A vehicle restraint at a loading dock includes a vertically moving barrier that engages a truck""s rear ICC bar to help prevent the truck from accidentally moving too far away from the face of the dock. The restraint includes an inclined barrier actuator with minimal linkage that provides a low-profile stored position. The barrier actuator powers the barrier up to engage the ICC bar and powers the barrier down to a stored position. A compliant coupling provides the barrier with vertical float to allow for incidental vertical movement of the ICC bar, as the truck is being loaded or unloaded of its cargo. The restraint also includes a novel switch actuator that senses whether the ICC bar is properly positioned relative to the barrier.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally pertains to a vehicle restraint that engages a truck""s rear ICC bar to help prevent the truck from accidentally pulling away from a loading dock and more specifically to a vehicle restraint that responds to vertical movements of the truck, as the truck is being loaded or unloaded of its freight.
2. Description of Related Art
When loading or unloading a truck parked at a loading dock, it is generally a safe practice to help restrain the truck from accidentally moving too far away from the dock. This is often accomplished by a hook-style vehicle restraint that engages what is often referred to in the industry as an ICC bar or a Rear Impact Guard (RIG). An ICC bar or RIG is a bar or beam that extends horizontally across the rear of a truck, below the truck bed. Its primary purpose is to help prevent an automobile from under-riding the truck in a rear-end collision. However, an ICC bar also provides a convenient structure for a hook-style restraint to reach up in front of the bar to obstruct the bar""s movement away from the dock. To release the truck, many restraints lower to a stored position below the bar, which then allows the next truck to back into the dock. Other hook-style restraints store in a normally raised position and include an inclined lead-in that an ICC bar uses to help push the restraint underneath the bar as the truck backs into the dock, as disclosed in U. S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,223; 4,443,150; and 4,938,647. Once underneath the bar, usually a barrier rises in front of the bar (e.g., rotates to such a position) to restrain the truck.
Current hook-style vehicle restraints provide a wide variety of advantages and features. Some restraints have a sensor or switch intended for determining whether the hook or barrier is properly positioned to obstruct the ICC bar, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,678. However, in the ""678 device, an ICC bar catching the very distal end of the restraint carriage (i.e., just in front of the hook) would appear to allow the hook to rise and trip the switch to indicate that the ICC bar was restrained, when actually the bar would be in front of the hook. This problem is avoided by the restraints of U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,488,325 and 5,297,921, which include switches that more directly sense the position of an ICC bar. However, these restraints, as well as the ""678 restraint, have a significantly high vertical profile in their lowered, stored positions. The high profile may prevent some especially low ICC bars from passing over the top of the restraint, even when the restraint is lowered to its stored position.
Further, to move a restraint barrier or hook, often a complicated linkage (for various reasons) is employed to raise or lower the barrier under the power of an actuator, as disclosed in U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,861,217; 4,674,941; and 4,830,563. Although the linkages may provide some benefit, their relative complexity can add to their maintenance and cost.
It is usually desirable for a restraint to allow for some vertical movement of the ICC bar, which is often caused by weight being added or removed from the truck (and thus the suspension) while at the loading dock. The changes in weight can be due to cargo being added or removed, and/or can be due to a forklift driving on and off the truck bed. For truck beds with rear air suspension, an ICC bar may move up and down several inches. If the barrier does not rise with the bar, the bar may rise up and over the barrier, thus limiting the truck""s resistance to movement away from the dock face. If the barrier does not descend when the weight of the truck forces the ICC bar down, the immoveable barrier might bend the bar under the truck""s added weight.
To allow for incidental vertical movement of a truck""s ICC bar, many vehicle restraints employ pneumatic cylinders for moving the barrier. The compressibility of the air within the cylinder provides a gas spring effect that allows some movement of the barrier even when control valves of the pneumatic system trap the air within the cylinder. In some cases, however, there may be an advantage to using a motor-driven actuator or hydraulics, rather than pneumatics, for moving the barrier. For example, a hydraulically actuated vehicle restraint and a nearby hydraulically actuated dock leveler could perhaps share the same hydraulic pump, tank, and other hydraulic components. Sometimes, hydraulics is preferred over pneumatics to provide a more controlled rate of movement or to positively maintain the position of certain parts after the parts have stopped moving. Moreover, for a pneumatic system, a source of compressed air must be present.
Unfortunately, in applications where a motor-driven actuator or hydraulics is preferred, it can be difficult to provide a vehicle restraint that can allow for vertical movement of the ICC bar once the restraint""s actuator has moved the barrier into position. Further, it can be difficult to provide a restraint that allows for vertical movement of an ICC bar without sacrificing other features of the restraint, such as a low vertical profile when in a lowered, stored position; minimal mechanical complexity; and a switch that ensures that an ICC bar is in position.
In order to provide a low-profile vehicle restraint, the restraint disclosed herein includes a vertically moveable barrier that is moved by an angled actuator from a lowered, stored position to a raised, operative position to obstruct an ICC bar, wherein the restraint allows for incidental vertical movement of the ICC bar after the barrier is at its raised, operative position.
In some embodiments of the restraint, the use of linkages is minimized to perhaps minimize maintenance and improve the reliability of the restraint.
In some embodiments, the restraint includes a compliant coupling that allows for incidental vertical movement of an ICC bar even when the length of a barrier actuator remains substantially constant.
In some embodiments, the compliant coupling can be disposed at either an upper or lower end of the barrier actuator.
In some embodiments, a piston/cylinder or a motor-driven actuator can move the barrier.
In some embodiments of the restraint, the force to vertically move the barrier is transmitted along a generally straight line between the barrier and a frame of the restraint to help provide a strong, reliable barrier/frame connection, and the line of force is inclined to reduce the vertical profile of the restraint when in its lowered, stored position.
In some embodiments, to reduce the vertical profile of the restraint when in its lowered, stored position, the actuator pivots as the barrier moves vertically.
In some embodiments, a pressure relief valve is used to allow for incidental vertical movement of an ICC bar.
In some embodiments, an accumulator is used to allow for incidental vertical movement of an ICC bar.
In some embodiments, the barrier is powered both up and down, rather than relying on spring force, horizontal movement of the truck, the weight of the barrier, or the weight of a trolley that carries the barrier to cause vertical movement.
In some embodiments, a vehicle restraint is provided with an ICC bar sensor that includes a switch actuator captured within the geometry of the restraint""s hook to help protect the switch actuator from damage.


The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a micro reactor device that includes a tubular reactor (1) as a flow path, for allowing reaction species to react in the reactor (1). The micro reactor device is manufactured by forming a particle layer (2) on an inner wall of the reactor (1). The particle layer (2) can be formed by causing a dispersion liquid of particles to flow through the reactor (1) and drying. In this way, it is possible to provide a method of manufacturing a micro reactor device having an inner wall modified so that the reaction species can react more efficiently, and to provide the micro reactor device.

A micro reactor device has, for example, a tubular reactor having a small diameter. By causing various reaction species to pass through the reactor as a flow path, various reactions, such as production of materials and catalyst reactions, are caused. In the micro reactor device, walls of the reactor (reactor wall) have a large surface area with respect to reactor volume, and a diffusion distance (a distance between the reaction species passing through the reactor and the reactor wall) is short. With this structure, by causing the reactor wall to support a catalyst, for example, it is possible to increase area of contact between the reaction species and the catalyst, and thereby allow for high-efficiency catalyst reactions. Therefore, the micro reactor device is regarded as a promising catalyst reactor device.
It is a common practice to cause the reactor wall to support the catalyst by a sol-gel method, in using the micro reactor device as a catalyst reactor device as described above.
However, according to this supporting method, an area on which the catalyst is supported is only as large as the surface area of the reactor wall of the reactor as a flow path. As a result, there is a problem that only a limited amount of catalyst can be supported.
Even if the amount of catalyst is increased by causing the reactor wall to support a thicker layer of catalyst, there is a problem that almost only the catalyst exposed on the surface of the catalyst layer can be used for catalyst reactions, because a significant pressure loss is caused inside the catalyst layer.
If it is necessary to control a very short reaction time, such as a partial oxidization time, a diffusion time of the reaction species in the catalyst varies. Therefore, there is a problem that a contact time varies, resulting in various kinds of reaction products.
Moreover, the method of supporting the catalyst has a problem that complex operation is required in order to expose the catalyst directly to the reactor wall.
The present invention was made in view of the foregoing problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a micro reactor device having an inner wall modified so that reaction species can react more efficiently, and to provide the micro reactor device.

Micro reactor device and method of manufacturing micro reactor device

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


The embodiments of this disclosure disclose an array antenna system. The array antenna system includes M antenna radiation units, a strip line feed system, a strip line ground plane, and a strip line cavity; the strip line feed system includes a phase shift circuit and N first printed circuit boards PCBs configured to implement a power allocation function and/or a phase compensation function; the phase shift circuit is located in the strip line cavity. P first PCBs are located on an outer surface of the strip line cavity; all or some of the M antenna radiation units are connected to signal planes of the N first PCBs, and the signal planes of the N first PCBs are in a radio frequency connection to the phase shift circuit by using probes; and ground planes of the N first PCBs are in a radio frequency connection to the strip line ground plane.

An array antenna system is an energy conversion apparatus in a mobile communications system. The array antenna system may convert an electromagnetic wave signal transmitted by a mobile station into an electrical signal for processing by a base station; and may convert an electrical signal transmitted by the base station into an electromagnetic wave signal for random receiving by the mobile station. In this way, bidirectional communication of a communications system is implemented.
An existing array antenna system includes M antenna radiation units, a strip line feed system, and a strip line cavity. The strip line feed system is located in the strip line cavity, and the strip line feed system includes a phase shift circuit, a power allocation circuit, and a phase compensation circuit. An output end of the phase shift circuit is in a radio frequency connection to an input end of the power allocation circuit, an output end of the power allocation circuit is in a radio frequency connection to an input end of the phase compensation circuit, and an output end of the phase compensation circuit is connected to the M antenna radiation units. A radio frequency connection includes a direct connection or a coupling connection.
In an implementation process of this disclosure, the prior art has the following disadvantages:
As a quantity of antenna radiation units increases, the power allocation circuit and the phase compensation circuit are increasingly complex. Consequently, the strip line feed system occupies larger cavity space, and it is difficult for existing cavity space to accommodate the strip line feed system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method of terminating a fiber rope utilizing a device of the type which has a housing member having a frusto-conical bore in which an end portion of the rope can be wedgedly retained. The end portion of the rope has a reinforcing device incorporated therein in order to increase the tensile load capacity of the rope end portion. The reinforcing device may include a fiber type material, a length of fiber rope or a resinous compound applied to the fibers of the rope end portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of terminating a fiber rope utilising a device of the type comprising a housing member having a generally frusto-conical bore in which an end portion of the rope can be wedgedly retained.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known from GB 1 341 013 to terminate a fiber rope using a device of the abovementioned type. A conically shaped wedge member locates within the fruato-conical bore of the housing member to wedgedly trap fibers of the end portion of the rope within the bore of the housing member thus terminating the rope. The housing member includes a device for attaching it to an anchorage, for example.
It has been that with this method of terminating a rope; that there is a tendency for the fibers of the rope end portion to abrade. Abrasion of the fibers occurs mainly in the region where the fibers contact an apex part of the conically shaped wedge member, although abrasion may also occur at a narrow mouth part of the housing member through which the terminated rope extends. The abrasion of the rope fibers substantially reduces the breaking strength of the rope.
A method of overcoming this problem is suggested in GB 2 236 546 in which the fibers of the rope end portion are treated with a resin composition. The resin composition is employed to provide a lubricating effect on the fibers to reduce abrasion thereof around the apex part of the conically shaped wedge member. Despite this, the combination of tensile load exerted on the rope and the stress induced in the constituent fibers of the rope end portion by the crushing action of the wedge member results in tensile failure of the rope at a point generally in a region extending from around the apex part of the wedge member to the narrow mouth part of the housing member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,784 discloses a method of terminating a raided fiber rope of small diameter. The rope has a diameter of approximately 1/10m.sup.th inch (0.25 cm) and is combined with a plurality of parallel sections of such rope to be terminated in a single collar having a tapered interior channel. The collar is passed over the ends of the plurality of ropes, and each rope has a short tapered section of rope of the same material inserted in its braided core as a a device of thickening its end. The thickened ends of the plurality of parallel rope sections are separated ("fuzzed") into their individual fibers and a tube having a tapered outer surface is located therebetween. The tube is drawn into the collar by a centering tool and tightly wedges the "fuzzed" parts, plus a significant part of the braided lengths of the ropes, between the tube and collar.
This method is applied to the termination of bundles of very small diameter braided fiber ropes in a single termination device, said terminated bundles of ropes being employed to keep tensile loads from conductors in underwater cables. This method is not suitable for terminating larger diameter fiber ropes because their structures are more resistant to the compression necessary to secure the rope ends between the collar and tube. It will be appreciated from the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,784 that the amount of surface contact between each rope end and the respective surfaces of the channel and tube is restricted.


A fixing device is provided wherein a plurality of trigger electrodes are disposed in a circumferential direction of a flash lamp tube so that an ion can be generated over a broad area around the trigger electrodes so as to largely restrict sticking of toner to a translucent window.

The present invention relates to a stain-free fixing device for use in an electrophotographic printer.
Nowadays, high-speed electrophotographic printers are becoming common. The high-speed printing, however, increases the speed of consumption of toner and paper which incessantly stains the glass window of a fixing device with dispersed unfixed toner. The incessant staining overtakes regular maintenance services. Therefore, the industry strongly depends on maintenance-free fixing devices so as to reduce the maintenance toil and cost.
In order to prevent the staining of glass windows in the electrophotography, the following methods have been proposed:
1) A method of removing air containing unfixed toner by suction through a sucking device; PA1 2) A method of enabling unfixed toner to repel the glass window by applying direct current (DC) voltage to two electrodes embedded in the glass window so that the surface of the glass window facing the paper is charged with electric charge equal in polarity to the electric charge of the toner (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-272593 (1990)). PA1 3) A method of enabling unfixed toner to repel the glass window by disposing a trigger electrode closest to the glass window and charging the surface of the glass window facing the paper with equal polarity to the polarity of the toner (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-13457 (1995)).
However, method 1) is not effective to remove unfixed toner with suction only, because of the short distance between the paper and glass face, thus necessitating the continued cleaning of the glass window.
The method 2) requires the provision of a special glass window allowing an electrode to be embedded therein, and an extra power source for impressing direct current (DC) voltage across the electrode, thereby increasing the production cost and a complicating the maintenance.
The method 3) encounters a problem that the toner repelling force is weakened in the course of using the fixing device, owing to the fact that the flash lamp thermally affects the trigger electrodes. In addition, because of the high tension applied to them, the trigger electrodes themselves generate a large amount of heat. In this way, the trigger electrodes tend to deform or crook due to heat over a long period of use. The deformation causes the trigger electrodes to displace, even partially, in a longitudinal direction from the original position adequately set with respect to the glass window. Thus, the method 3) does not provide a solution to the frequent maintenance, because the heat involved in this method requires regular maintenance when the fixing device is used for a long time.

Fixing device having plural trigger electrodes


A bichromal ball includes a first hemisphere. The first hemisphere includes a first pigment having a first color and a first polarity. The first pigment is added to a carrier fluid and polymer mixture during formation of the bichromal ball. A second hemisphere includes a second pigment having a second color and a second polarity. The second pigment is added to the carrier fluid and polymer mixture during formation of the bichromal ball. The carrier fluid and polymer mixture have a lower viscosity than the polymer alone. The carrier fluid is substantially removed after the first and second hemispheres are formed. The polymer is left along with the first and second pigments which form the bichromal ball. A diameter of the bichromal ball is reduced after the carrier fluid is substantially removed.

The present invention relates to large-scale fabrication of small, two-color balls, approximately 12 .mu.m in diameter, for use in an "electric paper" display sheet.
Typical electric paper displays are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,126,854 and 4,143,103, the subject matters of which are fully incorporated herein by reference. In general, such displays include an elastomeric host layer a few millimeters thick which is heavily loaded with hemispherically bichromal (i.e., two-color) balls. Each bichromal ball has hemispheres of contrasting colors, such as a white half and a black half. Upon application of an electrical field between electrodes located on opposite surfaces of the host layer, the balls rotate to present one or the other hemisphere to an observer, depending on the polarity of the field. The resolution of the electric paper is dependent upon the number and size of the bichromal balls loaded into the host layer. More specifically, loading a greater number of bichromal balls having smaller diameters (e.g., .apprxeq.12 .mu.m) into the host layer produces an electric paper having a higher resolution. Therefore, it is desirable to produce large numbers of bichromal balls having such smaller diameters.
Heretofore, a typical method of creating bichromal balls has included the spinning disc method which is disclosed by Crowley et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,098, the subject matter of which is fully incorporated herein by reference.
Briefly, the spinning disc method includes introducing black and white pigmented, hardenable liquids to upper and lower surfaces, respectively, of a disc mounted on a rotatable spindle. The liquids are moved to the periphery of the disc by centrifugal force where they flow together, without mixing, to form bichromal "globs." The centrifugal force causes the bichromal globs to "break-away" from the disc, during a process referred to as "break-up."
Ideally, the globs break-away from the disc in the form of small, individual spherical balls which are substantially identical and have proper bichromal characteristics (i.e., one hemisphere contains the black pigment while the other hemisphere contains the white pigment). Although the spinning disc method is capable of producing a large number of bichromal balls in a relatively short period of time, a large percent of the balls produced are unacceptable. In other words, the balls are not substantially identical to each other (e.g., the diameter of one ball may be .apprxeq.12 .mu.m while the diameter of another ball may be 80 .mu.m or greater) and/or they do not have proper bichromal characteristics.
Bichromal balls are typically produced from various polymers (e.g., waxes or other resins), having pigment loadings of 25% to 50% by weight (or less than 12% by volume), heated to temperatures of approximately 500.degree. C. to 600.degree. C. The polymer/pigment combination is referred to as a slurry. The resulting viscosity of the molten slurry at these pigment loadings and temperatures typically ranges between about 15 centipoise and about 20 centipoise. At these viscosities, however, only about 10% of the slurry input to a spinning disc production system is output as bichromal balls having acceptable characteristics. In other words, approximately 90% of the bichromal balls produced by current methods are unacceptable.
One reason for the low yield of usable balls is "ligament snap-back." Ligament snap-back is a phenomenon which results when the balls break-away from the disc too slowly. Globs which should be dispensed from the disc are instead pulled-back in the axial direction by surface tension. These globs which have been pulled-back combine with one or more subsequent globs, thereby forming a single oversized glob and, consequently, an oversized ball. Oversized balls are frequently non-spherical and have improper bichromal surface characteristics. One way to prevent ligament snap-back is to decrease the viscosity of the polymer used to form the balls, thereby preventing the slurry from breaking-away from the disc too slowly. In this manner, the forces exerted by the viscosity of the slurry become insignificant relative to the forces exerted by surface tension.
Paraffin wax, which has a viscosity between about 5 centipoise and about 6 centipoise (i.e., lower than polymers previously used for creating the slurry), has been used for preventing ligament snap-back. However, paraffin wax has a relatively lower melting point than other polymers. Also, because of the lower viscosity, the pigments suspended within the paraffin wax tend to mix between the hemispheres during the formation of the balls. Therefore, the balls formed using paraffin wax also lack preferred bichromal characteristics.
Viscous forces are typically described in terms of "viscous length". Viscous length is defined as: ##EQU1## where .eta. represents the viscosity, .gamma. represents the surface tension, and .rho. represents the mass density of a fluid. Most fluids have densities around 10.sup.3 kgM.sup.-3, and surface tensions of about 0.03 NM.sup.-1. These two properties are remarkably similar among many fluids. Therefore, a comparison of L.sub..eta. among various fluids is primarily a comparison of their viscosities.
Proper break-up is obtained when the respective diameters L.sub.D of the balls which break-away from the disc are much larger than L.sub..eta.. Since L.sub.D represents the diameter of a ball, it is also a measure of the distance between the centers of two sequential balls which have similar diameters. A somewhat quantitative measure of the quality of break-up can be obtained by comparing the characteristic time for break-up, .tau..sub.b, with the characteristic time for snap-back, .tau..sub.c. The ratio of these times then indicates the degree of competition between the forces for break-up and the forces for snap-back. It can be shown that: ##EQU2##
Proper break-up has been shown to occur when: ##EQU3## To satisfy Equation 3, the characteristic time for break-up must be significantly shorter than the characteristic time for snap-back. In other words, one glob must break-away from the disc before enough relative inertia is imparted to subsequent balls.
For slurries including low pigment loading, such as those currently used for producing twisting balls, the viscous length, L.sub..eta., is approximately 60 .mu.m. As stated above, balls currently produced by the spinning disc method have diameters, L.sub.D, of approximately 80 .mu.m. It can be seen from Equation 2 that these values yield a ratio of break-up time to snap-back time, .tau..sub.b /.tau..sub.c, of approximately 0.866. Equation 3 indicates such conditions are not ideal for proper break-up conditions to occur. Therefore, it is evident proper break-up conditions do not occur when bichromal balls are fabricated from the slurries currently used.
To obtain even finer resolutions, it is desirable to produce bichromal balls having even smaller diameters (i.e., smaller values of L.sub.D). However, Equation 2 shows that bichromal balls having a smaller diameter result in a relatively larger value for the ratio .tau..sub.b /.tau..sub.c, if the viscous length is held constant. Larger values of .tau..sub.b /.tau..sub.c indicate a longer break-up time relative to the snap-back time. Such a result, as shown by Equation 3, is undesirable and will result in even fewer acceptable balls. Furthermore, bichromal balls having smaller diameters will require a higher percent of pigment loading in the polymer to obtain proper opacity. The increased pigment loading tends to increase the viscosity of the slurry and, hence, L.sub..eta., thus resulting in even higher values for the .tau..sub.b /.tau..sub.c ratio.
The present invention provides a new and improved apparatus and method for producing large numbers of substantially spherical bichromal balls, having smaller diameters (i.e., .apprxeq.12 .mu.m) and proper bichromal characteristics, which overcome the above-referenced problems and others.

Method and apparatus for fabricating very small two-color balls for a twisting ball display


The present invention discloses a hybrid optical amplifier coupling a Raman fiber amplifier and a semiconductor optical amplifier, comprising: a laser diode generating and radiating a laser light for a Raman optical amplification; a wavelength division multiplexer passing an incident signal light and radiating a laser light radiated from the laser diode in a reverse direction of the incident signal light; and a gain clamped semiconductor optical amplifier amplifying an optical signal light radiated from the wavelength division multiplexer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical amplifier for optical communications, and more particularly, to a hybrid optical amplifier that couples a Raman fiber amplifier and a semiconductor optical amplifier to perfectly operate in WDM optical transmission systems. The hybrid optical amplifier uses both a gain clamped semiconductor optical amplifier and a Raman fiber amplifier, so that a sufficiently high gain and a sufficiently low noise figure are secured. In addition, the hybrid optical amplifier works perfect in WDM optical networks, in which the number of channels are dynamically changed by an add/drop of channels or the like. The semiconductor optical amplifier and Raman fiber amplifier are packaged in a small size without using an optical fiber, so that the hybrid optical amplifier is convenient to use and low in cost.
2. Description of Related Art
To cope with a recently rapidly increasing optical communication capacity, developments for high-capacity main communication networks and connection of an optical fiber to a subscriber level are actively being performed. In such a system, an optical amplifier is a key device to compensate a loss incurred, for example, by a long distance transmission or/and the insertion of parts.
An erbium-doped fiber amplifier (hereinafter referred to as simply "EDFA") is usually used as the optical amplifier, and researches to develop new optical amplifiers which are better in size, available bands, and cost are actively pursued. Candidates for such an optical amplifier include a semiconductor optical amplifier (hereinafter referred to as simply "SOA"), a Raman fiber amplifier (RFA), and a hybrid optical amplifier that consists of both an SOA and Raman fiber amplifier.
SOA has advantages that the size is very small, the power consumption is low, the cost can be very low, and an amplification band can be easily adjusted. However, SOA has also disadvantages that the power output is low, the noise figure is worse than typical EDFAS, and the cross-talk between channels is serious.
Researches to use SOA's in a metro-WDM system which is in great demand are restrictively performed. However, it is not widely accepted because it has difficulties to use due to a relatively high noise figure and an low output power in order to avoid significant cross-talks between channels.
Meanwhile, RFA has an advantage that it is easy to adjust an amplification band just by varying a pump laser wavelength using an transmission optical fiber as a gain medium. In particular, when it is coupled to the existing EDFA, a longer distance transmission is possible since a gain is increased and an effective noise figure is lowered. However, when RFA is not used together with other amplifiers such as an EDFA, but is used alone, its use is actually very difficult because a pump light of about 1 W should be inseterted into a single mode optical fiber in order to get a sufficient gain, i.e., more than 20 dB.
A hybrid type optical amplifier has been recently developed that couples an SOA and an RFA in order to solve problems of the previous amplifiers. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the hybrid type optical amplifier coupling the SOA and the RFA.
As shown in FIG. 2, a signal light incident through a transmission optical fiber 110 is amplified due to a simulated Raman scattering incurred in a transmission optical fiber by pumping laser diodes (LD) 121 having a high output proceeding in a reverse direction through a wavelength division multiplexer 122. The signal amplified by the reverse pumping Raman fiber amplifier passes through a first isolator 130 and is incident to the SOA 140 and then proceeds tens of kilometers. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated in the next step.
Since the signal incident to the SOA 140 is amplified beforehand with an addition of negligible noise the magnitude of noise added in the SOA 140 is relatively small, whereby an effective noise figure is lowered. In such a way, the gain of the SOA 140 is increased and the noise figure is lowered, so that the hybrid type optical amplifier can operate as an optical amplifier of a high performance. In this case, since the SOA 140 is made of a semiconductor chip and Raman pumping laser diode LD 122 is made of another semiconductor chip, the cost of the system can be sufficiently low.
However, the conventional art described above is hard to properly perform a WDM signal amplification. This is because when several channels of different wavelengths are amplified, since gain characteristics are homogeneous and gain dynamics are fast about 1 ns, a cross-talk phenomenon that a total gain value is varied according to an input signal variation of one channel, so that gain values of other channels are varied. As a result, a sufficiently small input signal in only a region where the gain saturation is not serious should be used, in order to avoid the cross-talk problem. This system cannot be used in WDM networks in which dynamic add/drops are frequent.
On the other hand, to remove a cross-talk from the conventional SOAs of the previous art, as shown in FIG. 3, a type of gain-clamped SOA (GCSOA) 220 having a clamped gain regardless of a power of an input optical signal are reported. Another type of GCSOA clamping a gain by providing a feedback in a direction of a light axis and a GCSOA, known as LOA, clamping a gain by providing a feedback in a perpendicular direction to a light axis has been commercially available very recently. The LOA is excellent in gain clamping characteristic and shows no relaxation oscillation to 20 GHz. In this case, since there is no cross-talk and the gain per channel is not varied even though there is an add/drop of channels, the GCSOAs can be used in the WDM networks of FIG. 1. The GCSOA (LOA) is much more excellent in gain clamping characteristic than the gain clamped EDFA.
However, like the conventional SOA, the GCSOA, including LOA, is also low in output and is high in noise figure and so can be used only for transmissions of short distance.
Furthermore, the hybrid type optical amplifier of FIG. 2 uses the SOA pigtailed with an optica fiber and a laser diode also pigtailed with an optica fiber. In this case, there is a limitation in lowering a cost because it is a difficult to package the semiconductor chip into an optical fiber and most of the device cost comes from the packaging. Besides, since respective parts are coupled by an optical fiber which is not short, there is a problem in that a total size of the hybrid optical amplifier becomes large.

Hybrid optical amplifier coupling Raman fiber amplifier and semiconductor optical amplifier


A light-emitting device comprising: a light source; and a light guide that is optically coupled to the light source, the light guide including a plurality of first non-fluorescent light extraction elements and a plurality of second non-fluorescent light extraction elements that are printed on the light guide, each of the first light extraction elements having a reflectance that is higher than a reflectance of any of the second light extraction elements, each of the first light extraction elements having a light transmittance that is lower than a light transmittance of any the second light extraction elements, each of the first light extraction elements having the same shape and size as any other one of the plurality first light extraction elements, and each of the second light extraction elements having the same shape and size as any other one of the plurality of second light extraction elements.

Light emitting diodes ("LEDs") are commonly used as light sources in various applications. LEDs are more energy-efficient than traditional light sources, providing much higher energy conversion efficiency than incandescent lamps and fluorescent light, for example. Furthermore, LEDs radiate less heat into illuminated regions and afford a greater breadth of control over brightness, emission color and spectrum than traditional light sources. These characteristics make LEDs an excellent choice for various lighting applications, such as outdoor lighting, decorative lighting, or outdoor lighting.
Different applications require different light distribution patterns. This necessitates LEDs to be paired with the appropriate light fixture when used for indoor or outdoor lighting. For example, some indoor lighting applications may require light emissions in both the upward and downward directions, whereas others may require a light emission to be produced only in the downward direction. As another example, some outdoor lighting applications may require light emissions that are more broadly spread than others. Accordingly, the need exists for LED-based light fixture designs that are capable of producing a wide variety of light distribution patterns without major modification.


A riding lawn mower having a low center of gravity comprising a frame having a pair of drive wheels rotatably mounted at the rearward end thereof and having a caster wheel supported mower deck at the forward end thereof. A plurality of cutting blades are disposed within the mower deck. An engine support deck is positioned rearwardly of the operator's station on the mower and is disposed in a plane closely adjacent the rotational axis of the rear drive wheels. A vertically disposed rotatable shaft is mounted in the rearward end of the mower deck and has its upper end disposed above the top wall of the mower deck. An upper pulley is mounted on the rotatable shaft above the top wall of the mower deck and is connected to the spindles of the cutting blades by a first belt. A lower pulley is mounted on the rotatable shaft below the upper pulley and is substantially disposed in the same plane as the top wall of the mower deck. A second belt interconnects the lower pulley with the engine of the mower through a pair of idler pulleys.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lawn mower and more particularly to a lawn mower having a low center of gravity so that the lawn mower will be relatively stable on hillsides or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lawn mowers, whether they are the riding type or of the walk-behind type, normally employ a mower deck which is positioned forwardly of an engine mounted on a wheeled frame with the engine being provided to propel the lawn mower over the lawn and to drive the cutting blades located in the cutting deck. When the mower is of the riding type, the engine is normally positioned rearwardly of an operator's seat provided on the wheeled frame. In the prior art riding mowers, the methods of mounting the engine on the wheeled frame and the connection of the engine drive shaft and the cutting blades resulted in mowers wherein the center of gravity thereof was such that it could create a problem when the mower was being used on hillsides or the like.

Lawn mower having a low center of gravity


An ink jet printer has a white ink recording head for jetting white ink onto a recording medium; a color ink recording head for jetting color ink onto the recording medium; a sucking device for providing ink nozzles of the white ink recording head and ink nozzles of the color ink recording head with sucking forces to suck ink in a white ink supply path and in a color ink supply path respectively, the paths communicating with the ink nozzles of the respective recording heads; and a controlling section for controlling sucking forces, wherein, the controlling section controls the sucking forces in such a manner that a sucking force applied to white ink is greater than a sucking force applied to color ink.

In recent years, as images can be created simply and inexpensively by gravure printing, ink jet recording has come to be applied to various printing fields including special printing such as photographing, various printing, marking, and color filtering. Especially, in ink jet recording, the followings are combined, by which it is possible to obtain an image comparable to silver halide photography. Namely, it is a combination between recording heads based on an ink jet recording method for jetting and controlling fine particles, inks improved in a color regeneration area, durability, and jettability, and a dedicated paper sheet extremely improved in ink absorbance, coloring material colorability, and surface luster.
On the other hand, however, it is known that pigment contained even in an improved ink as described above gets deposited with time elapsed. It is difficult to obtain an image with a predetermined concentration if pigment is deposited. Therefore ink jet printers capable of diffusing pigment, the pigment having once deposited, again in the ink have been developed.
For example, an ink jet printer disclosed in Patent Document 1 described below includes a recording head for jetting ink onto a recording medium, a carriage that has a recording head and reciprocally moves in the main scanning direction, and an ink tank for storing ink to be supplied to the recording head, the ink tank being mounted on the carriage. The ink tank houses a spherical mover that reciprocally moves in the ink tank accompanying reciprocal movement of the carriage to diffuse deposited pigment.
[Patent Document 1] TOKKAIHEI No. 09-309212
However, although such an ink jet printer can diffuse pigment deposited in an ink tank into ink, it cannot diffuse, into ink, pigment deposited inside a recording head or in an ink supply path such as inside a communicating conduit that communicates the recording head and the ink tank.
Particularly, a pigment with a comparatively large specific gravity, such as titanium oxide contained in white ink, tends to more easily get deposited in an ink supply path due to the specific gravity thereof than a pigment with a small specific gravity for a color ink, and it is difficult to remove the pigment with a comparatively large specific gravity to outside the ink supply path. The pigment deposited in the ink supply path causes ink jetting failure, which causes a problem of lowering image quality.


An intercooler pipe that improves noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance is provided. The intercooler pipe includes a plurality of bellowses, wherein an exterior of the bellows is made of a soft material and an inside thereof is made of a hard material to make a storage modulus of the inside of the bellows greater than that of the exterior thereof. In addition, the intercooler pipe improves the durability of an intercooler pipe.

Generally, an intercooler pipe includes an inlet pipe formed into an intercooler and an outlet pipe formed out from the intercooler and connects the intercooler and an engine throttle body to transfer air cooled in the intercooler to the engine throttle body. In particular, the intercooler pipe performs the channel function through which air is transferred, and non-combustion gas remaining after being combusted within an engine increases in temperature and pressure, which may be input to an engine combustion chamber using an intake manifold via the intercooler pipe at an inlet side.
However, the intercooler pipe according to the related art is a plastic intercooler pipe, which includes a clamp that fixes rubber hoses to both ends of an aluminum pipe that has a composite structure of rubber/aluminum and is made of thermoplastic ether ester elastomer (IEEE) to decrease a cost and a weight of the intercooler pipe, but may have low NVH performance when mounted within a vehicle and therefore may not be applied to a vehicle.


A blind fastener comprising a body (22) and a stem (26), wherein the fastener is installed in a workpiece by applying a pulling force to the bodycausing a bulb to form at a radially expandable section of the body, the stem of the fastener comprising two waisted regions (38, 40) of reduced diameter, such that when the body of the fastener is crimped after assembly with the stem, the body is caused to form a barrel shape, whereby clearance between the body and stem is minimized.

This invention relates to blind fasteners, and in particular to blind fasteners wherein bulbing of the fastener is caused during installation of the fastener into a workpiece.
Blind fasteners (i.e. fasteners which can be installed by access to one side only of the workpiece) are well known.
Commonly a blind fastener comprises a tubular body having an elongated shank, a preformed radially enlarged body head at a one end (the head end) of the body, a stem having a radially enlarged stem head at one end, wherein the stem extends through the core of the body such that the stem head is at a tail end of the body remote from the head end, and an end portion of the stem protrudes from the head end of the body. The fastener is inserted through aligned apertures in the workpiece comprising workpiece members to be secured together, such that the body head abuts the near face of the workpiece and the tail end portion of the body shank protrudes beyond the remote face (the blind face) of the workpiece. An installation tool is then used to apply an increasing pulling force to the protruding portion of the stem relative to the body, the reaction force being supported by the body head, so that the stem head deforms the tail end portion of the body shank radially outwards and axially towards the body head, to form a blind bulb which abuts the blind face of the workpiece. The workpiece members are thus clamped together between the body head and the blind bulb. Usually the stem is then broken off flush with, or slightly inside, the head of the body, at a breakneck groove preformed at the appropriate position along the stem. The breakneck breaking load is greater than the load needed to completely form the blind bulb.
Blind fasteners which provide a high level of static and dynamic joint strength need to develop a high retained compressive force on the workpiece, between the body head and blind bulb. Accordingly it is desirable to have a relatively large preformed body head, and also to have a relatively large contact area between the blind bulb and the blindside of the workpiece. The area of contact between the blind bulb and the blindside of the workpiece is known as the blindside footprint.
Fasteners are also known, such as those available under the trade marks STAVEX or Masterfix K-Lock, which develop multiple bulbs on installation into a workpiece, therefore allowing the fastener to cover a large grip range, i.e. to be capable of securing together workpieces having varying 'grips', i.e. varying total thicknesses of workpiece members.
However, during installation of a multiple bulbing fastener, each bulb will be formed at a particular point of the installation, i.e. when the fastener has been pulled relative to the sleeve by a particular amount. At certain thicknesses within the grip range of a multiple bulbing fastener, the cross-sectional area of the bulb in contact with the rear face of the fastened workpiece will be very low, and for certain 'intermediate' workpiece thicknesses, there will be a "stand-off", whereby minimal or no footprint is generated on the blindside of the workpiece, because installation completes before the complete formation of a particular bulb. This results in a substantial reduction in fastening strength provided by the installed fastener.
The above situation is illustrated in FIG. 1, in which installation of the fastener 2, having a body 4 and stem 6 with a stem head 8, has completed at a particular stage wherein a bulb 10 has been formed but wherein no footprint is formed on the blindside of the workpiece 14.
An ideal fastener would produce a single bulb on the blindside of a workpiece, to prevent the above "stand-off" situation, and would do so consistently over a large grip range.
Certain known fasteners such as those available under the trade marks AVIBULB and AVINOX, employ a twin tapered fastener body form which forms a single bulb on the blindside of the workpiece, to achieve a wide grip range. This form of opposing tapers, as illustrated in FIG. 2, can be likened to a "barrel shape". The tapered form is rolled onto the body 4′ of the fastener 2′ of FIG. 2 such that the minimum inner diameter of the body 4′ is approximately equal to the outer diameter of the fastener stem 6′. The body 4′ is then assembled onto the stem 6′ by a push-fit.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, a consequence of the above design is that there is a significant amount of clearance (indicated at 12) between most of the body 4′ and the stem 6′. Clearance between the body 4′ and the stem 6 is not desirable as it can lead to tilting of the stem 6 and the bulb which is formed during installation of the fastener into a workpiece.
A further disadvantage of such multiple bulbing fasteners as AVIBULB and AVINOX is the stem must be dimensioned such that the outer diameter is no greater than the minimum inner diameter of the rolled body to facilitate assembly of the body and stem. The pulling force for installing the fastener is therefore limited by the maximum allowable diameter of the stem 6′, and the shear strength offered by the installed fastener is accordingly limited.
Furthermore, a limited outer diameter of fastener stem also results in a risk of failure, i.e. breaking of the stem, at positions other than the breakneck during installation, a limited area of contact for the jaws of the installation tool which can lead to jaw slippage, and a limited resistance to bending forces during fastener assembly of the fastener and during installation into a workpiece.
It is an aim of the present invention to overcome or at least mitigate the above problems and provide an improved blind fastener which produces a single bulb, having a large blindside footprint, consistently over a wide grip range.
Accordingly, the present invention provides, in one aspect, a blind fastener according to claim 1 of the appended claims.
The bulb resulting from installation of the blind fastener of the present invention provides a single blindside bulb over a large grip range. In the present invention, the diameter of the stem is not restricted by the minimum inner dimension of the body before installation, and accordingly the pulling force required to install the fastener is not limited. As a stem having a greater diameter can be used, the potential for the stem breaking at a position other than the breakstem groove is reduced, the risk of installation tool jaw slippage is reduced, and the resistance to bending forces during assembly of the fastener and installation into a workpiece is increased. The present invention therefore provides a fastener which can be reliably installed to form a fastening having a high shear strength, over a large grip range.
After crimping of the body to cause material of the body shank to enter the first and second waisted regions, a barrel shape is formed by the body shank, thereby ensuring that on installation of the fastener into a workpiece, the bulb is formed in a controlled and predictable manner. The barrel shape formed by the body shank of the present invention is improved over that of prior art embodiments as the waisted regions allow the body shank to be deformed down to a reduced diameter but the remainder of the stem to remain at a diameter greater than the waisted regions.
A tapered portion is provided leading up to at least one of the waisted regions. The tapered portion is preferably located between the breakneck groove and the second waisted region, and has the effect of minimising the clearance between the internal surface of the body core and the stem outer surface. An advantage of reducing the clearance between the body and stem is that the potential for tilting of the stem or of the bulb formed during installation of the fastener into a workpiece is decreased.
The first waisted region may be located adjacent the stem head and the second waisted region located further away form the stem head than the second waisted region is located, such that the breakneck groove is between the first waisted region and the second waisted region.
A stepped portion may be provided between the first waisted region and the breakneck groove, the stepped portion having a diameter intermediate the minimum diameter of the first waisted portion and the diameter of the stem head. The stepped portion provides an increased resistance to removal of the stem from an installed fastener.
One or more radial projections may be provided on the stem at the first waisted region. The radial projections may have an asymmetrical triangular cross-sectional form and/or a rounded tip. The radial projections provide an increased resistance against removal of the installed fastener from a workpiece into which it has been installed.
The body of the fastener may include an annular underhead recess, providing easier clearance of burrs around the edge of the hole in the workpiece, and an enhanced fatigue strength of the installed fastener.
The first waisted region may comprise a plurality of stepped portions, thereby providing an increased resistance against removal of the installed fastener from a workpiece into which it has been installed.
The stem of the fastener may be provided with an annular underhead recess, whereby, on installation of the fastener into a workpiece, material of the body is forced into the recess, thereby preventing "stem head entry" failure wherein the tail end of the body spills out from the stem underhead region.
The stem may further comprise a protruding ridge of stem material adjacent the recess. The combination of the recess and the protruding ridge act to lock the body to the stem axially in the underhead region.
The present invention also provides, in a further aspect, a method of manufacturing a blind fastener. The method of manufacture includes forming a first and a second waisted region in the stem such that after the step of deforming the body, the body comprises a barrel shape, thereby minimising clearance between the body and the stem, and thereby reducing the potential for tilting of the stem and/or the bulb of an installed fastener.
The step of forming the first and second waisted region may comprise rolling, and the step of deforming the body may comprise crimping.
The method may further comprise the formation of one or more radial projections on the stem at a waisted region, wherein the step of deforming the body causes the at least one radial projection to embed into the body.
The first waisted region may be formed into a plurality of stepped portions.
The manufacture of the fastener may further comprise a step of forming an underhead recess. The recess may be formed in a cold-heading step, and the ridge may be formed by rolling, wherein material displaced from the first waisted region during rolling forms a protruding ridge of stem material adjacent the recess.


An injection unit positioning apparatus is disclosed that includes a positioning assembly interconnecting the injection unit to the molding machine. The positioning assembly includes an angular positioning assembly that permits rotation of the injection unit through a sweep plane that extends from an axis that is perpendicular to an inlet surface of a mold. The positioning assembly also includes a linear positioning assembly that permits linear translation of the injection unit on the sweep plane, and the height of the outlet relative to the inlet surface remains substantially constant during rotation and translation of the positioning assembly.

Multi-material and/or multi-color injection molding applications typically require an injection molding machine that has two or more injection units for delivering the two or more materials and/or colors to an injection mold.
Auxiliary injection units have been developed that may be used with injection molding machines having a single injection unit in order to provide a means for processing the additional material and/or color required for multi-material and/or multi-color injection molding applications. Such auxiliary injection units may be attached to the injection molding machine and/or the injection mold such that an extruder nozzle of the auxiliary injection unit, or more particularly an outlet thereof, interfaces with a second material inlet component of the injection molding system. In many cases the injection mold must be engineered such that the second material inlet is positioned to interface with the injection unit outlet at a predetermined fixed location relative to the machine regardless of the ideal second material inlet position on the mold. As mentioned above, the auxiliary injection unit is attached to either the molding machine or the mold itself; in either case access to the mold set up area is limited, and often it is necessary to remove the auxiliary injection unit from the mold or the machine altogether to facilitate mold maintenance or change-over thus reducing the production efficiency of the molding cell.


In a flow control apparatus, a fluid pressure is introduced from downstream of a metering orifice to a rear room of a spool while a relief valve in the spool is assembled in advance. A front section of a relief valve sub-assembly is press fitted to a hole provided on the spool and is opening to rear room of the spool so that a receiving room of a valve body in a relief valve casing communicates to a bypass path. A communicating path provided in a rod communicates to the rear room of the spool through outside of the relief valve sub-assembly. The relief valve casing is received in a receiving hole provided in the spool and a cylindrical room between the relief valve casing and the receiving room is used as a part of a communicating path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flow control apparatus for supplying fluid oil discharged from an oil pump to a hydraulic operating apparatus like power steering device through a metering orifice and returning excess fluid to the oil pump through a bypass path.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a prior art of a flow control apparatus, there has been known Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2002-168358. This publication discloses a flow control apparatus for supplying operating fluid discharged from an oil pump to a hydraulic operating device through a metering orifice and returning excess fluid to the oil pump according to fluid pressure difference between upstream and downstream of the metering orifice. The disclosed flow control apparatus comprises a hollow rod formed on a spool and a metering orifice formed between an opening of a union and the rod passing through the opening of the union to introduce operating fluid pressure of downstream of the metering orifice to a pressure room located at opposite end of the spool through a communicating path in the rod. According to this prior art, a communicating path in a flow control valve housing is not required because fluid pressure of downstream of the metering orifice is introduced to a pressure room located at opposite end of the spool through a communicating path in the rod. Therefore, the flow control valve housing can be become small in size, and drilling process of the flow control valve housing and plugging operation, for example, press fitting a ball to the drilling hole for fluid sealing can be eliminated. As a result, assembling efficiency of the flow control apparatus can be improved, and reliability can be improved also due to no operating fluid leakage to outside of the flow control apparatus.
Such a flow control device requires a relief pressure mechanism to protect the oil pump from overload by reducing fluid pressure in the room at opposite end of the spool and retracting of the spool when fluid pressure in a hydraulic operating apparatus reaches a predetermined threshold pressure.
However, in the prior art described above, the relief pressure mechanism described above requires complex structure, for example, a ring shape seat valve and so on, because the rod providing a communicating path of fluid pressure between downstream of the metering orifice and the room at opposite end of the spool is arranged in an area from downstream of the metering orifice to the room at opposite end of the spool along center line of the spool. Further, a relief valve sub-assembled in advance can not be used.
Therefore, assembling process of flow control apparatus becomes complex, and it results increasing in cost because relief pressure setting is necessary to be performed after assembling of the flow control apparatus.


An apparatus for supporting a firearm having a forestock and a stock, the apparatus including at least two supports, each having an upper end portion and a lower end portion that is opposingly disposed from the upper end portion. A first and second support is configured to be removably attached at their respective upper end portion to the forestock and stock, respectively, of the firearm. Further disclosed is a base including at least one support receiver configured for removably engaging one of the first or second support at its lower end portion. Upon firing the firearm, recoil occurs without restriction as the removably engaged support disengages from the at least one support receiver and the firearm is returnable to the position prior to the firing of the firearm.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a shooting rest adaptable to a projectile device. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a shooting rest capable of being used in a manner where a weapon is held in hand and a shoulder stock, a buttstock, or simply a butt of the weapon is held against one's shoulder when firing the weapon.
2. Background Art
Numerous types of shooting rests have been attempted. A basic setup can include a pair of crossed tree branches for supporting a firearm, e.g. rifle or shotgun. Other attempts include the use of monopods, bipods, tripods, benches and "sleds," e.g., Caldwell® shooting sleds, Hyskore® rifle rests and may be referenced by these and other informal names. A shooting rest serves as relatively stable platforms upon which weapons can be supported with or without additional support aid rendered with another device or personnel, each having one or more drawbacks. Existing shooting sleds in the market, for instance, include cradles designed to support the stock of a weapon at its butt where the cradle is typically secured to a structure having sufficient weight such that during recoil, the cradle is capable of retaining the weapon while capable of reducing the impact a recoil generated on objects placed in line with the movement of the recoil or the shooter.
Among other problems, due to the means by which the recoil of the weapon is dampened, i.e., tied to the weight of a structure, the stock can impact the cradle at significant speed during recoil, causing significant damages (cracking) to the stock. Although the cradle may be lined with a soft material, any backbone or structural materials embedded in the cradle that are designed to provide sufficient stiffness to the cradle, can still be indirectly impacted during recoil. Most importantly, recoil of a weapon is stunted or arrested when the weapon is disposed on a conventional shooting rest. The weight of the sled prevents the natural tendency of the weapon to retract or recoil violently at high speed to counteract the forces associated with a departing bullet or shot of the weapon, causing the barrel of the weapon to oscillate just enough to direct the bullet or shots in an unintended direction, causing inaccuracies. In short, the unnatural recoil of the sled results in projectile flights that are different from those experienced by a natural shoulder hold. Further, most sleds are large in size or bulky, complicated in construction as they are assembled from many parts and heavy or cumbersome to transport. Another disadvantage of using an existing sled, e.g., Caldwell® shooting sled, lies in its inability to allow a shooter to hold the weapon against his shoulder as in the case of shooter-held shooting. Even when a shooting rest, many shooters prefer a realistic shooting posture as if a firearm is held in hands with the butt of the stock contacting the shooter's shoulder. By having a shooter absorb recoils, the requirement for a rest that is heavy enough to withstand recoils is lessened.
Yet another disadvantage of using a sled, e.g., Caldwell®, lies in its inability to allow a weapon to be returned to a position identical to the position prior to a shot being taken. Therefore, with an existing sled, the shooting position is not repeatable, making it impossible for the shooter to create rapid successions of shots with high or even merely satisfactory accuracy.
Yet another disadvantage of using a sled, e.g., Caldwell®, lies in its inability to allow an aiming eye to be properly positioned in alignment with the longitudinal axis of a scope, without which, an accurate aim is nearly impossible. In conjunction with this inherent flaw is the problem created by the shooter's eye not being able to approach the precise distance from the ocular end of a scope that, in turn, establishes the focus clarity of the scope. This focal point is a very exact distance for which there is little or no error tolerance.
Thus, there is a need for a shooting rest which addresses all the shortcomings of the existing sleds.

Shooting rest adapted for mimicking hand-held shooting


A system is described that dynamically enhances a software application executing on a computing device without having to change and recompile the original application code. The system includes a staging environment that monitors the execution of the application and indexes each item of graphical and/or audio information generated by the application into a first database. A second database is then populated by manual or automated means with one or more business rules, wherein each business rule is associated with one or more of the objects indexed in the first database. The system further includes a run-time environment that identifies items of graphics and/or audio information as they are generated by the application during run-time, uses the second database to determine if an identified item is associated with a business rule, and, responsive to a determination that an identified item is associated with a business rule, applies the business rule.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to software applications. In particular, the present invention relates to techniques for dynamically enhancing software applications during execution on a computing device.
2. Background
Software applications, and video games in particular, render graphics information to a display device using a variety of techniques. One well-known technique is to place function calls to a low-level application programming interface (API) such as DirectX® or OpenGL®. In response to receiving such function calls, these APIs issue commands to the graphics hardware of a computer system or, in the alternative, attempt to emulate relevant hardware functionality in software. Similarly, software applications may play audio information by placing function calls to DirectSound®, which is an API within the DirectX® suite of APIs.
It is of interest to various parties that make such applications available to end-users (for example, publishers, retailers and service providers) to augment some of the graphics and audio information rendered by these applications based on a dynamic set of "business rules". For example, such business rules could be used to display advertising content on a graphics element rendered by a video game or to insert advertising content within an audio stream played by the video game. Ideally, the dynamic nature of the business rules would allow them to be periodically changed. For example, it would be advantageous if the inserted advertising content could be changed on a periodic basis.
One possible method of achieving this is to embed the business rules directly in the original application logic, or "source code", and then to recompile the application with those business rules. However, this technique of coding and recompiling an application to accommodate the business rules might not be achievable for all software applications. By way of example, the party wishing to insert the business rule might not have access to the source code. As another example, the application that is sought to be enhanced may already have been deployed in the field or purchased by consumers or others.
Another method of achieving the dynamic insertion of graphics content into an application is to integrate special client software into the original application logic during the software development phase of the application. When the application is executed, the special client software serves the application to communicate with a server, which, based upon some predefined business rules, may dynamically insert graphics content into the application in a pre-allocated space that has been identified and registered in advance by the application. However, this method is limiting because it will only work if the application as originally programmed includes the necessary special client software, interfaced during development time, and has identified in advance the areas on which the dynamically-inserted graphics information may appear.
What is desired then is a system, method and computer program product for dynamically enhancing an application, such as a video game, executing on a computing device, without having to change and recompile the original application code. Dynamically enhancing the application should include the ability to dynamically modify graphics and/or audio information generated by the application during execution, to dynamically render additional graphics and/or audio information during execution of the application, or to perform other functions relating to the executing application that are not provided for or invoked by the source code of the application.

System, method and computer program product for dynamically enhancing an application executing on a computing device


A temperature control apparatus includes a temperature monitoring integrated circuit (IC). The temperature monitoring IC has an output pin and is configured to generate an output signal having a voltage dependent on a sensed temperature. An output terminal is operatively connected to the output pin. An insulating material substantially surrounds the temperature monitoring IC. The insulating material substantially insulates the temperature monitoring IC from ambient heat and electromagnetic interference.

Some industrial processes are sensitive to temperature. For example, some plastic manufacturing processes require that a material be kept within a relatively narrow temperature range for a period of time.
Some conventional industrial processes use mechanical means, such as a bimetal thermostat, to regulate temperature. Bimetal thermostats exploit the differential expansion of two metals to actuate a switch. In this way, a cooling or heating system can be activated if the sensed temperature becomes too high or too low. While bimetal thermostats are reliable and offer good enough control for home heating and cooling applications, they do not offer sufficiently precise control for some industrial processes. Further, bimetal thermostats are characterized by significant hysteresis to prevent frequent powering and depowering of, for example, a heater. While this characteristic is desirable in home heating applications, it yields poor control for temperature-sensitive applications, such as industrial processes. Other mechanical means for regulating temperature, such as pneumatic thermostats, also offer imprecise control.
Other conventional industrial processes use programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to regulate temperature. For example, a PLC may be connected to a thermocouple via an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that converts the analog voltage signal generated by the thermocouple to a digital value that can be used by the PLC to control temperature. PLCs offer more precise control than is possible with a bimetal thermostat. However, they are relatively costly.


An article of footwear and insert for an article of footwear are provided with means for provisional instantaneous enhancing cutaneous mechanoreceptors pressure sensation from the plantar surface (sole) of the foot perimeter zone.

The present invention relates to inserts for footwear, as well as footwear incorporating such inserts, which stimulate cutaneous pressure sensation from the edges of the feet (perimeter of the plantar foot surface) during standing and walking, and thereby improve the ability of the wearer's CNS to keep the body's Center Of Gravity (COG) balanced and centered over the feet, particularly in persons who experience postural instability as a result of loss of cutaneous touch and pressure sensation due to aging or other factors.

Autonomous balance-enhanced insert for footwear

Abstract: Such instantaneous stimulation ought to compensate age/illness—related deterioration of plantar cutaneous sensation; it enhances its ability to detect and react to the shifts of the body's Center of Gravity (COG) toward the edges of the feet which, if left uncorrected right away, cause ankle sprain, and/or loss of balance and fall.

Abstract: An insole disclosed is provided with a set of pressure-activated protrusions, which form a narrow strip in close proximity to the perimeter of the insole inside the inner neighborhood of the plantar sole perimeter, and becomes active just when the Center Of Pressure (COP) of the wearer of the footwear is shifting dangerously toward the edges of the feet.


Automatic gain control (AGC) and synchronisation acquisition by a communication unit in a wireless communication system, e.g. a Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) system, is described. AGC is performed using a downlink beacon function, for example a power level (Pbeacon) . Amplitude-equalising (limiting) is performed as part of synchronisation acquisition. Separate AGC processes are used for different stages of synchronisation acquisition. One AGC process uses a peak power (P(k)) of a received signal over a frame. Another AGC process uses a peak power (P(k)) of a received signal over only a portion of a frame, the portion comprising an initial synchronisation code. Another AGC process uses measurements of a received signal (P0(k)) taken in a downlink beacon timeslot. These processes tend to provide tolerance to a varying number of codes (M) transmitted on a timeslot-by-timeslot basis and robust initial synchronisation in the presence of strong uplink interference.

In the field of this invention it is known, as shown in FIG. 2, that AGC (Automatic Gain Control) is a process used in a mobile radio receiver whereby the mobile adjusts the gain in the analogue sections of the receiver such that the signal is of the correct magnitude at the input to an ADC (Analogue to Digital Converter). If the signal is too large, then the signal will be limited or 'clipped', whereas if it is too small, it will be susceptible to significant signal-to-noise ratio degradation due to the quantisation process of the converter.
AGC must therefore adapt to the fluctuations in received power over time. Such fluctuations occur in mobile radio due to:                the mean pathloss between transmitter and receiver,        constructive and destructive interference between multiple transmission paths between transmitter and receiver (so-called fast-fading), and        variations in the transmitted power of the wanted and interfering signals.
In a 3GPP TDD-CDMA radio communications system, the radio resource may be considered, as shown in FIG. 3, as divided into three orthogonal planes: namely those of frequency, time, and code. Each cell or cell-sector is assigned a specific frequency in which to operate. Within this frequency allocation, the resource is split into time frames, each of length 10 ms. Each time-frame is further sub-divided into 15 timeslots, each of length 666.67 μs. Each timeslot is divided in the code-domain into 16 channelisation or 'spreading' codes. The properties of these codes are arranged such as to enable extraction of the information transmitted over each code from the 'multi-code' composite signal by signal processing means. The system may therefore distribute select information towards targeted users by means of assigning them resource defined in the three co-ordinate resource-space of frequency, time and code.
Many AGC loop designs exist (such as the analogue-monitored signal AGC loop shown in FIG. 4 and the digital-monitored loop shown in FIG. 5), but in general the loops are designed to monitor the received signal at the ADC input, or output, and provide negative feedback to the analogue variable receiver gain section in an attempt to maintain the monitored signal at a constant target level. In general, the measured characteristic of the monitored signal is peak-voltage, peak-power, or mean power. Thus, if the measured characteristic of the monitored signal is higher than the target, the analogue gain of the receiver is lowered, whereas if the characteristic of the monitored signal is lower than the target, the gain of the receiver is increased.
However, this known approach has the disadvantage(s) that:    1) In a packet-radio system such as a TDD-CDMA system, for a particular cell frequency, the power transmitted on a timeslot is, in general, a function of the number of codes transmitted. Thus, given the timeslot-segmented nature of the TDD-CDMA system, the power transmitted in each timeslot may vary considerably as the number of codes varies. The mobile-station, although aware of its own timeslot/code allocations, is not usually aware of allocations to other users and therefore cannot predict how much power will be received in a given timeslot. This therefore presents difficulties for AGC since it is the function of AGC to adjust the receiver analogue gain in response to the received power such that signal presented to the ADC is at an appropriate level.    2) For TDD-CDMA, a further problem exists for AGC due to the Time Division Duplex nature of the system. As illustrated in FIG. 6, during the initial synchronisation phase, the mobile station must search for a specific synchronisation code transmitted by the network. At this point, the mobile station does not have any knowledge of the frame timing of the system. Due to the fact that uplink timeslots are transmitted on the same frequency as downlink timeslots (but are separated in time within the frame), without knowledge of the frame timing, the mobile station must configure itself to receive on all timeslots in search of the synchronisation code. The mobile station receiver is therefore subject to reception of uplink signals from nearby mobile stations on the same cell frequency. These uplink signals may be hundreds of times larger in power than the downlink signal that the mobile is trying to detect. As a result, any AGC loop that tries to track the received signal power over the whole radio frame will try to accommodate the large uplink signal and may consequently suppress the (relatively small) wanted downlink synchronisation signal such as to render it undetectable (i.e., it is possible that the wanted signal in timeslot 0 will occupy so little of the ADC input voltage range as to render it undetectable).
Even if the signal is detectable, the synchronisation correlation peak in timeslot 0 may be much smaller than the correlation noise peak occurring in the timeslot with highest power. This will result in a synchronisation lock failure, or a false detection (which will also eventually lead to a synchronisation failure).
Although this problem will not always exist, it is desirable to implement a receiver strategy that provides robustness under these adverse conditions, since an intermittent inability to acquire synchronisation will obviously result in a high level of user dissatisfaction. Such conditions are likely to occur in any environment where there is a high possibility of users being in close proximity to each other.
A need therefore exists for an AGC scheme and limiting receiver architecture wherein the abovementioned disadvantage(s) may be alleviated.

AGC scheme and receiver for use in a wireless communication system


A pressure transformer is provided having a housing, with a rotating group disposed therein, an adjustable port plate is disposed between a barrel of the rotating group and a head portion of the housing. The barrel has a plurality of pistons slideably disposed in cylinders defined in the barrel. The cylinders each define a cylinder port that is in intimate contact with the port plate. Each cylinder port has a predetermined circumferential length. The port plate has three arcuate slots defined therein and spaced from one another along a predetermined circumference. Each arcuate slot has a leading edge and a trailing edge. Likewise each of the cylinder ports has a leading edge and a trailing edge. The shape and orientation of the leading edges and trailing edges of the cylinder ports and the arcuate slots are the same. The circumferential length of the space between adjacent ones of the arcuate slots is less than the circumferential length of the respective cylinder ports. During relative rotation between the cylinder ports and the arcuate slots, the cylinder ports is in communication with the adjacent arcuate slots but during operation the communication is effectively dynamically sealed. This relationship enhances the operating efficiency of the pressure transformer by conditioning the fluid within the cylinder so that the pressure therein is equivalent to the pressure in the successive arcuate port upon opening thereto.

In known hydraulic pressure transformers, the ports in the rotating unit are normally circular in cross-section and the ends of the respective ports in the port plate are normally semi-circular in cross-section. Consequently, as the respective ones of the ports in the rotating unit initiates communication with the respective ones of the slots in the port plate, the opening is small and increase in size to its maximum amount. Since this communication is happening at locations other than top or bottom dead center positions, the instantaneous velocity of the pistons within the rotating unit is high. Likewise, the volume of fluid being received or expelled is high. Since the initial opening is small, the high volume of fluid does not have a free, unrestricted path and the system efficiency is adversely affected. Additionally, in known pressure transformers, the circumferential space between the adjacent arcuate slots is longer than the circumferential length of the respective cylinder ports in the rotating unit. Consequently, at the times that the piston velocity is high and the flow being introduced or expelled from the piston cylinder is also high, the cylinder is totally blocked thus resulting in the trapped fluid being compressed prior to the cylinder opening to one of the arcuate slots.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

Controlled porting for a pressure transformer


Methods and apparatus are provided for compressing delay sensitive signals. Frames including multiple samples of the delay sensitive signal are analyzed to determine characteristics associated with the frames, such as the range of quantization levels represented by the samples of the frames. The delay sensitive signal is then compressed by providing an anchor point is sent along with information for determining the variation of each sample from the anchor point.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to compressing data. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for efficiently and effectively compressing signals for transmission on a network such as a cell based or packet based network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional techniques for compressing delay sensitive signals such as telephony or audio signals are limited. Any audio, video, or data sequence specified for transmission with minimal delay is referred to herein as a delay sensitive signal. Examples of delay sensitive signals are real-time video streams and telephony signals. In typical implementations, a delay sensitive signal such as a telephony signal is companded for transmission on a telephony network. A signal that represents an input analog signal is compressed into logarithmic segments, where each logarithmic segment is quantized and coded using uniform quantization. Such a signal is referred to herein as a companded signal. To improve bandwidth efficiency for packet or cell-based transport of normal telephony audio signals, the telephony signals are then often further compressed by the interworking hardware between Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) or General Switched Telephone Networks (GSTN) and transport IP networks.
However, the conventional techniques for compression are typically inadequate, lossy, or inefficient. Consequently, it is desirable to provide improved techniques for compressing data, particularly delay sensitive data, for transmission over a network such as a packet or cell based network.

Methods and apparatus for lossless compression of delay sensitive signals