A transmitting circuit is connected to a power line at current flow-in sides to solar battery strings, and a receiving circuit is connected to the power line at current flow-out sides to the solar battery strings. An attenuating circuit connected in series to a bypass diode is provided in a bypass circuit. The transmitting circuit transmits a periodic signal of a predetermined frequency to the power line. The receiving circuit receives via the solar battery strings a transmission signal transmitted from the transmitting circuit to the power line. A determining circuit determines that, when it is detected that an amplitude of a transmission signal received by the receiving circuit is attenuated by a predetermined value or more, direct-current power is conducted to the bypass circuit.

A solar power generation device using solar cells has a parallel connection of solar battery strings, each of which is constructed by a series connection of solar battery modules having these solar cells mounted thereon in order to obtain desired power. When a solar cell mounted on a solar battery module has a failure or when electromotive force of a solar cell becomes a predetermined value or lower because sunlight is blocked, to prevent current conduction of other solar cells connected in series to this solar cell, a bypass circuit is connected in parallel for each connection unit having one or more solar cells electrically connected in series or in parallel.
A bypass diode is provided in the bypass circuit, and when a solar cell normally generates power, electromotive force of the solar cell is applied to the bypass diode as an inverse bias voltage. Accordingly, power can be taken out from the solar cell without via a bypass circuit, disabling a bypass operation of the bypass circuit and keeping the bypass diode in a blocked state.
When an abnormality such as a disconnection and a reduction of electromotive force occurs in a part of solar cells within a solar battery string and then this solar cell cannot normally generate power, a current from a normal solar cell within the solar battery string passes via the bypass diode which is in parallel with this abnormal solar cell. By bypassing this abnormal solar cell, a situation that all solar cells within the solar cell string become unusable due to the abnormality of one solar cell is prevented.
When a failure occurs in a solar cell, an original generation amount of the solar power generation device can be secured by replacing a solar battery module having the defective solar cell mounted thereon. As a method of detecting such a failure of a solar cell, a method of detecting a current conduction operation to a bypass circuit has been known.
As a method of detecting a failure of a solar cell, there is a method of comparing between output voltages of solar battery strings connected in parallel, and determining that there is an abnormality in a certain solar cell module within a solar cell string having a low output voltage (Patent Document 1).
There is a method of easily detecting a failure of a solar cell panel or an electromotive-force shortage, by providing a light emitter such as a light-emitting diode in the middle of a bypass circuit, and causing the light emitter to emit light when a current flows through the bypass circuit (Patent Document 2).
There is a method of remote-monitoring a relay operation via a communication line, by providing a current detection relay in the middle of a bypass circuit (Patent Document 3).
There is a method of providing a specific-frequency transmitting circuit in each solar battery module, and causing this circuit to superimpose a signal of a specific frequency on a power line connecting solar battery modules depending on whether a solar battery module is normally generating power (Patent Document 4). In this method, during a normal time when a voltage of a solar battery module is at or above a certain voltage, transmission of a signal of a specific frequency superimposed on a power line is enabled by causing the solar battery module to supply power to the specific-frequency transmitting circuit. When a voltage of a solar battery module becomes lower than a certain voltage due to a failure or the like, power supply to the specific-frequency transmitting circuit is stopped, thereby preventing the signal of the specific frequency to be transmitted from being superimposed on a power line. A signal separating unit takes out the signal of the specific frequency, thereby making it possible to determine presence of a failure of a solar battery module or presence of an electromotive-force shortage.
In this method, a solar battery module having a failure or electromotive-force shortage can be identified by changing for each solar battery module a transmission frequency of the specific-frequency transmitting circuit. The specific-frequency transmitting circuit can suppress the power consumption required for a transmission by performing the transmission on a periodic basis, e.g., at an interval of 30 minutes, at an interval of an hour, or at an interval of a day, instead of always transmitting the signal while solar battery modules are operating.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H08-185235
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H08-97456
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H09-102622
Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-269531


An interface to facilitate storing in an electric utility meter transponder, water usage data so that when remotely interrogated, access can be had to both electric and water usage data. A pulse indicative of water usage sets a magnetic latching relay in the interface circuit which causes a transponder supply voltage to be switched to two interface circuit timers. The first timer generates a first delay, after which the electric meter transponder is pulsed to register water usage. After a second, longer delay, the second timer resets the magnetic latching relay to thereby place the interface circuit in condition for receiving another water usage signal.

The past practice of employing personnel to travel a route to visually read utility meters has in some instances been discontinued, in favor of techniques which allow for remotely reading the usage data of different types of utility services. For example, one common practice for obtaining the water usage of a residential or business is to employ a special water meter device which stores the number of gallons used, and to connect such device to a telephone line. In this manner, the telephone line can be utilized by the water utility to remotely access the storage device to determine the amount of water used.
Another example of the capability of remotely accessing utility meters involves relatively new electrical utility usage meters. Here, the extent of the use of the electricity, generally in kilowatt hours, is stored in a memory, or similar read/write device. Each such electrical meter has a unique identity so that when interrogated from a remote location, the usage data of a particular meter can be obtained. Further, the telemetry of signals between the electric meter and a remote accounting office is carried out by way of modulation of the AC power line. This technique as the advantage that no additional telephone line is required and thus the transmission medium incurs no additional cost, and the telemetry of utility usage signals does not hamper or interfere with the general distribution of AC power. Moreover, since the utility usage signals are superimposed on the AC line voltage, the utility meters can be remotely accessed at every location where there is a distribution of AC power.
Because the electric and water utilities are generally independent entities, the development of the two different types of remote meter reading techniques has developed. As a result, it is believed that without the availability of the present invention, electric utilities would remotely access the electric meters via the AC power lines to obtain readings, while the water utilities would remotely access the water meters utilizing the telephone system.
It can be appreciated that in employing either of the above-mentioned techniques, an important consideration is the reliability of the systems to properly register the correct usage of the utility. This problem can be significant in the utility field, where unless otherwise accounted for, erroneous usage indications could be registered in the meter. If an erroneous excessive accumulation is registered during a power outage or lightning strike to the lines, or other intermittent interruptions occur, then the customer is overcharged. On the other hand, if the registration of usage data in the storage memory is insufficient, the utility company is deprived of revenue.
It can be seen from the foregoing that a need exists for an improved technique for providing a central meter storage area such that the usage data of each type of utility of a residence or business can be stored in a single storage medium and made available for remote accessing. A more particular need exists for an interface adapted for use with an electric utility meter which enables the input thereto of usage data of other types of utilities. A further need exists for a technique for accessing and remotely reading electrical, water and/or other usage data from a single data base, and transmitting such information over the AC power line.


The technical solutions described herein address technical challenges in case of redundant communication channels between microcontrollers (MCU)s, which communicate the same information and use rolling counter(s). For example, the technical solutions include a method to evaluate a sequence of communication messages between the MCUs in a redundant communication network and react responsively.

A vehicle can include one or more electronic control units (ECUs) that communicate with each other. The communication can include transfer of data, commands, and the like between one or more ECUs associated with an electric power steering (EPS) system in the vehicle and other ECUs in the vehicle.
Increasing reliance on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) has resulted in one or more controllers of various subsystems in a vehicle to communicate with each other even more, and making such communication more critical for operation of the vehicle. For example, the communication facilitates the subsystems to share information, in turn facilitating a subsystem to react to actions being taken by other subsystems automatically.
In addition, increasing vehicle safety requirements are driving system redundancy to achieve higher safety levels. Redundancy is achieved by proliferation of the control system of the vehicle, to the extent of having redundant ECUs. This in turn demands a robust and failsafe communication method between the two ECUs. A poor communication link between ECUs has an adverse effect on the overall system performance, leading to a safety hazard.
Operator and passenger safety is of prime importance in case of vehicles. To increase safety levels, vehicles are equipped with redundant systems. For example, redundancy is achieved by proliferation of a control system, and in some cases to the extent of having redundant microcontrollers. A system with redundant microcontrollers introduces multiple complexities in various operations, including communication strategy between the redundant microcontrollers.
Accordingly, it is desirable to facilitate redundant microcontrollers to communicate without causing any errors.

Message sequence evaluation for redundant communication system

Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation


A hybrid drive system for a motor vehicle, having an engine operated by combustion of a fuel, an electric energy storage device for storing an electric energy, a motor/generator connected to the electric energy storage device, and a synthesizing/distributing mechanism which includes a first rotary element, a second rotary element connected to the motor/generator, and a third rotary element, and an output member connected to the third rotary element, wherein a first clutch is provided for connecting the first rotary element and the engine, and a second clutch is provided for connecting two elements of the first, second and third rotary elements of the synthesizing/distributing mechanism, for rotation of the two elements as a unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a hybrid drive system for driving a motor vehicle, which has an engine and a motor/generator as drive power sources, and more particularly to a hybrid drive system controlled to be operated in a suitable operation mode depending upon a specific running condition of the vehicle.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As a drive system for driving a motor vehicle with reduced exhaust emissions, for example, there has been proposed a hybrid drive system for a motor vehicle, which includes (a) an engine operated by combustion of a fuel, (b) an electric energy storage device for storing an electric energy, (c) a motor/generator connected to the electric energy storage device, (d) a synthesizing/distributing mechanism which includes a first rotary element connected to the engine, a second rotary element connected to the motor/generator and a third rotary element connected to an output member and which is adapted to mechanically synthesize and distribute a force among the first, second and third rotary elements, and (e) a clutch which connects two elements of the first, second and third rotary elements, for rotation of the two elements as a unit. An example of such a hybrid drive system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,651, wherein a planetary gear device is employed as a synthesizing/distributing mechanism.
In such a known hybrid drive system, the engine and the motor/generator are both integrally connected to rotary elements of the planetary gear device, so that the engine and the motor/generator are always rotated while the vehicle is running. When the vehicle is run with only the motor/generator being used as a drive power source, or with the electric energy storage device being charged by regenerative braking, the energy efficiency of the hybrid drive system is relatively low due to a drag resistance of the engine. Thus, the vehicle cannot necessarily be run in a suitable mode or fashion.

Hybrid vehicle drive system having clutch between engine and synthesizing/distributing mechanism which is operatively connected to motor/generator


Portable structures convert into furniture articles, such as chairs, backrests, and tables, when substantially filled with sand and revert to collapsed portable structures for easy transport after a substantial amount of sand has been removed. The portable structures include a cover, made from a flexible and deformable material, and a frame that includes one or more flexible frame members disposed on or incorporated within the cover. The flexible frame members have spring-like characteristics such that a portable structure, without substantial sand therein, can be collapsed for storage and/or transport, and when ready for use, automatically converted to an “uncollapsed pop-up” state adapted to receive sand filling to form the furniture article.

The field of the invention relates to convertible and collapsible portable structures that convert to articles of furniture, such as chairs, tables, and back rests, when filled or substantially filled with sand, and collapse to a portable structure after substantial removal of the sand.
A favorite pastime enjoyed by millions across the world is spending time at the beach to bask in the sun, swim and enjoy the view. For some, a day spent beside the water can also help ease the stresses of daily life and leave one tanned, relaxed, and well-rested.
Most who plan on spending a day beachside pack at least snacks, a cooler full of icy beverages and sunscreen lotion. Families with children, particularly small children, also typically pack an arsenal of toys, including buckets and shovels to keep tots occupied. And most beachgoers find it necessary to bring a large blanket, large towels, and one or two beach chairs before heading off to the beach. The blankets, towels, and chairs are particularly useful in that they provide sun-worshipers with an area to sit, feel the sun's rays, and enjoy a view of the water.
Hauling all the items necessary for the day at the beach, for example, from the car to a particular spot on the sand, can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. Trekking across hot sand and making several trips to the car in order to transport heavy coolers, blankets, clothes, towels, toys, and beach chairs, all while trying to keep an eye on small children and unattended goods, can leave some feeling exhausted before the day's activities even begin. Then, after spending long hours soaking up the sun, riding the waves, playing, and swimming, packing up all of the same items and dragging them back to the car is the last thing most beachgoers want to do.
Unfortunately, beach toys and chairs just add to the already heavy load of coolers, blankets, towels, bottles of sunscreen, clothes, etc., which families have to take to enjoy a day at the beach. As such, there is a clear need for items that can alleviate the heavy loads of beach goers and particularly families who want to keep children entertained during a day at the beach. The present invention fulfills this need and provides further related advantages, as described below.

Collapsible portable structures that convert to articles of furniture when filled with sand


A method for interactively detecting a maximum velocity from acquired echo signals in an ultrasound system is provided. A processor with maximum velocity code is provided. The code has a variable. A user input provides a value for the variable while the ultrasound system is in a maximum velocity mode. The ultrasound system is operated in a maximum velocity mode. The echo signals are processed to determine said maximum velocity, and the processing is adjusted while remaining in said maximum velocity mode. During CINE playback, delimeters are generated for adjusting the time period of parameter calculation.

Ultrasound imaging systems detect and display Doppler shifts of returning echoes. The Doppler shifts represent blood flow patterns. Spectral Doppler is one known ultrasound technique to display blood flow patterns associated with a point in a body.
In spectral Doppler, an ongoing series of Doppler spectra are displayed. Each spectrum represents a point in time and a range of frequencies of the spectrum. The frequencies are proportional to blood flow velocities. The signal strength of each frequency is displayed on the spectrum as a brightness. Generally, certain frequencies in the spectrum are due to noise and not blood flow. These noise related frequencies typically have a small amplitude.
Such an ongoing series of Doppler spectra can be used to measure blood flow characteristics. Many of these characteristics depend on the maximum blood flow velocity throughout the heart cycle. Conventionally, the operator hand-traces maximum velocity on a frozen Doppler strip, or spectral display. For each spectrum, the operator manually determines the highest velocity not caused by noise. Various parameters are then calculated from the maximum velocity curve, such as pulsivity index.
Some ultrasound systems automate the maximum velocity curve determination. Typically, an algorithm is applied to each spectrum to obtain the highest frequency signal not related to noise. Different algorithms have been developed for detecting maximum flow in the presence of noise. For example, Hatle et al., "Doppler Ultrasound in Cardiology," 2.sup.nd Edition, demonstrates the use of a multiple moving windows to determine a maximum frequency for each spectrum.
D'Alessio, "Objective algorithm for maximum frequency estimation in Doppler spectral analyzers", Med. & Bio. Eng'g & Computing, 1985, pgs. 23, 63-68, demonstrates another technique for determining the maximum frequency for each spectrum. D'Alessio obtains the energy associated with the highest negative or positive frequency signal. The energy is multiplied by a scale factor to create a minimum signal energy threshold. The highest positive or negative frequency with an energy above the minimum signal energy threshold is selected as the maximum frequency. The maximum frequency is converted to a maximum velocity. A maximum velocity curve is obtained by repeating the determination of the maximum velocity for each of multiple ongoing spectra.
The algorithms discussed above have one or more constants. The maximum velocity is a function of the constants. The constants are either set by the design of the ultrasound machine or are set by the operator as part of a set-up function.
One ultrasound machine may be used for many applications, such as examination of different disease states or locations in a body. However, none of the ultrasound systems for obtaining and displaying ultrasound data is entirely satisfactory for each application. It is therefore desirable to provide an improved ultrasound system for obtaining and displaying ultrasound data.

Interactive doppler processor and method


A wheel assembly with tangentially attached fluid receptacles around the perimeter rotates to power a gravity driven fluid electricity generating assembly. A plunger pump assembly with a drive wheel powered by the wheel assembly pumps a quantity of fluid to fill a fluid receptacle with each motion of a lever arm eccentrically attached to the drive wheel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electricity generating systems and particularly to a portable self-powered gravity driven wheel generating system in which water, particulates, or other fluid matter are pumped by a wheel driven plunger rod assembly through a pipe for delivery to the top of the rotatable wheel to turn the wheel to activate an electricity generator.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Fossil fuels are presently being used in tremendous quantities throughout the world. The supply of such fuels, particularly oil and natural gas, may be depleted within the twenty first century, while the cost of these fuels has risen several drastically in the last ten years. Coal is more plentiful, and presently less expensive than our oil or natural gas, but problems exist with pollutants from the burning thereof. Power from nuclear fission is relatively expensive because of the initial outlays for power plant construction; and difficulties arise in handling the waste products from this source of power. The generation of power from solar energy has recently stirred a great deal of interest, but presently, solar power producing units are extremely expensive to install relative to the amount of useful power obtained; and solar power is less useful in northern climates. Major sources of hydro-electric power have already been tapped in the United States, with only minor sources left for exploitation.
Current-driven, power-generating waterwheels which are permanently built in or floated upon a moving body of water are well known in the art. Prior art does not provide a waterwheel driven system for generating electricity which can be placed in any desired location.
U.S. Patent Application #20030127860, published Jul. 10, 2003 by Baron, is for a recirculating hydroelectric power generation system. The system includes a reservoir and at least one confinement column connected, and open to the reservoir at the base of the at least one confinement column. A source of pressurized air is provided and means for delivering the air to an air diffuser located near the base of the at least one confinement column. A guide chute is located at the top of the at least one confinement column in such a way that water exiting the top of the at least one confinement column is directed to a waterwheel or turbine, said waterwheel or turbine being operably connected to an electric generator unit.
U.S. Patent Application #20010024038, published Sep. 27, 2001 by Cavalheiro, provides a pendulum pumping device, which has an upright support with a fulcrum at its top. A pendulum beam is pivotally mounted to the fulcrum for pivoting about a horizontal axis. The beam has first and opposite second ends. A U-shaped pipe for containing a liquid such as water, has first and second upturned ends. An overflow pipe and tank and a return pipe and return section receive and hold liquid from the U-shaped pipe. A piston slides in the first end of the U-shaped pipe. The piston is connected to the first end of the pendulum beam for moving up and down with pivoting of the beam. A weight helps force the piston down to push liquid up into the overflow pipe and to the return section. A pair of pivoting, initially spread and weighted wings at the second end of the beam, pivot out to a parallel extended position by the action of a small motor, to increase their effective weight and to thus push down on the second end of the beam for pulling the piston up. Valves allow liquid to return to the U-shaped pipe from the return section. The wings then spread out to reduce their effective weight on the second end of the beam and the cycle repeats. A turbine or water-wheel can be provided in the overflow tank and rotate when it is supplied with liquid from the overflow pipe. This rotation can be for amusement or the turbine can be connected to a small generator to generate some electricity, again for amusement.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,698, issued Oct. 5, 1976 to Brewer, describes a waterwheel driven electrical generator system. The waterwheel apparatus as a plurality of pivoted buckets mounted in circumferentially spaced relation around a central hub and having an outer rim provided with a ring gear driving a pinion gear on the generator shaft for obtaining a high rotational speed in a generator from a relatively slow turning waterwheel. The waterwheel buckets each fold outwardly to hold a maximum quantity of water as the bucket reaches approximately the horizontal center line of the wheel on the downwardly moving side of the wheel while each bucket empties at the vertical center line of the wheel as the bucket passes the bottom side and thereafter folds inwardly as the bucket moves upwardly and over the top of the wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,902, issued Apr. 7, 1981 to Crider, shows a fluid driven rotary engine of the water wheel type comprising a spoked water wheel rotatably mounted on a hollow stationary axle and having a set of water collection containers supported on the outer ends of hollow hub-mounted wheel spokes. Water or other liquid is delivered under pressure or an available head to the interior of the axle and from there through the hollow spokes and nozzles at the ends of the spokes into the containers to impart rotation to the water wheel. The water wheel unit may be equipped with an alternator or generator which is drive connected to hub by suitable means such as a belt and pulley assembly or transmission gearing. The alternator is thereby driven by rotation of the water wheel to generate electricity.
Two U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,859 issued Oct. 12, 1993 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,224 issued Sep. 7, 1993 both to Tagney, Jr., provide a jogging electric current generator which comprises a drum-shaped rotatable exercising unit operatively connected to an electric current generator. The drum-shaped unit is constructed so that a jogger can enter the unit and jog for purposes of exercising and also simultaneously therewith generate an electric current through operation of the generator. The drum-shaped unit may also be constructed so as to operate as a water vane with water being moved during the jogging activity. A pumping mechanism is provided for pumping water to a trough located above the drum-shaped housing. The water spills into the slots between each of the vanes. The water is allowed to flow out of the slots through elongate openings on the sides of each of the slots. Thereafter, the water is collected into a sump and recycled to perform a continuous operation. The jogging generator is also constructed so that a plug in connector can be operatively connected to the generator. Further, the electric power generated by using this jogging generator can be used for charging storage batteries or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,125, issued Jun. 12, 2001 to Axtell, claims a portable generating system for converting either water or wind energy into electricity comprises a paddle wheel assembly having a housing and a plurality of impellers rotatably mounted therein. The housing defines inlet and outlet openings for receiving a fluid stream, whether water or air, therebetween so as to rotate the impellers. The impellers are axially connected to a generator for producing electricity upon impeller rotation as the fluid stream flows between the housing openings. The generator may be mounted within the paddle wheel housing adjacent the impellers or at a distance therefrom and coupled thereto with a shaft. A plurality of mounting brackets are fixedly attached to the outer surface of the housing. The generating system further includes a plurality of height-adjustable support legs that may be coupled to the mounting brackets so that the paddle wheel housing may be positioned at a predetermined height above a support surface. The support surface may be a dry ground area such that electricity is generated as a result of an air stream or may be a body of water such that electricity is generated as a result of a water stream. The system may easily be assembled and disassembled and moved between desired locations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,307, issued Oct. 19, 1976 to Giconi, is for a system for generating electrical energy by dropping particulate material down a shaft and directing the falling particulate matter into buckets around the periphery of a large wheel, similar to a "water wheel". The wheel turns as a result of the transference of kinetic energy from the falling particulate matter to the wheel and the unbalanced weight of particulate matter on the wheel. The hub of the wheel is coupled to an electrical generator.
What is needed is a portable system for generating electricity using a gravity fluid driven generator wheel and pumped fluids to drive the wheel.

Portable electricity generating gravity driven wheel system


A telecommunications system includes a network (102), a destination multimedia server (104), and a destination presence server (215) operably coupled to the network. A plurality of multimedia clients (122) are also operably coupled to the network. The multimedia clients (122) include a presence option (128) and are adapted to be able to select whether the option is to be activated. In operation, when a client sends an e-mail to another client, the destination multimedia server (104) receives the e-mail and determines if the recipient supports presence. If so, the destination multimedia server (104) sends a query to the destination presence server (215) to check the recipient's presence. If the recipient is present, the message can be delivered. If not, the message can be held on the server until the recipient is present.

Electronic messaging, or e-mail, has rapidly become an essential business and personal tool. However, typical e-mail systems are disadvantageous in that they provide no way to ensure that a recipient of an e-mail is actually present to receive it.
In general, e-mail messages may not be of particular importance, and therefore it may not matter much if the message sits unopened on a recipient's computer. However, some messages may be of sufficient sensitivity that there could be a security or other risk in leaving them sitting unopened on a recipient's computer.
For example, a recipient may not necessarily want an e-mail of a personal nature to be available for casual perusal by someone with access to the computer. Similarly, a personnel supervisor may have a secretary monitor his e-mail while he is away. The supervisor might not want the secretary to view an e-mail containing complaints about other personnel. In other cases, the sender may deem an e-mail of sufficient import that wants it to appear prominently at the recipient's mailbox and not "buried" in spam.
As such, there is a need for a system and method for preventing viewing of an e-mail by a third party. There is a further need for a system and method for ensuring that an e-mail recipient is present to receive an e-mail before it is sent.

System and method for presence enabled e-mail delivery


An electric motor acts through a gear train to rotate an output shaft in one direction while a torsion spring rotates the shaft in the opposite direction when the motor is de-energized. When the output shaft stops abruptly at a limit position after being rotated by the spring, a lost-motion drive connection permits the output gear of the drive train to rotate relative to the shaft in order to dissipate kinetic energy through the gear train and to avoid impact loading of the gear train and the motor.

This invention relates generally to a reversible rotary actuator and specifically to an actuator having an electric motor which is selectively operable to rotate an output shaft in one direction. During driving of the output shaft by the motor, a torsion spring is wound so as to store energy for rotating the shaft in the other direction when the motor is de-energized and the spring unwinds.
More particularly, the invention relates to a rotary actuator of the type in which the motor rotates the output shaft and winds the spring by way of a gear train which substantially reduces the speed and substantially amplifies the torque of the motor. When the spring unwinds to rotate the output shaft, the spring acts reversely through the gear train and backdrives the motor shaft.
An actuator of this type is frequently used to drive a utilization device such as a smoke and fire damper in the duct of a heating, ventilating and cooling system. When the motor is de-energized, the spring drives the output shaft in a direction moving the damper to a closed position against a fixed stop. During driving of the output shaft by the spring the gear train and the motor shaft are accelerated and develop substantial kinetic energy. When the damper is abruptly stopped, the gear train and the motor shaft are subjected to impact loading unless the kinetic energy is dissipated. In prior actuators of this type, friction clutches have been used to dissipate the kinetic energy as heat. Such clutches, however, are relatively complex and expensive and substantially increase the cost of a comparatively small and low torque actuator.

Motor-driven, spring-returned rotary actuator


An antifuse comprises an antifuse material disposed between a lower conductive electrode and an upper conductive electrode. The antifuse material comprises a layer of amorphous silicon disposed between two layers of silicon nitride. A thin layer of silicon dioxide is disposed between the layer of amorphous silicon and one of the silicon nitride layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antifuses. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved metal-to-metal amorphous silicon antifuse structure and fabrication method.
2. The Prior Art
A common problem with amorphous silicon antifuses is the high level of leakage exhibited by unprogrammed antifuses. This leakage is typically a few nanoamperes at an applied voltage of 5 volts. In isolation, such leakage exhibited by a single antifuse might be considered to be insignificant. The problem becomes apparent, however, when practical antifuse based products are considered. Large FPGA integrated circuits may employ more than one million antifuses having an aggregate leakage of a few milliamperes. This leakage rapidly worsens with temperatures, especially high temperatures of 70 to 125.degree. C. which may be encountered in FPGA arrays under normal operating conditions.
The addition of one or more layers of silicon nitride to the antifuse layer (typically'silicon nitride-amorphous silicon-silicon nitride antifuse material) does not significantly reduce this leakage. There is thus a need for an antifuse structure which avoids this problem.
In addition, a problem in antifuse arrays has been the unintended programming of antifuses during the process of programming intended antifuses. An antifuse structure which would aid in preventing the unintended programming of antifuses while substantially reducing the leakage of unprogrammed antifuses would also be desirable.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an antifuse having reduced leakage in its unprogrammed state.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an antifuse which may be disposed in an array of antifuses and which is less susceptible to unintentional programming than prior art antifuses.


A method for managing a dynamic range of an optical detection device illuminated by a modulated optical radiation, the method including: generating a detection signal from the modulated optical radiation; generating, based on the detection signal, a histogram including a plurality of histogram classes; comparing a chosen maximum value and a value of each histogram class of the plurality of histogram classes; and stopping a generation of the histogram in response to a determination that the value of any one of the plurality of histogram classes is equal to the maximum value.

During the last few years, a growing number of applications such as facial recognition, virtual reality and active motor vehicle safety are more often demanding high-performance imaging systems that are of small size and low cost.
In this respect, imaging systems based on the time of flight measurement principle, commonly referred to as the abbreviation "ToF" by the person skilled in the art and benefiting from a highly integrated structure and a precise and rapid performance, respond particularly well to these expectations.
Such a "ToF" imaging system generally transmits optical light radiation, for example of the infrared or laser type, towards an object located in its field of measurement so as to measure the time of flight of this radiation, in other words the time that elapses between its transmission and its reception by the imaging system after reflection at the object. Such a direct measurement is known to the person skilled in the art by the abbreviation "dToF" (direct Time of Flight).
However, such optical light radiation can simply be too weak to generate an analogue voltage representing the optical light flux. Specifically, the optical light radiation can include only a few photons per excitation/transmission cycle.
Consequently, the time resolution demanded by certain applications is often difficult to achieve with conventional electronic transient recorders.
A possible solution to address this kind of problem is based on the use of indirect time of flight measurement techniques, commonly referred to as the abbreviation "iToF" by the person skilled in the art.
More specifically, with a periodic modulated excitation from for example a laser, it is possible to indirectly measure the distance separating an object to be measured and the imaging system referred to as "iToF" via a measurement of the phase shift of the signal received after the reflection at the object with respect to the transmitted radiation and to extend a collection of data of the optical signal over several excitation and transmission cycles so as to improve the precision of the measurement.
This solution is based on a precise repetitive time recording of each photon of an optical light radiation, for example laser radiation, taking the optical period of the radiation as time reference.
To achieve this, several types of single-photon detectors can be used such as single-photon avalanche diode detectors, commonly referred to as the abbreviation "SPAD" by the person skilled in the art.
In this respect, a histogram feature is particularly interesting for SPAD detectors in order that precise timing information can be worked out upon the arrival of each single photon from the optical light radiation.
However, such a single-photon detector receives in reality not only the reflection of the transmitted optical light radiation but also other background light radiation around the detector.
Consequently, this other background light radiation can to a greater or lesser extent affect the measurement by the single-photon detector.
In an imaging system including several single-photon detectors, each dedicated to an area in a detection scene, the measurement time for each detector is generally configured to be identical.
However, a scene to be measured is also illuminated by background optical light radiation, or "background light", for example a sunray. SPAD detectors can therefore also receive photons from this background optical light radiation.
For a scene to be measured including several areas, each having a different radiation profile, the time required for each dedicated detector to achieve the same level of performance, for example the limit of its dynamic range, is therefore variable.
The radiation profile represents in this case a rate of detectable individual photons. If an area of the scene is illuminated by a sunray, the radiation profile of this area becomes too strong and the dynamic range of the detector dedicated to this area can be reached in a very short time.
In other words, a first detector dedicated to an area having a weak radiation profile requires a longer measurement time than a second detector dedicated to an area having a strong radiation profile in order to achieve the same performance level.
A measurement time suitable for the first detector can therefore lead to a disqualification of the measurement by the second detector due to peak-clipping or data overflow in the second detector.
In this respect, there is therefore a need to propose a technical solution that is of low complexity and small size, providing for individually managing the dynamic range of each optical detection device so as to avoid such a disqualification of the measurement by the device and possibly limiting the average energy consumption of an optical detection device receiving transmitted or background optical light radiation having a high rate of detectable individual photons.

Method for managing dynamic range of an optical detection device, and corresponding device


Methods of forming outserts used to provide printed information to the users and purchasers of pharmaceutical products in which a sheet of paper is folded a number of times in a direction parallel to a first direction and then folded a number of times in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The folds in the second direction are made to produce an outsert having no unfolded exterior sheet edges which lie in a direction parallel to the second direction.

This invention relates to methods of folding outserts which have printed information, such as instructions and/or warnings, relating to pharmaceutical products.
Outserts are used to convey information to purchasers and users of pharmaceutical products. The information printed on an outsert typically includes instructions for use of a pharmaceutical product and medical warnings relating to the product. The outsert typically accompanies the product, such as by being affixed directly to the container in which the pharmaceutical product is provided or by being enclosed within a cardboard carton in which the pharmaceutical container is packaged.
FIG. 1A illustrates an example of an outsert 10 constructed in accordance with the prior art which has open edges 12 about its periphery. Under certain circumstances, the open edges 12 of the outsert will tend to cause bottlenecks, or other manufacturing yield problems, with respect to the overall high-speed manufacturing environment that is associated with manufacturing the outsert, or with respect to the specific in-line packaging equipment that is utilized.
A method of forming outserts is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,195 to Michael Vijuk. In that patent, outserts are manufactured by folding a relatively long sheet a number of times in a direction perpendicular to the length of the sheet and then cutting the folded sheet a number of times in a direction perpendicular to the folding direction to make a number of individual outserts. The result of the folding and cutting steps is a "ribbon" style outsert like the one shown in FIG. 1B.
FIG. 1B illustrates a conventional ribbon style outsert 14 constructed in accordance with the prior art and which has limited copyspace due to its overall shape, design and method of manufacture. The outsert 14 has a tail portion 16 which, prior to opening of the outsert by the purchaser of the associated pharmaceutical product, is glued to an interior portion of the outsert. The tail portion 16 consists of a single sheet having am unfolded, exterior sheet edge which lies in a direction parallel to the folding direction.
Increasing the length of a ribbon style outsert will increase manufacturing yield problems in a high-speed manufacturing environment (that is associated with the manufacturing the outsert) as the thickness of the outsert increases and the number of folds with a thicker outsert are attempted, all of which will tend to cause bottlenecks with respect to the dedicated or particular in-line folding and packaging equipment that is utilized during the manufacturing of the outsert.


A method for removing acidity and/or moisture from a hydrocarbon gas, in particular from a natural gas or a refinery gas fraction or a syngas, by absorption into a sweetening liquid and into a dehydration liquid, that are adapted to extract acid compounds or water from the gas, respectively. The method provides a step of prearranging a vertical elongated container (150) comprising at least one inner partition wall (168) that defines at least two treatment chambers within said container (151,152), a step of feeding a treatment liquid from the above into at least one of the two chambers (251,252) and feeding the gas to be treated from below into at least one same treatment chamber. It is also provided a step of selecting a treatment mode, wherein the gas flows along the two treatment chambers in a parallel or in a series arrangement, or one chamber being excluded; in particular the series-mode or the exclusion mode is actuated when the flowrate of the gas decreases below a minimum threshold value, while the parallel-mode is actuated when the flowrate of the gas rises above a maximum threshold value. An apparatus comprising at least such a container and a gas convey selective convey means (44′,44″), for actuating said treatment modes, in particular responsive to a flowrate of the gas. The apparatus and the method according to the invention allow to maintain the sweetening and/or dehydration efficiency, in particular in the case of a progressive reduction of the flowrate of natural gas that can be obtained from a well or gasfield.

The raw natural gas, as extracted from wells, often contains acid compounds, in particular carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. The natural gas may also contain moisture. The acid compounds, in combination with the moisture make the gas aggressive to the materials of the equipment in which the gas has to be stored and/or transformed. Furthermore, the acid compounds make the gas unsuitable for a large number of uses.
Nevertheless, the moisture may cause ice and hydrocarbon hydrates to form, when the gas is expanded after extraction. The ice can block passageways, and damage the equipment and the piping.
The water that is present in the gas may also form corrosive pools within the gas pipelines.
The same problems also occur with other fuel-gas mixtures, for example light gas fractions from crude oil atmospheric distillation.
Therefore, it is often necessary to remove acid compounds and/or moisture from hydrocarbon fuel gas, in particular from natural gas, immediately after extraction.
For removing the acid compounds, i.e. for "sweetening" the gas, absorption operations are normally carried out in which the gas is absorbed into an alkali-containing liquid, for example into a solution of an organic base that is able to chemically combine with the adsorbed compounds.
For dehydrating the natural gas that is extracted from a well at a pressure normally set between 1 and 300 bar absolute, processes are normally used of absorption into a hygroscopic liquid, preferably into a regenerable liquid, for instance into a glycol such as triethylene glycol (TEG).
According to the most common technique, the gas is treated first in a sweetening tower, and then in a dehydration tower.
A typical sweetening and dehydration combined process is described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,962. This process provides an amine-based liquid in which the acid compounds are absorbed, and a glycol for the dehydration. As also disclosed in WO 2011/121423, the sweetening and dehydration steps are carried out in respective absorption chambers that are defined within a tower, and that are separated by an inner longitudinal partition wall.
In many cases, the flowrate of the gas that has to be treated changes remarkably with time. In particular, in the case of natural gas wells, the extraction flowrate significantly decreases during the life of the well. The sweetening and/or dehydrating apparatus of the type described in the cited documents comprises absorption towers or chambers in which the passage cross-section is selected on the basis of the maximum gas flowrate that the well can produce. Such towers cannot effectively treat a very low flowrate, such as the flowrate that may generally be extracted after even a few years of life of the well.
This is a particularly relevant problem if packed towers are used. Packed towers, in fact, are less sensitive to process gas flowrate variation than plate towers are. Packed towers are a substantially an unavoidable choice in the case of towers to be installed on deepwater platforms, such as Tension Leg Platform (TLP), or on other floating facilities, i.e. Floating Platforms or generically Floating Production Systems (FPO). In fact, the movement of the platforms caused by the waves does not allow to operate plate towers, or makes it disadvantageous, because plate towers do not allow a steady liquid hold-up to be maintained on the trays.
A relevant flowrate change may occur also when treating hydrocarbon gas such as refinery or cookery gas fractions, petrochemical processes gas streams, chemical synthesis gas or biogas that are produced by degradation and/or fermentation processes. Particularly low gas flowrates may occur, for instance, in case of plants that work at a reduced rate.
GB 2111852 describes an apparatus to cause a contact between a gas and a liquid, which comprises: an outer shell with a spherical shape or a closed end cylindrical shape; at least one partition positioned vertically within the shell, in order to form at least two separate spaces within the shell; a gas-liquid contact means mounted in each space; openings for introducing and withdrawing the gas and/or a liquid into/from such spaces. The apparatus also comprises gas and/or liquid passages that connect such spaces in a series, parallel or in series/parallel arrangement. The apparatus is conceived to limit the height-to-diameter ratio, in particular, in order to resist seismic forces and also to facilitate transport. In case of a cylindrical shell, the height-to-diameter ratio is lower than 7, preferably it is lower than 5. This is clearly due to particular earthquake conditions that are likely to take place in Japan, whereas conditions are known in which said ratio could be exceeded. This is obtained by placing side-by-side tower portions that, in a single-tower arrangement, would be arranged as the prolongation of each other. Accordingly, this way to reduce the height of the tower unavoidably increases its overall lateral dimensions, which is a disadvantage in an installation on structures that have a limited space availability.
Such an apparatus is not well-suited for sweetening/dehydration operations of a large number of gases that require such treatment. For example, most active extraction units, both gas and gas/oil extraction units, produce a gas streams that contain high amounts of undesirable substances and, in particular, hydrogen sulfide: this is the case of the gas from Caspian Sea extraction units (Kashagan), which may contain H2S amounts up to 18-20% in moles. In these cases, more complex sweetening towers are required, which have a large number of theoretical plates, in a non-extreme case of gas produced by the above-indicated extraction units up to 24 plates may be required, yet in a relatively mild treatment to obtain a gas that is not intended for specific catalytic chemical processes, i.e. a treatment in which a purity degree of about 5-6 ppm H2S may be enough, as in the case of a gas to be burnt in an industrial or home combustion plant.
In this case, if a plate height of about 500 mm is assumed, the mass exchange zone alone be as high as about 12-15 meters, which can bring at an overall tower height of about 15-18 meters, considering top and bottom distribution devices, and the shell portions and bottoms that are needed for them. A maximum height to diameter ratio of 7:1, as in GB 2111852, would mean a minimum diameter of 2.1-2.6 meters; such a value may be largely sufficient in comparison to what is required by a flowrate that may be reasonably treated in a sweetening unit. Even larger heights and therefore the pressure and flowrate being the same, even larger height-to-diameter ratios could be required in case of a treatment to obtain a hydrocarbon gas that are suitable for particular subsequent process conditions, as in the case of the gas to be used for olefins production, in which H2S concentration higher than 1 ppm cannot normally be tolerated.
Furthermore, GB 2111852 does not specifically relate to sweetening/dehydration processes of hydrocarbon gases. It relates to processes where a single operation is carried out, in which a treatment liquid, for example a sweetening liquid, is fed according to a parallel arrangement. In an embodiment, a sweetening/regeneration process is carried out in side-by-side chambers, which may lead to important problems due to unwanted heat exchange and to unfavourable temperature profiles, since the sweetening temperature of processes is normally quite lower than the temperature at which the corresponding absorption liquid is regenerated, as in the case of amines.
Furthermore, the gas and liquid passageway according to the above-mentioned document, as shown in the drawings, should be made with ducts arranged within the shell, which can disturb the gas and liquid flow and cause a loss of efficiency of the apparatus.
FR 2 776 206 describes an air distillation apparatus in which distillation towers comprise coaxial or sector-shaped portions, and are connected to each other. However, the operating pressure and temperature differences at which the portions operate are limited.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,788 describes an SO3 into H2SO4 absorption tower that is internally parted into a plurality of sections, in particular into three sections. Even in this case, the different sections work at substantially the same operating conditions, in particular the operating pressures are close to atmospheric pressure, while the operating temperature are substantially set between 60 and 80° C.
WO 98/32523 describes a gas scrubber that is internally parted into a plurality of chambers, in particular into two chambers. However, all the chambers operate at a substantially atmospheric pressure. The possible temperature differences between the chambers do not give origin to any particular force acting on the inner partition wall, since the latter can freely elongate towards its own upper end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,387 describes a method and an apparatus for selectively removing H2S from a CO2-containing gas whose flowrate may be adjusted. The use is provided of a plurality of conventional absorption towers, in particular of two towers, which operate in parallel, where each tower has respective serially connected absorption volumes. This device cannot solve the problem of reducing the surface extension, and requires high installation costs.

Method and apparatus for sweetening and/or dehydrating a hydrocarbon gas, in particular a natural gas


A method to enable access to resources hosted in a compute cloud begins upon receiving a registration request to initiate a user's registration to use resources hosted in the compute cloud. During a registration process initiated by receipt of the registration request, a federated single sign-on (F-SSO) request is received. The F-SSO request includes an assertion (e.g., an HTTP-based SAML assertion) having authentication data (e.g., an SSH public key, a CIFS username, etc.) for use to enable direct user access to a resource hosted in the compute cloud. Upon validation of the assertion, the authentication data is deployed within the cloud to enable direct user access to the compute cloud resource using the authentication data. In this manner, the cloud provider provides authentication, single sign-on and lifecycle management for the user, despite the “air gap” between the HTTP protocol used for F-SSO and the non-HTTP protocol used for the user's direct access to the cloud resource.

Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to management of user sessions in a federated environment.
Background of the Related Art
User authentication is one function that service providers offer to ensure that users accessing resources (e.g., applications, web content, etc.) are authorized to do so. To ensure that a user is not an imposter, service providers (e.g., web servers) generally ask for a user's username and password to prove identity before authorizing access to resources. Single sign-on (SSO) is an access control mechanism which enables a user to authenticate once (e.g., provide a username and password) and gain access to software resources across multiple systems. Typically, an SSO system enables user access to resources within an enterprise or an organization. Federated Single Sign-on (F-SSO) extends the concept of single sign-on across multiple enterprises, thus establishing partnerships between different organizations and enterprises. F-SSO systems typically include application level protocols that allow one enterprise (e.g., an identity provider) to supply a user's identity and other attributes to another enterprise (e.g., a service provider). In other words, an F-SSO system helps transport the user's credentials from the identity provider to the service provider using any suitable protocol. Typically, current F-SSO techniques use HTTP as the transport protocol.
An emerging information technology (IT) delivery model is cloud computing, by which shared resources, software and information are provided over the Internet to computers and other devices on-demand. Cloud computing can significantly reduce IT costs and complexities while improving workload optimization and service delivery. With this approach, an application instance can be hosted and made available from Internet-based resources that are accessible through a conventional Web browser over HTTP. While this is highly desirable, the application itself may have data transfer and storage requirements that use other non-HTTP-based protocols. Thus, while most of the interactions with the application may occur over HTTP and are easily bound to the user, often the key interactions (involving data) must take place over legacy protocols yet still require the same "user binding." The need to support both HTTP-based and non HTTP-based protocols complicates the provisioning and use of the application in the cloud environment. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that single sign-on requirements (for the application) may require support for other lower level protocols, such as CIFS, NFS, SSH, Telnet, and the like, as well as the co-existence of SSO across multiple protocols.
Current approaches to authentication in the cloud, however, are insufficient. Thus, for example, where the SSH network protocol is used to log into a remote machine and execute commands, the state-of-the-art involves either providing direct (back-proxy) links to a customer's LDAP (or its equivalent) directory for authentication with a user name and password (U/P), or providing for the explicit distribution to users of SSH key pairs. Each approach, however, has significant drawbacks. Direct connections from a cloud provider to a customer's LDAP may not be allowed, even for simple LDAP bind requests. Distribution of SSH key pairs is not a scalable approach for on-boarding to the cloud of a large number of users. There are similar deficiencies in prior art approaches for other protocols such as CIFS, NFS, and the like.

Cross-protocol federated single sign-on (F-SSO) for cloud enablement

International Business Machines Corporation


Methods and devices for reducing gate node instability of a differential cascode amplifier are presented. Ground return loops, and therefore corresponding parasitic inductances, are eliminated by using voltage symmetry at nodes of two cascode amplification legs of the differential cascode amplifier. Series connected capacitors are coupled between gate nodes of pairs of cascode amplifiers of the two cascode amplification legs so to create a common node connecting the two capacitors. In order to reduce peak to peak voltage variation at the common node under large signal conditions, a shunting capacitor is connected to the common node.

It is well known in the art that when considering interconnecting traces in electronic circuits, including monolithically integrated circuits, such traces can provide undesired parasitic inductance having corresponding impedances that become increasingly significant with higher frequencies of operation of the circuit. Although it may be desired to reduce the parasitic inductance, such reduction is not always possible and therefore, as the frequency of operation increases, effects of the parasitic inductance needs to be accounted for, and when possible, compensated for. For example, let's consider the prior art stacked cascode amplifier (100a) of FIG. 1A, where gate capacitors (C2, . . . , Cn) are coupled between respective gate nodes (VG2, . . . , VGn) of the cascode transistors (T2, . . . , Tn) and a reference ground (e.g., AC ground, substantially constant DC voltage). In some implementations, the gate capacitors (C2, . . . , Cn) may be selected to have impedance values (e.g., ZC2 of FIG. 1B) of about zero ohms at the frequency of operation of the amplifier (100a), and therefore couple at the frequency of operation of the amplifier, the reference AC ground to the respective gate nodes (VG2, . . . , VGn). In other implementations, gate capacitors (C2, . . . , Cn) may be selected to have a non-zero impedance values (e.g., Zc2 of FIG. 1B) at the frequency of operation of the amplifier (100a) such as to allow coupling of RF voltages at the respective gate nodes (VG2, . . . , VGn) thereby providing a desired division/distribution of an RF voltage output by the amplifier (100a) across the transistors (T1, T2, . . . , Tn). Responsive to an input RF signal, RFin, provided to the input transistor T1 of the amplifier (100a), an amplified RF signal is obtained at the drain of the input transistor T1, and therefore a corresponding current passes through the cascode transistor T2, and is passed on to subsequent cascode transistors (T3, . . . , Tn).
With continued reference to FIG. 1A, a person skilled in the art would realize that a connection between the gate capacitors (C2, . . . , Cn) and the reference ground may include a finite non-zero parasitic inductance due, for example, to a finite physical length of a trace between each gate capacitor (C2, . . . , Cn) and the reference ground. Therefore, a more accurate representation of the stacked cascode amplifier (100a) of FIG. 1A may be provided by the configuration depicted in FIG. 2A, where such parasitic inductance (L2, . . . , Ln) between the gate capacitors (C2, . . . , Cn) and the reference ground is accounted for. For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, at the frequency of operation of the amplifier (200a) and irrespective of the impedance value of a gate capacitance C2, the combination of the gate capacitance C2 and a respective parasitic inductance L2 always provides a non-zero impedance, Z2, coupled to the gate of the first cascode transistor T2. Such non-zero impedance Z2 providing a voltage division of the amplified RF signal by the input transistor T1 not envisioned in the design of the amplifier. In other words, the gate-to-source (RF) voltage VGS of the first cascode transistor T2 no longer represents a value targeted by the design of the amplifier. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2C, the first cascode transistor T2 sees the drain of the input transistor T1 as equivalent resistive and capacitive (e.g., CT1) elements, and therefore, a person skilled in the art would realize that an impedance at the gate of the first cascode transistor T2 may be degenerated by, for example, the coupled capacitance CT1, which can therefore result in a negative impedance at the gate of T2. In turn, such negative impedance can rise to instabilities at the gate of T2 at certain frequencies of operation and therefore result in possible oscillation of the amplifier circuit shown in FIG. 2A. Behavior described above with reference to the first cascode transistor T2 may apply to any of the cascode transistors of the amplifier (200a) shown in FIG. 2A.
Teachings according to the present disclosure are aimed to reduce the gate nodes instability described above with reference to the prior art cascode amplifiers by substantially eliminating parasitic inductance coupled to the gate capacitors.

Differential cascode amplifier arrangement with reduced common mode gate RF voltage


This invention is a reusable single piece securing device including a head having a first side and a second side, a first channel passing through the head having a first aperture associated with the first end of the head and a second aperture associated with the second end of the head, a lace lock flexibly associated with the head, and an elongated flexible lace having a first end integral to the head, and a second end, the first and second ends divided by an intermediate section including a plurality of lace teeth.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a reusable single piece fastener system that is useful for reversibly securing securable items. The reusable single piece fastener of this invention can be used in place of laces, clasps, clips, tics, and other securing methods and is especially useful as a lace for shoes. This invention is also a method for reversibly securing securable items using a single piece fastener this invention.
(2) Description of the Art
A variety of fasteners are well know in the art. Cable ties are used to unite wire bundles, plastic clamps are used to seal plastic bags, and zippers are used to unite cloth items. The cable tie and clamp fasteners are generally intended to be used one time. The clothing and footwear fasteners on the other hand are intended to be fastened and released many times during their useful lifetime.
An example of a one-use cable tie device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,816 (Caveney) which discloses a single piece wire harnessing device. The harnessing device includes an elongated strap and a head. The elongated strap cannot be disengaged once it is united with the head. The harnessing device has no lock release mechanism.
An example of a reusable plastic clamp is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,301 (Sweeney et al.). The plastic clamp disclosed is an arcuate band with two interlocking tips. The two tips of the clamp are toothed and two hands are required to engage and disengage the clamp.
Single piece reusable cable ties are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,414 (Benoit) and 4,236,280 (Kreiseder). The '414 patent describes a reusable tie-all having a single strap and a socket. The tie-all includes an elongated flexible strap, and a casing. The casing includes a top wall that is directed upwards to disengage the locked flexible strap making the tie-all reusable.
The '280 patent discloses a one piece plastic strap clamp having a base portion and a body. The base portion passes perpendicularly through the body and includes teeth complementary to a latch means. The latch means, located on one side of the body is pressed to disengage the base from the body.


Hypothermia therapy apparatus comprises an inflatable blanket having a cavity therein, and a neck extending outwardly of the perimeter of the blanket body, the interior of the neck being in communication with the cavity. A nozzle is also provided, the forward portion of the nozzle being receivable in the outer end of the neck, and the rearward portion of the nozzle is connectable with a source of air. The nozzle includes an engagement mechanism for engaging at least a portion of the exterior surface of the neck. The engagement mechanism comprises a spring clip normally biased in the closed position and selectively openable to receive a portion of the neck thereunder. The forward portion of the nozzle is frusto-conical to facilitate insertion into the open end of the neck, and the neck is dimensioned to loosely engage the intermediate portion of the nozzle. A connector is provided for removably connecting an air hose to the rearward portion of the nozzle. The nozzle and the connector are rotatable relative to each other about their longitudinal axes, to prevent twisting of the blanket when the nozzle is attached to the neck.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hypothermia therapy apparatus comprising an inflatable blanket and a nozzle therefor. More specifically, the invention relates to an inflatable blanket and a nozzle provided with an interengagement mechanism.
2. Related Art
In hospitals today, 70% of all post-operative patients are hypothermic. This translates to 14 million people each year. Hypothermia is probably the most common, yet ignored, complication of surgery, and side effects can be serious.
Patients come into surgery in a state of normo-thermia, but core body temperature decreases during surgery, due to the effects of anesthesia, the air conditioning in the operating room, and cold blood, intravenous, and irrigating fluids. As a result of hypothermia, patients, especially the elderly, need longer stays in the recovery room. Most critical care patients also are cold and hypothermic. Further, core hypothermia is the cause of shivering in O-B patients following epidural and spinal anesthesia. Many post-surgical patients have vivid memories of the cold; they shiver. Some develop several coagulapathies, and arrhythmia can occur.
The goal of warming therapy is to keep patients normo-thermic, but nearly all current methods, including infrared lamps, cotton blankets, and warm water mattresses, are ineffective. Scientific studies have shown that patients actually lose heat with infrared lamps, cotton blankets, and warm water mattresses.
Forced air convection is the only therapy that actually makes the patient warmer. Present forced air convection therapy systems employ an inflatable blanket or tube which is connected to a hose that delivers warm forced air. However, due to the need for a system which is both inexpensive and disposable, present forced air convection systems use paper and plastic tubes and blankets. The receptacle for the heater hose generally comprises a hole in the tube or blanket which is reinforced by a cardboard plate having a similarly dimensioned hole therethrough. These holes have a diameter slightly smaller than that of the heater hose, and are provided at their perimeters with radial slits, so that they will bend to matingly engage the heater hose. However, pressure from the flowing air and movement of the hose in the receptacle quickly weakens the engagement between the receptacle and the hose. This results in leakage of the warm air, reducing the effectiveness of the forced air convection system, and ultimately in disengagement of the hose from the receptacle. When this occurs, the warming blanket or tube must be replaced. It is the solution of these and other problems to which the present invention is directed.


The invention relates to massages for acupoints in sensitive private parts of male and female private parts. It comprises a cushion shell, knocking and oscillating massagers for acupoints of the private parts, a sponge pad, an arc cover board, a bottom cover of cushion shell, a computer controlling board of integrated circuits and a hand-held switch controller. The knocking and oscillating head for massaging private parts is arranged and mounted at the position of the central line C of the cushion shell. An arc supporting plate for knocking and oscillating massages for private parts on it is installed at the massage head. The distances between each of the knocking massagers can be adjusted within a proper range. The benefits of the invention are its simple structure, good curative effect and convenience in use.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to massages. Specifically, the present invention relates to an electromagnetic cushion providing massages for acupoints in sensitive male and female private body parts.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, there are various types of massage equipments with different massaging patterns. For example, massage chairs are used for the whole body, and massage cushions are used for other bodily parts, such as back, legs or feet. For the curative effects, these devices make an individual comfortable since the stressed muscles are relaxed and fatigue is eliminated after the massage.
The massage cushion of the present invention is not available in conventional massage equipment. It provides knocking and oscillating heads for massaging private parts, perineum acupoint and Changqiang acupoint, based on the curative theory of acupoint therapeutics of traditional Chinese medicine. The massage program is under control of the control program in the computer controlling board of integrated circuits, which provides the optimum massage manipulation imitating professional masseuses. The unique oscillating and knocking frequency, speed and strength are unrivalled by the professional masseuses.
The quality of the human body deteriorates and suffers from various chronic diseases after the midlife of a person. This is caused by venation blockage and the decline of cell vigor in the body. The venation is the passage of qi and blood in the body, and the blocked circulation of the qi and blood leads to the qi and blood being deficient and disabled. Additionally, the ineffective collaboration between visceras results in an unbalanced Yin and Yang. A cell is the minimal unit of body structure and its vigor decides the quality of life. The deficiency of cell energy causes dysfunction and various kinds of chronic disease may result.
Thus, it would be a distinct advantage to have an electromagnetic cushion for giving massages to acupoints in male and female private body parts. It is an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus.

Electromagnetic cushion providing knocking and oscillating massages to acupoints in male and female private body parts


Sound-absorbing material is provided which is more effective for the same volume. A sound-absorbing body is formed characteristically by hot-compression molding of a raw material (C) comprises a flexible polyurethane foam to a volume ratio ranging from 1/1.5 to 1/12. In the molding, metal molds (A·B) are heated in an electric furnace up to a set temperature of 180° C.; the flexible polyurethane foam of the cell number of 50 is held between the metal molds (A·B), and compressed and heated in the electric furnace in this state at 180° C. for 60 minutes; the fixing clamp is removed; and the hot-compressed urethane foam is taken out to obtain the intended sound-absorbing body.

Conventionally, fibrous substances, such as fiberglass, and foam bodies, such as urethane foam, have been used broadly as sound absorbing bodies (See Japanese Patent 3388681). Moreover, the typical method to increase the sound absorbing effect has been to increase the volume.
However, in the method of increasing the volume, as described above, there is a problem in terms of the effective utilization of space, because it is necessary to increase the volume of the sound absorbing body in order to obtain the sound absorbing effect.
The present invention focuses on the conventional problem, set forth above, and the object of the invention is to provide a more effective sound absorbing body, even if the volume remains the same.

Sound absorbing body and manufacturing method thereof


A crushing drying device includes an object-to-be-treated supply port from which an object is supplied into a main body, a crushing portion for crushing the object by hammers rotated on a drive shaft, and a classifying portion having a space for circulating the object to be treated at a position away from the crushing portion, the crushing portion has a dry gas supply port from which the heated air is supplied in a predetermined direction along an inner surface of the device main body, and the classifying portion has discharge portions from which the crushed object is discharged together with the heated air, and deviation plates for changing a flow of the object transferred to the classifying portion, so that the crushing drying device is one machine.

Conventionally, a woody waste, a food waste, and a waste such as sludge are disposed by incineration or burial. However, in recent years, in the fields of environment and energy, there is a trend that some of these wastes which are reusable are used as fuel for CO2 reduction and reuse of valid resource. For example, in a case of the woody waste, the waste is reused as fuel, and in a case of the food waste, the waste is reused as feedstuff or fuel.
In a case where a waste is reused in such a way, the waste is inputted into a crusher as an object to be treated (hereinafter, the above waste will be called as the "object to be treated"), crushed into predetermined size, and then dried by a dryer. As the crusher, a machine provided with a net for adjusting crushing grain size is used in general. As the dryer, a method of drying by a kiln or the like is used in general. A crushing/drying facility in which the crusher and the dryer are systematically provided is installed.
As this type of prior art, for example, there is a crushed item manufacturing device for crushing a material by forcing the material to pass through minute holes of a screen with using wind power of the air heated by a heat exchanger, and supplying the crushed item into a crushed item collector with using the wind power (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
As another prior art, there are a drying device in which a plurality of radially attached rotors is rotated in a cylindrical container, and water content in an object to be treated inputted from the upper side is separated by impact and centrifugal force by the rotors (for example, refer to Patent Document 2), and a device for making a lignocellulose material into minute particles, including a rotary vane and an intake port for causing a swirling airflow in a bottom part of a cylindrical container, in which by swirling a material on an inner circumference of the cylindrical container, the material is dried and crushed by friction with a wall part in the container (for example, refer to Patent Document 3).


The method of treating hydrocarbon contamination, in soil, that includes providing and operating a rotary tiller having tilling elements that rotate into and out of the soil to till and loosen the soil, and to elevate soil upwardly so that loosened elevated soil then drops downwardly, and is aerated, and dispersing into the soil aqueous streams that contain microbes or chemicals characterized as reacting with hydrocarbon in the loosened soil to produce CO2 and water, thereby to decontaminate the soil.

This invention relates generally to clean up of hydrocarbon polluted soil and more particularly to dispersing of microbes into hydrocarbon pollutant-containing soil to reduce pollutant levels.
Hydrocarbon pollution occurs in many ways, and areas, among which are the following:
1) spillage into the ground as at gasoline service stations (i.e. from rusted tanks, etc.); and
2) leakage into the ground, i.e. formation, at or near oil wells.
Cleanup of such hydrocarbon pollutants is difficult, time consuming and expensive. While microbes have been employed to consume hydrocarbons, it is difficult to deploy the microbes, accurately and in sufficiently quantity into polluted in situ soil.
There is need for improved methods and apparatus to rapidly and effectively treat soil so as to overcome hydrocarbon pollution in soil.
It is a major object of the invention to provide improved methods and apparatus to meet the above need. Basically, the improved method of treating hydrocarbon contamination in soil includes the steps:
a) providing and operating a rotary tiller having tilling spaces or elements that rotate into and out of the soil to till and loosen the soil, and to elevate or impel soil upwardly so that loosened elevated soil than drops downwardly, and becomes aerated,
b) and dispersing into the soil aqueous streams that contain microbes characterized as reacting with hydrocarbons in the loosened soil to produce CO2 and water, thereby to decontaminate the soil.
Typically, soil to be treated extends generally horizontally, and the rotating tiller is traveled generally horizontally or parallel to the exposed soil surface to progressively till the soil, and also throwing it upwardly for aeration, while the aqueous streams of microbes are dispersed into the loosened and rising or falling soil. The contaminated soil may have originated underground, as for example at a gasoline or hydrocarbon fuel filling station, and such soil is removed and spread out for treatment.
Dispersing of the aqueous streams of microbes may be effected in the path of tiller travel, or at the successive locations of the tiller; and ducting may be provided at tiller rotary arms to be ejected up and down, forwardly and rearwardly, into soil being tilled and rising and falling; and other ducting may be provided in closely spaced relation to the traveling tiller, and from which such aqueous streams of microbes are ejected onto soil to soak the soil being tilled or to be tilled as referred to.
Ducting at the rotating arms typically communicates with the rotary backsides of the arms from which said streams are ejected into the soil being tilled and aerated.
The tiller arms preferably have terminals which extend sidewise or laterally to act as knives or spades and elevators to cut into and elevate soil, aqueous streams being ejected at locations on the arms at spaced locations from such terminals.
A further object includes allowing said microbes to consume the hydrocarbon in the aerated soil, thereby to de-contaminate the soil.
An additional object includes returning the de-contaminated soil to underground locations from which contaminated soil has been removed.
Another object includes rotating the tiller at speeds above 300 to 1000 revolutions per minute, to obtain rapid lifting of the soil, for aeration; and ejecting the microbe streams at pressures above about 100 psi, to obtain sufficient penetration into the soil being tilled and elevated, and added displacement of such soil.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the details of an illustrative embodiment, will be more fully understood from the following specification and drawings, in which:


In certain aspects, the disclosure relates to an imaging system, particularly an objective or an illumination device of a microlithography projection-exposure apparatus having an optical axis (OA), with at least one optical element of an optically uniaxial crystal material whose optical crystallographic axis is substantially parallel to the optical axis (OA) of the imaging system and which at a working wavelength has an ordinary refractive index no and an extraordinary refractive index ne, with the extraordinary refractive index ne being smaller than the ordinary refractive index no; wherein the optical element is arranged in the ray path pattern in such a way that, at least for rays of the working wavelength which meet the optical element at an angle that falls within an angular range from the optical axis, the p-polarized component is reflected more strongly than the s-polarized component.

Microlithography finds application in the production of micro-structured components such as for example integrated circuits or LCDs. The microlithography process is carried out in a so-called projection-exposure apparatus which includes an illumination system and a projection objective. The image of a mask (also referred to as reticle) which is illuminated by means of the illumination system is projected by means of the projection objective onto a substrate (e.g., a silicon wafer) that is coated with a light-sensitive coating (referred to as photoresist) and is arranged in the image plane of the projection objective, the purpose of this projection being to transfer the mask structure onto the light-sensitive coating of the substrate. The contrast of the mask's image on the light-sensitive coating can affect the fidelity of transfer of the mask structure to coating.


Embodiments of the present invention include a system and method of dynamic space-frequency-division multiple-access for the uplink from terminals to a base-station. The system includes a base-station and multiple terminals. According to different spatial mapping modes, the base-station performs an optimization computation using an optimization function in order to obtain control information for controlling terminals; after receiving the control information, the user terminal controls the transmitting mode using this control information. The method includes the following operations: at the base-station, performing an optimization computation using an optimization function according to different spatial mapping modes respectively, in order to obtain control information for controlling terminals; at the user terminal, controlling a transmitting mode using the control information after receiving the above control information. An embodiment of the present invention can achieve a higher system capacity by balancing resource allocation among different users in a domain of transmission power, bandwidth and spatial channels.

In the future 4G wireless communication systems, higher rate services of some users require a higher transmission rate and different mobile terminals which require different low rates need to share wireless frequency resources. However, a conflict between limited wireless frequency resources and increasing wireless communication link requirement is intensified.
The following references [1] to [6] analyze the signal multiplexing modes required by the 4G wireless communication system. A multiple-carrier transmission is recommended as a better 4G wireless technique than a single-carrier transmission. At the same time, a system solution with a multi-input and multi-output using multiple antennas is one of the recommended features of the 4G wireless communication system.                [1] N. S. J. Chuang, "Beyond 3G: wideband wireless data access based on OFDM and dynamic packet assignment," IEEE Commun. Mag., pp. 78-87, July 2000.        [2] A. Ghosh, D. R. Wolter, J. G. Andrews, R. Chen, "Broadband wireless access with wimax/802.16: current performance benchmarks and future potential," IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 129-136, February 2005.        [3] G. L. Stuber, J. R. Barry, S. W. Mclaughlin, Y. Li, M. A. Ingram, T. G. Pratt, "Broadband MIMO-OFDM wireless communications," Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 271-294, February 2004.        [4] H. Sampath, S. Talwar, J. Tellado, V. Erceg, A. Paulraj, "A fourth generation MIMO-OFDM broadband wireless system: design, performance, and field trial results," IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 143-149, September 2002.        [5] L. L. Yang, L. Hanzo, "Multi-carrier DS-CDMA: A multiple-access scheme for ubiquitous broadband wireless communications," IEEE Commun. Mag., pp. 116-124, October 2003.        [6] B. G. Evans, K. Baughan, "Visions of 4G" Electronics and Communication.
In a traditional OFDMA uplink system, since a fixed frequency band is used for communication and the different channel states and statistic characteristics of noise and interferences are not taken into account, the frequency resource cannot be fully utilized. A channel capacity provided by the OFDMA system is far different from that deduced by The Information Theory.
With multi-antenna technology, different users can share a wireless channel by different spatial channels in a same subcarrier or using different subcarriers or the combination of these two. However, adding a resource for one user means reducing a resource for another user. A typical case is that for users using different spatial channels in the co-frequency channels, when a power of one user increases, interference on other users will increase.
The following references [7] to [19] analyze multiple antenna technologies, signal multiplexing modes, corresponding system capacities and methods for increasing system capacity. A common sense in these references is that in a domain of transmission power, bandwidth and spatial channel, resource allocation should be balanced among different users in order to achieve a higher system capacity.                [7] L. L. Yang, L. Hanzo, "Software-defined-radio-assisted adaptive broadband frequency hopping multicarrier DS-CDMA," IEEE Commun. Mag., pp. 174-183, March 2002.        [8] E. Telatar, "Capacity of multi-antenna Gaussian channels," European Trans. on Telecommun., vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 585-595, November/December 1999.        [9] D. Tse and P. Viswanath, Fundamentals of Wireless Communication. Cambridge University Press, May 2005.        [10] M. Gharavi-Alkhansari, A. B. Gershman, "Fast antenna subset selection in MIMO systems," IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 339-347, February 2004.        [11] E. A. Jorswieck, H. Boche, "Performance analysis of capacity of MIMO systems under multiuser interference based on worst-case noise behavior," EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, vol. 2, pp. 273-285, 2004.        [12] S. Serbetli, A. Yener, "Time-slotted multiuser MIMO systems: beamforming and scheduling strategies," EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, vol. 2, pp. 286-296, 2004.        [13] R. S. Blum, J. H. Winters, N. R. Sollenberger, "On the capacity of cellular systems with MIMO", IEEE Commun. Lett., vol. 6, pp. 242-244, June 2002.        [14] H. Boche, E. A. Jorswieck, "Sum capacity optimization of the MIMO Gaussian MAC", The 5th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications, vol. 1, pp. 130-134, 27-30 October 2002.        [15] S. Serbetli, A. Yener, "Transceiver optimization for multiuser MIMO systems," IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 214-226, January 2004.        [16] E. A. Jorswieck, H. Boche, "Transmission strategies for the MIMO MAC with MMSE receiver: average MSE optimization and achievable individual MSE region," IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 51, no. 11, pp. 2872-2881, November 2003.        [17] K. N. Lau, "Analytical framework for multiuser uplink MIMO spacetime scheduling design with convex utility functions," IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 3, no. 9, pp. 1832-1843, September 2004.        [18] D. P. Palomar, J. M. Cioffi, M. A. Lagunas, "Joint Tx-Rx beamforming design for multicarrier MIMO channels: a unified framework for convex optimization", IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 51, no. 9, pp. 2381-2401, September 2003.        [19] Wonjong Rhee, W. Yu, J. M. Cioffi, "The optimality of beamforming in uplink multiuser wireless systems," IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 86-96, January 2004.
Based on the above references, the present invention provides a communication systems and method of dynamic space-frequency-division multiple-access for uplink from terminals to a base-station.

Communication system and method of dynamic space-frequency-division multiple-access for uplink from terminals to base-station


Apparatus and method for communication are provided. The apparatus is configured to receive from an upper scheduler data for user terminals served by the apparatus, wherein a first set of terminals is connected to more than one cell and a second set of user terminals is not connected to more than one cell; receive from an upper scheduler physical layer resources to be allocated for the first set of user terminals; determine physical layer resources for the second set of user terminals and allocate the received and determined resources for the user terminals.

The following description of background art may include insights, discoveries, understandings or disclosures, or associations together with disclosures not known to the relevant art prior to the present invention but provided by the invention. Some of such contributions of the invention may be specifically pointed out below, whereas other such contributions of the invention will be apparent from their context.
Wireless communication systems are constantly under development. Developing systems provide a cost-effective support of high data rates and efficient resource utilization. One communication system under development is the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE). An improved version of the Long Term Evolution radio access system is called LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). The LTE and LTE-A are designed to support various services, such as high-speed data. In most communication systems available transmission capacity is allocated between currently active connections on the basis of the requirements of each connection, available capacity, interference situation and other factors. In addition, properties of the connections, such as the modulation and coding applied in communication are determined. Performing these actions in the most optimal manner is vital to the efficiency of a communication system. This applies especially to situations where coordination of transmissions from multiple cells must be done simultaneously and where the properties of the connections, such as delays in transmissions, are different.

Apparatus and method for allocating resources for coordinated transmissions from multiple cells