A wireless device determines characteristics of a connection established (or being established) with a remote device and implements a power management algorithm based on those characteristics. The wireless device includes a battery power source, a radio transceiver powered by the battery, a memory and a controller. The controller is configured to create, via the transceiver, wireless connections with remote devices in any of a plurality of connection configurations. The controller detects the presence, in a wireless transmission from a remote device, of one or more parameters identifying one of the plurality of configurations. Based on the configuration identified, the controller implements one of a plurality of power management algorithms.

Wireless communication between electronic devices over relatively short distances is a common and increasingly important feature of modern life. In some cases, for example, an electronic device or other appliance is controlled by another electronic device which must communicate instructions to the controlled device (and perhaps receive information from the controlled device). Examples include computer input devices (e.g., mice, trackballs, joysticks, game controllers) and remote control units (for, e.g., televisions or other appliances). In other cases, it is necessary for one electronic device to transmit more complex data to and/or receive such data from another device. Examples include computer keyboards, digital cameras and other devices able to transmit data to a computer or other device. Among other advantages, wirelessly transmitting data and/or control signals can dramatically increase user convenience and reduce clutter from multiple connecting cables.
Although there are several standards for wireless communication, BLUETOOTH is becoming the de facto standard for many applications. Developed by Bluetooth SIG, Inc., the BLUETOOTH wireless specification establishes protocols and standards for two-way wireless communication between electronic devices using relatively low power radio communication. BLUETOOTH is described by, e.g., "Specification of the Bluetooth System" (versions 1.1 and 1.2), "Human Interface Device (HID) Profile version 1.0" and various other documents available from Bluetooth SIG, Inc. at <http://www.bluetooth.com>. Among other things, BLUETOOTH provides for two-way radio links between multiple devices in a short-range radio network called a "piconet."
As one example of a BLUETOOTH piconet, a personal computer may be configured to receive input from one or more wireless input devices such as a wireless mouse and/or a wireless keyboard. In some cases, a user connects a device to the piconet by simply bringing the device within range of the computer's Bluetooth controller. In other cases, more steps may be required so that the device becomes bonded with the computer BLUETOOTH host so as to authenticate the device and establish secure communication between the devices. In either case, a series of inquiry, paging and other messages are exchanged between the input device and the computer to set up a connection over which user data (e.g., mouse movement or button press, keyboard key down, etc.) is transmitted to the computer. In some cases, data from applications or other software executing on the computer is also transmitted over that connection to the input device. Details of the messages exchanged between devices to establish a connection are set forth in the above-referenced BLUETOOTH documents and are known in the art.
To maintain a connection, even when the input device has no user data to transmit, requires a periodic exchange between the input device and the computer. In effect, the input device periodically transmits a message saying "I am still here." The computer responds "OK, you are still on my list," and maintains the connection. Although the interval between user data and/or "I'm here" messages from the input device can be varied, it is generally on the order of tens of milliseconds. If the computer does not receive a message from the input device before expiration of a timeout period, the computer assumes the input device is turned off or absent, and breaks (or "de-lists") the connection with the device. In order for the input device to again communicate with the computer, another series of messages must be exchanged to re-establish the connection.
This can create a conflict with regard to design requirements for a wireless input device such as a computer mouse or keyboard. Because wireless devices are battery powered, it is desirable to reduce the device's power consumption as much as possible so as to prolong battery life. A significant amount of the device power is consumed by the radio transceiver that communicates with the controller. If other considerations are ignored, the period between transmissions should be reduced as much as possible during times when the device is idle, i.e., not actually communicating user data to the computer. If the interval between transmissions is too large, however, the connection to the computer is lost. Although the connection can be re-established, doing so is relatively time-consuming and increases the amount of time needed for user input (e.g., moving a mouse) to cause the appropriate response by the computer (e.g., moving a cursor).
This input-to-response delay, or latency, can be noticeable to a human if it is approximately 100 milliseconds or more. The acceptable amount of perceived latency varies under different conditions and with different users and usage styles. For computers and input devices operating under the earlier version (1.1) of the BLUETOOTH specification, the time to re-establish the connection can be approximately 1 second or more. Under version 1.2 of the BLUETOOTH specification, the reconnect time is reduced, and in some cases may be as little as approximately 250 milliseconds. This is a significant improvement, and may result in acceptable latency in some circumstances. Under other conditions, this may still result in excessive latency. However, the BLUETOOTH specification allows manufacturers to incorporate additional features into a BLUETOOTH-compliant device (whether a computer, an input device or otherwise), so long as those additional features do not prevent that device from providing certain other features that are mandatory for BLUETOOTH compliance. Accordingly, manufacturers are able to develop BLUETOOTH-compliant chipsets providing a re-connect procedure that is faster than the "default" connection procedure of the BLUETOOTH specification.
Unfortunately, advantages of faster BLUETOOTH version 1.2 and proprietary re-connection procedures may not be achievable in many cases. For example, a computer mouse could be equipped with the hardware and firmware necessary to implement a proprietary fast re-connect procedure, but the mouse might be used with a computer that does not support the fast re-connect procedure. If used with a computer supporting the fast re-connect procedure, the mouse could implement a power-management algorithm that suspends radio communication with the computer for time periods that may cause the mouse-computer radio connection to be broken. Upon need for transmission of data to the computer (e.g., the user moves the mouse after a period of no mouse use), the connection can be re-established sufficiently fast to avoid (or minimize) any perceived latency. If, however, the mouse is used with a computer not supporting a fast re-connect procedure, that power management algorithm would likely result in unacceptable latency.
Various systems and methods are known for automatic detection of a protocol by which a device communicates with a computer. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,442,734 and 5,754,890, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, are two examples. However, neither these patents nor other known prior art describes optimizing (or otherwise modifying) a power management algorithm based on parameters of a communication link between devices, and in particular, based on parameters of a wireless communication connection.

Modifying a power management algorithm based on wireless communication parameters


A log collecting apparatus has a graphical user interface to allow an operator to select a target equipment that is a target of a log collection and logs that are to be collected, and a combination managing part. The combination managing part identifies related logs that are other than the logs selected on the user graphical interface and are related to the logs selected on the graphical user interface, and makes the related logs selectable on the graphical user interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to log collecting apparatuses, image forming apparatuses and computer-readable storage media, and more particularly to a log collecting apparatus for collecting logs from programs that run inside an image forming apparatus or the like, an image forming apparatus that uses such a log collecting apparatus, and a computer-readable storage medium that stores a log collecting program for causing a computer to collect logs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses that are often referred to as composite apparatuses or multi-function peripherals (or multi-function apparatuses) and have the functions or facilities of a copying apparatus, a printer, a scanner and the like, a plurality of DAEMONs (server programs) that provide various kinds of services on an Operating System (OS) such as the UNIX (registered trademark) operate in a manner linked to each other.
In addition, in order to facilitate a cause of a fault to be specified when the fault is generated, each DAEMON is provided with a function of outputting a log that records its operating state. The log may be acquired by inputting a log acquisition command to the image forming apparatus from a personal computer or the like via a network.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an operation when collecting a log in a conventional image forming apparatus. By inputting a request 71 such as "rsh 126.96.36.199 getlog 1000" from a keyboard of the personal computer or the like, a response 72 of the log indicating the operating state is acquired. In the request 71, "rsh" indicates a command for executing a command on a remote host (image forming apparatus), "184.108.40.206" indicates an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the image forming apparatus, "getlog" indicates the log acquisition command, and "1000" indicates a log number corresponding to the DAEMON that outputs the log.
Similarly, when acquiring the logs from other DAEMONs, requests 73 through 76 with log numbers changed are repeated, so as to acquire the responses of the corresponding logs.
As described above, the log is conventionally acquired by inputting the log acquisition command to the image forming apparatus from the keyboard of the personal computer or the like via the network, which resulted in the following problems.
First, there was a problem in that a troublesome operation is required because of the need to input the log acquisition command from the keyboard of the personal computer or the like. Particularly in the existing image forming apparatus in which the plurality of DAEMONs operate in a manner linked to each other as described above, a plurality of logs must be acquired in order to locate the cause of the fault, and similar requests must be repeated a plurality of times, thereby placing a large burden on the operator (or user). In addition, in a case where the acquired logs are stored, a separate operation was required to store the acquired logs.
Second, there was a problem in that the plurality of logs that are related and used to locate the cause of the fault cannot be selected appropriately. In other words, when acquiring the log of a certain DAEMON, there are many cases where the cause of the fault cannot be specified effectively unless the logs of the other DAEMONs that operate in the manner linked to the certain DAEMON are also acquired. A program developer who develops the programs would know the mutual relationship of the DAEMONs, and the program developer would likely be able to select the appropriate the logs that are related and used to locate the cause of the fault. But the person who locates the cause of this type of fault is usually a service person who attends to the image forming apparatus at the site where the image forming apparatus is set up, and the service person cannot select the appropriate logs that are related and used to locate the cause of the fault.
Third, the log number is unified in the case of the image forming apparatuses manufactured by the same manufacturer, but the log numbers that are supported differ depending on the model of the image forming apparatus. Hence, when the log acquisition command is input to the image forming apparatus, the log may not be acquired if the selected log number is not supported. If the operator recognizes that the selected log number is not supported, the situation may be remedied although the operation that are made and the time are slightly wasted. However, if the operator erroneously recognizes the situation as another fault where the log becomes non-acquirable, this erroneous recognition will have adverse effects when thereafter specifying the cause of the fault.
Fourth, even in a case where the logs to be acquired are known from experience depending on the type of fault, the service person (or operator) who attends to the image forming apparatus at the site where the image forming apparatus is set up may not have such knowledge, and without such knowledge, there was a problem in that the service person cannot select the appropriate logs.
Fifth, when specifying the cause of the fault, the detail (fineness or roughness) of the desired logs differs depending on the situation, but conventionally, it is only possible to acquire the logs of the same detail level (or the same layer of the hierarchical structure) for the same log number. As a result, there was a problem in that it is troublesome to obtain the desired information from the logs of the same detail level.

Log collecting apparatus, image forming apparatus and computer-readable storage medium


Process for improving the mechanical properties and ultrasonic inspection efficiency of alpha-2 titanium aluminide forged products, parts or components and for preserving or retaining these improved properties at use temperatures up to about 1200.degree. F. The process involves heating a billet of the alloy below its beta transus temperature, forging the heated billet within a true strain range of about 1.2 and 1.4 and within a strain rate of about 0.1 and 0.15 per second to produce >90% refinement of prior .beta. grains to a typical size less than about 0.2 mm, preferably about 0.02 mm, and cooling the forged billet to room temperature. A heat-treatment may be applied by rapidly cooling to room temperature to form the transformed beta phase with no precipitation of alpha platelets, and then heating to a transformation temperature (T) for a period of time (t) to form a beneficial orthorhombic crystalline phase microstructure including very fine alpha-2 particles, and not heating the alloy again above the use temperature of 1200.degree. F., whereby the beneficial microstructure is retained and remains stable for extended periods of exposure at or below 1200.degree. F.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the formation of forged articles from titanium based alloys of the Ti.sub.3 Al (Alpha-2) type, and more preferably, Ti.sub.3 Al based titanium aluminides containing substantial amounts of beta (.beta.) stabilizers such as Ti.sub.3 Al+Nb alloys or Super Alpha-2 (Super .alpha..sub.2)as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,292,077, 4,716,020, 4,788,035 and 5,032,357 that have good elevated temperature mechanical properties, useful ductility at room temperature, and adequate sensitivity to ultrasonic inspection for detection of material defects. These titanium aluminide alloys have potential for excellent high temperature properties compared to other advanced titanium alloys, such as about 20-30% greater tensile strength at 1200.degree. F. and greater than 100.degree. F. temperature capability useful in gas turbine applications such as impellers and axial rotors.
2. Background Art
Alloys based on Ti.sub.3 Al compositions have received considerable attention for their potential use as low density, high strength, high temperature aerospace materials. However, useful application of these alloys as aerospace materials has been prevented, mainly because the alloys which have high temperature mechanical properties, do not have adequate room temperature ductility. Progress was made with Ti.sub.3 Al+Nb compositions having high .beta. stabilizers (e.g., Nb.about.10-20%, often with minor additions of Mo, V and Ta) with the purpose of increasing room temperature ductility and fracture toughness. However, property optimization and its consistency in forge-processed alloys has become difficult due to complexity involved in the thermomechanical approaches to process the material.
The titanium aluminide alloys can be forge-processed in several ways. When heated above a temperature called .beta. transus, the material essentially consists of a single phase of .beta. grains, and when cooled below .beta. transus, the alloy exhibits several phases including a dominant alpha-2 (.alpha..sub.2) phase due to transformation of the .beta. phase. The Ti.sub.3 Al based alloys, as conventionally processed, may be forged above the .beta. transus (.beta. forging) or below the .beta. transus (.alpha..sub.2 +.beta. forging). Similarly, the material after forging may be heat treated above or below the .beta. transus followed by a stabilization treatment at a lower temperature. For example, see Deluca, D. P. et al: "Fatigue and Fracture of Titanium Aluminides", Report No. WRDC-TR-89-4136, U.S. Air Force, WRDC, February, 1990 and Blackburn and Smith: "R+D on Composition And Processing of Titanium Aluminide Alloys For Turbine Engines", Report No. AFWAL-TR-82-8046, Air Force Systems Command, July 1982, and Blackburn and Smith: "Improved Toughness Alloys Based on Titanium Aluminides", Report No. WRDC-TR89-4095, Air Force Systems Command, October 1989, and Blackburn and Smith U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,716,020 and 4,292,077. One serious problem of the conventionally-processed alloys, as found in the aforementioned references, for example, is the lack of .beta. grain refinement, i.e., the .beta. grains are not recrystallized during forging, and remain very large, for example, in the aforementioned references, the .beta. grain sizes were .about.1.2 to 3.0 mm. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,285, less than 20% of the beta phase recrystallizes during forging.
While the large grains are acceptable with respect to elevated temperature creep properties, they are not desirable due to reduction in strength and low cycle fatigue (LCF) resistance of the forgings. Also, because of coarse grains, the forged articles made therefrom cannot be inspected efficiently. For example, when detecting internal defects by ultrasonic, non-destructive methods, the presence of large grains create "background noise" or interference which generally requires rejection of the part. The presence of small grains, however, produces sonically-quiet workpieces with minimum interference to sonic testing. In certain titanium alloy applications, such as selected aerospace applications, certain manufacturer's specification dictate that the grain size be less than 0.5 mm and preferably 0.2 mm or less. U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,520 describes a fine grain titanium alloy forging method where it is stated that grain refinement is not achieved dynamically during forging, but requires a static holding time just after forging at the forging temperature to effect static recrystallization of the coarser grains to finer sizes. For Ti.sub.3 Al based titanium aluminide alloys, U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,020 indicates that a .beta. grain size 0.15-0.2 mm is desirable but no method of producing such grain size is taught, and the mechanical properties indicated in said Patent are from forgings with .beta. grain size .about.1.5 mm.times.2.5 mm, as disclosed in AFWAL-TR82-4086 at page 20. It is generally recognized in the art of processing titanium or aluminide alloys that further .beta. grain refinement (<0.1 mm) is beneficial for improved strength, ductility, LCF and ultrasonic inspection sensitivity, but no such method of refining the grains in the Ti.sub.3 Al based alloys is known to the art.
Several heat treatment approaches are possible for the forged Ti.sub.3 Al based alloys. The heat treated alloy can contain a complex microstructure having several phases depending upon the temperature and time of heat treatment. Above the .beta. transus temperature, there is only the body entered cubic phase .beta.. The .beta. transus temperature for
Super .alpha..sub.2 is about 2010.degree. F. With rapid cooling down from above the .beta. transus temperature, it is possible that no other phase, such as ordered hexagonal .alpha..sub.2, will come out and the microstructure will consist of only transformed .beta. phase, or .beta./B.sub.2. B.sub.2 is a brittle, ordered version of the .beta. phase at lower temperature. In conventional heat treatment, as has been generally employed, the cooling rate is not rapid and the .alpha..sub.2 phase comes out as platelets in a matrix of transformed .beta. grains forming what is known as Widmanstatten microstructure.
A typical heat treatment in the conventional processing, e.g., of Super .alpha..sub.2 would be solution treatment 25 to 100.degree. F. either above or below the .beta. transus, cooling at an intermediate rate in a salt bath to 1500 to 1600.degree. F. where it is held for some time before cooling to room temperature. The gradual cooling causes the .alpha..sub.2 phase to come out as platelets and the formed structure is complex containing some .beta./B.sub.2 phases. The material is stabilized at about 1200.degree. F. Typical ductility or % elongation varies from 1.5 to 3.3% at room temperature with the low ductility usually associated with a higher 0.2% yield strength at 1200.degree. F. (e.g., 80-90 ksi) and the high ductility usually associated with a lower 0.2% yield strength at 1200.degree. F. (e.g., 60-70 ksi). The ductility range however is low but is higher than that obtained if the alloy is cooled directly from the solution temperature to room temperature. In direct cooling, with the cooling rate reasonably rapid, the brittle .beta./B.sub.2 phase may dominate the structure and room temperature ductility is even lower, possible less than 1%.
The presence of coarse prior .beta. grains in the forge processed material as mentioned earlier, as well as the brittle .alpha..sub.2 platelets as the dominant microstructural constituent, as produced by the conventional heat treatment methods, result in an alloy with inadequate room temperature ductility, often low elevated temperature tensile strength and low LCF (low cycle fatigue) life. Furthermore, articles produced are not inspectable by ultrasonic methods due to the coarse .beta. grains. These are important obstacles to the use of Ti.sub.3 Al+Nb type of forged alloys in gas turbine applications.
Two deficiencies of prior art alloys are: (i) no forge processing method was known to effect dynamic recrystallization of the .beta. grains to finer grains (<0.1 mm), and (ii) microstructural variations other than those dominated by .alpha..sub.2 phase were not known in order to produce improved properties. The .beta. phase shows complex phase transformation as a function of temperature and time below the .beta. transus, and in addition to .alpha..sub.2 and .beta./B.sub.2 phases, existence of an orthorhombic (O) phase has been identified. Several variants of the O phase may be present but no method to generate a stable and beneficial O phase as an important microstructural constituent was known to the art.
The present invention is directed towards resolving these deficiencies, i.e., developing forging method to refine the .beta. grains, and improving the microstructure within the .beta. grains to contain appropriate phases for higher ductility, strength and LCF (low cycle fatigue) resistance from room temperature up to critical use temperature of 1200.degree. F., and to preserving and retaining these properties following extended exposure at or below 1200.degree. F. In addition, by virtue of finer grains, the invention is concerned with improving the sensitivity of ultrasonic inspection to detect small internal defects at levels typically employed in gas turbine titanium alloy rotors.

Process for producing forged .alpha.-2 based titanium aluminides having fine grained and orthorhombic transformed microstructure and articles made therefrom


A new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Dektoshka Red’, characterized by its large daisy-type inflorescences with dark red-colored ray florets; strong, thick and upright flowering stems; uniform flowering habit; and good postproduction longevity.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemum×morifolium, commercially grown as a cut flower and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Dektoshka Red'.
The new Chrysanthemum plant is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of Chrysanthemum×morifolium 'Dektoshka', not patented. The new Chrysanthemum plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within a population of plants of 'Dektoshka' in a controlled greenhouse environment in Hensbroek, The Netherlands in September, 2007.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Hensbroek, The Netherlands since October, 2007, has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


To improve heat dissipation efficiency by a heat dissipating portion relative to a heat receiving portion contacting an inner peripheral surface of belts while effectively utilizing spaces in the belts forming a nip in which a recording material is cooled, where heat sinks 53 and 54 are disposed on and under upper and lower belts 51 and 52, heat absorbing portions 53a and 53b (contact portions with the belts) are provided by being shifted in a sheet feeding direction so as not to contact each other through the belts, but heat discharging portions 53c, 53d, 54c, and 54d are disposed in an extended manner so as to overlap with the heat absorbing portions on opposite sides. Thus, it becomes possible to enhance heat dissipation efficiency in spaces in limited belt cross sections, and to meet downsizing and speed-up of the device.

The image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording material by using, for example, an image forming process such as an electrophotographic process, an electrostatic recording process or a magnetic recording process. For example, the image forming apparatus includes a copying machine, a printer (laser beam printer, LED printer or the like), a facsimile machine, a multi-function machines of these, a word processor, and the like.
The recording material (sheet) is a material on which a developer image (hereinafter, referred to as a toner image) is formed by the image forming apparatus includes, for example, plain paper, thick paper, an envelope, a seal, a resin sheet, an overhead projector sheet (OHT sheet), and the like. Hereinafter, the recording material is referred to as a sheet.
As a conventional image forming apparatus such as the printer or the copying machine, the image forming apparatus in which the toner image formed by an electrophotographic recording type (process) is transferred onto the sheet, and thereafter the toner image is fixed by a fixing device has been well known. In the fixing device of such a type, for example, a fixing process is performed by causing the sheet to pass through a fixing nip formed by press-contacting a fixing member to be heated and a pressing member to each other.
In such an image forming apparatus, toner is made high recording material by applying heat to the sheet and thus is fixed on the sheet, and therefore sheets are successively stacked on a sheet discharge portion in a state in which the sheets are not sufficiently cooled, the sheets are bonded to each other by the toner in some instances.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application (JP-A) 2012-098677, a constitution in which a water pipe is passed through a belt cooling member and a radiator is provided outside the image forming apparatus, and a heat dissipating portion is provided outside a belt and thus the sheet after fixing is cooled has been disclosed. Further, a constitution in which a pressing roller is provided at a position opposing the cooling member through the belt and the belt is press-contacted to the cooling member has been disclosed.
However, as in JP-A 2012-098677, in the case of the constitution in which the water pipes is passed through the belt cooling member, the radiator is disposed outside the image forming apparatus, and the heat dissipating portion is disposed outside the belt, a space for disposing the radiator outside the image forming apparatus is required.
Therefor, a constitution in which the cooling member is a heat sink, and the heat sink is provided inside each of upper and lower belts would be considered.
However, when the upper and lower heat sinks are disposed by being shifted so as not to overlap with each other with respect to the sheet feeding direction, the following space becomes a dead space, so that there is a liability that spaces in the upper and lower belts cannot be effectively utilized.
The following space refers to, in the space in the upper belt, a space opposing, through the upper and lower belts, a region in which the heat sink in the lower belt contacts an inner peripheral surface of the lower belt. And/or, the following space refers to, in the space in the lower belt, a space opposing, through the upper and lower belts, a region in which the heat sink in the upper belt contacts an inner peripheral surface of the upper belt.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve heat dissipation efficiency by a heat dissipating portion relative to a heat receiving portion contacting the inner peripheral surface of the belt while effectively utilizing the spaces in the belts forming the nip in which the recording material is cooled.


An electron-emitting device includes an electron source layer made of a metal, a metal alloy or a semiconductor, an insulating layer formed on the electron source layer and a metal thin film electrode formed on the insulating layer. Electrons are emitted upon application of an electric field between the electron source layer and the metal thin film electrode. The insulating layer has at least one island region which constitutes an electron-emitting section in which the film thickness of the insulating layer is gradually reduced. The electron-emitting device further includes a carbon region made of carbon or a carbon compound on at least one of a top, bottom and inside of the island region.

The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device and a display apparatus using the same, especially to a flat panel display apparatus in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are arranged in an image display array, i.e. in a matrix arrangement.
As flat panel display apparatus, a field emission display (FED) comprising field electron-emitting devices is known. One of the known flat light-emitting displays uses a cold-cathode type electron-emitting source array in which heating of cathodes is not required. For instance, according to the principle of the light emission in an FED using a Spindt-type cold cathode, the light emission is achieved by drawing electrons out to a vacuum by a gate electrode disposed apart from a cathode, and having those electrons collided with a phosphor applied on a transparent anode in the same manner as a CRT (cathode ray tube) although there is a difference as the FED employs the cold cathode.
However, this field emission source has a problem of low manufacturing production since it requires a large number of complicated manufacturing processes for the minute Spindt-type cold cathodes.
There also are electron-emitting devices having metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures as surface electron sources. One of such MIM-type electron-emitting devices has a structure comprising an Al layer, an Al2O3 insulating layer having a thickness of about 10 nm, and an Au layer having a thickness of about 10 nm that are sequentially formed on a substrate as a cathode. When this structure is placed under a counter electrode within a vacuum, and a voltage is applied between the bottom Al layer and the top Au layer in conjunction with the application of an accelerating voltage to the counter electrode, then a part of the electrons from the top Au layer are emitted and they are accelerated and come in contact with the counter electrode. In this light-emitting device also, the light emission is achieved due to the electrons impinging on the phosphor applied on the counter electrode.
However, the amount of the electron emission is not quite sufficient even with the use of such MIM-type electron-emitting devices. To improve this emission, it has been believed that it is necessary to reduce the film thickness of the prior art Al2O3 insulating layer by several nanometers, and to give further uniformity to the film quality of the ultra-thin Al2O3 insulating layer and the interface between the Al2O3 insulating layer and the top Au layer.
There have been attempts to improve the electron emission characteristics such as an invention described in, for example, JP-A-7-65710 employing an anodization method in which the forming current is controlled to further reduce the film thickness and improve the uniformity of the insulating layer. However, even with such an MIM-type electron-emitting device manufactured according to this method, it has been only possible to achieve an emission current of, as much as about 1×10−5A/cm2 and an electron emission efficiency on the order of about 0.1%.
In an MIM-type electron-emitting device having an insulating layer as thick as several tens of nanometers to several micrometers, a uniform forming state cannot be obtained two-dimensionally, and there is a problem in that its electron emission characteristic is unstable. In general, an MIM device or an MIS-type electron-emitting device having an insulating layer as thick as several tens of nanometers to several micrometers is not yet capable, as manufactured, of providing electron emission. A process called "forming" is required, in which a voltage is applied between it and the ohmic electrode so as the metal thin film electrode would become a positive pole. The forming process differs from so-called electrical breakdown, and it has not yet been clearly explained although there have been various hypotheses such as those attempting to explain it as; the diffusion of electrode material into the insulating layer; the crystallization within the insulating layer; the growth of electroconductive paths called filaments; the stoichiometric deviation of the insulator composition and so forth. The controllability of this forming process is extremely low, and it is difficult to manufacture the devices with high stability and good reproducibility. Moreover, there is a fact that the growing locations of such forming sites are contingent across the electrode surface, so that originating points of electron emission (electron emission source) cannot be specified. In other words, the originating points of the electron emission cannot be formed homogeneously across the surface of the device, resulting in poor uniformity of the electron emission pattern.
Moreover, as another electron-emitting device, there is a surface-conduction electron-emitting device wherein cracks constituting electron-emitting sections are provided within an electroconductive thin film through electrification after laying the electroconductive thin film between counter electrodes provided on insulating substrates. These cracks are the sections of the electroconductive thin film that have locally been destroyed, transformed or deformed, so that there are problems in that, it has unevenness and poor geometric reproducibility, the shapes of the electron emitting portions are limited to linear shapes and so forth.

Electron-emitting device and method of manufacturing the same and display apparatus using the same


A patient transfer mattress includes a plurality of inflatable segments each including holes in a bottom sheet to create a cushion of escaping air beneath the segment to facilitate sliding of the segment along an underlying surface. The segments include attachment members, such as snaps, belts or hook and loop fasteners, adjacent peripheral edges of the segments, for connecting the inflatable segments to each other. The segments may also include fasteners for attachment of an accessory across an upper surface of the segment. Preferably, the mattress segments also include corner straps for engagement with a mattress support member to limit relative movement between the transfer mattress and the mattress support member.

The most prevalently produced transfer mattresses at the current time have an array of laterally extending chambers arranged in a generally rectangular pattern in the center of the mattress, with a continuous, rectangular outer chamber extending around the periphery of the mattress. Several embodiments of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,873. The top sheet of these transfer mattresses is usually a twill weave nylon fabric coated on one side with urethane to make it vapor permeable but waterproof.
Although these mattresses can be cleaned and disinfected after use with various germicidal cleaning solutions, it is preferable to keep the mattress surfaces protected from contact with infectious or contaminating body fluids. This has been accomplished in prior art air mattresses by providing a sanitary sheet, essentially identical to the top sheet of the mattress, which is folded and inserted in a pouch at the foot end of the mattress. This sheet, referred to as a "sani-liner", is intended to be removed from the pouch and laid over the top sheet of the deflated mattress before the patient is placed upon the mattress. When the mattress is then inflated, the sani-liner sheet protects the top surface of the mattress from potentially infectious material. The sani-liner can later be cleaned and disinfected, folded and returned to the pouch.
In practice, however, when hospital workers sometimes need to use the transfer mattress quickly, they do not always take time to remove the sani-liner from the pouch and cover the top sheet. Furthermore, when the sani-liner is removed or otherwise comes detached, it is often lost and not replaced. Thus, it would helpful to have a removable sanitary cover that is already in place over the top sheet when the mattress is deflated and stored, and that can be removed and cleaned or replaced with another cover after use. Consistent with the above, it would be useful to have a transfer mattress that includes fasteners for attaching various accessories, including sanitary covers, to the mattress.
It would also be useful to have a sectional air mattress comprising at least one inflatable transfer pad, with accessories to facilitate convenient repositioning of a patient in a bed, or to improve the ease of transferring a patient from a bed to a chair and vice versa.

Patient transfer mattress having connectable segments


Utility demand is continuously monitored and monitoring data is aggregated and organized. The results are presented visually as a Utility Demand Footprint, referred to herein as a UDF. A UDF characterizes the utility demand in relation to selected influencing factors over a selected time period and over selected time intervals within the time period. In a preferred embodiment, the UDF is generated using a computer program and includes color mapping for simplifying analysis of the information displayed in the UDF. The footprint generation may be performed for a particular time period in which the demand essentially keeps its character (e.g., summer) or may be periodically updated (e.g., every day, every hour, etc.) to capture the latest changes.

Typically, the utility demand (demand for electricity, natural gas, heating, cooling, etc.) of buildings and building complexes like hospitals, office buildings, military bases, campuses, etc. depends on three principle factors: time of day during which the utility demand is occurring; the "type" of day (weekday, workday, holiday, etc.) on which the utility demand is occurring; and the weather conditions, primarily outdoor temperature, existing at the time at which the utility demand is occurring.
It is common for a utility company to include, in a billing statement, numerical data and/or graphical depictions of electricity and/or natural gas demand, on a monthly basis, for the previous twelve months. This allows a consumer to compare, for example, the electricity demand for January 2006 with the electricity demand for January 2005. This provides the consumer with information regarding the total electricity demand for an entire month and gives no detailed information regarding the outdoor temperature during that month, the weather conditions, and the like. Further, since the data is given on a per-month basis, daily profiles, temperature, different consumption patterns for holidays and weekends, etc. are not taken into account. It would be desirable to have a simple and transparent way of characterizing utility demand with more detail than has previously been available, in order to improve utility management capability.

Characterization of utility demand using utility demand footprint


A holder apparatus includes a handhold formed on an end thereof for holding and a barrel section extending from another end thereof. A clamping section is formed from the front end of the barrel section opposite to the handhold and includes two jaw portions joined together, two limited grooves respectively formed in and extending along the two jaw portions, two inner rim portions respectively defined against the two limited grooves and two clamping edges respectively formed on the inner wall of the two jaw portions related to the two limited grooves. The clamping edges grip a neck of a sprayer and support the bottom of a rim of a sprayer. A trigger element is pivotally connected to the barrel section. A C-shaped spring is disposed in the two limited grooves and grips the inner rim portions related to the two clamping edges.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holder apparatus adapted for gripping and operating a sprayer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,985 is a device 10 for actuating and holding a sprayer 12. The sprayer 12 includes a push-button valve 14 and a rim 26. The actuating and holding device 10 includes a body 16 and a locking ring 38.
The body 16 includes a handle 18 and a forward portion 20. The forward portion 20 includes an engagement element 22 for engagement with the rim 26 of the sprayer 12. The engagement element 22 includes a gap 24 defined therein, cam surfaces 52 formed on an external edge and a slot 46 defined in the external edge. A trigger 36 is provided on the handle 18. A lever 30 includes an end located in the gap 24 and an opposite end connected to the trigger 36.
The locking ring 38 includes a straight portion 40, two prongs 44 extended from an internal edge and an engagement finger 48 extended from the internal edge. The engagement finger 48 is located corresponding to the straight portion 40.
The locking ring 38 is installed around the engagement element 22. The internal edge of the locking ring 38 is in compliance with the external edge of the engagement element 22 including the cam surfaces 52. The prongs 44 are inserted in the slot 46. Thus, the locking ring 38 is not rotational relative to the engagement element 22. When the trigger 36 is operated, the push-button valve 14 is pushed via the lever 30.
There are problems encountered in the use of this conventional actuating and holding device 10. Firstly, it is not durable. The engagement element 22 is made of plastic. The cam surfaces 52 are worn away after some time of use so that the contact between the external edge of the engagement element 22 and the internal edge of the locking ring 38 is loose.
Secondly, it is inconvenient. The engagement finger 48 must be pushed downwards so that the prongs 44 can be inserted into the slot 46. The engagement finger 48 must be pushed upwards so that the prongs 44 are removed from the slot 46. Space around the engagement finger 48 is, however, limited and renders it difficult to operate the engagement finger 48. Moreover, the locking ring 38 is arranged around the engagement element 22 after the engagement element 22 is arranged around the rim 26. The area of the locking ring 38 and that of the engagement element 22 are, however, limited and render it difficult to operate the locking ring 38 and the engagement element 22.
Therefore, the present invention is intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.

Holder apparatus adapted for gripping and operating a sprayer


A multi-instance powerline communication device broadcasts discovery messages to network devices of a plurality of communication networks. Identification information associated with the network devices is determined. Each of the network devices is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of communication networks and one of a plurality of powerline communication instances. The multi-instance powerline communication device receives a network packet and determines a destination network device for the network packet. A network identifier of the communication network of the destination network device is determined. The multi-instance powerline communication device determines the powerline communication instance associated with the communication network and processes the network packet using the powerline communication instance and the network identifier of the communication network.

Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of communication networks, and, more particularly, to a multi-instance powerline communication technique.
Powerline communication (PLC) is a wired communication technology that utilizes electrical power wiring for transmitting and receiving communication signals. PLC techniques typically utilize a PLC device to facilitate communication between electronic/electric devices (e.g., computer, digital video recorder (DVR), washing machine, door lock, electric motor, etc.). A PLC device can typically be configured with a network membership key (NMK) of a single communication network. The PLC device, when configured with the NMK of a communication network, can typically only communicate with PLC devices in the communication network associated with that particular NMK. In some cases, for a network device to communicate with devices in multiple communication networks, the network device can utilize PLC to communicate with devices in a first communication network at one time and communicate with devices in a second communication network at a different time by changing the NMK in the PLC device.

Multi-instance powerline communication system


A lead storage battery of the present invention has an electrode plate pack including: a plurality of negative electrode plates in each of which a negative electrode active material layer is retained by a negative electrode grid, a plurality of positive electrode plates in each of which a positive electrode active material layer is retained by a positive electrode grid, and a plurality of separators separating the positive and negative electrode plate; a positive electrode connecting member connected to each positive electrode plate of the electrode plate pack; and a negative electrode connecting member connected to each negative electrode plate of the electrode plate pack. The positive and negative electrode grids, and the positive and negative electrode connecting members comprise a Pb alloy including at least one of Ca and Sn, the negative electrode grid further includes Sb in a part thereof excluding the tab part, and the separator includes silica.

Conventionally, a lead storage battery has been used for starting an engine of a vehicle and for a back-up power source. Among these usages, a lead storage battery for starting an engine functions to supply electricity to various electric and electronic devices mounted on vehicles, in addition to a cell motor for starting an engine. After starting an engine, a lead storage battery is charged by an alternator. An output voltage and an output current of the alternator are set so that SOC (state of charge) of the lead storage battery is maintained to be 90 to 100%.
In recent years, a demand for an improvement of a fuel-efficiency of a vehicle is increasing, in view of environmental conservation. For such a demand, a vehicle carrying a stop-and-go-system and a regenerative-braking-system has been considered, for example. In the stop-and-go-system, an engine is stopped while the vehicle is idling, and in the regenerative-braking-system, a kinetic energy of a vehicle at the time of deceleration is converted to an electric energy, and the electric energy is stored.
In a vehicle carrying the stop-and-go-system, the lead storage battery is not charged when the vehicle is stopped in an idle stop mode. The lead storage battery sometimes supplies electric power to devices mounted on the vehicle while in such a state. Thus, in comparison with a conventional lead storage battery for starting engines, SOC of the lead storage battery inevitably becomes low. In a vehicle carrying the regenerative-braking-system, SOC of the lead storage battery has to be controlled to be lower, to about 50 to 90%, since electric energy is stored by the lead storage battery at the time of regeneration (deceleration).
In any of these systems, charge and discharge (hereinafter referred to as charge/discharge) are repeated frequently with a lower SOC domain than ever. Further, based on an increase in a dark current accompanied with vehicle parts increasingly becoming electrically powered, a discharge of the lead storage battery advances while a vehicle is stopped for a long period of time, thereby leaving a possibility for an over discharge.
Therefore, for a lead storage battery to be used in vehicles carrying these systems, service life properties under a usage mode in which charge/discharge is repeated frequently with a lower SOC domain needs to be improved.
For deterioration factors of a lead storage battery under such usage mode, an insufficient charge due to decline in chargeability of the lead storage battery can be mentioned, mainly. Since a charge system of a vehicle is based on constant voltage control, when chargeability of a negative electrode plate is reduced, a potential of negative electrode decreases at an initial stage of charge and a voltage rapidly rises up to a preset voltage value, and a current decreases sooner. Thus, a sufficient amount of charged electricity of a lead storage battery can not be secured, thereby rendering the battery to be in an undercharged state.
For suppressing such deterioration, there has been proposed a method in which a lead alloy layer containing Sn and Sb is formed on a surface of a positive electrode grid of a Pb—Ca—Sn alloy, for example (Patent Document 1). The formation of such layer will suppress a deterioration of positive electrode active material and a formation of a passivated layer at an interface between a positive electrode active material and a positive electrode grid.
Also, a part of Sb which exists on a surface of a positive electrode grid dissolves in an electrolyte, and deposits on a negative electrode plate. The deposited Sb on a negative electrode active material will raise a charging potential of a negative electrode plate, and a charging voltage will lower down, thereby improving chargeability of a lead storage battery. As a result, deterioration of a lead storage battery due to insufficient charge during charge/discharge cycle is suppressed.
This method is very effective in an engine starting lead storage battery which is used while SOC is over 90%, and service life properties will drastically improve.
However, when a lead storage battery is to be used in a vehicle equipped with the above stop-and-go-system or the regenerative-braking-system, that is, when a lead storage battery is to be used in a mode in which charge/discharge is repeated under lower range of SOC, there was a problem in that a corrosion easily advances in a tab of negative electrode grid, while the chargeability can be secured. When the corrosion advances in a tab of negative electrode grid, current collecting efficiency of a negative electrode plate declines due to a decrease in a thickness of the tab, thereby shortening its service life.
The decrease in a thickness of the tab of negative electrode grid also weakens intensity of the tab, in addition to the decline in the current collecting efficiency. Especially, in batteries mounted on vehicles, since vibrations and impacts are constantly applied to the batteries while traveling, deformations of a tab of negative electrode grid cause a negative electrode plate to become out of position, leaving a possibility for an occurrence of an internal short-circuit by a negative electrode plate making contact with a positive electrode plate.
Conventionally, regarding the corrosion of a tab of negative electrode grid, it has been known that by an exposure of a negative electrode strap and a tab of negative electrode grid from an electrolyte to oxygen in air, a welded part of the strap and the tab is corroded to cause a disconnection. However, although a negative electrode strap and a tab of negative electrode grid are being immersed in the electrolyte, the tab of negative electrode grid is easily being corroded when Sb is deposited in a very small amount on a surface of the tab of negative electrode grid by dissolution of Sb included in a positive electrode grid, and in a positive electrode connecting member comprising a positive electrode strap, a positive electrode pole, and a positive electrode connecting body into an electrolyte.
In Patent Document 2, there has been proposed a lead storage battery in which a positive electrode grid, a positive electrode connecting member, a tab of negative electrode grid, and a negative electrode connecting member are formed from Pb or a Pb-alloy not including Sb, and a very small amount of Sb is included in either one of a negative electrode grid excluding a tab-part or a negative electrode active material layer to a degree that would not increase an amount of electrolyte loss. Based on such structure, it has been shown that chargeability and service life for a deep discharge of a battery are improved to a certain extent, by suppressing the dissolution of Sb existing in a positive electrode plate into an electrolyte and deposition of Sb on a tab of negative electrode grid.
However, the above lead storage battery as well had a problem in that under a usage mode where a charge/discharge is repeated frequently while SOC is in a low range, a tab of negative electrode-grid is corroded by the dissolution of Sb in a negative electrode grid excluding a tab part into an electrolyte, and by a deposition of Sb on a tab of negative electrode grid.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 03-37962    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-346888

Long life and low corrosion lead storage battery


A detaching mechanism includes at least one sloping portion, a groove, an elastic mechanism, and a latch portion. The sloping portion is disposed on a cover which detachably covers an outer surface of a shell. The sloping portion has a sloping surface. The groove is disposed on the shell. The latch portion is slidably received in the groove to slidably ride on the sloping surface of the sloping portion, such that the sloping portion is displaced away from the shell. The elastic mechanism connects the latch portion to the shell.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to detaching mechanisms. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to detaching mechanisms for laptop shell assemblies.
2. Description of Related Art
A laptop computer is a personal computer for easily carried around. Laptop computers of various appearances are found in the market today, but their appearances are not changeable by the user. In other words, once a decision to buy a laptop computer is made, the user will have no chance to change the appearance of the bought laptop computer. With the intense competition in the market, there becomes an increasing need to offer laptop computers with changeable appearances.

Detaching mechanism and laptop shell assembly


A laser communication device for transmitting and receiving information imposed on laser beams. A transmitting unit and a receiving unit are implemented based on atomic line filters. The transmitting unit includes a compact tunable laser locked to a selected atomic transition line. Information may be imposed on a laser beam by modulating the frequency thereof while maintaining its output power substantially unchanged.

Free space laser communication originated in the mid-1960's shortly after the generation of light by the first lasers. The first successful laser communication up-link to space was achieved during a series of experiments conducted by NASA in the late 1960's using a ground based argon laser transmitting to a photomultiplier optical receiver feeding data to an rf down link. Information was sent by Morse code at about one-half bit per second. A limiting factor on free space laser communication is the presence of background light, mostly reflected sunlight. Efforts have been made to develop very narrow-band filters matched to the operating wavelengths of available light weight dependable lasers. Some of these efforts are disclosed in "Selected Papers on Free-Space Laser Communication", SPIE Milestone Series, Vol. MS30. Global Positioning Systems (GPS's) currently available provides latitude, longitude and altitude position based on analysis of radio frequency signals from orbiting satellites.
What is needed is a laser portable communication transceiver device which could be used to transmit information point to point over distances ranging from a few feet to several kilometers.


An optical fiber includes a core region having a longitudinal axis. A cladding region surrounds the core region. The core region and cladding region are configured to support and guide the propagation of signal light in a fundamental transverse mode in the core region in the directions of the axis. The fiber has a bend-induced gradient of its equivalent index of refraction indicative of a loss in guidance of the mode. At least a portion of cladding region has a graded index of refraction opposite the bend-induced gradient. The cladding region is configured to have a substantially flat equivalent index in response to a bend of the optical fiber.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to optical fibers. More specifically, the invention relates to a large mode area fiber employed as an optical filter and exhibiting a refractive index profile that minimizes bend-induced limitations on the fiber's filtering properties.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In the field of optical fiber-based technology, there is an increasing interest in the use of large mode area fibers, including fiber-based optical filters, in which it is desirable to filter or suppress certain wavelengths of light. Such large mode area filter fibers are known to overcome various nonlinear impairments. For example, in some fiber amplifiers and lasers, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) may limit power and efficiency. Suppressing wavelengths associated with SRS has been demonstrated to significantly improve the performance of such amplifiers and lasers. Some amplifiers may also require suppression of amplified spontaneous emission or spurious lasing at one wavelength (e.g. 1060 nm) in order to provide efficient amplification of a wavelength with competing or intrinsically lower gain (e.g. 940 nm). Similarly, significant benefits of wavelength filtering have been demonstrated in applications such as telecommunications, sensing, etc.
In large mode area filter fibers, there is typically a tradeoff between degree of filtering, effective area, and bend loss, e.g., a required degree of filtering becomes more difficult to achieve as mode area increases. Other properties (beam quality, pump absorption, birefringence, etc.) may also play an important role in overall performance, and limit the degree of filtering.
Bend perturbations play an important role in determining both the bend loss and the degree of filtering. For bend radii typically required for reasonable handling and packaging of conventional filter fibers in operation, the bend perturbation significantly degrades achievable performance.
When conventional filter fibers are employed in high power amplifiers and lasers, for example, overall system performance (output power, pulse energy, etc.) is limited by a failure to attain large effective area, low bend loss, and strong filtering when the filter fiber is arranged in a practical coil size.
At least two different approaches have been employed to minimize bend-induced losses in optical filter fibers. In one approach, a composite filter fiber is kept substantially straight by means of the incorporation of rod-like fibers that are extremely bend resistant. By forcing the filter fiber to remain essentially linear, bend-induced loss can be significantly reduced. This approach may be impractical for many applications, especially when fiber lengths are on the order of one meter or more. That is, this approach may achieve large area, low loss, and strong filtering, but fail to meet constraints on fiber arrangement needed for some applications.
A second approach is associated with predetermining a fixed bend loss by defining a specific "coiling" to be used (consistent with packaging and other practical constraints on fiber arrangement), and then utilizing the filter fiber in accordance with the specified coiling radius (and number of turns). This approach is subject to bend-induced limitations discussed above, for example the tradeoff between mode area, bend loss, and filtering. Similarly, this approach is considered to limit applications of large area filter fibers, as well as limit modifications in field implementations and variations in the use of filter fibers.
Thus, a need remains in the art for a large mode area filter fiber that simultaneously attains large effective area, low bend loss, and strong filtering when the fiber is arranged in a practical coil size.


The present disclosure presents a method for a first receiver in a first communication link, the first communication link sharing a communication channel with a second communication link in a wireless network, the first communication link corresponding to a first set of beam directions, the second communication link corresponding to a second set of beam directions, and the method comprises determining whether a communication quality satisfies a predefined criterion; and selecting a first beam direction from the first set of beam directions in response to determining the communication quality satisfying the predefined criterion. The present disclosure also presents a further method for a second transmitter and the further method comprising receiving a beam direction selection signaling and selecting a second beam direction from the second set of beam directions in the second communication link. The first receiver and the second transmitter in respective communication links are also disclosed.

In order to meet an increasing demand for higher overall network capability and higher end-user data rate, the next generation of wireless communication system, such as the fifth generation (5G) communication system, is expected to be operating in unlicensed shared bands, especially for enterprise solutions. Thus coexistence support of two or more communication links is needed for the contention based access in order to enable spectrum sharing between different operators or other communication systems.
Listen-before-talk (LBT) mechanism is a flexible way to achieve this coexistence support between different communication systems in unlicensed shared band, in which a communication node intending to transmit data first performs a channel sensing, such as in a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure, and checks whether the channel is available or not. The communication node will transmit data when it determines that the shared channel is available, otherwise the communication node will defer its transmission for a certain period until the channel is deemed to be free. LBT relies on listening at transmitter side to determine if there will be interference at the receiver side and thus there may be a large difference between sensed power at the transmitter side and the actual interference power at the receiver side especially in high gain beamforming scenarios, which may result in severe problems. For example, the transmitter may be unable to listen to the potential interferer resulting into packet collision, i.e., interference at the receiver side.
For communication throughput, the different communication links share the unlicensed band in a time division way, which means the throughput of each communication link is severely degraded compared with a traditional isolation deployment. Moreover, there may be some low interference application scenarios, and thus, the channel sensing procedure performed in a transmitting node before the actual data transmission may waste transmission resource, leading to lower spectrum efficiency.

Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data


A method and apparatus converts input data such as short notes into a global text realization to provide semantically-coherent grammatical text. In various exemplary embodiments, an individual inputs short notes into a computer system, the computer system associates local text realizations with the short notes. Subsequently, the user may select the appropriate local text realizations, which may be converted to semantic representations and to semantically coherent grammatical text or a global text realization.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to semantic stenography including automatically converting short notes to semantically-coherent grammatical text.
2. Description of Related Art
Students, professionals, pollsters, and employees of call centers or customer service centers often do not have enough time to write down complete, well-formed sentences to describe information communicated orally to them. Instead, it is common for such individuals to jot down a few key words or short notes that convey the essential facts as the conversation, lecture or other oral interaction progresses. Stenography is the art or process of taking short hand during an oral communication and later converting the short hand notes into a full written text or transcript of the oral communication.
It is often desirable to speed up the process of converting short hand into full written text, so that the oral communication can be recorded or published quickly. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0089470 A1 discloses a real time internet transcript presentation system, which produces a real-time transcript of a live presentation. However, converting oral communication into a transcript often does not result in well-formed sentences. In addition, these real-time transcription systems only provide raw information. These real-time transcription systems do not summarize information in condensed, semantically-coherent grammatical text or well-formed sentences to quickly and efficiently communicate information to an audience or community.
In addition, being able to generate the notes in the first instance depends on conventions that associate complex conceptual constructions with what could be called "semantic abbreviations." These conventions are often shared by communities. The tighter the community and the more frequent the need to communicate recurring types of information, the more efficient such coding becomes.

Semantic stenography using short note input data


A garment with insulated liner including a short pant attached to an insulated undergarment. The insulated undergarment is adapted to cover and fit closely to the body of a wearer to preserve an elevated temperature of the body of the wearer under the insulated undergarment. A pair of front seams are provided to secure the short pant to the insulated garment. The front seams extend from a waist area through a pelvic area to a crotch area to prevent the insulated undergarment from drastically shifting in turbulent water.

The sport of surfing is conventionally conducted during warm weather months. However, serious surfers may surf year-round even when the outside weather can be somewhat cold and uncomfortable. When the water and/or air is relatively warm, surfers generally prefer to wear only a bathing suit and/or a pair of board shorts. Despite the temperature of the air outside of the water, ocean water can be dramatically colder and somewhat frigid, and a need arises to attempt to keep warm.
Wet suits are required when the weather and/or water temperature is cooler. Wet suits are typically made of thermally insulating rubberized material such as neoprene, generally designed to fit close to the body. The neoprene creates a thin layer of water between the suit and the wearer's body. After the suit has been submerged, there is not much exchange of water such that a thin layer of water adjacent the wearer's body provides insulation to the wearer.


Communication unit comprising a housing in which at least one transducer is placed, and on which a microphone arm is suspended. The housing also has means, such as an ear hook, for fastening the communication unit to the head of a user. The microphone arm is pivotally connected to the housing by a hinge link, and at an outer area of the housing, so that the microphone arm can be moved between a first position in which it lies up against the housing, and a second position in which it extends away from the housing. The microphone arm has a length, which in the main is less than or of the same order as the greatest extent of the housing, so that in the folded-in state the microphone arm does not project out over the circumference of the housing. The communication unit can be used on both the right and the left side of the head, in that the ear hook (6) can be suspended in two different positions, corresponding to the communication unit being worn on the right or the left ear, respectively.

The invention concerns a headset communication unit which comprises a housing in which at least one transducer is placed, and on which a microphone arm is suspended, said housing also having means for securing the communication unit to the head of a user. In the preferred construction, the headset is intended to be in wireless connection with some kind of other base unit, such as a cell phone, and communications would preferably follow the "Bluetooth" protocol. Of course, a person skilled in the art could modify the structure shown to make a wire connection with a base unit.
Such a communication unit is most often used in connection with telephony, where a telephone user who talks over the telephone often and/or engages in long telephone conversations, can use such a unit in the form of a headset or an earset without having to hold a handset. However, other uses also exist, such as in connection with mobile telephones and similar communication equipment.
Examples of known headsets or earsets are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,166 A and U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,812 A. These publications disclose both configurations, which are provided with a relatively long microphone arm, which means that both of these constructions are relatively space demanding when they are not being used. It is true that the microphone arm on the headset in the last-mentioned publication can be turned upwards, so that it lies parallel with the housing and the head-piece, and whereby at the same time a switch function is activated, but still this known headset will be of considerable dimensions. It will thus not be expedient for users to transport these known headsets around with them when the headsets are not in use, the reason being that they cannot be placed in a pocket, a bag or the like without great difficulty.
A further earset is also known from DE 299 08 529 U, where the earset is configured as a round capsule with an ear hook and a relatively long microphone boom, this boom being configured in a flexible material. This microphone boom is wound up inside the capsule, from which it can be drawn out when it is to be used. Due to the flexible nature of the microphone boom, a precise positioning of the microphone and herewith an optimum sound reception can hardly be expected and, moreover, the microphone boom will easily be susceptible to physical influences.
Finally, a communication unit of the kind disclosed in the preamble is known from DE 298 08 425 U, which describes a wireless earset. This known earset has a housing in the form of an ear shell which at its uppermost part has a projecting antenna, and which at its lower part has a microphone arm. This microphone arm consists of two link stays, which are hinged to each other. The one link stay supports a microphone at its free end, while the other link stay is secured to the housing in a pivotal and displaceable manner. When the earset is not in use, the microphone arm can be inserted into a guide in the housing, in that the two link stays are first folded together by a turning of the one link stay, so that the two link stays lie over each other, after which they are turned so that they lie in line with the guide, after which the link stays can finally be pushed into the guide in the housing.
What this known microphone arm thus involves is that it consists of a relatively complicated and herewith also a vulnerable mechanism, which comprises two hinge links and a linear guiding movement and herewith subsequent risk of damage during use. Moreover, the users of this known earset must make themselves familiar with a relatively complex procedure for taking the earset into use and its adjustment, in that the microphone arm must first be slid out of the guideway groove, after which the two link stays must be folded out, and finally after which a suitable position of use must be set by adjustment of the two hinges, i.e. partly the hinge between the two link stays and partly the hinge between the second link stay and the housing.


A messaging system provides recommendations of content that account holders of the messaging system might be interested in engaging with. In order to determine what to recommend, the messaging system generates a model of account holder engagement behavior organized by type of engagement. The model parameters are trained on differences between expected engagement behavior based on past data and actual engagement behavior, and include a set of common factor matrices that are trained using data from more than on engagement type. As a consequence, engagement behavior of other account holders with respect to other types of engagements different than the one sought to be recommended serves as a partial basis for determining what engagements of the sought-after type are recommended.

The disclosure generally relates to messaging systems, and particularly to efficient computer processing of large volumes of data related to messages broadcast using an online system, where the data regarding the messages is obtained from many distinct client computing devices.
There are a wide range of messaging systems that allow account holders to exchange, broadcast, or multicast messages. These messaging systems also provide ways for account holders to view messages created by others, as well as respond to those messages. Generally, the messaging system provides each account holder with a personal platform for publishing and receiving messages. In some systems, this personalized platform categorizes messages into one or more streams of messages where the account holder chooses which messages appear in any given stream. Typically, there are a few different ways an account holder can include a message in one of their streams. Account holders can create a new message themselves, and they can copy (or repost) some or all of a message that has appeared in another account's stream. A messaging system may also allow this selection process to occur at the account level, such that an account holder can choose to receive in a stream all of the messages published by another account holder.
Using these mechanisms, these messaging systems allow an account holder to infinitely adjust their streams to include only those messages they want to receive. For those account holders, allowing such fine-tuning provides major advantages, as once a stream has been set up, from then on the messaging system will automatically populate the stream with whatever messages they have indicated they wish to receive.
However, existing messaging systems also provide automated functions for content surfacing. These systems analyze the use of the messaging system by its account holders to identify connections and commonalities in actions and interest by the account holders as a mechanism for identifying content that account holders may not have seen but yet may find interesting. More generally, these techniques are known as collaborative filtering. However, some modern messaging systems have many hundreds of millions of accounts creating millions of items of content on a daily basis, and generating, as a result of account holder activity, billions of interactions on a daily basis. Organizing and processing this data to provide meaningful information about the interconnection and commonality of interest between these disparate items of data can take exceptionally large amounts of processing power, and can be prohibitively expensive to run, particularly in real time as account holders use the messaging system.

Real time analyses using common features


The problem of the present invention is to provide pharmaceutical granules containing, as active amino acid ingredients, three kinds of branched chain amino acids of isoleucine, leucine and valine, which has a smaller specific volume than conventional products, and a production method thereof. As a result of intensive studies, granules containing, as active amino acid ingredients, three kinds of branched chain amino acids of isoleucine, leucine and valine and a production method thereof have been provided, which are characterized by adding an acid to a particle mixture of three kinds of branched chain amino acids of isoleucine, leucine and valine and granulating the mixture, which has solved the above-mentioned problem.

A pharmaceutical preparation containing three kinds of branched chain amino acids of isoleucine, leucine and valine as active ingredients is an effective therapeutic agent for liver diseases. These three kinds of branched chain amino acids have a strong bitter taste and unique amino acid smell and require large amounts for one dose. For production of a preparation, therefore, the problems of reduction of bitter taste and smell, a small-volume of a dose and the like should be solved.
In particular, when a solid preparation contains particles of these three kinds of branched chain amino acids, the preparation is required to have uniform contents of these three kinds of branched chain amino acids per dose. However, when this requirement is to be met by reducing the size of starting material amino acid particles as in the case of conventional solid preparations, the volume thereof in one dose increases, which in turn makes the preparation bulky and difficult to swallow during administration.
In the case of granules, for example, the active ingredient is mostly pulverized to not more than 50 μm before use, thereby to satisfy the requirements of ensured content uniformity, improvement in solubility and the like. The granules produced in this way generally show a specific volume of 2.0 mL/g or above, though subject to slight change depending on the type of granulation method, granulation conditions and the like. In the case of the aforementioned three kinds of branched chain amino acid particles, a single dose of the branched chain amino acids is about 4–5 g. Therefore, when a granule preparation is produced by pulverizing them to not more than 50 μm, its volume becomes about 8–10 mL and takes up much space in the mouth, making it extremely difficult to swallow.

Process for producing granules containing branched amino acids


Two counter-rotating, intermeshing, toothed wheels grind opposite sides of an interposed blade to create or burrlessly sharpen a knife-edge on the blade. The wheels can be solid or comprised of a fixed stack of toothed disks, concentrically aligned, the teeth of each succeeding disk angularly offset in a common direction from the teeth of the next preceding disk to create a wheel having a plurality of uniform, elongated composite teeth around the circumference of the stack, the teeth being angled from the wheel's axis. Two such wheels, one with teeth angled in an opposite direction, can be counter-rotated and because of the oppositely angled teeth, are capable of intermeshing. The degree of intermeshing can be selectively varied to correspondingly vary the sharpening angle. The apex ridges of both the solid and composite teeth can be selectively profiled to sharpen non-uniformly, e.g. serrating a blade edge.

This invention relates in general to the field of apparatuses for sharpening knives and other cutting blades, and more particularly to counter-rotating wheels having intermeshing teeth for sharpening blades.
Blade sharpening is, of course, quite old and there have been many improvements in the methods and devices used for forming a knife-edge on a blade. Heretofore, a problem with sharpening a blade has been the time that it takes to grind and hone the blade to achieve a satisfactory sharpness. Also, with conventional sharpening equipment and methods, a burr is left on the edge when the blade is ground. This burr can be honed or polished off, but this requires an additional operation, time and effort. Sharpening equipment has evolved from files and polishing stones, to grinding and polishing wheels, to combinations of such wheels, to intermeshing worm gears.
This invention makes sharpening a blade fast and easy, without a burr. An extremely sharp edge can be formed suitable for surgical instruments.
Other advantages and attributes of this invention will be readily discernable upon a reading of the text hereinafter.


An L-ascorbic acid drug for intracerebral administration comprising one or more stable activity L-ascorbic acid compounds and one or more blood brainbarrier deobstruents. Also disclosed is a method for increasing intracerebral concentration of L-ascorbic acid in a human being comprising administering by injection an L-ascorbic acid drug comprising one or more stable activity L-ascorbic acid compounds. Additionally disclosed is a method for increasing intracerebral concentration of L-ascorbic acid in a human being comprising administering by injection an L-ascorbic acid drug comprising one or more stable activity L-ascorbic acid compounds and one or more blood brainbarrier deobstruents. Also disclosed is a method for treating diseases or disorders that result from intracerebral bloodstream inhibition or intracerebral bloodstream lowering comprising administering by injection to a person in need of such treatment, a dosage effective amount of an L-ascorbic acid drug comprising one or more stable activity L-ascorbic acid compounds. Additionally disclosed is a method for treating diseases or disorders that result from intracerebral bloodstream inhibition or intracerebral bloodstream lowering comprising administering by injection to a person in need of such treatment, a dosage effective amount of an L-ascorbic acid drug comprising one or more stable activity L-ascorbic acid compounds and one or more blood brainbarrier deobstruents.

L-ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient. It is well known that L-ascorbic acid plays an important role with respect to the encephalon, and the following literature references have reported its effectiveness against various diseases of the cranial nerve. For example, the use of L-ascorbic acid to treat schizophrenia is reported in M. Herjanic, Orthomolecular Physiatry, D. Hawkins and L. Pauling, ed. W. H. Freemann, San Francisco, pp. 303-315 (1973); the use of L-ascorbic acid to treat chronic alcoholism is reported in S. K. Majumder et al., "International J. Vitamin", Nutr. Res. 51, 274-278 (1981); the administration of L-ascorbic acid to oligophrenic children including those having Down's syndrome is reported in R. H. Harell et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 78:1, 574-578 (1981); the use of L-ascorbic acid to reduce the adverse reaction of L-dopa as a drug for the treatment of parkinsonism is reported in W. Sacks, G. M. Simpson, "Ascorbic Acid in Levodopa Therapy", The Lancet. March 1, 527, 1975; and the use of L-ascorbic acid in ameliorating depression in conjunction with adrenocortico-tropic hormone therapy is reported in P. Cocchi et al, "Antidepressant Effect of Vitamin C.", Pediatrics, 65, 4: 862--862 (1980).
In recent years, ascorbic acid has been studied with respect to its activity as a water-soluble scavenger of intracerebral radicals which are considered to cause ischemic reperfusion disorder, a sequela of a cardiac infarction operation, angina pectoris, cerebral apoplexy and cerebral infarction. Thus, ascorbic acid is known to have a therapeutic effect on intracerebral radical disease.
Considering these effects on the brain, L-ascorbic acid has hitherto been administered to treat various conditions. However, when administered perorally or by phleboclysis, due to the presence of the blood brainbarrier, L-ascorbic acid in the blood may fail to reach the cerebral cells in a sufficient amount, and the desired effect on the brain by administering L-ascorbic acid cannot be satisfactorily achieved.

Ascorbic acid drugs for intracerebral administration


A kit for mounting a frame in a partitioning structure such as a door, and a door including a vision lite. The kit includes a male frame half, a female frame half, and threaded fasteners. The female frame half defines an elongated channel, where the channel includes a bottom with walls extending therefrom with a width adapted to receive a threaded fastener. The first frame piece and the second frame piece are configured to be mounted to each other when the threaded fasteners extend through the first frame piece and into the channel. An installation of such a kit in a door, with window glass, may provide a vision lite in the door. The channel may be configured such that the threaded fasteners penetrate the bottom of the channel when the first frame piece and the second frame piece are installed. The threaded fasteners may be self-tapping screws.

A vision lite may provide a glass window through a door. In some cases, vision lites may be provided with aftermarket lite kits, and do not require drilling through the door for installation. Vision lites in some cases are metal and may use fire rated glass to make a fire rated window in a fire rated door. Conventional lite kites include a two piece frame that is fastened together with screws. An inner piece or half and an outer piece or half of the frame each overlaps the door on a respective side and is contoured to form, with the other piece, a slot for receiving the glass. Glazing compound is applied between the frame and the glass.
Generally, the outdoor frame piece is a blank that has predrilled screw holes in a hidden inner portion that attempt to match locations of predrilled screw holes in the inner frame piece. Installation may be challenging because the screw hole positions must be substantially aligned to allow installation of the screws, and the installer has to direct the screws into holes that cannot be seen and that may be spaced from the entrance holes in the outer piece by half of the door width or more. Specifically, when the frames are each in place on the respective sides of the door, screws are installed through holes in the exposed portion of the inner frame. The screws must then extend to the predrilled holes in the inner end of the inner frame piece, proximate to the glass, and then through the holes in the inner end of the outer frame piece or through the frame, also proximate to the glass. The need to thread the screws through the predrilled holes may make the process time consuming and difficult, as an installer blindly feels for the holes in the inner ends of the frame pieces, which difficulty may be compounded by the inner and outer frame pieces possibly being out of alignment to some degree.


The present disclosure relates to a system for providing substantially synchronised haptic and audio outputs. The system includes a signal processor which is configured to receive an audio signal from a main processor of the system and to receive a haptic signal, which may be received from the main processor, or may be retrieved from memory, or else may be generated in real-time by the signal processor. The signal processor calculates a delay to be applied to the haptic signal or the audio signal and outputs a delayed version of the audio signal and the haptic signal, or a delayed version of the haptic signal and the audio signal, to appropriate output stages.

Modern computing devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, smart watches and the like are increasingly being provided with haptic output systems in addition to conventional video and audio output systems such as screens and speakers. Such haptic output systems provide outputs that can be felt by a user of the device, and these haptic outputs may be used, for example, to simulate the feeling of a mechanical button being depressed or clicked.
Additionally, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices may employ haptic output systems as well as video and audio output systems, to produce a multi-sensory user experience that may be more immersive and realistic, and therefore richer, than in systems which provide only audio and visual outputs.
Applications such as games that run on devices that include haptic output systems have to be designed and programmed specifically to take advantage of the haptic capabilities of the device. This means that additional programming time and resource must be devoted to developing mechanisms for providing appropriate haptic outputs during use of the application by a user.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.