Method of making seat inserts by thermally spraying bulk material. The method includes the steps of: (i) preparing a mandrel having an outside dimension not greater than the desired inside dimension of the desired insert, the mandrel having a part to provide for separation of the sprayed bulk material from the mandrel, (ii) thermal spraying separate particles of one or more types of steel or nickel alloys in the presence of a controlled oxidizing medium to form a bulk composite material on the mandrel with a density of at least 99% and, (iii) after cooling the bulk material, removing such material from the mandrel and slicing it into discrete seat shapes for implanting into the final product.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the technology of spray-forming bulk materials to create objects, and more particularly to making high-performance inserts without chemistry constraints using spray-forming techniques.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Inserts have been used to enhance the physical characteristics of certain parts of a component, particularly components in an automotive engine. For example, steel alloy valve seat inserts are used extensively in aluminum engine heads and in some high-performance or alternative fuel cast iron engine heads. The list of enhanced high-performance characteristics desired at the seat is often quite long, including increased ambient and high temperature wear resistance, higher creep resistance, higher thermal fatigue strength, (under repeated valve impact loading), better thermal conductivity, better corrosion resistance, lower manufacturing costs, and capability of being tribologically compatible with valve materials engaging the insert.
A common manufacturing approach that attempts to attain these characteristics is to make the inserts by powder metallurgy processes which involve several steps: weighing and blending of selected powder mixtures; compaction and green body formation in molds and dies; sintering and sometimes copper infiltration of the compact at respectively 1080.degree. C. and 1500.degree. C.; controlled cooling; post-sintering tempering heat treatment; and finally machining to the desired seat dimensions. This obviously is an involved process which adds considerable cost. To achieve the desired physical characteristics, chemical additions are made to the powder mixture of carbon, chromium, molybdenum (for wear resistance), cobalt and nickel (for heat resistance), and other additions to obtain better thermal conductivity or better self-lubrication. In ferrous based powder mixtures, the resulting product may have its matrix consist of pearlite, bainite or tempered martensite depending on the heat treatment used during compacting and sintering. The sintered insert will always have the same chemistry as the starting green compact with its micro-structure dependent on the heat treatment employed.
To obtain more optimum physical characteristics in inserts, very high concentration of certain additions (i.e. 15-25% wt. Cobalt; up to 20% wt. Pb) may be necessary, as well as the introduction of certain chemical ingredients, such as rare earths, which, unfortunately, inhibit or prevent sintering by powder metallurgy techniques. Moreover, powder metallurgy does not allow the introduction of low cost oxides or ceramics during processing; ceramics are very useful to achieve certain of the physical characteristics.
When an engine is run with alternate fuels such as natural gas or alcohol, powder metal valve seat inserts for internal combustion engine heads often are often inadequate. Powder metal valve seat inserts, when used for intake valve seats and alternate-fuel engines, often contain too little self-lubricant, such as lead, and thus prematurely wear severely. Lead is also undesirable as an embedded self-lubricant since it can foul catalytic surfaces used in treating emissions.
The prior art has not attempted to use thermal spray-forming techniques to make high-performance inserts. The Osprey spraying technique uses a refractory tundish to supply a stream of molten metal which is atomized under inert atmosphere or vacuum to spray-form bulk materials; however, difficult and exacting procedures are necessary to control the molten bath and stream, thus limiting its use to making inserts economically.


A mechanism for clamping a banjo (10) toolrest or toolrest bracket to a lathe bed (51) which makes use of a sliding cam (40) which is actuated by a drive shaft (18). The cam is supported independently of the drive shaft by a support block (12) resting on a ledge (14) wich is formed in the base of the banjo. The cam is slidable with respect to the drive shaft along the length of this ledge on the banjo. This structure allows for sturdy clamping with minimal deflection at a predicable catching position along the length of the banjo rest. An eye bolt (20) is used to connect the cam to a clamping plate (22) which is positioned below two, spaced-apart rails (50) extending along the top of the lathe bed. The banjo rest has a generally open bottom (94) through which the shank of the eye bolt extends. Opposite ends of the drive shaft are rotatably supported by end walls (74, 76) of the banjo rest.

Lathes are mechanical devices used in the art of carving wood pieces, generally into bowls and other shapes. Lathes are also used for some applications for the moulding of metals. The lathes operate by spinning wood pieces at high velocity while the operator carves the piece using a sharp instrument. The usual lathe has a flat horizontal bed with flat horizontal support rails mounted upon the lathe bed. Vertical support members cam connect the support rails to the lathe bed. A motorized unit for rotating the wood piece normally extends vertically above the lathe bed.
When carving a wood piece it is necessary for the lathe operator to make use of a fixed and stable support bar on which the carving instrument is supported while carving the wood piece. Without this support bar it would be impossible for the operator to have control over the carving instrument while working on the object of manufacture.
The support bar is the top member of a toolrest bracket referred to in the art as a banjo. A banjo consists of a horizontal support which is secured onto the support rails of a lathe bed by way of a clamping mechanism. A vertical portion of the banjo extends upwardly at one end. A top horizontal support bar which is rotatably disposed on the vertical portion of the banjo constitutes the actual toolrest.
Current mechanisms for clamping a banjo to support rails provide for poor or difficult clamping. These mechanisms typically consist of a bolt which extends through a slot where the bolt and the slot are both movable by the action of a handle which is attached to the bolt and is used to rotate the bolt. Two longitudinal clamps which are closed by the turning of the bolt are used to clamp the banjo to the support rails. A handle may be attached to the bolt either above or below the support rails. In either case, the positioning is awkward for the carpenter and the clamping effectiveness is often unsatisfactory.
Another design which is currently in use makes use of a cam in order to effect the clamping action necessary to clamp the banjo to the support rails. This design makes use of an elongate drive shaft which is supported in the banjo. The shaft has cams and support bearings at each end of the shaft. A lever is attached to the shaft to rotate the cams from an unclamped to a clamped position. In this case the rotation of the cams transfer upward movement to the shaft which is in turn transferred to an eye bolt which is moved vertically to pull up on a clamp plate which clamps to the support rails.
This design is problematic in that the drive shaft is subject to a downward pull during the clamping attempt due to the fact that the cams are located on the ends of the drive shaft. As such, when the clamping is to be effected towards the centre of the drive shaft, the drive shaft is prone to bend or deflect. As the drive shaft length is increased the degree of bending increases proportionally and leads to greater deflection.


Realized is a method for restoring the activity of a catalyst for producing a carbonate ester by a simple technique with no use of a complicated step such as calcining or the like to allow the catalyst to be reusable, and a method for producing a carbonate ester at a high yield by use of the catalyst thus regenerated. The above-described problem has been solved by a method for regenerating a catalyst containing CeO2, the catalyst being usable for a carbonate ester generation reaction of generating a carbonate ester from carbon dioxide and an alcohol, the method comprising (a) a separation step of separating the catalyst as a crude catalyst from a reaction solution of carbon dioxide and the alcohol; and (b) a catalyst processing step of washing the crude catalyst with a washing alcohol to provide a purified catalyst.

"Carbonate ester" is a generic name of a compound obtained as a result of one atom or two atoms among two hydrogen atoms of carbonic acid. CO(OH)2, being substituted with an alkyl group or an aryl group, and has a structure of RO—C(═O)—OR′ (R and R′ each represent a saturated hydrocarbon group or an unsaturated hydrocarbon group).
A carbonate ester is used as an additive such as a gasoline additive for improving the octane value, a diesel fuel additive for decreasing the amount of particles in exhaust gas, or the like. A carbonate ester is also used as, for example, an alkylation agent, a carbonylation agent, a solvent or the like for synthesizing resins or organic compounds such as polycarbonate, urethane, pharmaceutical drugs, agricultural chemicals or the like, a material of an electrolytic solution of lithium ion cells, a material of lubricant oil, or a material of an oxygen absorber for rust inhibition of boiler pipes. As can be seen, a carbonate ester is a very useful compound.
According to a known method for producing a carbonate ester, a carbonate ester is directly synthesized from an alcohol and carbon dioxide using a heterogeneous catalyst. For example, according to a known reaction, an alcohol and carbon dioxide are reacted with each other under the presence of a hydration agent that removes water as a by-product from the reaction system, and as a result, a carbonate ester is generated. For such a carbonate ester generation reaction, a solid catalyst containing CeO2 (cerium oxide) or the like may be used (see Patent Documents 1 through 3 and Non-patent Documents 1 and 2).
These prior art documents disclose baking a catalyst to be regenerated. However, baking a catalyst requires a large-scale device, a long processing time and high cost, which prevents efficient production of a carbonate ester.
It is also known to wash a catalyst in order to produce a carbonate ester (see Non-patent Document 3). However, it is difficult to fully restore the reactivity of the catalyst by such a method.

Method for regenerating catalyst and method for producing carbonate ester


A torque responsive hydraulic control system for an automatic transmission with a plurality of hydraulically actuated friction control elements. A working hydraulic pressure in the elements is controlled during shifting such that a pressure in a first element is removed after a specific state of the element is achieved. The removal being responsive to the torque of an input shaft of the transmission, the expiration of a specific time period, or a position of the throttle valve of a driving engine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic transmission control system for an automobile which can control a torque draw caused at the beginning of, in particular, an up shift.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic transmissions for automotive vehicles, which typically comprise a torque converter and a transmission gear mechanism, are automatically shifted into desired gears by selectively locking and unlocking a plurality of friction coupling elements such as clutches and brakes to switch the torque transmission path of the transmission gear mechanism. This type of automatic transmissions are provided with hydraulic pressure control systems which perform control of supply hydraulic pressures to and discharge of the hydraulic pressures from the respective specific friction coupling elements to selectively lock and unlock them. In the hydraulic pressure supply control on a specific friction coupling element, precharge control is performed to make, for example, a duty solenoid valve as a pressure control means for controlling a working pressure to be supplied to the specific friction coupling element remain fully open for a certain time from an appearance of a gear shift command so as thereby to quickly fill a hydraulic pressure path leading to a pressure chamber of the specific friction coupling element with a working fluid.
The reason for performing the precharge control during a gear shift is that, in cases where locking or unlocking a friction coupling element is caused by supplying a working pressure to a pressure chamber of the friction coupling element, thee is no working fluid in a fluid line between a hydraulic control circuit and the friction coupling element at the beginning of a gear shift and a necessary level of fluid pressure is consequently not attained in the pressure chamber of the friction coupling element even when the working pressure is generated and supplied to the friction coupling element immediately after an appearance of a gear shift command, the locking or the unlocking of the friction coupling element is delayed. In one type of precharge control such as known from, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.1-303350, the precharge control is continued until an inertia phase of the control of a gear shift in which the turbine speed of the torque converter changes.
If an up shift is performed by locking a specific friction coupling gear in this type of automatic transmission, a problem of what is called a torque draw is encountered during a torque phase taking place at the beginning of the gear shift. The term of "torque draw" refers to the phenomenon of a temporary sharp drop in output torque in a period for which, while a torque change is caused due to the up shift, the turbine speed remains unchanged and leads to a shift shock which always provides aggravation of a gear shift feeling.
It has been known to make use of the precharge control in order to eliminate such a torque draw. For example, a prolonged precharge period or an increased flowing quantity of working fluid per unit time during the precharge control enhances a rise in the working pressure shortens the duration of a torque draw or the duration of a torque phase in which a torque draw potentially occurs, making the effect of a torque draw to the gear shift feeling less strong. However, simply increasing the precharge period or increasing the flowing rate of working fluid has adverse effects to the inertia phase after rising of the working pressure, or otherwise, in some driving conditions, results in aggravation of a gear shift feeling.

Automatic transmission control system for automobiles


An alkaline battery comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and an alkaline electrolyte, wherein the positive electrode includes manganese dioxide and graphite; the cumulative pore volume of pores with diameters of 3 to 5 nm in the manganese dioxide is X (cm3/g), and the weight loss rate of the manganese dioxide when heated from 150 to 400° C. is Y (%), X and Y satisfying 0.005≦X≦0.011, 3.4≦Y≦3.9, and −16.7X+3.58≦Y≦66.7X+3.17; the negative electrode includes zinc; and the alkaline electrolyte includes an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution.

In recent years, alkaline batteries have been expected to have improved discharge performance in an entire range of load from light load to heavy load, and in particular, the improvement in discharge performance in an intermediate load has been demanded. The main application corresponding to discharge under a heavy load is digital still cameras, and the main application corresponding to discharge under an intermediate load is portable music devices. It is difficult, however, to improve the discharge performance in the intermediate load (i.e., in AA-size batteries, current of about 0.1 to 0.4 A), and there has been a demand for a technique for improving the intermediate load discharge performance without degrading the discharge performance in the other range of load.
Manganese dioxide included in a positive electrode for alkaline batteries contains structural water (or water of crystallization) in the crystal structure thereof. Conventionally, in view of improving heavy load discharge performance, the use of manganese dioxide containing an increased amount of structural water has been proposed.
For example, Patent Document 1 proposes the use of manganese dioxide having a weight loss rate when heated from 200 to 400° C. of 2.7% or more. In such manganese dioxide, the weight loss rate when heated from 150 to 400° C. is estimated to be 3.2% or more.
Non-patent Document 1 proposes that the synthesis conditions for manganese dioxide be controlled to change the crystal structure of the manganese dioxide, thereby to improve the heavy load discharge performance.
Non-patent Document 2 discloses that the weight loss rate from 150 to about 400° C. reflects the amount of Mn vacancies in the solid phase of manganese dioxide. When there is a large amount of Mn vacancies, the migration of hydrogen ions in the solid phase of manganese dioxide is facilitated. Accordingly, it is assumed that when a large amount of current flows, the polarization during discharge is reduced, resulting in a good discharge performance. On this assumption, the synthesis conditions under which the Mn vacancies are increased are examined.
Patent Document 2 proposes that in an alkaline zinc battery, in view of improving the characteristics when the battery is continuously discharged at 1 A, the pore volume in the manganese dioxide be 0.035 cm3/g to 0.050 cm3/g.
Patent Document 3 proposes a method for preparing manganese dioxide suited for heavy load discharge, by way of controlling the electrolytic synthesis conditions.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-186127
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2005-520390
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2002-533288
Non-patent Document 1: Collection of 44th Battery Symposium Lecture Summaries, pp. 656-657
Non-patent Document 2: Paul Reutschi et al., J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 135, No. 11 (1988), pp. 2663-2669
However, sufficient improvement of both heavy load discharge performance and intermediate discharge performance cannot be achieved by merely increasing the structural water in manganese dioxide as conventionally proposed. In order to achieve further improvement of both heavy load discharge performance and intermediate discharge performance of alkaline batteries, it is considered necessary to control not only the content of structural water but also the relationship between the content of structural water and other physical properties of manganese dioxide.


A cleaning agent comprising a polyacrylate terpolymer and a maleic olefin compound may be added to an aqueous system having a metal surface, such as a metal surface of a heat exchanger, in a concentration sufficient to remove fouling deposits from the metal surface in neutral or alkaline conditions. The removal of fouling deposits with the application of the cleaning agent may occur while the system is shut down or in service.

Fouling of heat exchangers and other equipment employed in industrial aqueous systems can significantly hinder the processes carried out by the equipment in the system.
Fouling of heat exchangers, for example, can increase the overall thermal resistance and can lower the overall heat transfer coefficient of heat exchangers. Fouling can also impede fluid flow, can accelerate corrosion, and can increase pressure drop across the heat exchanger. Furthermore, cleaning of fouled heat exchangers presents a significant challenge to maintenance and operation of heat exchangers in process industries.
Various methods have been used to clean fouling deposits from heat exchanger tubes, either online (i.e. while the system is in operation) and offline (i.e. while the system is shut down), each of which presents advantages and limitations. Some online methods of cleaning of heat exchangers involve adding a weak organic acid to the system. Typically, this type of cleaning is done at pH 6.5 and below. However, cleaning metal surfaces, such as carbon steel surfaces, in such acidic conditions results in more corrosion. Thus, online cleaning of corroded or fouled metal surfaces in industrial systems cannot often be adequately carried out.
Phosphorous-based cleaners, like tetra potassium pyrophosphate ("TKPP"), have also been used to help remove fouling deposits in the form of iron scales from heat exchanger tube surfaces. While the use of TKPP aids in the dispersion and suspension of iron scales, in certain conditions, the addition of TKPP could result in the formation of calcium phosphate scale.
Thus, it is desirable to employ more effective ways to remove fouling deposits, such as iron scales, from metal surfaces in systems containing bulk water while the systems are in operation.

Cleaning agent comprising a polyacrylate terpolymer for removal of fouling deposits from metal surfaces


In an embodiment of the present invention, the following operations are performed while a substrate holder is being rotated at a fixed rotation speed with plasma being generated. Specifically, a first state where a substrate holding surface of the substrate holder is exposed to a target holder is formed to start a first deposition of divisional depositions, and a second state where the surface is shut off from the target holder is formed in T/X seconds after the start of the first divisional deposition. Moreover, the first state is formed to start an n-th deposition of the divisional depositions when a reference point set on the substrate holder arrived at a position rotated by (n−1)×360/X degrees from a position of the reference point located at the start of the targeted deposition, and the second state is formed in T/X seconds after the start of the n-th divisional deposition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sputter apparatus, a control device for the sputter apparatus, and a film formation method, and more specifically relates to a sputter apparatus, a control device for the sputter apparatus, and a film formation method to be used to deposit a material on a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sputtering (hereinafter also referred to as sputter) is widely used as a thin-film formation method. In the case of sputter, a thin film deposited on a substrate to be processed generally has a film thickness distribution in the substrate surface. The following method has been known as a method of improving the film thickness distribution (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-240965).
In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-240965, the sputter is started using a target placed diagonally opposed to the substrate. Firstly, a deposition rate on the rotating substrate during the sputter is calculated, and a deposition time is calculated based on the deposition rate and a film thickness to be obtained. Then, a rotation speed of the substrate is controlled so that the substrate can rotate an integer multiple of times within the deposition time (that is, a deposition start angle and a deposition end angle of the substrate are set to be the same). It is disclosed that this control cancels out the unevenness in the film thickness in the substrate surface, and thereby improves the film thickness distribution.
In general, however, the deposition rate varies by a certain amount at the sputter starts, and requires a certain period of time is needed to stabilize the deposition rate. For this reason, even though the method as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-240965 is performed, the thin film thus deposited has a film thickness distribution in the substrate surface.

Sputter apparatus, control device for sputter apparatus and film formation method


A lengthwise graphitization furnace for the conversion of a string of amorphous carbon bodies to graphite has an open semi-cylindrical shell of corrugated steel modules lined with cast refractory. The combination of the corrugated shell and cast refractory liner contributes to faster heat transfer by both convection and radiation, and to greater mechanical and thermal stability. The furnace is designed in modules allowing for easy replacement of worn components.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for carrying out the production of graphite electrodes and other graphitized bodies. A great variety of electrochemical and metallurgical processes are carried out with the use of carbon and graphite electrodes. In this context it should be understood that the word carbon denotes the amorphous form of carbon and graphite denotes the multilayered hexagonal crystalline form of carbon.
Carbon and graphite electrodes are used in many electrochemical processes, including the production of magnesium, chlorine, iodine, phosphorus, steel, and the production of aluminum in Hall cells.
Carbon electrodes consist of the essentially amorphous carbon from petroleum coke which has been calcined, ground, classified by size, mixed with a binder, and bound in a matrix of amorphous carbon derived from the binder after baking at temperatures of approximately 700.degree. C. to 1100.degree. C. in a baking furnace. Graphite electrodes are produced from the carbon forms by placing them in an Acheson furnace and in recent years in a Lengthwise Graphitization (LWG) type furnace and heating them to a temperature between 2500.degree. C. to 3000.degree. C., which converts the amorphous form of carbon to the crystalline graphite, and vaporizes most of the impurities present in the original carbon, including most metals and sulfur compounds. Graphite, compared to amorphous carbon has much higher electrical and thermal conductivity, lower coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), superior ductility and vastly superior thermal shock resistance at the operating temperatures of the electric arc steel furnace. These physical properties are uniquely valuable in the electric furnace with its need for high electrical currents, and the need to resist the mechanical and thermal shock suffered by the electrodes from the falling scrap, fluctuations in metal and electrode level, and generally high thermal stresses. Consequently, graphite is universally used as an electrode in the electric arc melting of steel.
The production of graphite electrodes from the so-called carbon electrodes had traditionally been carried out in the Acheson furnace in which the electrodes are typically placed in a transverse orientation to the flow of the electrical current, and surrounded by a resistor medium, thereby causing the current to pass alternately through tiers of electrodes and resistor media, the latter being typically metallurgical or petroleum coke. The Acheson process is of such ancient vintage and so well known as not to require any further description. The LWG process, although very old, is less well known and has been practiced on a commercial scale only in recent years. The LWG process is carried out by arranging the carbon electrodes in a continuous column with an electrical connection at each end of the column. See U.S. Pat. No. 1,029,121 Heroult, Cl. 13/7 Jun. 11, 1912 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,068, Vohler, Mar. 29, 1977, Cl. 13/7. In the LWG process, the electrodes themselves form the dominant path for the heating current, with one or both of the ends of the column subjected to a mechanical or hydrostatic pressure source in order to keep the connection tight under expansion or contraction of the column during the heating cycle. A packing medium of granular coke is used for insulation, however, Vohler does not use a packing medium, but discloses a metal shell with a felt liner as insulation.
The LWG process has many advantages over the Acheson process. The energy efficiency is much higher, as the material is heated directly instead of indirectly, and the cycle time for the process is much faster taking typically less than 12 hours as compared to 60 to 120 hours for the Acheson process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,766 issued Jul. 19, 1983 describes an LWG furnace and U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,207 describes a loading apparatus for such a furnace, referred to herein as a strongback.


A new and distinct variety of nectarine tree which is somewhat similar to the ‘August Lion II’ nectarine tree (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,053) but from which it is distinguished by producing fruit which are mature for harvesting and shipment approximately five (5) to seven (7) days after ‘August Lion II’ nectarine tree (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,053) in the San Joaquin Valley of central California and wherein the fruit is of high quality, has a good flavor with dark red coloration over the skin surface.

The present invention relates to a new variety of nectarine tree, Prunus persica var nectarina, which will hereinafter be denominated varietally as the 'August Lion III' nectarine tree, and, more particularly, to a nectarine tree which produces very large clingstone fruit which, in a normal year, is mature for commercial harvesting and shipment approximately August 15th through August 30th, or approximately five (5) to seven (7) days after 'August Lion II' nectarine tree (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,053), in the San Joaquin Valley of central California, having a fully red outer coloration and a distinctive flavor when ripe.
New varieties of plant life, including, of course, nectarine trees, which result from the process of hybridization require an arduous and time consuming period of selection and development. Among the objectives in selecting a new plant variety are those which appear to possess the characteristics which may prove to be a commercial success. These characteristics for the fruit thereof, include but are not limited to, size, flavor, outer coloration, resistance to disease, the capability for storage, shipment, and retail display and consumption for a commercially acceptable period of time. For the trees themselves, such considerations include growth, productivity, ease of harvesting, resistance to disease and pests and toleration of variations in climatic conditions. The instant new variety of nectarine tree is believed by the inventors to have excellent characteristics in these regards and thus is a promising candidate for commercial success.
In addition the subject variety of nectarine tree ripens for harvest later in the growing season than many varieties of nectarine tree including the 'August Lion II' nectarine tree (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,053). It therefore, in effect, extends the productive season for nectarine fruit produced in the San Joaquin Valley of central California, as well as in other growing areas.

Nectarine tree denominated ‘August Lion III’


A sheet material conveyer system includes a sheet-transfer conveyer having an endless sheet-transfer belt for conveying sheet materials, a heater provided below the elevation of the endless sheet-transfer belt for heating the sheet materials being carried on the endless sheet-transfer belt to a dry state, an impression belt assembly having an endless impression belt disposed above the endless sheet-transfer belt for guiding movement of the sheet materials with the endless sheet-transfer belt, and tension supports insertable into a conveying space between the endless sheet-transfer belt and the endless impression belt from two opposite lateral sides to support the endless impression belt in shape and to control the tension of the endless impression belt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveyer system for conveying sheet materials such as corrugated boards or the like, and more particularly to a sheet material conveyer system with tension support means.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a factory or plant, a conveyer system may be used to convey workpieces. A conveyer system generally comprises an endless conveying belt for conveying workpieces. A conveyer system for conveying sheet materials may be provided with a supplementary impression belt assembly adapted for holding workpieces on the endless conveying belt and guiding movement of the workpieces with the endless conveying belt. By means of the guiding of the supplementary impression belt assembly, the workpieces are prohibited from biasing or falling from the endless conveying belt during movement. However, a conventional conveyer system of this design is still not satisfactory in function because of the following drawbacks:
1. The supplementary impression belt assembly may become loosened easily after a long use, thereby narrowing the conveying space between the endless conveying belt and the supplementary impression belt assembly and affecting the conveying operation.
2. The conveying space between the endless conveying belt and the supplementary impression belt assembly may be not kept in a substantially uniform status, affecting conveying of sheet materials.
3. Because the supplementary impression belt assembly is loosening easily, the conveying space between the endless conveying belt and the supplementary impression belt assembly may be partially blocked during conveying of the sheet materials such as the bonded corrugated boards that are heated to a dry state by a heater in the conveyer system, affecting dissipation of vapor from the bonded corrugated boards.

Sheet material conveyer system with tension support means


A boot having a flexible upper for snowboarding. The boot includes a flexible upper portion and a rigid reinforcing frame, wherein the rigid reinforcing frame includes a lower reinforcement portion surrounding the heel at least; a dorsal reinforcement portion surrounding the rear area of the lower part of the leg; both parts are connected via a narrow connecting portion that includes, on the lateral side, a stiffening arrangement that stiffens the connecting portion only during lateral tilting of the dorsal reinforcement portion on the lateral side of the boot. Because of the aforementioned construction, the boot retains its qualities of comfort and, at the same time, ensures the transmission of the essential forces by virtue of a frame that provides flexibility on the medial side of the boot and support on the lateral side of the boot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a boot with a flexible upper, especially intended for snowboarding.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
There are two broad categories of snowboarding boots: one has a rigid plastic shell equipped with a flexible inner liner, and the other has a flexible, or partially flexible upper, made of fabric, leather or flexible plastic. The first category is not really adapted to the modern practice of snowboarding because the practitioners are often required to move while walking on snow. The invention is related to the second category of flexible boots that is better adapted to walking. These days, these shoes or boots are essentially designed as simple, lengthy boots, that are impervious and comfortable but devoid of any effective role in the transmission of forces that is associated with the dynamic practice of the discipline. In the majority of cases, these boots are adapted to so-called "shell" bindings that comprise a base on which the sole and a dorsal element linked to the base rest, and that provides a rigid rear support to the lower part of the leg, especially when the snowboarder makes back side turns. Straps in sufficient numbers ensure the tightening of the boot in the binding.
These systems have disadvantages. They are cumbersome because of the rear ascending element and because of the presence of the straps. The straps must be readjusted each time that the boot is reengaged into the "shell" binding, before each descent. The tightening of the straps must be adequate in order to retain the boot efficiently; this causes problems of comfort due to the flexibility of the upper. Finally, these shells transmit the various combined bending forces badly because the adaptation of their shapes is often approximate, this being especially true for the dorsal element with the boot, and this is not adequately rectified by tightening the straps.
Various binding systems, called "step-in" systems evolved in order to replace the shell bindings, and these consist of connecting one or several gripping elements linked to the sole of a flexible boot to an automatic latching system affixed on the board. Such an example of a "step-in" binding is described in the application WO 95/09035. For the transmission of forces, the flexible boot is subject to a localized reinforcement, especially in order to ensure rear support.
The document FR 2 722 371 is related to this type of boot that comprises a flexible and deformable inner liner portion, an impermeable and flexible outer upper portion and, located between these two portions, a more rigid shell element on which is journalled, along an axis passing through the median longitudinal plane of the boot, a journalled dorsal element that encloses a portion of the calf. This type of boot has the advantage of being more efficient when the snowboarder makes back side turns due to the fact that the dorsal element is inserted into the structure of the boot, while also promoting a certain lateral looseness, either on the inner or outer side, so as to allow the snowboarder to adopt leg positions that are more or less bent laterally with respect to his torso.
The document EP-A1-646334 is also related to a boot with an inner frame having a journalled dorsal part. In the example described, the boot is connected to a base in the form of a plate and the tightening on this base is done by straps. This solution thus picks up on some of the disadvantages of strap bindings.
The patent application FR 2 719 197 suggests another solution consisting of a boot with a flexible upper and a rigid, journalled, outer frame. The principle of construction for such a boot enables it to be adapted onto any type of binding, including traditional board bindings for lengthy, rigid shell boots that are derived from downhill skiing.
All these solutions for boots are interesting because they offer a rear support in "back side" turns, as well as internal, lateral flexibility for figures, jumps, etc. However, when the snowboarder is in the position of relaunching his board, or in the skating phase, he requires a certain external lateral support. This asymmetry in the external/internal (i.e., lateral/medial) functions is not dealt with in the known prior art solutions.

Boot with a flexible upper and a reinforcing frame therein, particularly for snowboarding


System and method for automatically developing phishing detection rules. Based on detected phishing indicia, a quantitative score is computed for each of a plurality of predefined parameters, with each of the parameters relating to at least one of the phishing indicia. A requirement for evolving a phishing detection rule is assessed, and a new phishing detection rule is generated based on selected parameter scores meeting the rule evolution criteria and on corresponding content of the phishing indicia relating to those selected parameter scores. New phishing detection rules are applied recursively to detect phishing indicia, and more new rules can be further evolved in recursive fashion.

Thanks to the rapid development of Internet technologies over the last decade, the affordability of a large variety of Internet-connectable devices (such as personal computers, notebooks, tablets, smartphones, etc.), and their ease of use, a great number of people have come to rely on the World-Wide Web for their daily activities, such as consuming media content, shopping, working with bank accounts, reading mail, texts, or other forms of messaging, visiting social networks, among many other uses. Often, when working on the Internet (for example, when purchasing products, transferring money, registering with retailers or service providers, etc.), users are asked to provide certain confidential information (such as credit card numbers and bank account numbers, account passwords, etc.), all of which are examples of information upon which the financial security of users depends, to external sites.
The sheer number of users of the Internet has drawn a massive increase in the activity of fraud perpetrators who, by various techniques and methodologies, seek to gain access to confidential data of users in order to misappropriate personal and financial data to engage in fraudulent or other malicious activity. One of the more popular methods employed by fraudsters is commonly referred to as phishing, i.e. gaining access to confidential user information through electronic messaging by masquerading as a known or trusted entity, e.g., popular brands, personal messages within various services (for example, within social networks), and creation and registration with search services of sites posing as legitimate sites of banks, Internet stores, social networks, etc. A letter or message sent to users by fraudsters often contains links to malicious sites which look familiar, and often quite similar, to real ones, or to sites from which a transfer to malicious sites will be made. Once the user is transferred to a fake page, fraudsters, using various social engineering techniques, try to cause the user to enter his/her confidential information, which the fraudster then uses to access corresponding user accounts and bank accounts. In addition to the extraction of confidential information, the user is exposed to the risk of receiving, from a fake site, a malicious application that works unbeknownst to the user to gather various other items of information from the victim's computer and transfer it to fraudsters.
To counter the above-described fraud method, technologies are used to detect phishing messages (for example, in email) and fake sites. These technologies use databases of trusted and non-trusted site addresses, templates of sentences and other text strings from known phishing messages, etc. When the presence of such a suspicious object is detected, the user is informed about the potential danger.
Although these existing techniques may be efficient when dealing with already-known threats, links and pages, that have been studied by information security specialists and have been recognized as potentially dangerous, the conventional techniques are much less efficient when dealing with new, constantly-changing threats. In addition, because of a manual or semi-automatic analysis, the response time between the appearance of a new phishing site or message and its detection and subsequent blockage from access by a user can be quite significant, which represents a major factor in the large number of users succumbing to phishing and related fraud.
A practical solution is therefore needed to address the ever-changing nature of phishing attacks.

System and method for automated phishing detection rule evolution


Provided are a dialogue device, a dialogue method, a data structure, and a program capable of realizing various dialogues while reducing the amount of description of a dialogue scenario.

In recent years, a dialogue system for having a dialogue with a computer or a robot has received attention as one of AI technologies. The dialogue system is realized in such a manner that the system repeats an appropriate reply in response to a user's input utterance.
The dialogue system can be broadly divided into a scenario-type dialogue system and a statistical-type dialogue system. The scenario-type dialogue system is realized by describing a large number of response rules in advance in the dialogue system (Non-Patent Literature 1).

Dialog device, dialog method, data structure, and program

Abstract: A knowledge transition unit 120 determines a next type of knowledge based on: a knowledge base 130 in which a relation label indicating each of relations between a plurality of types of knowledge is attached to knowledge about each of utterances to express the knowledge about the utterance; a user utterance; current knowledge; and a dialogue scenario including a basic scenario in which a transition method between the plurality of types of knowledge in the knowledge base is determined using the relation label, and an utterance generation unit 150 generates a system utterance based on the next type of knowledge.

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


A bandgap reference voltage source (104) has positive and negative terminals (104a,104b) which are connected through high impedance constant current sources (124c,126c) to positive and negative voltage supplies (+VDD,-VEE) respectively. The effect of variations of the voltage supplies (+VDD, -VEE) on the voltage source (104) is low due to the high impedances of the currents sources (124c,126c), providing a high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR). The reference voltage (VREF) generated by the voltage source (104) is converted into a reference current (IREF) which flows through two equal series resistors (108,110), and also through current mirrors (124,126) which produce positive and negative output currents corresponding thereto. The current sources (124c,126c) for the voltage source (104) are also controlled by the current mirrors (124,126). A servo control amplifier (232) senses the voltage at the junction (234) of the resistors (108,110) and adjusts the voltage at either the positive or negative terminal (104a,104b) of the voltage source (104) to maintain the voltages at the terminals (104a,104b) symmetrical with respect to ground, thereby preventing the voltage source (104) from latching to one of the voltage supplies (+VDD,-VEE) during startup.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the art of electronic signal processing using transistor circuits, and more specifically to a single-ended or symmetrical bipolar bias current source for a transistor amplifier or the like having a high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) and stable startup operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
The specifications for state-of-the-art analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and other devices utilizing integrated circuit analog transistor amplifiers are becoming increasingly stringent. Amplifiers for extremely small signal and wide dynamic range applications require bias current supplies with correspondingly high PSRR and stable settling during startup.
An example of a device to which the present invention relates is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,470, entitled "DC-COUPLED TRANSIMPEDANCE AMPLIFIER", issued Nov. 13, 1990 to R. Gosser. The device is a current feedback amplifier having symmetrical bipolar (positive and negative) push-pull stages which require symmetrical bias currents. Although adequate for some applications, an amplifier such as disclosed by Gosser has a PSRR on the order of -60 db, which is unacceptably low to meet the advanced demands of future technology.
The symmetrical bipolar bias currents in Gosser's amplifier are provided by a master bias circuit 10 which is illustrated in present FIG. 1 and includes a bandgap reference source 12 which drops a highly stable reference voltage VREF thereacross. The source 12 has a positive terminal 12a which is connected through a resistor 14 to the collector of an NPN bipolar transistor 16, and a negative terminal 12b which is connected through a resistor 18 to the emitter of the transistor 16. The positive terminal 12a is also connected to the base of the transistor 16.
A positive current mirror 20 includes a PNP transistor 22 and an NPN transistor 24 which are connected in a Darlington compound transistor configuration, with the emitter of the transistor 24 being connected to the base of the transistor 22 and the collector of the transistor 24 being connected to the emitter of the transistor 22. The collector of the transistor 22 is connected to the collector of the transistor 16, whereas the emitter of the transistor 22 is connected through a resistor 26 to a positive voltage supply +VDD.
The collector of the transistor 22 is also connected to the base of a PNP transistor 28, the collector of which is connected to a negative voltage supply -VEE and the emitter of which is connected to the base of the transistor 24. The base of the transistor 24 is further connected to the supply +VDD through a resistor 30 and to the base of an NPN transistor 32. The voltage supplies +VDD and -VEE are equal and opposite relative to ground.
The transistor 32 is connected to a PNP transistor 34 in a Darlington configuration, with the emitter of the transistor 32 being connected to the base of the transistor 34 and the collector of the transistor 32 being connected to the emitter of the transistor 34. The emitter of the transistor 34 is connected to the source +VDD through a resistor 36, whereas the collector of the transistor 34 is connected to the positive end of a load 38 which symbolically represents the push-pull amplifier stages of Gosser's device.
A negative current mirror 40 includes a NPN transistor 42 and a PNP transistor 44 which are connected in a Darlington configuration, with the emitter of the transistor 44 being connected to the base of the transistor 42 and the collector of the transistor 44 being connected to the emitter of the transistor 42. The collector of the transistor 42 is connected to the negative terminal 12b of the source 12, whereas the emitter of the transistor 42 is connected through a resistor 46 to the supply -VEE.
The collector of the transistor 42 is also connected to the base of an NPN transistor 48, the collector of which is connected to the supply +VDD and the emitter of which is connected to the base of the transistor 44. The base of the transistor 44 is further connected to the supply -VEE through a resistor 50 and to the base of a PNP transistor 52.
The transistor 52 is connected to an NPN transistor 54 in a Darlington configuration, with the emitter of the transistor 52 being connected to the base of the transistor 54 and the collector of the transistor 52 being connected to the emitter of the transistor 54. The emitter of the transistor 54 is connected to the source -VEE through a resistor 56, whereas the collector of the transistor 54 is connected to the negative end of the load 38.
A resistor 58 is connected between the emitters of the transistors 24 and 44, whereas a resistor 60 is connected between the emitters of the transistors 32 and 52. The resistances of the resistors 58 and 60 are selected to be sufficiently high that the resistors 58 and 60 approximate constant current sources for the transistors 24,44 and 32,52.
The voltage at the base of the transistor 24 is one forward-biased diode drop Vbe above the voltage at the collector of the transistor 22 due to the base-emitter drop (equal to Vbe) across the transistor 28. The voltage at the emitter of the transistor 24 and thereby at the base of the transistor 22 is one diode drop below the voltage at the base of the transistor 24. These two diode drops cancel, such that the voltage at the base of the transistor 22 is equal to the voltage at the collector thereof.
The Darlington configuration of the transistors 22 and 24 cancels the base current modulation which is present in the transistor 22 in a known manner. The transistors 24 and 28 effectively connect the base and collector of the transistor 22 together such that the transistors 22, 24 and 28 in combination are electrically equivalent to a diode.
The voltage across the resistor 18 is equal to the reference voltage VREF minus the Vbe drop across the base-emitter junction of the transistor 16. This causes a reference current IREF to flow through the resistor 18 and, neglecting the base current of the transistor 16, into the collector and out of the emitter of the transistor 16.
The bandgap reference source 12, transistor 16 and resistors 14 and 18 constitute a reference current generator 62 which generates the reference current IREF with high precision and stability. Neglecting the base currents of the transistors 28 and 48, the reference current IREF flows from the positive supply +VDD through the resistor 26, transistors 22, 16 and 42 and resistor 46 to the negative supply -VEE.
The transistors 22, 24 and 28 and resistor 26 constitute an input section 20a of the current mirror 20. Due to the diode connection of the transistor 22, the base (and collector) voltage of the transistor 22 adjusts to a level which accommodates the current IREF flowing therethrough.
The transistors 32, 34 and 36 constitute an output section 20b of the current mirror 20. The base of the transistor 24 is connected to the base of the transistor 32, such that the base voltage of the transistor 34 is equal to the base voltage of the transistor 22. Assuming that the transistors 22, 24, 28, 32 and 34 and resistors 26 and 36 are matched, the current IBIAS=IREF will flow through the transistor 34 into the load 38. If these components are not matched, a current IBIAS will flow through the transistor 34 into the load 38 which corresponds to, but is different from, the reference current IREF.
The input section 20a of the current mirror 20 acts as a current source which sources the reference current IREF from the supply +VDD into the generator 62, with the current being regulated by the bandgap reference source 12. The input section 20a also mirrors the reference current IREF to the output section 20b which sources the reference current (or a corresponding current) from the supply +VDD into the load 38.
The operation of the current mirror 40 is symmetrical to that of the current mirror 20. The input section 40a sinks the current IREF from the generator 62 to the supply -VEE, and mirrors the current IREF to the output section 40b which sinks the current IREF (or a current corresponding to the current sourced by the output section 20b) from the load 38 to the supply -VEE.
Although only one output section 20b and 40b is illustrated for each of the current mirrors 20 and 40 respectively, the output sections 20b and 40b may be replicated to provide one or more additional output sections which are mirrored to the input sections 20a and 40a as indicated by broken lines 64 and 66 respectively.
The generator 62 and input sections 20a and 40a of the current mirrors 20 and 40 respectively are illustrated in FIG. 2. As discussed above, the bases of the transistors 22 and 42 are connected to the collectors thereof, are electrically equivalent to diodes, and are thusly represented in FIG. 2. The diode-connected transistors 22 and 42 have very low resistance, and the PSRR is primarily determined by the resistances of the resistors 26, 46, 14 and 18.
As disclosed by Gosser, the resistances of these resistors are low, with 26 and 46 being 400 .OMEGA. and 18 being 300 .OMEGA.. For this reason, a fluctuation in either of the voltage supplies +VDD and -VEE will modulate the collector-emitter voltage of the transistor 16 and cause a corresponding variation in IREF. This is because due to the very low resistances of the resistors 26, 46 and 18, the collector and emitter voltages of the transistor 16 follow the supply voltages +VDD and -VEE relatively closely, and the PSRR is thereby relatively low.
Another problem inherent in Gosser's bias circuit 10 is that the settling during startup is relatively unstable. The bandgap reference source 12 if; connected in series with the resistor 14 which has a relatively high value (10 K.OMEGA.), and is not controlled by any kind of feedback loop. The voltage at the upper or lower end of the source 12 is, in the worst case scenario, capable of latching to the supply VDD or -VEE respectively. This would render the circuit 10 inoperative until the situation was corrected.

Symmetrical bipolar bias current source with high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR)


Systems and methods, including computer software products, can be implemented for selecting data on a mobile device on which multiple channels are defined. Each channel can be adapted to receive a predetermined type of content for access on the mobile device. Multiple languages may also be defined on the device, and multiple data sets for at least one of the channels are received, wherein each data set is configured for presentation in a different one of the languages. One of the data sets may be selected based on a current location.

The present disclosure relates to selecting data in computer systems in general and more specifically relates to selecting data in mobile information systems. In a mobile information system, subscribers may register with a wireless service provider to receive various types of content from the service provider on their mobile devices. The subscriber may have capabilities in more than one language. The subscriber's mobile device may include a resident interactive multimedia application environment that includes capabilities for displaying graphics, video, animation, audio, and the like. Examples of such interactive multimedia application environments are the different versions of the Adobe® Flash®-based platform. Many different types of content are provided to mobile devices equipped with such application environments.

Selecting data in a mobile information system


A device may include a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structure that may include a substrate, an insulator layer over the substrate, and a semiconductor layer over the insulator layer. The semiconductor layer may include a first conductivity region and a second conductivity region at least partially arranged within the semiconductor layer. The device may further include a gate structure arranged over the semiconductor layer and between the first conductivity region and the second conductivity region; a first conductor element arranged through the semiconductor layer and the insulator layer of the SOI structure to electrically contact the substrate; a second conductor element arranged to electrically contact the gate structure; and a conducting member connecting the first conductor element and the second conductor element to electrically couple the first conductor element and the second conductor element.

Semiconductor devices are widely used in many applications, such as to communicate or amplify signals. For example, switch devices, such as radio frequency (RF) switch devices, are a type of semiconductor device often used in modern communication systems. To date, designing and fabricating switch devices with an ultra-wide bandwidth and good linearity remains challenging. In recent years, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology has been adopted for the design of switch devices. By fabricating the switch devices with SOI technology, the performance of the switch devices can be improved due to the reduced parasitic capacitance and the reduced substrate loss in the SOI structures. However, switch devices with SOI structures often suffer from problems, such as current leakage due to plasma charging during the wafer fabrication process. These problems can result in non-linearity in the switch devices and can reduce the power handling capability of the switch devices.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved device that can overcome the above problems.

Semiconductor device having conducting member for electrically coupling gate structure to underlying substrate of SOI structure


Apparatuses, methods and storage medium associated with restricting current draw in wearable devices are disclosed herein. In embodiments, a wearable computing device may include a power source, one or more components coupled with each other and to the power source to perform wearable computing; and control circuitry coupled with the one or more components, the control circuitry to: identify a threshold selected based on a power consumption model of the wearable computing device; ascertain whether current draw from the power source is greater than the threshold; and restrict the current draw from the power source of the wearable computing device based on a signal output from one of the one or more components, in response to the current draw is ascertained to be greater than the threshold. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
With advances in integrated circuits and computing technology, wearable computer devices, such as smart watches, are becoming increasingly popular. Some wearable computer devices such as connected wearable devices may run on a lithium ion battery or other power source that can provide relatively high electric currents compared to the size and thermal dissipation capabilities of the components they supply power to. For instance, a lithium ion battery may provide power to a small printed circuit board (PCB). When a user attaches a wearable computing device, there is a risk that an electrical or mechanical malfunction could result in significant current draw (errant power dissipation) resulting in an undesired increase in temperature of an external surface of the wearable computing device, which may be close to the user's skin (e.g., in contact with the user's skin in some cases such as the case of a wrist-worn computer device).
Some mobile devices, such as laptops, employ a temperature monitoring system in which a thermistor device is mounted to the PCB and the temperature of the external surface is inferred from the reading of the thermistor combined with prior knowledge of the thermal characteristics of heat transfer between the PCB and the device's enclosure. However, these temperature monitoring systems may not be able to prevent undesired temperature increases in wearable devices due to the interface between the user and the device having several different characteristics such as high thermal conductivity of sensor pins that may have direct contact with the user's skin.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Restricting current draw in wearable devices


There is provided a system and method for determining an optimal bandwidth for a communication between a networked client device and a server. There is provided a method comprising identifying the networked client device, identifying a location of the networked client device, obtaining a client device profile for the networked client device corresponding to the location, and determining the optimal bandwidth using the client device profile. In this manner, client devices may almost instantly stream the highest quality video available.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to streaming video content to a networked client device. More particularly, the present invention relates to determining an optimum bandwidth for a networked client device.
2. Background Art
When a networked client device streams video content from a server, the server must send adequate packets to the networked client to ensure a smooth viewing experience without any stutters. Based on the client device's available bandwidth, the server can calculate an adequate bit rate to stream video without interruptions. Presently, there are several methods for a server to calculate a proper bit rate.
One approach requires a user to select a bit rate, based upon user knowledge of the client device available bandwidth. The major drawback to this approach, however, is that the user must be sophisticated enough to choose the best bit rate in order to stream video without interruptions. To overcome this drawback, many implementations give the user a limited set of bit rate choices, such as a broadband option and a dial-up option. Because of the limited choices, the user may not be able to choose the most efficient bit rate available for that user's client device. In addition, the available bandwidth may fluctuate depending on network conditions. The user may not be aware of such fluctuations or other changes to the available bandwidth. For example, the user may be using a smartphone and move from an area with faster 4G coverage to an area with only 3G coverage. Moreover, the network itself may suffer from outages or congestion, which may significantly impact the available bandwidth. This may result in the user, for example, unknowingly selecting a bit rate which exceeds the available bandwidth. The network may also improve, for example from hardware upgrades or reduced congestion. The user may select a bit rate which does not fully utilize the available bandwidth. Moreover, this approach typically results in the user being prompted to select a bit rate again at the start of a different stream.
In another approach, the client device first downloads sample data before beginning the stream, typically in a hand shake session. Based on the time required for the client device to download the sample data, the server will determine a bit rate. Because the bit rate is based upon actual network conditions at the time, the bit rate may be more accurate than a bit rate based upon a user selection. Although this approach may address the problems associated with user-selected bit rate determination, the initial downloading of the sample data may introduce delays before the actual stream begins. The client device must first download the sample data before the server knows at what bit rate to stream. In addition, the bandwidth available to the client device may change from that indicated by the initial sample data download. In other words, the sample data may have been downloaded at a time when the available bandwidth was particularly higher, or lower than average. For instance, the sample data may have been downloaded at night, when network traffic may be less congested than usual.
In yet another approach, the server may use an adaptive bit rate. As the stream is being delivered, the bit rate is adjusted according to changes in the available bandwidth of the client device. The adaptive bit rate is capable of accounting for bandwidth fluctuations or changes, unlike the previously mentioned approaches. However, the adaptive bit rate requires a starting point. Consequently, the adaptive bit rate solution tends to err on delivering the lowest or highest available quality of stream. When the quality of stream is too high, the server typically sends packets that do not reach the client device in time. The client device must then buffer or cache parts of the stream in order to accumulate enough packets to display an uninterrupted segment of video. However, this buffering results in pauses or delays which interrupt the stream. Conversely, when the quality of stream is too low, the server is not sending as many packets as the client device is capable of receiving. The stream itself does not need to pause for buffering, but the picture quality is unnecessarily degraded. As a result, the user is unable to obtain the highest quality stream available, although the picture quality may improve over time as the bit rate adjusts itself. By constantly adjusting the bit rate, an adaptive bit rate may eventually reach a suitable bit rate. However, the initial stream may suffer from delays or degraded quality and the user does not instantly get the best possible stream. Subsequent streams may require reapplying this process.
To improve streaming performance, these approaches may be combined. For example, an adaptive bit rate may start at a bit rate derived from a user selection. Although the adaptive bit rate may adjust itself for bandwidth fluctuations, the initial determination of a bit rate suffers the same drawbacks of a user-selected bit rate. Additionally, the initial bit rate may be improved by utilizing sample data to calculate a bit rate. However, downloading the sample data causes a delay before the actual stream may begin. Furthermore, a subsequent stream may require repeating the entire process.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a solution enabling a substantially immediate determination of the optimum bit rate at which to communicate with a networked client device, so as to initially stream the highest quality video possible without delays.

Optimized communication of media content to client devices


A computerized system and method for selecting the nature and/or form of an alert used to announce a call made by a user participating in a customized alter service. The method includes establishing a customized alert service configuration for a participating user, which configuration is then stored on one or more network accessible devices. The participating user uses a first communications terminal to make a call to a second communications terminal, via a first communications service, the second communication terminal then announces the call by activating an alert using a chosen alert descriptor which has been chosen according to the customized alert service configuration for the participating user.

Many current telephone handsets, particularly mobile telephone handsets, allow a user to select an alert tone sequence to be used to alert the user to incoming calls. As an example, a mobile telephone handset user may be able to choose a preferred alert tone sequence from a range of alert tone sequences stored within a mobile telephone handset's non-volatile memory. Some mobile telephone handsets additionally allow the user to procure and install additional alert tone sequences using the handset's cable or the handset's 'air' interface.
Furthermore, some telephone handsets may also offer additional functionality, for example, allowing a user to select and assign particular alert tone sequences to incoming calls from a particular individual or group of individuals. Typically, the telephone handset uses a network provided capability, such as Calling Line Number Identification (CLID), to determine the number of the calling party which is then associated with a pre-selected alert tone sequence. Associating an alert tone sequence with a particular CLID may provide a called terminal user with an early audio warning should a particular person or category of person happen to phone.
Whilst providing a useful capability, it appears that present customisable call alert systems have a number of limitations.
Firstly, it appears that existing customisable call alert systems provide a scheme in which only the called party is able to determine how a calling party will be announced. Thus, a calling party is unable to choose how their calls will be announced to those they call.
If a calling party was able to choose how they will be announced to a called party then the calling party might choose to be announced by an alert which was customised in some way to suit, for example, the calling party's personality, job, hobby or tastes inter alia. Such a 'customised alert' might also convey, for example, emotion (for example, joy, whimsy, anger or urgency) in addition to information (for example, 'sounds like John the Builder calling'). Furthermore, a calling party might choose to have a repertoire of such customised alerts at their disposal so that their calls are announced by a customised alert appropriate to the time of day, or person called, or type of person called, or country called, or at random or otherwise as they see fit.
A second limitation of present customisable call alert systems is that they appear to support only audio based alerts. Telephone handsets are often equipped with a range of software controllable outputs including speakers, vibrators, graphical screens and light emitting devices any or all of which could also participate in the incoming call alert process.
Thirdly, existing systems often use CLID to identify pending callers, however not all networks provide CLID, and, furthermore, only some jurisdictions permit its use, and furthermore, even where CLID is nominally available, CLID information is not always able to traverse multiple operators' networks successfully. Hence, customisable call alert systems which depends solely on CLID for identifying incoming calls have practical limitations.
Lastly, CLID is typically not able to be used where the calling party has an unlisted ('silent', 'ex-directory') telephone number. However, in these cases, although a calling party may not wish their phone number to be transmitted when making a telephone call, they may be happy to be identified by other, less privacy threatening means. In particular, they may be happy to have their telephone number utilised as a part of a process which is used to select the nature of the alert used to announce their call(s) provided their telephone number is not made available to the called party's communications terminal.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a customisable call alert system which overcomes at least some of the limitations of the existing call alert systems.

System and method for customising call alerts


A key managing system including information transmitting apparatus which transmits a date and time when secrecy protection is ended to a key controlling apparatus. The key controlling apparatus searches a key control table for an encryption key associated with a decryption key and the date and time. The key controlling apparatus transmits an encryption key from the search to the information transmitting apparatus. The key controlling apparatus discloses a decryption key for the present date and time to an information receiving apparatus in response to a request for a decryption key. The information transmitting apparatus, upon receipt of the encryption key, encrypts information using the encryption key and transmits the encrypted information to the information receiving apparatus. The information receiving apparatus, for the present date and time matching with the date and time, acquires a disclosed decryption key and decrypts the encrypted information by using the decryption key.

The present invention relates to a system for controlling decryption keys used for decrypting encrypted data. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for controlling decryption keys used for decrypting encrypted data in a manner to permit disclosure of information to a plurality of users on a communication network at the same time.
In recent years, information can be readily exchanged among a plurality of terminals by way of a communication network such as the Internet. Among data to be exchanged, there is a kind of information with a property which requires that the information be kept secret up to a predetermined time at a predetermined date but be set free for disclosure afterward. An example of such information is confidential data of the government. In addition, such information is to be disclosed to a plurality of users after the predetermined time at the predetermined date. In other words, there must be an assurance that information can be put in a state that allows a plurality of users to know the most essential part of the information. An example of information with such a property is information on a transaction such as a tender or an offer.
For such information, there has been provided a conventional method whereby information produced at a terminal of an information producer is kept at the terminal up to a date or a time of a date at which protection of the confidentiality of the information is ended. It is not until the termination of the confidentiality protection is ended, that is, the expiration of the time of the confidentiality protection, that the information is disclosed and distributed to a plurality of users.
With the method described above, however, it is not easy for an information producer to disclose or distribute information to a plurality of users at the same time with a high degree of reliability. Particularly if the amount of the information to be disclosed or distributed is large or if there are a large number of users on the distribution list.
In addition, the information producer has to control the date & time at which information is to be disclosed or distributed. In particular, if there are many kinds of information to be disclosed or distributed at the same date & time, it will be difficult to assure that these pieces of information will be disclosed or distributed to a plurality of users simultaneously.

Key controlling system, key controlling apparatus, information encrypting apparatus, information decrypting apparatus and storage media for storing programs


A device for feeding fluid to a hydraulic actuator for controlling a pitch of fan blades of a two-propeller turboprop, the device including: a fluid manifold secured to a rotor of the turboprop and including a cylindrical portion including at least two fluid-circulation grooves, each presenting an outlet orifice; a fluid-admission support secured to a stationary portion of the turboprop and including a cylindrical portion including at least two distinct fluid passages opening to fluid-admission tubes and each leading radially into one of the fluid-circulation grooves of the manifold; and a tub constrained to rotate with the fluid manifold and including a cylindrical portion including at least two fluid-flow channels, each fed with fluid by a respective one of the outlet orifices of the fluid dispenser, each fluid-flow channel leading to a respective chamber of a control actuator.

The present invention relates to the general field of turboprops provided with two contrarotating propellers driven in rotation by means of a single turbine.
The invention relates more particularly to feeding fluid to a hydraulic actuator for controlling the pitch of the fan blades of a two-propeller turboprop.
In known manner, an airplane turboprop with two propellers has two contrarotating sets of unducted fan blades that are adjustable in pitch. In certain two-propeller turboprop configurations, these sets of fan blades are driven in rotation by a power turbine having two contrarotating rotors. In other configurations more particularly concerned by the present invention, the sets of fan blades are driven by a single rotor of the power turbine via an epicyclic gear train forming a stepdown contrarotating gearbox. By way of example, reference may be made to document FR 2 942 203, which describes an embodiment of such a configuration.
The contrarotating propellers of such a turboprop may be driven in rotation directly or indirectly via the epicyclic gear train. In general, the epicyclic gear train has an inlet that is connected upstream to a rotor shaft of the power turbine in order to be driven thereby, and two outlets, each of which is connected downstream to a respective power shaft for driving rotation of a respective one of the two sets of turboprop fan blades in contrarotating manner.
Furthermore, the angle of orientation of the fan blades in each set (generally referred to as its "pitch") constitutes one of the parameters that enables the thrust from the turboprop and the speed of rotation of the propellers to be controlled. One known technique for controlling the pitch of the fan blades in flight is to make use, for each set of fan blades, of a synchronization ring coupled to each of the blades in the set. A hydraulic actuator positioned at the center of the turboprop and constrained to rotate with the turbine rotor is used for turning the synchronization ring about the longitudinal axis of the turboprop (via a linkage of connecting rods), thereby enabling all of the blades in a given set to be positioned at the same angle. By way of example, reference may be made to patent application FR 11/56443 filed by the Applicant on Jul. 13, 2011 (and not yet published), which describes an embodiment of such a mechanism.
With that type of mechanism, there arises a problem of feeding fluid to the chambers of the actuators. In particular, the admission of fluid takes place via tubes that are fastened to the stationary portions of the turboprop, while the actuators, and thus their chambers, are rotating since they are driven in rotation by the turbine rotor. It is therefore necessary to cause the fluid to pass from a stationary frame of reference to a rotary frame of reference. Furthermore, the transfer of fluid from fluid-admission tubes to the chambers of the control actuators must take place in as small a space as possible in order to avoid increasing the length of the engine.

Device for feeding fluid to a hydraulic actuator for controlling the pitch of the fan blades of a two-propeller turboprop


A method and system for intelligent text entry on a keypad. First, a user selects a key on a keypad. Then, an application predicts which character of those corresponding to that key is intended by the user. The predicted character is then presented to the user for confirmation. If the user confirms the selection, the character is stored. If the user rejects the character, the application presents a new character to the user until a character is finally confirmed. It is only when the predicted character is not the intended character that the user is required to iterate through character choices.

On numeric keypads, such as telephone touch-tone keypads, a single key corresponds to multiple characters. For example, on a typical telephone touch-tone keypad, the "2" key corresponds to the letters "A", "B", and "C".
Many applications require a user to enter character information on a keypad. To do this, the user presses the key associated with the desired character. Since each key represents several characters, the application must determine which of these characters is intended by the user. This is often accomplished by allowing the user to iterate though the possible characters by pressing the corresponding key multiple times. For example, to enter the letter "C", the user would press the "2" key three times. To enter the letter "B", the user would press the "2" key twice. In other approaches, a special key (e.g., the "#" key) is pressed to iterate though the choices. Each time the key is pressed, the corresponding letter may be presented to the user (e.g., via voice prompt).
Typically in these approaches, the iteration through characters starts with the first character of the group. For example, if the "2" key is pressed, iteration starts at "A", and if the "3" key is pressed, iteration starts at "D". Accordingly, for at least two-thirds of the characters entered on the keypad, multiple key presses are required. It is well known that using this technique to enter entire words and sentences is a tedious, error-prone, and generally unpleasant experience for the user, resulting in very limited deployment of applications requiring text entry on devices using numeric keypads (e.g., telephones).
There is a need to provide an improved method for entering characters on a numeric keypad that overcomes these problems.

Method and system for intelligent text entry on a numeric keypad


A latch mechanism, particularly for securing a pivoting member of a motor vehicle seat with respect to a fixed member is disclosed, comprising, a latch plate having a tooth, a notch flanked by a front ramp and a rear ramp, and a rear stop, and a cam which is releasably engageable with the latch plate, the cam having a nose, a front face, a contact face and a heel. The cam is pivotable from a non-latching position to a normal latching position. In the latching position the contact face of the cam is urged against the rear ramp of the latch plate and the heel avoids contacting the rear stop. In response to a sudden change in velocity in a first direction the heel of the cam contacts the rear stop to resist movement of the cam the non-latching position. Preferably the contact face forms and angle with the back ramp of about 10 to 20 degrees, and the front face and the front ramp have generally equivalent curved surfaces.

Latch mechanisms have been used to releasably secure a seat back against a seat base. For example, commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,897 to Loewe teaches the use of a latch plate having a pocket, and a tooth with a latching face, where the tooth has a first radius of curvature about a center lying on a first axis. A latch is releasably engageable with the latch plate, and has a nose with a latching face. The nose has a second radius of curvature about a second center lying on a second axis, and the latching face of the nose mates with the latching face of the tooth in a latching position. The latch further comprises a heel which contacts the pocket upon movement of the latch into the latching position. In this way, the latch fits snugly into the latch plate. As the system wears the latch fits ever further against the latching face, maintaining tight contact and preventing chucking, that is, a loose fit between members that allows relative wobbling in response to vibrational forces. Although this design works well in securing a pivotable member relative a fixed member, it is sensitive to tolerance variations, potentially requiring secondary finishing operations.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a latch mechanism which can allow for tolerance variations and secure a seat with minimal chucking and friction problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a latch mechanism for a motor vehicle seat having a self-locking feature in response to sudden changes in velocity.
It is yet another related object of the present invention to provide such a latch mechanism that is highly reliable in operation.


A cable routing system comprising: a raceway having one or more cable supports; and a routing clip comprising a body portion; one or more cable supports; a clip arm extending from the body portion and configured to bend resiliently in a bending plane; and a pair of projections with opposed faces which are directed at an angle to the bending plane of the clip arm. The routing clip is secured to the cable raceway by its resilient clip arm with the projections positioned on opposite sides of part of the raceway so as to restrain movement of the clip.

It is desirable to provide a method of fitting cables to a raceway, such that the cables are less likely to damage the raceway and/or cause short circuits.
A conventional cable routing clip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,020. This employs mounting tabs which fit into slots in a support structure. A problem with such a clip is that the support structure must be specially adapted to receive the clip, by providing slots in the structure. Therefore the clip is not suitable for fitting to a conventional raceway.

Abstract: A method of installing cables in a cable routing system, the cable routing system including a raceway carrying one or more cables in a cable-receiving trough. The method comprises: securing a routing clip to the raceway with a resilient clip arm; and installing a cable in a cable support of the routing clip.


A method of determining a modulation and coding scheme includes: acquiring UCI transmitted by UE, the UCI including at least a CQI index; determining whether the CQI index belongs to a CQI compression index representing at least two modulation and coding schemes; when the CQI index belongs to the CQI compression index, determining a modulation and coding scheme represented by the CQI compression index according to preset CQI compression index indication information; and determining modulation and coding configuration information for the UE according to the modulation and coding scheme, and transmitting the modulation and coding configuration information to the UE. By adopting the method of determining the modulation and coding scheme, a higher-order modulation and coding scheme may be configured for the UE based on a relevant CQI index to reduce calculation amount during analyzing the modulation and coding scheme.

In an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) system, a base station needs to determine a channel condition according to CQI (channel quality indication) information fed back by UE (user equipment), and then configures an appropriate modulation and coding scheme for the UE according to the channel condition. In the related art, the UE feeds back downlink channel quality with any of CQI indexes, from 0 to 15, represented by 4-bit data in an uplink control signaling. In a CQI table, the CQI index reflects channel quality of four modulation and coding schemes: QPSK, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, and 256 QAM.
With the development of wireless communication technologies, mobile communication network is gradually evolving toward 5G network. The 5G network has greatly improved its ability in data transmission rate, coverage, latency, capacity and other aspects. In a case where the channel condition is good, the base station may configure a higher-order modulation and coding scheme such as 1024 QAM and 2048 QAM for the UE to improve the data transmission throughput of a channel. In a case of increasing the modulation and coding schemes, if the above 16 CQI indexes are still used to reflect the channel condition, channel condition reflection granularity of a single index is inevitably increased, resulting in a decrease in feedback accuracy of an original coding scheme corresponding to channel quality, thereby reducing accuracy of determining a modulation and coding scheme.

Method and apparatus for determining modulation and coding scheme

BEIJING XIAOMI MOBILE SOFTWARE CO., LTD.


A series of polymeric orthodontic appliances is made by providing a set of tooth analogs, each having a model crown that represents the shape of a corresponding tooth of the patient. The tooth analogs are moved along respective guides as needed in order to bring the associated model crown an incremental step toward or away from its desired position. The polymeric appliance is formed by placing a sheet of polymeric material over the model crowns after at least one tooth analog has been moved to create a desired model tooth arrangement.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for making an orthodontic appliance that is comprised of a clear polymeric material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Orthodontic treatment involves movement of misaligned or crooked teeth to improved positions. Orthodontic treatment can greatly enhance the patient's facial appearance, especially in areas near the front of the patient's oral cavity. In certain instances, orthodontic treatment can also improve the occlusion in such a manner that opposing teeth will function better with each other during mastication.
One type of common orthodontic treatment includes the use of a set of brackets, each of which is affixed to a respective tooth in the patient's mouth. A resilient arch-shaped wire is placed into a slot of each bracket and functions as a track to guide movement of the bracket and hence the associated tooth to desired positions. Ends of the wire are often retained in channels of small devices known as buccal tubes that are secured to the patient's molar teeth.
Another type of orthodontic treatment involves the use of resilient polymeric trays that fit over the teeth of the patient's dental arches. These trays, also known as aligners, alignment shells and polymeric appliances, are provided in a series and are intended to be worn in succession in order to gradually move the teeth in incremental steps toward a desired target arrangement. Some types of polymeric appliances have a row of tooth-shaped cavities for receiving each tooth of the patient's dental arch, and the cavities are oriented in slightly different positions from one appliance to the next in order to incrementally urge each tooth toward its desired target position by virtue of the resilient properties of the polymeric material.
A variety of methods have been proposed in the past for manufacturing polymeric appliances. According to one known method, a digital data file is obtained that represents the patient's upper and lower dental arches at the beginning of treatment. This data file is then analyzed to identify subsets of data, each of which represents one of the patient's teeth. Next, a technician then uses a computer input device (such as a mouse or keyboard) to virtually reposition the maloccluded teeth and move individual teeth on a computer screen relative to each other into desired target positions. The target positions are then reviewed and approved by a treating professional, such as an orthodontist that is located remotely from the technician.
Once the proposed tooth arrangement has been approved, the data representing the initial tooth positions and the data representing the target tooth positions are then used to determine intended intermediate positions of the teeth as the teeth move from initial to target positions. As one example, data representing the differences in tooth positions between the initial tooth arrangement and the target tooth arrangement may be interpolated in order to obtain a series of twenty intermediate positions of the teeth. The data representing those intermediate tooth positions is then stored in memory and subsequently used to make models of the dental arches for each intermediate tooth arrangement.
For example, a data set representing the teeth in a desired target arrangement and twenty data sets representing the teeth in twenty different intermediate arrangements may be used to manufacture a series of twenty-one physical, positive dental arch models for each dental arch using rapid prototyping methods such as stereolithography. Subsequently, a sheet of polymeric material is placed over each of the arch models and formed under heat, pressure and/or vacuum to conform to the model teeth of each model arch. The formed sheet is cleaned and trimmed as needed and the resulting arch-shaped appliance is shipped along with the remaining appliances to the treating professional. The patient is then instructed to wear each appliance over its intended dental arch in sequence for a period of, for example, two or four weeks, after which the used appliances are discarded and the next two appliances in the series for the upper and lower dental arches are to be worn.

Methods and apparatus for making a polymeric orthodontic appliance


A method for controlling parasitic deposits in a deposition system for depositing a film on a substrate, the deposition system defining a reaction chamber for receiving the substrate and including a process gas in the reaction chamber and an interior surface contiguous with the reaction chamber, includes flowing a buffer gas between the interior surface and at least a portion of the process gas to form a gas barrier layer such that the gas barrier layer inhibits contact between the interior surface and components of the process gas.

Deposition systems and methods are commonly used to form layers such as relatively thin films on substrates. For example, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor system and process may be used to form a layer of semiconductor material such as silicon carbide (SiC) on a substrate. CVD processes may be particularly effective for forming layers with controlled properties, thicknesses, and/or arrangements such as epitaxial layers. Typically, in a deposition system, such as a CVD system, the substrate is placed in a chamber and a process gas including reagents or reactants to be deposited on the substrate is introduced into the chamber adjacent the substrate. The process gas may be flowed through the reaction chamber in order to provide a uniform or controlled concentration of the reagents or reactants to the substrate. Undesirably, the reagents or reactants may tend to deposit on interior surfaces of the reaction chamber as well. Such deposits may be referred to as "parasitic" deposits because they remove reagents or reactants from the process.
With reference to FIG. 5, an exemplary conventional deposition system 40 is shown therein and illustrates the process by which deposits may be formed on unintended surfaces of a reaction chamber. The system 40 is, for example, a flow through, hot wall, CVD reactor. The system 40 has a top susceptor member 42 and a bottom susceptor member 44. The system 40 also has a top liner 43 and a bottom liner 45 defining a reaction chamber 47 therebetween. A substrate 20, such as a wafer, is positioned in the reaction chamber 47 and may be situated on an interior surface of a platter (which may rotate), for example. A process gas is introduced to the reaction chamber 47 at one end, flowed through the reaction chamber 47 past the substrate 20, and finally exhausted from the reaction chamber 47 at the opposite end. As indicated by the arrows in the reaction chamber 47 as shown in FIG. 5, as the process gas flows through the reaction chamber 47 a portion of the process gas may contact the substrate 20 as intended and thereby deposit the reagents or reactants on the substrate 20 to form a layer thereon. However, as indicated by the arrows, a portion of the process gas also contacts an interior surface or ceiling 46 of the top liner 43 as well as interior surfaces of the bottom liner 45 and side walls. As a result, parasitic deposits 50 and 52 of the reagents or reactants from the process gas tend to form on the ceiling 46 and the bottom liner 45, respectively, as well as on the sidewalls. The parasitic deposits on the ceiling 46 may be particularly harmful because they may dislodge and fall onto the substrate 20 during processing, reducing the quality of the formed layer. Moreover, the changing amount of the parasitic deposits may introduce undesirable variations in temperature and gas flow dynamics, thereby influencing the growth of the layer on the substrate 20. Depletion of the process gas because of the formation of the parasitic deposits may tend to waste reactants, thereby reducing efficiency and growth rate.
Typically, the deposition process is managed to accommodate the formation of parasitic deposits. The cumulative growth time may be limited to reduce the impact of parasitic deposits on product material. After a set time, the susceptor may be cleaned and reconditioned before more production growth runs are attempted. This procedure may limit both the possible length of any single growth run and the number of runs of shorter duration between cleaning cycles. Despite such efforts, parasitic deposits may nonetheless negatively impact product material due to particle formation, process variability and reduced reactant utilization efficiency.

Methods for controlling formation of deposits in a deposition system and deposition methods including the same