed of the rotating body remains small during the measurement, and the unbalance measurement can be implemented with high accuracy (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 3438333).
In the conventional roller-drive type unbalance measuring apparatus which uses the rollers for the bearings for supporting the shaft of the rotating body, however, with a small and light rotational body, the frictional force which acts between the rollers and the rotating body becomes larger than the inertial force, whereby the rotational speed of the rotating body, which is under measurement, decreases drastically, leading to a problem that the magnitude of unbalance of the rotating body cannot be measured.


A device for oxygenating blood in an extracorporeal circuit includes a first structure suitable to delimit a portion of space-containing capillaries made of microporous membrane. The capillaries convey oxygen and are wet externally by blood flowing through a portion of space between an intake connector, which is connected to a venous line of the extracorporeal circuit, and a delivery connector. The device includes a second structure monolithically connected and contiguous to the first structure. The second structure is suitable to contain blood filtration means that divide the portion of space delimited thereby into a blood distribution chamber, provided with an air vent and connected to the delivery connector of the first structure, and a blood collection chamber provided with a delivery connector connected to the arterial line of the extracorporeal circuit.

During surgery, blood flows through extracorporeal circuits. The extracorporeal circuits include an oxygenation device to transfer oxygen to the blood received from the patient by means of a line which is known as venous line and then return it to the patient by means of a line known as arterial line.
The structure of the oxygenator is such as to delimit a portion of space which contains capillaries made of microporous membrane which convey oxygen and are wet externally by the blood that flows through this portion of space. There are also oxygenators which include a heat exchanger through which the blood is meant to flow before entering the oxygenator in order to be kept at the correct temperature.
Often on the arterial line there is a filter (the arterial filter), which is meant to retain any air bubbles present in the blood in order to prevent them from remaining in the blood that returns to the patient. However, this presence can be the source of problems for operators when one considers the inherent complexity of the extracorporeal circuit in which the arterial filter is introduced.

Device for oxygenating blood in an extracorporeal circuit


An optically transmissive material and the production of optically transmissive articles therefrom, in particular a bond between two optically transmissive components including optical fibers and planar devices.

Optical waveguide structures fabricated in planar forms can perform a variety of functions in optical light-paths. These include optical coupling in various configurations, such as multi-channel star arrays, and multiplexing or demultiplexing through phasar or grating devices. Such waveguides also hold the promise of being lower in cost than discrete optical devices which are fabricated from fiber and micro-optic components. In the future, they may provide a platform for hybrid, electro-optic devices.
For each signal to be processed, the optical waveguide must be connected to an optical fiber carrying an input signal, and to a second optical fiber carrying the processed signal. Traditionally, these connections, commonly referred to as "pigtails," have been accomplished with organic adhesives, such as methacrylate or epoxy adhesives. These polymeric adhesives offer simple fabrication, fair index matching, and good bonding characteristics.
However, they are hydratively unstable. This limits their usefulness in wet environments such as are encountered in underwater and high humidity applications. It has also been reported that many of these adhesives have questionable stability when subjected to environmental extremes in temperature and pressure.
Even a slight deterioration in the optical properties of the adhesive will seriously impair transmission of optical signals through the fiber-waveguide network. Thus, instability can have disastrous consequences, making the organic, or "soft," pigtail unsuitable for many applications.
The need for a stable, optical fiber-to-planar waveguide connection has led to a vitreous seal using a glass ftit as such, or admixed with a mill addition. The resulting joint is hydratively stable and relatively strong. However, it may involve stresses caused by differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion between the components; also a higher than desired sealing temperature.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies in the art.


A system for treating a quantity of fluid from an associated fluid source which includes a variable volume device having an interior space, fluid communication apparatus connecting the interior space of the variable volume device to the associated fluid source, a treatment assembly communicating with an outlet of the variable volume device and apparatus biasing the variable volume device to have a smaller volume whereby the fluid is urged out of the variable volume device into the treatment assembly. In some cases the treatment assembly is a filter assembly which may include a coalescing filter. The apparatus biasing the variable volume device to have a smaller volume may be a weight on a part of the variable volume device. The system may further include apparatus biasing the variable volume device to slow the rate of increase in volume as the variable volume device approaches maximum volume. Some forms of the filter assembly may include a container and the level of oil in the container may be visible through the walls of the container.

As noted above the invention relates to apparatus for protecting the environment from contamination. Although the preferred embodiment is directed to removal of oil from air exhausted from pneumatic devices it will be understood that the invention includes and has application to all forms of treatment processes directed to a fluid that is periodically or intermittently discharged, or is discharged at a varying rate. In each of these situations the system designer would traditionally design a system sized to treat continuously the maximum anticipated effluent flow rate. The present invention is capable of, in effect, storing the effluent and treating the effluent at a relatively low flow rate. Accordingly, the treating apparatus may be much smaller in capacity than apparatus that is sized to accommodate the maximum flow rate. The invention thus presents an opportunity to provide treatment apparatus that is much smaller than that apparatus that would be required in the case of apparatus designed for peak load conditions.
Although the invention has particular application to preventing industrial contamination of the atmosphere and particularly for protecting environment by (1) preventing the discharge of oil that would otherwise be present in the exhaust air discharged by industrial valves, cylinders and air motors and (2) limiting the noise pollution created by this same class of equipment incident to the noisy discharge of air those skilled in the art will recognize a wide variety of other applications. For example, the treatment of almost all fluids that are produced at a varying or cyclical rate may be facilitated by the apparatus of the present invention. This apparatus may be employed to temporarily store a fluid and then slowly discharge that fluid to a treating apparatus. Although the preferred embodiment of the invention includes a coalescing filter, it will be understood that some embodiments need not include a coalescing filter although most will include some filter or analogous structure.
Compressed air systems are used to provide compressed air to operate valves, cylinders, air motors and other devices. The compressed air may be supplied at 100 psi pressure and may be reduced to 20 psi or some other pressure. The compressed air is used as a controlled energy source and may enter a device and cause the device to do work such as open a valve, move a cylinder, close a damper, or cause other device operations. The compressed air stored in the operating portion of the device is expelled as it completes its expansion and work cycle. The air may be exhausted at some low pressure that may be 1 to 5 psi or some other pressure, The air quickly drops to ambient pressure as it enters the ambient air. This sudden drop in air pressure is accompanied by a very high level of noise generation. The frequency of this operation may occur several times a minute, several thousand times a day or any frequency required of the operation or device. The system may contain one or hundreds of these devices. The compressed air may fill the operator portion of the device in a small fraction of a second. The device may take 20 seconds between cycles. The end of the cycle results in the exhaust of this lower pressure compressed air that may for example be 1 psi. It may take, for example, 0.1 second for the exhaust to exit the exhaust port of the device.
The compressed air used to operate these devices picks up oil, used as a lubricant in the devices, and then exits the exhaust ports in the form of an oil laden aerosol mist. This invention addresses a practical means of removing the oil that otherwise would enter the local ambient environment of the plant where it could cause health and safety related problems.
The present invention is an offshoot of the apparatus described in several other patents having the same inventor as the inventor of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,719 deals with hydraulic oil systems is entitled "Closed Hydraulic System With Drying Means". U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,620 deals with engines and has been entitled "Contamination Control Apparatus". The third deals with the straining of sediment and the adsorption of oil out of waste water and is covered with U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,201 entitled "Sediment Dike" and a related patent pending. These prior inventions all include a bellows, bladder or flexible container and a desiccant dryer, absorber, filter or waste containment portion. The first two convert open systems to closed systems. The present invention relies on this background and the background described in the other patents having the same inventor as the present application.
Up until fairly recently the compressed air that operated pneumatic devices was simply exhausted to the ambient. In recent years concerns for personnel safety has prompted the use of coalescing type filters to remove the oil aerosols from the exhaust air. This exhaust air quickly reaches near ambient pressure and the filters may be exposed to a variable instantaneously pressure that increases then decreases to ambient pressure. Numerous types of filters can be used for this purpose. Almost any filter will help capture the oil. In some cases the oil is captured and retained in a sump. All prior art systems have a fixed system volume between the exhaust port of the device and the outlet of the filter. This causes the exhaust air to very quickly flow through the filter media at high velocity.
All known prior art methods route the exhaust directly to and through a filter media. Since the exhaust exits the devices at a very rapid rate the air pressure rapidly increases and then decreases until the air flows through the filter media. Therefore, the filtration takes place in a very short period of time. For example, 0.2 SCF may be exhausted in 0.1 seconds. This equates to a nominal flow rate of 2 SCFS or 120 SCFM. The filter media surface area and pressure drop capacity must be able to deal with the instant maximum pressure differential across the filter media thereby resulting in a greater filter surface area being required due to the very short duration of filtration time. The filtration efficiency at the higher pressures is less than at low pressures. These prior art systems are considered fixed volume open systems. High operating and maintenance costs are the result. Because of the high cost their use is limited.

Expansion coalescing silencer filter system


Systems and methods for managing aircraft messages are provided. In one embodiment, the method can include receiving a message from an onboard system of an aircraft. The method can include determining a priority associated with the message based, at least in part, on data associated with the message. The data can be indicative of at least a content of the message. The method can include determining data indicative of availability for each of a plurality of communications networks based, at least in part, on one or more first parameters associated with the aircraft. The method can include selecting a network based, at least in part, on message priority, the data indicative of availability, and one or more second parameters associated with each of the networks. The method can include sending the message via the selected network when the network is available, or storing the message when the network is unavailable.

Aircrafts typically communicate with an Airline Operation Center through air-to-ground communications. These communications can include air traffic control (ATC) messages and non-ATC messages. Air traffic control messages are typically used to organize the flow of aircraft traffic. For example, an ATC message can request an instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance. Non-ATC messages can include messages other than ATC messages, such as, for example, those reporting a broken overhead compartment.
Air-to-ground communications are transmitted via communications networks between the aircraft and the Airline Operation Center. However, communicating over a more robust network such as a SATCOM network is costly in terms of price per byte. The costs can be mitigated by using an alternative network. However, such networks may not always be available.


An electromagnetically operated fuel injection valve has a valve housing, a valve seat body having a valve seat and a guide cylinder, a valve closing element projecting in the guide cylinder and supporting a ball type valve closing body around which fuel can flow through spiral flutes in which the valve closing element releases or interrupts a fuel flow by sitting on or lifting off the valve seat. The valve seat body in addition to the guide cylinder and the valve seat, also contains at least one outlet orifice. The valve seat body is provided with an all-round spiral flute between the guide cylinder and the valve seat.

The present invention is related to a fuel injection valve having a valve housing, a valve seat body with a guide cylinder, and a valve closing element projecting into the guide cylinder.
A fuel injection valve of the generic type is already known from DE-PS 31 02 642. In this design, a guide ring with the guide cylinder and the valve seat on the one hand, and on the other hand a part described as a jet with an orifice for the fuel to be injected, form separate parts. The guide ring is held in the jet with a press fit. This requires high dimensional accuracy of the individual parts and considerable effort in fitting the fuel injection valve. In fitting the fuel injection valve, minor excesses of the dimensional tolerances of these individual parts can cause a deformation of the valve seat and poor concentricity of the guide cylinder to the valve seat and to the orifice, leading to an increased irregular fuel radiation pattern.

Electromagnetically operated fuel injection valve


This method for manufacturing a light absorber includes: a first step for irradiating a resin substrate with ion beams; a second step for etching the irradiated resin substrate with an alkaline solution to form an uneven surface on the surface thereof; a third step for forming a transfer body which covers the uneven surface of the etched resin substrate; and a fourth step for peeling off the transfer body from the resin substrate to obtain a light absorber. A metal film, a photocurable resin, and a silicone rubber are disclosed as an example of the transfer body.

Infrared cameras are used in various industrial fields. Examples include temperature monitoring of processes in factories, detection of temperature abnormalities, heat testing of integrated circuit board, body temperature management of cattle and pigs in the livestock industry, and detection of human body temperature in security systems, anti-flu measures, and the like.
In general cameras for visible light, black coating is applied to the lenses and housings in order to reduce stray light and diffuse reflection of visible light, but it is not easy to reduce stray light and diffuse reflection of infrared light in infrared cameras.
VANTABLACK (registered trademark) from Surrey NanoSystems, UK, is a low-reflection material with aligned carbon nanotubes and is known to have a very low reflectance at ultraviolet to far-infrared wavelengths. In addition, an antireflective structure is known in which an ion beam is irradiated onto a glassy carbon base material to form needle-like shapes on its surface (for example, see Patent Document 1).
The present inventors have developed a light absorber of which the total reflectance of light at visible to near-infrared wavelengths of 400 nm to 1700 nm is 1% to 3%. The light absorber was prepared by irradiating a CR-39 substrate with an ion beam from a cyclotron, etching the substrate and forming a nickel (Ni)/chromium (Cr) film and a diamond-like carbon layer on its surface (see Non-Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 5177581    Non-Patent Document 1: Kuniaki Amemiya and 8 others "Fabrication of hard-coated optical absorbers with microstructured surfaces using etched ion tracks: toward broadband ultra-low reflectance" Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, vol. 356-357, 2015, p. 154-159

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A stability belt is fabricated of a spring-loaded safety belt buckle and a sufficiently long strap to reach around an operator and a passenger of an open vehicle or a domesticated animal. The stability belt may have a belt buckle that has a top quick belt release portion that comprises an aperture for receiving a tether. The tether is adapted to be tied to the buckle and the buckle released by pulling on the tether in the event of an emergency. The stability belt may have a padded portion at the rear and sides serving as a cushion for the passenger in the event of a quick stop. The stability belt may permit passengers to ride that otherwise would not be able to ride such as a small child or a handicapped person.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2001 and 2008, more than thirty-four thousand motorcyclists were killed and an estimated 1,222,000 persons were treated in a U.S. emergency department for a non-fatal motor-cycle-related injury. Helmets save lives. As of May 2012, nineteen states and the District of Columbia had universal helmet laws, twenty-eight states have a partial helmet law and three states had no helmet law. In Pennsylvania in 2010, of the 223 deaths in motorcycle accidents, two hundred two were drivers and twenty-one were passengers. In 2012 in Pennsylvania, of the two hundred ten people killed in motorcycle accidents, two hundred were operating the motorcycle and ten were passengers. Nearly half were not wearing helmets. About 36% of injured motorcyclists were not wearing helmets. From these statistics, one may conclude that passengers, not wearing helmets, are at risk when they ride a motorcycle and passengers are at risk, just as are drivers. The helmet appears to be a key to safety. On the other hand, there appears to be no data on the efficacy of any other safety or stability means for motorcycle passengers as to whether such means or devices save lives or provide for greater stability for passengers.
A safety belt for motorcycles is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,902 of McNeill issued Oct. 15, 1974. The belt is securely fastened about the driver by a pair of buckles and a gripping means. The belt is further provided with windbreakers to cause wind flow to be less disturbing to a passenger. The belt has hand grips on each side for a passenger to hold on to. A cushion is provided in the rear of the bell to absorb sudden shocks.
Yet another motorcycle safety belt is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,742. The belt in fact comprises two belts placed across the chest and waist such that these two belts are parallel to one another and are suspended by suspenders. A back plate is added for back support. A passenger holds on to "resiliently mounted spaced apart" handles comprising first and second handles of the lower belt.
A further motorcycle safety belt is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,358 to Jimenez issued Nov. 8, 1983. This safety belt is much like a known belt with belt holes and a buckle so that the belt may be buckled around a driver of variable waist sizes via the many belt holes. Handles are positioned on each side of the driver for a passenger/rider to hold on to. A widened portion in the rear makes the belt more comfortable.
Yet another motorcycle safety belt is disclosed by Donnelly in U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,719 issued Jan. 21, 1992. An advantage of this belt is a pair of slidable handles that may be moved about the belt. The handles are not in a fixed position. A belt web has first and second ends where the first end is a hook and loop style fastener to cooperate with a second hook and loop style fastener. The hook and loop fasteners cooperate further so that the overlap between the fasteners provides for varying waist sizes.
A motorcycle rider safety harness is shown in published U. S. Patent Application 2011/0154561 of Singhal published Jun. 30, 2011. The harness is inflatable and a plurality of air-bags can be inflated. A sensor can actuate the air bags automatically.
A biker's lap belt is shown in U. S. Published Patent Application 2011/0253130 published Oct. 20, 2011. As explained, a biker may utilize this belt around the biker's thighs to hold them together at a comfortable position. Biker's legs may tend to require back muscle exertion to maintain their tightness to hug the bike. A fifty-four year old biker found that the belt, when worn, reduced muscle fatigue. Such a belt is no assistance to a passenger.
Besides handles, there would appear to be a need in the open vehicle or ride-able animal arts to provide for stability and safety of a passenger. For example, a passenger may be a young child and not possess the strength to hold on to a handle or have the arm length to reach round the driver. A passenger may be a handicapped individual with no arm strength or be missing one or both of their arms. Handles on a rider belt would be of no assistance to a handicapped passenger with no arms or hands. Thus, there would appear to be a need in the art for improvements to permit a passenger to ride safely and with some enhanced stability behind a driver of an open vehicle or a ride-able animal such as a horse. Handles are insufficient, and there seems to be no data to support a proposition that handles on a belt will provide greater safety to a passenger.
Given the foregoing, what is needed is an improved belt that may provide for greater safety and stability for a passenger.


A USB controller is provided with multiple logic channels that share same physical address and data bus at an interface between the host system and the USB Host Controller; and dataports used by the host system to read and/or write data to the USB Host Controller. Also provided is a data packet format for transferring data, which comprises of an Endpoint Transfer Descriptor (“ETD”) that includes an EndPoint Descriptor and a Transfer Descriptor, wherein the host system programs the parameters of a communication channel for a particular Endpoint. Also included is a technique for partitioning a memory storage device into a first memory buffer and a second memory buffer; wherein the size of the first and second memory buffer may be programmed by the host system and the first and/or second memory buffer may contain more than one USB packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to peripheral device controllers, and more particularly, to controllers used in a universal serial bus ("USB") system.
2. Background
The USB system provides a unitary interface that allows various devices to be connected to a computer system (also referred to as a host system). USB enables a wide variety of peripherals to be connected in a tree-like fashion through a physical connector at the host side. USB systems comply with the USB specification, version 2.0, published Apr. 27, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
USB systems are implemented by a register level interface standard referred to as the "Open Host Controller Interface ("OHCI"), developed by a consortium of computer industry manufacturers. The OHCI allows multiple Host Controllers to be used with a common software driver. The OHCI specification, version 1.0a, entitled "Open HCI Host Controller Interface Specification for USB, published by Compaq, Microsoft, and National Semiconductor, Jan. 22, 1997, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Yet another standard that is used by USB systems is the Universal Host Controller Interface ("UHCI") that implements a USB Host Controller. The UHCI provides hardware and software interface between a Host Controller software driver and the Host Controller. UHCI standard published by Intel Corporation, Revision 1.1, March 1996, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
USB enables bi-directional isochronous and asynchronous data transfer making it possible to couple plural peripheral devices to a computing device via a single Host Controller and a USB hub. A USB hub is an intelligent wiring connector, coupled to a computing device or another hub, and which allows, attachment for peripheral devices.
USB systems allow automatic identification and configuration of external and/or internal peripheral devices. Typically, a USB host controller maintains a data structure that identifies every connected peripheral device and includes entries for communicating with the individual devices. The data structure manages four types of data transfers, between a host controller and peripheral units, namely, interrupt, isochronous, control and bulk transfers.
Interrupt transfers include small data transfers used to communicate information from a USB device to a client software at the host system. Isochronous transfers include periodic data transfers at a constant rate. Data transfer is correlated in time between a sender and receiver.
Control transfers are non-periodic data transfers used to communicate configuration/command/status information between client software and a USB device. Bulk transfers are non-periodic data transfers used to transfer large amounts of information between client software and a USB device.
USB systems use a microcontroller (also referred to as a host controller or USB controller), or an embedded microcontroller, uniquely suited on to a monolithic semiconductor substrate (chip) to interface between host systems and USB devices. The USB controller includes various features within a single chip, complying with the foregoing standards.
USB systems use Endpoint Descriptors (ED) and Transfer Descriptors (TD) for communication. Typically, a Host Controller Driver assigns an ED to each peripheral device (also referred to herein as an "endpoint") in the USB system. The ED includes information necessary for the host controller to communicate with the endpoint. The fields include maximum packet size, endpoint address, and speed of the endpoint and direction of data flow. A queue of TDs is linked to the ED for a specific endpoint. The TD includes information necessary to describe the data packets to be transferred. Each TD contains information that describes one or more data packets.
Section 4 of the OHCI specification describes the use of endpoint and transfer descriptors. Typically, a ED is a 16-byte, memory resident structure. A host controller traverses lists of EDs and if there are TDs linked to an ED, the host controller performs the indicated transfer.
Current USB controllers have various drawbacks. For example for bulk transfers, a host system builds a bulk transfer list structure in system memory which includes EDs and TDs. Under OHCI's bulk list structure, a host controller must queue and en-queue EDs and TDs depending upon whether they are active or inactive.
If Host Controller has to send bulk data, host controller must access the ED in system memory, compute the ED, access the TD, compute the TD and then transfer data according to the command. This requires elaborate bus mastering which is complex and slows the host system.
For isochronous transfer, conventional OHCI controllers require frequent access to the system bus. Isochronous transfer monopolizes system bus resources and hence overall system performance is affected.
Another drawback of conventional USB systems is that memory buffers are either under-run or over-run, and hence used inefficiently.
Therefore, there is a need for a host controller that allows efficient data transfer without monopolizing system bus resources.
There is also a need for an ED and TD format that does not require elaborate and complex bus mastering.
Also, there is a need for a buffering mechanism that efficiently utilizes the buffer resources.