There is disclosed an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, capable of various image forming modes. The image forming mode can be selected by feeding a mode registration format sheet into the apparatus. The format sheet can be a marking sheet, on which the operator can designate the desired image forming mode, and can be printed by the image forming apparatus itself in response to an instruction by the operator, so that the format sheet need not be prepared elsewhere in advance. Also the content of the format sheet, printed by the image forming apparatus, is varied according to the available copying modes, depending on the connection status of external processing units such as document feeder and sorter to the image forming apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine or a facsimile apparatus, capable of image forming in a desired image forming mode.
2. Related Background Art
Image forming apparatus such as a copying machine have recently entered the age of multiple functions, such as variable magnification, automatic density control, automatic sheet size selection, automatic magnification selection, multi-color, automatic two-side (both-side) image formation, image editing etc., and there is now a desired improvement in the operability, or development of novel function designating means in order to achieve optimum image formation, fully exploiting these various functions.
In such conventional apparatus, the users are often unable to fully utilize the functions provided therein, because a large number of selectable functions require complex methods and operations for the selection of such functions. Also, the number of operating buttons tend to increase with an increase in the number of selectable functions, but this fact becomes an obstacle in the compactization, simplification and cost reduction of the apparatus.
For this reason there has been proposed an image forming apparatus capable of automatically setting the image forming conditions by reading a special format sheet (for example marking sheet or mark sheet) in which the image forming conditions are marked in advance. Such apparatus allows a user to set the image forming conditions without complex key operations, so that the user can fully and easily exploit the various functions provided in the apparatus.
However, such setting of the image forming conditions will become unavailable in a case that special format sheet runs out or the user forgets to bring such sheet to the apparatus.


An optical-signal/electric-signal converting device communications system for a communications system that establishes communications using electric and optical signals. The converting device converts an electric transmission signal into an optical transmission signal and an optical transmission signal into an electric transmission signal. The converting device includes an electric signal receiving circuit for receiving the electric transmission signal transmitted from the host computer of the communications system through an electric transmission line, and a modulating circuit for modulating the electric signal sent from the electric signal receiving circuit into a pulse signal having pulses of a smaller width. The converting device also includes an optical signal receiving circuit for receiving the optical transmission signal from the optical transmission line of the system and converting the received signal into an electric signal using a light-receiving element, and a demodulation circuit for demodulating the electric signal received from the optical signal receiving circuit into a pulse signal having pulses of a larger width.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical-signal/electric-signal converting device for converting an optical signal into an electric signal and converting an electric signal into an optical signal in a communications system transmitting both an optical signal and an electric signal, that is, a communications system for establishing optical and electrical communications. For example, the invention relates to an optical-signal/electric-signal converting device for use in an industrial measurement and control system including an optical fiber instrumentation system.
2. Description of the related Art
FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional communications system establishing both optical and electrical communications.
In the conventional communications system, each electric device 6 is connected to an electric master 2 through a transmission line 7 (hereinafter referred also to an electric transmission line). Each optical device 8 is connected to an optical master 3 through an optical transmission line 9 and an optical signal distributor/coupler (for example, an optical star coupler) 5. The electric master 2 and optical master 3 are connected to a host computer 1 which communicates with the electric devices 6 and optical devices 8.
When both optical devices and electric devices are used as in the above described communications system, two different masters of the optical master 3 and electric master 2 are required for the optical device and electric device, respectively. The two types of the masters are respectively used for the following reasons.
(1) Different communications media are required. PA0 (2) Different electric supply systems are used. That is, an electric device is supplied with electric power through a bus electric supply system while an optical device is a battery-driven device. PA0 (3) Different communications protocols are used for the electric device and optical device because the consumption of electric current is limited, in the optical device. Normally, the optical device uses a protocol which requires fewer times of light-emission and also requires a short time light-emission for long battery life. PA0 (1) A system for both optical and electrical communications can be easily configured at a low cost. PA0 (2) Since an optical transmission line can be easily used in a communications system, the transmission line can be readily extended using a longer optical transmission line, even in circumstances in which transmission signals in an electric transmission line are subject to noise, or where an effective explosion-proof method is required for the transmission line. PA0 (3) The abnormal condition of an electric transmission line can be informed to each of the devices in the communications system using a microcomputer. PA0 (4) The communications system for both optical and electrical communications can be easily realized at a low cost even when different protocols are used for the optical and electrical communications.
As described above, in the conventional communications system using both optical and electric signals, a master is required for each medium. Normally, a master is an expensive device provided with, for example, a personal computer, etc. Accordingly, when two masters are required, the system costs a lot. Furthermore, when an optical-communications protocol is incorporated into a general-purpose electrical communications protocol to commonly use the optical and electrical communications protocols, the optical communications time becomes longer and the life-time of the battery for the optical device is shortened.


A multiphase flow meter comprising two Venturis separated by a choke. The choke may be varied to adjust the properties of the multiphase fluid flow being measured. The two Venturis may be identical and may be arranged horizontally with respect to the multiphase fluid flow. The choke may be a choke in a return line of a managed pressure drilling system.

The present invention relates to a method and a system for measuring properties of multiphase flows. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, methods and systems for measuring flow rates of multiphase flows in managed pressure drilling operations are described.
The drilling of a borehole is typically carried out using a steel pipe known as a drillstring that is coupled with a drill bit on its lowermost end. The entire drillstring may be rotated using an over-ground drilling motor, or the drill bit may be rotated independently of the drill string using a fluid powered motor or motors mounted on the drillstring just above the drill bit. As drilling progresses, a flow of drilling fluid is used to carry the debris created by the contact between the drill bit and the formation being drilled during the drilling process out of the wellbore. The drilling fluid is pumped through an inlet line down the drillstring and through the drill bit, and returns to the surface via an annular space between the outer diameter of the drillstring and the borehole (generally referred to as the annulus).
Drilling fluid is a broad drilling term that may cover various different types of drilling fluids. The term 'drilling fluid' may be used to describe any fluid or fluid mixture used during drilling and may cover such things as air, nitrogen, misted fluids in air or nitrogen, foamed fluids with air or nitrogen, aerated or nitrified fluids, drilling mud to heavily weighted mixtures of oil or water with solid particles.
The drilling fluid flow through the drillstring may be used to cool the drill bit. In conventional overbalanced drilling, the density of the drilling fluid is selected so that it produces a pressure at the bottom of the borehole ("the bottom hole pressure" or "BHP"), which is high enough to counter-balance the pressure of fluids in the formation surrounding the borehole (often referred to as the "formation pore pressure"). By counter-balancing the pore pressure, the BHP acts to prevent the inflow of fluids from the formations surrounding the borehole into the borehole that is being drilled. However, if the BHP falls below the formation pore pressure, formation fluids, such as gas, oil and/or water may enter the borehole and produce, what is referred to in the drilling industry as a kick. By contrast, if the BHP is very high, the BHP may be higher than the fracture strength of the formation surrounding the borehole, and this high BHP may then result in fracturing of the formation surrounding the borehole, which may in turn lead to loss of fluid from the borehole into the formation. Consequently, when the formation is fractured in this way, the drilling fluid may enter the formation and be lost from the drilling process. This loss of drilling fluid from the drilling process may cause a reduction in BHP and as a consequence cause a kick as the BHP falls below the formation pore pressure.
In order to overcome the problems of kicks and/or fracturing of formations during drilling, a process known as managed pressure drilling ("MPD") has been developed. In MPD various techniques may be used to control the BHP during the drilling process. These techniques may include flowing a gas into the borehole in order to reduce the BHP that is created by fluids, mainly drilling fluids in the borehole.
In MPD, the outflow from the borehole being drilled may be measured to monitor the MPD operation, including monitoring changes in the outflow rate and the outflow gas fraction. The outflow data may be used for influx/efflux detection as well as for determining gas distribution for monitoring and control purposes. Often the multiphase fluid coming out of the borehole has a high gas fraction and as a result measuring the flow rates of the outflow/phases of the outflow may be problematic.


The physiological parameters of heart rate, respiratory and snoring sounds, the degree of oxygen saturation of the blood, and the bodily position of the patient are measured and stored in coded form by means of portable apparatus. The stored data are transferred to a computer and then analyzed. The mobile apparatus comprises a detection and storage unit (2) and the following pickups: three EKG electrodes (3), one laryngeal microphone (4), an oximeter-finger sensor (5) and a position pickup (6). The apparatus permits an ambulatory diagnosis of sleep apnea which is comparable in its meaningfulness to diagnoses based on stationary sleep laboratory tests for sleep apnea.

The invention relates to a method for the ambulatory detection and diagnosis of the sleep apnea syndrome, in which the physiological parameters of heart rate, loud breathing sounds and snoring sounds of the patient are detected and corresponding signals are generated. Sets of these that are detected in brief time intervals are stored in coded form in a portable apparatus, transferred to a computer, and analyzed by the latter, and especially variations of the individual signals in time and correlations between the various parameters are taken into account. The invention furthermore relates to an apparatus necessary for the practice of this method.
The symptom of sleep apnea is characterized by the combination of a respiratory failure, a considerable hypoxemia (i.e., a reduction of the oxygen content in the arterial blood) and heart rhythm disturbances. After an episode of apnea, a severe gasping for air and often also a terrifying awakening occur as a rule (see, for example, M. J. Tobin, M. A. Cohn, M. A. Sackner: Breathing abnormalities during sleep, Arch. Intern. Med. 1983; No. 143, pp 1221 to 1228).
The epidemiological significance of sleep apnea is increasingly being recognized; it is known that long and frequent phases of apnea in sleep often accompany cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases as well as extensive psychophysical changes. Effects of sleep apnea are an excessively increased tendency to fall asleep during the day (in this case sleep apnea is statistically identified as the most frequent cause) and the occurrence of difficulty in falling asleep and sleeping through the night (in this case sleep apnea is described as the fifth most frequent cause (R. M. Coleman, H. P. Roffwarg, S. J. Kennedy: Sleep-wake disorders based on polysomnographic diagnosis. A national cooperative study. JAMA 1982; No. 247, pp. 997 to 1003)).
For some time the study of sleep-wake disorders has been performed in sleep laboratories in special clinics, in which a diagnosis can be performed by polysomnographic evaluation during sleep. These studies are time-consuming and costly; on account of the many parameters that have to be recorded they can be performed only by confining the patient. In addition to the high costs, such confinement has the disadvantage that the patient's sleep is disturbed by strange surroundings, which diminishes the value of such studies. Consequently there have been a number of efforts to eliminate the disadvantages of diagnosis with confinement and to cope with the large number of patients caused by the high prevalence.
One possibility is to recognize and diagnose sleep apnea syndrome in an ambulatory manner with the aid of portable detection and recording apparatus, avoiding confinement in sleep laboratories.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,738 describes a method and an apparatus (NLMS-non-laboratory monitoring system) for the ambulatory detection and diagnosis of the sleep apnea syndrome corresponding to the kind referred to above. In this method heart potentials (EKG) are measured relative to a third electrode with two electrodes to be applied to the upper body of a patient and fed to a peak level detector. The heart rate is determined by the time intervals between the peak values. The breathing and snoring sounds are picked up by an electret microphone to be applied to the patient's larynx and fed to two different threshold detectors, one threshold detector being sensitive over the entire frequency range (about 100 Hz to 15 Khz) and the other being sensitive only in the lower frequency range (about 100 Hz to 800 Hz typical for snoring) on account of the damping of the high frequencies of the signals with a filter. The threshold detectors respond when the applied signal exceeds the preset thresholds. The thresholds are adjusted so that loud breathing sounds are detected by the first-named threshold detector, and snoring is detected with the second detector. These physiological parameters, namely heart rate and presence or absence of breathing and snoring are measured together at time intervals of one second, and stored in binary code for each time interval in a RAM situated in the apparatus. The data stored during a period of sleep are transferred from the mobile apparatus to a computer and analyzed on the computer for a sleep apnea syndrome. Information as to the presence of an apnea can be derived from the changes in time of the heart rate and the breathing and snoring sounds and the correlations between these parameters. The seriousness of an apnea depends on the frequency of its occurrences, their severity and their duration. The method using the described apparatus has the disadvantage that it permits only detection of occurrence and duration, which leads to high sensitivity but not sufficient specificity of diagnosis. Information on the body position of the patient, which is important to the diagnosis, say, to distinguish between walking and laying down or dependence of obstruction on position in bed was not available. In the case of disease conditions, such as polyneuropathy, arteriosclerosis or diabetes, the heart rate does not change greatly as it does in apnea attacks, but remains virtually constant. In the presence of such conditions apnea is difficult to diagnose, because differential diagnosis using oxygen saturation for detection of apneas was not possible. In many cases, therefore, when the apparatus of the state of the art is used, it must be followed by confinement in a sleep laboratory.

Method and apparatus for diagnosis of sleep disorders

Madaus Schwarzer Medizintechnik GmbH & Co. KG


An air bag module (5) having an air bag (10), a receiving and retaining element (20) to receive and hold the air bag and an inflator to fill the air bag. To increase the thermal stability the air bag (10) and/or the receiving and retaining element (20) consist at least in part of a radiation crosslinked plastic, in particular of a radiation crosslinked thermoplastic.

An air bag module intended for installation in a vehicle, in particular a front air bag module, consists of an air bag, a receiving and retaining element to receive and hold an air bag, and an inflator to fill the air bag. In this connection, a gas generator is frequently used as an inflator, in particular, a hot gas generator in which a pyrotechnic charge that on ignition produces a large quantity of hot gas which fills the air bag.
Originally, large parts of the receiving and retaining element, namely in particular the housing, a possibly provided retaining ring, and a possibly provided diffuser, were made of metal. In the meantime, for cost and weight reasons, many parts which were originally made of metal are now made of plastic, and it is possible to provide plastics and geometries which meet the current mechanical and thermal requirements. Small and very hot gas generators are, however, increasingly being developed which, in particular, have the advantage of a low weight. It has turned out in laboratory tests that the temperatures which are reached with the use of such generators may give rise to problems if certain components of the receiving and retaining elements are made of the thermoplastics that have been used so far. The following components or sections of the receiving and retaining elements can, in particular, be affected: the housing floor/base plate, especially in the area in which the gas generator is held by means of its flange; any possibly provided retainer ring; any possibly provided diffuser; any possibly provided deflector, (flame retardant wall).
In view of the foregoing, the object of the present invention is to provide an air bag module in which temperature-exposed components can also be made of plastic when very hot gas generators are used.
This object is attained by an air bag module described herein, and a process, with which such an air bag module can be manufactured, is also described.
In order to solve the design challenges mentioned above, it would be basically possible to use high temperature resistant plastics, in particular, high-temperature resistant polyamides. That would, however, entail critical disadvantages since, on the one hand, such materials have a low notched impact strength and, in addition, high tool temperatures will also be required during injection molding. This, on the one hand, increases the energy consumption during injection molding and also reduces the service life of the tools used. This would lead to a significant increase in the cost of the air bag module, which are reasons why this approach has not been adopted in the present invention. Instead, according to the present invention, at least one component of the air bag module consisting of plastic is radiation crosslinked after shaping. In the process, the plastic—which, in particular, is a thermoplastic—can have a so-called cross-linking activator. The production, in particular the injection molding, requires no special process; in particular, common tools with common temperature control may be used. In a process step which preferentially is interposed between the production steps, in particular, injection molding of this part, and the final assembly of the air bag module, the component is exposed to ionizing radiation, namely, in particular, to gamma or beta radiation, whereby the plastic material is crosslinked. This crosslinking is also called radiation crosslinking. This crosslinking (radiation crosslinking) also results, among other things, in that the thermal stability, in particular the short-term thermal stability, of the plastic definitely increases compared to its non-crosslinked original condition. Thus, for example, the thermal stability of PA-6.6 GF 30 increases from about 250° C. to about 360° C. and that of PA-6 GF 30 from about 200° C. to about 350° C.
The required irradiation is not a very expensive process step and can, in particular, take place in that a large number of components to be irradiated are irradiated in a large container lying loose therein. Such a process is known, for example, from the production of plugs, namely when plastic encapsulations of plug connectors are radiation crosslinked in order to withstand high soldering temperatures.
The main application of the invention could lie in the field described above, namely with the objective of making components of a receiving and retaining element more temperature-resistant. It has turned out, however, that the invention can also be applied in the area of air bag modules. It is thus, for example, possible to radiation crosslink at least one section of the air bag, in particular at least one reinforcing layer surrounding the inflation inlet in order to increase its thermal stability. According to the current state of knowledge, however, radiation crosslinking sections or elements of the air bag module only makes sense if this element or section consists of a laminate, since in a fabric the filaments are too thin for radiation crosslinking. It can, in particular, be very useful to use at least one radiation crosslinked laminate in the area of the inflation inlet, since a flame retardant can be provided very cost-effectively in this manner, which can make the use of a silicon coating unnecessary, or result in an even higher thermal stability in conjunction with a silicone coating. The volume of exhaust gas, which can be generated by scorching of the air bag fabric, can be reduced in this way.
A completely different application can consist of selectively radiation crosslinking the predetermined breaking lines of the housing cover, since radiation crosslinking not only leads to an increase of the thermal stability but also to an increase of the brittleness which can have a favorable effect on the controlled opening behavior of the exits doors.

Airbag module and method for producing same


An audio file is divided into frames in the time domain and each frame is compressed, according to a psycho-acoustic algorithm, into file in the frequency domain. Each frame is divided into sub-bands and each sub-band is further divided into split sub-bands. The spectral energy over each split sub-band is averaged for all frames. The resulting quantity for each split sub-band provides a parameter. The set of parameters can be compared to a corresponding set of parameters generated from a different audio file to determine whether the audio files are similar. In order to provide for the higher sensitivity of the auditory response, the comparison of individual split sub-bands of the lower order sub-bands can be performed. Selected constants can be used in the comparison process to improve further the sensitivity of the comparison. In the side-information generated by the psycho-acoustic compression, data related to the rhythm, i.e., related percussive effects, is present. The data known as attack flags can also be used as part of the audio frame comparison.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to audio files that have been processed using compression algorithms, and, more particularly, to a technique for the automatic classification of the compressed audio file contents.
2. Background of the Invention
With advances in auditory masking theory, quantization techniques, and data compression techniques, lossy compression of audio files has become the processing method of choice for the storage and streaming of the audio files. Compression schemes with various degrees of complexity, compression ratios and quality have evolved. The availability of these compression schemes has driven and been driven by the internet and portable audio devices. Several large data bases of compressed audio music files exist on the internet (e.g., from online stores). On a smaller scale, compressed audio music files are present on computers and portable devices around the globe. While classification schemes exist for MIDI music files and speech files, few schemes address the problem of identification and retrieval of audio content from compressed music database files. One attempt at classification of compressed audio files is the MPEG-7 standard. This standard is directed to providing a set of low level and high level descriptors that can facilitate content indexing and retrieval.
Referring to FIG. 1, a generalized block diagram of apparatus 10 for performing audio file compression schemes is shown. The raw audio data file is applied to time domain to frequency domain transformation unit 11 and to the psycho-acoustic model unit 12. The psycho-acoustic model unit 12 provides the mechanism for processing the raw data that includes assumptions regarding how audio input is perceived by human beings. Output signals from the psycho-acoustic model unit 12 are applied to the time domain/frequency domain transformation unit 11 and to a quantization unit 15. Output signals from the time domain/frequency domain transformation unit 11 are also applied to the quantization unit 15. The output signals of the quantization unit 15 are the compressed audio files. The time domain/frequency domain transformation unit 11 transforms the raw data file in the time domain to a data file in the frequency domain. The frequency domain data is quantized in the quantization unit 15 based on masking information provided by the psycho-acoustic unit 12. The psycho-acoustic unit 12 also determines the time domain/frequency domain transformation unit 11 resolution depending on the characteristics of the input signals. As a result of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, an audio file receives two levels of compression. The first level of compression results from the selective retention of only the important audio file components as determined by the psycho-acoustic model. The second level of compression is a file compression of the file resulting from the psycho-acoustic compression, the second level of compression shrinking the file to reduce the amount of storage space. The second level of compression typically includes the Huffman coding.
In the past, centroid and energy levels of the data in the frequency domain of MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) encoded files along with nearest neighbor classifiers have been used as descriptors. This system has been further enhanced by including a framework for discrimination of compressed audio files based on semi-automatic methods, the system including the ability of the user to add more audio features. In addition, a classification for MPEG1 audio and television broadcasts using class (i.e., silence, speech, music, applause based segmentation) has been proposed. A similar proposal compares GMM (Gaussian Mixture Models) and tree-based VQ (Vector Quantization) descriptors for classifying MPEG encoded data.
The data in the compressed audio files are in the form of frequency magnitudes. The entire range of frequencies audible to the human ear is divided into sub-bands. Thus the data in the compressed file is divided into sub-bands. Specifically, in the MP3 format, the data is divided into 32 sub-bands. (In addition in this format, each sub-band can be further divided into 18 frequency bands referred to as split sub-bands). Each sub-band can be treated according to its masking capabilities. (Masking capability is the ability of a particular frame of audio data to mask the audio noise resulting from compression of the data. For example, instead of encoding a signal with 16 bits, 8 bits can be used, however, resulting in additional noise.) Audio algorithms also provide flags for detection of attacks in a music piece. Because an energy calculation is already performed in the encoder, the flagging of attacks can be used as an indication of rhythm, e.g., drum beats. Drum beats form the background music in most titles in music data bases. Most audiences tend to identify the characteristics of drum beats as rhythm. Because rhythm plays an important role in identifying any music, the characteristics of compression algorithms in flagging attacks is important. In present encoders, including MP3, pre-echo conditions (i.e., a condition resulting from analyzing the audio in fixed blocks rather than a long stream) are handled by switching the window to a shorter window rather than one that would otherwise be used. In some encoders, such as ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding,) pre-echo is handled by gain control in the time domain. In AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) encoders, both methods are used. Referring to FIG. 2, the attack flags in a piece of music with a periodic drum beat are illustrated. In FIG. 3, the attack flags for music pieces with the human voice but no drum beat and for music pieces such as a violin concert without drum beats in the back ground are illustrated.
Referring to FIG. 4, an example of sub-band data from the frequency domain is illustrated. This sample is taken from an MP3 file encoded at 44 kHz, 128 kbps.
The techniques implemented and proposed for classifying compressed audio files in the related art have variety of shortcomings associated therewith. The computational complexity is high in most of the schemes of the related art. Therefore, these schemes may be applicable only for music file servers and not for generic internet applications. The schemes typically are not directly applicable to compressed audio files. In addition, most of the schemes decode the compressed data back to the time domain and apply techniques that have been proven in the time domain. Thus, these schemes do not take advantage of the features and parameters already available in the compressed files. In the schemes that do make use of data in the compressed format, the frequency data alone is used and not the information available as side-information descriptors. The use of side-information descriptors eliminates a large amount of computation.
A need has therefore been felt for apparatus and an associated method having the feature that the identification and classification of compressed audio files can be implemented. It would be a further feature of the apparatus and associated method to provide for the classification and identification of compressed audio files in a relatively short period of time. It would be a still further feature of the apparatus and associated method to provide for the classification and identification of compressed audio files at least partially using parameters generated as a result of compressing the audio file. It would be a still further feature of the apparatus and associated method to generate parameters describing a compressed audio file. It would be a more particular feature of the apparatus and associated method to compare a compressed reference audio file with at least one other compressed audio file. It would be yet another particular feature of the present invention to compare parameters generated from a first compressed audio file with parameters from a second compressed audio file.

Apparatus and method for automatic classification/identification of similar compressed audio files


A pocketed garment dimensioned to cover at least a portion of a torso of a person. According to one embodiment, the garment is a shirt, and a pocket is positioned on the rear exterior of the shirt. The pocket includes a first opening for insertion of a portable entertainment device into the pocket. The pocket also includes a second opening through which headphone wires, connected to the portable entertainment device, may be passed.

The present invention relates generally to garments and relates more particularly to garments having one or more pockets.
Portable entertainment devices of the type that output audio and/or video information are pervasive in today's society. Examples of such devices include, but are not limited to, MP3 players, CD players, audiotape players, cell phones, handheld video games, transistor radios, satellite radios, and the like. Such devices typically comprise a jack into which a headphone set may be plugged to permit the audio output from the device to be listened to privately by an individual wearing the headphones.
Many people like to walk, run, or otherwise be active physically while listening through headphones to a portable entertainment device of the type described above. To do so, many people place the portable entertainment device in a garment pocket, such as a pocket in a pair of pants. Other people use a specially-designed holder to secure the device to a part of a user's body, such as the user's upper arm. Still other people simply hold the device in one hand. However, one problem that is common to all of the above approaches is that the headphone wires connecting the earpieces of the headphone set to the portable entertainment device typically dangle from the user's body for much of the distance between the earpieces and the device. Consequently, it is not uncommon for the wires to become tangled with a user's arms and/or hands as the user moves about. As can readily be appreciated, such tangling of the wires with the user's limbs can impede the user's movements and may present a safety hazard to the user and/or to those in proximity to the user.


A semiconductor device is formed of stacked first and second semiconductor substrates each having internal circuits which are packaged within a package having a plurality of bump electrodes on the top and bottom principal planes. The bump electrodes on the top principal plane of the package are electrically connected to the internal circuits of the first semiconductor substrate and the bump electrodes on the bottom plane of the semiconductor substrate are electrically connected to the internal circuit of the second semiconductor substrate with the first and second semiconductor substrates arranged in mirror symmetry both physically with respect to each other and with respect to signals to be input into or output from the internal circuits. Module structures using a plurality of the semiconductor devices mentioned above are also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a module of semiconductor devices, more particularly to a semiconductor device with bump electrodes and a module densely packed with such semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 20 is a partial cross section of a conventional semiconductor device with bump electrodes as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication HEI 5-82582. With reference to FIG. 20, 1001 denotes a semiconductor substrate; 1002, bonding pads formed on the semiconductor substrate 1001; 1003, bump electrodes formed on the bonding pads 1002; and 1004, a molding resin forming a package.
The conventional bump electrodes of the aforementioned semiconductor device for connecting it with external devices are formed right on top of the bonding pads 1002 arranged on the semiconductor substrate 1001. According to the invention HEI 5-82582 the external dimension of the semiconductor device is reduced almost to the size of the semiconductor substrate 1001 to increase the packaging density. However, it fails to teach or indicate any method to further increase the packaging density.

Semiconductor device with a package having a plurality of bump electrodes and module with a plurality of semiconductor devices


The present invention provides a thermal head having a long lifetime and a high printing quality by making the size of steps of a protective layer formed on a heating portion of a heating resistor small and a method for manufacturing the thermal heads. In the thermal head, respective lower-layer electrodes having a film thickness of approximately 2 xcexcm are formed on outskirts portion of a bulging portion of a heat insulation layer excluding a heating portion of a heating resistor and portions in the vicinity of the heating portion. Then, respective upper-layer electrodes having a film thickness which falls in a range of 0.1 to 0.3 xcexcm are continuously formed from portions at positions in the vicinity of the heating portion excluding the heating portion to upper surfaces of the lower-layer electrodes. Due to such a constitution, the size of the steps formed in the protective layer can be made extremely small and hence, it becomes possible to prevent dregs and dusts which are generated during printing from being gathered at the steps.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal head for us with a thermal printer, and more particularly, to a thermal head having an improved printing quality and printing lifetime, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional thermal head, in general, a glaze heat insulation layer is formed on an upper surface of an alumina substrate, and a plurality of heating resistors are arranged in series on an upper surface of the glaze heat insulation layer. Heating portions formed on respective heating resistors are selectively made to generate heat so as to perform a thermal transfer of ink on a thermal transfer ribbon to plain paper, thus enabling the printing of given letters or given images to the plain paper or to directly perform the printing to thermo-sensitive paper.
To explain such a conventional thermal head in conjunction with FIG. 3, a glaze layer 2 having a bulging portion 2a is formed at a position close to an end of a heat radiation substrate 1 made of aluminum or the like.
To an upper surface of the glaze layer 2, a film made of Ta-SiO2 or the like, is laminated by sputtering or the like and the film made of Ta-SiO2 or the like is subjected to patterning by photolithography to form a heating resistor 3.
An electrode 4 for supplying electric energy to the heating resistor 3 which has a thickness of approximately 2 xcexcm is laminated to an upper surface of the heating resistor 3 by sputtering any one of aluminum, copper, gold and the like or by other techniques. Then, the electrode 4 is subjected to patterning to form a common electrode 4a and an individual electrode 4b by means of a photolithography technique.
Then, at a portion on the heating resistor 3 which is sandwiched by respective ends of the common electrode 4a and the individual electrode 4b, a heating portion 3a is formed at a given interval.
Further, on respective upper surfaces of the common electrode 4a, the individual electrode 4b and the heating resistor 3, a protective layer 5 made of hard ceramic is formed so as to prevent oxidization or wear of the heating resistor 3 or respective electrodes 4a, 4b thus enhancing the durability or the lifetime of the thermal head at the time of printing.
Then, by selectively supplying electric power to the electrode 4 in response to printing information, the heating portion 3a selectively generates heat such that the thermo-sensitive paper is colored or ink of an ink ribbon is transferred to plain paper or the like so as to print-given letters or images.
However, the respective electrodes 4a, 4b of the abovementioned conventional thermal head are formed such that the bodies 4a, 4b have a large film thickness of approximately 2 xcexcm so as to reduce the conductive resistance which is generated at the time of feeding power whereby the lowering of the printing quality and the printing thermal efficiency can be obviated.
Accordingly, the respective electrodes 4a, 4b and the heating portion 3a are formed in a stepped shape such that steps 5a are formed on the protective layer 5 on the respective electrodes 4a, 4b and the heating portion 3a. Here, dregs and fine dusts which are generated at the time of printing are gathered at the steps 5a so that there arises a problem that the printing quality and the thermal efficiency are lowered.
Further, the respective electrodes 4a, 4b, in general, are often made of a soft material such as aluminum which is inexpensive, exhibits excellent workability and favorable conductivity. However, a contact pressure force which brings the heating portion 3a of the thermal head into contact with a platen (not shown in the drawing) is repeatedly applied to the heating portion 3a at the time of printing. Accordingly, with respect to the electrode 4 which is formed of the soft material such as aluminum, ends of the electrodes 4a, 4b which are close to the heating portion 3a are deformed and there is a possibility that it gives rise to the cracks or the peeling-off in the protective layer 5.
When the cracks or the peeling-off are generated in the protective layer 5, it brings about the change of the resistance value of the heating resistor 3 and hence, there arises a problem that the printing quality and the printing lifetime of the thermal head are lowered.
The present invention has been made in view of the above mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal head having a long lifetime and a high printing quality by decreasing the size of steps of a protective layer formed on a heating portion. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method thereof.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a thermal head of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks includes a heat insulation layer which is formed on a substrate, a plurality of heating resistors which are formed on an upper surface of the heat insulation layer, a plurality of electrodes which are connected to the heating resistors and form heating portions at portions of the heating resistors, and a protective layer which covers surfaces of the heating resistors and the electrodes, wherein the electrodes are made of lower-layer electrodes and upper-layer power feeding layers, wherein the lower-layer electrodes and the upper-layer power feeding layers are dissolved by one etchant, wherein the lower-layer electrodes are formed at positions excluding the heating portions and positions in the vicinity of the heating portions, and wherein the upper-layer electrodes are continuously formed from portions at positions in the vicinity of the heat generating bodies to upper surfaces of the lower-layer electrodes excluding the heating portions.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a thermal head of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks is constituted such that a material which constitutes at least the lower-layer electrodes or the upper-layer electrodes is made of any material selected from a group consisting of aluminum, copper, gold and an alloy of these metals.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a thermal head of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks is constituted such that a film thickness of the upper-layer electrodes is set to a value which falls within a range of 0.1 to 0.3 xcexcm.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a thermal head manufacturing method of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks includes a first step in which a heat insulation layer is formed on a substrate, a second step in which a plurality of heating resistors are formed on an upper surface of the heat insulation layer, a third step in which electrodes which are connected to heat resistors are formed, and a fourth step in which a protective layer which covers at least surfaces of the heating resistors and the electrodes is formed, wherein the third step is comprised of a step in which metal films are formed on the heating resistors by patterning so as to form lower-layer electrodes on portions excluding heating portions and portions at positions in the vicinity of the heating portions of the heating resistor and a step in which metal films are continuously formed by patterning from portions at positions in the vicinity of the heating portions to upper surfaces of the lower-layer electrodes excluding the heating portions so as to form upper-layer electrodes from portions at positions in the vicinity of the heating portions to upper surfaces of the lower-layer electrodes excluding the heating portion.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in a thermal head manufacturing method of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks, the lower-layer electrodes and the upper-layer electrodes are made of one material.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in a thermal head manufacturing method of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks, a material which constitutes at least the lower-layer electrodes or the upper-layer electrodes is any material selected from a group consisting of aluminum, copper, gold and an alloy of these metals.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in a thermal head manufacturing method of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks, a film thickness of the upper-layer electrodes is set to a value which falls within a range of 0.1 to 0.3 xcexcm.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in a thermal head manufacturing method of the present invention which is provided for solving the abovementioned drawbacks, the metal films which constitute the upper-layer electrodes are formed into films by a sputtering technique.

Thermal head with small size of steps of protective layer formed on heating portion and manufacturing method thereof


A resistance-change random access memory device includes a resistance-change memory cell array having a plurality of resistance-change memory cells, where a plurality of word lines are connected to respective first terminals of the plurality of resistance-change memory cells. A plurality of bit lines are disposed perpendicular to the word lines and connected to respective second terminals of the plurality of resistance-change memory cells. The device also includes a plurality of discharge elements that are capable of connecting or disconnecting respective bit lines from a discharge voltage, where the discharge elements connect the respective bit lines to the discharge voltage before write and read operations.

1. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to a resistance-change random access memory device, and more particularly, to a resistance-change random access memory device that discharges bit lines before a write operation and a read operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM), which is a type of resistance-change random access memory device, is a non-volatile memory that stores data using a material (hereinafter, "phase-change material") whose resistance varies as its phase changes according to temperature variations, e.g. Ge—Sb—Te (GST). PRAM may have all the advantages of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), along with non-volatile and low-power consumption characteristics. Thus PRAM is being considered as the next-generation memory.

Resistance-change random access memory device including memory cells connected to discharge elements


A magnetic field enhanced photovoltaic device includes a photoelectric conversion layer, a first electrode, a second electrode, a ferro-antiferromagnetic exchange coupling layer and an applied magnetic field. The first electrode and the second electrode are respectively disposed on two surfaces of the photoelectric conversion layer to collect electrons and holes generated by the photoelectric conversion layer. The first electrode is pervious to light. The incident light reaches the photoelectric conversion layer through the first electrode. The applied magnetic field polarizes the spin state of electrons. The ferro-antiferromagnetic exchange coupling layer adjoins the photoelectric conversion layer and pins the spin state of electrons.

A photovoltaic device (including a solar energy battery) is different from the regular battery. A photovoltaic device converts light into electrical energy, its P-N junction structure when exposed to incident light generates large quantities of electron-hole pairs, and in the meantime electrons carrying negative electricity and holes carrying positive electricity migrate to the N-type semi-conductor and P-type semi-conductor respectively. This process produces electricity.
During the conversion process, not all the incident sun-light can be absorbed and converted to electricity by the photovoltaic device. One section of the light spectrum does not contribute to the battery's output due to its low energy (which should be greater than semi-conductor's energy gap). When the photovoltaic device receives light of that particular section of the spectrum, instead of converting its energy into electron-hole generation, the photovoltaic device can only release its energy in the form of heat. In the laboratory, the photovoltaic device can almost reach the highest light-electricity-conversion level theoretically allowed, but in reality due to the complexity of the mass manufacturing process cost-effective high-efficient photovoltaic devices cannot be produced. Currently, this is the biggest bottleneck in making photovoltaic devices.
At present, the development of photovoltaic devices can be divided into two areas; one area focuses on how to capture light and convert the light energy to electricity efficiently; the other area focuses on how to reduce cost in material and manufacturing processes. The former area can be further divided into the following sub-categories: reducing incident light reflection; improving the design of the metal electrode or adding an anti-reflection layer between component layers to reduce reflection and increase the amount of light getting into the semi-conductor material; or reducing inner resistance of the photovoltaic device to increase conversion efficiency, wherein metal electrodes are imbedded in the substrate to increase the contact surface while reducing serial resistance. Two or more photovoltaic devices can be combined to form a tandem cell, where the device absorbing the high-energy spectrum is placed on top while the device absorbing the low-energy spectrum is placed on the bottom; together, they form a high voltage photovoltaic device.

Magnetic field enhanced photovoltaic device

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Systems and methods that facilitate electronic audit recording and tracking of interactions in an industrial control system via employing a differentiation engine that supplies an object-oriented presentation of an audit trail—and further present a view of a desired segment associated with a PLC program (e.g., a particular run of the PLC program), for an object that an audit is requested for. A user (e.g., a customer of the industrial process) can initially identify an object and subsequently view typically all changes to such identified object. Accordingly, a general requirement for checking every version to determine a change to the object is mitigated.

Advancements in technology have enabled factory applications to become partially or completely automated. For example, applications that once required workers to place themselves proximate to heavy machinery and other various hazardous conditions, can now be completed at a safe distance from such hazards. Furthermore, imperfections associated with human action have been minimized through employment of highly precise machines. Many of such factory devices supply manufacturing data to databases that are accessible by system/process/project managers on a factory floor. For instance, sensors can detect a number of times a particular machine has completed an operation given a set amount of time, and can deliver data to a processing unit relating to system alarms. Thus, a factory automation system can review collected data and automatically and/or semi-automatically schedule maintenance of a device, replacement of a device, and other maintenance procedures.
In such settings, various units and controllers can execute control programs, softwares or routines, to measure process variables or inputs that represent state of controlled processes and/or effectuate outputs associated with control of such process. For example, an output module can interface directly with a controlled process by providing an output from memory to an actuator such as a motor, drive, valve, solenoid, and the like. In distributed control systems, controller hardware configuration can be facilitated by separating the industrial controller into a number of control elements, each of which can perform a different function. Particular control modules needed for the control task can be connected together on a common backplane within a rack and/or through a network or other communications medium. Various control modules can also be spatially distributed along a common communication link in several locations. Data can be communicated with these remote modules over a common communication link, or network, wherein any or all modules on the network communicate via a common and/or an industrial communications protocol. Moreover, units within an industrial system can communicate with each other, with software modules residing therein, or in other control systems and/or with systems and/or applications outside of a control environment (e.g., business related systems and applications), for example.
Effective management is an important objective for industrial system operations, wherein choosing an appropriate development lifecycle process for the software implementation becomes crucial. For example, various activities in an industrial process can be derived from such lifecycle process. At the same time, continuously changing design or specification requirements of the development cycle poses difficulties and major problems. For example, searching for the current program version, changes between versions or investigating the reasons for such changes (when, why and by whom) can add up to significant overhead and increase risk of operation.
Typically, for such lifecycle of software in industrial plants it is important to gather and agree on design/processing requirements that are fundamental to a successful implementation. Such does not necessarily imply that all requirements need to be fixed before any implementation design, or coding among various processes is done—yet it is important for the industrial processes to implement what actually needs to be performed at each stage. The cyclical interaction among various units/controllers for reaching desired processing outcome can become a complex process, wherein the division of tasks and activities are carried out by generating documents/items that need to be timely shared among the various units at various stages of the processes. In particular, during operation it can become difficult to identify what is the proper version of the software and/or product requirement that should drive the design process. Accordingly, the units/teams involved can squander resources to determine a proper state such as a proper version of software to be employed. Without a proper and unique source for software and/or documentation identification, confusion and misunderstandings occur that can lead to lost productivity, and poor customer experience.

Change management methodologies for industrial automation and information systems


According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of optimizing point-to-point sessions is disclosed. A registration request is received from a mobile node. The mobile node communicates with a current packet controller function serviced by a packet data serving node. Whether the registration request comprises a previous access network identifier is determined. The previous access network identifier identifies a previous packet controller function. Whether the mobile node is serviced by a mobile Internet Protocol is determined. Next, whether the mobile node communicated with a previous packet controller function serviced by the packet data serving node is determined. The method concludes by deciding whether to negotiate a point-to-point session for the mobile node in response to on the determinations.

During transmission of a call, a mobile node such as a cellular phone may communicate with a network element of a data network by establishing a point-to-point session with the network element. As the mobile node moves from one location to another location, a call from the mobile node may be handed off from one network element to another network element. Handing off the call, however, may require renegotiation of the point-to-point session, which may result in increased latency and reduced performance of the data network. As a result, known techniques for processing packet data may be inadequate for many needs.


Coccidioidal agents which contain the polyether antibiotic semduramicin and nicarbazin show synergistic effects in poultry.

The present invention relates to compositions of subtherapeutic doses of semduramicin, a polyether antibiotic and coccidiostat in combination with nicarbazin, an anticoccidial agent. These synergistic compositions control and/or prevent coccidiosis in poultry, particularly, strains of coccidia that are resistant to polyethers used alone.
Combinations of polyether antibiotics with nicarbazin are reported to be effective for control of coccidiosis-causing strains of Eimeria in U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,438. From among the combinations claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,438, the combination of narasin:nicarbazin at doses from 30:30 ppm up to 50:50 ppm was selected for development and is now in commercial use under the trade name Maxiban.RTM.. The synergistic combination of the polyether antibiotic maduramicin and nicarbazin for use against coccidiosis in poultry is reported in EPO 182117. The combination of semduramicin with nicarbazin has not been previously reported.

Anticoccidial combinations comprising nicarbazin and semduramicin


A communication control method includes: receiving data, acquired by respective terminals, through a communication network; accumulating the received data in an information recording medium; obtaining an intra-network transmission time, which is an estimated value of a maximum time taken for transmission from when the data are acquired by the respective terminals until the data are received through the communication network; determining, of the accumulated data, the data whose time from an acquisition time point when the data is acquired by the terminal until a current time is shorter than the intra-network transmission time; excluding, of the accumulated data, the data whose time is determined to be shorter than the intra-network transmission time from data used for predetermined processing; and executing the predetermined processing by using the data excluding the data whose time is determined to be shorter than the intra-network transmission time.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a communication control method and a communication control apparatus that perform predetermined processing on the basis of data received from a plurality of terminals.
Description of the Related Art
An apparatus that collects data varying from moment to moment, the data being acquired by a plurality of terminals, and that performs predetermined processing on the basis of the collected data (such an apparatus is hereafter referred to as a "data aggregation apparatus") is used in a variety of fields (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-330628 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1)).
According to the technology (hereinafter referred to as "related art") disclosed in Patent Document 1, pieces of sensor information acquired by respective sensing terminals, such as water meters, are collected via wireless communication, and processing, such as displaying in a list, is performed based on the collected pieces of sensor information. According to such related art, it is possible to easily perform processing on the basis of data acquired by a large number of terminals.

Communication control method and communication control apparatus

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


The present invention is directed to isolated membrane-associated acyl-CoA desaturases expressed in the pheromone gland of an insect and, in particular, the .DELTA.11 desaturase of Trichoplusia ni. The present invention further relates to an isolated DNA molecule encoding the T. ni .DELTA.11 desaturase, expression vectors comprising the DNA molecule, and host cells comprising the expression vectors. Methods for isolating DNA sequences of homologous acyl-CoA desaturases expressed in the pheromone glands of insects are provided. The use of these acyl-CoA desaturases, DNA molecules, expression vectors, and host cells to produce an unsaturated fatty acyl-CoA product from a saturated or unsaturated fatty acyl-CoA reactant is also disclosed. The unsaturated fatty acyl-CoA products are useful as pheromones or as pheromone precursors as well as in the preparation of organic molecules, such as drugs.

Since the advent of DDT more than 50 years ago, broad-spectrum neurotoxic insecticides have provided the principal means for the control of economically important insects in agriculture and public health programs. Whereas the use of synthetic insecticides initially resulted in spectacular increases in crop yields and the suppression of some important human and animal disease vectors, the development of insecticide resistance in insect pest populations and the environmental damage caused by insecticides have become widely recognized as serious drawbacks to their use. Among the most significant environmental problems associated with the manufacture and use of insecticides are 1) their direct toxicity to nontarget organisms (including humans); 2) their persistence in the biosphere where they can accumulate and cause untoward developmental and reproductive effects in higher organisms; 3) significant point-source pollution associated with their manufacture and distribution; 4) their worldwide dispersal.
Because of these problems there have been considerable government, industry, and academic efforts to develop and implement integrated pest management ("IPM") approaches employing less toxic alternatives for insect control. Such IPM strategies typically combine several pest control techniques including better controlled and reduced applications of more specific and less persistent conventional insecticides; cultural practices; development of host plant resistance; use of "biologicals" such as predatory or parasitic insects, pathogenic bacteria, and viruses, and use of insect sex pheromones.
Many insects communicate via the release of volatile chemicals known as pheromones. Sex pheromones, for example, are typically released by the female insect at appropriate times to attract males of the same species for mating. The latter phenomenon has been exploited to prevent insect mating (and consequently reduce insect populations) by releasing sufficient quantities of synthetically produced pheromone in the field to effectively impair the ability of males to find and mate with females. Pheromones have been used in this way on a commercial basis for about 15 years, and have been shown to provide effective control for numerous insect pest species, especially Lepidopteran species (moths). Among these are the pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) in cotton, codling moth (Cydia pomonella) in apples, pears, and walnuts, oriental fruit moth (Grapholitha molesta) in peaches and nectarines, tomato pinworm (Keifera lycopersicella) in tomatoes, grape berry moth (Endopiza viteana) in grapes, artichoke plum moth (Platyptilia carduidactyla) in artichokes, beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) in onions and other vegetables, rice stem borer (Chilo supressalis) in rice, and Mexican rice borer (Eoreuma loftini) in sugar cane.
The commercial use of pheromones to control insect pests by mating disruption has several advantages over conventional insecticides. Pheromones are: 1) nontoxic and environmentally benign; 2) specific to one target species and do not adversely affect nontarget beneficial insects, making them extremely well suited for use in IPM programs; 3) much less likely (and have never been shown) to produce resistance in the target insect; and 4) registered for use much more easily than are conventional insecticides, typically requiring 2-4 years and less than $500,000, compared to 8-10 years and over $40 million for conventional insecticides.
Despite the many advantages pheromones exhibit over insecticides, their market penetration has been slow: the total U.S. market for pheromone-based mating disruption products was reported to be only $32 million in 1989, vs. the $6 billion worldwide annual insecticide market. The principal reason for this is that pheromones are at best only cost-competitive with insecticides. Most insect pheromones cost between $350/kg and $3,000/kg, with the pink bollworm pheromone being the most commercially advanced pheromone product on the market at $350/kg. The weekly cost of controlling pink bollworm in cotton with either pheromones or insecticides is the same: about $6-8/acre. Because more than half of the cost of pheromone products are attributable to their synthesis, and, in view of the importance of market factors governing the acceptance of pheromones for insect control, substituting less expensive enzymatically mediated steps for conventional chemical steps to reduce production cost should result in increased pheromone use.
Most insect sex pheromones are aliphatic compounds having a specific location of unsaturation and a terminal alcohol, acetate, or aldehyde functional group. These compounds are enzymatically synthesized in vivo from readily available saturated fatty acid precursors (Roelofs, et al. "Pheromone Biosynthesis in the Lepidoptera," J. Chem. Ecol. 14:2019-2031 (1988)).
In contrast to pheromone syntheses in nature, current approaches for the commercial production of pheromones employ traditional synthetic chemical routes. Because pheromones require very high purity to elicit an insect's response, these syntheses are expensive and difficult. In general, coupling reactions that use moisture- and oxygen-sensitive organometallic reagents are required to establish the correct position of the double bond. These coupling reactions require elaborate manipulations and especially pure feedstocks and solvents, and generate large amounts of organic wastes that require treatment.
Thus, the coupling reactions typically drive the cost of the process. Moreover, since pheromones are effective in such small quantities (typically a few grams per acre), the cost of pheromone production via standard techniques is unlikely to decrease significantly from volume production. It is, therefore, expected that the costs of chemical starting materials and intermediates will remain high, as is typically the case in the specialty chemicals industry, unless these high value intermediates can be formed directly from inexpensive starting materials.
For these and other reasons, there remains a need for a method for forming high value pheromone intermediates from inexpensive starting materials.


The present disclosure provides a multifunctional high-voltage connector and a battery product, the multifunctional high-voltage connector comprises: an upper cover; a pedestal; a conductive connection structure; two mating terminals; and a harness assembly. The conductive connection structure is used to make the two mating terminals be connected in series, and the harness assembly is directly connected to one of the mating terminals. When the upper cover and the pedestal are assembled, the conductive connection structure is simultaneously in contact with the two mating terminals, thereby turning on the high-voltage circuit. When the battery product requires maintenance, the upper cover is directly detached from the base, thereby turning off the high-voltage circuit. The battery product can be electrically connected to an external device via the harness assembly. The multifunctional high-voltage connector integrates both a switch function and a high-voltage connection function, therefore the connection resistance is greatly reduced.

In the battery product (such as a battery pack or a high-voltage cartridge), the common types of connectors generally include: high-voltage connector, Manual Service Disconnect (MSD), and fuse. The high-voltage connector is used for realizing electrical connection between the battery product and an external device (such as another battery pack or another high-voltage cartridge), the MSD is used for controlling the operation of turning on or turning off the high-voltage circuit of the battery product, and the fuse is used for providing an overload protection for the high-voltage circuit in the battery product.
Because the existing three types of connectors are independent components, when at least above two types of connectors are required based on the using requirements of the battery product, the following problems will occur: (1) the two types of connectors need to be connected by an adapter sheet, thereby increasing the connection resistance in the battery product; (2) different holes need to be provide on the box of the battery product to respectively mount the different connectors, which is not beneficial to the integration of the battery product; (3) because the number of the holes provided on the box of the battery product is more, which increases the interfaces to be sealed, thereby reducing the sealing reliability of the battery product; (4) the multiple types of connectors are simultaneously arranged, which increases the mounting space of the battery product.

Multifunctional high-voltage connector and battery product

CONTEMPORARY AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY CO., LIMITED


In order to eliminate heavy and expensive test separators on board offshore platforms, the invention proposes to use a sampling apparatus, which is designed, shaped and adapted to take fluid samples isokinetically from a mass flow containing a two or multi-phase fluid flowing in a pipeline. The pipeline is assigned calibratable electronic mass flow/fraction meters, the task thereof being to determine the produced amounts/share of the respective fractions (oil, gas, water/condensate, formation sand, etc.), and deliver data for such a determination to a computer. The sampling apparatus is coupled to the pipeline at a through-going hole for insertion/withdrawal of a probe having at least one orifice plate and being included in the sampling apparatus, as well as being adapted to be placed across substantially the complete internal diameter thereof and, following conclusion of sampling, to be withdrawn from the pipeline. Upon the withdrawal of the probe, the pipeline's insertion/withdrawal hole for the probe becomes closed by means of a check valve which, possibly may be included in the sampling apparatus. Fluid samples taken isokenitically by the sampling apparatus are analyzed in order to determine corresponding fraction values. The values determined from the corresponding fraction values can be used as prescribed (reference) values as a base for any necessary calibration of the electronic fractions meters.

The invention relates to a use of a sampling apparatus shaped with the aim of taking samples isokinetically from a mass flow in the form of a two- or multi-phase fluid in a pipeline assigned i.a. electronic measuring apparatus. The sampling apparatus is meant to be coupled continuously to the pipeline, either at the seabed or at the well head on a platform.
Prior art techniques comprise test separators separating the fractions (oil, gas, water, sand, condensate) of the multi-phase fluid. The amount of production for each fraction per unit of time is measured. This must be done regularly at each well.
Such test separators are heavy, and they are expensive in purchase and use.
In order to reduce the costs and simultanelously to enable a continuous testing of the wells in respect of the composition of the multi-phase fluid, it has been of great interest to find new technological solutions. Mass flow measuring has resulted in the use of electronic fraction measuring apparatus and metering appliances for measuring temperature and pressure in a multi-phase fluid flowing in a pipeline. Mass flow or fraction metering appliances enable electronic metering of the amount of gas, oil, sand and water flowing past a certain pipe cross section per unit of time. This electronic multi-phase measuring has experienced great confidence. Mass flow or fraction meters exist in various embodiments and designs, and may be based on the measurement of electrical voltages in the various fractions.
However, the electronic fraction meters that have been in use up to now have not been sufficiently accurate. They are adapted to transmit signals to a computer displaying the measuring results, which can differ rather significantly from the actual values. The corresponding measuring values achieved by means of the test separator may possibly be used as prescribed values when the electronic fraction meters are calibrated, but one desires to eliminate the test separators because of their weight, high price and substantial operational costs.
The object of the present invention has been to eliminate the use of test separators and, thus, to relieve the platform, obtaining significant cost savings; simultaneously enabling the provision, at all times, of accurate measuring results well suited as prescribed values for the calibration of said electronic mass flow/fraction meters.
By means of a sampling apparatus, known per se, possibly modified, adapted for isokinetic sampling, a probe is inserted into the mass flow within a pipeline, said probe, preferably, having two oppositely directed orifice plates, in order to bring out one single sample or a sample taken in co-current and a sample taken counter-currently. The sample taken isokinetically, is analyzed, e.g., in a spectrograph. The measuring values obtained are very close to the actual values and are, thus, well suited as prescribed values constituting a base for calibrating calibratable electronic mass flow/fraction meters. Corrections may be placed in the software of the processor unit of the electronic measuring instruments. The sampling apparatus which, e.g., may be of the kind as described and shown in Norwegian patent specification No. 173,468, enables isokinetic sampling. This apparatus comprises an actuator coupled to a check valve which, in turn, is coupled to the fluid-carrying pipeline through a through hole in the pipe wall. When the check valve occupies an open position, the actuator can place a probe into said hole, laterally of the longitudinal direction of the pipeline. The probe may have one or two diametrally opposite orifice plates, which can be moved across substantially the entire inner span of the pipeline, in order to take out fluid samples from at least the main part of the cross-sectional area of the fluid flow.
If the apparatus is placed at the seabed, this/these sample(s) may be delivered on board the platform through a pipeline for analysis.
The sampling apparatus is adapted to be permanently mounted to the pipeline on the seabed or on the well head of a platform, and makes a test separator completely superfluous.
A sampling apparatus used in accordance with the present invention serves primarily to provide accurate measuring results associated with the amounts, expressed in percentages, of the respective fractions for use as prescribed values for the calibration of the fraction meters, but enables secondarily the achievement of other measuring results, such as pressure, temperature, etc.
In accordance with the invention, there has been provided an independent measuring technique based on the use of a sampling apparatus in order to improve measuring results in quality, and to take samples. The sampling apparatus may be placed upstream or downstream in relation to the calibratable electronic fraction meters.
It may be an advantage to use the sampling apparatus in combination with a per se known, possibly modified mixing apparatus e.g., of the kind shown and described in Norwegian patent specification No. 174,015. Such a mixing apparatus would be mounted to said pipeline upstream in relation to the sampling apparatus and comprises a throttle body which is displaceable laterally of the longitudinal direction of the pipeline and which in operative position registers with the inner cross-sectional area of pipeline. The throttle body has converging channels, tapering in the direction of flow, and the longitudinal axes thereof meet in an imaginary, so called "focal point" (crossing point), and serve to mix the various fractions of the multi-phase fluid. Without such a mixing, one could risk that a liquid jacket immediately adjacent the inner wall surface of the pipeline would not be included in the sample. This mixing apparatus, which possibly could be deleted, has hydraulic actuators; the control lines thereof may be included in a so called umbilical, or they may be operated from, e.g., a remote control vehicle.
Isokinetic sampling gives accurate samples for the determination of produced amounts of oil, of gas, of water, of formation sand and of condensate per unit of time, as well as temperature and pressure at the measuring point on the pipeline. If the sampling apparatus, possibly together with the mixing apparatus, are placed on the well head on the platform, the apparatus may be controlled from a control room and operated manually.

Use of a sampling apparatus for calibrating electronic mass/flow fraction meters in a pipeline


Embodiments of an enhanced Node B (eNB) and method for RRC connection establishment for small-data transfers in a 3GPP LTE network are generally described herein. The eNB may receive a small-data RRC connection request message from user equipment (UE) that may include an establishment clause value indicating small-data traffic either with or without mobility. The eNB may send an initial UE setup request message to inform the mobility management entity (MME) that a small-data RRC connection is being established. The eNB may receive an acceptance message from the MME for the small-data RRC connection which may include a reduction of an RRC inactivity timer for fast connection release. The eNB may send an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE in response to receipt of the acceptance to establish the small-data RRC connection, the RRC connection reconfiguration message including a measurement information element (IE) when mobility is to be supported.

Small-data transmission is becoming an issue for wireless communication especially for 4G (e.g., LTE) radios due to the burden of control signaling overhead. Compared to 3G, 4G provides an always connected data mode where the user equipment (UE) has the IP address. Whenever a UE connects to an LTE network, a default (e.g., best effort) flow is assigned to the UE along with an IP address. Besides the connection between UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), this IP connection requires bearer establishment between the eNB and the core network. Thus, setting up a connection requires a great deal of signaling overhead. This overhead is negligible when the amount of data exchanged such as in applications such as web browsing or file transfer is very large. But a lot of other applications, such as social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter and machine-type communication (MTC) applications (e.g., smart parking meters), the amount of data transferred may be very small (e.g., hundreds of bites) compared to the signaling overhead involved in setting up and tearing down the LTE connection.
Thus there are general needs for reducing the signaling overhead for frequent small-data transmissions.

Enhanced node B and method for RRC connection establishment for small data transfers


A driving device includes: an internal combustion engine; a first rotating electric machine; a second rotating electric machine; and a transmission. The transmission includes: a first rotating electric machine shaft; a second rotating electric machine shaft which is arranged in parallel to the first rotating electric machine shaft; a first gear provided in the first rotating electric machine shaft; and a second gear provided in the second rotating electric machine shaft. A width in an axial direction of the first rotating electric machine is larger than that of the second rotating electric machine. The number of gears provided in a shaft in which a gear for the first rotating electric machine that meshes with the first gear is arranged is smaller than the number of gears provided in a shaft in which a gear for the second rotating electric machine that meshes with the second gear is arranged.

In recent years, known is a hybrid vehicle on which a driving device including an engine, a motor, a generator, and a transmission is mounted (for example, JP-A-2017-222197, JP-A-2017-222198, and JP-T-2017-526571). The transmission transmits a driving force of the engine to the generator and also transmits the driving force of at least one of the engine and the motor to an axle.


An electronic blood pressure meter capable of performing a proper automatic pressuring operation according to a blood pressure of a subject and measuring the blood pressure rapidly with accuracy. An electronic blood pressure meter includes a cuff, a pressure controller for controlling an inside fluid pressure of the cuff, a pressure sensor for sensing the inside fluid pressure of the cuff to produce a cuff pressure detecting signal, an extracting unit for extracting a pulse wave component superposed on the cuff pressure detecting signal during pressure control operations performed by the pressure controller, a calculating unit for calculating an amplitude of the extracted pulse wave for each pressure measurement, a unit for determining a blood pressure during an evacuating operation of the pressure controller based on output signals from the calculating unit and the pressure sensor, maximum blood pressure estimating unit which obtains an estimated value of a maximum blood pressure in response to output signals from the extracting unit and the pressure sensor during the pressuring operation of the control means. The pressure controller stops the pressuring operation when the inside fluid pressure of the cuff exceeds a total pressure of the estimated value and a predetermined value.

The present invention relates to an electronic blood pressure meter capable of performing an automatic pressuring operation according to the blood pressure of a subject and measuring the blood pressure rapidly with accuracy.
An electronic blood pressure meter includes a cuff, a pump for pressuring the cuff, an evacuation valve for evacuating the cuff, a pressure sensor for detecting a cuff pressure, and a microcomputer (MPU).
The MPU includes the functions of calculating a pulse wave amplitude value from the pulse wave component detected from an output signal of the pressure sensor, and determining a maximum blood pressure value (SYS) and a minimum blood pressure value (DIA) from the cuff pressure and the pulse wave amplitude value. The electronic blood pressure meter generally adopts a threshold technique in determining the blood pressure value. When making measurements, the cuff is pressured to check the flow of blood in the artery, and then pulse wave amplitude values incorporated in the cuff pressure are detected during the evacuation process. The pulse wave is a volumetric variation of the artery caused when the blood starts flowing during the process of evacuating the cuff at a slow speed. This volumetric variation is transmitted to the cuff and thus detected. The pulse wave amplitude value depicts a curve (an envelope) that gradually increases as the cuff pressure decreases, reaches a maximum, and then tends to decrease temporarily. Here, the maximum pulse wave amplitude value is detected, and during the phase in which the pulse wave amplitude increases, the pulse wave amplitude value closest to the threshold, which is the predetermined percentage of the maximum pulse wave amplitude value (e.g., 50% of the maximum pulse wave amplitude value), is detected, and the maximum blood pressure value is set to the cuff pressure at this point. Further, during the phase in which the pulse wave amplitude decreases, the pulse wave amplitude value closest to another threshold, which is a predetermined percentage of the maximum pulse wave amplitude value (e.g., 70% of the maximum pulse wave amplitude value), is detected, and the minimum blood pressure value is set to the cuff pressure at this point.
The electronic blood pressure meter pressures the cuff to a target pressuring value (a pressuring value above the maximum blood pressure value) to stop the flow of blood in the artery, obtains thereafter a cuff pressure and pulse wave information during the process of evacuating the cuff at a predetermined low speed (4 mmHg/s), and determines a blood pressure based on the cuff pressure and the pulse wave information.
Oscillometric electronic blood pressure meters track a pulse wave superposed on a cuff pressure and calculate a blood pressure based on a change in the amplitude of the pulse wave. The amplitude is, as shown in FIG. 1, small when the cuff pressure is sufficiently large with respect to a systolic pressure (a maximum blood pressure), increases as the cuff is being evacuated thereafter, and maximizes immediately before the cuff pressure becomes equal to a diastolic pressure (a minimum blood pressure). It is assumed that the cuff pressure becomes substantially equal to the average blood pressure. It maximizes at a maximum pulse wave point P. The amplitude decreases thereafter. The blood pressure is calculated based on this change in amplitude.
In an oscillometric method in which the blood pressure is calculated based on this amplitude variation, an entire amplitude change pattern (an envelope) is required. For example, according to a technique, a systolic pressure (the maximum blood pressure) and a diastolic pressure (the minimum blood pressure) are calculated as points S and D at which the pulse waves become equal to certain values on the higher pressure side and on the lower pressure side than the maximum points (points P), respectively, the certain values being obtained by multiplying the maximum values by certain percentages. More specifically, the blood pressure cannot be calculated unless all the points, S, P, and D, on the envelope are tracked. To track these three points means, it is necessary to pressure the cuff to a value larger than the point S before starting a measuring operation. If a cuff pressure larger than the point S is not obtained, the absence of the point S is discovered when the point P is detected in the blood pressure measurement operation, which makes the measurement unsuccessful due to failure to calculate the systolic pressure (the maximum blood pressure). Therefore, the user must repeat the pressuring operation at a pressure higher than in the last pressuring operation and make a measurement again. Since the point S (systolic pressure) is unknown to the user and it is very difficult to set the pressuring operation properly by estimating this point when a subject is has hypertension causing the blood pressure to undergo a noticeable variation. Further, if a measurement has been unsuccessful, it takes time to complete the measurement. Hence, a conventional practice is that the pressuring value is set to a point higher than necessary, which often keeps a subject under pain disadvantageously. For these reasons, a function of automatically setting the pressuring value has been called for.
In the above-mentioned conventional electronic blood pressure meter, the pulse wave amplitude is tracked during the cuff pressuring process in which the cuff is being pressured for a predetermined time and at a predetermined pressuring speed as shown in FIG. 2. If a plurality of pulse wave amplitudes sufficient to allow a maximum blood pressure to be estimated, can be obtained during the pressuring process, a maximum blood pressure can be estimated by applying a predetermined algorithm, and by stopping the cuff pressuring operation when the cuff pressure reaches an ideal pressuring target. An ideal pressuring target can be obtained by adding a predetermined pressure to the estimated maximum blood pressure. However, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, if an arm is thin, the cuff pressuring speed may become too fast. In such a case, if the pressuring speed is not variable as in the conventional system, a part of the pulse wave is missed no matter how many times the cuff pressuring operations are repeated. As a result, pulse wave information needed to determine a maximum blood pressure cannot be obtained. Thus, no maximum blood pressure is estimated. Therefore, the disadvantage that no proper pressuring target can be determined exists.
Since the predetermined slow evacuation is effected during a measurement in this blood pressure measuring system, it takes time to complete the measurement. As a result, the subject must endure pressure from the cuff for a long time, and the measurement may be painful to the subject. Particularly, a hypertensive subject must endure a slow evacuation process in which a large pressure is applied to the cuff. The evacuation process is so long that the subject feels numbness in his arm or gets some congestion at the artery, etc.


Amphiphilic macromolecules having structural units to adjust molecular weight and molecular weight distribution and charging property effects, high stereo-hindrance structural units, and having amphiphilic structural units. The Amphiphilic macromolecules are suitable for fields such as oil field well drilling, well cementation fracturing, oil gathering and transfer, sewage treatment, sludge treatment and papermaking, etc., and can be used as an oil-displacing agent for enhanced oil production, a heavy oil viscosity reducer, a fracturing fluid, a clay stabilizing agent, a sewage treatment agent, a papermaking retention and drainage aid or a reinforcing agent, etc.

The main function of the polymer used for tertiary oil recovery is believed to increase solution viscosity and decrease water permeability in oil layer, so as to decrease mobility ratio and adjust water injection profile, and thus to enhance oil recovery by increasing the conformance factor. The solution viscosity and stability of the viscosity are important indicators for determining polymer displacement characteristics, and also are the key problem for determining recovery effect. With the continuous increase of oilfield comprehensive water content, it becomes increasingly difficult to extract oil and keep stable production, thus the requirements on the polymer used for tertiary oil recovery also increase constantly.
Heavy oil recovery is a common problem worldwide. The heavy oil has characteristics of high viscosity, high gum asphaltene content or high wax content; heavy oil gathers up about 70% sulfur and 90% nitrogen of the crude oil, the light component which accounts for about 70% of the total heavy oil is the convertible section by using the current technology, but it is still difficult to convert it efficiently. The heavy component which accounts for about 20% of the total heavy oil is difficult to be converted directly by using conventional technology. The rest of the heaviest is 10% of bottom residue of the heavy oil, which is rich in over 70% of metals and over 40% of sulfur and nitrogen, it can't be converted effectively into light product. The heavy oil does not easily flow in the formation, wellbore and oil pipeline. Furthermore, since the oil-water mobility ratio is big, heavy oil can easily cause many problems such as rapid water breakthrough, high water content of produced fluid, and easy formation sand production. The process for heavy oil recovery can be mainly divided into recovery of liquid flooding (e.g., hot water flooding, steam huff and puff, steam flood and so on) and recovery of yield enhancement (e.g., horizontal well, compositing branched well, electric heating and etc). A chemical viscosity reducer can disperse and emulsify the heavy oil effectively, reduce the viscosity of the heavy oil remarkably and decrease the flow resistance of heavy oil in the formation and wellbore, which is significantly important for reducing energy consumption in the process of recovery, decreasing discharging pollution and enhancing heavy oil recovery.

Amphiphilic macromolecule and the purpose of this amphiphilic macromolecule

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