A primary internet connection via a gateway or router located at a premises may be used to route internet traffic from devices located at the premises. A change in the primary internet connection, such as a loss or a degradation of the connection, may occur. Based on the change in the primary internet connection, metrics of alternative internet connections, such as cellular or hotspot connections, may be used to select one of the alternative internet connections. Internet traffic may be routed via the selected alternative internet connection until the primary internet connection is reestablished or improves.

Devices located at a premises may establish a wired or wireless connection to a local gateway or router at the premises, and the gateway or router may provide internet connectivity to the premises devices via, for example, a cable or DSL connection to a service provider network. When the internet connection provided by the gateway is lost or degraded, the premises devices may encounter problems in accessing the internet. The problem may not be resolved until the quality of the internet connection improves or is re-established.


The present invention provides a new and improved method for treating drinking water in a drinking water treatment plant that provides for substantial or complete removal of chlorine dioxide and an associated by-product from water when chlorine dioxide is used as an initial disinfectant and/or chemical oxidizing agent. More particularly, the present invention provides a means for decreasing undesirable residual amounts of chlorine dioxide and chlorite ion using ferrous chloride. The novel process includes the addition of chlorine dioxide for disinfection/oxidation of the process water, a first sedimentation basin for processing the water and/or providing adequate chlorine dioxide contact time, the addition of ferrous chloride for treating the water and removing residual amounts of chlorine dioxide and chlorite ion, a source of chlorine (or alternative oxidizing agent) to precipitate residual ferrous iron, a second sedimentation basin, or similar settling mechanism, for processing the water after it has been mixed and reacted with the ferrous chloride and the oxidizing agent, and a filter for processing the water following the second sedimentation basin.

Generally, water treatment plants utilized for the production of drinking water are designed as either groundwater or surface water facilities.
Groundwater facilities, as the name would imply, are those systems that use groundwater as their source of supply (i.e., wells). Prior to designing groundwater treatment plants, extensive laboratory analyses are conducted to determine what, if any, chemical contaminants are present in the groundwater, and if removal of any of these contaminants is necessary for the water to be safe for public use, meet regulatory standards, and be aesthetically acceptable. Since most groundwater systems are inherently protected by the filtering ability of the surrounding soil, water quality characteristics remain relatively constant and treatment plant construction and process design are based upon the initial laboratory analyses. Although many of these facilities may utilize some of the same treatment processes employed by surface water systems, site specific conditions may require the incorporation of select chemical treatment processes.
By contrast, surface water facilities utilize some form of surface water as their source of supply (i.e., lakes, rivers, streams, reservoirs, etc.) and are generally much less specific in design. Due to the vulnerability of these systems to source water quality variations from accidental chemical spills, upstream runoff, and diverse seasonal conditions, surface water facilities are designed and constructed in a more generic fashion that provides for the removal of a wide variety of potential contaminants. In general, surface water facilities incorporate the same basic principles for water treatment processing, and utilize the same or similar chemical and physical methods for enhanced contaminant removal. Additional chemicals, with permanent or portable chemical feed equipment, may also be provided for the removal of specific contaminants that have historically appeared in the source water on an occasional basis.
Most surface water facilities employ the use of screens to prevent large debris (i.e., branches, aquatic life, etc.) from entering the treatment plant and interfering with equipment and/or processing. Low service pumps are used for transporting the screened source water to the treatment facility. Various chemicals may be added to the source water supply for the purpose of pH adjustment, disinfection, organic matter oxidation, and/or as an aid in the coagulation and removal of solid particles in the water. Mixing chambers called flocculators provide adequate solid-to-solid and solid-to-coagulant contact to create larger, more readily settleable solids that are removed in downstream primary (and possibly secondary) sedimentation basins. The majority of remaining suspended particles are removed by filters which consist of various types of fine aggregate materials (i.e., sand, stone, and/or carbon). Filtered water is stored in basins called clearwells and may be treated with additional chemicals to insure residual disinfectant concentrations in the distribution system. This finished water is then distributed to the customers via high service pumps and a network of distribution piping.
As previously mentioned, one or more oxidizing chemicals may be added to the source water in order to chemically alter or decrease (thru oxidation) the amount of organic matter present in the source water. This oxidation/alteration prevents the organic matter from reacting with other chemicals (i.e., chlorine) added further downstream in the treatment plant and resulting in the production of presently regulated health concern chemicals. One chemical used by some water treatment plants to accomplish this oxidation/alteration process is chlorine dioxide (ClO.sub.2).
Initially used as a means of controlling various taste and odor related problems and finished water iron and manganese concentrations, water industry interest in chlorine dioxide as an alternative oxidant/disinfectant increased significantly with the promulgation of the 0.10 mg/L maximum contaminant level (MCL) for total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) in 1979. After being recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) as a suitable technology for controlling TTHMs in 1983, the use of chlorine dioxide in U.S. water treatment plants was estimated to have tripled by 1986.
While capable of reducing the concentration of TTHMS, the use of chlorine dioxide inherently results in finished water residual concentrations of chlorine dioxide, chlorite ion (ClO.sub.2.sup.-) and chlorate ion (ClO.sub.3.sup.-), which are, themselves, targeted for future regulatory consideration by the USEPA.
In the article entitled "Using Reducing Agents to Eliminate Chlorine Dioxide and Chlorite Ion Residuals in Drinking Water", American Water Works Association Journal, May 1991, pg. 56-61, there is discussion regarding the possible use of ferrous chloride for the removal of residual chlorine dioxide and related by-products from water. Specifically, there is a discussion of performing jar tests with ferrous chloride for the removal of chlorine dioxide and the by-product chlorite ion. There is not, however, any discussion regarding the effective integration of ferrous chloride into a drinking water treatment facility for this purpose.

Method and system for treating drinking water


Methods and apparatus to audibly provide messages in a mobile device at described. An example method includes detecting a radio link failure condition, in response to detecting the radio link failure condition, sending a cell update message to a medium access control of the user equipment, detecting that a timer associated with a radio access bearer has expired before receiving confirmation from the medium access control of transmission of the cell update message to a network, and in response to detecting that the timer associated with the radio access bearer has expired and sending the cell update message to the medium access control, maintaining the radio access bearer associated with the timer.

AcronymFull textCSCircuit SwitchedDCHDedicated ChannelIEinformation elementMACMedium Access ControlNASNon-access stratumPSPacket SwitchedRBRadio BearerRABRadio Access BearerRNCRadio Network ControllerRRCRadio Resource ControlSRBSignalling Radio BearerTrChTransport ChannelUEUser EquipmentUMTSUniversal Mobile Telephony SystemUTRANUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
Mobile device operating software includes several timers utilized in communication with a network (e.g., a UMTS network). For example, according to 3GPP TS 25.331, for a UMTS UE, two of the many timers used by the UE are re-establishment timers T314 and T315. After a radio link failure between the UE and the network, one of the T314 or T315 timers may be associated to each RAB for use during RRC re-establishment. The T314 timer is started when the criteria for radio link failure are fulfilled and if radio bearer(s) that are associated with T314 exist or if the signalling connection exists only to the CS domain. The timer T315 is started when the criteria for radio link failure are fulfilled and if radio bearer(s) that are associated with T315 exist or if the signalling connection exists to the PS domain.

Methods and apparatus for mobile device recovery following radio link failure


A hot melt delivery system includes a frame and a suspension device attached to the frame. The suspension device is configured to hang a hot melt storage container. The hot melt delivery system includes a vibratory feeder spaced below and from the suspension device. The vibratory feeder includes an inlet that is configured to receive hot melt material from the hot melt storage container. The vibratory feeder includes an outlet that is configured to deliver hot melt material to a melter. The vibratory feeder includes a vibration device that is configured to vibrate at least a portion of the vibratory feeder. A flow of hot melt material between the inlet and the outlet of the vibratory feeder is controllable.

Hot melt (e.g., hot melt adhesive) has many applications, for example, it can be used in packaging, electronic device assembly, disposable diaper manufacturing, etc. For hot melt applications in a manufacturing environment, solid unmelted particulates (e.g., pillows, pellets, prills, granules, slugs, etc.), are melted down at a melter and provided to application systems in a heated liquid form to be applied to various substrates. In some examples, systems can operate by melting a large quantity of hot melt in a large melter and then providing the liquid hot melt to the application system. However, maintaining such a system at the proper temperature and ensuring the system is clog free can be cumbersome. In other examples, custom delivery systems must be constructed to provide solid unmelted particulates from a storage location to meters for application. However, such systems can be costly to construct and often require a significant amount of man-hours to transport the unmelted particulates to the individual melters, which can be costly and lead to accidents. Further, contaminates can be inadvertently introduced to the hot melt particulates in some systems, which can cause a hot melt application system to malfunction (i.e., become clogged), which leads to costly unproductive downtime. Therefore, improvements in hot melt delivery systems are needed.


Described herein are methods and apparatuses for receiving a desired signal at a signal receiver with an undersampling frequency. A signal converter with a local oscillator frequency, a bandpass filter, and an analog-to-digital converter are used to generate an aliased discrete-time spectrum from an input analog spectrum. In order to determine the presence of interfering signals in the aliased discrete-time spectrum and, if present, separate a desired signal from the interfering signal, the local oscillator frequency is shifted. The original discrete-time spectrum and the resulting shifted discrete-time spectrum are both analyzed to select a local oscillator frequency that does not cause interference with the desired signal when the discrete-time spectrum is generated. The selected local oscillator frequency is then utilized to process the desired signal.

Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) is a transponder-based radio navigation technology that measures distance by timing the propagation delay of radio signals. The DME operates by transmitting to and receiving paired pulses from the ground station. The transmitter in the aircraft sends out very narrow pulses. These signals are received at the ground station and trigger a second transmission on a different frequency. These reply pulses are sensed by timing circuits in the aircraft's receiver that measure the elapsed time between transmission and reception. Electronic circuits within the radio convert this measurement to electrical signals that operate the distance and ground speed indicators. Tactical Air Navigation, or TACAN, is a navigation system used by military aircraft.
A typical DME system is composed of a UHF transmitter/receiver (interrogator) in the aircraft and a UHF receiver/transmitter (transponder) on the ground. DME transponders transmit on a radio channel frequency and receive on a corresponding channel frequency. The band is divided into 126 channels for interrogation and 126 channels for transponder replies. The interrogation and reply frequencies always differ by 63 MHz. The spacing of all channels is 1 MHz with a signal spectrum width of 100 kHz. The minimum operational performance standards for various DME systems include RTCA DO-189 for Airborne Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) Operating within the Radio Frequency Range of 960-1215 Megahertz, RTCA DO-181 C for Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System/Mode Select (ATCRBS/MODE S) Airborne Equipment, and RTCA DO-282A for Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B)
To save part cost and size in a radio communication system in DME, it is desirable to use the lowest cost and slowest analog-to-digital converters that will properly sample the information band. Lower sample rates, however, cause interfering signals that are aliased onto the desired signal in the data conversion process if they are not properly reduced in amplitude prior to data conversion. Lower sample rates thus necessitate increases in radio part costs in the form of narrow band anti alias radio frequency (RF) filters needed to remove interfering signals. It is therefore desirable to separate the desired signal from interfering signals without incurring additional part cost in a radio communication system using low sample rate analog-to-digital converters.

Method for discerning a desired signal from an interfering signal in an under sampled system


An inexpensive, durable and efficient irrigation nozzle assembly is adapted to generate a specialized rectangular spray in a 3-jet fluidic circuit which generates a substantially planar rectangular spray from a confluence of three jets. The 3-jet geometry circuit has selected floor & taper features configured to create a customizable rectangular or triangular spray pattern. Depending on the throw desired, the nozzle assembly of the present invention can be configured with a second fluidic circuit to generate a flat fan to obtain various aspect ratios in a rectangular spray.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to irrigation nozzles adapted for use with fluidic circuits.
Discussion of the Prior Art
Irrigation systems employ sprinkler nozzles to generate sprays of desired patterns, for use in areas having specific geometries. For example, if a rectangular area is to be irrigated, a sprinkler or irrigation nozzle adapted for generating a rectangular spray is called for. Rectangular spray nozzles therefore comprise a major category of specialty sprays in irrigation, and they are distinguished from regular sprays, which usually provide circle or arc spray pattern.
For purposes of nomenclature, LCS (Left corner strip) 110, illustrated in FIG. 1A, is a common term to describe the location and function of a specialty LCS rectangular spray nozzle 100. Similarly, RCS (Right corner strip) 120 illustrated in FIG. 1B is the common term to describe the location and function of a specialty RCS rectangular spray nozzle 102, and SST (Side strip) 130 illustrated in FIG. 1C is the common term to describe the location and function of a specialty SST rectangular spray nozzle 104.
Typically, a rectangular spray nozzle is much more difficult to design compared with the regular arc spray nozzle, because of the high gradient of throw change around the diagonal line, especially for a high aspect ratio (length/width) shape with a low PR (precipitation rate). FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate theoretical ideal throw patterns for an irrigation area defining a 4 ft×15 ft RCS and a 4 ft×9 ft RCS spray, especially if overspray and waste are to be minimized. Since water is now an increasingly valuable commodity, overspray (outside the intended area) and waste are becoming intolerable.
For those situations where overspray beyond a desired rectangular irrigation area does not matter, fluidic oscillators can be used to generate a very uniform spray pattern. For example, commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/968,749 discloses a fluidic oscillator insert 18 suitable for use in spraying cleaning fluid onto a windshield and utilizes a pressurized liquid to generate a uniform spatial distribution of droplets; this fluidic oscillator has (a) an inlet for the pressurized liquid, (b) a set of three power nozzles that are fed by the pressurized liquid, (c) an interaction chamber attached to the nozzles and which receives the flow from the nozzles, where this chamber has an upstream and a downstream portion, with the upstream portion having a pair of boundary edges and a longitudinal centerline that is approximately equally spaced between the edges, and where one of the power nozzles is directed along the chamber's longitudinal centerline. Fluidic insert 18 also defines a throat from which the liquid exhausts or sprays from the interaction chamber and defines an island in the interaction chamber, where the island is situated downstream of the power nozzle that is directed along the chamber's longitudinal centerline. In the illustrated fluidic insert 18, the oscillator is further configured such that: (i) one of the power nozzles is located proximate each of the chamber's boundary edges, (ii) its nozzles are configured to accelerate the movement of the liquid that flows through the nozzles, (iii) its throat has right and left sidewalls that diverge downstream, and (iv) the power nozzles and island are oriented and scaled such as to generate flow vortices behind the island that are swept out of the throat in a manner such that these vortices flow alternately proximate the throat's right sidewall and then its left sidewall. And the fluidic oscillator with insert 18 will generate a uniform spray of droplets, but that spray is not readily adapted to spray onto a defined irrigation area with a selected shape such as a rectangle.
The present invention seeks to solve these difficulties and permit irrigation of rectangular zones with a PR (precipitation rate)≦1 inch/hour. Currently there is no fixed head nozzle in the market with such a low PR. Most current irrigation sprinklers use either a rotor or fixed heads to create a rectangular spray pattern. A rotor head sprinkler is capable of throwing long distance jet with low PR (typically 0.5 inch/hour for 4 ft×15 ft specialty spray). But since the rotor head is gear driven by flowing water, its life time is low due to the gear/shaft wear or clogging. Moreover, the gear set assembly is costly and bulky. By way of contrast, a conventional fixed head sprinkler is low in cost but has to work with a high PR (typically 2 inch/hour for 4 ft×15 ft LCS/RCS) for a full coverage.
A low PR is preferred for most of the irrigation applications. With low PR, water will be allowed to soak into the ground slowly instead of running off from soil surface. Another advantage of low PR is that with the specified pressure and flow rate supply low PR sprinklers are able to cover more area.
There is a need, therefore, for an inexpensive, durable and efficient irrigation nozzle and method for generating specialized rectangular spray patterns.

Irrigation spray nozzles for rectangular patterns


A plastic optical fiber connector includes an optical fiber connector having a plate body formed therein. On the plate body, a focusing hole is formed, the focusing hole having a holding portion extending outwardly from a side thereof. With provision of the plate body, two reception spaces are formed in the optical fiber connector, with one of which having a seat body on which an optical transceiver is provided therein, wherein a transceiver terminal of the optical transceiver is bonded to the focusing hole on the plate body. Further, a wire seat is sleeved within the optical fiber connector so that the holding portion is allowed to be placed into an optical fiber guiding hole of the wire seat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a plastic optical fiber connector, particularly to a plastic optical fiber connector in which a focusing hole can effectively and precisely align and connect an optical fiber core of an optical fiber to an optical transceiver when they are desired to be connected to each other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Plastic optical fiber is an optical fiber having an excellent curvature and easy to be set up on spot, making itself widely applicable and realization of fiber to the home (FTTH) possible.
A plugless optical transceiver has been suggested, to which an optical fiber can be connected directly. A sheath or jacket is provided as a cladding on such optical fiber and relied upon for alignment and focusing with the optical transceiver. However, since the cladding has a relatively larger tolerance, the focusing task tends to be difficult when an optical fiber core of the plastic optical fiber has a relatively smaller diameter. In this case, an intolerable optical power loss may occur between the optical fiber and the optical transceiver and thus deficiency may be found in the coupling between the optical fiber and optical transceiver may be found.
In view of the above, the coupling between the optical fiber and optical transceiver has its disadvantage and needs to be improved. To solve the problem, the inventor of the present invention has paid a lot of effort and finally sets forth a plastic optical fiber connector here.


The present invention provides a bus transceiver incorporating a high speed, binary transfer mode for the half-duplex transfer of data signals with a ternary control transfer mode having a full duplex dominant logic transmission scheme for the full duplex transfer of control signals. In one embodiment of the present invention, the above-noted transfer modes are implemented in a bus architecture which includes at least a first communications node coupled to a second communications node via a twisted pair, serial bus. Each node comprises first transceiver and second transceivers having a differential driver for driving on the bus signal states comprising first and second signal states having equal current amplitudes opposite in sign and a third signal state having approximately a zero current amplitude, a high speed binary receiver for receiving high speed data signals during data transfer phases and a ternary receiver for receiving control signals during control transfer phases. To permit the receivers of the present invention to receive the transmitted signals at the amplitude required to detect the proper bus voltage values, the present invention further provides a means for common mode shifting of the signals at the front end of the receivers while providing for a voltage offset independent of the fabrication process. This common mode shifting means also permits the implementation of a single ternary receiver in place of each of the binary, ternary and preemptive signaling receivers for each transceiver. In this manner, the present invention can be modified so that both transfer modes in addition to the preemptive signaling method can be performed using a single ternary receiver.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bus architecture communications scheme for enabling baseband data communications between a plurality of interconnected devices or nodes in a computer system, and more particularly, to a bus transceiver incorporating a high speed, binary transfer mode with a low speed, ternary control transfer mode having a full duplex dominant logic scheme for bi-directional, simultaneous signal transfer.
Hereinafter, all computer devices will be referred to as "nodes" for simplicity irregardless of whether or not the specific device has a higher intelligence otherwise known as a "local host". In addition, the term local host will be used irregardless of whether or not it comprises hardware or hardware and software.
Nodes within a computer system, such as a disk drive, a CRT, a printer and the like, need the ability to convey signals between themselves. In the past, this has been accomplished by means of a standard I/O bus which comprises a plurality of transmission lines or channels and acts as a shared communications path for interconnecting several nodes in the system. In such a system, it is desirable to provide a bus architecture in which signals can be simultaneously transmitted between nodes connected to the bus in order to increase the volume of information that can be transmitted in a given time period, thereby increasing the over-all speed of the computer. This type of transmission is known as full-duplex transmission. In conventional bus architectures, however, a signal transmitted on the bus by a particular node is available for reception by all other nodes attached to the bus so that if two or more signals were simultaneously transmitted on the bus, they would superimpose to create a garbled signal un-intelligible to any node.
In conventional baseband data communication systems, this problem has been partially overcome by the following two techniques. The first technique is known as time duplexing wherein a plurality of nodes connected to a shared I/O bus are individually given a specific allotment of time to transmit their signals on the bus. This type of transmission resembles a round robin procedure in which each node is sequentially given access to the bus. A major drawback with the use of time duplexing on a shared bus is that it requires a general synchronization system to sequentially enable the driver of each node for a certain time, and even then, the over-all transmission is slow since the signals are still individually transmitted. Furthermore, this type of transmission is not bi-directional (i.e., full duplex) so that a node which requests information from another node must wait until the second node is given its turn to transmit the desired information.
The second technique consists of providing a bus which has at least two transmission lines for each interconnection between nodes coupled to the bus so as to enable full duplex transmission between any two of the nodes. For example, if there are four nodes coupled to each other so as to form six interconnections, twelve transmission lines would be required. Although this technique solves the problems presented by the previous technique, it creates other problems relating to the physical size and complexity of the bus and the large amount of power required to drive the bus.
Furthermore, in prior art bus architectures, data transfer busses are commonly used for the transmission of baseband data signals between nodes directly coupled to each other via point-to-point interconnections or "links" forming the bus. In this type of bus, data signal transfers between nodes occur only occasionally when one node needs to request data from or transmit data to another node. Because the bus may idle for indefinitely long periods of time between successive data transfers, it is customary to put the bus in an idle state by disabling the drivers of adjacent nodes so as to reduce the power consumption that would otherwise occur.
One method of maintaining the bus in the idle state is to use bias circuits to actively bias the bus in one of two signal states (i.e., a binary 1 or 0 signal state), however, this approach still consumes a significant amount of power due to the current required to maintain these states. Another known method for use with a differential data transfer bus is to passively bias the bus through the use of low impedance, passive termination devices. However, the use of this method to maintain the bus idle state undermines the overall common mode rejection of a double terminated, differential bus. Hence, in order to maintain the bus idle state, prior art bus architectures have traditionally required either the utilization of large amounts of power or a sacrifice in the common mode rejection range of the bus.
More recently, however, another means for reducing the power consumption caused by the bus idle state was realized through the use of a third, low power signal state as the bus idle state. This third state, known as a Z signal state, has a signal amplitude half way between the two binary signal states such that the corresponding current amplitude (when driven on the bus) is nearly 0 mA. According to the present invention, it was realized that the use of an intermediate signal state having a current amplitude of approximately 0 mA for the bus idle state would not only cause a reduction in the power consumption by the bus during an idle state, but would also provide an additional signaling state for use in implementing a full-duplex transmission scheme on the bus. Although this third state has been used in burst mode, differential busses for reducing the power consumption during the bus idle state, it has not been utilized for the transfer of data on a bus.
In an attempt by Applicants to implement the Z signal state in a burst mode, differential bus, it was found that this state constituted a special problem due to the design of conventional binary receivers utilized in such busses for the detection of the binary signal states. Specifically, a naive implementation of the intermediate Z signal state on the bus using a conventional binary receiver causes unpredictable behavior and produces erroneous signals during the bus idle state. This is due to current fluctuations on the bus about the intermediate current amplitude of the Z signal state which causes the receiver to randomly switch states between the binary signal states. According to another implementation, Applicants utilized a hysteresis receiver having a hysteresis region around the current amplitude of the Z signal state to prevent the random oscillation. However, the use of a hysteresis receiver, while absolutely mandatory during the control signal transfer phase, represented a serious problem during the data signal transfer phase where the hysteresis receiver generated adverse duty cycle distortions during normal data transmissions.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for a bus transceiver incorporating a high speed, binary data transfer mode with a ternary control transfer mode having a full duplex dominant logic transmission scheme for automatic determination of the preferred data signal transfer direction and for the exchange of other control and identification information.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for the common mode shifting of the signals received by the bus transceiver of the present invention using a PNP level shifting circuit at the front end of each the high speed, binary receiver, the low speed, ternary receiver and the preemptive signaling receiver.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for a bus transceiver incorporating a high speed, binary data transfer mode with a ternary transfer mode having a full duplex dominant logic transmission scheme using a single ternary receiver comprising two voltage comparators in addition to a PNP level shifting circuit at the front end of each comparator.

Method and apparatus for implementing a common mode level shift in a bus transceiver incorporating a high speed binary data transfer mode with a ternary control transfer mode


An endoscope system includes: an endoscope including an insertion portion, an image pickup portion that acquires a plurality of images by time-sequentially picking up optical images of a subject by means of an objective optical system provided in a distal end portion of the insertion portion, and a channel that opens at the distal end portion of the insertion portion; a laser probe that is inserted through the channel; an image analysis portion that detects an area showing the laser probe with respect to each image; and a control portion that permits laser output only in a case where it is determined that the laser probe protrudes from the opening of the channel based on detection results with respect to the area showing the laser probe for a plurality of images that are time-sequentially consecutive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope system equipped with an endoscope and a laser probe that is inserted through an endoscope channel, and also to a control method for an endoscope system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical treatment is sometimes performed by inserting a treatment instrument through a channel provided in an endoscope, and causing a distal end of the treatment instrument to protrude from a distal end of the endoscope.
Since the aforementioned kind of treatment instrument is generally used in a state in which the distal end thereof has been caused to protrude from the distal end of an endoscope, it is desirable to check the protruding state thereof. Consequently, technology of various kinds has been proposed for detecting that a treatment instrument is protruding from the distal end of an endoscope.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-125926, technology is disclosed in which the protrusion of a treatment instrument from the distal end of an endoscope is detected by a sensor such as a photo-interrupter. According to the technology described in the aforementioned publication, the detection result is used for controlling the magnification of an image.
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-212349, technology is disclosed that includes a forceps roller that is arranged in a proximal end portion of a forceps channel, a forceps encoder for detecting a rotation angle of the forceps roller, and a forceps detecting apparatus that detects the protrusion or retraction of a forceps from or into a distal end portion of the forceps channel based on rotation angle data from the forceps encoder. Further, according to the technology disclosed in the aforementioned publication, a detection result is used, for example, for an animated display of the protruding state of the forceps. In addition, in the aforementioned publication, technology is disclosed that, in a case where a detection result is that the forceps is not protruding, transitions to a stop mode to prohibit the passage of a high-frequency current to the treatment instrument.
In addition, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-271871 technology is described that determines that a treatment instrument is positioned in the vicinity of a target site in a case where a signal of a predetermined luminance value or more is detected in a predetermined region within an observation field of view. According to the technology described in the aforementioned publication, a determination result is used as a trigger for starting video recording.
In this connection, in some treatment instruments a treatment portion for treating a subject by imparting energy to the subject is provided at the distal end of the treatment instrument. Examples of such treatment instruments include a laser probe that is described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-125926, or a high-frequency treatment instrument that is described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-125926 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-212349. Surgery that pulverizes a stone by means of a laser beam in transurethral ureterolithotripsy may be mentioned as an example of treatment in which the laser probe of the former is utilized.

Endoscope system that controls laser output of laser probe and control method for endoscope system


High velocity reactor coolant water in a boiling water reactor or a pressurized water reactor transports radioactive ions and particles from a nuclear reactor vessel to the balance of the reactor coolant system where they deposit on chromium (III) oxide-containing surfaces. These radioactive deposits are removed in a dilute chemical decontamination process wherein permanganate ion-containing reactor coolant water is circulated throughout a reactor coolant system to oxidize chromium (III) oxide surfaces of the system to chromium (IV) oxide. Formic acid is added to the permanganate ion-containing reactor coolant water and then the formic acid-containing water is circulated throughout the reactor coolant system to reduce unreacted permanganate ions in the reactor coolant water to manganous ions.

The invention relates to a process for oxidizing metal oxides on surfaces wetted by aqueous solutions and more particularly to a process for oxidizing chromiumcontaining radioactive films which tend to form on the surfaces of reactor coolant systems in nuclear power plants. The invention is particularly useful for decontaminating boiling water and pressurized water reactors and thereby reducing the radiation exposure of workers during routine maintenance and operating activities, reactor refueling and plant decommissioning.
As a nuclear reactor generates electric power, the wetted surfaces of the reactor coolant system tend to corrode slightly and form surface oxides of iron, chromium, nickel, cobalt and other metals employed in the system. At least some of the corrosion products (referred to in the nuclear industry as "crud") are transported by the high velocity coolant water to the core region of the reactor vessel and become radioactive. Subsequently, the radioactivate corrosion products are retransported from the core of the reactor vessel and deposit in the balance of the reactor coolant system and thereby increase the radiation fields throughout the plant. In addition, radioactive ions such as cobalt 60 will also deposit on these surface oxides. These radioactive deposits are the principal source of the out-of-core radiation fields and make the greatest contribution to personnel radiation exposure.
Various dilute chemical decontamination processes have been developed for use in boiling water reactors and pressurized water reactors. Typically, these processes dissolve the metal oxides and then recover the dissolved ions and the process chemicals on resin beds and filters. Various permanganate processes have been developed to oxidize such metal oxides as chromium (III) oxide. In alkaline-permanganate processes, coolant water containing potassium permanganate and sodium hydroxide is circulated through the reactor coolant system to oxidize chromium (III) oxide to chromium (VI) oxide, which is soluble in aqueous solutions. After the permanganate-containing water has been circulated for up to several hours, the residual amounts of unreacted permanganate in the coolant water and manganese dioxide formed in the chromium oxide oxidation step are "destroyed" or reduced to manganous ions with oxalic acid. Alternatively, acid permanganate and nitric acid permanganate processes for oxidizing chromium (III) oxide may be employed.
These permanganate chromium oxidation processes are normally combined with other known processes which reduce other metal oxides such as ferric oxide and nickel oxides (e.g.,NiFe.sub.2 O.sub.4) at the surface to acid soluble oxides. In the proprietary Can-Decon and Can-Derem processes, coolant water containing organic acids and typically having a pH of about 2.5-3 is circulated through the reactor coolant system. In the LOMI (Low Oxidation-state Metal Ion) process, coolant water containing vanadous formate and picolinic acid and typically having a pH of about 4-6 is circulated through the reactor coolant system. For a general discussion of these and other processes, M. E. Pick et al., "The Nature Of PWR Stainless Steel And Inconel Oxides In Relation To Decontamination In Permanganate Based (NP and AP) Processes", Water Chemistry Of Nuclear Reactor Systems 3, Vol. 1, British Nuclear Energy Society, London, 1983; T. Suwa, "Development of Chemical Decontamination Process with Sulfuric Acid-Cerium (IV) for Decommissioning", Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 23(76), pp 622-632, July 1986 and "Plant Decontamination Methods Review", Electric Power Research Institute, NP-1168, 1981. In practice, a succession of alternating permanganate chromium oxidation steps and nickel and iron reduction steps are performed to dissolve the surface oxides and thereby to decontaminate reactor systems to acceptably low levels.
The unreacted permanganate ions and manganese dioxide which forms in the course of the chromium oxidation step must be destroyed before the following iron and nickel reduction step is employed. Oxalic acid is generally employed for this purpose. However, oxalic acid generates a considerable amount of carbon dioxide in the course of the permanganate destruction process and has been found to be the cause of intergranular stress corrosion cracking in reactor coolant systems. Thus, the use of oxalic acid must be very carefully controlled. Accordingly, in decontamination processes, the permanganate-containing water temperature is lowered from the chromium oxidation temperature of about 90.degree. C (190.degree. F) to below a maximum of about 80.degree. C (175.degree. F). Because reactor coolant systems are particularly sensitive to intergranular stress corrosion cracking caused by solutions containing more than about 1000 ppm oxalic acid at temperatures of 90.degree. C, oxalic acid is added to the reactor coolant systems such that the maximum oxalic acid concentration is less than about 750 ppm.

Process for decontaminating a nuclear reactor coolant system


A piano tuning pin apparatus for prevention of loosening of the piano string, i.e., of rewinding of a piano tuning pin, characterized by setting the tuning pin constructed additionally a brake structure having the impediment function against the rewinding on the circumference surface of the piano tuning pin and the fixing portion of pin having two putting pipes each other, to prevent loosening of the piano. Between a tuning hammer tip inserting part and a hole of the tuning pin, a brake structure is formed to take a projection having a suitable distance and height along with a circumference surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piano tuning pin apparatus for prevention, of loosening of the piano string, i.e., of rewinding of a piano tuning pin.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional tuning pin for pianos, as shown in FIG. 1, consists of a screw thread part 1 embedded in the pin block, a inserting part 2 of a tuning hammer tip, and a tuning pin hole 3 inserting and winding the piano string therebetween.
However, the rewinding phenomenon of the tuning pin for pianos occurs with the lapse of time in the conventional tuning pin since impediment function against the rewinding of the screw thread is inferior to the offensive tension of said string due to pulling force occurred by means of tension of the piano string wound on the circumference surface thereof.
Furthermore, since such phenomenon occurs too early in some pianos, the tuning should be put again frequently. Accordingly, such phenomenon has become important problem in management of the piano. Another problem is that the piano is affected to change sound by variation of temperature and humidity or shock.
In order to solve these problems, impediment force for prevention of rewinding of the tuning pin needs, and the force can be achieved by construction of installation affecting additionally, for impediment of the winding force of the screw thread.

Tuning pin apparatus having impediment function against the rewinding


A system and method for providing a suite of data services in non-navigation based electronic devices such as head units, that can provide similar levels of functionality to navigation-based systems are presented. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a non-navigation data system for providing data services in a mobile environment can include a data decoder for decoding a digital data stream from a digital audio radio transmission source, a location determining means for determining a current location of a mobile receiver receiving the digital data stream, a display for displaying data corresponding to the current location, and a plurality of static maps wherein the data corresponding to the current location is overlaid at least over a portion of the static maps. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a method of providing a data service in a mobile environment without the need for a navigation system can include decoding a digital data stream from a digital audio radio transmission source, determining a current location of a mobile receiver receiving the digital data stream, displaying data corresponding to the current location, and overlaying the data corresponding to the current location over at least a portion of a plurality of static maps.

Satellite digital radio broadcasters, such as, for example, Sirius XM Radio Inc. ("Sirius XM"), currently offer well over a hundred channels of content over a large geographic footprint. A portion of that content can include data services that interoperate with existing GPS-based navigation services commonly available for use in automobiles, for example. Such data services can include, for example, traffic data, weather data, etc. For example, Sirius XM has operated real-time traffic data services for premium navigation systems since 2004. These services provide a subscriber with real-time traffic information, enabling a vehicle's navigation system or Personal Navigation Device ("PND") to display constantly refreshed and current traffic conditions. However, for the large portion of the existing and future markets that do not or will not have access to GPS-based navigation systems, these data services are useless.
In a typical satellite radio service configuration of approximately 100 channels or more, nearly 50 channels provide music with the remaining stations offering news, sports, talk and data. For example, the broadcast services provided by Sirius XM Radio Inc. each include a satellite X-band uplink to two or more satellites which provide frequency translation to the S-band for re-transmission to radio receivers on earth within a coverage area. Radio frequency carriers from one of the satellites are also received by terrestrial repeaters. The content received at the repeaters is retransmitted at a different S-band carrier to the same radios that are within their respective coverage areas. These terrestrial repeaters facilitate reliable reception in geographic areas where geosynchronous satellite reception is obscured by tall buildings, hills or other natural obstructions, tunnels, or other obstructions. The signals transmitted by the satellites and the repeaters are received by satellite digital audio radio system ("SDARS") receivers which can be located in automobiles, in handheld units, or in stationary units for home or office use. The SDARS receivers are designed to receive one or both of the satellite signals and the signals from the terrestrial repeaters and dynamically combine or select one of the signals to output to a user.
Each SDARS receiver generally contains a unique Hardware Identification number (HWID), which is assigned during the manufacturing process. The HWID can be used by SDARS Service Providers to enable the receiver to receive, or disable the receiver from receiving, particular subscribed services such as music and talk programming. In addition, these subscribed services can include data services, such as, for example, weather and traffic data feeds or other custom data feeds. Such custom data feeds are typically uniquely enabled by the SDARS Service Provider for select subscriber groups.
Additionally, current navigation services store databases of maps and other data and rely on complicated navigational systems, routing engines, embedded map databases and other resources to provide their information to users, all of which adds complexity and cost.
What is thus needed in the art are systems and methods of providing data services to users in an automotive environment without requiring, or being dependent upon navigation systems

Data services via receivers independent of navigation systems


A method comprising receiving a write request; adding the write request to a batch of substantially contiguous disk writes; determining to write the batch of substantially contiguous disk writes to a non-volatile memory; writing the batch of substantially contiguous disk writes to the non-volatile memory; sending a confirmation of writing the batch of substantially contiguous disk writes; receiving a confirmation of the confirmation of writing; and clearing the batch of substantially contiguous disk writes.

As the popularity of the Internet and wireless communication continues to grow, network designers and service providers are presented with a number of performance concerns. A particular concern relates to message routing. A message router receives messages from sender hosts and forwards these messages to one or more destination hosts. The process of receiving and sending a message is sometimes called a transaction, and is an important component of any networking architecture. It is not uncommon for a high performance message router to be required to complete hundreds of transactions per second.
Traditional messaging systems use a store-and-forward model for message routing. Under such an approach, when a router receives a message the message is stored to a nonvolatile memory ("NVM") so that the contents are preserved when there is no power applied to the memory. Examples of NVM include, but are not limited to, electrically erasable programmable read only memory ("EEPROM") and magnetic disk. Storing the message to NVM enables recovery of the message in the event of a system crash or power failure. Naive techniques for reading from and writing to NVM are relatively slow, and may result in a performance bottleneck in the network.


A telephone wire pair is qualified for digital signal transmission by central office testing. The tip-to-ring capacitance of the wire pair is measured while applying to the wire pair an AC test signal at 600 Hz. The test signal at this frequency minimizes errors due to line inductance and/or a ringing device connected to the wire pair. Reliable measurement of the length of the wire pair is achieved. Flaws in cable sheathing can also be detected based on measurement of tip-to-ground capacitance and/or ring-to-ground capacitance.

In a typical installation, telephone service is provided between a central office and a customer's premises via a pair of wires, commonly referred to as "tip" and "ring". The tip and ring wires are twisted together and exit from the central office within a cable which typically includes a large of number of twisted wire pairs, enclosed in a metal jacket or sheath connected to ground. As the customers' premises vary in distance from the central office, so too is there substantial variation in the length of the wire pairs extending from the central office to the customer locations.
There has been increasing demand for transmission of digital data over conventional twisted pair telephone lines. One type of digital transmission service typically provided over twisted pair lines is referred to as ISDN (integrated services digital network). Reliable ISDN service cannot be provided over a twisted wire pair that has more than 42 dB of insertion loss, measured with a throughput frequency of 40 kHz. If a wire pair has an overall length of 18,000 feet, and is implemented according to standard practice with 10,500 feet of 26 AWG wire and 7,500 feet of 24 AWG wire, such a wire pair would have an insertion loss of about 42.6 dB at 70.degree. F. If such a wire pair were installed in an aerial plant cable and exposed to sun loading in the summer, the insertion loss would be in excess of 42.6 dB. The inventor believes that a prudent policy would consider a wire pair qualified for ISDN service only if the length of the wire pair does not exceed 15,000 feet.
It would therefore be desirable to pre-qualify wire pairs for digital transmission service by a test procedure which measures the length of the wire pair from the central office to the customer premises.
It is known to attempt to measure the length of wire pairs from the central office using conventional test equipment such as the Model 105A remote test unit (RTU) marketed by Harris Corporation. When there is no terminal equipment having a ringer installed at the end of the wire pair, the Harris RTU can determine the length of the wire pair by measuring tip-to-ring (T-R) capacitance using a 30 Hz test signal. (Use of a 30 Hz test signal reflects teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,611,101 (Walter et al.); 4,113,998 (Ashdown et al.) ; and 4,139,745 (Ashdown et al.) These patents indicate that, in general, higher test frequencies produce less reliable results and are therefore undesirable.) If terminal equipment having a ringer is installed at the end of the wire pair, then tip-to-ground (T-G) and ring-to-ground (R-G) capacitance are measured to determine the length of the wire pair. However, there is a risk of substantial inaccuracy in all these measurements.
First of all, it often is not known a priori whether or not terminal equipment with a ringer is installed on the wire pair. If a ringer is present, there is a large change in the T-R capacitance measured at the central office, and therefore the T-R capacitance cannot be considered as a reliable indication of the wire pair length. The T-G and R-G capacitance measurements are also subject to significant unreliability, since the cable sheath may not be continuous. For example, it sometimes occurs that there is a failure to splice the sheath at the site of cable splices, or the sheath may experience corrosion over time which results in discontinuity. As a result, the length of the sheath indicated by the T-G and R-G capacitance measurements may be substantially different from the actual length of the wire pair in question.

Qualifying telephone line for digital transmission service


In an auto baud system and method, the baud rates between two communicating devices are synchronized by timing the transmission of a plurality of bits by counting the cycles of a reference clock. The number of cycles counted is then divided by the number of bits counted over and any remaining cycles are distributed evenly across the data being transmitted or received. The interface of the circuit is preferably implemented as a single pin, open drain interface which can be connected to an RS-232 communications link using external hardware.

As technology develops, semiconductor devices are shrinking and being put into smaller packages. Pin utilization becomes ever more important for low pin count devices.
Communication links typically require several signals for communication. For instance, RS232 requires at least two data signals, transmit and receive. I2C also requires two signals, a bi-directional data signal and a clock. SPI requires at least three signals, transmit, receive, and a clock. All these communication interfaces also require a common ground signal, but since that signal does not carry any information, we will ignore it in our discussions.
Communication links also require that both ends transfer data at the same rate. Some communication protocols such as I2C or SPI use a dedicated clock so both ends transfer data at the same rate. For asynchronous protocols like those used in RS232, both ends of the link must know beforehand what the transmission rate is since a dedicated clock is not used. The transmission rate of an asynchronous serial communications link is typically referred to as the baud rate.
Asynchronous protocols typically operate by using a reference clock in conjunction with a baud rate generator. Since the speed of the reference clock is known and the desired baud rate of the communication link is known, the baud rate generators can be programmed to divide the reference clock down to the baud rate.
There have been previous methods used to auto-detect the baud rate of asynchronous communication links. One prior art technique involves sending a synchronizing key stroke such as a space bar, and then measuring the duration of the first bit in the data stream. Using this time interval allows the baud rate to be set. However, the accuracy obtained by measuring just one bit may cause this detection method to fail if the baud rate is close to the speed of the reference clock.
The present invention seeks to address these issues by providing a single pin communication interface with accurate baud rate detection.

Auto baud system and method and single pin communication interface


An inclination detection system is disclosed. The inclination detection system may have an inclination angle predictor configured to calculate an a priori estimated inclination angle of the machine based on a previously estimated inclination angle, and a measurement variance calculator configured to calculate a measurement variance of the a priori estimated inclination angle based on a non-gravitational acceleration of the machine. The inclination detection system may also have an inclination angle sensor configured to measure a measured inclination angle of the machine, and an inclination angle updater configured to determine an a posteriori estimated inclination angle of the machine based on the a priori estimated inclination angle, the measurement variance of the a priori estimated inclination angle, and the measured inclination angle.

Machines such as, for example, dozers, motor graders, wheel loaders, wheel tractor scrapers, and other types of heavy equipment are used to perform a variety of tasks. The completion of some of these tasks require operation on or near inclines that, if inappropriately traversed by a machine, have the potential to roll the machine over, resulting in equipment damage and possible injury to the operator. When under the direct control of a human operator, the likelihood of rollover may be estimated by the operator and appropriate avoidance measures manually implemented. However, in some situations, rollover may be difficult for the operator to anticipate and, without suitable automated safety measures in place, rollover may be unavoidable. This rollover potential may be even greater when the machine is remotely, autonomously, or semi-autonomously controlled.
Remotely controlled, autonomously controlled, and semi-autonomously controlled machines are capable of operating with little or no human input by relying on information received from various machine systems. For example, based on machine movement input, terrain input, and/or machine operational input, a machine can be controlled to remotely and/or automatically complete a programmed task. By receiving appropriate feedback from each of the different machine systems during performance of the task, continuous adjustments to machine operation can be made that help to ensure precision and safety in completion of the task. In order to do so, however, the information provided by the different machine systems should be accurate and reliable.
An exemplary system that may be used to control a machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,091 to Perlmutter et al. that issued on Sep. 16, 2003 ("the '091 patent"). The system of the '091 patent is capable of determining an inclination of a machine. Specifically, the system combines outputs from various sensors, including accelerometers, via a Kalman filter to generate corrected navigation data (including corrected pitch data) of a machine. Using the corrected navigation data from the Kalman filter, the system computes updated navigation data related to a machine.
Although the system of the '091 patent may be useful in determining navigational data for a machine, the system may not provide accurate inclination (e.g., pitch) data due to unexpected non-gravitational accelerations of the machine. For example, acceleration caused by other means such as machine movement or vibration may cause errors in the data obtained by the accelerometers. Further, non-gravitational acceleration may cause the Kalman filter in the '091 patent to incorrectly compensate when generating the corrected pitch data.
The inclination detection system of the present disclosure is directed toward solving one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.

Inclination detection systems and methods


A radio operated data card whose outer jacket forms a sealed protected housing for internal electrical components, including an RFID integrated circuit which incorporates data storage and a radio frequency transceiver, and one or more on-card antenna structures. Manually operated electrical switching elements, or antenna structures which are responsive to the positioning of conductive members, such as the human hand, at particular locations on or near the surface of the card, are connected to the on-card electronic circuitry. The switching elements or antenna elements are selectively operated by the cardholder who manipulates the card in predetermined ways to generate data signals that may be used to activate the card, store data in the card, or transmit data to the reader.

Electronically read credit cards may be targeted for theft and misuse. Readily available card readers can be used by a thief to obtain account information from the card. While magnetic strip and contact-bearing cards are protected to some extent by the fact that the card must be in physical contact with the reader, contactless cards that use radio signaling to exchange information with a host system can be used without bringing it into direct contact with a reader. Because such contactless devices can be read at a distance with a suitable transmitter and receiver, it is possible to surreptitiously obtain information from the card while it remains in its cardholder's possession. In addition to non-contact data transfer, wireless communication can also allow non-line-of-sight communication, meaning that an RF-enabled device may be read while it remains in the cardholder's wallet or purse.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,220 issued to Edwin J. Selker describes contactless information storage devices, such as an RFID payment cards, that are protected against unauthorized misuse. The card employs an internal mechanism that normally disables the on-card electronic circuitry until the mechanism is intentionally actuated by the cardholder. The mechanism prevents the information on the card from being accessed until the cardholder activates the mechanism to enable signal transmission between the card and the remote unit. In one embodiment, user- activated, normally open electrical switch contacts connect the on- card electronic circuitry and an on- card antenna. Until the contacts are intentionally closed by the cardholder, the antenna is disconnected to prevent the card from transmitting or receiving information. After the user intentionally closes the switch contacts when the card is being used to provide information to an authorized remote reader/transmitter, the contacts automatically reopen to prevent the card from being accessed. In an alternate embodiment, a mating key in the possession of the cardholder must be brought into proximity with the card to close the normally open switch in the card to permit information to be read from the card.
As further described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,220 and in the specification that follows, the on- card switching mechanisms described above may be used to selectively connect the chip electronics to different portions of the on-card antenna, allowing the card to he selectively tuned to different resonant frequencies. The card may be pressed in different positions to activate different switching elements, and different keys, or different placements of a single key, may be used to selectively close only certain on-card switches to provide the needed connections.
These on-card, cardholder-operated switching devices provide a needed mechanism that enables the cardholder to input additional identification or control information that provides additional security and functionality.
The internal mechanism used to generate data in response to the selective manipulation of the card by the cardholder must be flat enough to fit in the limited space available in a card meeting relevant ISO standards, must be robust enough to withstand stress and abuse, and must employ low-cost components and be easy to assemble and produce in quantity. In addition, the mechanism must not be potentially harmful to users due by introducing sharp or pointed edges, leak fluids, or contain a substance that might trigger allergic reactions. In addition, the mechanism employed should be functionally flexible in order to work in cards and other devices having a variety of shapes and sizes. Finally, the mechanism should be able to control the on-card electronics, typically a mass-produced integrated circuit chip, regardless of whether the chip is internally or externally powered.

Methods and apparatus for wireless RFID cardholder signature and data entry


A processor may receive a delivered message. The processor, using natural language processing, may identify content of the delivered message. The processor may generate a first importance score for the delivered message based on the content of the delivered message. The processor may send a notification to at least one recipient of the delivered message as a reminder of the delivered message, in response to the first importance score fulfilling a predefined delivery condition. In some embodiments, a processor may receive a message. The processor may identify the content of the message using natural language processing. The processor may generate a first importance score for the message based on the content of the message. The processor may determine that a second message received is related to the message. The processor may update the first importance score.

The present disclosure relates to the field of digital computer systems, and more specifically, to a method of processing delivered electronic messages.
Group discussions on social networks involve a large number of delivered messages. Some messages are of a general purpose and are not directed to a specific person, but some messages can be directed to specific persons. Conversation texts or posts of a discussion may require, only for certain parts of the discussion, a response or action from a specific person. However, due to the large number of delivered messages that are exchanged over the network some messages or parts of discussions may be overlooked or not processed.

Automatic notification generation for electronic processing systems

International Business Machines Corporation


A buckle device that includes a buckle with which a tongue supported by a seat belt becomes engaged, and buckle-moving device which moves the buckle between a storage position at which the buckle is stored when the buckle is not used and a use position at which the buckle is retained in a used state in which the seat belt is fastened. The buckle may be hidden in the vehicle seat at the storage position. The buckle does not obstruct the occupant when the occupant sits on or gets off the vehicle seat, and the occupant can smoothly sit on or get off the vehicle seat.

In a typical seat belt apparatus attached to a seat of a vehicle, such as an automobile, a seat belt restrains an occupant in case of emergency, for example, when a large deceleration is caused by collision or the like. Thus, the occupant is prevented from being ejected from the seat and is protected.
On the other hand, a seat belt apparatus for a rear seat of a vehicle generally includes a buckle which is placed on a seat cushion when the seat belt apparatus is not used. Therefore, when an occupant gets into the vehicle and tries to sit on the rear seat, the occupant is obstructed by the buckle placed on the seat cushion and cannot smoothly sit on the rear seat. Similarly, when the occupant tries to get off the rear seat and out of the vehicle, the buckle clings to the occupant's body and the occupant cannot smoothly get off the seat and out of the vehicle. In addition, since the buckle is left on the seat cushion, the appearance of the vehicle is degraded when the buckle is not used.
Accordingly, a seat-belt-storing apparatus has been suggested in which a buckle is stored in a buckle-storing section provided in a seat cushion of a vehicle seat when the buckle is not used, and is taken out from the buckle-storing section by an occupant when the buckle is used. An example of such an apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 3-20216.
In the seat-belt-storing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 3-20216, the buckle is not placed on the seat cushion while the seat belt apparatus is not used. Therefore, the occupant can sit on or get off the seat without being obstructed by the buckle, and the appearance of the vehicle is improved.
However, in the seat-belt-storing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 3-20216, the occupant must take the buckle out of the buckle-storing section each time the occupant sits on the vehicle seat and fastens the seat belt. Thus, the occupant must perform a cumbersome task to fasten the seat belt. In addition, in order to ensure the seat function of the seat cushion, the size of the buckle-storing section is limited and remains very small. Therefore, it is difficult to take the buckle out of the small buckle-storing section, and this makes the task to fasten the seat belt more cumbersome.
In view of the above-described situation, an object of the present invention is to provide a buckle device which allows an occupant to smoothly sit on and get off a vehicle seat and with which a seat belt can be easily fastened, and to provide a seat belt apparatus using the buckle device.


Disclosed is a vertigo diagnosis and treatment system including a frame, a revolution device, a rotation device and a seat, the frame comprising a primary frame and a secondary frame arranged oppositely. The revolution device includes a power mechanism and a slewing frame. The slewing frame is arranged between the primary frame and the secondary frame. The primary frame and the secondary frame provide slewing support for the slewing frame. The rotation device includes a power mechanism and a seat rotating frame. The vertigo diagnosis and treatment system further includes a seat biasing mechanism. Under the combined action of the revolution device and the rotation device, the vertigo diagnosis and treatment system according to the present invention can realize three-dimensional free rotation and hovering in any position, thus achieving vertigo diagnosis and treatment.

The vestibular system contains two sensory organs, semicircular canal and otolith organs. The semicircular canal senses angular acceleration and provides central eye movement reflex for gaze stabilization when the head is turned, and the otolith organs include the utricle and the saccule, which can sense linear acceleration and provide vestibular spinal cord reflection for position stabilization. Otolith organs, as sensors of the combined forces of gravity and inertial force, can sense the spatial orientation. Otoliths are normally attached to the otolith membrane. Otoliths in the otolith organs may fall off from their original positions due to head trauma or localized structural degradation in the old age, and swim in the fluid called inner lymph in the inner ear. When the human head position changes, their semicircular canals also change position. The floating otoliths move with the flow of fluid, which stimulates semicircular canal hair cells, causing the body to experience severe vertigo. Vertigo is generally short, ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes, which can be aggravated or relieved periodically. The duration of the disease varies. This condition is called otolithiasis and also known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), which refers to the transient paroxysmal vertigo and nystagmus that occurs when the head moves rapidly to a specific head position.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is a clinically common peripheral vestibular disease that can be seen in all ages and is more common in the elderly. The disease is self-limiting. The most commonly affected semicircular canal is the posterior semicircular canal (accounting for 80% to 90%), followed by the lateral semicircular canal (accounting for 10%), and the least affected is the superior semicircular canal (accounting for 2%). When the posture of the human body changes, different semicircular canals receive different stimuli. The corresponding semicircular canals can be stimulated through accelerating or decelerating the rotation of different semicircular canals in different planes. Therefore, vertigo can be treated through stimulation to the corresponding semicircular canals by accelerating or decelerating the rotation of different semicircular canals in different planes and directions.
In addition, the current series of vestibular function tests are performed by vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) induced by stimulation of the terminal organs of the vestibule of the inner ear. Semicircular canal VOR function tests have been developed for a long time and are widely used, while otolith organ VOR function tests have been developed lately. There has been a lack of corresponding laboratory test technology for a long time.
Chinese patent application 201510621775.5 discloses a gear type vertigo diagnosis and treatment system, which realizes multi-dimensional positioning and rotation. Chinese patent application 200910000200.6 also discloses a similar body position rotating device. However, there has been no report on a device that can simultaneously perform vertigo diagnosis and treatment as well as evaluation of otolith organ functions, especially a device that separately evaluates otolith organ functions of the left and right ears through unilateral centrifugal testing.

SHANGHAI ZEHNIT MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A sound spatialization including, for each monophonic channel to be spatialized, a binaural processor with two paths of convolution filters linearly combined in each path, this processor or these processors being connected to an orienting device for the computation of the spatial localization of the sound sources, the device itself being connected to at least one localizing device. The convolution is done between the monophonic signal and the user's <<left ear>> and <<right ear>> transfer functions, these transfer functions being proper to this user. This improves the efficiency of the system in localizing the monophonic sound source.

The present invention relates to a system of sound spatialization as well as to a method of personalization that can be used to implement the sound spatialization system.
An aircraft pilot, especially a fighter aircraft pilot, has a stereophonic helmet that restitutes radiophonic communications as well as various alarms and on-board communications for him. The restitution of radiocommunications may be limited to stereophonic or even monophonic restitution. However, alarms and on-board communications need to be localized in relation to the pilot (or copilot).

System of sound spatialization and method personalization for the implementation thereof


Systems and methods are described which facilitate the integration of data into a content management system. Legacy data is inspected, and content types are generated based on a data model. From these content types, content type objects may be generated. The data may then be examined to acquire a key set, and a content instance object generated for each datum found which matches a content type. This content instance object can then be associated with the datum using one or more key values, saved, and subsequently used to manage the data. These methods and systems allow data to be migrated to a content management system without any modification to the existing data repository or its associated structures.

In a computing environment, data is of the utmost importance. Data is input into a system, manipulated, and commensurately output. Data, or content, is particularly important to a web site, as various forms of content are presented to a visitor to the site. However, as the size of web sites expands, and their functionality increases, managing the content utilized at these websites becomes increasingly more complicated. The amount of content deployed increases rapidly with the expansion of the site, and the organization of, and relationships between, this content is constantly in flux.
To deal with the volume of content, many managers of computer environments, or publishers of websites, may wish to utilize a content management system. Particular foibles of certain content management systems, however, make their use less than ideal. For example, many extant systems do not understand the complex relationships between the content. Other systems may not allow an accurate representation of the varied nature of the content present and the contents' associated attributes and requirements. Some systems provide such an inhospitable environment that their use itself is a barrier to their effectiveness, requiring extensive training in programming and the locale of information to effectively manage content.
A few select content management systems have managed to obviate these problems by using content types to model the content of a site according to the site's own vocabulary. These content types may use the vocabulary and business rules used by a particular enterprise within which the users work. Business data objects may be instantiated from the content types and may include attributes, and workflow, access controls. Content management systems of this ilk allow a layer of abstraction to be fitted to the content which represents the complex relationships between the data in the terms defined by the users.
Consequently, many sites may wish to migrate their data to content management systems of this type. Previous methods for migrating this data to a content management system involved manually entering this data into a proprietary content management repository, defining content types and associating this legacy data with the defined content types. This method was time consuming and expensive, in part because it did not allow the persistence of content management metadata across content management systems and required the migration of data from one repository to the next.
Thus, there is a need for systems and methods of migrating data to a content management systems that can migrate existing, large data repositories without changing either the structure or the location of the data, while simultaneously allowing any existing content management metadata to be persisted.

Method and system for migration of legacy data into a content management system


Techniques of designing a digital phase lock loop are disclosed. In one embodiment, the digital phase lock loop comprises a synchronization unit producing a producing a plurality of clock signals in accordance with a seed clock signal having a frequency, each of the clock signals having a modified frequency over the frequency of the seed clock signal and a phase shift from each other; a phase-frequency detection unit receiving an input signal and a feedback signal, and sampling the input signal and the feedback signal in accordance with the clock signals to determine differences in phase and frequency between the input signal and the feedback signal; a digital control oscillator receiving the clock signals and producing an output signal in reference to the differences from phase-frequency detection unit, and subsequently, a digitally controlled clock signal is produced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the area of integrated circuit designs, and more particularly, relates to designs of digital phase lock loop.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, a phase-locked loop (PLL) is an electronic circuit with a voltage- or current-driven oscillator that is constantly adjusted to match in phase (and thus lock on) the frequency of an input signal. In addition to stabilizing a particular communications channel (keeping it set to a particular frequency), a PLL can be used to generate a signal, modulate or demodulate a signal, reconstitute a signal with less noise, or multiply or divide a frequency. PLLs are frequently used in wireless communication, particularly where signals are carried using frequency modulation (FM) or phase modulation (PM). PLLs can also be used in amplitude modulation (AM). PLLs are more commonly used for digital data transmission, but can also be designed for analog information. Phase-locked loop devices are more commonly manufactured as integrated circuits (ICs).
A traditional PLL includes a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that is tuned using a special semiconductor diode called a varactor. The VCO is initially tuned to a frequency close to the desired receiving or transmitting frequency. A circuit called a phase comparator causes the VCO to seek and lock onto the desired frequency, based on the output of a crystal-controlled reference oscillator. This works by means of a feedback scheme. If the VCO frequency departs from the selected crystal reference frequency, the phase comparator produces an error voltage that is applied to the varactor, bringing the VCO back to the reference frequency.
There are many uses of PLLs and most of the PLLs are traditionally implemented with analog approaches. However, when an input signal has a frequency that is extremely low or high, the traditional analog approaches start to demonstrate a certain degree of difficulty of keeping lock on that of the input signal. There is a need for techniques that implement a PLL with all digital approaches.


The present disclosure discloses a wheel burr removing device, consisting of a left brush system, a synchronous clamping drive system, a right brush system and the like. The wheel burr removing device can be used for removing burrs from a wheel center hole, the circumferential edge below the center hole, a bolt hole and a back cavity weight reduction pit, and at the same time, has the characteristics of high automation, high removal efficiency, advanced technology, strong universality and high safety and stability.

In the machining process of an aluminum alloy wheel, burrs are sure to produce on a wheel center hole, the circumferential edge below the center hole, a bolt hole and a back cavity weight reduction pit. If the produced burrs are not removed in time, the subsequent coating effect will be seriously affected, and even the wheel is corroded in advance during use. Therefore, a multifunctional and general-purpose automatic burr removing device is needed to remove burrs from these parts of the wheel.


A liquid discharging apparatus includes: a head which discharges liquid on a medium; a transportation section which transports the medium in a transportation direction; a creasing section which performs creasing on the medium; and a clamping section which clamps the medium between the head and the creasing section in the transportation direction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid discharging apparatus.
2. Related Art
An ink jet type printing apparatus is developed which forms an image on a continuous paper sheet by feeding the paper from a roll body. In such a printing apparatus, the paper on which the image is formed is cut by a cutter of a downstream portion in a transportation direction.
A printing apparatus including a cutter which cuts a material to be cut is disclosed in JP-A-2009-214200.
This application proposes a novel printing apparatus capable of performing creasing. However, in the operation for performing the creasing, since tension pulling the medium in the transportation direction occurs, there is a concern that the medium may be moved in the transportation direction. If the medium is moved in the transportation direction, a position where the image is formed is varied due to an unexpected moving amount thereof. Therefore, it is preferable that the image formation having less deviation with respect to the medium be performed even when performing the creasing operation.


A process for fluidized catalytic cracking of heavy feed to minimize yields of heavy fuel oil is disclosed. Operating a reactor with a 15:1 to 30:1 cat:oil ratio, at a reactor temperature of 1000.degree. to 1100.degree. F., and 1.5 to 5.0 seconds of catalyst residence time produces large volumes of gasoline and less than 5.0 wt % heavy fuel oil. A catalyst cooler is essential, to provide cool catalyst to the riser while permitting the regenerator to operate at 1200.degree. F. or higher. FCC catalyst with over 25 wt % large pore zeolite is preferred.

Many modern refineries devote extraordinary amounts of energy and operating expense to convert most of a whole crude oil feed into high octane gasoline. The crude is fractionated into a virgin naphtha fraction which is usually reformed, and gas oil and/or vacuum gas oil fraction which are catalytically cracked in a fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCC) unit.
A solid cracking catalyst in a finely divided form, with an average particle size of about 60-75 microns, is used. When well mixed with gas, the catalyst acts like a fluid (hence the designation FCC) and may be circulated in a closed flow loop between a cracking zone and a separate regeneration zone.
The Kellogg Ultra Orthoflow converter, Model F, shown in FIG. 1 of this patent application, and also shown as FIG. 17 of the Jan. 8, 1990 Oil & Gas Journal, is an example of a modern, efficient FCC unit. This design (and many other FCC designs not shown) converts a heavy feed into a spectrum of valuable cracked products in a riser reaction in 4-10 seconds of catalyst residence time.
In the cracking zone, hot catalyst contacts the feed to heat the feed, effect the desired cracking reactions and deposit coke on the catalyst. The catalyst is then separated from cracked products which are removed from the cracking reactor for further processing. The coked catalyst is stripped and then regenerated.
A further description of the catalytic cracking process may be found in the monograph, "Fluid Catalytic Cracking with Zeolite Catalysts", Venuto and Habib, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1978, incorporated by reference.
The FCC process is an efficient converter of heavy feed to lighter products, and has some favorable peculiarities. The FCC unit rejects the worst components of the feed as coke and regenerates the catalyst by burning this coke to supply the heat needed for the endothermic cracking reaction. On a volume basis it makes more product than feed. This "swell"--the expanded volume of liquid products after cracking a heavy feed--is one reason the process is so profitable.
Most refiners try to optimize the profitability of their FCC units, either by to maximizing swell or minimizing the yield of low value, heavy fuels. The preferred approach depends on the season. In winter there is considerable demand for heavy fuel and less for gasoline, hence it is usually most profitable to produce more heavy fuel and bottoms fractions off the FCC. In summer, gasoline demand is high and heavy liquid fuels are less valuable. Therefore, refiners usually try to minimize production of heavy fuel fractions such as light and heavy cycle oil and bottom fractions such as slurry oil. These materials, which can simply be looked on as the 650.degree. F. and heavier liquid products, are the least valuable products of an FCC unit. Unfortunately they tend to be produced in significant amounts, especially when poor quality feeds containing large amounts of residual material are fed to the FCC unit.
Refiners have tried to improve yields in catalytic cracking by changing catalyst and reaction conditions. Essentially all refiners currently use zeolite cracking catalyst. In the 70's, use of catalyst with perhaps 10 wt % Y zeolite was common, but today many units use makeup catalyst with 30 to 40 wt % Y zeolite.
Partially in concert with these higher activity catalyst, FCC units have evolved toward ever shorter reaction times. From dense bed cracking, to hybrid units with both dense bed and riser cracking, to modern units with riser cracking alone. Effective reaction time has also been reduced by quick separation of cracked products from spent catalyst exiting the riser. The trend to shorter contact times continues.
Reduction in contact time beyond the point balanced by higher catalyst activity has led to increases in regenerated catalyst temperature. This is also due to the conviction that extremely hot catalyst can "shatter" the asphaltene molecules found in ever larger quantities in today's FCC feeds. Recently --two- stage--regenerators have been developed which achieve regenerated catalyst temperatures of 1400.degree.-1500.degree. F.
The patent literature is replete with references to short contact time cracking, but almost all commercial units today operate with riser reactors, 4 to 10 seconds of catalyst residence time, riser top temperatures of about 950.degree. to 1025.degree. F., and 4:1 to 8:1 cat:oil weight ratios.
In seeking to develop a viable short contact time cracking process, I reviewed internal studies which had investigated cracking at higher temperatures and/or shorter contact times. Much of the work was inconclusive either because contradictory results were obtained in different studies, or because a tradeoff was identified which made it impossible to generalize on the benefits of the new operating conditions. For example, one study showed gasoline selectivity reached an optimum at 3 seconds contact time, but octane was lower by 1 to 3 numbers depending on catalyst. Other work in the 3-7 second contact time range showed that higher temperature reduced both coke and gasoline selectivities, while a follow-up study showed gasoline selectivity increased monotonically at short contact time within the range of 3 to 7 seconds.
From this review I concluded that current cracking conditions, although used for decades in more than 100 FCC units, were not the best. I did additional work in a laboratory FCC riser pilot unit, and discovered that the best way to minimize bottoms yields in an FCC unit was not short contact time at all. I learned that cooler rather than hotter catalyst gave better conversion of heavy feeds, and that longer rather than shorter catalyst residence times were necessary to balance the reactions occurring in the riser. However, the most important factor was to use extraordinary amounts of catalyst--far more than typically used in a commercial FCC unit--at a temperature below that which could be produced in any commercial FCC regenerator. This improbable mix of conditions--more catalyst than had ever been used before, a temperature lower than any modern FCC regenerator can operate at, and preferably a feed inlet temperature exceeding that reachable by conventional FCC feed preheaters--minimized yields of low value heavy products. My process did not require, and in fact would not work with, very short contact times such as less than 1 or 2 seconds catalyst residence time.


A positive temperature coefficient (PTC) resistor composition, comprising: (a) about 3% to about 75% by weight of a binder resin, (b) about 0.5% to about 70% by weight of a temperature activatable semicrystalline polymer, which is a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) that melts at a relatively narrow temperature range to change from a crystalline state to an amorphous state, (c) about 10% to about 80% by weight of an electrically conductive material in finely particulated form selected from the group consisting of silver, graphite, graphite/carbon, nickel, copper, silver coated copper, and aluminum, (d) about 0.01% to about 80% by weight of solvent material for the composition.

This invention broadly relates to electrical devices which contain or include a new positive temperature coefficient resistor (PTCR) composition and the method of manufacturing such devices, as well as the method of preparing such positive temperature coefficient resistor compositions. Such compositions are highly useful for screen printing, for preparation of printed circuits, and for the preparation of numerous different types of electrical devices, as will be discussed hereinafter.
These prior patents involve mixing carbon/graphite with a semi-crystalline polymer which is dissolved in a strong solvent or extruded; or grafting graphite onto a semi-crystalline polymer. The disadvantages to the dissolution approach are that the polymers have poor physical properties and the strong solvents cannot be used in screen printing due to the fact that they will attack the screen emulsion.

Electrical device containing positive temperature coefficient resistor composition and method of manufacturing the device


A bung is provided for sealing an opening in a pressure vessel. The bung includes an annular body portion and a flange extending radially outwardly for one end of the body. In one embodiment the flange includes an inner inclined surface adjacent the annular body portion. In an alternate embodiment, the vessel includes an inclined or angled engagement surface adjacent the vessel opening. A gasket is provided between the flange of the bung and the engagement surface adjacent the vessel opening. The inclined surface of the bung and/or the vessel urges the gasket radially inwardly upon the bung being threaded into the pressure vessel opening.

Vessels or drums are often used to store and dispense substances such as gas or liquid. An opening is provided in the vessel to allow these substances to be filled into and dispensed from the vessel. The vessel is sealed at its opening with a removable bung or cap to prevent its contents from escaping from the opening.
The vessels are sometimes pressurized to facilitate the dispensing of stored liquids or gases or as the result of thermal expansion. However, the pressure increases the risk of leakage from the vessel opening. The leakage may be caused by the flexing and/or distortion of the vessel structure caused by the internal pressure, as well as by temperature changes and shipment activity. This problem is particularly troublesome when the vessel or the bung are made with plastic materials.
In the past, attempts have been made to design a pressure vessel and bung to provide an adequate seal. Sealing materials or gaskets have been used with bungs to improve the leak resistance of the seal between the bung and the vessel opening. An axial compression force is applied to the gasket by the bung, urging it against the wall of the vessel adjacent the opening.
However, the pressurized liquid or gas in the vessel exerts radial outward forces on the gasket material. These outward forces may result in the forcing of the gasket radially outwardly and create a leak or a total rupture of the gasket.


Exemplary systems and methods for performing registration applications are provided. An exemplary system includes a central processing unit (CPU) for transferring a plurality of images to a graphics processing unit (GPU); wherein the GPU performs a registration application on the plurality of images to produce a registration result, and wherein the GPU returns the registration result to the CPU. An exemplary method includes the steps of transferring a plurality of images from a central processing unit (CPU) to a graphics processing unit (GPU); performing a registration application on the plurality of images using the GPU; transferring the result of the step of performing from the GPU to CPU.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of processor-based imaging, and, more particularly, to optimizing image operations in registration applications using GPUs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical imaging has become a vital component for numerous medical applications, ranging from diagnostics and planning to consummation and evaluation of surgical and radiotherapeutical procedures. A vast number of imaging modalities are currently used, including two-dimensional modalities (e.g., x-ray, angiography and ultrasound ("US")) and three-dimensional modalities (e.g., computed tomography ("CT"), magnetic resonance tomography ("MRT") and positron emission tomography ("PET")).
Medical professionals often acquire more than one image of a patient at different points of time and/or by means of different imaging modalities. The variety of images often provide complementary information. Thus, it is generally desirable to merge the data from the various images. This is known as data fusion. Data fusion may provide the physician with more information than if the physician analyzed each image by itself. Further, data fusion may exploit the available data to a maximum degree, thereby reducing the overall number of images needed to be acquired and potentially lowering operating costs for a medical provider and inconveniences (e.g., exposure to radiation) for a patient. The first step of data fusion is typically registration, which refers to the process of bringing different images into spatial alignment.
Digital medical images, especially three-dimensional volumetric data, can easily reach hundreds of megabytes in size (say 500 slices of 512×512 images with 16-bit pixels equals 260 MB). Therefore, the registration of digital medical images can be computationally quite expensive.

GPU-based image manipulation method for registration applications