A light control method and apparatus, and a storage medium are disclosed. The light control method includes: acquiring video data information from the video source device; obtaining color data information of pixels in a preset region in a frame picture according to the video data information; generating a corresponding light control signal according to the color data information; and outputting the light control signal to a lamp bank to control an operating state of the lamp bank to match the video data information.

With the increasing of people's living standard, lighting devices have been widely used. For example, people can set their favorite scenario and circumstance lighting effects according to their own lighting needs (such as color, temperature, brightness and direction, or the like), and select and control the changes of brightness, gray scale and color of light in different spaces and times according to their own requirements and scenario conditions.
At present, the control mode of the lighting devices lacks flexibility and adaptability, which cannot be close to the needs of scenarios, thus leading to poor user experience.

Light control method and apparatus, and storage medium

GLOWWORM (SHENZHEN) LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A process and a degassing unit for the degassing of plastic melt in a screw extruder in which a surface of the degassing unit facing the screws of the extruder are heated to prevent deposition of entrained plastic particles, particularly at the corners or edges of the degassing unit. Prior to the commencement of the treatment process, the degassing unit is heated to a temperature which is at least as high as the melting point of the plastic to be treated. Heating can be effected by conveying a heating medium through a channel in the degassing unit located in proximity to the surface facing the extrusion screws and especially the corner or edge regions.

The degassing of volatile components from a polymer melt or solution is an important process step in the manufacture and treatment of plastic materials. Of decisive significance for the correct degassing of a specific type of plastic material and for maintaining operational safety is the arrangement and configuration of degassing openings in the housing of the screw extruder. It is known (H. Werner, Degassing of Plastics, Kunststoffe 71 (1981) 1, p. 23, FIG. 11), that degassing housings of various configurations can be utilized with or without ancillary degassing units for the screw extruders, depending on the vapor velocities that are produced and the tendency of the product to foam in the degassing zone in the extruder. The ancillary units can have a configuration which completely or partially covers the "wedge" region of two overlapping extrusion screws. Even if the ancillary degassing units are specially shaped to correspond to the prevailing flows in the degassing zone of the extruder, separation of particles from the plastic melt being processed cannot be avoided, particularly during start-up and when fluctuations in throughput occur. These separated particles adhere to the outer surfaces of the degassing unit and housing as well as on the inner wall of the degassing dome to form solid residues thereat. This produces a constricting of the cross section resulting in higher gas velocities which cause the entrained particles in the gas current to be increased.
The thus formed residues decompose under the effect of temperature and drop, almost decomposed, onto the screws after a certain period of time, and adversely affect the quality of the melt product. In addition, depositions at corners or edges of the degassing unit can become detached and drop into the melt at any time and cause melt contamination.
In order to eliminate the formation of depositions in the degassing dome, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,078,512, to employ a displaceable unit, which has exactly the same contour shape as the degassing dome. The depositions in the degassing dome are removed and reintroduced into the screw extruder by periodic displacement of this unit by a hand lever system.
This system is relatively expensive and even if the degassing dome remains free of depositions by precise monitoring of the formation of depositions and corresponding operation of the displaceable unit, depositions on the surface of the unit facing the screws cannot be eliminated. Unfortunately, this is where most of the plastic particles are deposited.

Process and apparatus for degassing plastic melt in a screw extruder


A spray gun cleaning assembly includes an aerosol can and a connecting assembly connecting the aerosol can to a spray gun for cleaning the spray gun. The connector assembly includes a first threaded connector threadedly coupled to the aerosol can; and a second threaded connector threadedly connected to the spray gun. An elongated tube is connected at opposite ends to the first and second threaded connectors. A shut-off valve assembly is operatively coupled to the elongated tube for opening and closing the connecting assembly for providing pressurized air or cleaning fluid to the spray gun.

The present disclosure relates to the art of using and cleaning paint spray guns. In particular, it finds application with an aerosol can injection system which injects pressurized air or a cleaning fluid from an aerosol can into a spray gun to clean paint and paint residue from the internals of the gun.
An existing method for cleaning painting spray guns or heads is shown in FIG. 1. In this example, the user holds the spray gun A with one hand and a pressurized aerosol can B with the other hand. The can further has a straw S attached to the nozzle N. The straw is pointed into the spray head and the nozzle is depressed thereby injecting or spraying the pressurized air or fluid from the aerosol into the spray head thus removing paint residue and cleaning the spray head.
A problem with this system is it requires both hands of the user and it is not always totally effective since there is no airtight connection formed between the spray gun and the can.
Thus, there is a need for a new improved method of cleaning paint spray gun using an aerosol can which has a direct and tight connection. The present disclosure provides a new and improved aerosol can cleaning system which overcomes the above-referenced deficiencies of the prior systems while providing better and more advantageous overall results.

Spray gun cleaning system using aerosol can


A continuously tunable wideband optical communications receiver exhibits optimum performance across multiple octaves of received signal bandwidth. The receiver's transimpedance preamplifier input stage includes a variable transconductance field effect transistor, whose transconductance exhibits a very steep non-linear variation with drain current over the operational bandwidth of the transimpedance amplifier. As a result, the bandwidth of the transimpedance amplifier and therefore the receiver can be tuned to accommodate the detected data rate. The data rate of the received signal (known either a priori, or extracted by a clock recovery circuit) is used to adjust drain current and thereby tune the operational bandwidth of the receiver. A bandwidth control code look-up table previously stored in memory during a calibration phase of operation is employed by the receiver's microcontroller to generate a digital code representative of an control voltage to be output by a digitally programmable current control circuit. This control voltage is applied to a control port of the transimpedance amplifier so as to set the drain current supplied to the HJFET which, in turn, sets its transconductance, and thereby the effective operational bandwidth of the receiver.

Currently available optical communication receivers are designed to operate over a relatively limited passband of modulation data rates and are not readily tunable over multiple octaves of input signal frequency. Previous attempts to implement a broadband receiver have suffered from limited performance due to the substantial noise figure penalty that accumulates at data rates lower than the highest data rate at which the receiver is intended to operate.
One attempt to solve this problem involves the use of `post` amplification stage, complex noise filtering circuitry downstream of the input signal amplifier. Unfortunately, such filters not only cannot improve upon the noise figure of the pre-amplifier stage, but they introduce an insertion loss penalty of their own, thereby reducing the overall sensitivity of the receiver. Another proposal has been to make the feedback resistor in the input stage's transimpedance amplifier controllably adjustable, for example, by means of a MOSFET-implemented resistor, whose applied gate voltage sets the effective resistance of the feedback resistor. This approach suffers from the fact that such an FET-implemented resistor has more insertion loss that the ordinary passive resistor it replaces. In addition, it introduces stray capacitance and thereby noise into the feedback path. Moreover, it does not provide multiple octave tunability.

Tuning optical communications receiver by controlling drain current input to variable transconductance fet stage of variable bandwidth transimpedance amplifier


A medium temperature solid oxide fuel cell glass packaging material is provided. The glass packaging material may include a glass main body made of SiO2, Al2O3, Y2O3 and ZnO, and at least one glass modifier added into the glass main body. Glass transition temperature ranges from 700 to 900 degrees Celsius. The glass modifier may be rare earth elements or transitory elements. The added glass modifier may adjust the glass transition temperature and the thermal expansion coefficient, and improve the bonding characteristics of the glass packaging material, so as to allow the manufactured glass packaging material to be applicable in SOFC application temperature range from 500 to 800 degrees Celsius.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to medium temperature solid fuel cell glass packaging material, in particular, to glass packaging material using Si—Al—Y—Zn as a glass main body with at least one glass modifier added, for increasing the thermal expansion coefficient and improving the bonding characteristics of the glass packaging material which therefore could be applied in other high temperature packaging environment.
2. Description of Related Art
In the fuel cell technology field, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are associated with higher energy transfer efficiency, could select from multiple fuel sources, and are of the relatively lowered manufacturing costs. That said, SOFC needs to operate at high operating temperatures such as the range between 600 and 800 degrees Celsius. In the plate-type SOFC, therefore, high temperature packaging becomes necessary for filling the gap between the plates by the packaging material, in order to isolate the fuel gas from the oxygen. In short, the packaging material is used for bonding the materials/components and ensuring the air-tight SOFC with respect to its surrounding environment.
In a paper written by Shouguo Huang et al. and published in Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Si—AL—Y—Ba—B glass has been proposed. Such glass is made of SiO2 (3.53 wt % and 6.97 mol %), Al2O3 (7.21 wt % and 8.39 mol %), Y2O3 (10 wt % and 5.27 mol %), BaO (60 wt % and 46.55 mol %), and B2O3 (19.26 wt % and 32.83 mol %). As previously mentioned, SOFC needs to be operating in the high-temperature environment (such as in the temperature range between 600 and 800 degrees Celsius), and therefore the usage of the alkaline earth elements and the connecting members between the components of the fuel cell together could generate compounds such as MgCrO4, Ba3CaSi2O8, BaCrO4, MgSiO3 and Mg2Al4Si5O18 causing the changes to the expansion coefficients and thus the rifts between the electrolyte and the connecting members. And the alkaline earth element itself is likely to produce the compound when reacting with the cathode, increasing the battery resistivity of the fuel cell. Despite the addition of B2O3 could reduce the viscosity and increase the wet-ability, B2O3 could be subject to volatility because of its low melting point and could produce HBO2 and B(OH)3 in reduction environment.
However, most of the published research papers continue their use the alkaline earth elements or boron as the glass modifier, which may not be suitable in the glass packaging material in the SOFC applications that are used in the high temperature environment for the extended period of time.
In addition, the conventional glass packaging material when used in the solid oxide fuel cell may be resulting in the inter-diffusion among the connecting members and the components, which in turn could diminish the packaging capability after the extended use. Therefore, while overcoming the above problem, and ensure the applicability of the glass packaging material in the SOFC applications without lead, boron, and alkaline earth elements and excluding the mixture with ceramic powder the present disclosure could still serve the packaging function in the 600-800-degree Celsius temperature range.

Medium temperature solid fuel cell glass packaging material

NATIONAL TAIPEI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY


A semiconductor laser device includes: a semiconductor laser chip which is composed of a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of semiconductor layers stacked on an element formation face of the semiconductor substrate and which outputs an irradiation light for irradiating an optical disk; and a light receiving element which receives the irradiation light reflected by the optical disk as a feedback light. The semiconductor laser chip includes on one face thereof an electrode facing an optical element and is fixed in a package so that at least one of sub-beams reflected by the optical disk is incident on the one face. A chip exposing portion for exposing a region of the one face where the sub-beam is incident is formed in the electrode.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser device and an optical pickup which are basic components of a replaying/recording device for optical disks.
Recently, as means for reprlaying, recording, storing, and transferring various kinds of information in the form of documents, music, images, and the like, optical disks such as compact disks (CD), digital versatile disks (DVD), and the like, and optical disk devices for replaying and recording the optical disks are widely used.
Optical pickups, which are basic components that actually perform replay and recording of information, are demanded to be low in cost and to be thinner in association with recent expansion of optical disk markets and a widespread demand of portability of notebook personal computers, car navigation systems, portable mini disks, and the like. Further, on the market background that a demand for a single product capable of coping with a plurality of formats such as a CD, a DVD, and the like is increasing, an optical pickup having a function of coping with a plurality of media are earnestly desired in recent years.
For satisfying the above demands, semiconductor laser devices in which a semiconductor laser chip, light receiving elements, and various optical components, which are constitutional member of the optical pickups, are integrated and optical pickups using them have been proposed, and some of them have been used and produced in practice (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 3108976B, for example).
In the case where a semiconductor laser chip and light receiving elements are integrated, after a laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser chip is reflected by the surface of an optical disk device, the reflected light as a feedback light should be incident in the light receiving elements arranged around the semiconductor laser chip. For this reason, the feedback light is diffracted using a diffraction grating so as to be lead to the light receiving elements.
However, part of the feedback light is not diffracted by the diffraction grating and transmits directly to be incident on the surface of the semiconductor laser chip. An electrode made of a material having high reflectance such as gold is formed on the surface of the semiconductor laser chip, and therefore, the light incident in the semiconductor laser device is reflected by the electrode and heads towards the optical disk again.
In this way, when the light reflected by the surface of the semiconductor laser chip and returning to the disk again is induced, it interferes with the original emitted light. In consequence, a tracing error signal is offset by a tangential skew of the disk (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 61-024031A corresponding to Japanese Patent No. 1886907B).
Under the circumstances, a wire for supplying a current to the semiconductor laser chip is bonded to the surface of the semiconductor laser chip in the feedback light incident region for scattering the feedback light so that the light reflected by the surface of the semiconductor laser chip is prevented from heading towards the disk again.
However, in the conventional techniques, a scattered light scattered at the part where the wire is bonded is incident in the light receiving elements as a stray light. This lowers especially the S/N ratio of output signals from the light receiving elements arranged in the vicinity of the semiconductor laser chip.
Further, because the different amounts of stray lights are incident in the light receiving elements, a focus error signal and a tracking error signal, which are detected by computing the output signals from the light receiving elements, are offset, generating an error in servo operation.
Moreover, in the actual mass production, positional displacement of a semiconductor laser chip mounted on a semiconductor substrate or positional displacement of a wire bonded on the upper face of the semiconductor laser chip causes displacement between the position where the feedback light is incident finally on the upper face of the semiconductor laser chip and the position where the wire bonding is performed, so that no stable scattering of the feedback light incident on the upper face of the semiconductor laser chip is attained.
In order to cope with a plurality of optical disk media, it is necessary to perform wire boding at a plurality of points for scattering various kinds of feedback lights corresponding to various beams having oscillation wavelengths of the disks. This involves complication in manufacturing process and increases the amount of the wiring material to be used, resulting in remarkable increase in cost.
Though it has been tried to absorb the light rather than scattering, every method of this kind requires an additional special manufacturing step, lowering yields and inviting difficulty in manufacturing a semiconductor laser device at low cost.

Semiconductor laser device and optical pickup device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Systems and methods for syncing haptic feedback calls are disclosed. For example, one described method includes: receiving an input signal associated with a user interface event; determining a haptic feedback signal based at least in part on the input signal; and determining whether or not to output the haptic feedback signal to haptic output device based at least in part on a haptic feedback rate.

Haptic feedback can provide a conduit for electronic devices to communicate information to users. This conduit can be in addition to standard visual or auditory effects. The number of devices that include some form of haptic feedback has increased dramatically over the past several years. However, due to bandwidth limits on a device, some haptic effects may be delayed. This can lead to less compelling effects. Accordingly, there is a need for the systems and methods discussed herein.


A user agent (UA) is provided. The UA comprises a processor configured to send a message specifying a subset of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Dialog-Info Event package that is to be returned to the UA. A method for a user agent (UA) to manage notifications related to session events is also provided. The method includes sending a message specifying a subset of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Dialog-Info Event package state information that is to be returned to the UA. The method also provides for receiving the subset of the SIP Dialog-Info Event package state information.

As used herein, the terms "user agent" and "UA" can refer to mobile devices such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, handheld or laptop computers, and similar devices that have telecommunications capabilities. Such a UA might consist of a wireless device and its associated Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) that includes a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) application, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) application, or a Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM) application or might consist of the device. The term "UA" may also refer to devices that have similar capabilities but that are not transportable, such as fixed line telephones, desktop computers, set-top boxes, or network nodes. When a UA is a network node, the network node could act on behalf of another function such as a wireless device or a fixed line device and simulate or emulate the wireless device or fixed line device. For example, for some wireless devices, the IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) client that would typically reside on the device actually resides in the network and relays SIP message information to the device using optimized protocols. In other words, some functions that were traditionally carried out by a wireless device can be distributed in the form of a remote UA, where the remote UA represents the wireless device in the network. The term "UA" can also refer to any hardware or software component that can terminate a SIP session.

Obtaining information associated with established sessions


The auxiliary apparatus comprises a base plate having a plurality of wiring portions on one face, a plurality of probes, and assembling means for assembling the probes in parallel to each other into the base plate. The assembling means presses the probes by a needle pressing portion extending in the arranging direction of the probes, bringing at least a part of deformed portions of the probes into contact with the wiring portions of the base plate, and each probe is pressed at the tip end of its needle front portion continued to one end of the deformed portion against an electrode portion of a device under inspection. Thereby, the probe is sandwiched between the base plate and the needle pressing portion to be maintained in that state and, in addition, scrapes off a film such as an oxide film existing in the electrode portion by the tip end of the needle front portion. The effective area of the probe is from the portion in contact with the wiring portion to the portion at the side of the needle tip and is smaller than the conventional probe.

Generally, an inspection or a test of electrical characteristic of a packaged or molded semiconductor device, more particularly, an integrated circuit (IC) is generally performed by utilizing an inspection socket, that is, a test socket, i.e., an auxiliary apparatus to which a semiconductor device is removably attached.
There is provided an auxiliary apparatus of such a type using a crank-shaped contact, i.e., a probe wherein a needle front portion to be in contact with a lead (electrode portion) of a semiconductor device and a needle tail portion to be connected to wiring portions of a base plate are bent in the opposite directions (Japanese Patent Appln. Public Disclosure No. 7-229949).
In this conventional auxliary apparatus, each probe is attached to a common needle holder by an adhesive in the intermediate portion between the needle front portion and the needle tail portion such that the needle front portion extends upward and the needle tail portion extends downward. In this conventional auxiliary apparatus, however, an assembling work such as attaching a probe to the needle presser or soldering the needle tail portion to the wiring portions of the base plate requires skill, and since the length dimension of an effective area (from the tip end of the probe to a connecting point to the wiring portions) is great, there is a limitation in raising the frequency of an electric signal used for testing.
There is another auxiliary apparatus for testing which uses a plate-like probe formed in a Z-like or an annular shape (U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,094 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,996). In this conventional auxiliary apparatus, however, each probe is pressed against an electrode portion of a device to be inspected in its arc-shaped deformed face portion, no scraping action due to a displacement of the deformed face portion relative to the electrode portion occurs, so that a film like an oxide film existing in the electrode portion is not effectively eliminated. Consequently, a favorable electric contact between the probe and the electrode portion cannot be obtained.
There is an auxiliary apparatus for testing the electrical characteristic of a non-packaged or non-molded semiconductor device, particularly an IC chip, which uses a probe bent in a C-like shape (Japanese Patent Appln. Public Disclosure No. 5-299483). According to this conventional auxiliary apparatus, however, since each probe is only held in a socket by its own spring force, the probe is unstable, and since both ends of the C-like shape must be further curved, the probe becomes complicated in shape and expensive.
Accordingly, in an auxiliary apparatus for testing device, it is important to simplify the shape of a probe, to enhance the stability of the probe, to make it adapted to a high frequency test, and to facilitate manufacturing same, in spite of giving an effective scraping action to the electrode portion of the device to be inspected.


An encoder for a brushless motor of an Electric Power Steering (EPS) system that includes a commutation track coupled to a shaft for the generation of a commutation signal. The commutation signal in turn is used to generate an index signal every electrical cycle. The encoder further includes a set of high-resolution quadrature signal tracks. The set of high-resolution quadrature signal tracks generate a set of high-resolution signals which are phased at a set angular displacement with respect to one another. A set of sensors sense the commutation signal and the set of high resolution quadrature signals.

This invention relates generally to an encoder, and more particularly, to an encoder for a sinusoidal brushless motor of an Electric Power Steering (EPS) system.
Electric power steering (EPS) has been the subject of development by auto manufacturers and suppliers for over a decade because of its fuel economy and ease-of-control advantages compared with the traditional hydraulic power steering (HPS). However, commercialization of EPS systems has been slow and is presently limited to small and midget-class cars due to cost and performance challenges. Among the most challenging technical issues are the pulsating feel at the steering wheel and the audible noise associated with the type of high performance electric drives needed to meet the steering requirements.
The choice of motor type for an EPS determines the characteristics of the drive and the requirements relating to power switching devices, controls, and consequently cost. Leading contenders are the Permanent Magnet (PM) brushless motor, the Permanent Magnet (PM) commutator-type and the switched reluctance (SR) motors; each of the three options has its own inherent advantages and limitations. The PM brushless motor is based upon years of experimenting with commutator-type motors. The large motor size and rotor inertia of commutator-type motors limit their applicability to very small cars with reduced steering assist requirements. Additionally, the potential for brush breakage that may result in a rotor lock necessitates the use of a clutch to disconnect the motor from the drive shaft in case of brush failure. SR drives offer an attractive, robust and low cost option, but suffer from inherent excessive torque pulsation and audible noise, unless special measures are taken to reduce such effects. For column assist applications, the motor is located within the passenger compartment and therefore must meet stringent packaging and audible noise requirements that the present SR motor technology may not satisfy. Therefore, the PM brushless motor with its superior characteristics of low inertia, high efficiency and torque density, compared to commutator motors, appears to have the potential for not only meeting the present requirements but also those of future high performance EPS systems of medium and large vehicles.
Despite the relatively low levels of torque ripple and noise of EPS systems using conventional PM brushless motors, they are no match to the smoothness and quietness of HPS with a decades-long history of performance refinement efforts. Consumers are reluctant in compromising such features. Therefore, a new torque ripple free (TRF) system is needed, which, as the name indicates, would eradicate the sources of torque ripple (under ideal conditions) and reduce noise levels considerably. The near term goal is to enhance the performance of EPS systems with the long-term objective of increasing acceptability of EPS systems for broader usage.
Several performance and cost issues have stood in the way of broad-based EPS commercialization regardless of the technology used, but with varying degree of difficulty. In order to generate motor currents with a sinusoidal shape, the inverter switching devices (e.g. MOSFETS) must be turned on and off at specific rotor angular positions. Therefore, the position of the rotor must be known at all times and an encoder is needed. This requirement is one of the factors adding to the cost of sinusoidal drives, hence traditionally limiting their application to high-performance applications. EPS is a high-performance drive, however it must meet stringent cost limits. Therefore, a new type of encoder is desirable such that it combines high resolution and low cost.
A sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system typically requires an incremental position encoder located on a motor shaft for controlling an electric motor. The encoder typically provides two highresolution quadrature pulse trains EA, EB and an index pulse for determining a rotor position. Upon power-up of the sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system, it is generally impossible to determine the rotor position of a sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor by using the incremental encoder signals until the sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor is moved across or is encountered by the index pulse position for a first time. Thus, before the sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor is moved across or is encountered by the index pulse position, the sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor is typically started by using three additional low-resolution commutation sensors which give initial position estimation, as well as directing currents to the desired motor phases.
The two most popular ways to sense rotary position are based on optical detection and magnetic field variation. Optical encoders are temperature limited and susceptible to dirt. Semiconductor based magnetic sensors (magnetoresistors, or MRs), on the other hand, can work at higher temperature, and is starting to be used in underhood applications.
The encoder typically provides two high-resolution quadrature pulse trains EA, EB represent the two quadrature high-resolution incremental pulse trains. The two high-resolution quadrature pulse trains EA, EB are used to determine the sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor rotation direction and to increment a sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor rotor position count. The index signal is a pulse that indicates a zero sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor rotor position. Generally, a set of three signals, denoted by H1, H2, and H3, are low resolution commutation signals with a 120 electrical degree phase shift, corresponding to a three phase motor winding. Typically, the index pulse is generally aligned with phase A, H1 edges. Therefore, the index pulse is derived from phase A, or H1 edges.
Thus, it can be appreciated that for the sinusoidal electric power steering (EPS) system motor, it is desirous to reduce the cost and size or dimension of the encoder. The above mentioned encoding scheme would need at least one encoding track for the two high-resolution quadrature pulse trains EA, EB. In addition, at least three tracks for low resolution commutation signals, i.e. H1, H2, and H3. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the size and cost of the encoder by reducing the number of tracks on the encoder.
An encoder for a brushless motor of an Electric Power Steering (EPS) system is disclosed. The encoder includes a commutation track coupled to a shaft for the generation of a commutation signal. The commutation signal in turn is used to generate an index signal every electrical cycle. The encoder further includes a set of high-resolution quadrature signal tracks. The set of high-resolution quadrature signal tracks generate a set of high-resolution signals which are phased at a set angular displacement with respect to one another. A set of sensors sense the commutation signal, and the set of high resolution quadrature signals.

Encoder for a permanent magnet sinusoidal brushless motor in an electric power steering system


Embodiments of the present invention provide a synchronization signal carrying method and an apparatus. The synchronization signal carrying method in the present invention includes: determining, by first user equipment, a priority parameter of a synchronization signal; determining, by the first user equipment according to the priority parameter, a resource for carrying the synchronization signal, where a configuration of the resource indicates the priority parameter; and sending, by the first user equipment, the synchronization signal to second user equipment by using the resource, so that the second user equipment determines a synchronization signal for the second user equipment. The embodiments of the present invention enable a more flexible synchronization signal determining manner in a D2D communications system.

The device-to-device proximity service (D2D ProSe) has become a research topic of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system Rel.12 of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The D2D ProSe provided by using an LTE physical layer can not only expand a service scope of the LTE system but also enable the D2D ProSe to be used by more users. The ProSe includes D2D discovery and D2D communication. D2D discovery refers to that user equipment with D2D function discovers a signal and learns of existence of another user equipment, and D2D communication refers to direct communication between devices with D2D functions. Time synchronization (including frame synchronization, bit synchronization, sampling point synchronization, and the like) and frequency synchronization of the system are two major issues during design of D2D communication. Only after obtaining precise synchronization can a receiving device ensure that subsequent communication functions such as channel estimation, demodulation, and decoding work properly.
In the prior art, synchronization of a D2D communications system is as follows: A transmit end sends a synchronization sequence, and a receive end acquires system synchronization by performing a time synchronization algorithm and a frequency synchronization algorithm on the synchronization sequence. When the transmit end sends the synchronization sequence, a time reference source is required for calibrating a synchronization signal sent by the transmit end. Synchronization precision of different time reference sources is different, which leads to different precision of synchronization signals sent by the transmit end. As a receiver, user equipment usually determines a synchronization signal according to strength of the synchronization signal. This determining manner is relatively monotonous and lacks flexibility.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Synchronization signal carrying method and user equipment


An infusing container including a main body, a cover and an automatically unblocking unit. The automatically unblocking unit includes a barrel body disposed in the main body. The bottom of the barrel body is formed with a draining hole accommodated in the outlet of the main body. A movable shaft is passed through the interior of the barrel body. The bottom end of the shaft is provided with a water sealing valve positioned in a water sealing section of the barrel body for blocking the draining hole. A circumference of the water sealing section is formed with orifices. The water sealing valve is formed with notches corresponding to the orifice and communicating with the interior of the barrel body. A floating body is fitted around the shaft. An upper section of the shaft is formed with an enlarged projecting section for stopping the floating body. After a liquid flows through the orifices and the notches into the barrel body, the floating body is ascended to lift the shaft. At this time, the water sealing valve is moved upward, whereby the interiors of the barrel body and the main body communicate with the draining hole, permitting the liquid in the main body to drain out from the draining hole.

The present invention is related to an infusing container, and more particularly to an infusing container which can automatically open the valve body to drain the liquid. The time taken for automatically opening the valve body is adjustable so as to prevent the infused material from being soaked too long.
FIG. 8 shows a conventional infusing container 8 composed of a cup body 81, a filtering mesh 82 and a holding tray 83. The filtering mesh 82 is disposed in the cup body 81. The cup bottom 811 is conic and formed with a central through hole 812. A valve body 84 drops due to its own weight to block the through hole 812. The holding tray 83 is up and down movably fitted on the lower section of the cup body 81. The holding tray 83 is hollow and has a cross-shaped rib 831. The center of the rib 831 is formed with a socket 832 in which a downward extending post 841 of the valve body 84 is inserted. When the holding tray 83 is lifted, via the post 841 the valve body 84 is pushed upward to unblock the through hole 812. At this time, the liquid in the cup body 81 can be drained out through the through hole 812.
When using such tea-infusing container, a user has to judge the soaking time. After the user infuses the tea in the cup body 81 with hot water, the user needs to wait for a certain period of time to soak and spread the tea. Thereafter, the user puts the cup body 81 at the opening of a cup 9 as shown in FIG. 9. The holding tray 83 is pressed upward to push away the valve body 84. At this time, the made tea in the cup body 81 can flow through the through hole 812 and fall into the cup 9. However, in case the user temporarily leaves or is busy and forgets to watch the soaking time, the tea will be soaked too long in the cup body 81. As a result, the tea will become bitter and astringent.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an infusing container including a main body, a cover and an automatically unblocking unit. The automatically unblocking unit includes a barrel body. The bottom of the barrel body is formed with a draining hole. A movable shaft is passed through the interior of the barrel body. The bottom end of the shaft is provided with a water sealing valve positioned in a water sealing section of the barrel body for blocking the draining hole. A circumference of the water sealing section is formed with orifices. The water sealing valve is formed with notches corresponding to the orifice and communicating with the interior of the barrel body. A floating body is fitted around the shaft. An upper section of the shaft is formed with an enlarged projecting section for stopping the floating body. After a liquid flows through the orifices and the notches into the barrel body, the floating body is ascended to drive and lift the shaft. At this time, the water sealing valve is moved upward, whereby the interior of the main body communicate with the draining hole, permitting the liquid in the main body to drain out from the draining hole. Accordingly, the water sealing valve can be automatically opened.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above infusing container in which a user can turn the shaft to drive and rotate the water sealing valve so as to selectively aim the notches thereof at a different number of orifices of the water sealing section. Accordingly, the ascending time of the floating body can be changed so as to adjust the time taken for automatically opening the water sealing valve.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:


A rotor for a rotary electric machine, the rotor including: a rotor core; a rotor shaft having a tubular shape, passing through a radially inner side of the rotor core to be coupled to the rotor core, and extending along an axial direction; an oil supply path that supplies oil to the rotor shaft, a portion to be lubricated that is disposed on a first axial side with respect to the rotor core, wherein one side in the axial direction is defined as the first axial side and another side in the axial direction is defined as a second axial side; and a lubrication oil path through which oil is supplied to the portion to be lubricated.

The present disclosure relates to a rotor for a rotary electric machine and a vehicle drive device that includes the rotor for a rotary electric machine.
There is a known structure in which an inner peripheral portion formed on the radially inner side of a tubular rotor shaft that passes through a rotor of a rotary electric machine is utilized as an oil path for supplying oil to lead oil from the inner peripheral portion to a rotor core via radial oil paths that extend along the radial direction. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-239627 (JP 2014-239627 A) discloses a rotor (2) for a rotary electric machine, which includes an inner peripheral portion (90) formed on the radially inner side of a tubular rotor shaft (3) and radial oil paths (91) that pass through the inner peripheral portion (90) and the outer peripheral surface of the rotor shaft (3) along the radial direction (R) to communicate with a rotor core (10) (see FIG. 2 etc.; the reference numerals in the parentheses in the Description of the Related Art section are those used in the cited document). Oil supplied to the inner peripheral portion (90) flows through the radial oil paths (91) because of a centrifugal force due to rotation of the rotor shaft (3) to be supplied to the rotor core (10). The oil supplied to the rotor core (10) cools permanent magnets (5) embedded in the rotor core (10) through heat exchange with the rotor core (10).

Rotor for rotary electric machine and vehicle drive device including the rotor for rotary electric machine


A test apparatus for testing a device under test 15 is provided. The test apparatus includes a driver 122 for applying a test signal to the device under test, a comparator 128 for comparing a result signal outputted by the device under test 15 corresponding to the applied test signal with a predetermined reference voltage and a setting voltage output section 110 for setting the voltage of the test signal to a predetermined voltage value to cause the driver 122 to terminate the transmission path of the result signal when the test apparatus reads from the device under test 15.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a test apparatus and a test method for testing a device under test by switching between a writing and a reading to/from the device under test.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, when a semiconductor device is tested, pass/fail of the semiconductor device is determined by measuring an output signal of the semiconductor device. For example, pass/fail of the semiconductor device is determined by comparing the output signal with a predetermined pattern. In such a test apparatus, a part of a transmission path for a test signal to be written to the semiconductor device and a part of a transmission path for an output signal to be read from the semiconductor device are shared with each other. Therefore, when the output signal is read from the semiconductor device, it is necessary to stop providing a test signal to a driver for writing the test signal to the semiconductor device. Conventionally, in such a test apparatus, it is switched by using a relay whether the test signal is provided to the driver.
Any existence of prior art documents is not found at this time, so that the description regarding prior art documents is omitted.
However, when it is switched by using a relay whether the test signal is provided to the driver, a time for switching is varied by the difference of accuracy of components of the relay. Therefore, it has been difficult to accurately control a timing at which the test signal is written to the semiconductor device. Additionally, it has been difficult to accurately test due to switching noise of the relay.


This invention relates to a method for manufacturing an implantable medical device, having a surface covered with a coating that can include a desired amount of a biologically active material, using an ultraviolet (UV) laser. The invention also pertains to a method for manufacturing an implantable medical device having a surface covered with a coating having more than one layer wherein a desired portion of the top layer is ablated with an ultraviolet (UV) laser. Also, the invention relates to a method for measuring a thickness of a coating applied to an implantable medical device. Furthermore, the invention is directed to a method for manufacturing an implantable medical device having a surface covered with a coating free of webbing or cracking.

There are various kinds of medical devices that can be implanted in a human body. For example, medical devices, such as stents, are implanted into a body lumen, such as a blood vessel, where it stays permanently, to keep the vessel open and to improve blood flow to the heart muscle and relieve symptoms and used to reduce restenosis after balloon angioplasty or other procedures involving catheters. Usually, the suitable stents include a stent having a cylindrical shape. The walls of the cylindrical structure can be formed of metal or polymer with openings therein, e.g., a mesh. The medical devices can also be positioned in other parts of the body, such as the kidneys or the brain. The procedure for implanting the medical device is fairly common, and various types of medical devices or stents have been developed and actually used.
To make the medical device surface more biocompatible, they have been coated with polymers. Further, there are various types of polymer coatings for medical devices that may contain a biologically active material, such as a drug, that are delivered to an afflicted area of a body. Drugs may be either bonded chemically, physically or absorbed in the polymer matrix of the coating. Also, for the purpose of obtaining drug delivery medical devices or stents, the drugs may be directly coated or immobilized onto the devices, e.g. using a binding molecule between the drug molecule and the device surface. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,562 to Ding et al. discloses a stent having an undercoat containing a biologically active material covered by a topcoat substantially free of pores, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,697 to Ding et al. discloses a coated stent wherein the coating contains a reservoir layer containing a biologically active material. Pinchuk, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,877, discloses a stent of a polymeric material that may have a coating associated with the delivery of drugs. A patent to Sahatjian, U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,121, discloses a coating applied to a stent consisting of a hydrogel polymer and a pre-selected drug such as cell growth inhibitors or heparin. Thus, a number of various coatings for medical devices have been used. Such coatings have been applied to the surface of a medical device mostly by either spray-coating or dip-coating the device with a coating solution.
When a drug whose dosage must be strictly controlled is contained in the coating of the medical device, the amount of coating present on the medical device must be accurately adjusted. Previously, the only way to adjust the amount of coating on a medical device is to control the process parameters used to spray-coat the coating composition on the surface of the medical device to form the coating, such as controlling the spraying time and the flow rate of the coating solution. However, such control does not permit sufficiently accurate placement of the desired amount of coating material or drug contained in the coating material to be placed on the medical device. Also, when a dip coating method is used to form the coating, the amount of coating placed on the surface of the medical device cannot be controlled precisely. In addition, no matter what method is used for forming the coating, there has been no way to efficiently remove or trim excess or undesired coating from the coated medical device. Therefore, a method to manufacture a medical device having a desired amount of coating is needed.
Also, due to complex geometry of certain medical devices such as a stent, a webbing of coating material can form in the openings of these medical devices. More specifically, for instance, when a stent having openings in its sidewall is coated with a coating material, webbings, bindings or bridges of the coating material can form in the openings, at small gaps or corners between stent struts. This is especially true, when the stent has struts that are very close to each other or has struts that have bends in them. However, there has been no efficient way to remove or trim such webbings, bindings or bridges of coating material. Hence, an object of the invention is to provide a method to remove or trim this webbing, binding or bridging from a coated medical device.
In addition, it is not always desirable to have an even or uniform coating on an entire coated surface of a medical device. For example, depending on its geometry, a stent may have a portion where a thick coating may easily crack and cause problems. More specifically, when a self-expandable stent is placed into its restrained state, its struts lie in close proximity to each other. The coating on some struts may adhere to coating on other struts. When the stent is expanded, the adhered coating may be tom off. Likewise when a balloon-expandable stent is collapsed for implantation, the coating on certain struts may adhere to the coating on other struts because the struts are placed in close proximity to each other. Such adhered coating may be cracked or removed from the struts when the stent is expanded. If a portion of the coating can be removed from the struts so that the coating on the struts are made thinner and less likely to adhere to each other, the cracking of the coating may be reduced. However, previously, there has been no way to efficiently make a portion of a coating on a stent thinner. Thus, a further object of the invention is to provide a method to thin a portion of the coating on a medical device.

Method for making and measuring a coating on the surface of a medical device using an ultraviolet laser


An abbreviated dialing feature over a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform facilitates abbreviated dialing between a first phone system that serves a first customer location and a second phone system that serves a second customer location. The first and second phone systems may comprise two Centrex groups, two PBXs or a Centrex group and a PBX.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,571 to Kay et al. discloses an area-wide Centrex service. Among the features provided by the area-wide Centrex service is an extension dialing feature. The extension dialing feature allows a multi-location customer to provide a specialized, abbreviated dialing plan for calls between multiple locations. Using this feature, an area-wide Centrex station user can call any other station in the area-wide Centrex network using the specialized dialing plan. This feature offers multi-location Centrex customers a uniform abbreviated dialing plan between their PBX locations, Centrex locations, ISDN lines, and residential lines for people working from home.

Abbreviated dialing between PBX and Centrex systems using a VoIP platform


A driving circuit is provided by the present invention. The driving circuit includes a level shifter, a buffer and a switch. The switch is coupled between the level shifter and the buffer. While the level shifter is transiting, the switch is turned off, and the switch is turned on after the level shifter completes the transition. Therefore, the transition time of the level shifter is different from the transition time of the buffer so as to avoid simultaneously conducting large currents to adversely affect the transition capability of the level shifter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a display, and more particularly, to a driving circuit of a display.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional driving circuit for a display. Referring to FIG. 1, a driving circuit 100 includes a latch unit 105, a low-voltage buffer 110, a level shifter 120 and a buffer 130. The level shifter 120 converts an input voltage VIN into an output voltage VOUT with a larger voltage fluctuation.
When the voltage level of the input voltage VIN is changed, the level shifter 120 and the buffer 130 would simultaneously transit the levels thereof (a transition from a high-level to a low-level or from a low-level to a high-level). While the level shifter 120 is transiting, the level shifter 120 and the buffer 130 may conduct a large current due to a tri-state that the level shifter 120 and the buffer 130 are in, which would establish a larger voltage drop across a parasitic resistor of a ground terminal. Since the current path in a chip contains a parasitic resistance, the large current of the level shifter 120 and the buffer 130 conduct would pull up the voltage level of the ground terminal. At this time, if the level shifter 120 has a poor transition capability, a transition may fail in response to the voltage drop at the ground terminal.
A circuit, for example, a driving circuit of a liquid crystal display (LCD) is usually composed of multiple level shifters and multiple buffers, which conduct a larger current during the transiting thereof to increase the voltage drop of the ground terminal. Thus, the level shifters are more likely affected thereby and fail to transit.

Level shifter concept for fast level transient design


The implant according to the invention is intended to be used as a replacement for an orbita bottom and optionally also for the medial orbita wall. The implant comprises the form of a single-piece preformed plate or grid which comprises a first segment, a second segment and a third segment. The first segment is designed in accordance with the form of the orbita bottom and the second segment is designed according to the form of the medial side-wall. The first and second segments adjoin each other along a first preset breaking line. The third segment adjoins the first segment and is arranged for fixing the implant to the lateral orbita edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a preformed areal implant for an orbita which can be used as a replacement for an orbita bottom and optionally also for the medial orbita wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
For surgical treatment of fractures in the orbita, inter alia meshes (grids) or plates made of titan or other materials are used. These are available in different patterns and strengths and are designed to be flat for distribution purposes.
Intraoperatively, the surgeon has to fold and bend these meshes manually in order to reproduce the desired anatomical structures. Here, it is not always possible to reach, to clearly define and to reconstruct the deeper anatomical structures of the orbita funnel. Moreover, the result strongly depends on the experience of the surgeon.
If a defect in a deeper part of the orbita cannot be compensated for, the consequences are double images (diplopia), sinking-in of the eye (enopthalmus) and disturbances of motility. In the worst case, excessive manipulation on the eye or on the optical nerve during the operation may result in the loss of sight, so the meshes should not be inserted into the orbita too many times. US 2004/0054372 A1 discloses a fully biodegradable fiber reinforced composite adapted for use as a medical implant and a method for obtaining an anatomically shaped preform.

Implant for use as replacement of an orbita bottom


The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus (20) for a radio frequency component (10), RF component, for use in antenna systems, wherein the RF component (10) is adapted to guide direct current, DC, power signals; control signals and RF signals, and wherein the RF component (10) is adapted to separate the DC power signals and the control signals from the RF signals. The apparatus according to the present invention comprises an impedance matching network interface (21) adapted to match at least one control signal of the separated control signals to at least one predetermined impedance value; and a DC and signalling controller (22) that is adapted to control, along DC paths, the DC power signals to at least a first port of the RF component (10), and adapted to control, along signalling paths, the control signals to at least a second port of the RF component (10), whereby the DC power signals and the control signals are controlled independently of each other. The present invention also relates to a radio frequency component that comprises an internal and/or an external interface used to connect the apparatus (10).

Today, mobile or radio telecommunication systems usually are outdoor cellular systems and indoor wireless systems, in which each coverage area of an outdoor cellular system or each coverage area of an indoor wireless system has at least one base station or an access point respectively. Each base station and each access point comprises at least one antenna for transmitting and receiving signals to/from user terminals of the systems. It is often desirable to use a common antenna system to transmit and receive signals. The transmitted signals and received signals may lie in different frequency bands. As an example, state of the art cellular frequency bands like AMPS operates at around 850 megahertz (MHz) and the PCS (Personal Communication System) at around 1900 MHz. Other Communication frequency bands include the PCN (Personal Communication Network) at approximately 1800 MHz, the JDC (Japanese Digital Cellular) at approximately 800 MHz and 1500 MHz, the GSM system (Global System for Mobile Communications) at approximately 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz, and wide band code division multiplexing (WCDMA) systems at approximately 1850 MHz to 2200 MHz. Among other bands are, the GPS system (Global Positioning System) operating at approximately 1575 MHz, Bluetooth at approximately 2400 MHz, WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) at approximately 2400 MHz and 5000 MHz and WIMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) operation in the range at approximately 2000 MHz to. 5800 MHz.
A problem with introducing and using different frequency bands is that antenna systems are getting more complex and also more electronics, more antennas and more cables are required in the antenna systems or close to the antennas. A common approach of minimizing the number of cables, electronics and antennas in antenna systems is to use feeder sharing, e.g. DC power sharing and/or signalling sharing between frequency bands, dual band tower mounted amplifiers and multi-band antennas. However, introducing more electronics, more cables and more antennas often require redirecting signalling paths and DC paths, which may introduce additional radio frequency losses which, as well known in the art, must be kept at a minimum, i.e. attenuated good enough because of the stringent requirements when it comes to the level of unwanted radiation on RF ports. The generated radio frequency losses are especially noticeable when new RF components are introduced in antenna systems for dealing with feeder sharing and signalling sharing.
In addition, advanced multi-band antenna systems are consuming more DC power and also require more complex signalling to effectively control active devices in advanced antenna systems, especially in antenna systems wherein antennas operating in different frequency bands (as described above) are co-located on the same antenna mast. DC power is, in such systems, often split in order to feed the different RF components in the different antenna systems. However, there is a limit on how many times the DC power can be split. If the DC power is split too may times, the available DC power may be to low and the RF components may hence not function properly.
Furthermore, input port/ports in RF components, residing in antenna systems, that do not have DC, must be provided with DC blocking components. Introducing new and different combinations of DC paths and/or signalling paths will therefore require additional tailor-made RF components with DC blocking. Thus, introducing additional or future systems operating in new frequency bands into existing antenna systems will unnecessarily be difficult if not impossible.
A further problem concerning co-located antennas, operating in different frequency bands, is that a correct impedance matching (usually to 50 Ohms) is hard to achieve when the signalling is split to more that one RF component of the antenna system. This is true regardless of the type of signalling i.e. low-frequency signalling or high-frequency signalling. In addition, an incorrect impedance matching makes it difficult to recombine the signalling or to further split the signalling. The possibility of splitting of the signalling is therefore also here limited.
An additional problem with advanced antenna systems operating in different frequency bands concerns the case where, for example, the DC power to an RF component operating at a first frequency band is interrupted. In such a case, it is desirable to switch the DC and signalling control to another RF component operating at a second frequency band, i.e. using the other RF component as a backup RF component. However, switching DC and signalling control to the other RF component is very complicated to achieve since the other RF component most probably includes a DC blocking component and the DC blocking component must therefore be removed in order for the RF component to take over the operation of the first RF component. In some RF components, removing a DC blocking component is not an easy task and the only solution is to completely replace the RF component. If this scenario occurs, the operation of the antenna system must be interrupted until a new RF component having no DC blocking component is installed. In addition, it is possible for the RF component or components to be improperly connected during installation so that the antenna system will not work as desired. Determining the cause of the malfunction or locating an improperly connected device is usually a very difficult task leading to additional delays in "reviving" the antenna systems.
Today, there exist mainly two solutions to deal with the DC and signalling paths in RF components. One common solution is to provide, in advance, a DC blocking capacitor in the RF components. In such components, although the DC blocking capacitor can effectively block the DC as desired, the signalling is still forced to follow a predetermined signal path or signal paths. These types of components are therefore most usually tailor-made in order to fulfil the requirements of the customer. In other words, a supplier of RF components has to manufacture the RF components in different versions and models depending on the requirements of the customers.
Another common solution is to manufacture only one model but using external DC blocking and signalling blocking components. A drawback with this solution relates to additional radio frequency losses introduced when external components are connected to RF components. Furthermore, this solution introduces additional costs of antenna systems; especially as RF connectors and RF components generally already bring substantial costs to antenna systems. Thus introducing additional components will certainly raise costs, which makes this solution unattractive to operators and/or RF component suppliers. In addition, although external DC blocking components which will normally be seen as open circuits for used signalling frequencies may be utilized, there is a risk that the signalling results in a short circuit if the external component is placed at a position where the cable length is close to N·λ/4, where λ is the wavelength and N is an odd integer number i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7 etc.

Apparatuses and a method for controlling antenna systems in a telecommunications system


A conveyor system for controlling two conveyer belts with a single motor comprises a housing including at least one inclined section. A first conveyor belt is operably connected to a drive pulley and a first idler pulley. A second conveyor belt is operably connected to a second and third idler pulley. A drive unit includes a motor in communication with the drive pulley and a first and a second sprocket. A roller chain extends between the drive pulley, the sprockets, and the third idler pulley, wherein the roller chain causes the drive pulley and the sprockets to rotate in one of a clockwise and a counterclockwise manner and the third idler pulley to rotate in the other of a clockwise and the counterclockwise manner.

The field of the invention is a drive system, and more specifically a drive system that has a single motor designed to control two conveyors.
Industrial conveyor systems have been utilized to transport a variety of components including, for example, waste metal and other scrap. Conventional conveyor systems typically utilize a plurality of conveyors, wherein each conveyor is powered by a motor. In one particular instance, a "sandwich" conveyor includes two conveyors oriented adjacent each other to form a gap there between. Material is pulled into the gap and held tightly between the conveyors as the material is transported through the sandwich conveyor. Sandwich conveyors allow heavy material to be transported upwardly at a significant pitch. Sandwich conveyor systems require significant amounts of power to pull the material up the incline, particularly when the material is heavy.
In many instances, existing conveyor systems are often designed to attempt to overcome the aforementioned problems through the use of various motors or through various conveyor system configurations. In some instances, one motor is supplied to power each conveyor belt. In other instances, one motor is supplied to provide power to more than one conveyor belt, but such conveyor belts do not include severe inclines. In further instances, one motor is provided that supplies power to more than one conveyor belt, but the motor must operate at extreme operating conditions to be capable of supplying the required amount of power that drives the conveyor belts.
While existing systems and techniques for operating more than one conveyor belt using a single motor work well in some applications, unfortunately known systems have several shortcomings. First, the use of more than one motor in conventional conveyor systems increases power consumption, which increases capital, operational, and maintenance costs associated with the conveyor system. Second, many conveyor systems are restricted to conveyor belts having gradual inclines. These systems take up significantly more space and resources due to their "switchback" setup. Third, many single motor systems that operate at upper limits of the motors capacity burn out quickly and are inefficient. In these instances, the motors must be replaced more frequently.


Safety apparatus for firearms are described. An example safety apparatus may be used with a firearm having a latch movable between a first position to retain a breech of the firearm and a second position to enable movement of the breech. The safety apparatus includes a biased safety mechanism coupled to the latch and movable between the first position and the second position. Additionally, the safety apparatus includes a safety device moveable between a locking position and a non-locking position. The safety device interacts with the biased safety mechanism when the safety device is in the locking position and the safety mechanism is in the first position to enable the biased safety mechanism to prevent a trigger force from moving the latch to the second position but to enable the latch to be deflected by a returning breech.

Typically, when a fully automatic firearm is cocked, the breech travels toward the rear of the firearm and is there secured (e.g., locked) in a rear locking or latching position against a spring force of one or more closing springs. The firearm may be cocked manually. When a trigger of the firearm is actuated, a locking mechanism is released and the one or more closing springs move the breech in a breech path toward a front of the firearm. The movement of the breech causes a cartridge to be inserted into the breech path, locked in a cartridge chamber toward a front end of the breech path and thereafter ignited. After the breech is released, gas pressure or recoil created by the cartridge ignition moves the breech toward the rear of the firearm into the rear locking position and the empty cartridge casing is ejected. Cartridges may be fed into and/or ejected from the firearm via the movement of the breech and/or the gas pressure or recoil created by the cartridge ignition, for example.
Safety devices (e.g., firearm safeties) may be used that prevent the breech of a cocked firearm from being released and, thus, unintentionally firing a round. Some safety devices may be moved (e.g., mechanically moved) behind the trigger of the firearm. Other safety devices may secure the breech in the rear locking position. Because of the relationship between the safety device and the trigger, in some firearms, the trigger may only be retracted if the breech is in the rear locking position. In other firearms, the relationship between the safety device and the trigger substantially prevents the safety from being engaged (e.g., intentionally engaged) when the firearm is firing because the safety blocks the safety catch and keeps the trigger in the shooting position. Because the breech is thus not secured in the rear locking position, the one or more closing springs move the breech again toward the front of the firearm to begin the next firing cycle. Engaging the safety when the firearm is firing may cause the firearm to continuously fire even if the trigger is disengaged, for example.
Additional issues may arise in fully automated weapons that have remotely controlled safety devices. While these weapons are firing the safety device may activate because of a malfunction, such as a cable breaking or power failure. However, after a malfunction, the safety device may be actuated into position prior to the breech being in the rear locking position even if the trigger has been released because the breech takes a particular amount of time to reach the rear locking position. The particular amount of time that the breech takes to reach the rear locking position depends on the position of the breech. The rear locking position of the breech may be the only position in which the breech may be secured when the firearm is cocked.

Hecker & Koch GmbH, a German Corporation


A material adapted for the preparation of a working tool contains long fiberglass arranged in the form of an entwined yarn and at least one thermosettable resin containing abrasive grains dispersed therein, which impregnates the entwined fiberglass yarn. Upon shaping and curing, a working tool is readily formed from this material in the form of any of a rotor, a stick or other desired shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a material which is adapted for the manufacture of a working tool, and to a working tool formed therefrom. Working tools according to the invention are suitable for cutting, drilling, grinding or polishing diverse work substrates, including: metals such as iron, iron alloy, aluminum, aluminum alloy, copper, copper alloy, titanium, titanium alloy, magnesium and magnesium alloy; or non-metals such as stones, mono- or poly-crystal silicon, ceramics and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional working tools such as carborundum grindstone and alumina grindstone are well-known. A carborundum grindstone is a porous block comprised of carborundum abrasive grains coupled together by a binder. But, given the porous nature of carborundum grindstones, the content of the abrasive grains is insufficient and the working efficiency of the tool constructed of this material is insufficient. Further, during use, cuttings fill the pores of the porous block to cause a blinding, whereby the workability, such as cutting quality, is degraded. In addition, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 54-4800 and 59-97845 disclose a buff grindstone made using a fiberglass. However, this buff grindstone has a disadvantage in that the fiberglass has a low hardness, and hence, the field of application of the buff grindstone is limited. Further, because the buff grindstone is also porous, the working efficiency thereof is insufficient, and a blinding is caused.
Despite the aforementioned and other proposals, there remains a need for a working tool which is capable of cutting, drilling, grinding and polishing a work piece with a high efficiency, and which does not cause binding during use, and for a material which is capable of forming such a working tool.


There is provided a broker workstation for managing orders in a market for trading commodities, securities, securities options, futures contracts and futures options and other items including: a device for selectively displaying order information; a computer for receiving the orders and for controlling the displaying device; and a device for entering the orders into the computer; wherein the displaying device comprises a device for displaying selected order information about each incoming order, a device for displaying a representation of an order deck and a device for displaying a total of market orders. In another aspect of the invention, there is provided in a workstation having a computer, a device for entering order information into the computer and a device for displaying the order information entered, a method for managing orders in a market for trading commodities, securities, securities options, futures contracts and futures options and the like comprising the steps of: selectively displaying order information incoming to the workstation; accepting or rejecting orders corresponding to the incoming order information displayed; displaying accepted order information in a representation of a broker deck; and selectively displaying a total of orders at the market price.

The present invention relates to computer-based techniques for managing orders placed in a physical market for trading instruments such as stocks, bonds, stock options, futures options and futures contracts on commodities including agricultural products, financial instruments, stock market indices and the like.
A futures contract is an agreement providing for the future delivery of a fixed quantity of a commodity under conditions specified by a federally designated exchange. In general, that contract is a firm legal agreement between a buyer and seller to make or take delivery of the underlying commodity and is cleared by a separate clearinghouse.
The futures exchanges house centralized auction markets (called designated contract markets) where standardized contracts for future delivery of specified quantities of commodities are bought and sold by open outcry. The open outcry method of auction trading is widely believed to be the best method of buying and selling goods because of the fast access to the market it provides to all prospective traders. It is important to note that the exchanges themselves do not trade futures contracts, nor do they set prices at which contracts are traded. They merely furnish a place where market participants and their brokerage representatives can meet to trade futures contracts.
Trading generally takes place in a pit or around the outside of a ring. All orders received by exchange member firms are transmitted to the exchange floor for execution and are filled according to bids and offers in the respective pits by open outcry to all members present at the time. Only one instrument or commodity is traded in a pit or around a ring unless the volume is too small to justify so much space. Customarily, those trading the same contract delivery month gather in the same area of the ring or on the same step of the pit so that a broker with an order can locate the particular market as quickly as possible.
Transactions on the trading floor must be reported to the membership and the general public. This is accomplished through a variety of communications systems by the various exchanges. Transaction information is typically entered by exchange-employed market reporters in each trading pit and is accessible through computer terminals and electronic wallboards on each trading floor. At present the open outcry auction in the pit produces a large quantity of information which must be recorded accurately and quickly by hand.
At the end of each day the clearing house, which may be a subsidiary of the exchange or an independent entity, assumes one side of all open contracts: the clearing house becomes the buyer to each seller of a futures contract, and a seller to each buyer. The clearing house guarantees its members the performance of both sides of all open contracts.
Other aspects of the commodity markets are treated in the literature, which includes Kaufman, "Handbook of Futures Markets," John Wiley & Sons, New York (1984); Rothstein, "The Handbook of Financial Futures," McGraw Hill Book Company, New York (1984); Gould, "The Dow Jones-Irwin Guide to Commodities Trading," Dow Jones-Irwin, Homewood (1981); Goss & Yamey, "The Economics of Futures Trading," John Wiley & Sons (1976); Johnson & Hazen, "Commodities Regulation," Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1989); R. Teweles et al., "The Commodity Futures Game," McGraw-Hill, New York (1974); T. Hieronymus, "Economics of Futures Trading," Commodity Research Bureau, Inc., New York (1971); "Commodity Trading Manual," Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago (1989); and J. Schwager, "A Complete Guide to the Futures Markets," John Wiley & Sons, New York (1984).
Floor traders are generally classified in two ways: (1) speculators, or "locals", buy and sell for their own accounts; and (2) floor brokers fill orders for commission houses, producers and processors seeking to lock in a price for their products. Unless a trader is a member of an exchange, it is necessary for the trader to deal on the exchange through a member brokerage firm. Normally, firms that handle public business (the "commission houses") must be registered as "Futures Commission Merchants", or "FCMs." A "local" can take long-term positions (i.e., weeks or months) or "scalp" over very short periods (liquidating positions within seconds or minutes of entering the transactions). He may trade in one or more pits. He benefits from the speed with which he can take or liquidate positions, but this is in itself no assurance of a profit. Some floor traders specialize in spreads by taking opposite positions between future or options when the price difference appears abnormal. Floor traders have the advantage of lower transaction costs available to all members of exchanges.
The floor traders who execute orders for others but seldom or never trade for themselves are the brokers who may specialize in orders from customers such as commercial processors, exporters, financial institution commodity trading funds and the like. They may receive only a small percentage of the commissions paid by the customer to his commission house, but the commission revenues may be substantial depending on the volume of business. The orders held by a floor broker at any given time are referred to as his "deck." He is allowed to trade for his own account if he chooses, but he can not use the public orders to benefit his own trading.
When a registered representative of the commission house receives an order from a customer, the representative sends the order to the commission house's order desk on the trading floor, where it is usually handed to a messenger and taken directly to an appropriate broker in the trading pit or ring. Once the broker in the trading pit has the order, he typically uses voice and hand signals to announce his bid or offer price, the delivery month, and the quantity to be bought or sold. Once the order has been executed, it is carried by messenger back to the commission house's order desk on the trading floor, and the confirmation of the order is dispatched back to the office where it was initiated. The representative then usually telephones the confirmation to the customer or hands him a confirmation slip if he is present in the office.
The communication of orders from the registered representative to the order desks on the trading floor takes place with great speed. All orders are time-stamped at various stages along the order route as a check that the order is being expedited in the best possible fashion. Increasingly, this process is performed by computerized communications systems which start with a terminal used by the registered representative and end with a printer near the broker. Often the computer simultaneously records the terms of the order for later use in preparing statements for the registered representative and his customer.
The floor brokers' stock in trade is their skill in executing the orders they receive and accept. They must decide, instantly, the tactics that will be most effective in filling a given order: whether to wait for bids or offers, or whether to hold with the current price, or to bid up or offer down promptly. To be effective, they must know the pit: who will do how much at what price. They must read the intentions of scalpers, locals and other brokers while concealing their own intentions.
One of the skills of a broker is in knowing his deck. As described above, the deck is a stack of orders that are to be executed by the broker. The orders are typically written on pieces of paper about five by seven inches which are then arranged by the broker in a sequence for execution as the market price moves up or down. The broker usually folds them for concealment and puts them in his pocket so that his hands will be free to signal and to handle his trading card and pencil. Occasionally, the decks are as much as an inch thick and require great memory skill and anticipatory planning.
Perhaps the most common type of order is the "market order" in which the customer states how many contracts of a given delivery month he wishes to buy or sell. He does not specify the price at which he wants to initiate the transaction but simply wants it placed as soon as possible at the best possible price.
"Contingency orders" are those that impose certain limitations beyond the quantity and delivery month, such as limits in price or time, or both. A "price limit order" contains a price limitation that is specified by the customer; it can be executed only at the price specified or at a better price level. A "fill or kill" order contains a specified price at which the order must be executed or it is to be immediately cancelled.
"Stop orders" are sometimes confused with "limit orders", but they are actually quite different. A "buy stop order" instructs a broker to execute the order when the price of a commodity rises to a specified level above the current market price. The "buy limit order" is usually placed below the current market price and must be executed at the limit price or better. The difference between a buy limit order and a buy stop order is exemplified as follows. A customer may be inclined to buy December sugar, which could be selling at a price of 5.43 cents per pound. The customer could tell his broker to buy a contract at a price not to exceed 5.35 cents; this is a "buy limit order". Another customer under the same circumstances could tell his broker to buy a contract of December sugar but not until the price rises to at least 5.55 cents, at which point the order will be executed at the market; this is a "buy stop order". The buy stop order is placed above the current market and may be executed at the price specified on the stop, above it, or below it because it is executed at the market price after the stop price is touched; at that point, the stop is said to be "elected".
A "sell stop order" instructs a broker to execute an order when the price falls to a given level, at which point it is to be executed at the market price. Unlike a typical "sell limit order", the sell stop order is below the current market price and may be executed at a price at, above, or below the specified stop price when it is elected.
Some customers will raise their stop prices as the market price advances in an effort to gain as much as possible from a major move, while making certain that they can probably lose back only a little of the gain. Such an order is frequently called a "trailing stop".
A somewhat more complex order is the "stop limit order". The customer might instruct his broker not to buy sugar until it rises to 5.53 cents per pound and not to pay more than 5.55 cents. This is unlike the unlimited stop, which becomes a market order when the stop price has been touched. The limit price may be the same or different from the specified stop.
A "market-if-touched (M.I.T.) order" is like a limit order, but the M.I.T. order is executed at the market when the market has traded at the price specified on the order, and so it may be filled either at that specified price, above it, or below it. M.I.T. orders are sometimes called "board orders". The order may be entered for one day, a specified period, or open (i.e., good until cancelled).
Sometimes a customer may wish to take a position within a short time but would like the broker on the floor of the exchange to use some of his personal judgment in the timing of the fill. The broker could do this if the order indicates that he is to fill it at the market but is to take his time and will not be responsible if by waiting too long or not waiting long enough the price is unsatisfactory to the customer. Such orders may be marked "not held". Customers may also specify the time at which they wish their orders filled, e.g., "on opening," "on close," or at a particular specified time.
"Alternative orders" provide for one of two possible executions: a customer may order 5,000 bushels of corn at $1.45 a bushel and 5,000 bushels of wheat at $2.56 a bushel, but not want both. A far more common example of the alternative order is the placing of an objective and a stop, with instructions to cancel one if the other is filled; for example, having bought one contract of soybean oil at 14.50 cents a pound, a customer may order his broker to sell the oil either at 14.95 or 14.25 cents stop, whichever occurs first, and then immediately cancel the remainder of the order to avoid inadvertently reversing his position.
"Scale orders" are used to establish or liquidate positions as the market moves up or down. The sugar trader may instruct his broker to buy a contract of sugar at 5.45 cents and another contract each time the price drops five points from that level until he has accumulated six contracts. When he sells out his position, he may order the broker to sell one contract at 5.70 cents and another contract each time the price rises five points until his six contracts have been sold.
"Contingent orders" are filled by the broker after the price of another contract or even another commodity reaches a specified level.
"Spreads" may be established at a fixed difference rather than at specified prices because the spreader is concerned only with the difference rather than the level. He may therefore order his broker to "buy one July pork bellies and sell one February bellies at 80 points difference or more, premium February." Such an order could be used to establish a new spread position, which the trader believes will narrow, or to take the profit in a position at a narrower difference and be satisfied with the profit at 80 points difference.
Although the foregoing description has concentrated on the commodity futures markets, it will be understood that the order management system of the present invention is applicable to all markets, including those for securities trading. Securities markets are usually based on actions by specialists, each of whom is the market maker for one or more specific securities. In the New York Stock Exchange, for example, the ultimate determination of price for any given transaction frequently is determined by a specialist who deals in a particular stock and who maintains a running list or "book" of offers to sell and orders to purchase that stock. The specialist may complete a transaction in the stock whenever one or more purchase and sell orders can be matched with respect to price; on occasion, the same specialist purchases the particular stock in which he specializes or sells the same stock in order to maintain a market for the stock and prevent violent fluctuations in its price. Similar functions, particularly with respect to the matching of orders to purchase and to sell, must be carried out in all auction markets for the marketing of fungible goods, including such commodities as wheat, corn, and the like as well as stocks and bonds.
A computation system for establishing prices in auction trading for the securities market is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,072 to Nymeyer. That computation system comprises a main data store for recording encoded data items representative of orders to buy and to sell the goods, such orders including orders at specific prices and other orders "at the market." The system includes a buy order sequencing device for arranging and recording purchase offers first in descending order by price and secondly by time of entry so that at each price level the oldest orders are uppermost. A sell order sequencing device is provided for arranging and recording all offers to sell first in ascending order by price and secondly in descending order by time so that once again the oldest orders are the highest at each price level. A closing price store is provided to record the last actual selling price for the goods. The closing price store and the main data store are coupled, by suitable control means, to the sequencing devices in order to transfer the recorded data items from the data store to the sequencing devices with "at market" prices being transferred at the aforementioned last selling price. The two sequencing devices are coupled to a comparator that compares the sell orders and the buy orders, when they have been arranged in sequence, to determine the lowest buy order price that is equal to or greater than a recorded sell order and thus establish a new selling price for the goods.
More than such a system for merely matching buy and sell orders, the present invention provides a system that allows brokers to manage their decks and to improve the accuracy of communications between the trading floor and the customers. The present invention can also reduce the back office costs to trading firms by reducing the volume of paperwork and consequent errors.

Method and apparatus for order management by market brokers


An Rzeppa joint 1 comprises an inner hub 4, an outer hub 7 and a cage 5, which is guided between the two and which holds a number of balls 6 inside radial openings 8. The aim of the invention is to facilitate the assembly of the Rzeppa joint 1. To this end, the inner hub 4 is provided with a first element 10a, 10b and with a second element 11a, 11b that are located, in essence, one behind the other along the inner hub axis 4.

The invention relates to a Rzeppa joint, which is used as a synchronous joint, for example as a steering joint or to be connected to the longitudinal shaft of a motor vehicle.
1. Field Of The Invention
Such a Rzeppa joint, which is known from DE 199 05 451 C2, for example, has an inner hub and an outer hub, between which an essentially ring-shaped cage is guided. Running grooves assigned to one another in pairs, in each instance, are made both in the inner hub and in the outer hub; balls that are accommodated in the cage are held to be displaced in these grooves. In this connection, the track base of the pairs of running grooves assigned to one another, in the inner hub and the outer hub, approach one another, alternately, proceeding from a first end of the Rzeppa joint in the direction of the second end, and proceeding from the second end in the direction of the first end.
In this known Rzeppa joint, the balls are individually inserted, manually, into the cage and the pairs of running grooves. This is connected with a significant expenditure of time, which has negative effects on the economic efficiency of the production of the joint.
2. The Prior Art