A wiper motor including an electrically conductive housing in which a speed reduction mechanism is housed, a motor body housed within a yoke joined to the housing and having a power supply terminal that contacts a commutator so as to supply electric power to a rotor, and having a brush that includes a ground terminal having one end in contact with the commutator and another end connected to an electrically conductive partitioning wall of the housing that covers an opening in the yoke, a power supply line configured to supply electric power to the power supply terminal via a noise-suppression choke coil, a ground line connected to the partitioning wall and to ground, and a capacitor connecting the power supply line with the ground line, such that a noise component flowing through the ground line passes through the choke coil.

Brushed DC motors employed as wiper motors or the like have a rotor that rotates when a rotor coil is supplied with electric power through a brush. In brushed DC motors, as the rotor rotates, electrical connectivity between the brush and a commutator provided coaxially to the rotor is switched intermittently. This switching of the electrical connectivity is a type of switching operation, and a noise component is liable to be generated by the electric potential fluctuating at high frequency accompanying this switching operation.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a typical wiper motor 100. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the wiper motor 100 is configured by a motor section 120, in which a stator and a rotor are accommodated, and a speed reduction section 130 that is configured by a worm gear mechanism provided at a terminal end of a rotation shaft of the rotor so as to reduce the rotation speed of the rotation shaft.
The stator and the rotor of the motor section 120 are provided within a yoke 122 configured by die-cast aluminum or the like. The interior of the yoke 122 is formed in a hollow, substantially circular cylinder shape, and the stator and the rotor are accommodated in this interior space.
In the speed reduction section 130, the above-mentioned worm gear mechanism is accommodated inside die-cast aluminum housing 132, and the housing 132 and the worm gear mechanism are covered by a resin housing cover 134. The housing cover 134 is provided with a connector 136, and electric power to rotate the wiper motor 100 is supplied through the connector 136.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an electrical configuration of the wiper motor 100. The connector 136 includes a High terminal 136H through which electric power is supplied to rotate the wiper motor 100 at high speed, a Low terminal 136L through which electric power is supplied at a lower voltage than through the High terminal 136H to rotate the wiper motor 100 at a lower speed than the above-mentioned high speed rotation, and a ground terminal 136N electrically connected to a negative terminal 140N of a brush 140 of the wiper motor 100 through the die-cast aluminum housing 132 and yoke 122. The electrical connection from the negative terminal 140N to ground is made through the housing 132 of the wiper motor 100 and the like, enabling the structure of the wiper motor 100 to be simplified.
The power supplied from the High terminal 136H is supplied to a commutator 142 through a choke coil 138H that removes a noise-causing high frequency component, and a positive terminal 140H of the brush 140. The electric power supplied from the Low terminal 136L is supplied to the commutator 142 through a choke coil 138L that removes a noise-causing high frequency component, and a positive terminal 140L of the brush 140. Although the motor section 120 includes the rotor and the stator, these are omitted from illustration in FIG. 9.
As described above, a high frequency noise component is generated accompanying the rotation of the wiper motor 100. This noise component passes through the yoke 122 and the housing 132 as illustrated by a broken line 160 from the negative terminal 140N of the brush 140.
Although direct current noise-prevention capacitors 146, 148 do not allow direct current to pass, the noise-prevention capacitors 146, 148 do allow alternating current to pass. A noise component from the electric potential fluctuating at high frequency is guided through the noise-prevention capacitor 148 to the choke coil 138L. This noise component can also be guided to the choke coil 138H through the yoke 122, the housing 132, and the noise-prevention capacitor 146.
The choke coils 138H, 138L are high inductance elements, and exhibit high impedance with respect to the high frequency noise component. Accordingly, this noise component is blocked by the choke coils 138H, 138L. Even supposing the blocking of the noise component by the choke coils 138H, 138L were insufficient, the noise component would be supplied to the wiper motor 100 through the positive terminals 140H, 140L, and would be eliminated with the electric power used to rotate the wiper motor 100.
However, in the configuration illustrated in FIG. 9, the electrical connection between the path taken by power illustrated by the broken line 160 and the capacitor 146 is unnecessarily long, and the high frequency noise component is liable to flow toward the ground terminal 136N through the yoke 122 and the housing 132 as illustrated by the broken line 160 in FIG. 8, instead of to the noise-prevention capacitor 146. This results in an issue whereby the noise component would not be effectively eliminated, such that the noise component is liable to spread through the yoke 122 and the housing 132. In order to prevent the noise component from spreading to the exterior, a separate shield becomes necessary in order to suppress the noise component from radiating to the yoke 122 and the housing 132.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2003-134722 discloses an invention relating to a wiper motor in which a lead wire is used to connect a negative terminal of a brush to a ground terminal of a connector in order to block the passage of a noise component through housing and the like.
JP-A No. H09-226526 discloses an invention relating to a wiper motor in which a negative terminal of a brush is connected to a ground terminal of a connector through a metal plate sandwiched between metal housing and a resin housing cover during assembly of the housing cover to the housing, in order to block the passage of a noise component through the housing and the like.


A transaction is detected on a terminal. A context for an association of items, bags, shelving, carts, and individuals present during the transaction is maintained from images captured during the transaction. Rules are processed to determine actions to process during the transaction and/or after the transaction based on reported transaction details, the context, and analytics derived from the images for the context. In an embodiment, at least one rule identifies an action that overrides an attendant intervention at the terminal, which would have been issued for a detected weight discrepancy by a scale of the terminal.

Increasingly, consumers are using Self-Service Terminals (SSTs) to perform self-checkouts at retail outlets. This allows the retailer to more effectively utilize staff for other purposes besides checking consumers out of the stores. Consumers enjoy the convenience of self-checkouts and the reduced amount of time that it takes to checkout by avoiding long cashier-assisted checkout queues.
To avoid consumer theft, which is extremely costly to low margin retailers (such as grocery stores), the retailers have a variety of security measures deployed at the SSTs. The retailers also retain at least one assistant to assist consumers when needed during self-checkouts.
However, there are far too many situations where false positive security events are raised by the SSTs that require attendant intervention, which detract from a consumer's expectation of convenience and reduced checkout time.
For example, a consumer's child may be placing items on the bag scale and removing items. A particularly large item may not be fully situated on the produce scale (half of the item is resting on the counter so as to not detect its full weight). A consumer may remove bags from one side of the counter or from the cart and place on the bagging scale in an effort to organize the bags before leaving. A consumer may be re-shuffling items from one bag to a different bag. A consumer may hold back some scanned items to scan another heavier item, which the consumer then puts in the bag followed by the held back items for purposes of organizing the bag.
Another issue that is problematic for false positive attendant-assistance calls is associated with low weight items. Typically, as an item code is scanned or inputted into the SST, the consumer is instructed to place the item in the bag and the bag/bag rack sits on a bag scale. The scanned item includes an item code and the item code is linked to a known average weight for the item. The bag scale also has a tolerance below which the scale may not return any weight. The average weight of any given item is dynamically averaged, such that consumers that scan one low weight item and stick multiple low weight items in the bag can change the average weight of that item for a next consumer that buys that item, which can result in attendant calls for each subsequent consumer buying that item.

Contextual self-checkout based verification


This patent discloses a secondary fluid supply system for a steam generator used in nuclear reactor power plants. The secondary fluid supply system comprises a secondary fluid (feedwater) inlet nozzle near the base of the steam generator shell, a feedwater riser pipe spaced between the shell of the steam generator and the tube bundle wrapper, the upper end of the feedwater riser pipe being connected to a distribution ring having a plurality of spray nozzles positioned in the recirculating pool above the top of the U-shaped heat exchanger tubes.

This invention relates to steam generators used in nuclear reactor power plants. It relates particularly to the means used to introduce the feedwater into the steam generator.
Steam generators used in nuclear reactor power plants are very large heat exchangers where heat from a primary fluid heated by the nuclear reactor is transferred to a secondary fluid (water) which is converted into steam and used to drive a turbine generator. Steam generators are housed inside a tall, generally cylindrical steel shell. A large number of U-shaped heat exchanger tubes are enclosed in the shell and have their ends inserted in holes formed in a horizontal tube sheet or plate near the bottom of the steel shell. The tubes are used to convey the primary fluid which has been heated in the nuclear reactor. The secondary fluid or feedwater used to generate the steam is introduced into steam generator in such a manner that the secondary fluid flows around the outside of the heated tubes thereby converting much of the secondary fluid into steam which is allowed to exit the steam generator through an outlet nozzle at the top of the steel shell.
Many early model steam generators (often called preheat SGs or SGS with economizers) were designed to introduce the secondary fluid or feedwater through a feedwater inlet nozzle positioned near the bottom of the steam generator where it was introduced directly to the tube bundle. The incoming secondary fluid then rose upwardly around the tubes where it was heated and converted into steam. The secondary fluid that was not yet converted into steam was captured by the moisture separators and redirected into the steam generator recirculating pool. Recirculating water from this pool flowed down between the tube bundle wrapper and the inside wall of the steel shell to the bottom of the steam generator where it was directed back into the tube bundle where it then was mixed with additional incoming secondary fluid or feedwater.
Other designs of steam generators (often called feedring SGs or non-preheat SGs) have been designed with the feedwater inlet nozzle positioned in the upper part of the steam generator to introduce the secondary fluid or feedwater into the recirculation pool where it mixes with the recirculating water before flowing down between the tube bundle wrapper and the inside wall of the steel shell to the bottom of the steam generator where it is directed back into the tube bundle and then flows upwardly around the heated tubes.
Nuclear power plants that wish to convert from the style of steam generator having a bottom secondary fluid or feedwater inlet flow introduced directly to the tube bundles (preheat SGs) to the design of steam generator having the secondary fluid or feedwater inlet at the top (feedring SGs) have had to incur great expense and difficulty to convert all the power plant secondary fluid piping, pumping, and control systems to accommodate the design change of steam generator.


A file array communications transport system transports unique packets between a host computer and an adapter of a data processing platform in accordance with a file array protocol. The protocol is manifested as an exchange of these unique packets and the file array transport comprises an arrangement of logic circuits and data structures needed to exchange these packets over a tightly-coupled, low latency interface of a file array storage architecture.

An operating system is a large, complex piece of software whose primary function is the management of hardware and software resources of a data processing system such as processors, memory and storage. Storage management, in turn, involves the organization of storage devices, such as disks, into logical groupings to achieve various performance and availability characteristics. For example, the disks may be arranged to create individual volumes or concatenations of volumes, mirror sets or stripes of mirror sets, or even redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID). The data processing platform on which the operating system executes to provide such management functions typically includes a host computer coupled to a storage adapter or controller. The operating system functionally organizes this platform by, inter alia, invoking input/output (I/O) operations in support of software processes or applications executing on the computer.
A storage architecture of the operating system decomposes management of the storage devices into individual components and defines their functional operations with respect to the flow of information and control among them. The individual components include an I/O subsystem and a file system, each of which is generally independent of one another and interact according to interfaces defined by the architecture. The I/O subsystem provides an efficient mode of communication between the computer and the disks that allows programs and data to be entered into the memory of the computer for processing; the subsystem also enables the results obtained from computations of that information to be recorded on the disks.
The file system contains general knowledge of the organization of information on the storage devices and provides algorithms that implement properties of the desired storage architecture. To that end, the file system is a high-level software entity comprising a collection of program modules, e.g., software drivers, that incorporate a command set for the storage devices/disks. Typically, the operating system implements a file system to logically organize the information as a hierarchical structure of files on the disks.
I/O processing is typically performed under the auspices of the file system in that applications typically interact with the file system to manipulate (i.e., read or write) the files. I/O subsystems, on the other hand, interact with disks at lower software levels by manipulating blocks of data. Accordingly, a single I/O transaction operation requested by an application to the file system may spawn into many I/O transfer operations between the I/O subsystem and disks; that is, there may be multiple data transfers between the lower-layer software entities and the actual hardware devices.
Some storage architectures provide their file systems and I/O subsystems entirely on the controller of the data processing platform. Here, the host computer interacts with the controller in accordance with a conventional client-server computing model wherein the host computer ("client") forwards each I/O transaction request to the controller ("server") typically across an interconnection such as a network. Architectures implementing the client-server model are typically referred to as loosely-coupled or distributed system architectures because computations are distributed among several computing elements, each with its own processor and memory. In contrast, tightly-coupled systems are characterized by computing elements that share communication resources, such as an interface or bus.
An example of a server-specific I/O architecture that is optimized for file operations of a Unix file server is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,131 titled Parallel I/O Network File Server Architecture by Edward J. Row et al, issued on Nov. 10, 1992. Row discloses a file server architecture that comprises one or more network controllers, one or more file controllers, one or more storage processors, and a memory interconnected by a message passing bus and operating in parallel with the Unix host. Client requests for file operations are transmitted to a file controller which, independently of the Unix host, manages a virtual file system of a mass storage device coupled to the storage processors.
Although the architecture described in Row relieves the host processor from I/O processing, it also adversely affects file system latency, i.e., the period of time between the issuance of an I/O transaction request by an application to the file system and the completion of that request by the file system. In general, file system latency increases with an architecture having a file system that is remote from the processing platform on which the application executes.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a storage architecture communication interface of a data processing system that increases overall file system performance.

File array communications interface for communicating between a host computer and an adapter


A stick feeder comprising a stick for carrying a plurality of semiconductor devices housed therein, a holding block for receiving and holding semiconductor devices discharged sequentially from the stick; and a plurality stop members selectively detachably mounted to the holder for stopping semiconductor devices discharged from the said stick to the holding block, the width of the holding block being adjustable in a direction perpendicular to the workpiece feeding direction, and the mounting position of the stop member being adjustable with respect to the holder so that the stop position of a semiconductor device can be adjusted in the workpiece holding portion by varying the mounting position of the stop member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stick feeder for conveying or feeding workpieces to a predetermined place, and particularly to an effective technology applicable to a stick feeder for conveying or feeding semiconductor devices.
2. Related Art Statement
Stick feeders are well known and comprise an elongated stick for carrying a plurality of workpieces housed therein; and a stopper/holding block for receiving and holding workpieces discharged sequentially from the stick.
A stick feeder with such a structure is used, for example, in a process where a workpiece such as a semiconductor device discharged to a stopper/holding block thereafter removed by means such as a vacuum pad, and carried to a predetermined place.
In the above type stick feeder, it is required that various sized workpieces be fed smoothly to and positioned reliably at a holding position by the stopper/holding block. To this end, various kinds of stopper/holding blocks corresponding to the sizes of workpieces must usually be prepared and exchanged in accordance with changes in the sizes of workpieces, in order to handle the various sized workpieces.
The stopper/holding block is formed by combining integrally a workpiece holding portion and a stopping portion, and therefore, it becomes relatively large, requiring much space for storing many kinds of stopper/holding blocks corresponding to workpieces of various sizes and making it difficult to make the stick feeder at low cost. Thus, a stick feeder of this type is both expensive and less flexible than desired.


This application discloses a precoding matrix index (PMI) reporting method, and related communications apparatus and medium. The method includes: determining an rank indicator (RI) and a PMI, where the PMI is used to determine R precoding matrices W1, . . . , WR. An rth precoding matrix Wr in the R precoding matrices satisfies Wr×W1×W2, r, where an lth row of W2, r is obtained by performing DFT transform on an lth row of a matrix V2,rand R is indicated by the RI. The PMI includes first indication information and second indication information. The first indication information includes location index information. The location index information is used to indicate Km,r element locations tr,m,1, . . . , tr,m,Kmj∈{1, . . . , T} on an mth row of V2,r. The second indication information is used to indicate Km,r complex coefficients ar,m,tr,mj at the element locations tr,m,1, . . . , tr,m,kmj on the mth row of V2,r. V2,r is determined based on the Km,r element locations and the Km,r complex coefficients.

A multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology is widely used in a long term evolution (LTE) system. For a user near the cell edge, a space frequency block code (SFBC) transmission mode is used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on a cell edge. For a use near the cell center, a multi-layer parallel transmission mode is used to provide a relatively high data transmission rate. When a base station can obtain all or some downlink channel information, a precoding technology may be used to improve signal transmission quality or increase a signal transmission rate. For a TDD (Time Division Duplexing) system, due to reciprocity of uplink and downlink of a radio channel, a downlink precoding weighted vector can be estimated based on an uplink channel. However, for an FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) system, because an uplink carrier frequency is different from a downlink carrier frequency, the downlink precoding weighted vector cannot be obtained by using the uplink channel. In an LTE system, a precoding weighted matrix is usually obtained by feedback of a rank indicator (RI) and a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) sent by a terminal user.
To achieve a trade-off between improving feedback precision of the PMI and reducing feedback overheads of the PMI, in the LTE system and a next-generation wireless communications system, the PMI is divided into a PMI 1 and a PMI 2. The PMI 1 indicates a first precoding matrix W1, and is a wideband parameter. The PMI 2 indicates a second precoding matrix W2, and is a subband parameter. In this feedback mechanism, a precoding matrix (W) is obtained by combining W1 and W2, that is:W=W1×W2   (Formula 1),where
W1 is a diagonal block matrix, and each diagonal block matrix includes L basis vectors (for example, two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform (Discrete Fourier Transform, DFT) vectors), that is:
                                          W            1                    =                      [                                                                                b                      0                      m                                        ,                                          b                      1                      m                                                                                …                                                                      b                                          L                      -                      1                                        m                                                                                0                                                                                0                                                                                b                      0                      m                                        ,                                          b                      1                      m                                                                                …                                                                      b                                          L                      -                      1                                        m                                                                        ]                          ,                            (                  Formula                                                              2                )            where
b0m, b1m . . . bL−1m is the foregoing L basis vectors, and bim (i=0, 1 . . . L−1) may ternatively be understood as a beam vector. The L beam vectors bim (i=0, 1 . . . L−1) may be orthogonal to each other.
A W2 matrix on a subband is a 2L ×R matrix, and R is indicated by an RI, for example, R=RI+1. When R is 1 and R is 2, specific structures of W2 are respectively as follows:
                                          W            2                    =                      [                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                              ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                              ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                                                …                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                              ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                              ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                                                …                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ]                                                                    and                            (                  Formula                                                              3                )                                                      W            2                    =                      [                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                              ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        1                        ,                        0                                                              ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        1                        ,                        0                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                              ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        1                        ,                        1                                                              ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        1                        ,                        1                                                                                …                                                  …                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                p                                              0                        ,                        1                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ·                                          c                                              0                        ,                        1                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                              ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        0                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        1                        ,                        0                                                              ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        1                        ,                        0                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                              ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                        1                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        1                        ,                        0                                                              ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        1                        ,                        0                                                                                …                                                  …                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        0                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                p                                              1                        ,                        1                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ·                                          c                                              1                        ,                        1                        ,                                                  L                          -                          1                                                                                ]                          ,                            (                  Formula                                                              4                )            where
pr,l,i represents amplitude information of a coefficient, and Cp,l,i represents phase information of the coefficient. Herein, the wideband is entire feedback bandwidth of channel state information (Channel State Indication, CSI), and the subband is a subband in the wideband.
r∈{0,1} represents an index in terms of a dimension of a polarization direction of an antenna, l∈{1, . . . , RI} brepresents a sequence number of a layer, and i∈{1, . . . L−1} corresponds to the basis vector bim.
Generally, the amplitude information and the phase information of the coefficient are quantized based on a predefined quantization set. For example, a quantization set of phases may be
            c              p        ,        l        ,        i              ∈          {                        e                      j                                                      π                                n                            2                                      ,                  n          =          0                ,        1        ,        2        ,        3            }        ,or
      c          p      ,      l      ,      i        ∈            {                        e                      j                                                      π                                n                            4                                      ,                                                    n          =          0                ,        1        ,        2        ,        3        ,        …                                          ,        7            }        .
The amplitude information may be further split into a wideband amplitude Pr,l,i(WB) and a subband amplitude pr,l,i(SB), and pr,l,i=pr,l,i(WB)pr,l,i(SB). The wideband amplitude feeds back one value in the entire bandwidth, and the subband amplitude feeds back different values for different subbands. The quantization sets of the wideband amplitude and the subband amplitude may be pr,l,i(WB)∈{1, √{square root over (0.5)} √{square root over (0.25)} √{square root over (0.125)} √{square root over (0.0625)} √{square root over (0.0313)} √{square root over (0.0156)} 0} and pr,l,i(SB)∈{1√{square root over (0.5)}} respectively.
In the prior art, UE notifies, by reporting the PMI 1 and the PMI 2, a base station of a precoding matrix selected by the UE. The PMI 1 is used to indicate W1, and the PMI 2 is used to indicate W2. To reduce feedback overheads, it is usually assumed that W1 is the same in the entire CSI feedback bandwidth and for all RI layers, that is, W1 is a common parameter. However, the values of W2 of different subbands and different layers of each subband in the entire bandwidth may be different. Therefore, the PMI 1 is known as a wideband feedback parameter, and the PMI 2 is known as a subband feedback parameter. Because W2 relates to feedbacks of amplitudes and phases of 2L coefficients, a feedback of the PMI 2 on each subband requires a relatively large quantity of bits. Further, when a quantity of subbands is relatively large or the value of R is relatively large, the total feedback overhead of the PMI 2 increases rapidly. Therefore, how to reduce feedback overhead of PMI 2 indices is a technical problem that currently needs to be resolved.

Precoding matrix index reporting method, communications apparatus, and medium


To suitably determine a measurement cycle at which to measure cracks that occur in structures formed from concrete or the like. Resolution Means: A measurement cycle determination device (2) includes a related information acquisition unit (41) that acquires at least one of geographic information including items related to a geography of a site where a structure is located, weather information including items related to weather at the site, and structure information including items related to the structure; a crack information acquisition unit (42) that acquires crack information related to a crack that has occurred in the structure; a measurement cycle determination unit (44) that determines, on the basis of at least one of the geographic information, the weather information, the structure information, and the crack information, a measurement cycle at which to measure a width of the crack; and a measurement cycle output unit (46) that outputs a measurement cycle signal indicating measurement cycle information related to the determined measurement cycle.

Various techniques are known for efficiently and reliably executing maintenance inspection work of various structures such as bridges, levees, and tunnels, and also of buildings that have various facilities such as air conditioning equipment and electrical equipment. For example, Patent Document 1 describes calculating an annual total load of a building as a whole from an inspection load and inspection cycle for one instance of maintenance inspection work per piece of equipment; and determining a number of inspectors necessary for the maintenance inspection work needed for the maintenance management of the building. Additionally, Patent Document 2 describes displaying guidance information, which indicates a position of a facility to be inspected, on a terminal device used by an inspector; and displaying an inspection checklist for the facility to be inspected on the terminal device used by the inspector when the inspector is close to the facility to be inspected. Moreover, Patent Document 3 describes notifying an administrator in real time of inspection results obtained by an inspector inspecting a facility on the basis of an inspection manual displayed on a communication terminal.

Measurement cycle determination device, measurement cycle determination program and method thereof


In the Local Storage (18), a plurality of files, merge management information which specifies a file out of the plurality of files to be used in combination with what is recorded on a Read-Only recording medium, and signature information used for judging the authenticity of the merge management information. The Virtual File System unit (38) judges the authenticity of the merge management information based on the signature information. In the case where the merge management information is judged to be authentic, the Virtual File System unit (38) generates package information which indicates a new file structure obtained by adding the file specified by the merge management information to the file structure of the Read-Only recording medium.

A "Virtual Package" is a technique (i) for generating package information that integrally indicates what is recorded on a Read-Only recording medium such as a BD-ROM and what is recorded on a readable/writable recording medium such as a hard disk and (ii) for playing back or executing digital streams and application programs (hereafter, simply referred to as applications) that are recorded on these recording mediums as if they were recorded in one package that is virtual.
According to this technique, by updating the data recorded on the rewritable hard disk, it is possible to change the contents of the production as an entire Virtual Package even after the BD-ROM is distributed. For example, even after a BD-ROM having a movie production itself recorded is distributed, a provider of the movie production is able to advertise most recent movie productions to users no matter when the BD-ROM is distributed, by supplying movie-trailer digital streams for other unreleased movie productions via a network.
Prior Art related to Virtual Packages is published in the Patent Document shown below:
Patent Document 1
    International Publication WO 2004/030356 A1 Publication


A method and system for representing speech with greatly reduced harmonic and intermodulation distortion using a fixed interval scale, known as Tru-Scale. Speech is reproduced in accordance with a frequency matrix which reduces intermodulation interference and harmonic distortion (overtone collision). Enhanced speech quality and reduced noise results from increasing the signal-to-noise ratio in the processed speech signal. The method and system use an Auto-Regressive (AR) modeling technique, using, among other approaches, Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) analysis. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a Fourier transform-based modeling technique also is used. The application of the system to speech coders also is contemplated.

The present system relates to a new technique for reducing harmonic distortion in the reproduction of voice signals, and to a novel method of reducing overtone collisions resulting from current methods of voice representation. The invention is based on a wave system of communication which relies on a different basis of periodicity in wave propagation and a fixed interval frequency matrix, called "Tru-Scale," as outlined in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,860,624 and 5,306,865. More particularly, the system employs the Tru-Scale interval system with Auto-Regressive speech modeling techniques to remove these overtone collisions. The invention enhances speech quality and reduces noise in the resulting speech signal.
During speech production, the vocal folds open and close, thereby distinguishing speech into two categories, called voiced and unvoiced. During voiced speech, the vocal folds are normally closed, causing them to vibrate from the passage of air. The frequency of this vibration is assigned to the speaker's pitch frequency; for normal speakers, the frequency is in the range of 50 to 400 Hz.
Therefore, a voiced signal begins as a series of pulses, whereas an unvoiced signal begins as random noise. The vibrating vocal chords give a speech signal its periodic properties. The pitch frequency and its harmonics impress a spectral structure in the spectrum of the voiced signal. The rest of the vocal tract acts as a spectral shaping filter to the aforementioned speech spectrum.
In voiced sounds, the vocal tract also acts as a resonant cavity. This resonance produces large peaks in the resulting speech spectrum. These peaks are known as formants, and contain a majority of the information in the speech signal. In particular, formants are, among other things, what distinguish one speaker's voice from another's. Using this fact, the vocal tract can be modeled using an all-pole linear system. Speech coding based on modeling of the vocal tract, using techniques such as Auto-Regressive (AR) modeling and Linear Predictive Coding (LPC), takes advantage of the inherent characteristics of speech production. The AR model assumes that speech is produced by exciting a linear system--the vocal tract--by either a series of periodic pulses (if the sound is voiced) or noise (if it is unvoiced).
For many applications, the goal of speech modeling is to encode an analog speech signal into a compressed digital format, transmit or store the digital signal, and then decode the digital signal back into analog form. Several implementations of AR modeling are commonly known within the art of speech compression. One of the major issues of current compression and modeling techniques, and their implementation into vocoders, is a reduction of speech quality.
These models typically estimate vocal tract shape and vocal tract excitation. If the speech is unvoiced, the excitation is a random noise sequence. If the speech is voiced, the excitation consists of a periodic series of impulses, the distance between these pulses equaling the pitch period. Current modeling techniques attempt to maintain the pitch period without regard to preventing overtone collisions or minimizing harmonic distortion. The result is poor speech quality and noise within the signal. Various attempts have been made to improve speech quality and reduce noise in the AR modeling system. Some of these will now be discussed.
One well known digital speech coding system, taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,302, outlines linear prediction analysis of an input speech signal. The speech signal is modeled by forming the linear prediction coefficients that represent the spectral envelope of the speech signal, and the pitch and voicing signals corresponding to the speech excitation. The excitation pulses are modified by the spectral envelope representative prediction coefficients in an all pole predictive filter. However, the aforementioned speech coding system is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,832, as follows:
The foregoing pitch excited linear predictive coding is very efficient. The produced speech replica, however, exhibits a synthetic quality that is often difficult to understand. Errors in the pitch code . . . cause the speech replica to sound disturbed or unnatural. PA1 The vocoders are efficient at reducing the bit rate to much lower values but do so only at the cost of lower speech quality and intelligibility . . . it is difficult to produce high-quality speech with this model, even at high bit rates. PA1 In any given speech coding algorithm, it is desirable to attain the maximum possible SNR in order to achieve the best speech quality. In general, to increase the SNR for a given algorithm, additional information must be transmitted to the receiver, resulting in a higher transmission rate. Thus, a simple modification to an existing algorithm that increases the SNR without increasing the transmission rate is a highly desirable result. PA1 The input speech having passed through the network in this manner is distorted under the influence of the transmission characteristic of the transmission system. It is therefore necessary to eliminate the influence of the distortion or to reduce it by normalization or by other means if accurate speech recognition is to be obtained. PA1 Frequency filtration systems remove predetermined frequency ranges under the assumption that the eliminated frequencies contain relatively more noise and less signal than the nonfiltered frequencies. While this assumption may be valid in general as to those frequencies filtered, these systems do not even attempt to remove the components of the noise lying within the non-filtered frequencies nor do they attempt to salvage any program signal from the filtered frequencies. In effect, these systems muffle the noise and also part of the program. PA1 the primary disadvantage remains that not all of the components of the noise pulse are effectively filtered or removed, and not all of the signal is passed. The result is still a discernible noise coupled with a loss of signal quality.
Another well known example of attempts to improve speech quality within an LPC model is described by B. S. Atal and J. R. Remde in "A New Model of LPC Excitation for Producing Natural Sounding Speech at Low Bit Rates," Proc. of 1982 IEEE Int. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, May 1982, pp. 614-617. The paper notes the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,464 teaches that in recent attempts to improve on the Atal speech enhancement technique, "a pitch predictor is frequently added to the multi-pulse coder to further improve the SNR [signal to noise ratio] and speech quality." The patent goes on to describe the following:
Thus, there has been clear recognition in the prior art that no AR modeling technique by itself has been known which completely overcomes poor speech quality. As will be discussed, in accordance with the present invention, the frequency matrix known as "Tru-Scale" and outlined in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,860,624 and 5,306,865, is applied to a speech reproduction model to improve speech quality by removing harmonic distortion caused by current pitch assignments. By calculating pitch frequency using a new base, the Tru-Scale frequency matrix and corresponding ratios can eliminate the mathematical error in pitch code assignment. A reduction in harmonic distortion (decrease in the number of overtone collisions) increases the amount of signal to noise ratio of any given input signal, thereby enhancing speech quality by a novel method without increasing transmission rates.
The amount of noise in a speech signal affects speech quality by reducing the SNR. Noise can be generally defined as any undesired energy present in the usable passband of a communications system. Correlated noise is unwanted energy which is present as a direct result of the signal, and therefore implies a relationship between the signal and the noise. Nonlinear distortion, a type of correlated noise, is noise in the form of additional tones present because of the nonlinear amplification of a signal during transmission.
Noise in the form of nonlinear distortion can be divided into two classifications: harmonic distortion and intermodulation distortion. Harmonic distortion is the presence of unwanted multiples of the transmitted frequencies. In a music context, in which Tru-Scale first was introduced in the above-mentioned patents (those patents also disclosing tone generation using Tru-Scale), harmonic distortion sometimes is referred to as "overtone collision," a term which the inventors of the above-mentioned patents have used. Intermodulation distortion is the sums and differences of the input frequencies. Both of these distortions, if of sufficient amplitude, are found in speech transmissions and can cause serious signal degradation.
The reduction of noise in a speech signal that has been transmitted across a transmission medium is a well-known problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,601 teaches the following:
In an attempt to remove noise by a prior frequency filtering process, U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,636 discloses the following dilemma:
The inventive system reduces noise and distortion within the speech signal using a novel approach without the above noted filtration systems. The Tru-Scale Interval system, when applied to the frequency component of a speech signal, reduces the destructive effects of harmonic distortion, or overtone collisions, from that signal. By realigning the spectral content, the harmonics of the transmitted frequencies travel in a way that reinforces the strength of the signal, rather than causing distortion. Using any modeling techniques, Tru-Scale is able to improve the signal to noise ratio of a transmitted speech signal, and therefore also improve the vocal quality. While earlier attempts have tried to improve the AR techniques or filter the noise, the invention improves the quality of the signal by making it less prone to intermodulation and harmonic distortion, thereby adding the improvement to the signal itself during the modeling and transmission process.

Method and system for speech processing with greatly reduced harmonic and intermodulation distortion


A G interpolation method selector and an R/B interpolation method selector decide between a first case, which is not a monotonous increase or a monotonous decrease of pixel signals of three pixels in reference pixel signals used for producing an interpolation pixel signal, and a second case, which is the monotonous increase or the monotonous decrease. A G interpolation unit produces an interpolation pixel signal of G in such a manner as to change interpolation methods depending on the first case or the second case. An R/B interpolation unit produces an interpolation pixel signal of R or B in such a manner as to change interpolation methods depending on the first case or the second case.

The present disclosure relates to an image signal processing device and method for performing interpolation of pixel signals of three primary colors output from an imaging device including a color filter of a Bayer array.
A pixel signal of each of three primary colors output from an imaging device including a color filter of a Bayer array is only one of pixel signals of R (red), G (green) and B (blue) per pixel.
Pixel signals of two colors other than a pixel which is output as a pixel signal among three pixels are required to be produced by interpolation processing. Processing for producing pixel signals which are not output as pixel signals by interpolation processing is called demosaicing.
An example of the easiest method of demosaicing is a bilinear method for performing linear interpolation using pixel signals of peripheral colors which are the same as a color to be produced by interpolation.
However, the interpolation processing by the bilinear method is not used in general because the method has the disadvantages of, for example, causing false colors at edges of images because of incorrect interpolation and causing great deterioration in resolution.
There is known an adaptive color plane interpolation (ACPI) method commonly used for resolving the disadvantages of the bilinear method. The ACPI method is used for performing interpolation of a pixel signal with reference to pixel signals of colors different from a color to be produced by the interpolation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,734 (Patent Literature 1) discloses interpolation processing by the ACPI method. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-099903 (Patent Literature 2) discloses interpolation processing by a method obtained by improving the ACPI method.

RGB color pixel interpolating device and method


A low range altimeter (LRA) may include a transmitter, a receiver, at least one antenna, an active leakage cancellation circuit, and a microcontroller unit (MCU). The transmitter may be configured to transmit a first signal (or transmitted signal) via the at least one antenna. The receiver may be configured to receive a second signal (or received signal) via the at least one antenna. The active leakage cancellation circuit may be configured to receive a portion of the transmitted signal from the transmitter, and may be configured to inject the portion of the transmitted signal into the receiver after an adjustment of the portion of the transmitted signal to reduce leakage observed in the received signal. The MCU may be coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, and may be configured to adjust the portion of the portion of the transmitted signal.

A low range altimeter (LRA) may be susceptible to leakage, which results in interference. The LRA may be non-integrated, including multiple antennas that are physically separated to address the leakage through isolation. The LRA may be integrated, including dual integrated antennas for the transmitters and receivers, respectively, that are physically separated to address the leakage through isolation. The LRA may be integrated, including a single antenna for both the transmitters and receivers that may require a duplexer solution for the leakage, due to being unable to be physically separated. Known integrated LRAs may not include antennas that are sufficiently physically separated to provide a necessary or desired level of isolation addressing the leakage, leading to issues caused by leakage being more severe in an integrated LRA due to the reduced physical separation.

Low range altimeter active leakage cancellation


A connector for fastening a gas chromatography capillary column to chromatography equipment includes a securing nut and ferrule on a first portion of the connector for releasably holding the capillary column in a position relative to a second portion of the connector. The first portion rotates relative to the first portion and translates a limited amount relative to the first portion. A pin on the first portion extending into an annular groove around a circumference of the first portion may allow this rotation and limited translation. The second portion has a threaded end adapted to screw into the chromatography equipment with the first portion remaining relatively rotation free as the second portion is screwed into place.

Gas chromatography equipment requires connecting very thin capillary tubes to equipment, and often disconnecting and reconnecting the tubes during operations. Typically the installer passes the column through a threaded fastener containing a ferrule with the fastener screwed into/onto a mating inlet of the equipment. If the column installation depth is too long or too short, chromatographic problems may result. It is also difficult sometimes to reach the installation inlets, and if the column must be changed during use or immediately after use, the column and fastener are hot and the user must wait a long time until they cool. Because the installation port of the GC analyzers are hot after use, it is easy to burn fingers when connecting the columns, and in the rush to install hot parts threads are often cross-threaded, leading to further installation delays and damage to equipment.
After use, the oven needs to cool down to a temperature comfortable to the user's touch so the nut that holds the column in place can be loosened by hand. It can take up to 20 minutes to cool the parts. After detaching the nut, a new column is inserted through the nut and ferrule and positioned into the injector at a specified depth. The nut and ferrule are then finger-tightened and given an extra half turn with a wrench until the column is secured. If the oven is not cooled down enough, the user's fingers will be burned when they touch the capillary nut. Thermal installation gloves help prevent burns, but gloves fray or stretch and impair the sensitivity of tightening.
Setting an appropriate column depth is also important since the depth affects reproducibility of the results. The columns are often marked with correction fluid to denote the correct installation depth, but the correction fluids are messy, they smear and they burn in the oven.
An improved installation mechanism is needed.

Low thermal mass, adjustable locking GC nut


In some embodiments, a microsurgical instrument includes a trocar having a rigid, hollow shaft formed with a lumen extending from a proximal end to a distal end of the shaft. The distal end of the shaft may be shaped for tissue penetration. The instrument may further include a composite microcannula slidably engaged with the trocar in the lumen. The microcannula includes a light guide and a flexible hollow tube having an outer diameter less than an inner diameter of the lumen in the trocar. Other embodiments include placing the microcannula in the lumen of the trocar, illuminating the end of the trocar by illuminating the end of the microcannula, advancing the trocar from a selected entry point on an eye into a selected structure in the eye, and extending the illuminated end of the microcannula from the trocar into the selected structure.

Aqueous humor is a transparent, watery fluid produced within an eye, filling the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye, transporting agents needed by eye tissues and helping to maintain the eye's rounded shape by fluid pressure. Aqueous humor flows out of the eye through a fluid drainage network including the trabecular meshwork and Schlemm's canal, a porous, circumferential fluid passage coupled to collector channels and veins. Blockage or collapse of parts of the eye's drainage network can lead to an increase in intraocular pressure, a condition that may be associated with degraded vision and eye diseases such as glaucoma.
Surgical treatment may be used to reduce intraocular pressure by improving the flow of aqueous humor. Some surgical treatments involve making relatively large incisions through the sclera, the tough white outer covering of the eye, forming a flap of tissue folded back to expose the trabecular meshwork or other parts of the flow path for aqueous humor. Exposed parts of the drainage network may then be modified by removing tissue or forming new drainage channels. An incision through the sclera may lead to a loss of fluid pressure inside the eye and a collapse of one or more of the chambers. It may be necessary to support the eye's natural shape by injecting a viscoelastic fluid into one of the chambers. A viscoelastic fluid has a viscosity that changes from dynamic to static flow conditions, flowing with relatively low viscosity when subjected to shear stress and assuming a gel-like, high-viscosity state under static conditions.
Surgical treatments involving incisions into the eye may increase the risk of post-surgical complications such as infection and the formation of scar tissue. Other treatment procedures less disruptive to the eye have been developed. For example, the flow of aqueous humor may be improved by passing a microcannula through parts of the eye's drainage network to remove obstructions or re-open collapsed fluid passages. Additionally, it can be advantageous to deliver drugs or drug-eluting devices or materials into tissue structures. Notably, the delivery of drugs and drug-eluting devices to Schlemm's Canal can be beneficial due to Schlemm's canal being outside the immune privileged area that is found inside the main body of the human eye. The microcannula may include a flexible hollow tube having an outer diameter small enough to permit the microcannula to be introduced into Schlemm's canal or some other part of the eye's drainage network. The microcannula may be sufficiently flexible to follow the curve of Schlemm's canal or another part of the drainage network while the microcannula is pushed from outside the eye, for example through a surgically-formed flap as previously described or through a puncture of the sclera. The microcannula may be used to mechanically expand a selected part of the drainage channel in the eye, or may be used to inject materials, objects, fluids, drugs, or viscoelastic to apply fluid pressure for improving flow through part of the eye's drainage system. Or, a microsurgical cutting, penetrating, or grasping instrument may be passed through the microcannula to guide the instrument to a part of the eye to be surgically modified.
Some microsurgical instruments have a microcannula slidably engaged with a hollow, flexible outer sheath. The flexible outer sheath may be used to position an entry point for the microcannula into the interior of an eye, with the microcannula passing through a lumen in the flexible outer sheath and the outer sheath held stationary with respect to the eye. An end of the microcannula may be extended from an end of the sheath to enter a selected part of an eye. However, the flexibility of the outer sheath may make it difficult for the sheath to penetrate the sclera or other tissue to enable the microcannula to enter drainage structures or other treatment areas inside the eye. It may be necessary to make an incision or puncture with a separate instrument to permit the flexible sheath to be positioned accurately for placement and guidance of the microcannula. Or, the microcannula may be provided with a tip shaped for tissue penetration, possibly limiting the use of the microcannula for delivering a payload into the interior of an eye.


A gaseous fuel control system for engines for delivering and regulating fuel and air flows to the engine and an electronically controlled rotary pressure regulator implementing fine adjustments in the pre-mixing pressure of gaseous fuel. Gaseous fuel from a high-pressure fuel tank is forced into a passage and through a series of pressure regulators during combustion. Inside a throttle body, butterfly plates respond to signals from an electronic controller to regulate the flows of air and gaseous fuel. The fuel passes into a stagnation chamber and mixes with the air flow through a series of radial mixing orifices in a common wall between the stagnation chamber and air passageways. The fuel/air ratio is coarsely controlled by the reaction of the butterfly plates to the signals of the electronic controller and is more finely controlled by electronic rotation of the rotary gas pressure regulator.

The invention relates generally to a throttle for gaseous fuel control for gaseously fueled engines. Such engines have existed, even in vehicles, for many years, and augmented future reliance is anticipated given the current availability and usage rates of fuel sources such as liquid petroleum gas. Compressed natural gas, used as a substitute for liquid petroleum gas, has several advantages. It is more abundantly found in our environment, it is less expensive to buy the requisite fuel to traverse a given distance, and it is a cleaner burning fuel since there is much less carbon present in the combustion chamber.
The most common gaseous fuel carburetor systems were developed for liquified petroleum gas. If modified to handle the greater flow required for compressed natural gas, these carburetor systems function, but they are undersized, and they produce substandard emissions.
One type of gaseous fuel carburetor is the venturi model where a constricted air passageway causes an increase in air flow rate and a corresponding decrease in pressure. Openings in the venturi throat allow gaseous fuel to be pulled in by the lower pressure flowing air. Such a method is discussed in Dutch Patent No. NL 8603-136-A.
To determine the requirements of the engine, some systems use an air flow transducer to measure the air being used by the engine. These air flow transducers, however, have cost, life and accuracy problems. Others systems "map" the engine and derive air flow from a table of engine characteristics. The engine "map" method may achieve good results if the engine has no variable characteristics, but each installation must be "mapped". Such a system may be adequate for high production volumes, but it definitely limits versatility. Fluidic control systems let the air flow generate a signal or operator that governs gas flow, such as a venturi or air-operated trap door. These systems have tracking and linearity problems.
Hence, there is a need for a gaseous fuel control system which can efficiently regulate and accurately adjust to the needs of the engine.


The present invention provides an internal olefin composition comprising a mixture of 60 to 80% by mass of an olefin having 16 carbon atoms and 40 to 20% by mass of an olefin having 18 carbon atoms wherein a content of an α-olefin in the mixture is 10% by mass or less, and a content of a branched olefin in the mixture is 10% by mass or less, which has a good biodegradability even when discharged into the environments, a less toxicity against marine organisms, etc., and a sufficient fluidity when used as a base oil for oil drilling, etc.

Internal olefins have been conventionally used in various applications specifically such as base oils for oil drilling, raw materials for detergents, raw materials for sizing agents for papers, base oils or raw materials for lubricants and raw materials for chemical products.
The internal olefins used in these applications have been required to satisfy the following requirements.
For example, in the applications of base oils for oil drilling, the internal olefins having 16 and 18 carbon atoms are generally used. The internal olefins used in such applications have been required to exhibit well-controlled pour point and kinematic viscosity as well as a high biodegradability.
As the method for production of such internal olefins, there are known techniques for internal isomerization of α-olefins using a catalyst formed by supporting Pt, Ru, Ni, etc., on a carrier such as alumina and zeolite, or ferrierite as one of zeolites. These techniques have been already industrially put into practice.
In general, the internal olefins are converted into tri-substituted or tetra-substituted branched olefins when subjected to skeletal isomerization reaction. It is known that these branched olefins not only exhibit a change in properties such as drop of pour point but also are deteriorated in biodegradability in natural environments as compared to the original olefins.
In various applications of the internal olefins as described above, the drop of a pour point thereof is preferable, in particular, when used in the applications of base oils for oil drilling. On the other hand, the raw materials exhibiting a poor biodegradability are presently actually unusable in the applications having a high possibility of discharging the materials into the natural environments such as detergents and base oils for oil drilling owing to recent environmental policies for prohibiting release of such materials.
Conventionally, the following patent applications relating to the method for producing olefins usable as base oils for oil drilling, have been filed.
(1) The method of isomerizing α-olefins by using a molecular sieve containing no metal belonging to Group 8 of the Periodic Table wherein the obtained reaction product contains branched olefins in an amount of 5% by mass or more, and a content of the α-olefins in the reaction product is less than 20% by mass (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,783).
(2) The method of isomerizing α-olefins by using a molecular sieve of a non-zeolite structure having an optimum pore size wherein the raw materials contain at least 50% by mass of olefins having 12 or more carbon atoms, and the obtained reaction product contains at least 5% by mass of branched olefins (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,415).
(3) The method of isomerizing α-olefins by using a pentasil zeolite modified with a Ni monoxide wherein the obtained reaction product contains at least 90% by mass of linear olefins, and a content of branched olefins therein is less than 5% by mass (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,629).
(4) The method of isomerizing α-olefins having 4 to 50 carbon atoms by using a molecular sieve containing an aluminophosphate having one-dimensional pores wherein a branching reaction of the olefins is prevented by the one-dimensional pores (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,404).
Also, the following patent applications relating to base oils for oil drilling have been conventionally filed.
(5) A base oil for oil drilling, comprising olefins having 12 or more carbon atoms which contain linear olefins in an amount of 50 to 100% by mass and α-olefins in an amount of less than 20% by mass, an additive and water (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,442).
(6) A base oil for oil drilling, comprising olefins having 12 or more carbon atoms which contain branched olefins in an amount of 15 to 90% by mass and α-olefins in an amount of less than 20% by mass, an additive and water (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,759).
(7) A base oil for oil drilling, comprising 30% by mass or more of olefins having 12 or more carbon atoms which contain linear olefins in an amount of 50 to 100% by mass and α-olefins in an amount of less than 20% by mass, an additive and water (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,272).
However, the conventional olefins used as the above base oils for oil drilling as well as those contained in the base oils for oil drilling have failed to satisfy the requirements such as a good biodegradability when discharged into the environments, a less toxicity against marine organisms, etc., and a sufficient fluidity when used as base oils for oil drilling.
Therefore, it has been demanded to provide olefins capable of satisfying the requirements such as a good biodegradability when discharged into the environments, a less toxicity against marine organisms, etc., and a sufficient fluidity when used as base oils for oil drilling.

Internal-olefin composition and base oil comprising the composition for oil drilling


A carrier having a layer of embossing resin deposited thereon is provided with an image or design applied to the layer of embossing resin. A top film having a layer of adhesive applied thereon is laminated to the carrier. The carrier can be a throw-away or a component type carrier. If a throw-away type carrier is employed, it is peeled from the two laminated sheets, leaving the layer of embossing resin, having the image retained thereon, affixed to the adhesive side of the top film. If a component type carrier is employed, the image retained on the embossing resin is encapsulated between the top film and the carrier. Thereafter, a substrate suitable for aircraft interior panels is provided. The top film having the embossing resin and image affixed thereto is laminated to the suitable substrate. If a texture is desired, a textured material may be applied to the top side of the top film immediately before it is laminated to the suitable substrate. After subsequent lamination, the textured material is removed leaving a textured pattern in the finished component decorative laminate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing a decorative design laminate. More particularly, it relates to a novel method for producing a decorative design laminate from a computer generated image or design, transferring such image from a carrier to a substrate utilizing an embossing resin. Even more particularly, the novel method of the present invention relates to decorative design laminates for application to substrates suitable for aircraft interior panels.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the prior art, the most commonly used printing process known for aircraft applications, specifically for aircraft interior decorative laminates, is silk-screening. Unfortunately, silk-screening has a variety of inherent disadvantages. For instance, alterations of a design are difficult, costly, and time intensive, since each alteration, even the most minute, requires the creation of entirely new sets of screens. Each color alteration normally requires employing the costly and lengthy process of (1) color mixing and matching, (2) creating complete "laboratory" samples, and (3) creating the full-size production design. The full-size production design must be consistent with the laboratory sample. Multi-colored screens are even more expensive and time-consuming, regardless of whether "spot-color" silk-screening is used or four-color process silk-screening. Like other forms of prior art, silk screening is most economical, absorbing set-up costs, when large quantities are run, but such large "runs" often compromise color consistency. Moreover, in the aircraft decorative interior market, large quantities of a single design are relatively rare.
Other known processes which are used to decorate laminates for aircraft interior products include gravure printing, the use of integrally colored materials such as ABS (a type of vinyl), or the use of a solid color film laminated to a substrate. The inherent disadvantages of these processes are that they (1) limit the design to virtually one or two colors, (2) they limit customization of the design which often identifies the airline, and (3) they are most effectively produced in large quantities small "runs" being expensive and essentially cost prohibitive.
Various prior art methods exist for inclusion of digitally produced images in laminates, but non are suitable for aircraft laminates. One such prior art method is known as the "wet-method." An image is digitally created and printed electrostatically onto a transfer medium using heat and pressure. The image is mirrored, introducing the possibility for error. The image is then immersed in water, and using pressure, applied to a second film, from which the transfer medium is stripped.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,254 to Morgan et al. discloses a wet method utilizing a mixture of oil, resin and an elastomer. An exposed water soluble surface of the paper is washed away by wetting. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,254, a clay is used on the water soluble surface. Thereafter, the printed image remains adhered to the layer formed by the mixture. The transferred image is washed and dried. A protective laminate, such as transparent vinyl, having an adhesive side is often applied over the image to form a protective layer. The limitations with this method are: (a) there are additional steps (i.e., the wet transfer itself), drying time, and (b) this method is not generally amenable with materials used in aircraft interior decorative laminates that conform to government regulations of aircraft performance standards. This method is also considered messy and laborious.
In an effort to improve image transfer processes, a "dry" method was discovered eliminating many of the messy and laborious disadvantages of the "wet" method. This dry method uses heat and/or pressure to transfer an image printed on transfer paper to a chosen substrate. The transferred image is then overlaid with a protective film and secured with an adhesive. In this type of "dry" method a mirrored or negative image may have to be printed on the transfer paper. Such is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,917 to Karlan, et al. Such dry methods also have inherent disadvantages. For instance, they are considered slow and unreliable. If parts of the image do not transfer, the total image is ruined. High rejection rate causes extensive material waste, increased production cost, and waste of human resources. The particular overlay materials in typical aircraft products such as Tedlar are especially difficult to use with the "dry" transfer method since Tedlar will not readily accept the image.
In an effort to improve the "dry" transfer method, it was discovered that a pressure-sensitive adhesive-coated film could be used to lift the image from the transfer paper and thereafter secured to a final substrate. Such is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,487 to Gilreath wherein the adhesive coated film is shown to be the transfer medium. Unfortunately, the Gilreath invention also has many inherent disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the adhesive-coated film, used as the transfer medium, must be highly transparent so that the image may be viewed when applied to the final substrate. Use of a non-transparent film to capture the image would frustrate the purpose of the invention in that the image would not be viewable once it is applied to the final substrate. A second disadvantage is that textures can not be introduced. Since nowhere in Gilreath does the invention contemplate the use of an embossing resin, the laminate would not have the texture retention capabilities necessary for aircraft products. A third disadvantage is that Gilreath may have to be practiced utilizing a mirrored image. Use of such mirrored images provides for possible transfer error. Fourth, the Gilreath invention would most likely not meet many of the strict government regulations or aircraft performance standards due to the use of standard adhesives which can be highly flammable. Finally, Gilreath does not contemplate the use of an inkjet or airbrushed produced image. Therefore, the Gilreath invention is limited in its application to electrostatically produced images.
An improved "dry" method for creating design laminates is needed which can overcome the many disadvantages of the prior art. Such method should be able to meet the strict government and aircraft performance standards so that such design laminate can be used in aircraft interiors.

Method for producing a decorative design laminate for application to a substrate utilizing an embossing resin


A drywell table includes a top frame defining at least one opening configured to receive a serving pan therethrough and a heating plate disposed below the top frame. The drywell table also includes at least two heating fins extending between the heating plate and the top frame, and defining at least one row configured to receive the pan therein, wherein heat is transferred from the heating plate and heating fins to the serving pan via a sufficiently small air gap defined between the heating plate, heating fins and the serving pan, wherein the gap minimizes convection and radiation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to food warming tables, and more particularly to a drywell warming table for maintaining food at a temperature above 140° F.
2. Description of the Related Art
Restaurants often prepare various ingredients (e.g., sauces) in advance of assembling, the meal or food product in order to speed the preparation time for the meal Typically, such restaurants will prepare some cooked food and/or ingredients in advance and keep that food warm, for example, using a warming table.
One typical design for a warming table, a steam table, includes a steam bath. In such designs, steam is generated by heating an amount of water between the pans and heating table. The steam keeps the serving pans, and the food contained therein, warm.
Another typical design includes serving pans made of plastic and stainless steel. The pans are disposed within a drywell such that there is a sufficiently small air gap between the pans and the heating table. In such designs, the heating table is heated to a desired temperature and the food in the serving pans is heated primarily via conduction heat transfer through the stagnant air between the heating table and the serving pans.
Typically, as the level of food in the serving pans decreases, it is necessary to increase the amount of heat applied to the pans to keep the food within the desired serving temperature range. However, application of additional heat may lead to the boiling of the food when the pan is full, making it unsuitable for immediate consumption. Additionally, when less than 1 inch of food remains in the pan, the temperature of the food tends to decrease even when the amount of heat applied to the pans is increased, making the heating operation inefficient. The increased heat tends to escape through the surface of the pan not in contact with the food.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved drywell table to maintain food at a desired temperature for serving.


Circuitry for delaying a signal includes a phase-locked loop comprising one or more output nodes for outputting one or more output signals in response to a reference signal. A buffer is coupled to the output nodes of the phase-locked loop for receiving phase-locked loop output signals and outputs one or more buffered output signals. A multiplexing element receives the buffered output signals and a control signal and generates an operative buffered output signal in response to the control signal. A delay line receives a delay control input signal and the operative buffered output signal from the multiplexing element. The delay line outputs a delayed output signal in response to the delay control input signal.

The present invention relates generally to signal delay devices, and in particular to digital delay elements that are programmable for use with computer system components.
As the operation speed of computer systems continues to increase, the need exists to delay either clock or data signals to optimize the critical timing within the computer system due to the timing requirements of system components. Certainly, as the clock rate in the system increases, timing between the computer elements and within the computer chips becomes critical. One method to control the timing has been with a delay elements controllable through a digital Delay Locked Loop ("DLL"). These devices have been typically limited to coarse variable-delays where the incremental delay unit is one or two logic gates providing one or two blocked delay units, accordingly. Additionally, these devices could not be used to generate multiple delayed signals without including a DLL in each clock domain and doing so would result in large circuit overhead.
A design consideration for a delay element is its delay resolution and its insertion delay. The delay resolution is the unit of delay available through a delay element. Conventional delay circuits with blocked unit delays may be acceptable for low frequency operation, but high performance circuits require fractional increments of blocked delays. Insertion delay is the amount of delay generated by a delay element when at a zero delay state. The insertion delay is an important consideration particularly when deskewing data, since any added delay in a data path decreases overall performance.
Accordingly, a need exists for a programmable delay element for high performance computer systems that has greater delay resolution and negligible insertion delay. Also since different portions of a circuit can require different amounts of delay in the clock, a signal generation and distribution circuit is needed that is designed to accommodate multiple configurable and flexible delay requirements while maintaining a high degree of accuracy and minimizing circuit overhead.

Delayed signal generation circuits and methods

International Business Machines Corporation


An optical disc device is configured to reproduce an optical disc. The optical disc device includes an optical pickup, a high-frequency production component, a driver and a controller. The optical pickup includes a laser emission component configured to emit a laser beam, and a light receiver configured to receive returning light of the laser beam. The high-frequency production component is configured to produce a high-frequency signal. The driver is configured to produces a drive signal for driving the laser emission component by superposing the high-frequency signal produced by the high-frequency production component onto a specific drive signal. The controller is configured to control the high-frequency production component to adjust an amplitude of the high-frequency signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical disc device. More specifically, the present invention relates to an optical disc device for reproducing an optical disc, and to an optical disc reproduction method.
2. Background Information
Optical discs such as CDs (compact discs), DVDs (digital versatile discs), and BDs (Blu-ray Discs™) have come into widespread use in recent years. Furthermore, optical disc devices have been developed as devices that read, record, and reproduce the information recorded on an optical disc, such as audio information or image information. Examples of well known optical disc devices include CD players, DVD players, BD recorders, and CD-ROM drives that are connected to a personal computer.
An optical disc device is equipped with an optical pickup for reading information by directing a laser beam at an optical disc. The optical pickup has a laser diode for directing the laser beam at the information recording face of the optical disc, which is fixed to and rotating on a turntable.
The optical pickup also has a photodetector, such as a photodiode, for receiving reflected light from the information recording face. The optical pickup converts light into an electrical signal by means of this photodetector, and outputs the resulting signal.
In order to read information accurately from an optical disc, tracking must be performed, in which the optical axis of the laser beam is made to track the center of pits formed on the optical disc. To do this, an actuator for driving an object lens in the radial direction of the optical disc, and a tracking servo for controlling the actuator are provided inside the optical pickup device.
To improve the quality of the signal from the optical pickup and to enhance servo performance in an optical disc device such as this, a technique has been employed in which a high-frequency signal is superposed over the drive signal of the laser diode that emits the laser beam.
In relation to this technique, an optical disc device has been disclosed and proposed in which disturbance of the signal from the optical pickup is detected, and the amplitude of the high-frequency signal superposed onto the drive signal (hereinafter referred to as the "high-frequency superposition amplitude") is varied according to this detection result (see International Publication No. WO 2004/105006 (Patent Literature 1), for example).

Optical disc device and optical disc reproduction method