Method and apparatus (1) for measuring a manufacturing deviation in an external gear (2). The gear is arranged onto a stationary central pin (3), the external diameter of which is smaller than the internal diameter of the gear so that a relative movement between the gear and the pin is allowed; a coupling member (5), preferably including a head (17) that does not rotate and is adapted to fit into the teeth of the gear, is urged with a predetermined strength against the teeth of the gear in order to mesh with the teeth and concurrently bring an internal lateral surface of the gear into engagement with an external lateral surface of the pin. The position of the central axis (A) of the gear is determined and the manufacturing deviation of the gear is determined as a function of said position. The deviation so determined can be corrected as a function of a reference distance (D) indicative of the radial dimensions of the gear.

The U.S. Pat. No. 7,775,101B2 discloses an apparatus for measuring a manufacturing deviation in an external helical gear, in which a gear to be checked is arranged onto a stationary central pin, the external diameter of which is smaller than the internal diameter of the gear to be checked so that a relative movement between the gear to be checked and the pin is allowed. Moreover, the pin has a reference ball, which partially protrudes from a lateral surface of the pin and leans, in use, against an internal lateral surface of the gear to be checked. Under the stationary central pin, a lower face of the gear to be checked leans initially on a front rest ball, which partially protrudes from a support plane and is placed next to the reference ball, and on two back pads, the height of which above the support plane is lower than the one of the rest ball.
In use, a master gear (a master, that is a calibrated gear which is manufactured in an extremely accurate way and made of a very hard material) with external teeth analogous to the external teeth of the gear to be checked is laterally pushed against the gear to be checked with a predetermined strength (provided by an elastic member) to mesh with the gear to be checked.
When the two gears mesh, the gear to be checked is slightly lifted and its lower face continues to lean only on the front rest ball (that is, it doesn't contact the two back pads anymore).
Once the master gear and the gear to be checked are meshed as hereinbefore described, an electric motor mechanically connected to the master gear puts into (slow) rotation the master gear in order to put in rotation the gear to be checked, too, owing to the meshing between the two teeth. According to the check, the gear to be checked has to perform at least one complete rotation so that all the teeth of the gear to be checked mesh with the teeth of the master gear at a given instant of time of the check (obviously, it is possible that the gear to be checked performs more complete rotations in order to get a redundancy of data to average and limit the incidence of accidental errors).
The pin carrying the gear to be checked includes two groups of position sensors (typically two sets of three position sensors arranged symmetrically about the central axis), which are arranged along the pin at two different levels (that is, the two groups of sensor devices are staggered along the lateral surface of the pin). In each group of position sensors, the position sensors are all placed at the same level (that is, the position sensors are coplanar) and lie in a measuring plane perpendicular to the external lateral surface of the pin and to the internal lateral surface of the gear to be checked. Each position sensor is adapted to measure a distance lying between the external lateral surface of the pin and the internal lateral surface of the gear to be checked. Knowing the distance lying between the external lateral surface of the pin and the internal lateral surface of the gear to be checked at three different points of a same measuring plane, it is possible to determine in the same measuring plane the position of the central axis of the gear to be checked. Knowing the position of the central axis of the gear to be checked in two different measuring planes, it is possible to determine the position of the central axis of the gear to be checked. During a complete rotation of the gear to be checked, the real position of the central axis of the gear to be checked is cyclically determined according to the above-described procedure, and it is possible to accurately determine, at each point of the gear to be checked, the taper error and the lead error as a function of the deviation between the real position and the ideal position of the central axis of the gear to be checked.
The above-described apparatus enables to determine the taper error and the lead error with good accuracy in a workshop environment. However, the accuracy standards required are higher and higher.
Moreover, the above-described apparatus is relatively cumbersome, expensive and not very adaptable due to the need to employ the master gear, which is put into rotation by a servomotor. It should be noted that the master gear is particularly difficult and expensive to produce because on the one hand it has to be very accurately manufactured and on the other hand it has to be made of very hard material. Moreover, as the master gear has to be conjugated with the gear to be checked, each type of gear to be checked requires a corresponding master gear.

Method and apparatus for measuring a manufacturing deviation in an external gear


A liquid level sensor for a tank includes coaxial inner and outer tubes having lower ends extending into the tank and upper ends projecting from the tank, with the upper end of the inner tube projecting from the outer tube and disposed a known distance from the top of the tank. A switch assembly includes a switch disposed in the inner tube and operable in response to proximity to a switch actuator which is carried by a float encircling the outer tube and movable therealong with the liquid level, the switch being connected across a pair of electrical conductors extending from the upper end of the inner tube. An indicator strip extends lengthwise of the conductors and is held thereagainst by a transparent sleeve, the strip having indicia indicating distance to the switch. Plastic cable ties extend through openings in the inner tube and snugly hold the switch assembly against the inner tube to permit manual axial movement of the switch assembly while preventing inadvertent movement thereof. The upper end of the inner tube is cut away to permit observation of alignment of the indicia with a reference mark on the inner tube. Plural tubes and switch assemblies with appropriate color coding may be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for determining the ullage of a liquid-containing tank, and relates in particular to systems of the type utilizing switches actuated by float-carried switch actuators.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention is an improvement of a commercially available tank ullage determining system which utilizes a pair of tubes extending into the tank and respectively encircled by floats carrying switch actuators. Disposed in each tube is a switch connected in an electrical cable which extends upwardly through the tube and out through an opening in a stopper. When the stopper is inserted in the upper end of the tube it clamps against the cable to hold it against axial movement. A manual float lifter is provided to manually raise the floats and test the operation of the switches, which are typically respectively set at different levels corresponding, for example, to a desired high level and an overfill level. In normal operation, the floats rise and fall with the liquid level and when a float moves past a switch it actuates the switch to signal the liquid level.
In this prior system, when it is desired to change the level of a switch, the stopper is removed to free the switch cable, which can then be manually pulled up or pushed down in the tube. The difficulty with this arrangement is that there is no way to readily and accurately determine the new switch level. In order to determine this level, the manual float lifter must be used to raise the floats to actuate the switch, the distance that the float must be manually raised serving as an indication of the new switch level.

Switch level control for tank ullage determining system


The printer is connected to an interface device and communicates through the interface device with external devices, and has a detector that detects a prescribed operation of the printer, a controller that receives a query signal sent from the interface device, and confirms the reception status of the query signal after the detector detects the prescribed operation, wherein the controller determines the operating status of the interface device based on the query signal reception status confirmed by the controller.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a printer that communicates with an external device through an interface device, and relates more particularly to a printer that can effectively handle problems caused by static electricity in the interface device.
2. Description of Related Art
Printers are often used while connected over a network to the host device that sends print requests to the printer. In such situations, an interface device that controls the communication interface between the printer and the host device or other external device is disposed in the printer or separately from the printer, and the printer and external device communicate through the interface device.
Printers also use consumables such as ink, toner, or other color material and a print medium such as paper, and these consumables are replaced as needed by the user. Replacing the consumables typically involves opening a printer cover and performing some operation inside the printer, at which time the user may touch metal parts inside the printer. This poses the danger of static electricity from the user's body being discharged to the metal part, which can cause such problems as rendering the interface device nonfunctional.
To prevent this, parts that might be touched by the user may be grounded. Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-H05-221085, for example, teaches a structure for passing static electricity discharged from the user's body to ground by connecting a switch that is touched by the user to the ground terminal of the frame.
Such conventional hardware solutions cannot completely prevent problems caused by static electricity, however, and an effective solution for when problems occur is not disclosed. The danger of problems due to static electricity thus remains with conventional interface devices, and great financial and other types of losses may be incurred until the interface device can be restored once such a problem occurs and the interface device stops functioning.

Printer, printer control method, and printer control program


An accessory for a patio deck having a floor and a peripheral railing. The accessory includes a stand for being fastened to the floor of the patio deck, a bracket for being fastened to the upper bar of the railing and a post having a lower end mounted in a bore of the stand and an upper end extending through an aperture in the bracket. The invention also includes a bracket for a patio deck accessory which includes a post and wherein the bracket is adaptable for supporting posts of different thicknesses.

The present invention relates generally to patio accessory items, such as umbrella, clothes rack, bird feeders and plant hangers. The invention also relates to a supporting apparatus for patio accessory items. Such accessory items are used commonly on patio decks in connection with tables. The table has a hole in its center to which the staff of the accessory extends in a sandbag for supporting the bottom of the staff. The prior art accessory items and supporting apparatus limit the way in which the accessories, such as umbrellas can be used on a patio. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art accessory items and support apparatus have been obviated by the present invention.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the invention to provide an accessory which can be used anywhere along the peripheral railing of a patio deck.
A further object of the invention is the provision of an accessory supporting apparatus for a patio deck that can be fastened anywhere along the peripheral railing of the patio deck.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a support bracket for a patio deck accessory which enables the accessory to be supported by the peripheral railing of the patio deck.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a support bracket for a patio deck accessory that includes a supporting post and wherein the support bracket is attachable to the peripheral railing of the patio deck and is adaptable for supporting posts of different diameters.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.

Supporting system for patio deck accessories


Data to be transmitted over a channel from a transmitter to a receiver is encoded to obtain a codeword. The codeword is defined by a plurality of variable nodes associated with a plurality of the check nodes of a bipartite graph representing the code. The codeword is transmitted over the channel such that certain variable nodes are transmitted prior to other variable nodes. The certain variable nodes are associated with a subset of the check nodes of the bipartite graph and define a subcodeword known at the receiver. At the receiver, a decodability of the transmitted codeword is estimated using the subcodeword prior to receiving all variable nodes of the codeword.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an example of a network infrastructure, such as a wireless communication network or wireless communication system, including a plurality of base stations eNB1 to eNB5, each serving a specific area surrounding the base station schematically represented by the respective cells 1001 to 1005. The base stations are provided to serve users within a cell. A user may be a stationary device or a mobile device. Further, the wireless communication system may be accessed by IoT devices which connect to a base station or to a user. IoT devices may include physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items having embedded therein electronics, software, sensors, actuators, or the like as well as network connectivity that enable these devices to collect and exchange data across an existing network infrastructure. FIG. 1 shows an exemplary view of only five cells, however, the wireless communication system may include more such cells. FIG. 1 shows two users UE1 and UE2, also referred to as user equipment (UE), that are in cell 1002 and that are served by base station eNB2. Another user UE3 is shown in cell 1004 which is served by base station eNB4. The arrows 1021, 1022 and 1023 schematically represent uplink/downlink connections for transmitting data from a user UE1, UE2 and UE3 to the base stations eNB2, eNB4 or for transmitting data from the base stations eNB2, eNB4 to the users UE1, UE2, UE3. Further, FIG. 1 shows two IoT devices 1041 and 1042 in cell 1004, which may be stationary or mobile devices. The IoT device 1041 accesses the wireless communication system via the base station eNB4 to receive and transmit data as schematically represented by arrow 1061. The IoT device 1042 accesses the wireless communication system via the user UE3 as is schematically represented by arrow 1062.
The wireless communication system may be any single-tone or multicarrier system based on frequency-division multiplexing, like the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system, the orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) system, or any other IFFT-based signal with or without CP, e.g. DFT-s-OFDM. Other waveforms, like non-orthogonal waveforms for multiple access, e.g. filter-bank multicarrier (FBMC), generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) or universal filtered multi carrier (UFMC), may be used.
Data may also be communicated over channels of a wired communication network or a combination of wired and wireless networks, for example, a local area network (LAN), a G.hn network operating over different types of wires like telephone wires, coaxial cables and/or power lines, or a wide area network (WAN) such as the internet.
In the above referenced networks data may be overlaid with noise while being transmitted over the channel so that the data may not be processed correctly or may not be processed at all at the receiver. For example, when the data to be transmitted is encoded using a predefined code, a codeword representing the data is generated at the transmitter and forwarded to the receiver over the channel. During the transmission, the codeword may be overlaid with noise to such an extent that decoding of the codeword is not possible, e.g., because of noisy channel situations. To address such a situation, wired and/or wireless communication networks may employ a retransmission mechanism. For example, when the receiver detects that a received codeword cannot be decoded, a retransmission from the transmitter or sender is requested. For example, a HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) may be used to request a retransmission from the transmitter to correct decoding failures. For example, additional redundancy may be requested. At the transmitter, encoding the data includes generating redundancy that may include redundant bits that are added to the data to be transmitted. During a first transmission only a part of the redundancy may be transmitted. When a retransmission is requested, further parts of the redundancy may be send to the receiver. For example, HARQ may employ chase combining (every re-transmission contains the same information—data and parity bits), or incremental redundancy (every re-transmission contains different information than the previous one).
The retransmission, however, causes a delay due to the additional round-trip time (RTT) which includes the propagation delays over the network and the processing delays at the UE and the eNB. Thus, in communication networks it is desired to reduce delays caused due to erroneous data transmissions and associated retransmission requests.

Receiver, transmitter, communication network, data signal and method improving a retransmission process in a communication network

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.


The present invention is directed to a method for preparing a W/0/W multiple emulsion by a greatly simplified, unique procedure. In the method, a mixture of oil, water, a second alkyl containing polar, protic solvent and a hydrophilic emulsifier is provided. This mixture breaks down the oil into extremely small droplets which in effect results in the solution of the oil in the mixture. This mixture containing extremely small droplets of oil is referred to herein as a "microemulsion". The 0/W microemulsion is then diluted with sufficient water to cause destabilization of the microemulsion and to provide a W/0/W multiple emulsion.

Emulsions, in general, are heterogeneous systems of one immiscible liquid dispersed in another in the form of droplets which usually have a diameter greater than 1 micron. The two liquids are chemically unreactive and form systems characterized by a low thermodynamic stability. Simple emulsions are classified according to the nature of their continuous and dispersed phase. It is the custom to set forth the droplet (dispersed) phase first followed by the continuous phase separated by a / mark, i.e., either water(droplets)-in-oil(continuous) (W/O) or oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. Multiple emulsions are characterized by listing the primary emulsion set first which is dispersed in a continuous phase. For example, in a water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) multiple emulsion, a W/O primary emulsion is dispersed in a water continuous phase. An emulsifier is present to stabilize the emulsion and a variety of ionic and non-ionic surfactants are available for this purpose. Lipophilic (oil-soluble, low HLB) surfactants are used to stabilize W/O emulsions, whereas hydrophilic (water-soluble, high HLB) surfactants are used to stabilize oil/water systems.
Multiple emulsions are more complex systems as the drops of the dispersed phase themselves contain even smaller dispersed droplets which normally consist of a liquid which is miscible, and in most cases, is identical with the continuous phase. They are therefore, emulsions of emulsions. For each type of multiple emulsion, the internal and external phases are alike and an intermediate phase separates the two like phases. The intermediate phase is immiscible with the two like phases.
Multiple emulsions are usually prepared by a two-stage procedure; Matsumoto, et al., J. Colloid Interference Sci., 57-353-361 (1976). The first stage involves the preparation of a primary emulsion, which, in the preparation of a W/O/W emulsion, is a W/O emulsion. In the second step, the primary emulsion is further emulsified in water containing a hydrophilic emulsifier to form the multiple emulsion. The primary emulsion may be prepared in any suitable manner; for example, with a laboratory mixer, by ultrasonification, etc. A lipophilic surfactant is used to promote the formation of a W/O emulsion. This emulsion is then poured into a solution or a dispersion of a hydrophilic surfactant in water. The hydrophilic surfactant is used to promote O/W emulsification in which the "oil" phase is the W/O emulsion.
The second emulsification step is critical and sometimes extremely difficult to effect as excess mixing can fracture the drops of the primary emulsion, resulting in a simple O/W emulsion. The internal water droplets are lost and mixed with the external aqueous phase as the oil drops are torn apart. For this reason, high shear mixers and sonification are unsuitable methods for preparation of the second emulsion. A small, low-shear mixing may be employed or the mixture may be shaken by hand. However, no matter what emulsification method is used for the second step, some of the internal aqueous phase is unavoidably lost to the external aqueous phase.
With respect to food technology, considerable research effort has been expended on developing reduced fat food products which have low oil content, particularly aqueous based products which have low or substantially no fat content. Significant advances have been made in reducing fat and oil content of various food products through the use of, for example, water-in-oil emulsions or water-in-oil-in-water emulsions, wherein water occupies volume which otherwise would have been occupied with oil, thereby commensurately reducing the amount of oil in an oil-containing food product. For example, Takahashi, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,632,840, 4,626,443 and 4,626,444 disclose reduced fat salad dressing having a W/O/W emulsion base. Such salad dressings nevertheless still have about 30% oil by weight. Further fat reductions have been obtained using, as fat mimetics, novel carbohydrate-protein complexes such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,674 or microreticulated microcrystalline cellulose as disclosed in co-owned U. S. Pat. No. 5,011,701, filed Aug. 18, 1989. Such carbohydrate-protein complexes or microreticulated microcrystalline cellulose are particularly useful in providing no-fat food products such as viscous and pourable salad dressings and the like having fat-like organoleptic characteristics.
While elimination or substantial reduction of oil content is attainable, such low-fat or no-fat products characteristically lack (or lose during storage) the desirable flavor possessed by their high-fat counterparts. Stabilization of aqueous-soluble or lipid-soluble flavors in low- or no-fat, aqueous based food products has not received much attention. Heretofore, aqueous soluble flavors have merely been added along with other aqueous soluble ingredients to produce low- or no-fat food products; with respect to reintroducing fat-soluble flavors to reduced-fat products. PCT International Application No. W090/00354 to Singer discloses adding to low-fat and no-fat foods, fat globules containing concentrated fat soluble flavoring to simulate the organoleptic effect of fat-rich food products. In each of these cases, the flavors are in contact with the aqueous based food vehicle environment (either directly or at the interface between the fat globules and the aqueous base of the food vehicle) and thereby may be adversely affected. Flavor perception in low- or no-fat food products containing soluble flavors simply mixed into the aqueous-based food vehicle, e.g., viscous or pourable salad dressings or the like, rapidly deteriorates; presumably due to interaction of flavors with the aqueous base, giving such products a short shelf life. It would therefore be desirable to provide aqueous based food products (especially no-fat products) which have aqueous or oil soluble flavor components stably maintained so as to protect the flavors from volatilization, oxidation and other desirable events, during extended storage, while at the same time providing for ready release of such flavors, with good organoleptic characteristics, when such low/no-fat food products are eaten.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide stable W/O/W multiple emulsions which utilize reduced amounts of emulsifiers, which multiple emulsions are suitable for food emulsion technology, as well as other applications utilizing multiple emulsions. It is also an object of the present invention to provide flavor delivering compositions which are stably maintained in low-fat or no-fat products, such that the flavors are protected from the aqueous based food vehicle environment until the food product is eaten, whereupon the flavor is readily released to yield a desirable taste perception and mouthfeel. These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.

Method for preparing a multiple emulsion


A method for optimizing an appearance of a projected image. The method includes providing a first configuration having a plurality of preset projection device settings for a first type of projected image and providing a second configuration having a plurality of preset projection device settings for a second type of projected image. The method further includes selecting one of the first configuration and the second configuration, and automatically adjusting the respective plurality of preset projection device settings in accordance with the selection of one of the first configuration and the second configuration.

Projection devices may receive input from a number of different sources including video sources, computers, personal data assistants (PDAs), cameras, video-imaging devices, etc. Images from these sources, including, but not limited to, video images, photographs, presentations, documents, films, etc., may be projected by the projection device as projected images. Optimization of the appearance of the projected images may require adjustment of a number of projection device settings. The adjustment of the projection device to optimize the projected image, depending on the type of image, and the source of the image, may be difficult and time-consuming, as a user may be required to access individual settings via one or more menu systems and/or make manual adjustments to the projection device.
It would be desirable to provide the user with an easily accessible user-input which would allow the user to quickly and easily switch from a first pre-defined configuration to a second pre-defined configuration. Likewise, it would be desirable to allow the user to customize one or more of the pre-defined setting configurations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention relates to a method and sensing device capable of determining a temperature of a liquid and an electrical conductivity of the liquid at the temperature. The sensing device comprises at least one temperature sensor for providing temperature measurement data arranged such that the temperature sensor is physically isolated from the liquid when the sensing device is immersed in the liquid. The device further comprises an electrical conductivity sensor, storage means containing temperature characteristics and a processor. The processor is arranged for instantly measuring an electrical conductivity of a liquid and for evaluating temperature measurement data for determining the temperature of the liquid on the basis of the temperature characteristics.

Sensing devices for determining an electrical conductivity and temperature can be used for the monitoring of (dish)washing processes in order to e.g. determine the concentration of detergent available for the (dish)washing process and to re-dose (fill) detergent if required. Although the electrical conductivity is a measure for the concentration of detergent, the temperature is measured as well, since the electrical conductivity is temperature-dependant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,798 describes a method and apparatus for controlling the concentration of wash water in a ware washing machine, in which the conductivity of the ware washing solution is measured, as well as the temperature, in order to compensate for the apparent concentration changes solely associated with changes in temperature of the washing solution.
EP 1 704 810, in the name of the present applicant, describes a self-contained and wireless monitoring device, e.g., for monitoring a washing process inside a relatively small industrial dishwashing machine, which device monitors the electrical conductivity and temperature of the washing liquid. The temperature sensor in the monitoring device is physically isolated from the liquid in the sense of being encapsulated by a material that protects the sensor against the harsh chemical environment wherein the monitoring device operates during dishwashing. The disclosed monitoring device uses a stored threshold value of the electrical conductivity below which the detergent concentration in the washing liquid is considered too low and a user is alerted.
A problem in determining the amount of detergent by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature, is that the quality, in particular the electrical conductivity, of water without detergent varies from one geographical region to another. This variation may be larger than the influence of the addition of detergent. In order to compensate for this variation to determine a reliable threshold value, it is desirable to obtain information on the electrical conductivity and the temperature at which that electrical conductivity of the washing liquid without dissolved detergent was determined. Users of the sensing devices, however, frequently immerse the sensing device in the washing liquid almost simultaneously with adding the detergent to the liquid. Whereas the electrical conductivity of the water can be measured quickly, the associated temperature cannot as a result of the physical encapsulation of the temperature sensor in the sensing device.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a sensing device that is capable of quickly and accurately determining a temperature of a liquid and an electrical conductivity at that temperature.


A timepiece sub-assembly includes, irreversibly fixed to a main plate and each irreversibly pre-adjusted by the irreversible securing of adjustment and/or assembly components, after the particular timepiece function thereof has been adjusted and function checked on the test bench, functional modules including a gear train module, a display module, and a time-setting module. Other mechanical sub-assemblies, each irreversibly fixed to the preceding lower order mechanical sub-assembly, include various modules including motor module, frame-mounted self-winding device module, escapement holder regulating module, motion work train, date module, and self-winding module. A mechanical movement including at least one mechanical sub-assembly of this type and a watch including a mechanical movement of this type are also disclosed. A method of assembling mechanical sub-assemblies of this type by the irreversible securing of mechanical sub-assemblies and irreversibly pre-adjusted modules is also disclosed.

Modular timepieces are known. Although very widely known in electronic horology, they are less frequent in mechanical horology, where modular construction, generally devised to break down the same basic mechanical movement into several calibres with different functions or having a different appearance, is usually more expensive than the traditional method of manufacture. Only a few additional mechanisms, made on additional plates, are relatively widespread.
Modular construction conventionally imposes the constraint of machining high precision interfaces, because of the accumulation of assembly clearances between modules, which require very tight tolerances for each module, to ensure a satisfactory result for the entire unit.
Modular manufacture is also very often detrimental to the total thickness of the mechanical movement, and it is difficult to make ultra flat or even simply flat mechanical movements.
However, modular construction remains an interesting objective for timepiece manufacturers, since it allows assembling tasks to be split. In return for the tighter manufacturing tolerances required by the accumulation of clearances between modules, the final assembly operation can be carried out by less skilled personnel because it is less complicated. However, the final assembly operation still requires the knowledge and sensitivity of a watchmaker.
EP Patent Application No. 1 079 284 in the name of ETA discloses a watch with two main modules each of which contains half of the components.
EP Patent Application No. 0 862 098 in the name of VOSS discloses a modular watch with a timing mechanism forming an entire module.
EP Patent Application No 1 211 578 in the name of ETA discloses an ultra thin electromechanical movement with stacked modules, implementing tubular elements compensating for the variations in thickness of the assembly elements.

Modular mechanical timepiece movement with functional modules


A method for controlling a preview apparatus which is actuated by a preview switch which can be actuated externally, in an AF single lens reflex camera, wherein when the preview switch is turned ON, the AF operation is carried out before a stop-down operation to move a diaphragm from a full-open position to a set diaphragm position begins.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a preview apparatus (for confirming the depth of field) in a single lens reflex camera having an AF (automatic focusing) function.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in a known single lens reflex camera having a preview apparatus, a release switch (release button) and a preview switch are separately provided. In an AF (automatic focusing) single lens reflex camera, the AF operation is carried out when the release switch is depressed by half step (i.e., when the photometering switch is turned ON). Since the preview switch is not related to the AF operation, if the preview switch is depressed in an out-of-focus state, the depth of field of an object image in the out-of-focus state is confirmed. Consequently, in order to confirm the depth of field of an object image in an in-focus state, it is necessary to first depress the release button by half step to perform the AF operation and thereafter to depress the preview switch after the composition is determined. Thus, in the conventional single lens reflex camera having an AF function, the photographer must actuate two different switches upon previewing. In particular, the photographer must carry out troublesome operations to confirm the depth of field at different object distances or in various compositions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control method of a preview apparatus in an AF single lens reflex camera in which the composition and the depth of field of an in-focus object can be easily and fast confirmed only by the operation of the preview switch without actuating the release switch.

Control method of preview apparatus in AF single lens reflex camera and preview apparatus in AF single lens reflex camera


An image processing device for processing an original image divided into a plurality of blocks that are made up of a plurality of picture elements from encoded image-data which is obtained by encoding a spatial-frequency component of the block as a plurality of spatial-frequency coefficients, and producing reduced encoded image-data which is encoded data on a reduced image that is obtained by reducing the original image to a given reduction rate. If the block in the encoded image-data of the original image is in an area where the value of the function is small due to gentle change in brightness or color of the image, for example, only the direct-current component coefficient of is used for the block. On the other hand, if the block is in a area where the value of the function is large because the area is a boundary area, for example, such as an outline in the image, limited number of lower spatial frequency-coefficients are used for the block. The number is based on the reduction rate of the image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing device, a processing method, a distributing device and a transmitting system for encoded image-data. Specifically, it relates to the art of producing reduced encoded image-data for a reduction image, using encoded image-data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, data transmission over a network has become faster, and household appliances such as a personal computer and a digital television receiver have come into wider use. This helps put image-information providing services to practical and broad use. Particularly, such image-information is handled as digital image-data, thus making the quantity of data more massive. This requires operations to be made efficiently, such as image-data storage and transmission. In the field where image-data is handled, there is the art of compressing and encoding image-data. Especially, in the field where static images (or still pictures) are handled, an image compressing-and-encoding art, called the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), is generally known.
As an example in which such an image compressing-and-encoding art based on the JPEG is in use, there is a field of an electronic still camera which is generally called a digital camera. In the electronic still camera, a photographed image is compressed and encoded into the JPEG form to reduce the quantity of data, and then, it is recorded on a storage medium. In addition, as another example, there is an image distributing system in which image-data is compressed and encoded into the JPEG form and then is distributed. The more advanced a network technology such as the Internet gets, the more popular has this system become.
In the field of an electronic still camera, image-data (hereinafter, called the JPEG image) which is held in the JPEG form inside the camera is generally recorded on a recording medium such as a secure digital (SD) card. In this case, in general, a plurality of JPEG images are also produced as reduced images for printing reference to record them on a recording medium. Such a reduced image is called a thumbnail image. If a plurality of thumbnail images are collected and simultaneously printed out, that printout is called an index print.
To produce this index print, a plurality of JPEG images have to be restored, and then, a thumbnail image needs to be produced for each of them. In other words, restoring a plurality of JPEG images requires a considerable quantity of processing, thereby taking quite a bit of processing time for index printing.
Aiming to resolve this disadvantage, an image processing technology is proposed of producing a thumbnail image at high speed, using image-data which is compressed and encoded (e.g., refer to Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-59612 specification). Patent Document 1 discloses a technology of dividing an original image into blocks called macro-blocks, and producing a thumbnail image by using only a direct-current component coefficient which is included in encoded data that is obtained by encoding a spatial-frequency component of each macro-block. According to this prior art (hereinafter, named Prior Art 1), a thumbnail image is produced using only a direct-current component coefficient. This helps save the time to process an alternating-current component coefficient, or some other time, thereby heightening the speed of processing.
Furthermore, as described above, there is known an image distributing system which uses a network such as the Internet, as another example in which an image compressing-and-encoding technology is used. As such a system, the one that uses a thumbnail image is known. In this image distributing system, a distributor transmits, as an index image used to select an image, thumbnail image-data which corresponds to an image size desired by a user. Then, the user selects a desired image, using this thumbnail image. Next, the user notifies the distributor of a request to distribute the image selected by the user. Thereby, the distributor distributes request contents of a dynamic image (or moving picture) or the like which corresponds to the image selected by the user. Such an image distributing system is practically used in the field of an image distributing system. In this field, especially, users have various desires. Thus, a reduced image such as a thumbnail image is distributed of a variety of sizes. In this case, if the distributed thumbnail image is small, the user can watch a large number of images at the same time. But if it is too small, then the user will find it difficult to view its contents.
Accordingly, a technology is proposed which is capable of confirming a thumbnail image swiftly, and in addition, distributing a thumbnail image of image size desired by the user, if necessary (e.g., refer to Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-75390 specification). Patent Document 2 discloses a technology of dividing an original image into macro-blocks, selecting, from among low-frequency component coefficients which are included in encoded data that is obtained by encoding a spatial-frequency component of each macro-block, those coefficients limited in number depending on an image size to be restored, transmitting the same, and producing thumbnail images of the desired sizes at a receiver. More specifically, in this method, an original image is divided into macro-blocks, and encoding conversion processing is executed on an original-image signal which is sampled using a plurality of sampling values of each macro-block. From among a plurality of spatial-frequency coefficients which are obtained in this encoding conversion processing, a plurality of low-frequency component coefficients are selected as one set of coefficients. Herein, the low-frequency component coefficients are fewer than the spatial-frequency coefficients obtained by the encoding conversion processing and include only low-frequency components. The distributor transmits the set of coefficients, for each macro-block, to the receiver. The receiver executes, on this set of coefficients, a decoding conversion which conforms to the size of sample arrangements which correspond to the number of these coefficients. This reproduces an image which has a smaller sampling value than the sampling value of the original image, or a reduced image. This configuration enables transmission time or processing time to be saved as long as the image is allowed to have a small size, according to the prior art (hereinafter, named Prior Art 2) which is disclosed by Patent Document 2. According to Prior Art 2, the larger the reduction rate of an image becomes and the closer it gets to 1, the higher spatial-frequency component coefficients will be and the larger the number of them will be. If required image sizes are large, this prevents the quality of an image from becoming poorer because of a shortage of encoding coefficients.
However, if a relatively large thumbnail image is handled, in Prior Art 1 which uses only a direct-current component coefficient included in encoded data, the image quality becomes poor noticeably. In Prior Art 2, where from among low-frequency component coefficients included in encoded data, a large number of those coefficients suited to a large image size are selected, there is a disadvantage in that processing time or transmission speed is almost on the same level as that of an original image.
In other words, Prior Art 1 uses only a direct-current component coefficient which corresponds to an average picture-element value of each macro-block. Thereby, the larger the image size becomes, the larger a so-called block noise becomes. In Prior Art 2, the larger the image size becomes, the more coefficients are handled and the closer the number of coefficients gets to that of the original image. This lowers processing speed or transmission speed.
Furthermore, in a method of Prior Art 2, an original image is encoded according to a reduction rate every time when it is distributed. This requires encoding for each distribution. As a result, if the number of terminals on the receiver side increases, that makes heavier a load of encoding processing. In other words, encoding has to be executed whenever distribution is conducted. This increases the number of times when encoding processing is executed and makes the processing's load heavier. This processing's load could cause the time from a distribution request to a distribution to be delayed. Furthermore, according to Prior Art 2, an image is held as original-image data which is not compressed and encoded, a storing means having a greater storage capacity is needed than in the case of compressed and encoded image data.

Image-data processing device, image-data processing method, image-data distributing device and image-data transmitting system

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A computer-implemented method for providing merchant recommendations comprises receiving, by a processor, raw merchant embeddings and raw user embeddings generated from payment transaction records, wherein the raw merchant embeddings include a plurality of embedded features. A generative adversarial network (GAN) performs a disentanglement process on the raw merchant embeddings to remove an effect of an identified feature by generating modified merchant embeddings that are free of the identified feature and are aligned with other ones of the plurality of features. A list of merchant rankings is automatically generates based on the modified merchant embeddings, past preferences of a target user using the raw merchant embeddings, and a current location in which the merchant recommendations should be made. A list of merchant rankings is then provided to the target user.

Personalized restaurant recommendation systems aim to suggest restaurants to end users based on their own preferences, which automatically could provide each target user a personalized ranked list of recommended restaurants based on information learned from a user's behavior history. Most traditional recommendation systems use collaborative filtering, which recommend a user with unexplored items that are liked by other users having similar tastes. Examples of commercial use of collaborative filtering include Amazon® rating scores, Yelp® reviews, and Netflix® movie ratings. To achieve adequate results, collaborative filtering needs sufficient rating scores to find similar users. However, explicit ratings or reviews are often not available, and could be highly biased. Implicit ratings have been proposed for the aforementioned problem. An example of implicit ratings is YouTube's recommendation system that treats a video as being liked by a user if the user finishes that video. Similarly, if a webpage is being scrolled to the end, then it is likely that webpage is being liked.
However, point-of-interest (POI) recommendation systems are more complicated, especially for restaurant recommendations, partly due to the complexity introduced by geographical location factors. For restaurant recommendations, some systems model geographical preferences of users using user check-in data on location-based social networks, but they treat locations that users have been to as what users are likely to prefer. For more accurate recommendations, implicit check-in data may be integrated with explicit review data, while analyzing user preferences based on their demographics information and restaurants attributes. Still, results may be lacking.
Deep learning has been gradually replacing many traditional algorithms in various tasks including recommendation systems. Despite of the successful results, these methods still need either explicit ratings or implicit ones to begin with, however.
Accordingly, what is needed is a merchant recommendation system that suggests merchants to end users based on user preferences without requiring any user reviews or rating data.

Unsupervised embeddings disentanglement using a GAN for merchant recommendations


A method for measuring distances of targets by measuring the time of flight of pulses, in particular laser pulses, reflected on those targets, including the steps of; transmitting pulses having a pulse interval which varies according to a modulation signal as transmitted pulses, and concomitantly recording of reflected pulses as received pulses; determining a first series of distance measurement values from times of flight between transmitted pulses and those received pulses which are respectively received within a first time window following each transmitted pulse; determining at least a second series of distance measurement values from times of flight between transmitted pulses and those received pulses which are respectively received within a second time window following each transmitted pulse; and determining that series of distance measurement values which is least affected by the modulation signal as result of the distance measurement.

Modern pulse time-of-flight distance measuring apparatus such as laser range finders or laser scanners work at a high pulse power over large distances and/or at a high pulse repetition rate to quickly create a large number of measurement points of the environment. Both cases may result in the situation that the next pulse is already transmitted before the reflection of the last pulse was received, so that the received pulses cannot be clearly mapped anymore to their respective transmitted pulse. This is known as the "Multiple Time Around" (MTA) or "Multiple Pulses in the Air" problem. In this context, the maximum size dmax of the range of unambiguously measurable distances, the so-called MTA zone, follows from the pulse repetition rate PRR and the speed of light c as:dmax=c/(2·PRR).
Laser scanners of modern design for instance offer pulse repetition rates of up to 400 kHz, which corresponds to a MTA zone size dmax of about 375 m. If this measuring distance is exceeded, the result of the measurement usually cannot be interpreted correctly, as the transmitted and received pulses cannot be unambiguously mapped.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show this situation in detail. An airborne laser scanner 1 emits a pulsed laser measuring beam 2 which scans an environment U having single targets (scan points) U1, U2, . . . , e.g. fan-like line by line. Time-of-flight measurements at the single transmitted pulses S2, S2, . . . which are returned as received pulses E1, E2, . . . following the external reflection, serve to determine the distances D1, D2, . . . to the individual targets U1, U2, . . . .
FIGS. 1a and 2a show an exemplary situation in the measurement of targets U1, U2 which are located in the first MTA zone Z nearest to the laser scanner 1: The received pulse E1 belonging to the transmitted pulse S1 is returned before the next transmitted pulse S2 is transmitted in the time interval τ=1/PRR, etc.
FIGS. 1b and 2b show an exemplary situation where targets U3′, U4′ are located in the second MTA zone Z′: In this case, the received pulse E3 belonging to the transmitted pulse S3 is only received after the second transmitted pulse S2 was emitted. In order to determine the correct distance D3′ of the external target U3′ in the zone Z′, it is necessary to correctly map the received pulse E3 to the transmitted pulse S3; if the received pulse E3 is wrongly mapped to the immediately preceding transmitted pulse S4, this will result in a wrong target distance D3 in the wrong MTA zone Z instead of the correct target distance D3′ in the correct MTA zone Z′.
In order to correctly map the received pulses to the transmitted pulses and thus to overcome the MTA zone boundaries for achieving unambiguous distance measuring results, different methods are known in the art. A first option is to make sure in planning the measurement that all targets to be expected are located in one and the same MTA zone so that the correct mapping can be made. This method is naturally only applicable to special measurement tasks and is not suitable e.g. for highly mobile or large scale measurement or scanning tasks, e.g. the airborne scanning of mountains or the terrestrial vehicle-based scanning.
Another group of methods is based on making the individual transmitted pulses distinguishable from one another by variation of their polarization, amplitude or wavelength so that the received pulses can be mapped accordingly. However, these methods are either only suitable for just a few number of "pulses in the air" or require elaborately coded pulses, which both limits the pulse repetition rate and range of measurable distances and prolongs the time of measurement.


Fluorescent nanoparticle compositions and methods of used for dental bonded restorations are provided herein.

Tooth decay, also known as dental caries or cavities, are a breakdown of teeth due to acids produced by specific types of bacteria within the oral cavity. Symptoms of tooth decay include pain and difficulty eating. If left untreated, tooth decay can lead to inflammation of the tissue around the affected tooth, tooth loss, and infection or abscess formation.
Treatment for tooth decay includes fluoride, fillings, and crowns. Severe cases may result in a root canal or removal of the affected tooth. The most common way to treat cavities due to tooth decay is through dental restoration, more specifically dental fillings. Dental restoration restores the function, integrity, and morphology of the affected tooth or teeth.
Dental fillings are a routine part of dental care. First, the affected part of the tooth is cleaned and prepared for the filling. This often involves cutting away parts of the tooth to remove dental decay or portions of the tooth that are structurally unsound, leaving behind a hole or empty space in the tooth. The hole is then filled with dental restorative composites. Traditional composite fillings are made of a resin and plastic material that is placed into the cavity while the material is soft, then hardened with a curing light. The placement of composite resins poses many challenges however, light-curing is central to ensuring the success and longevity of the filling. Under-polymerized adhesives and composites risk premature restorative failure due to reduced bond strengths, microleakage, postoperative sensitivity, pulpal toxicity, recurrent caries, color instability, and increased wear and fracture.
When traditional composite resins are cured, the resin at the surface of the tooth is exposed to more light than the resin at the bottom of the cavity, leading to uneven curing time. The resin at the surface of the tooth will begin to cure before the resin at the base of the cavity, causing the resin at the base to pull away from the surface of the tooth. This leads to voids within the filling and can cause tooth pain in the patient. In addition, the voids cause the filling to be less durable, requiring them to be replaced over time.
There is a need for more permanent, durable dental composites for fillings.
It is an object of the invention to provide compositions and methods for permanent, long-lasting dental fillings.

Fluorescent nanoparticle compositions for dental bonded restorations

AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.


Apparatus (10) for a hydraulic valvetrain system (90) comprising: a first oil retaining means 5 (12), a second oil retaining means (20) and an oil conveyance means (14, 16) having a first end (18) operably connected to the first oil retaining means (12) and a second end (22) operably connected to the second oil retaining means (20). The second oil retaining means (20) is configured to receive oil from the first oil retaining means (12) via the oil conveyance means (14, 16), the first oil retaining means (12) is configured to receive oil from the oil 10 conveyance means (14, 16) and the oil conveyance means (14, 16) is configured to receive oil from the second oil retaining means (20).

Continuously variable valve lift systems include hydraulic valvetrain systems for internal combustion engines that convert camshaft lift into valve lift. Such hydraulic valvetrain systems may comprise moving parts providing leakage paths, along which oil, which is maintained in a pressure chamber associated with the moving parts, may flow. The leakage paths allow drainage of oil from the pressure chamber over time. In order for valve lift to be achieved, oil must be present in the pressure chamber of the hydraulic valvetrain system.
During cranking of the internal combustion engine, oil will be replenished in the pressure chamber, thus allowing valve lift to be achieved. However, if the pressure chamber is significantly drained of oil, several cranking attempts may be required to replenish the oil in the pressure chamber.
It is an aim of the present invention to address disadvantages associated with the prior art.

Apparatus and method for a hydraulic valvetrain system


An optical lens is adapted for used in a light source that has an optical axis, and includes a light-entering surface, a light-exiting surface, and a modified reflection surface. The light-entering surface has two first ends. The light-exiting surface defines a light-exiting surface profile that is concave toward the light source and that has two second ends. The modified reflection surface defines two modified reflection surface profiles. Each of the first ends is connected to a corresponding one of the second ends by a corresponding one of the modified reflection surface profiles. The modified reflection surface profiles are concave in the same direction as the light-exiting surface profile.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an optical lens, more particularly to an optical lens having a modified reflection surface to direct light and a backlight module including the optical lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) has been the main stream of a flat panel display with a liquid crystal module. Since the TFT-LCD is a non-active light-emitting display, a backlight module and a color filter are usually needed to respectively provide relatively uniform light brightness and more plentiful colors.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional direct-type backlight module includes a plurality of light sources 91 and a film substrate 92. Since a light-emitting diode (LED) has a relatively small size and low energy consumption, the LED may be used as the light source 91 of the conventional direct-type backlight module. However, since the LED emits light in a Lambortian distribution, a relatively small-light spot is formed on the film substrate 92 right above the LED. Therefore, the conventional direct-type backlight module needs a greater number of LEDs as the light sources 91 for increasing the illumination area.
Referring to FIG. 2, each of the light sources 91 is additionally covered by an optical lens 90 that is also called a secondary optical lens to vary the light distribution of the light emitted from the light source 91. The optical lenses 90 may increase the light scattering angles of the light emitted from the light sources 91, thereby reducing the height required for light mixing. With the addition of the optical lenses 90, the conventional backlight module can form a relatively larger illumination area and the number of the light sources 91 used is decreased so as to save the fabrication cost.
In order to increase the size of the light spot right above the light source 91 on the film substrate 92, a light-entering surface 93, a light-exiting surface 94, and a base surface 95 of the optical lens 90 are configured as described below, and as illustrated in FIG. 3. The light-exiting surface 94 has a substantially curved configuration. The base surface 95 has a substantially planar configuration. When the light (A) emitted from the lighting source 91 enters the base surface 95 and then exits the light-exiting surface 94, a part of the light (A) is reflected from the light-exiting surface 94 to the base surface 95. When the part of light (A) is reflected once again back to the light-exiting surface 94 from the base surface 95, the part of light (A) moves toward a central axis (N1) of the optical lens 90, creating the relatively high brightness around the central axis (N1), which results in an uneven light distribution on the film substrate 92.

Optical lens and backlight module incorporating the same

TPV Display Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.


A female housing (1) is formed with a lever accommodating space (21). Two supporting shafts (34) project coaxially from the upper and lower inner surfaces of the lever accommodating space (21) to face each other while defining a clearance therebetween. A lever (3) is formed with a mount hole (27), and the supporting shafts (34) are fit rotatably into the mount hole (27) while forcibly widening the clearance between the supporting shafts (34). The clearance between the supporting shafts (34) is wider at an entrance side and narrower at an exit side with respect to an assembling direction. Thus, the detachment of the lever is resisted while resistance during an assembling operation is suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lever-type connector and connector assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,286 discloses a lever-type connector that employs a lever for connecting male and female housings. The lever is accommodated in a pocket-shaped lever accommodating chamber in a side surface of one housing. The lever accommodating chamber has a double wall structure comprised of inner and outer walls. The lever is assembled rotatably by being pushed into the lever accommodating chamber from one end and fitting a supporting shaft in the lever accommodating chamber into a mount hole penetrating the lever.
The supporting shaft has to be pushed in a direction opposite to its projecting direction to provide a clearance equal to the thickness of the lever so that the supporting shaft can be fit into the mount hole of the lever. A large force is necessary to assemble the lever due to a reaction force resulting from the deformation to widen the clearance. The clearance could be made wider to reduce the force needed to assemble the lever. However, the wider clearance would permit the lever to easily come out of the accommodating chamber. Accordingly, it has not been easy to reduce the operation force required to assemble the lever while preventing the lever from coming out.
The invention was developed in view of the above situation, and an object thereof is to provide a lever-type connector that reduces an operator's burden during assembling while preventing a lever from coming out.

Lever-type connector and connector assembly


A method for improving dimensional accuracy of a casting pattern. A division block used to form the casting pattern is fixed on a block fixing surface of an NC machine and then the front surface is processed, leaving a stiffness holding portion at a bottom-most portion of the division block. The division block is then turned over and the rear surface is processed, removing the stiffness holding portion. The stiffness holding portion has sufficient thickness to secure stiffness of portions surrounding a through portion, enabling withstanding of a cutting force applied to the rear surface when the division block is turned over and the rear surface processed. Thus, a deviation in position of the tool during processing of the through hole on the rear surface from that of processing of the through hole on the front surface is suppressed.

Conventionally, for producing the aforementioned pattern for casting (hereinafter referred to as "casting pattern"), the configuration of the pattern is defined as three dimensional CAD (computer aided design) system data. The data is then divided into a plurality of parts, each representing a division block with an appropriate thickness. This allows the entire pattern to be machined with ease. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 1A through 1D, each casting pattern is worked from a block A (FIG. 1A) by a numerical control machine (hereinafter referred to as "NC machine") in such a way that the casting pattern, as divided into a plurality of parts (hereinafter referred to as "division block"), will be subject to an independent machining process, e.g. milling process. For the machining work, it is necessary to create a program with numerical control data (hereinafter referred to as "NC data") which establishes the numerical control of the NC machine. The program is created, as stated above, base upon three-dimensional data of the division block Aa. In the illustrated examples, the machining proceeds along a contour of each division block Aa, in accordance with the program, to form a pocket in the block. Generally, the division block Aa of the casting pattern is made of expanded polystyrene or of styrol resin.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, the division block Aa is fixed on a block fixing surface 50 of a working table of the NC machine via a jig (not shown). According to the programmed NC data, a front surface of the division block Aa is processed or profiled by a cutting tool 51 having a protruding blade length S+.alpha. which is slightly longer than the thickness S of the division block Aa and a blade length S+.beta. which is slightly shorter than the protruding blade length S+.alpha. (blade length has to be longer than the block thickness).
Then, after the processing of the front surface is finished, the division block Aa is turned over on the block fixing surface 50 and it is fixed again to the block fixing surface 50 of the working table of the NC machine. Then, as shown in FIG. 1D, like the front surface, the rear or reverse surface of the division block Aa is cut, based on the programmed NC data, to obtain a predetermined shape. By combining or assembling the plural division blocks Aa, each having predetermined shape which is produced in a similar manner, the casting pattern is created.
However, because there is insufficient stiffness around the through hole portion B, processing of the front surface is difficult. Specifically, when the division block is turned over and processing of the rear surface begins, the position of the milling tool during processing of the through hole on the rear surface deviates from that of processing of the through hole on the front surface so that a high dimensional accuracy of the through hole cannot be assured which might lead to a formation of steps within the hole.
Further, if the number of the division blocks Aa is decreased and the thickness of each division block Aa increased, the blade length of the cutting tool 51 will increase and will not correspond to high speed processing requirements.
Further, because pockets are produced on the block and the processing is executed along the contour of the division block Aa, a large number of steps are required to make or to produce the program on a numerical control tape (hereinafter referred to as "NC tape"). Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1C, when a thin rib C is to be formed, high dimensional accuracy cannot be assured because of vibration which occurs during the machining process.
These problems in the conventional production method of a casting pattern have been left unsolved up to now.

Production method of pattern for casting


Methods and systems for mobility of mobile nodes in mesh networks are taught wherein the mobile mesh nodes choose an attachment point to another mesh node based on predetermined criteria, such as the characteristics of the attachment point's path to a reference destination, and other factors local to the attachment point, such as load and available capacity. The mobile nodes forward packets on each other's behalf. Static and mobile nodes and the links between them are treated differently from each other in view of their respectively different properties. A special metric is used for paths that include mobile links in addition to the static mesh links and wired mesh links. Mobility is handled completely transparently to any client devices attached to the mesh nodes, where this attachment could be wireless or wired.

Field
Advancements in mesh networks are needed to provide improvements in performance, efficiency, and utility of use.
Related Art
Unless expressly identified as being publicly or well known, mention herein of techniques and concepts, including for context, definitions, or comparison purposes, should not be construed as an indication that such techniques and concepts are previously publicly known or otherwise part of the prior art. All references cited herein (if any), including patents, patent applications, and publications, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties, whether specifically incorporated or not, for all purposes.
Mobile applications are becoming increasingly more popular in the context of mesh networks, e.g., for public safety applications, or for users being able to access the Internet while commuting via train.
Some applications are such that a mobile node is always able to reach a static (i.e., stationary, not mobile) mesh node directly (mobility within a static infrastructure), others are such that the mobile node needs to forward its traffic along a path composed of one or more other mobile nodes before it is able to reach the static infrastructure, still others are such that there is no static infrastructure and the mobiles only communicate with each other by forwarding packets on each other's behalf. Typically the static mesh infrastructure is attached to a wired network through a wired mesh portal. When there is no connection to the wired network, the mesh is referred to as a standalone mesh. In a traditional ad hoc network, typically the whole network is treated as a possibly mobile network.
As a mobile node moves, it may be within reach of multiple mesh networks, each of which might be configured with a distinct set of parameters, including different (sets of) channels, and may offer a distinct set of services. In order to maintain connectivity, the mobile needs to decide which mesh to use to relay its traffic to its destination(s). More broadly, as the mobile node moves around it needs to decide what node or nodes to use as immediate relay(s) towards its destination(s).
In a traditional wireless infrastructure network, e.g., Wi-Fi (802.11) Access infrastructure, or in the traditional cellular infrastructure, a mobile client can reach the infrastructure directly (along 1 wireless hop) and its decision about which of multiple nodes in the infrastructure to attach to is based on the quality of the link to the point of attachment in the infrastructure. The attachment point is then directly connected to the wired infrastructure.
In a traditional mesh, it is usually assumed that any node may communicate with any other node and so there isn't any notion of attachment or reference destination. Wi-Fi (802.11) does have the notion of attachment, however it refers to attachment only of clients to APs, where the APs tend to be directly connected to a wired networks, and is only based on the best signal strength of frames from the APs that is recorded at the client node. Cellular and WiMax networks have a similar architecture, where mobile clients attach to base stations which are static and the base stations are attached to the wired infrastructure.
In 802.11-style networks, clients do not send packets to each other directly at all and don't forward packets to each other (APs are not mobile). There is an ad hoc mode in 802.11 that enables clients to talk to each other directly but in that mode they are not able to talk to APs, and they still cannot forward traffic on each other's behalf.

Mesh node mobility across static and mobile mesh networks


A module assembly includes a forward module, a rearward module, and a hinge coupling the forward module and the rearward module. A movement assembly includes two forward wheels and two rearward wheels. A blower assembly includes a forward auger within the forward module, a rearward auger within the rearward module, an opening in each of the modules with a suction fan rotatable within the opening, and an exhaust tube extending upwardly and outwardly from each of the modules. A drive assembly includes a motor for each of the augers, each of the suction fans, and each of the wheels, and includes a source of electrical potential to power each of the motors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a snow removal system and more particularly pertains to moving a system over a roof covered with snow and blowing the snow from the roof, the moving and blowing being done in a safe, convenient and economical manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of snow removal systems of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, snow removal systems of known designs and configurations previously devised and utilized for the purpose of removing snow from a roof of a building are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, they do not describe a snow removal system that allows moving a system over a roof covered with snow and blowing the snow from the roof, the moving and blowing being done in a safe, convenient and economical manner.
In this respect, the snow removal system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of moving a system over a roof covered with snow and blowing the snow from the roof.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved snow removal system which can be used for moving a system over a roof covered with snow and blowing the snow from the roof. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A single-piece cardboard sheet into which slots and tabs are strategically cut to permit its folding into a carton for packaging a pair of western spurs. The unfolded carton is substantially symmetrical with respect to both its major and minor axes and comprises a bottom section from which two pairs of largely equal structural segments (a front and a back section) project outwards along the longitudinal axis. A cut at the boundary between the bottom section and each of these structural segments defines an extension sufficiently large to support the tips of the sides of the two spurs. The front section of the cardboard carton contains a cut that defines a substantially rectangular tab and a corresponding opening suitable for passing the sides of two spurs therethrough. The top of the front section also contains a hanging slot suitable for receiving the hook of a display rack. The back section of the carton contains the same features symmetrically arranged with respect to the bottom section, such that they substantially match when both sections are folded upward from the bottom section. The distal end of the front section includes a winged tab and the distal end of the back section includes two foldable flaps such that each flap can be bent over a wing of the tab and provide a fastening mechanism for the entire structure when the carton is folded and the packaging assembly is completed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related in general to the field of packaging and displaying of commercial articles. In particular, the invention consists of a novel cardboard carton for packaging and displaying western-style riding spurs.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is desirable to package and market products such that they are visible and easily placed on a shelf, preferably hanging from a display hook. In addition, it is desirable to package them in a relatively inexpensive container or carton. In the case of riding spurs, it is also necessary that the packaging allow a potential buyer the opportunity to touch and feel the spurs, and try them on the footwear for which they are intended. Accordingly, it is important that the package be suitable for easy opening and removal of the spurs, and further for easy reassembly into an undamaged package.
Products are often packaged in folded cardboard structures especially designed for the task at hand. In such cases, the carton is produced by shaping a flat cardboard sheet to fit the dimensions of the article to be packaged and by cutting appropriate tabs and slots to form the carton around the article. The present invention relates to a novel cardboard structure for packaging a pair of western-style spurs.
A spur is a pointed device secured to a rider's boot heel to urge on a horse. Typically, western spurs consist of a wishbone structure that includes a U-shaped heel band consisting of a curved portion (often called shoulders) with substantially straight ends or sides that include buttons for mounting on the heel of a boot, and a neck protruding outwardly from the shoulders. Western spurs also contain a rowel rotatably attached to the tip of the neck. Because of this geometry, spurs are not conveniently suitable for hanging on a display rack. Thus, they are usually displayed in plastic bags or loosely on a rack.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have an inexpensive and practical packaging cardboard structure for containing and displaying a pair of western spurs visibly on a shelf. This invention is directed at a simple device for achieving that purpose.

Folded carboard article for packaging western spurs

Eastwest International (Taiwan) Enterprises


According to some embodiments, information associated with collisions occurring as packets are exchanged through a wireless network may be measured. At least one media access control parameter may then be automatically and dynamically adjusted to achieve a throughput requirement, at a relatively low latency, while reducing collisions in the wireless network.

Some embodiments of the present invention relate generally to communications in a wireless local area network (WLAN) and, more particularly, to the dynamic adjustment of wireless communications protocol parameters for meeting quality of service (QoS).
The Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard for wireless LANs is a popular mechanism for setting up networks in many industrial, office, home, and medical environments. The IEEE 802.11 protocol includes a media access control (MAC) layer for controlling wireless communication. The basic 802.11 MAC layer uses a Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) to share the wireless medium between multiple nodes in the WLAN. DCF relies on carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) and optional 802.11 request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) to share the medium between nodes. The main limitation of the legacy 802.11 is that it cannot support Quality of Service differentiation among different types of traffic. That is, every type of traffic is treated with equal fairness in the network. This attribute is adequate for best effort traffic, but for delay and throughput sensitive traffic such as real time video, a prioritization framework is needed with high priority traffic getting a larger share of the shared wireless medium. Note that bandwidth is lowered primarily due to back-offs and not collisions, which are prevented partially by CSMA and RTS/CTS.
To provide such QoS differentiation, the original 802.11 MAC defines another coordination function called the point coordination function (PCF). When nodes are connected to the network through an access point (AP), the AP sends "beacon" frames at regular intervals (usually every 0.1 second). Between these beacon frames, PCF defines two periods: a contention free period (CFP) and a contention period (CP). In the CP, DCF is used. In CFP, the AP sends contention free-poll (CF-Poll) packets to each station, one at a time, to give them the right to send a packet. The AP is the coordinator. Such an approach may allow for a better management of the QoS. Note that the PCF has limited support, does not define classes of traffic, and needs central coordination, which may not be suitable in highly dynamic environments.
Since the legacy 802.11 does not have adequate support for QoS, a new standard called 802.11e provides prioritized traffic delivery for differentiating between traffic at different levels of criticality. The new standard achieves QoS by having separate MAC parameters for different service classes. That is, the 802.11e enhances the DCF and the PCF, through a new coordination function: the hybrid coordination function (HCF). Within the HCF, there are two methods of channel access, similar to those defined in the legacy 802.11 MAC: HCF controlled channel access (HCCA) and enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA). Both EDCA and HCCA define traffic classes (TC). For example, emails might be assigned to a low priority class, and voice over WLAN (VOWLAN) might be assigned to a high priority class.
With EDCA, 802.11e achieves QoS differentiation by having different MAC parameters (TXOP, CW, AIFS, RL) for different traffic classes. A transmit opportunity (TXOP) is a bounded time interval during which a station can send as many frames as possible (as long as the duration of the transmissions does not extend beyond the maximum duration of the TXOP). If a frame is too large to be transmitted in a single TXOP, it is fragmented into smaller frames. Additionally, EDCA includes access categories and multiple independent back-off entities for accessing each channel, including: a contention window size (CWmin) for each class, an arbitration interframe space (AIFS), and a frame retransmission limit (RL). Using different MAC parameters for low and high priority traffic classes, higher priority traffic may be given more opportunities to transmit as compared to lower priority traffic.
The HCCA hybrid coordinator function (HCF) controlled channel access is similar to PCF in legacy 802.11. However, in contrast to PCF (where the interval between two beacon frames is divided into two periods of CFP and CP), HCCA allows for CFPs being initiated at almost any time during a CP (called a controlled access phase (CAP) in 802.11e), allowing more control for different traffic classes. A CAP is initiated by the hybrid coordinator (HC), which may be the AP, when it wants to send a frame to a station, or receive a frame from a station, in a contention free manner. HCCA also defines new traffic streams (TS) in addition to traffic class (TC), which makes it possible to control QoS for traffic sessions at each node and affect individual packet queues. This means that the HC is not limited to per-station queuing and can provide a kind of per-session service. The HC can coordinate these streams or sessions in any fashion it chooses by giving information about the lengths of their queues for each TC. The HC can use this info to give priority to one node over another, or better adjust its scheduling mechanism. Additionally, nodes are given a TXOP: they may send multiple packets in a row, for a given time period selected by the HC. With the HCCA, QoS-enabled nodes also have the ability to request specific transmission parameters (data rate, jitter, etc.), which allow applications like VoIP and video streaming to work more effectively on a Wi-Fi network.
Even though 802.11e can differentiate between the service classes, under standard operating conditions the 802.11e parameters are static in nature, meaning that it is not optimal under all network conditions. When network conditions in the WLAN change, the 802.11e parameters do not adapt to those changing conditions. Moreover, the default parameters for the different traffic classes are meant to specifically support Best Effort, Video and Voice traffic only. This makes the 802.11e default parameters unsuitable for some applications. For example, due to the static nature of its parameters, the 802.11e default parameters are unsuitable with respect to meeting the QoS requirements of medical devices used in patient monitoring in a hospital environment, where threshold levels of signal throughput and signal delay may be required.
Therefore, it would be desirable to design an apparatus and method that allows for the dynamic adjustment of MAC parameters for meeting a QoS requirement. It would also be desirable for the system and method to allow for automatically setting the MAC parameters in a distributed manner, using only local knowledge obtained at the individual node and for the MAC parameters to be based on an individual node's QoS requirements.

Dynamic adjustment of a wireless network media access control parameter


A personal accessory comprises a multi-component electric stunning umbrella which can be carried as a personal accessory without attracting attention, which can be used as a conventional umbrella, and which can also be used for self defense. The stunning umbrella proves a stunning but non-lethal electrical shock when used for self defense and can also be used as a baton or striking implement.

This invention relates to a personal accessory which can be used for self-defense.
This invention relates particularly to a personal accessory which comprises a multi-component electric stunning umbrella which can be used to provide a stunning but non-lethal electrical shock for self-defense.
This invention is designed to provide a measure of protection against a society that is becoming increasingly more violent and intolerant, particularly in the major cities and growing suburban areas. Personal bodily attacks are common and everyday occurrences; and, unfortunately, most individuals and especially women are at the mercy of the attacker with little means whatsoever to defend or protect themselves.
Therefore it is the object of the invention to be described herein to provide a means of defense whereby the carrier of the personal accessory of this invention would be able to ward off an attack with a great degree of success without any significant strength, dexterity or training required.
It is a related object to give the user the knowledge and confidence that the personal accessory could go beyond the defense mode to one with a superior offensive capabilities and yet be non-lethal.
The personal accessory of this invention to be described is disguised as a benign, innocuous, common, every day, personal accessory that would not draw attention to itself or the user and that would be carried outside the person and that would be readily accessible in the event of an attack. Although its primary intent is to serve as a self-defense weapon, the invention is designed to function as the accessory it resembles and, as such, is a multi-purpose, multi-use product.
The self-defense weapon is a high-voltage (e.g., 100,000 volts) electronic stun gun disguised in the form of a compact umbrella with electrical probes protruding from the canopy end that carry a stunning but non-lethal electronic shock while also providing a very frightening and vivid (audible and visual) high voltage display. The electrical probes protruding from the canopy end produce a stunning electrical shock to an assailant when those probe means are physically engaged with the assailant and when the trigger is actuated to transmit a high voltage to the electrical probes which are physically engaged with the assailant. The very frightening (audible and visual) high voltage display can be produced by actuating the trigger without having the protruding electrical probes physically engaged with the assailant. This high voltage display is produced by two probes which are in addition to the protruding probes and which produce an arc between the two additional probes when the trigger is depressed without the stunning weapon being physically engaged with the assailant. The stunning weapon has an opening at its distal end through which the arc between the two additional probes is visible by an assailant.
The handle that houses the electronic components and trigger system contains a detachable wrist lanyard, which when disconnected from its handle receptacle by way of a simple press-fit jack configured arrangement, renders the electronic shocking aspect of the device inoperable. This acts as a safety feature in the event the umbrella is pulled away or, in some way, removed from the owner's control. It also is a safety feature when it is to be used as an umbrella or stored.
As additional protection, a positive on-off safety switch is located directly below the trigger to further insure the device will not operate inadvertently.
A hard plastic removable sleeve with an overlayment of cloth (designed to resemble and masquerade as a conventional umbrella cover) serves as a protective cover for the umbrella canopy. The sleeve is electrified by means of conductive strips running along its length and connected to the stunning probes at the distal end by way of a positive system of spring pressure contacts. This, in effect, allows the entire exterior of the umbrella (excluding the handle section) to be electrified. Thus, the exterior cover sleeve can be activated by the same trigger system that operates the canopy end shocking probes. By electrifying the cover sleeve, an attacker is prevented from grasping the umbrella to wrest it away.
This hard plastic sleeve is firmly secured to the handle of the umbrella with simple detent spring ball clips or by a Velcro.TM. retaining strap arrangement. This allows the umbrella to be further used as a baton or striking implement, should the need for this type of defense arise.
To provide additional versatility, this hard plastic sleeve can be easily removed and used independently as a baton while the electronic umbrella is used simultaneously as a shocking and distracting/disorienting weapon.
Importantly, the umbrella portion of the device (staves, stem, actuating mechanism and canopy) is fully functioning for rain protection while concurrently serving as an extremely effective self-defensive weapon with or without the cover sleeve.

Multi-component electric stunning umbrella


A computer program (100, 200) encoded in a computer-programmable medium, and for causing a computer to perform circuit design. The code causes the computer to perform a set of steps. The steps comprise describing a first set of circuitry and describing a second set of circuitry. The steps also comprise describing a digital signal for passing from the first set of circuitry to the second set of circuitry and detecting (230) transitions of the digital signal with respect to a timing constraint (240) of at least a portion of the second set of circuitry. Lastly, the steps comprise, responsive to detecting metastability with respect to timing of a transition of the digital signal relative to the timing constraint of at least a portion of the second set of circuitry, forcing (160) the digital signal to a random value and passing the random value to the second set of circuitry.

The present embodiments relate to circuit design flow and are more particularly directed to including consideration of metastability into the circuit design flow.
Circuit design flow includes at least two general steps. Typically using some combination of hardware and/or software, in a first step the designer creates a functional behavioral model such as by way of example in a register transfer level ("RTL") design. In this first step, the functionality of the RTL level design is verified. Once the RTL functionality is verified, in a second step the RTL is synthesized into gate level circuitry and the designer performs gate level simulations. In this second step, functional wave timing is examined, which includes analyses of gate delays and interconnect delays.
While the preceding circuit design flow steps have proven workable in numerous contexts, the present inventors have observed various drawbacks, such as in the context of an asynchronous design. Asynchronous paths by definition include signals that pass from one clock domain to another. When this occurs from a first clock domain to a second clock domain, the timing of circuitry operating according to the second clock domain may be disrupted or operate inaccurately due to a signal that is still timed according to the first clock domain. This disruption is particularly evident in the context of a flip-flop in one clock domain that attempts to process a signal from a different clock domain. In this regard, a flip-flop is known in the art to have both a setup and hold time, typically indicated as Tsu and Th, respectively. In general, a window of time is thereby defined that consists of the duration of both Tsu and Th and during that window the clock is expected to transition at the flip-flop; further, for proper operation of the flip-flop, its input data should not transition during this Tsu+Th window, that is, it should not transition during either Tsu or Th. However, if the data input is from one clock domain while the flip-flop is clocked by a different, and hence asynchronous, clock domain, then indeed the data may transition during the Tsu+Th window. If this occurs, it is said that there is either a setup or hold time violation, and as a result the flip-flop enters a state where its output is unpredictable. This unpredictable output, therefore, may be either a binary 1 or 0, and this state is referred to as metastability.
Given the chance and indeed likelihood of metastability, designers at both the RTL and gate level design levels have heretofore been provided certain approaches that the present inventors have observed not to adequately contemplate the reality of metastability. With respect to RTL, it is primarily directed to the presentation or collection of functionality and, thus, has not concerned itself with the concept of timing. Indeed, RTL instead assumes ideal timing with respect to the propagation of signals. As a result, metastability, which often arises from asynchronous connectivity as described above, is not addressed during the RTL design flow. With respect to gate level simulations, circuits from cell libraries are assigned whereby certain circuitry and timing tables may be attributed to different RTL functions. However, for asynchronous paths, prior art gate level simulations in effect permit the violation of timing in that proper timing is assumed not important. Moreover, if the assumption holds untrue or for other reasons, the designer heretofore has the option of designating any desired path as a "false path," after which it is removed from any test that is imposed during the gate level simulations. Moreover, once designated as a false path, the timing on the path is turned off, negating the whole point of gate level simulations with timing. Instead, precise data capture is assumed to occur. If it is not labeled as a false path and timing is kept, then data on that path is indicated as an "x". When violation occurs, the effect of that data as it further propagates through the design is no longer meaningful nor analyzed and the simulation will in likelihood be invalidated. Thus, there is no accountability for correct functionality at either the RTL or gate level simulations as to the effects of metastability.
As a result of the preceding, it is not uncommon for integrated circuits to be constructed according to a design that was developed according to the prior art, only to learn after the construction of the device that it does not operate properly due to metastability. In view of this result, there arises a need to address the drawbacks of the prior art as is achieved by the preferred embodiments described below.

Modeling metastability in circuit design