A sheet feeding cassette, including a main body of the sheet feeding cassette accommodating sheets having a trench; a fence movably attached to the main body configured to define a setting position of the sheets; a fixing portion included in the fence that includes a tooth portion engaging with the trench and turns to substantially perpendicular direction of the moving direction of the fence; a lever portion included in the fence that is possible to move corresponding to the moving direction of the fence and the lever portion configured to rotate the fixing portion by moving of the lever portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet feeding cassette accommodating sheets of a recording medium (e.g., paper) and an image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding cassette, for example, a copier, facsimile, plotter, or printing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a sheet feeding cassette of an image forming apparatus including a sheet feeding cassette accommodating sheets, a fence (side fence) that defines the position of the sheets perpendicular to a direction of sheet feeding is needed because the accuracy of the position of the fence directly affects a skew angle of the sheet feeding.
It is preferable that a light force is required to move the fence because a user directly operates the fence to accommodate various sizes of sheets.
The fence is also needed to be affixed securely at each setting position, and to move smoothly when the user changes the setting. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2005-131861 discloses a sheet feeding cassette where a user can release the fence by pushing a button and the user can reengage the fence in a fixed state by pushing the button after moving the fence to a desirable position.
However, this sheet feeding cassette configuration has drawbacks because the pushing direction of the button and the moving direction of the fence are in discord. That is, use of the fence requires an unnatural user applied force to adjust the fence to an accurate position.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 1999-139576 discloses a sheet feeding cassette where the user can release the fence from a fixed state by rotating a fixing portion perpendicular to the moving direction of the fence.
However, as discussed above, the sheet feeding cassette has drawbacks because the releasing direction of the fixing portion and the moving direction of the fence are in discord. Consequently, an unnatural force is required to adjust the location of the fence to an accurate position.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2005-053645 discloses a sheet feeding cassette where the user can release an engagement of a tooth portion positioned below the fence and the body of the sheet feeding cassette by pushing a lever and the user can fix the location of the fence by pushing the lever after moving the fence to a desirable position. This sheet feeding cassette is more preferable than the configurations described above because the pushing direction of the button and the moving direction of the fence are consistent with each other.
However, this configuration has drawbacks because a trench wall exists in the rotating direction of the tooth portion and the tooth portion strikes against the wall. Consequently, friction may occur and additional effort is required by the user to operate the fence.
In order to use a sheet P having variable widths, the user may move the side fence 9a, 9b to accommodate the sheet P. The fence is needed to fix tightly at the desirable position to avoid skewing. Further, the fence is needed to move smoothly when the user operates.
More specifically, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2005-053645 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2004-315229 disclose a sheet feeding cassette having the fixing structure of the fence illustrated in FIG. 5.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, a fence 9 is controlled by a lever 15. The user pushes a knob 15a, positioned at the top of the lever 15, using a finger toward the direction of an arrow 16 to release the fence 9. A tooth portion 15b is provided at the bottom of the lever 15. The tooth portion 15b pivots upward in the direction of arrow 17 in response to pushing the knob 15a. Below the tooth portion 15b, a trench 19 is provided as part of the main body of cassette 18. The fence 9 can be fixed or released by engaging or releasing the engagement of the tooth portion 15b and the trench 19. The trench 19 is aligned at a predetermined pitch toward the moving direction of the fence 9.
FIG. 6 is a cross-section view showing the tooth portion 15b and the trench 19 at the engagement position. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the tooth portion 15b of the lever 15 pivots upward when the knob 15a is pushed by the user. The user can set the position of the fence 9 to the width of the paper "P" easily because the user can move the fence by moving the knob 15, and the direction of movement of the fence 9 is consistent with the direction of movement of the knob 15a.
However, the direction of the releasing movement of the tooth portion 15b (i.e., the direction of arrow 17) is perpendicular to the vertical wall 19a provided in the trench 19. Consequently, the tooth portion 15b sometimes strikes against the vertical wall 19a of the trench 19, and the force necessary to release the fence becomes enormous.

Sheet feeding cassette and image forming apparatus


A three axis attitude orientation system for a spacecraft in orbit which employs a single UV sensor. The single sensor provides roll and pitch information by locating the centroid of the earth and using this as a reference point. The system determines yaw by tracking the position of stars which appear in the field of view around the earth. Three axis attitude is determined through ultraviolet imaging of the earth's limb and adjacent stars. A non-conventional wide angle optics assembly and intensified CCD array are utilized for this purpose.

Satellites and spacecraft are used widely and can serve a variety of purposes. A satellite may be used for communication purposes between multiple positions on the earth which would not otherwise have a direct means of communication. A satellite or spacecraft may also be used for scientific purposes. the spacecraft may act as a platform for sensors which are either pointed at the earth or out into space.
In order to keep the sensors on a spacecraft pointed in the right direction or antennas pointed to the right place on the earth, an orientation system must be provided. In most cases, a three axis reference system must be used in order to provide the proper orientation. The spacecraft may then be stabilized through a variety of methods such as magnetic torquers, chemical thrusters, moment or reaction wheels, or any combination of three.
The orientation of the spacecraft may be determined by a variety of systems. One system provides an earth horizon sensor which scans the edges of the earth in the visible light range to provide pitch and roll orientation, while a separate sensor, which locates the sun at particular times of the day, provides yaw information. During the periods when the sun measurement is not available, the yaw is estimated. The horizon sensors may not provide accurate information of the pitch and roll because of atmospheric conditions on the earth.
Gyroscopes may be used in conjunction with the horizon sensors to provide yaw information. However, due to mechanical friction and other inefficiencies the gyroscopes must be periodically updated in order to provide accurate information. This may be done through a variety of star sensors and ephemeris information.
Another type of system uses an infrared sensor to scan the earth and locate the centroid. Around the centroid, the pitch and roll of the spacecraft can be determined. The limb of the earth can be scanned in the infrared range, as it provides a stable reference point for finding the centroid. The drawbacks of the infrared sensor are that its weight limits its applicability in many scenarios, its need for a cooling system, and its inability to provide three axis information. In most cases a gyroscope or an additional star must be used to provide yaw information.
It is an object of this invention to provide a three axis orientation system which is light weight and only requires a single sensor.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a method of providing three axis information for a spacecraft using an single ultraviolet sensor.

Method for determining 3-axis spacecraft attitude


A method and a system facilitate micropayments between a plurality of parties. A first plurality of micropayment commitments made by a first party are registered, the first plurality of payment commitments contributing towards a total commitment payable value for the first party. A second plurality of payment commitment made to a second party is registered, the second plurality of payment commitments contributing towards a total commitment receivable value for the second party. The total commitment receivable value for the second party is calculated utilizing a risk indication. The total commitment receivable value for the second party is identified as being satisfiable by the total commitment payable value for the first party. Responsive to this determination, a payment process, for payment of the total commitment receivable value by the first party to the second party, is initiated.

Electronic payments between transacting parties have become increasingly prevalent, as the accessibility of technology to enable such payments has increased. For example, a majority of vendors are today equipped to handle credit card and/or debit card transactions. Network-based (or online) vendors are typically heavily dependent on electronic payment services, and may accept a number of electronic payment instruments (e.g., credit cards, debit cards, and other electronic payment services (e.g., the PayPal online payment service)).
A number of companies offer electronic payment (or funds transfer) services (e.g., Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, etc.). Such electronic payment services naturally charge for the provision of such services, typically on a per-transaction basis. These transaction charges are further typically levied against a vendor that is providing goods or services. While such transaction charges are unattractive to vendors, in many instances the transaction charges are small in comparison to the total transaction value. Further, vendors regard the convenience benefits to both the purchaser and the vendor as outweighing the relevant cost.
The transaction charges levied by the various electronic payment services are, as noted above, typically per-transaction charges, and further often include fixed transaction charges. As a total transaction value decreases, the per-transaction charge of course increases as a percentage of the total transaction value, and the attractiveness to the vendor of using such electronic payment services decreases. It is for this reason that vendors are often reluctant to accept electronic payment (e.g., via a credit card) where the total transaction value is small. The use of electronic payment services becomes particularly unattractive when the transaction costs begin to approach the profit margins associated with a transaction. Consider for example the situation where an online vendor is selling electronic content (e.g., MP3 files) for less than $1.Assuming, for example, a per transaction charge of $0.10, it will be appreciated that the vendor may be reluctant to receive payment via an electronic payment service because 10% of the total transaction value is consumed by electronic payment service charges. The problem becomes more acute as the per item value decreases.
With a view to addressing the problem of transaction charges associated with so-called "micropayments", a number of solutions have been proposed. One such solution is proposed by Jan Chomicki et al, in "Decentralized Micropayment Consolidation", Proceedings of the International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDS '98), May 1998, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Specifically, a protocol based on the concept of debt consolidation in a decentralized network environment is discussed in this document.

Method and system to facilitate a payment in satisfaction of accumulated micropayment commitments to a vendor


A linear motion guide includes a guide rail disposed on a floor, a block movably mounted on the guide rail, a height adjustment module disposed between the guide rail and the floor, where the height adjustment module includes a support disposed on the floor to support the guide rail and a heating unit heating the support, where a gap between the floor and the guide rail is adjusted as the support is thermally heated by the heating unit.

1. Field
The invention generally relates to a linear motion guide which precisely adjusts a height of a guide rail.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a linear motion ("LM") guide is a mechanical element that is mounted on machine tools including a stator and a carrier smoothly moving in a straight line on the stator.
The LM guide is usually used for a precise operation, in which an installation precision of the LM guide is about 100 micrometers (μm) and a limit of a vertical precision of a block that is disposed on a rail is about 10 μm to about 20 μm.
An installation height of an LM guide rail can be adjusted by about 20 μm to about 30 μm using a thin metal layer, i.e., a liner, for a precise adjustment of the installation height.


An electrically actuated valve with a hydraulic unit includes a valve housing and at least one electric actuator. Electronics are fastened to the hydraulic unit and at the same time are precisely positioned so that a seal between the electronics and the actuator does not shift or fold over on itself. To this end, a positioning device is formed between the electronics and the hydraulic unit.

The disclosure relates to an electrically actuated valve.
In the case of electrically actuated valves, it is known that a valve body is arranged in an approximately cuboidal valve housing so as to be displaceable by means of electric actuators on both sides. The electric actuators have coils and armatures, which are accommodated in a housing. To control the actuators, what are known as on-board electronics (OBE) are provided, which are electrically connected to the two actuators. An electronics housing of the on-board electronics is fastened to the valve housing. In this case, seals are mounted between the actuator housings and the portions of the electronics housing that are adjacent to said actuator housings, in order to seal the electrical connections and, additionally, also the electronics and the actuators with respect to ambient influences, in particular moisture.
Since these seals are mechanically relatively unstable, they must be clamped between the electronics housing and the actuator housing by a precise assembly of the two housings.
According to the prior art, this precision is achieved by an assembly device which is technically complex and therefore costly.


Provided are a yeast cell in which the activity of an external mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase is decreased and a method of producing lactate by using the yeast cell.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a yeast cell with inactivated NADH dehydrogenase and a method of producing lactate using the yeast cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lactate is an organic acid that is broadly used in various industrial fields, such as food, pharmaceutics, chemicals, and electronics. Lactate is colorless, odorless, and a low-volatile material that dissolves well in water. Lactate is non-toxic to the human body and thus may be used as a flavor agent, a taste agent, or a preserving agent. Also, lactate is an environment-friendly alternative polymer material and a raw material of a polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic.
PLA is a polyester-based resin that is obtained by ring opening polymerization (ROP) of lactide, a dimer which has been converted from lactic acid. PLA may be variously processed into a film, sheet, fiber, plastic, etc. Thus, demands for PLA as bioplastic have recently increased to broadly replace conventional typical petrochemical plastics, such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or polystyrene (PS).
In addition, lactate includes both a hydroxyl group and a carboxyl group and thus is highly reactive. Accordingly, lactate is easily converted into an industrially important compound, such as lactate ester, acetaldehyde, or propyleneglycol, and thus has received attention as an alternative chemical material of the next generation in chemical industry.
Currently, lactate is produced by an industrially petrochemical synthesis process and a biotechnological fermentation process. The petrochemical synthesis process is performed by oxidizing ethylene derived from crude oil, preparing lactonitrile through addition of hydrogen cyanide after acetaldehyde, purifying by distillation, and hydrolyzing by using chloric acid or phosphoric acid. The biotechnological fermentation process is used to manufacture lactate from a reproducible carbon hydrate, such as, starch, sucrose, maltose, glucose, fructose, or xylose, as a substrate.
Therefore, a strain for efficiently producing lactate and a lactate production method using such a strain are needed.

Yeast cell with inactivated NADH dehydrogenase and method of producing lactate using the yeast cell


The invention provides systems and methods within existing business and technology infrastructures and processes for facilitating an electronic transaction including payment by an account issuer to a merchant for online purchases by a consumer. The invention uses a web services model including request and response messages to provide simplified authentication and authorization through entry of the consumer's PIN, without the release of the consumer's account or billing information to the merchant. The invention reduces authorization processing, and reduces the transaction fees for online transactions, increasing the viability of lower value transactions.

Popular acceptance of the Internet as a viable marketplace has led online merchants to offer an increasing number of digital products for on-demand purchase and delivery. On-demand or downloadable music, movies, pictures, radio, TV programming, news, stock tips, audio books, house plans, ring tones, games, ebooks, and legal forms are just a few examples of available digital online content. Much of this content is valued at less than ten dollars with many of these products, such as individual song tracks, costing less than a dollar. "Low value" payments of less than twenty dollars are often referred to as "small payments" and those less than five dollars are often referred to as "micropayments." The two terms are used interchangeably herein.
The value or size of micropayments often makes processing overhead and customer service costs disproportionately expensive. Transaction costs in conventional payment systems have long been a deterrent to vendors, both online and in stores, burdening or eliminating any profitability from low value transactions. The recent explosion of the digital music download market, such as Apples' I-tunes website, reflects widespread demand for "pay-as-you-go" products and services. Demonstrated success in this arena has spurred many vendors to bring additional products into the online marketplace.
Despite popular demand for low value online content, high payment processing costs for small transactions remain a challenge for retailers and the payment product industry has remained skeptical of the profitability of micropayments. The viability of this emerging market will hinge largely on optimizing overhead and transactional efficiency. Additionally, consumers and merchants alike are seeking more security and privacy in online transactions.
Earlier micro-payment systems add redundant administrative and transaction costs to the already costly merchant-consumer-funding institution interaction. Two such systems that have met with some success are the PayPal® and Peppercoin® payment systems. For example, PayPal's lowest offered rates amount to a 32% surcharge on a 99-cent, low-value transaction. The Peppercoin® system utilizes probabilistic deposit protocols or statistical algorithms to aggregate the value of small value online transactions to submit one larger payment request. Peppercoin's per-transaction fee for a 99-cent transaction may still be as high as 10 cents.
These high transaction costs are due in part to the redundancy of features offered and charged for by both the intermediary and the pre-existing payment network manager, such as, for example, micropayment processing (authorization, record-keeping, reconciling, statementing, etc.), customer service, account maintenance, fraud losses, risk management, billing, and consumer-merchant dispute resolution.
Earlier proposed systems have typically required, inter alia, (i) additional software, (ii) registration, authorization and transaction processes, and/or (iii) administration and transaction expenses (e.g. redundant reconciliation and billing processes, etc.). In short, previous transaction systems have not sufficiently met the demands for optimized overhead and transaction efficiency because such systems operate separate from and in addition to existing banking and electronic commerce systems. As such, available payment systems remain overly burdensome to micro-payment online transactions and/or provide inadequate privacy and security to online consumers. There is, therefore, a need for systems and methods to facilitate lower cost, secure, convenient transactions for the purchase of online content and low value products.

System for facilitating online electronic transactions


Self-adjusting pliers include first and second elongated members each having at one end a jaw portion and at the other end a handle portion, with the elongated members pivotally connected at a position intermediate the jaw and handle portions such that upon positioning the jaw portions on a workpiece and squeezing the handle portions toward each other, the jaws adjust to thickness of the workpiece as they grip the workpiece. The pliers further include a ratchet locking mechanism between the handle portions, the locking mechanism adapted to releasably secure the handle portions upon squeezing of the handle portions toward each other and gripping of the workpiece by the jaw portions to prevent the handle portions from moving apart. A cam operated adjustor is connected to the locking mechanism to increase pressure of the jaw portions about the workpiece, after securing, by hand pressure alone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand-operated tools and, in particular, to pliers that may be self-adjusted for size and locked on a workpiece, and have the gripping force subsequently increased.
2. Description of Related Art
It is desirable to be able to lock pliers so that the user may release his hands from the pliers while the tool remains firmly gripped about a workpiece held in the jaws. Vice grip-type pliers, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,514,130 and 3,600,986, may be locked about a workpiece. Self-adjusting pliers have been known in the prior art, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,662,252; 4,651,598; 4,802,390; 4,893,530; 5,060,543; 5,351,584 and 5,408,904. While some self-locking features have been disclosed, the design of such features has provided potential problems in manufacture and use. Moreover, whether with vice grip or self-adjusting pliers, after the jaws have been locked in place it is often desirable to be able to increase the gripping pressure of the jaws on the workpiece to a degree beyond what the user may achieve by squeezing the handles.

Self-adjusting, locking pliers with gripping force adjustment


A hot-side electrostatic precipitator removes particulate matter from a NOX-containing flue gas stream passing therethrough, the exit flue gas stream having a temperature of no less than about 450F. The precipitator contains a plurality of collecting surfaces arranged in a series of fields. At least some of the collecting surfaces carry a catalyst which promotes a reaction between NOX in the flue gas passing therethrough and a nitrogeneous compound. Preferably, a nitrogeneous compound such as ammonia is electrically charged and injected into the flue gas stream prior to its passing over the collecting surfaces coated with catalyst. The hot-side electrostatic precipitator may have catalyst coated onto fixed surfaces near its exit end.

This invention relates to the cleanup of flue gases produced from power plants, and, more particularly, to removal of both particulate and gaseous pollutants from the flue gas.
In a fossil-fuel power plant, coal or oil is burned to boil water to form steam. The steam drives a turbine and thence an electric generator, producing electricity. Besides heat, the combustion produces gaseous pollutants such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and a solid particulate termed fly ash. Environmental protection laws mandate that the amounts of the gaseous and solid pollutants be maintained at acceptably low levels. The present invention deals with reducing and maintaining both the smog-producing nitrogen oxides, known generally as NOx, and the particulate fly ash within acceptable levels.
A number of technologies are currently employed to reduce the amount of NOx and particulates in the flue gas stream before the flue gas is exhausted to the atmosphere. Particulates are removed from the combustion gas by mechanical devices such as cyclones or barrier filters, or by electrostatic precipitators. Electrostatic precipitators may be placed into the hot gas stream either upstream or downstream of the combustion air preheater. The former is known as a hot-side electrostatic precipitator and the latter is termed a cold-side electrostatic precipitator.
NOx may be removed by reacting the NOx with ammonia. This reaction is accomplished either at high temperature, in the gas phase with no catalyst present, or at lower temperature, at the surface of a catalyst. The catalyst is typically coated onto a fixed substrate bed through which the flue gas flows.
While these techniques are effective to some extent, it is always desirable to provide a further reduction in the pollutants within the limits of economic feasibility. The present invention provides such a further reduction.


An image distribution system includes an image processing apparatus that scans a document into a scanned image and a wearable device that receives the scanned image distributed by the image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus includes a device capability information acquisition unit that acquires device capability information that includes display capability information indicating image display capability of the wearable device and a configuration screen controller that controls whether or not a setting is selectable on a configuration screen displayed on a display unit of the image processing apparatus, the setting being used to generate configuration information used for scanning the document.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image distribution system, an image processing apparatus, and recording medium storing a control program.
2. Background Art
With increased computerization of information, image processing apparatuses such as printers and facsimiles used for outputting the computerized information and scanners used for computerizing documents have become indispensable. In most cases, these image processing apparatuses are configured as multifunction peripherals (MFPs) that can be used as a printer, facsimile, scanner, and copier by implementing an image pickup capability, image forming capability, and communication capability, etc.
On the other hand, information processing devices have also become highly functionalized, and information processing apparatuses that people can wear (hereinafter referred to as "wearable devices") and have information processing capabilities approaching the sophistication of personal computers (PCs) have become popular. These wearable devices have shapes that people can wear such as a wristwatch and a head-mount type, etc. Many wearable devices include user interfaces such as a touch panel, GPS, velocity sensor, and wireless communications capability, and can be used for various purposes depending on the software.
It is possible to process images on the image processing apparatuses in cooperation with the wearable devices. Specifically, for example, it is possible to perform scanning on the image processing apparatus, to transfer the scanned image to the wearable device, and display the scanned image on the display unit of the wearable device.
To facilitate image data transfer, a technology in which a communication apparatus that stores image data acquires the email address of the wearable device, etc., via body area network (BAN) communication, and sends email to the acquired email address with the image data attached has been proposed.

Image distribution system, image processing apparatus, and recording medium storing a control program


An apparatus that floats at the surface of a body of water over which waves pass, causing a nominally vertical axis of the apparatus to tilt away from an axis normal to the resting surface of the body of water. Tilting allows a fluid to flow through a channel that in an un-tilted apparatus would require the gravitational potential energy of the fluid to increase (i.e., to flow uphill), but, because of the tilt allows the fluid to flow through the channel in a downhill direction. Successive wave-driven tilts of the apparatus incrementally raise water to a head from which a portion of its gravitational potential energy can be converted to electrical power by causing the water to return to a lower level by flowing through a water turbine, or through some other apparatus that performs a useful function when supplied with a flow of high-pressure water.

Disclosed is an apparatus that floats at the surface of a body of water over which waves pass. Passing waves cause a nominally vertical axis of the apparatus to tilt away from an axis normal to the resting surface of the body of water. Tilting of sufficient magnitude and duration allows a fluid to flow through a channel that in an un-tilted apparatus would require the gravitational potential energy of the fluid to increase (i.e., to flow uphill), but, because of the tilt allows the fluid to flow through the channel in a downhill direction. Flowing water is trapped at a plurality of levels which in an un-tilted apparatus are higher than the respective levels from which the fluid has flowed. A subsequent tilt of the apparatus in a sufficiently different direction, and of a sufficient magnitude and duration, causes the trapped water to flow to new, yet higher levels. Successive wave-driven tilts of the apparatus incrementally raise water to a height and/or head from which a portion of its gravitational potential energy can be released, and/or converted to electrical power, by causing the water to return to a lower level by flowing through a water turbine thereby energizing an operationally connected generator, or through some other apparatus that performs a useful function when supplied with a flow of high-pressure water.


In a programmable logic device having a specialized functional block incorporating multipliers and adders, multiplication operations that do not fit neatly into the available multipliers are performed partially in the multipliers of the specialized functional block and partially in multipliers configured in programmable logic of the programmable logic device. Unused resources of the specialized functional block, including adders, may be used to add together the partial products produced inside and outside the specialized functional block. Some adders configured in programmable logic of the programmable logic device also may be used for that purpose.

This invention relates to programmable logic devices that include dedicated multipliers, and more particularly to such programmable logic devices in which the multipliers are used to perform multiplications of different sizes.
Programmable logic devices are well known. Early programmable logic devices were one-time configurable. For example, configuration may have been achieved by "blowing"—i.e., opening—fusible links. Alternatively, the configuration may have been stored in a programmable read-only memory. Those devices generally provided the user with the ability to configure the devices for "sum-of-products" (or "P-TERM") logic operations. Later, such programmable logic devices incorporating erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) for configuration became available, allowing the devices to be reconfigured.
Still later, programmable logic devices incorporating static random access memory (SRAM) elements for configuration became available. These devices, which also can be reconfigured, store their configuration in a nonvolatile memory such as an EPROM, from which the configuration is loaded into the SRAM elements when the device is powered up. These devices generally provide the user with the ability to configure the devices for look-up-table-type logic operations.
As programmable logic devices have become larger, it has become more common to add dedicated blocks to perform particular functions that have become more common in programmable logic devices. For example, at some point, such devices began to be provided with embedded blocks of random access memory that could be configured by the user to act as random access memory, read-only memory, or logic (such as P-TERM logic); such embedded blocks might even be provided in different sizes on the same device. Other types of memory, such as read-only memory (ROM) or shift registers, also have been provided. More recently, multiplier circuits have been provided on programmable logic devices. Whereas in prior programmable logic devices space was not available for dedicated multipliers, current larger devices can accommodate multipliers. This spares users from having to create multipliers by configuring the available logic. Moreover, as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,538,470, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, specialized multiplier blocks may be provided including multipliers and other arithmetic circuits such as adders and/or subtracters and/or accumulators. Such blocks are sometimes referred to as "multiplier-accumulator blocks" or "MAC blocks." Such blocks, for example, may be useful in digital signal processing, such as is performed in audio applications, and therefore such specialized multiplier blocks also are sometimes referred to as "DSP blocks."
Such specialized multiplier blocks typically are capable of operations up to a certain size. For example, a specialized multiplier block may be provided that can perform a single 36-bit-by-36-bit multiplication operation, or up to four individual 18-bit-by-18-bit multiplication operations which can be combined by the aforementioned adders. Such a specialized multiplier block can be used for performing multiplication operations of any size up to 36 bits by 36 bits. However, it may not be efficient to perform multiplication operations of a certain size. For example, if the specialized multiplier block is used to perform a 24-bit-by-24-bit multiplication operation, there will be unused resources in the block that may not be able to be used efficiently for any other kind of operation.
It would be desirable to be able to be able to provide a programmable logic device that can more flexibly utilize specialized functional blocks.

Programmable logic device with specialized functional block


An open hole food grater is provided. A hole is etched into the blade such that a cutting angle is formed with the plane of the cutting surface and the point at which the same meets the hole. This design of the open hole food grater not only increases the efficiency of food grating by allowing the use of the same in two cutting directions, it also eliminates all protrusions from the plane of the cutting surface. This substantially reduces any chance of a user being cut by coming into contact with the plan of the food cutting surface of the grater.

1. Technical Field
The present principles relate to cutters and graters. More particularly, it relates to a cutting blade for a grater and a method for using the blade to cut, peel, slice, grate, slash, graze or rip material from an object.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Graters are generally used in the housewares and foodservice market to extract fine shavings from a variety of foods (e.g., fruits and vegetables). To date, all known graters use tines of some kind that protrude from the surface of the grater and are configured to operate in one direction.
In most instances, a hole is provided in the surface of the grater, and the tine projects outward from the hole such when a food product is passed over the tines in a specific cutting direction, the food product is "grated" by the tines and the "grated" food product passes through the hole onto the desired surface positioned under the grater.
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that there are several downfalls and disadvantages to these known grater designs. For example, a user who accidentally comes into contact with the tines of the grater can easily cut themselves, as these tines protrude from hole and therefore protrude from the plane of the cutting surface. Another disadvantage is that all known graters are configured for a one way cutting operation. Thus, when the food product is passed over the cutting tines in the cutting direction, the food product is grated. However, when the food product is passed over the tines in the opposite (non-cutting) direction, no grating of food cutting is performed.


Standard mosaic geometries in modern imaging systems, such as a thermal imager, give rise to the fundamental limitation of creating undersampled images that are degraded by aliasing which is a distortion affecting spatial frequency components of the image that are higher than half the sampling frequency. A point target image can either cover one image sensing element and generate a strong single signal or cover up to four adjacent sensing elements which will produce much weaker signals and result in edges of a spread target being degraded by spurious registration. In order to minimize aliasing for a square sampling grid, improved geometries for the detector elements are used which reduce the number of dead zones associated with the current square geometries for the detector elements. One type of geometry for a detector element is a robigon having the form of a polygon obtained by substituting linear sides of a square by a triangular wave shaped edge. This new shape of detector element has the same area as the original square but when closely interfitted with its neighbors forms a mosaic in which all dead zones between the elements are broken into non-linear strips. Similar results are obtained when a sine wave, rather than a triangular wave, shaped side is used to break the normal dead zones that exist between square shaped image sensing elements.

Standard mosaic geometries in modern imaging systems, such as a thermal imager, give rise to the fundamental limitation of creating undersampled images, which are degraded by aliasing. This problem is considered to be the most important effect which limits recognition and identification ranges for these systems in various surveillance scenarios.
Aliasing is a distortion affecting spatial frequency components of the image that are higher than half of the sampling frequency. A point target image can either cover one detector element and generate a strong single signal or cover up to four detector elements which will produce much weaker signals from all four elements. Variable registration of the image's continuous signal with the sampling lattice leads to small output signal fluctuations resulting in all edges of a spread target being degraded by the spurious registration.
Two known techniques have been used to, at least partly, solve the aliasing problem. A first solution is called information prefiltering and simply consists in eliminating all frequencies that are higher than half of the sampling frequency. This is realized in imaging systems by matching the blur circle of the optics to an array of at least 2.times.2 detectors, i.e. each point of the image on the mosaic covers at least 2.times.2 detectors. This prefiltering of the information provides a good solution to undersampling problems but is, however, extremely expensive to implement since an array of at least 1024.times.1024 detector elements will be required to obtain a 512.times.512 image resolution which is about typical for T.V. An array of 1024.times.1024 detector elements is practically impossible to achieve at present with infrared focal plane arrays of high sensitivity and any array with that number of detectors elements will be extremely expensive to manufacture.
A second solution to reduce the effects of aliasing is to introduce a dithering or microscan into the system. Introducing a scan mirror in the optical path allows multiple images to be formed on the mosaic of detector elements with a small displacement between each of the images. A single plane mirror actuated by piezo-ceramic transducers may be used as a microscan mechanism such as that described in an article by R. J. Dann et al on pages 123 to 128 of SPIE, Vol. 685, Infrared Technology XII (1986). This mirror causes an image scene to be displaced by some fraction of a pixel with respect to the detector array so that interpixel sampling can occur in both horizontal and vertical directions. For instance if a 2.times.2 microscan is applied, the first field records the image at a first reference position on array. The image is then displaced by half a pixel to the right to record a second image and then a half a pixel vertically to record a third image. The image is then displaced a half a pixel to the left for recording a fourth image and then vertically to return the image to its original position. These microscan images are electronically merged together as interlaced fields to form a regular full frame image containing the 4 fields for a 2.times.2 micro scan as previously described. In a similar manner, the image could be displaced by one third of a pixel for each step to implement a 3.times.3 microscan.
A number of problems are associated with the use of microscan image such as significant sensitivity reduction caused by the use of many fields to build up an image. This severely limits the duration over which the incident radiation power may be integrated resulting in less sensitivity. The imagery produced by microscan systems is also interlaced which is less suitable for automatic recognition systems and other auto-processors used in modern surveillance systems. Furthermore, a prime objective of developing staring systems is the elimination of scanning mechanism in an IR camera to allow smaller, lighter, cheaper and more reliable imaging systems. The introduction of the microscan mirror can generally be considered as a retrograde step that moves in the opposite direction desired by system designers in that more electronics, more power, more volume and sophisticated mechanics are required to control that type of system.
A hexagonal, rather than square image elements, mesh imaging system has been extensively studied for reasons other than aliasing control. However, the hexagonal mesh cannot easily be addressed by either Cartesian coordinated or polar coordinates. It is, therefore, laborious to use hexagonal meshes with all memory buffers and most image processing algorithms since they rely on Cartesian coordinate systems. Furthermore, the size of detector elements in a hexagonal mesh is less than that for square detector element resulting in a loss of sensitivity.

Robigon and sinugon; detector geometries

Her Majesty the Queen as represented by the Minister of Defence of Her Majesty's Canadian Government


The invention provides a system and method for generating and evaluating a request in a protocol from another request formed in another protocol. Therein, the request relates to a change of membership to a group and the group relates a service to a host of the service in a communication network. In particular, the method comprises receiving said request, identifying a target group from said request, identifying an associated host to said target group and generating in another protocol another request containing a reference to said target group and said associated host. The request identifies said group and does not uniquely identify said associated host. The invention provides the ability to block a request from proceeding further if it does not belong to a recognized group.

Digital media services provide subscribers with access to downloadable video information, such as television programs, movies, audio programs and text-based information streams. Typically, subscribers selectively access such services via a connection to a communication network. In the network, the services are provided from one or more information sources. Routers in the network are coupled to both the sources and the subscribers; the routers provide linking interfaces to enable the sources to transmit their services to the intended subscribers in the network.
Generally, when services are provided to a specific list of subscribers in a network, a multicast transmission is used. Therein, one router transmits messages to multiple destinations. For multicast transmissions, a router requires group information identifying members of a group which are to receive a specified multicast transmission. In an Internet Protocol (IP) v4 network, Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) commands are sent from hosts to routers in the network to manage IP multicast transmissions. IGMP is an evolving protocol. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has published numerous specifications for IGMP, as its standards evolve, including: RFC 1112, entitled "Host Extensions for IP Multicasting"; RFC 2236, entitled "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 2"; and RFC 3376 entitled "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 3". All three specifications are incorporated herein by reference. IGMP, version 2 is designed to be interoperable with Protocol Independent Multicast—Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) multicasting. IGMP, version 3 adds the capability for Protocol Independent Multicast—Single Source Multicast (PIM-SSM) multicasting. PIM-SSM provides simplified processing in both the data plane and the control plane over PIM-SM. Unfortunately, some mapping constructs of IGMP v3 are not compatible with IGMP v2. This is problematic when a legacy host, which recognizes only IGMP version 2 protocol commands, is connected to a network which utilizes PIM-SSM.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for supporting multicast group transmissions that provides PIM-SSM compatibility with legacy protocols.

System and method for converting requests between different multicast protocols in a communication network


With hands-free communication methods for stereophonic hands-free communication to transmit room acoustics, and with multichannel hands-free communication to reproduce different speaker locations at a conference table, the acoustical couplings between loudspeakers and microphones located in the room must especially be taken into consideration, in addition to the influence of ambient noise and the control of duplex communication situations. The n.sub.2 couplings take place in n-channel transmission systems. According to the invention, for each coupling, a coupling factor (dlm) is formed from the quotient of a short-term average value of the transmitted signal (ysam) assigned to a microphone, and the short-term average value of the received signal (xsam) assigned to a loudspeaker. With the coupling factor (dlm) weighted with the short-term average value (xsam), the transmission curve of a compander (1.1, 1.2) is automatically and briefly shifted in a way, so that ambient noise and echoes are suppressed in each transmission channel, and only the speech signal is transmitted.

In a single channel transmission system, for example a hands-free communication installation for telephones, a number of problems have already been addressed, which result from the coupling between loudspeaker and microphone, from the influence of the ambient noise and control of the duplex communication situation.
Thus, for example, a circuit arrangement for dynamic control of a terminal is known, where a controllable dynamic compander adapts the amplification factor of the signal voltages produced by a microphone to the voltage value of these signal voltages, see DE 37 24 346 A1. This achieves that several persons using the hands-free communication device of a subscriber affect the subscriber on the opposite side, as if they were located at the same distance from the terminal, and as if they were speaking at the same loudness, while interference noise sources barely have any effect on the transmission and the disturbing acoustical liveliness is avoided.
Furthermore, a method for improving the transmission properties of an electrical-to-acoustical installation is known, whereby the position of the compander curve is automatically controlled, see DE 42 29 912 A1. This detects whether the transmitted signal is derived from speech or from noise, and where the control magnitude produced by means of the voice and noise recognition for the compander curve achieves that the speech being transmitted is sent at a constant level, that the received loudness level is raised with increasing ambient noise, and that the noise level is lowered for the transmission.
A further improvement of the quality of hands-free communication is achieved, if the compander is preceded by a controlled echo compensator, or is followed by a voice-controlled balance, see DE 43 05 256 A1.
Finally, a method has already been proposed, whereby the current coupling between loudspeaker and microphone is determined, to attain the desired echo attenuation required by the system, with as little influence on the quality of the duplex communication as possible.
Although many problems are known with single channel hands-free communication, and have also been partly solved, the solutions cannot be used directly with multichannel transmission systems, since multichannel transmission systems must take multiple couplings into consideration between the loudspeakers and microphones in the same room. It is noted that n.sup.2 couplings take place with n-channel transmission systems. An arrangement for a two-channel transmission system is known, wherein an echo compensator is used for each channel, see Hirano A., Sugiyama A.: A Compact Multi-Channel Echo Canceller with a Single Adaptive Filter per Channel. Proc. ISCAS 1992, San Diego, Calif., 1992, pages 1922 to 1925. Each echo compensator is designed with an adaptive digital filter. The publication describes that when four adaptive filters are used, there is no clear optimum solution for the adjustment of the filter coefficients, to compensate for the echoes derived from the four possible couplings. The indicated solution with two digital filters is based on that one digital filter is switched on as a function of the input signal from the right and the left loudspeaker, and the pulse response at the right microphone is evaluated by the right and the left loudspeaker. However, the computation of the filter coefficient is only correct if a microphone receives signals from one loudspeaker only. The evaluation of composite or differential signals described herein gives rise to the danger of erroneous measurements, and can result in system instability. Furthermore, the use of digital filters in multichannel transmission systems is very costly, since for example nine filters must be figured for a three-channel system. For example, the required working speed of a computer with a scanning rate of 24 kHz and a filter length of 1000 coefficients, according to a time window of 41 ms, is 864 million instructions per second.
In addition, a multichannel transmission system is known, wherein one digital filter is used for each loudspeaker and microphone, see FP 627 825 A2. To compute the filter coefficients in that case, a detector circuit selects the channel in which the signal with the largest output occurs. To limit the expense of this solution, a compromise is made between the number of adaptive filters and the gain in quality through echo compensation.

Hands-free communication method for a multichannel transmission system


This invention pertains to an ink set for inkjet printing, in particular to an ink set comprising at least one ink comprising colorant and nonaqueous vehicle; and                a fixing fluid comprising fixing agent and aqueous vehicle. The invention also pertains to a method of inkjet printing with this ink set.

This invention pertains to an ink set for inkjet printing, in particular to an ink set comprising at least one nonaqueous ink and at least one aqueous fixer fluid. The invention also pertains to a method of inkjet printing with this ink set.
Inkjet printing is a non-impact printing process in which droplets of ink are deposited on print media, such as paper, to form the desired image. The droplets are ejected from a printhead in response to electrical signals generated by a microprocessor.
Ink can comprise colorant that is dissolved or dispersed in the ink vehicle. The ink vehicle can be aqueous or nonaqueous and the ink is referred to as aqueous or nonaqueous ink, accordingly.
Aqueous ink is advantageous because water is especially environmentally friendly. However, water is relatively volatile and aqueous-based inks can dry out quickly on the printhead. Humectants are often added to aqueous ink to retard drying, but precipitation of formulation ingredients can occur as water is lost even if the ink is not "dry". Also, images printed with colorants that are dispersible/soluble in water tend to be prone to rub-off and smear. Nonaqueous inkjet inks can be formulated with solvents having low volatility (i.e. slow drying or non-drying) and can employ colorants that provide highly rub- and smear-resist images. When jetted on paper though, nonaqueous inks tend to penetrate deeply, similar to penetrating aqueous inks, causing loss of color density, blurring and strikethrough.
Penetrating aqueous inks are formulated with a vehicle that penetrates rapidly into the printed substrate, and in so doing becomes quickly dry to the touch and therefor appears "fast drying". However, penetrating formulations also tend to move outward as well as downward which results, as was already mentioned, in blurring and strikethrough.
One way to reduce blurring and strikethrough in fast drying aqueous inks is to apply a fixing solution to the media prior to printing the ink. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,746,818, 6,450,632, US20020044185 and EP1258510, and commonly owned U.S. application Ser. No. 10/755,630 (filed Jan. 12, 2004, claiming priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. Nos. 60/440,493 (filed Jan. 16, 2003) and 60/449,760 (filed Feb. 25, 2003)), the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes as if fully set forth.
Fixers commonly operate by creating an adverse charge-charge interaction with the colorant in the aqueous ink thereby precipitating and fixing the colorant on the substrate surface. This mechanism is effective with aqueous inks because the colorant is typically stabilized to dispersion or solution by an ionic mechanism. A fixer with opposite charge effectively destabilizes and fixes the colorant. However, these methods of fixation are not expected to be operable with nonaqueous inks because charge stabilization is not in effect in a low dielectric constant (nonaqueous) vehicle.
A need thus exists for fixer fluids that can improve the image quality of nonaqueous inks.


In a control apparatus for a motor, an over-current protection circuit detects an abnormality in a motor current forcibly turns off a MOSFET. The over-current protection circuit has a timer function and a time switching function. In the timer operation, the over-current protection circuit stops an abnormality detection signal for an ON time period before producing the signal for an OFF time period when a current flowing through the motor exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The time switching function is for controlling to lengthen the OFF time period to a relatively larger value in comparison with the ON time period.

In order to reduce noises and power consumption in an apparatus for controlling a fan motor used in an engine cooling system in an automobile, for example, a pulse width modulation (PWM) control module is used to execute continuous or proportional control on the rotating speed of the fan motor. When an excessively large current flows due to a rotation lock state of the fan motor or a short circuit, it is quite likely that a semiconductor switch device in the PWM control module is damaged by heat.
As a general solution, an over-current protection circuit capable of coping with such an excessively large current is thus provided. When the semiconductor switch device is put in a state of being turned off continuously as it is after detection of the flow of the excessively large current, however, the fan motor is also put in a stopped rotation state as it is, having an adverse effect on the function to cool the engine. In order to solve these problems, a motor control apparatus having over-current protection functions has been provided.
For instance, a circuit is provided to establish a limited current state of limiting the current flowing through the fan motor to a level, which does not generate excessive heat causing the breakdown of the semiconductor switch device, when an excessively large current flows due to a rotation lock state of the fan motor or another cause while maintaining continuous conduction of the current through the fan motor in the limited current state as is disclosed in documents such as Japanese Patent No. 3,102,355 (patent document 1).
In addition, another circuit is also adopted to intermittently continue the output of the PWM control module when an excessively large current flows. This circuit is adopted to provide a control configuration in which the current flowing through the fan motor is put in a suppressed state when an excessively large current is detected. In this current suppression state, the temperature of the inside of the PWM control module is monitored. When the temperature of the inside of the PWM control module exceeds an upper limit, the output of the PWM control module is once discontinued. As the temperature of the inside of the PWM control module later becomes lower than a level set in advance, the PWM control module is reset to an initial condition. These operations are carried out repeatedly until a normal condition is restored as disclosed in Japanese patent laid open publication No. Hei 9-284,999 (patent document 2).
The control according to the patent document 1 is effective in maintaining the operation of the fan motor and the prevention of the breakdown of the semiconductor switch device. Since the current conduction through the fan motor is continued, however, it is quite likely that a layer short circuit is generated in the fan motor eventually in dependence on the location of the cause of the excessively large current.
In the case of the control according to the patent document 2, on the other hand, an over-current protection operation is carried out by monitoring the current flowing through the fan motor and the temperature of the inside of the PWM control module at the same time. Thus, in particular, a time delay unavoidably occurs in an operation to stop the output of the PWM control module when the temperature of the inside of the PWM control module exceeds the upper limit. When such a time delay occurs, the temperature of the inside of the PWM control module most likely increases sharply due to a layer short circuit generated in the fan motor or another cause. An inability to cope with such a sharp increase in temperature will lower reliability of the operation to protect the motor control apparatus and the motor from damage.


Disclosed are antioxidative natural compounds, their salts, chelates and cleavage derivatives that exhibit a superior combination of properties. The compounds can be used for a variety of purposes, including the stabilization of polymers. The compounds can be prepared by substantially cleaving a humic acid of formula I followed by esterification to provide at least one antioxidant compounds of formula V, formula VI, formula VII, formula VIII, salts thereof, or chelates thereof.

Polymers and their composites are the essential materials used in food packaging, medical applications, children toys, teaching aids and other consumer goods. Processing of polymers to the final products by all available technologies require using several types of additives such as stabilizers, plasticizers, fillers, anti-slippage, anti-static charges and others.
The plastics industry is searching for natural additives such as stabilizers, plasticizer, antistatic charges and antioxidants to stabilize polymers used in food packaging and the other applications mentioned above to replace the currently used anti-oxidants like BHT (butylated hydroxy toluene), TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone), BHA (butylated hydroxyl anisole) and synthetic plasticizers such as DOP (dioctyl phthalate).

Humic acid derivatives and methods of preparation and use


Disclosed is a method for controlling downlink power transmitted from a base station to subscriber stations in a mobile communication system employing an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme, in which data is carried from the base station to the subscriber stations by subchannels to each of which a plurality of subcarriers are assigned. The method includes the steps of receiving from the subscriber stations channel condition information of each of the subchannels together with information related to a subcarrier having a channel condition below a threshold from among at least one subcarrier included in each of the subchannels; calculating transmission power for each of the subchannels based on the received information; and transmitting each of the subchannels with the calculated transmission power, excluding the subcarrier having a channel condition below the threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for performing a downlink power control in a mobile communication system employing an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme.
2. Description of the Related Art
The OFDM scheme, which transmits data using multiple carriers, is a special type of a Multiple Carrier Modulation (MCM) scheme in which a serial symbol sequence is converted into parallel symbol sequences and the parallel symbol sequences are modulated with a plurality of mutually orthogonal subcarriers (or subcarrier channels) before being transmitted.
The OFDM scheme, similar to an existing Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) scheme, boasts of an optimum transmission efficiency during high-speed data transmission because the OFDM scheme transmits data on subcarriers, while maintaining orthogonality among them. The optimum transmission efficiency is further attributed to efficient frequency use and robustness against multipath fading in the OFDM scheme.
More specifically, overlapping frequency spectrums lead to efficient frequency use and robustness against frequency selective fading and multipath fading. The OFDM scheme reduces the effects of the inter-symbol interference (ISI) by use of guard intervals and enables the design and use of a simple equalizer hardware structure. Furthermore, because the OFDM scheme is robust against impulse noise, it is increasingly popular in communication systems.
A structure of a conventional communication system employing an OFDM scheme will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a transmitter and a receiver of a conventional OFDM mobile communication system. The OFDM mobile communication system includes a transmitter 100 and a receiver 150.
The transmitter 100 includes an encoder 104, a symbol mapper 106, a serial-to-parallel converter 108, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) unit 110, a parallel-to-serial converter 112, a guard interval inserter 114, a digital-to-analog converter 116, and a radio frequency (RF) processor 118.
In the transmitter 100, information data bits 102 including user data bits and control data bits are input to the encoder 104. Upon receiving the signal of the information data bits, the encoder 104 encodes the signal through a predetermined coding scheme and sends the coded signal to the symbol mapper 106. During the coding, the encoder 104 may employ a convolution coding scheme or a turbo coding scheme having a predetermined coding rate. The symbol mapper 106 modulates the coded bits from the encoder 104 into modulated symbols according to a predetermined modulation scheme and sends the modulated symbols to the serial-to-parallel converter 108. The predetermined modulation scheme includes a BPSK (binary phase shift keying) scheme, a QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) scheme, a 16QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) scheme, or a 64 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) scheme.
Upon receiving the serial modulated symbols from the symbol mapper 106, the serial-to-parallel converter 108 converts the serial modulated symbols into parallel symbols and sends the parallel symbols to the IFFT unit 110. Upon receiving the signals from the serial-to-parallel converter 108, the IFFT unit 110 performs N-point IFFT on the signals and sends the signals to the parallel-to-serial converter 112.
Upon receiving the signals from the IFFT unit 110, the parallel-to-serial converter 112 converts the signals into serial signals and sends the serial signals to the guard interval inserter 114. The guard interval inserter 114, which has received the serial signals from the parallel-to-serial converter 112, inserts guard intervals into the serial signals and sends the signals to the digital-to-analog converter 118. The guard interval is inserted to remove interference between a previous OFDM symbol transmitted at a previous OFDM symbol time and a current OFDM symbol to be transmitted at a current OFDM symbol time in an OFDM communication system.
Generally, null data is inserted into the guard interval. In this case, however, when a receiver incorrectly estimates a start point of an OFDM symbol, interference occurs between the subcarriers, causing an increase in an incorrect estimation rate for the received OFDM symbol. To more accurate the start point a cyclic prefix method or a cyclic postfix method is used. In the cyclic prefix method, a predetermined number of end samples of an OFDM symbol in a time domain are copied and inserted into a valid OFDM symbol. In the cyclic postfix method, a predetermined number of beginning samples of an OFDM symbol in a time domain are copied and inserted into a valid OFDM symbol.
Upon receiving the signals from the guard interval inserter 114, the digital-to-analog converter 116 converts the signals into analog signals and sends the analog signals to the RF processor 118. The RF processor 118 includes a filter and a front end unit. The RF processor 118 transmits the signals output from the digital-to-analog converter 116 over the air through a transmission antenna after RF-processing the signals.
A structure of the receiver 150 will now be described. The structure of the receiver 150 is generally a reverse of the structure of the transmitter 100.
The receiver 150 includes an RF processor 152, an analog-to-digital converter 154, a guard interval remover 156, a serial-to-parallel converter 158, an Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) unit 160, a channel estimator 162, an equalizer 164, a parallel-to-serial converter 166, a symbol demapper 168, and a decoder 170.
In the receiver 150, the signal transmitted from the transmitter 100, together with the noise that is added to the signal while the signal passes through a multipath channel, is received via a reception antenna. The signal received through the reception antenna is input into the RF processor 152. The RF processor 152 down-converts the signal received through the reception signal into a signal having an intermediate frequency band and sends the down-converted signal to the analog-to-digital converter 154. The analog-to-digital converter 154 converts the analog signal from the RF processor 152 into a digital signal and sends the digital to the guard interval remover 156.
Upon receiving the digital signal from the analog-to-digital converter 154, the guard interval remover 156 removes the guard interval from the digital signal and sends the serial signal to the serial-to-parallel converter 158. The serial-to-parallel converter 158 converts the serial signal into parallel signals and sends the parallel signals to the FFT unit 160. The FFT unit 160 performs an N-point FFT on the parallel signals and sends the FFT-processed signals to the equalizer 164 and the channel estimator 162. The equalizer 164 receives the signals from the FFT unit 160, performs channel equalization on the signals by means of channel information estimated by the channel estimator 162, and then sends the channel-equalized signals to the parallel-to-serial converter 166. The parallel-to-serial converter 166 converts the parallel signals received from the equalizer 164 into a serial signal and sends the serial signal to the symbol demapper 168.
In the meantime, the signal output from the FFT unit 160 is also input into the channel estimator 162. Then, the channel estimator 162 detects pilot symbols or preamble symbols from the signal input from the FFT unit 160, performs channel estimation by means of the pilot symbols or the preamble symbols, and then sends the channel estimation result to the equalizer 164. In addition, the receiver 150 generates a channel quality indicator (CQI) corresponding to the channel estimation result of the channel estimator 162 and sends the generated CQI to the transmitter 100 through a CQI transmitter (not shown).
The symbol demapper 168 demodulates the signal output from the parallel-to-serial converter 166 through a predetermined demodulation scheme and sends the demodulated signal to the decoder 170. Upon receiving the demodulated signal from the symbol demapper 168, the decoder 170 decodes the demodulated signal through a predetermined decoding scheme, and then, outputs information data bits 172. The demodulation and decoding schemes employed in the receiver 150 correspond to the modulation and coding schemes employed in the transmitter 100.
A mobile communication system employing the OFDM scheme requires the feedback of the CQI information from a receiver for downlink power control. For the downlink power control, a transmitter (i.e., a base station) may transmit data known to both parties to a receiver (i.e., a subscriber station), thereby facilitating the channel estimation. That is, for the channel estimation process, a signal known to both the transmitter and the receiver (for example, preamble signal or pilot signal) is transmitted.
The signal for the channel estimation may be either a preamble signal including all of the subcarriers in one symbol period or a pilot signal including at least one subcarrier in one symbol period for relatively high power transmission.
The CQI information feedback process for power control by using a pilot signal in a typical OFDM communication system will be described.
FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating positions at which pilot signals are transmitted in a frequency domain of a typical OFDM communication system. Referring to FIG. 2, in the OFDM communication system, one OFDM symbol includes a plurality of subcarriers, each of which carries a pilot signal 201 or a data signal 203. In contrast, in the case of the preamble signal described above, all subcarriers included in one OFDM symbol carry pilot symbols, respectively. The following description will be based on an assumption that the CQI information is acquired from pilot signals carried by some of the subcarriers in each symbol. However, the fedback CQI information can be obtained in the same manner from the preamble signal using all of the subcarriers.
Here, it is natural that the number of the subcarriers constituting each OFDM symbol may be optionally determined according to conditions of the system.
As shown in FIG. 2, the pilot signals are carried by subcarriers at predetermined positions from among the subcarriers of the OFDM symbol. For example, in the FIG. 2, the subcarriers colored in black carry the pilot signals and the subcarriers colored in white carry the data signals. The subcarriers for carrying the pilots signals will be referred to as 'pilot subcarriers' and the subcarriers for carrying the data signals will be referred to as 'data subcarriers'.
A conventional OFDM communication system is a fixed wireless communication system in which subscriber stations or receivers are fixed at particular positions. In the fixed OFDM wireless communication system, the subscriber stations determines the CQI for each of all subcarriers received from the base station or the transmitter and feedbacks the CQI to the base station. Here, the CQI may be a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) or a Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR). The following description will be given on an assumption that the CQI is the SINR.
As shown in FIG. 2, the pilot signals are carried only by the pilot subcarriers at predetermined positions in a typical OFDM symbol. Therefore, the receivers must know in advance both the predetermined positions of the pilot subcarriers transmitted from the transmitter and the pilot signals carried by the pilot subcarriers. Here, the pilot signals have a predetermined sequence, and the pilot sequence is defined as a sequence for the pilot signals in a protocol agreed to between the transmitter and the receiver.
The receiver calculates channel gains in corresponding subcarriers from the received signals carried by the pilot subcarriers and interpolates the channel gain in each of the pilot subcarriers, thereby obtaining estimation values for the channel gains of the data subcarriers other than the pilot subcarriers. Further, the receiver obtains SINRs of the pilot subcarriers by dividing the estimation values for the channel gains of the data subcarriers by the noise energy. The SINRs of all of the subcarriers obtained in the way as described above, that is, CQIs are feedback to the base station. Then, the base station controls the transmission power for the corresponding subcarriers by using the CQIs feedback from the subscriber station.
The above description is based on a presumption that the subcarriers once assigned to the subscriber stations remain unchanged by channel conditions, because a typical OFDM system is a fixed wireless communication system. Meanwhile, the currently developing 4G mobile communication system is now evolving into a cellular system employing an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme instead of the OFDM/TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) scheme. In an OFDMA system, a particular set of subcarriers or subchannels assigned to the subscriber stations may use different subchannels in a next transmission time interval, in order to equalize the interference between the adjacent cells for the operation in a multi-cell cellular system.
Further, the presumption that the subcarriers remain unchanged due to the channel conditions is an incorrect model for a wireless communication system reflecting the mobility of the subscriber stations. That is, it is reasonable that the subcarriers assigned to mobile subscriber stations have continuously changing channel conditions and are subjected to continuously changing interference by an adjacent cell. Therefore, the mobile subscriber stations can normally use the existing power control method only when the changing CQI is feedback for each of the subcarriers whenever it changes. However, the frequent feedback of the CQI for all of the subcarriers may cause signaling overhead and the signaling required to feedback the CQI for the subcarrers may serve as uplink interference.
In order reduce such overhead, a method of feedbacking only an average SINR for each subchannel was proposed. However, the of feedback of only the average SINR cannot actively proceed against frequency selective fading due to a multi-path fading channel and sometimes cannot avoid passively using a low channel coding rate to reduce data error generation. The use of a low channel coding rate inevitably decreases the transmission speed. Therefore, there is a need for a method for efficiently controlling the transmission power in a mobile communication system employing the OFDMA scheme.
Hereinafter, a process of controlling the downlink power by feedbacking a CQI for each of the subcarriers will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 illustrates a process of downlink power control in a conventional mobile communication system.
Referring to FIG. 3, a base station (BS) transmits to a subscriber station (SS) training signals known to both the base station and the subscriber station as described above, for example, preamble signals or pilot signals (step 301). The subscriber station having received the pilot signals measures the SINRs from the pilot signals (step 303). The subscriber station performs the measurement of the SINRs only for the subcarriers carrying the pilot signals instead of performing the measurement for all of the subcarriers. Further, the subscriber station estimates the SINRs for the data subcarriers not carrying the pilot signals by interpolating the measured SINRs for the pilot subcarriers.
The SINRs measured by the subscriber station, which is the CQI information, are feedback to the base station (step 305), and the transmission power for each of the subcarriers is revised based on the feedback CQI information for each of the subcarriers (step 307). As a result, the base station can transmit the data signals at the revised transmission power to the subscriber station (step 309).
In the OFDMA system, data is carried by each of the subcarriers assigned to subscriber stations, which is comprised of multiple subcarriers. Therefore, the power control as described above requires feedback of the channel quality information or the CQI information for each of the subscriber stations.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are graphs showing SINRs of subcarriers in corresponding subchannels of different subscriber stations in the same time period.
FIG. 4A is a graph showing the SINRs of six subcarriers included in a subchannel A assigned to subscriber station A and FIG. 4B is a graph showing the SINRs of six subcarriers included in a subchannel B assigned to subscriber station B.
FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate that the subcarriers of the subchannels A and B have SINRs all of which are different from each other. Therefore, a considerably large quantity of CQI information is necessary to conduct the power control for each of the subcarrriers assigned to each of the subscriber stations. It is usual that feedback of an average SINR of the subcarriers in each subchannel is used for the power control. For example, in the case shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, an average SINR for the six subcarriers is feedback as CQI information of the corresponding subchannel in order to conduct the power control.
As noted from FIGS. 4A and 4B, the third subcarrier in the subscriber station A (i.e. subchannel A) and the fourth and fifth subcarriers in the subscriber station B (i.e. subchannel B) have SINRs much lower than the SINRs of the other subcarriers. The use of the average value between the subchannels may be very inefficient and incorrect.
Further, if the power control is based on the third subcarrier in the subchannel A having a relatively much lower SINR, that is, if all of the subcarriers in the same subchannel A are transmitted with the same power as that for the third subcarrier in the subchannel A, it may be impossible to normally decode a signal transmitted to a subcarrier in a bad channel condition.

Apparatus and method for selective power control for an OFDM mobile communication system


A device of dynamic communication of information allows, on the average, non-integer bits per symbol transmission, using a compact code set or a partial response decoding receiver. A stream of selectable predetermined integer bits, e.g., k or k+1 data bits, is grouped into a selectable integer number of bit vectors which then are mapped onto corresponding signal constellations forming transmission symbols. Two or more symbols can be grouped and further encoded, so that a symbol is spread across the two or more symbols being communicated. Sequence estimation using, for example, maximum likelihood techniques, as informed by noise estimates relative to the received signal. Each branch metric in computing the path metric of a considered sequence at the receiver is weighted by the inverse of the noise power. It is desirable that the constellation selection, sequence estimation and noise estimation be performed continuously and dynamically.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for communicating information using fractional bits-per-symbol signaling rates responsive to communication channel conditions.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
There exist applications for which it is desirable to transmit transmission symbols that each is composed of a number of information bits which may not represent an integer. The signal constellations associated with such transmissions symbols, then, corresponds to non-power-of-two constellation sizes and/or non-integer constellation sizes.
What is needed is a device that affords fractional bits per symbol digital communication approaching a maximum allowable bit rate yet does so in an efficient manner permitting use of compact code sets, or use of a partial response receiver. Before proceeding with a description of exemplary embodiments, it should be noted that the various digital signaling concepts described herein—with the exception, of course, of the inventive concept itself—are all well known in, for example, the digital radio and voiceband data transmission (modem) arts and thus need not be described in detail herein. These include such concepts as multidimensional signaling using 2N-dimensional channel symbol constellations, where N is some integer; trellis coding; fractional coding; scrambling; passband shaping; equalization; partial response; Viterbi, or maximum-likelihood, decoding; Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM); Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), etc.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Constellation-multiplexed transmitter and receiver


A stud for improving the traction of a tread element is provided. The stud includes a body portion including a head and an elongated shank portion extending from the head. A mound of particles of a hard and durable material is bound together on and to the head of the stud such that the mound of particles has a multifaceted surface including multiple points which can engage the terrain.

Vehicles which are designed to be driven over adverse terrain such as snow, ice, mud, or uneven terrain must utilize tires or an endless track which provides excellent traction. Examples of such vehicles include snowmobiles, excavating equipment, some snow removal equipment, and other similar all terrain vehicles. In order to further improve the traction all terrain vehicles it is known to incorporate traction devices into the surface of the vehicle's tires or tracks. These traction devices typically include some sort of penetrating device which penetrates the surface over which the vehicle is traveling in order to improve the traction of the vehicle. The penetrating surface of these traction devices is generally configured as a single point in order to ensure deep penetration into the surface of the terrain. For example, conventional studs which are used on the tires and/or tracks of all terrain vehicles utilize a hardened material having a single pointed wedge or cone configuration. The hardened pointed wedge or cone is typically contained in a bore in a metal body.
However, these conventional studs are not very durable and have poor resistance to wear. In particular, the single point of the conventional stud frequently will break off during use, significantly decreasing the effectiveness of the stud. Moreover, if the single point of the stud does not break off its pointed cone or wedge shape will wear into a rounded configuration as a result of use. Once the stud loses its sharp point it is not nearly as effective at improving the traction of the vehicle. As a result, conventional studs which are used on tracks require frequent changing in order to ensure that the stud has a sharp surface which will effectively penetrate the terrain. However, as those skilled in the art will appreciate, changing a set of studs on the tire and/or tracks of an all terrain vehicle is a difficult and time consuming task.

Stud having a multifaceted surface for use on a tread element


This invention relates to the miniaturization of radiosyntheses onto microfabricated devices, and in particular to use of microfabricated devices for radiosynthesis, isolation, and analysis of radiotracers for use in Positron Emission Tomography (PET).

The short half lives of the radioisotopes used for PET radiochemistry require that radiosyntheses are currently carried out rapidly and efficiently. Radiosyntheses and isolation of radiolabelled products are carried out using automated systems which are contained in large lead shielded "hot cells" to prevent radiation exposure to the operator. Such systems typically handle liquid volumes in the range 0.2 to 0.5 milliliters, though the number of radioactive atoms or molecules present is extremely small, typically 6.23×1011 atoms or molecules. The current approach to automation of radiosyntheses is limited in flexibility and capacity and is also space consuming. There is also a need for automated radiosynthesis systems which are smaller, simpler, more flexible, multi-tasking, and with greater throughput capacity.
The radiosynthesis of radiotracers for PET involves several steps ranging from radioisotope production, incorporation of radioisotopes into suitable radiolabelling agents, radiolabelling of precursors, purification of radiolabelled products, and quality control analysis. Despite these many steps, the short half-lives of the radioisotopes used, require that the radiosynthesis is carried out rapidly and efficiently.
We now propose that performing radiochemistry on microfabricated devices will allow miniaturisation of automated radiosynthesis systems, or components thereof and hence may solve some of these problems. A major advantage of the proposed technology is that it will provide a generic system for performing radiochemistry with any isotope, for example, carbon-11 or fluorine-18. This approach may also allow simplification of automated synthesis systems, increased radiochemical yield and specific radioactivity of products because of shorter and more efficient reactions and more rapid isolation and analysis, and higher throughput because of the use of mass-produced disposable components.
Microreactors used for biochemical reactions have generally concentrated on developing continuous flow polymerase chain reactions (PCR) on a chip coupled with DNA sequencing using capilliary electrophoresis (CE), and microchip devices for performing enzyme assays. Until relatively recently, microfabrication research has concentrated on developing analytical microstructures rather than chemical synthesis microstructures. Reviews of methods for construction of microfabricated devices and their application inter alia in synthetic chemistry, may be found in DeWitt, (1999) "Microreactors for Chemical Synthesis", Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 3:350-6; Haswell, Middleton et al (2001) "The Application of Microreactors to Synthetic Chemistry", Chemical Communications: 391-8; Haswell and Skelton (2000) "Chemical and Biochemical Microreactors", Trends in Analytical Chemistry 19(6), 389-395; and Jensen (2001) "Microreaction Engineering—Is Small Better?" Chemical Engineering Science, 56:293-303.


Method for handling microparticles in such a manner, that at least two treatment steps are performed for microparticles in the same vessel without moving the particles to another vessel. There are organs in the device for changing the solution without having to move the microparticles to another vessel.

Magnetic transfer method refers to all action related to the movement of particles by means of magnetism, such as assorting, collecting, transferring, mixing and dosing within a solution or from one solution to another.
Particles, microparticles or magnetic particles refer to all such small particles that have their diameter in the range of micrometers, and that can be moved by means of magnetism. There are various known particles that are transferable with a magnet and applications, where they are used, also greatly vary. For example, particles used in microbiology usually have a size of 0.01-100 μm, most commonly 0.05-10 μm. Such known particles are, for example, particles containing ferromagnetic, paramagnetic or supramagnetic material. Particles can also be magnetic themselves, whereby they can be moved by means of any ferromagnetic object.
In a device intended to treat microparticles, there is a unit exploiting magnetism, that is hereinafter referred to as a magnet. It can be a permanent magnet or an electrical magnet, that attracts ferromagnetic particles, or a ferromagnetic object, that is not magnetic itself, but still attracts magnetic particles.
A magnet is usually preferably a rounded bar magnet. It can also be a bar of another shape. However, a magnet does not need to be a bar at all. It can also be short and broad or an object of any shape. A magnet can also consist of one or more objects, such as magnets or ferromagnetic objects.
There has to be a shield covering the magnet, protecting the magnet from various harmful conditions and enabling the treatment of microparticles, such as binding and release. The structure of the shield may greatly vary, for it can be, for example, a thin membrane made of flexible or stretching material or even a cup made of rigid plastic.
Microparticles are usually used as the solid phase to bind various biomolecules, cell organelles, bacteria or cells. For example, enzymes can be immobilised on the surface of microparticles, whereby the treatment and further use of the enzymes is efficient. Most of the so called magnetic nanoparticles (<50 nm) are not suitable to be treated with regular permanent magnets or electrical magnets, but require the use of an particularly strong magnetic gradient, as described in EP 0842704 (Miltenyi Biotec). Magnetic particles, such as microparticles, that have a diameter of about 0.1 pm or more, can usually be treated with regular permanent or electrical magnets. The viscosity of the solution can also considerably hamper the picking of the particles. The particles to be picked can be originally suspended in the solution, where a substance is desired to be bound, or, say, cells on the surface of the microparticles.

Method and a device for treating microparticles


Disclosed herein are codon-optimized nucleic acids encoding a reduced-size ATP7A protein. Also disclosed are vectors and recombinant viruses (such as recombinant adeno-associated viruses) including the codon-optimized nucleic acids encoding the reduced-size ATP7A protein and compositions including the disclosed vectors and viruses. Further disclosed herein are methods of treating copper transport disorders, for example by administering a disclosed nucleic acid, vector, or recombinant virus to a subject with a copper transport disorder, such as Menkes disease, occipital horn syndrome, or ATP7A-related distal motor neuropathy.

Copper plays a critical role in metabolism as a cofactor of key metabolic enzymes (such as dopamine β hydroxylase, lysyl oxidase, Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase, and cytochrome c oxidase). Human P-type ATPase copper-transporting ATPase 1 (ATP7A) transports copper from enterocytes (where it is taken up from dietary copper) into the blood. ATP7A also mediates passage of copper across the blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier and the blood-brain barrier. In Menkes disease and occipital horn syndrome (OHS), ATP7A activity is reduced or absent and copper export from the enterocytes is impaired (Kaler, Nat. Rev. Neurol. 7:15-29, 2011). As a result, copper accumulates in intestinal cells and less copper is delivered to the blood, resulting in restricted copper supply to other tissues, particularly the brain. A hereditary distal motor neuropathy associated with ATP7A mutations (ATP7A-related distal motor neuropathy; also known as spinal muscular atrophy, distal, X-linked 3 (SMAX3)) has also been recently identified (Kennerson et al., J. Hum. Genet. 86:343-352, 2009). This adult-onset disorder is not associated with decreased serum copper levels, unlike Menkes disease and OHS.

Codon-optimized reduced-size ATP7A cDNA and uses for treatment of copper transport disorders

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


A shredding assembly includes a shredder having a plurality of interspersed, rotational, shredding blades. A shredder block supports the shredder and shredding blades, and further includes a first set of a plurality of vertical counter plates which are intercalated between the blades. Each counter plate has a top surface, and the top surfaces of the counter plates forms a platform. The platform serves to support pieces of a food product during shredding, and helps in the shredding process by providing a pinching action to the pieces of the product when the blades engage the pieces of the product on the platform.

1. Field of Disclosure
This invention relates generally to dicing or shredding food products and, more particularly, to blades for dicing or shredding meat products.
2. Background
Shortcomings in various existing equipment utilized for shredding food products, particularly meat products have been found and there are no commercially available equipment designs available for resolving the problems. When reviewing of the mechanical action of the machine, particularly the engagement of the cutting or shredding blades or knives with the meat product, the shortcomings are revealed. The engagement or cutting action of the commercially available tooling for the machine does not result in a product that appears to have been made by hand. It is desired in the industry for pizza toppings, pulled whole muscle meat products and other meat products. There doesn't appear to be an alternative tooling available in commerce that could be used to produce an item that met the customer design criteria, provide the desired pulling action and consistently produce product.
For some shredding system configurations, one shortcoming is the lack of an adequate block surrounding the shredding blades which sufficiently supports the pieces of food product approaching the shredding apparatus, so as to allow for the efficient engagement of the blades with the pieces of the product. The pieces of the product, for example, may be merely pulled around by the shredding blades rather than shredded, due to a lack of resistance therefrom. Accordingly, there needs to be an advancement to provide an efficient way for the blade to engage the pieces of the product.


A toothbrush device having a body defining a cavity and an input port disposed on the body in fluid communication with the cavity. The input port permits brushing by-products to pass through the input port and into the cavity while restricting passage of the brushing by-products outward from the cavity. In one form, the toothbrush device includes an elongated handle with a reservoir having at least a portion disposed within the handle. The reservoir is sized to hold a predetermined amount of oral care product, and a mouthpiece is in fluid communication with the reservoir to discharge the oral care product from the reservoir.

Toothbrushes are traditionally used by applying toothpaste to bristles of the toothbrush and brushing the toothpaste-covered bristles against one or more teeth to remove food, plaque, and bacteria therefrom. A user may occasionally spit brushing by-products into a sink during and after the brushing process. When a user is at home, a bathroom sink provides ready access to running water and a drain for disposing of the by-products. Brushing outside of the home, however, may require the user to spit the by-products onto the ground or into a waste bin for disposal.
Mouthwash may also be used for dental hygiene purposes. Like toothpaste, mouthwash may be utilized and spit into a sink for disposal. Mouthwash also presents similar disposal issues outside of the home. Spitting used mouthwash onto the ground or into a waste bin may be undesirable and awkward. Further, carrying a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, and a bottle of mouthwash is often impractical. These shortcomings may discourage proper dental hygiene and preclude usage on-the-go, such as after a business luncheon.