Disclosed is a method for reforming hydrocarbons comprising contacting the hydrocarbons with a catalyst in a reactor system of improved resistance to carburization and metal dusting under conditions of low sulfur.

The present invention relates to improved techniques for catalytic reforming, particularly, catalytic reforming under low-sulfur, and low-sulfur and low-water conditions. More specifically, the invention relates to the discovery and control of problems particularly acute with low-sulfur, and low-sulfur and low-water reforming processes.
Catalytic reforming is well known in the petroleum industry and involves the treatment of naphtha fractions to improve octane rating by the production of aromatics. The more important hydrocarbon reactions which occur during the reforming operation include the dehydrogenation of cyclohexanes to aromatics, dehydroisomerization of alkylcyclopentanes to aromatics, and dehydrocyclization of acyclic hydrocarbons to aromatics. A number of other reactions also occur, including the dealkylation of alkylbenzenes, isomerization of paraffins, and hydrocracking reactions which produce light gaseous hydrocarbons, e.g., methane, ethane, propane and butane. It is important to minimize hydrocracking reactions during reforming as they decrease the yield of gasoline boiling products and hydrogen.
Because there is a demand for high octane gasoline, extensive research has been devoted to the development of improved reforming catalysts and catalytic reforming processes. Catalysts for successful reforming processes must possess good selectivity. That is, they should be effective for producing high yields of liquid products in the gasoline boiling range containing large concentrations of high octane number aromatic hydrocarbons. Likewise, there should be a low yield of light gaseous hydrocarbons. The catalysts should possess good activity to minimize excessively high temperatures for producing a certain quality of products. It is also necessary for the catalysts to either possess good stability in order that the activity and selectivity characteristics can be retained during prolonged periods of operation; or be sufficiently regenerable to allow frequent regeneration without loss of performance.
Catalytic reforming is also an important process for the chemical industry. There is an increasingly larger demand for aromatic hydrocarbons for use in the manufacture of various chemical products such as synthetic fibers, insecticides, adhesives, detergents, plastics, synthetic rubbers, pharmaceutical products, high octane gasoline, perfumes, drying oils, ion-exchange resins, and various other products well known to those skilled in the art.
An important technological advance in catalytic reforming has recently emerged which involves the use of large-pore zeolite catalysts. These catalysts are further characterized by the presence of an alkali or alkaline earth metal and are charged with one or more Group VIII metals. This type of catalyst has been found to advantageously provide higher selectivity and longer catalytic life than those previously used.
Having discovered selective catalysts with acceptable cycle lives, successful commercialization seemed inevitable. Unfortunately, it was subsequently discovered that the highly selective, large pore zeolite catalysts containing a Group VIII metal were unusually susceptible to sulfur poisoning. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,527. Ultimately, it was found that to effectively address this problem, sulfur in the hydrocarbon feed should be at ultra-low levels, preferably less than 100 parts per billion (ppb), more preferably less than 50 ppb to achieve an acceptable stability and activity level for the catalysts.
After recognizing the sulfur sensitivity associated with these new catalysts and determining the necessary and acceptable levels of process sulfur, successful commercialization reappeared on the horizon; only to vanish with the emergence of another associated problem. It was found that certain large pore zeolite catalysts are also adversely sensitive to the presence of water under typical reaction conditions. Particularly, water was found to greatly accelerate the rate of catalyst deactivation.
Water sensitivity was found to be a serious drawback which was difficult to effectively address. Water is produced at the beginning of each process cycle when the catalyst is reduced with hydrogen. And, water can be produced during process upsets when water leaks into the reformer feed, or when the feed becomes contaminated with an oxygen-containing compound. Eventually, technologies were also developed to protect the catalysts from water.
Again commercialization seemed practical with the development of various low-sulfur, low-water systems for catalytic reforming using highly selective large-pore zeolite catalysts with long catalytic lives. While low-sulfur/low-water systems were initially effective, it was discovered that a shut down of the reactor system can be necessary after only a matter of weeks. The reactor system of one test plant had regularly become plugged after only such brief operating periods. The plugs were found to be those associated with coking. However, although coking within catalyst particles is a common problem in hydrocarbon processing, the extent and rate of coke plug formation exterior to the catalyst particles associated with this particular system far exceeded any expectation.


An inside door handle device of an automobile comprises: a handle case; a cover body for covering a fixing portion of the handle case to a vehicle body; a hollow formed on the rising wall of the hand-operating recess portion; an engaging step portion formed in a bottom wall of the hollow; and an engaging leg for release operation, formed in the cover body.

The present invention relates to an inside door handle device of an automobile.
An inside handle device fixed to an inner panel with clamping pieces is known, for example as disclosed in JP-A-2000-087601. The inside handle device in JP-A-2000-087601 includes: a handle case for pivotally supporting an operation handle and lock lever; and a decorative frame elastically engaged with the handle case. This inside handle device is attached to a vehicle body (inner panel) in such a manner that, first, the handle case is fixed to the inner panel and then the decorative frame is fixed so that the door trim is pinched in the peripheral edge.
However, the above conventional example is disadvantageous as follows. Clamping pieces such as screws used for fixing the decorative frame are exposed outside at the point of time when the work of attaching the inside handle device to the inner panel has been completed. Therefore, the looks of the inside handle device is ugly. In order to solve the above problems, it is possible to take countermeasures of covering head portions of the clamping pieces with cap members, the diameters of which are somewhat larger than the diameters of the head portions of the clamping pieces. Even in this case in which the above countermeasures have been taken, users may inevitably feel a sense of incongruity in the design of the inside handle device.

Abstract: The engaging leg for release operation includes an engaging portion elastically engaged with the engaging step portion; and a hooking protrusion capable of being hooked from above, accommodated in the hollow in the engaging state with the engaging step portion.


A stethoscope includes a Y-shaped metal tube, a pair of binaural tubes, a pair of resilient tubes and a Y-shaped rubber tube. The metal tube has a main tube section and two branch tube sections connected to the main tube section. Each of the resilient tubes has two opposite ends which connect a distal end of a respective one of the branch tube sections to a distal end portion of a respective one of the binaural tubes. The rubber tube has a first tube section which confines the main tube section and two second tube sections connected to the first tube section. Each of the second tube sections is sleeved onto a respective one of the branch tube sections, a respective one of the resilient tubes and the distal end portion of a respective one of the binaural tubes in order to conceal the Y-shaped metal tube and the resilient tubes in the Y-shaped rubber tube.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stethoscope, more particularly to a stethoscope which has a pair of binaural tubes that can apply an optimum clamping force onto the user's ears and which produces a minimum sound distortion when in use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional stethoscope is shown to comprise a pair of binaural tubes 10, a Y-shaped rubber tube 13 having a first tube section 16 and two second tube sections 14 connected to the first tube section 16, and a U-shaped resilient member 12. The first tube section 16 has a lower end which is connected to a chest piece (not shown). Each of the second tube sections 14 has an upper end which is connected to a lower end of a respective one of the binaural tubes 10. The U-shaped resilient member 12 has two upper ends engaging respectively the binaural tubes 10 in order to apply a clamping force onto the user's ears when the stethoscope is in use.
Some of the drawbacks of the conventional stethoscope are as follows:
1. The clamping force is hardly maintained at a constant, proper amount after the stethoscope has been in use for a period of time. Therefore, the user must adjust the clamping force several times by bending the U-shaped resilient member 12. Control of the adjustment of the clamping force applied by the U-shaped resilient member 12 to an optimum amount is difficult to conduct. If the clamping force is too large, the user's ears may feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, if the clamping force is too small, the binaural tubes 10 are likely to slip from the user's ears while the stethoscope is in use.
2. The sound is transmitted from the chest piece to the user's ears through the rubber tube 13, which produces high sound distortion.
3. The sharp edges of the U-shaped resilient member 12 may injure the user's hands.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, another conventional stethoscope is shown to comprise a pair of binaural tubes 11, a Y-shaped rubber tube 18 and a U-shaped resilient member 17. The structures of the binaural tube 11, the rubber tube 18 and the U-shaped resilient member 17 are similar to those of the aforementioned conventional stethoscope. However, the U-shaped resilient member 17 is disposed within the rubber tube 18 in order to protect the user from being injured by the U-shaped resilient member 17. Since the U-shaped resilient member 17 will reduce the sound transmission efficiency, a sound divider 19 is mounted in the intersection point of the rubber tube 17 in order to enhance the sound transmission efficiency. However, sound distortion still occurs during the transmission of sound in the stethoscope. In addition, the problem of adjustment of the clamping force of the binaural tubes 11 still exists in this stethoscope.


A medical device that has a first array of loop electrodes and a second array of loop electrodes. The first array of loop electrodes and the second array of loop electrodes are configured to expand within a uterus and deliver a therapy current to tissue defining the uterus.

Menorrhagia is a medical condition that includes abnormally heavy and prolonged menstrual bleeding and pain. For decades, hormone pills and/or hysterectomy were used to treat menorrhagia.
Recently, medical devices have been introduced to treat menorrhagia by way of endometrium ablation, where the endometrium is exposed to various treatment modalities such as RF energy, cryogenics, thermal energy, microwave energy, and/or steam.
It may be desirable to improve the current state of the art by having a medical device that is configured to globally treat the uterus and reduce or eliminate risk of tissue perforation.

Device with loop electrodes for treatment of menorrhagia


An automatic transmission controller for controlling an automatic transmission includes an idling reduction controller, an idling-reduction-control permission determiner, and an engagement controller. The idling-reduction-control permission determiner is configured to determine whether or not to permit an idling reduction control. The engagement controller, in a case where the idling-reduction-control permission determiner permits the idling reduction control, is configured to allow rotation of an input shaft of an automatic transmission, and in a case where an output shaft of the automatic transmission is rotated by a wheel of a vehicle in a rotational direction such that the vehicle moves backward, is configured to set a plurality of engagement mechanisms including at least a mechanical engagement mechanism so as to fix the output shaft of the automatic transmission to a casing of the automatic transmission or so as to prevent the vehicle from moving backward.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an automatic transmission controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
To improve driving performance and drivability, the number of gear ratios of an automatic transmission for an automobile is being increased. In general, an automatic transmission includes engagement mechanisms, such as planetary gear mechanisms, clutches, and brakes. The gear ratio of the automatic transmission is changed by changing the power transmission path by using the engagement mechanisms. Such an automatic transmission includes a torque converter (starting mechanism) that is disposed between a drive source and a driving wheel of a vehicle and that transmits rotational power from the drive source to the driving wheel.
In recent years, automatic transmission controllers that perform so-called "idling reduction control" when a vehicle stops have been increasingly used.
When a vehicle that performs idling reduction control stops on, for example, an uphill slope, backward movement of the vehicle can be prevented by using a creep torque of the torque converter if the starting response of the engine is sufficiently good. However, if the inclination angle of the slope is considerably large, it is not possible to prevent backward movement. Moreover, the driver may be unexpectedly inconvenienced because the engine stops when idling reduction control is performed.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-46182 describes a controller that detects the inclination angle of a position at which a vehicle stops. The controller increases a braking force when the vehicle stops on a slope with consideration that stopping the engine leads to a decrease in the braking force.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-47147 describes a controller that uses a sensor for detecting the inclination angle of a slope so that a vehicle does not move down the slope when idling reduction control is performed.


A sharing client device shares content with viewing client devices. A sharing module operating on a sharing client device and on the viewing client devices facilitates the creation and analysis of viewer snapshots, permitting automatic determination of whether viewers are up-to-date with their display of shared content. Based on the analysis and on a policy of the sharing module, the sharing module can take a number of actions, such as generating and displaying a viewer summary that a user of the sharing client device may view to determine whether, or to what extent, the viewing client devices are up-to-date in their displays of the shared content.

Many users wish to share some or all of the contents of their computer screens with others, such as when giving a presentation to others within a geographically distributed organization. However, factors such as network latency may lead to lengthy (and possibly inconsistent) times before a shared screen portion has been propagated to the screens of others with whom the portion is being shared. The problem is particularly exacerbated in the case of wide geographic distributions, such as when the members of an organization are located on different continents, which leads to greater network latency, and/or when the content requires more bandwidth, such as in the case of large high-resolution images. Accordingly, in many cases, those sharing portions of their screens ("sharers") feel the need to pause and seek confirmation from other sharing recipients ("viewers") that they have received the latest updates. These pauses have various associated disadvantages, such as the breaking of the flow of the sharer's narrative, as well as the confusion inherent in the viewers trying to guess whether what they see is the same as what the sharer sees.
The figures depict embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.

Dynamic user interface and module facilitating content sharing in a distributed computing environment

Symphony Communication Services Holdings LLC


In an apparatus for driving a PDP, first and second switches are coupled in series between a power source V1 for supplying a voltage Vs/2 and a first terminal of the panel capacitor, and third and fourth switches are coupled in series between the first terminal of the panel capacitor and a power source V2 for supplying a voltage −Vs/2. A capacitor is coupled between a contact of the first and second switches and a contact of the third and fourth switches, and is charged to voltage Vs/2. The withstand voltages of the first and second switches are clamped to the voltage Vs/2 while the voltage −Vs/2 is applied to the first terminal of the panel capacitor. Likewise, the withstand voltage of the third and fourth switches are clamped to the voltage Vs/2 while the voltage Vs/2 is applied to the first terminal of the panel capacitor.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for driving a plasma display panel (PDP).
(b) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays (LCD), field emission displays (FED), PDPs, and the like have been actively developed. The PDP is advantageous over other flat panel displays in regard to its high luminance, high luminous efficiency, and wide view angle, and accordingly, it is favorable for making a large-scale screen of more than 40 inches as a substitute for the conventional cathode ray tube (CRT).
The PDP is a flat panel display that uses plasma generated by gas discharge to display characters or images, and it includes, according to its size, more than several scores to millions of pixels arranged in a matrix pattern. Such a PDP is classified as a direct current (DC) type and an alternating current (AC) type according to its discharge cell structure and the waveform of the driving voltage applied thereto.
The DC PDP has electrodes exposed to a discharge space, allowing DC to flow through the discharge space while voltage is applied, and hence it requires resistors for limiting the current. Contrarily, the AC PDP has electrodes covered with a dielectric layer that naturally forms a capacitance component that limits the current and protects the electrodes from the impact of ions during a discharge. Thus the AC PDP is superior to the DC PDP in regard to long lifetime.
Typically, the driving method of an AC PDP is sequentially composed of a reset step, an addressing step, a sustain discharge step, and an erase step.
In the reset step, the state of each cell is initialized in order to readily perform an addressing operation on the cell. In the addressing step, wall charges are accumulated on selected "on"-state cells and other "on"-state cells (i.e., addressed cells) for selecting "off"-state cells on the panel. In the sustain discharge step, a sustain pulse is applied alternately to scan electrodes (hereinafter referred to as "Y electrodes") and sustain electrodes (hereinafter referred to as "X electrodes") to perform a discharge for displaying an image on addressed cells.
In the AC PDP, the Y and X electrodes for such a sustain discharge act as a capacitive load, and a capacitance exists for the Y and X electrodes (hereinafter referred to as "panel capacitor Cp").
Now, a description will be given as to a driver circuit for a conventional AC type PDP and its driving method.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are illustrations showing a conventional driver circuit and its operating waveform.
The driver circuit generating a sustain pulse as suggested by Kishi et al. (Japanese Patent No. 3,201,603) comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, Y electrode driver 11, X electrode driver 12, Y electrode power supplier 13, and X electrode power supplier 14. X electrode driver 12 and X electrode power supplier 14 are the same in construction as Y electrode driver 11 and Y electrode power supplier 13, and will not be described in detail in the following description.
Y electrode power supplier 13 comprises capacitor C1, and three switches SW1, SW2, and SW3. Y electrode driver 11 comprises two switches SW4 and SW5. Switches SW1 and SW2 in the Y electrode power supplier 13 are coupled in series between power source V1 and ground terminal 0. Power source V1 supplies a voltage Vs/2, and the voltage Vs is sustain discharge voltage. One terminal of capacitor C1 is coupled to the contact of switches SW1 and SW2, and switch SW3 is coupled between the other terminal of capacitor C1 and ground terminal 0.
Switches SW4 and SW5 of Y electrode driver 11 are coupled in series to both terminals of capacitor C1 of Y electrode power supplier 13. The contact of switches SW4 and SW5 is coupled to panel capacitor Cp.
As shown in FIG. 2, when switches SW1, SW3, and SW4 are turned on, with switches SW2 and SW5 off, Y electrode voltage Vy is increased to Vs/2 and capacitor C1 is charged with the voltage Vs/2. Subsequently, when switches SW1, SW3, and SW4 are turned off and switches SW2 and SW5 are turned on, the Y electrode voltage Vy is decreased to −Vs/2 by the voltage Vs/2 charged in capacitor C1.
Through this driving operation, positive voltage +Vs/2 and negative voltage −Vs/2 can be alternately applied to the Y electrodes. Likewise, positive voltage +Vs/2 and negative voltage −Vs/2 can be alternately applied to the X electrodes. The voltages ±Vs/2 respectively applied to the X and Y electrodes have an inverted phase with respect to each other. By generating a sustain pulse swinging between −Vs/2 and +Vs/2, the potential difference between X and Y electrodes can be maintained at the sustain discharge voltage Vs.
Such a driver circuit can employ elements of a low withstand voltage, because the withstand voltage of each element in the circuit is Vs/2. However this driver circuit is applicable only to plasma display panels using a pulse swinging between −Vs/2 and +Vs/2.
In addition, the capacitor for storing the voltage used as a negative voltage in this circuit must have a large capacity, so that a considerable amount of an inrush current flows in an initial starting step due to the capacitor.

Apparatus and method for driving plasma display panel


A latching apparatus for lifting and lowering loads. The apparatus comprises a prong and a receiving receptacle configured to receive the prong. The receiving receptacle comprises a body having a central passage, a plurality of jaws arranged about the central passage, and a spring for biasing the jaws to extend into the central passage. The latching apparatus may further comprise an activation disc for disengaging the jaws from the prong. The jaws have a pin extending therefrom; and wherein the activation disc contains a plurality of cam surfaces that engage the pin of the jaws. A method of latching onto a container is also disclosed.

This application relates to a latching mechanism. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to a latching mechanism for lifting and lowering containers.
In industrial applications, operators find it necessary to lift containers. Many times, the containers are located in remote areas. For instance, in the offshore energy industry, boats ferry equipment to platforms located many miles from shore. As those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, the seas can get quite rough. Generally, the containers will be positioned on the aft deck of the boat. In order to offload the equipment, a platform crane is used to lift the containers from the boat deck onto the platform.
Prior art devices requires the use of a ball hook, which is attached to the cable. A deck hand is required to attached the ball hook onto the containers. Sometimes, the ball hook is attached to a set of slings. As those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, attaching the ball hook onto the slings is a dangerous endeavor since the boat may be rocking due to wind and/or waves. For instance, in 10 foot seas, the boat may be traveling vertically as much as 20 feet since the boat will ride the crest of the wave to the trough of the wave. However, the ball hook is not moving in unison with the boat since the crane is mounted on the platform. Additionally, in some applications, the crane may be mounted on floating platform. Therefore, the potential for injury to the deck hand is high due to the logistics of rigging up and rigging down the ball hook to the container.
Therefore, there is a need to have an apparatus and mechanism that allows quick and safe latching and unlatching onto containers. There is also a need that will allow for the lifting containers. There is also a need for a device and method that allows for containers on vessels to be safely loaded and/or offloaded. These needs, and many others, will be met by a reading of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.


A computer system is provided. The computer system includes a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to recognize a user input field of a web site displayable in a browser, the website identified as a security risk based on a whitelist of website addresses; determine that a sequence of characters within the user input field matches one or more entries in a list of partial passwords in response to the web site being identified as a security risk; and prevent the user from entering additional characters into the user input field in response to the determination, to block receipt of the password by the web site. The determination may be performed in response to a count of characters in the sequence of characters exceeding a threshold.

Cyber security is an issue of great importance, as attacks on computer systems and the users of those systems continue to increase. One of the most prevalent, and often most successful, forms of attack is known as the "phishing attack," in which the user is tricked into willingly providing credentials, such as login passwords, to a bad actor or hacker. This can occur under various scenarios. For example, the user may be directed to the hacker's web site which is disguised as a legitimate web site, and which asks the user to login using his credentials. Another example is where the user visits a legitimate web site that has been hacked (perhaps unknown to the owner of the web site) to include software that intercepts the user's credentials during a login process and surreptitiously forwards those credentials to the hacker. Many other examples are possible.

Systems and methods for securing user domain credentials from phishing attacks


The invention is directed to a device for clamping sheet-shaped film material onto the recording drum of a reproduction device and is directed to the operation of this device. The recording drum comprises axially proceeding suction-hole rows for the vacuum-fixing of the recording material. Suction channels, each of which connects the suction holes of a suction hole row to one another, proceed in the wall of the recording drum. A vacuum distributor controllable by the rotational movement of the recording drum is arranged in the recording drum, this controllable vacuum distributor selectively bringing the individual suction channels, the corresponding suction hole rows into communication with a stationary vacuum pump. The vacuum distributor is controllable such that that suction hole row on which the starting region of the recording material lies is first charged with vacuum during the clamping event. As a result thereof, a high initial vacuum is achieved, as a result whereof the recording material does not slip. Further suction hole rows are then successively cut-in in accordance with the increasing wrap of the rotating recording drum by the recording material and are charged with vacuum. The cut-in of further suction hole rows is ended in accordance with the respective circumferential length of the recording material at that suction hole row on which the end region of the recording material lies. In particular, large-format recording material can be clamped onto the recording drum without creating folds and warping, and can be reliably fixed thereat with the device.

The invention refers to the field of electronic reproduction technology and is directed to a device for clamping sheet-shaped recording material onto a recording drum with vacuum suctioning in an electronic reproduction device, and is also directed to a method for clamping. For example, the electronic reproduction device is a color scanner or a color recorder for producing color separations for multi-color printing.
In such an electronic reproduction device, sheet-shaped film material, also referred to as film proofs, are clamped onto the recording drum and fixed thereat by vacuum suctioning. The clamped film proofs are exposed point-by-point and line-by-line by a recording element, are then in turn unclamped from the recording drum and developed. The developed film proofs are the color separations for the multi-color print.
The film proofs can already be present in the form of sheet film material that is taken from a sheet film cassette for clamping or that is cut off before clamping from roll film material situated in a roll film cassette.
It is necessary for an effective employment of an electronic reproduction device, in particular, to shorten the preparation and setting times in comparison to the times required for the actual film exposure. This can occur, among other things, in that optimally many work steps normally to be executed by the operator such as, for example, the clamping and unclamping of the film proofs onto or, respectively, from the recording drum are automated.
Added thereto is the desire to be able to expose film proofs of different formats, particularly large-format film proofs, for example for reproducing posters.
DE-B-22 09 515 already discloses an electronic reproduction device having a device for clamping sheet-shaped recording material onto a recording drum with vacuum suctioning.
The recording drum is a hollow cylinder that is closed by covers. Shaft extensions with which the recording drum is rotatably seated at the device carrier of the reproduction device are secured to the covers. The walls of the hollow cylinder are provided with suction holes for suctioning the film proofs against the drum surface. The suction holes are in communication with the interior of the drum. One shaft extension is hollow, a suction channel thus arising that connects the interior of the drum to a stationary vacuum pump via a rotary transmission leadthrough secured to the shaft extension and via a stationary suction line.
The film proofs to be exposed, which are situated in a sheet film cassette, have their registration perforations hooked over registration pins situated on the recording drum on the basis of a manually actuatable roller and lever mechanism in the known reproduction device. The vacuum pump is then activated and the recording drum is turned, as a result whereof the film proofs are pulled from the sheet film cassette, are wound around the rotating recording drum and are fixed on the drum surface by the vacuum. After the exposure, the film proofs are unclamped and conveyed back into the roll film cassette by the roller and lever mechanism.
The apparatus disclosed by DE-B-22 09 515 has the disadvantage that only film proofs of given formats and provided with registration perforations can be clamped and that the clamping and unclamping can only ensue with the collaboration of an operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,841 discloses an electronic reproduction device that already comprises a means for the automatic clamping of sheet-shaped recording material onto a recording drum, for vacuum suctioning of the recording material against the recording drum and for the automatic unclamping of the exposed recording material from the recording drum. The sheet-shaped recording material is automatically conveyed from a supply station to the recording drum via a conveyor means, is wound around the recording drum with the assistance of an annular channel between drum surface and housing wall and is fixed thereon by vacuum suctioning. After the exposure, the recording material is likewise automatically unclamped from the recording drum and supplied to an exit opening in the device for further-processing. The generated surface of the recording drum is provided with suction holes arranged in rotational direction that are connected to a stationary vacuum pump via the interior of the recording drum and via a suction line in the shaft. A vacuum control means with which the vacuum for the suction holes can be switched on and off or set to an intermediate value is situated in the suction line.
The apparatus disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,841 has the disadvantage that only sheet-shaped recording material can be clamped on and unclamped and that no specific measures for the reliable, fold-free clamping of recording material in different formats are recited that guarantee a smooth, automatic execution.
The devices disclosed by DE-B-22 09 515 and by U.S. Pat. No. 4268,841 have the further disadvantage that all suction holes of the recording drum are simultaneously charged with vacuum when the vacuum pump is switched on at the beginning of the clamping process. Particularly given small-format film proofs, high vacuum losses thereby arise since only a small number of suction holes are covered by the film proof.
As a result of the high vacuum losses, a reliable clamping of the film proofs is then not guaranteed during the exposure time wherein the recording drum rotates at high speed. The suction and, thus, the fixing of the film proofs can in fact be improved by installing a vacuum pump having a high nominal power; this, however, would be involved.
It is already known for reducing the vacuum losses to respectively seal the suction holes not covered by the momentarily clamped film proof by adhesive strips or to employ a recording drum wherein the non-covered suction holes are automatically closed with valves. Sealing the suction holes with adhesive strips is time-consuming and is involved and unreliable with automatically operating valves.
It is likewise already known to subdivide the recording drum by partitions into individual, connectable vacuum chambers. In this case, a reduction of the vacuum losses can be achieved in that respectively only those vacuum chambers are activated that, based on the axial format length, momentarily participate in the fixing of the film proofs.
DE-A-32 30 676 already discloses a vacuum clamping means that employs a combination of pneumatic and mechanical components for fixing sheet-shaped recording material on a recording drum. The suction holes of the recording drum are combined in at least two groups, each of which comprises one or more rows of suction holes connected to one another. The individual suction hole groups are in communication with one another by throttle lines. At least one group is connected to a stationary vacuum generator.
What is achieved by adding individual suction hole groups or suction hole rows is that recording material having different formats can be clamped without high vacuum losses. Means for the automatic control of the valves and for conveying the recording material to or from the recording drum are not specified.
The apparatus disclosed by DE-A-32 30 676 thus has the disadvantage that the feed of the sheet-shaped recording material must ensue manually and that the switching of the suction hole groups during the clamping or unclamping event does not ensue automatically dependent on the rotational motion of the recording drum or, respectively, on the respective wrap of the recording material around the recording drum and, thus, dependent on the respective format of the recording material to be clamped on.
The tendency in reproduction technology is to employ unperforated roll film material and to cut the respectively required film lengths from the roll film material and clamp them on. Added thereto is the desire to be able to clamp and release arbitrary formats. Practice has shown that it is difficult to clamp, in particular, large-format film proofs onto the recording drum exactly and fold-free. An exact and smooth clamping of the film proofs, however, is an indispensable prerequisite for the exposure of exactly registered color separations and for the production of qualitatively high-grade multi-color prints.

Device for clamping sheet-shaped recording material


The present invention provides a process of making 2-(methylthio)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole. The process includes the steps of (a) reacting methyldithiocarbazinate with a molar excess of trifluoroacetic acid; and (b) removing the water and excess trifluoroacetic acid. Water and excess trifluoroacetic acid are preferably removed via distillation.

Existing methods for preparing 2-(methylthio)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole are limited by the excessive cost of commercial scale application of laboratory procedures. Many existing reports are based on laboratory studies and thus present little information on how reaction conditions and particular reactants would affect product yield or purity. In addition, use of procedures and reactions developed in the laboratory cannot be directly applied to commercial scale production because such laboratory procedures typically involve the use of expensive reactants and/or expensive (e.g., separation and purification procedures) techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,284 discloses a process for making certain 2-(alkylthio)-5-(halogenoalkyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles such as 2-(methylthio)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles wherein methyldithiocarbazinate is reacted with a carboxylic anhydride (e.g., trifluoroacetic anhydride) or with a carboxylic acid (e.g., trifluoroacetic acid) in a solvent (e.g., toluene). The reaction can occur in the presence of phosphorous trichloride and pyridine with added sulfuric acid (DE-A-3,422,861) or with carbonyl chlorides (e.g., trifluoroacetyl chloride) and diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, as well as pyridine and sulfuric acid (DE-A-3,722,320).
The first-mentioned method is poorly suited for commercial, large-scale production because the reactants (anhydrides) are expensive and they are used in excess. In addition, by using an anhydride, only half of the reaction moiety is utilized. The reaction with carboxylic acids, phosphorus trichloride, pyridine, sulfuric acid and carbonyl chlorides requires an extensive work-up procedure in which the pyridine is separated off and recovered. Further, phosphorus trichloride forms only sparingly soluble reaction products, which makes mixing difficult and produces unacceptable amounts of waste. Finally, the yields realized from such processes are unacceptably low.
Other procedures for making a 2-(substituted)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole involve the reaction of a carboxylic acid (e.g., trifluoroacetic acid) and a dithiocarbazic ester in the presence of a phosphorylchloride or polyphosphoric acid. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,539 and Gyoefi and Csavassy, Acta Chimica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Tomus 82 (1): 91-97, 1974). The use of such phosphorus compounds results in the formation of waste products containing unacceptably high levels of phosphates and, thus, creates an environmental hazard. Still further, this method requires the use of dry methyldithiocarbazinates (a toxic convulsant). In the dry state this material creates a severe industrial hygiene problem.
There is a need in the art, therefore, for an efficient, high yield, practical, safe method for the commercial, large-scale production of 2-(methylthio)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole. The present invention provides such a process.

Process for producing 2-(methylthio)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole using methyldithiocarbazinate and trifluoroacetic acid


A method of evaluating the quality of a radio link in a mobile radiocommunication system from the net bit rate transmitted on the link.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mobile radiocommunication systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In mobile radiocommunication systems, various processing operations are necessary to format information to be transmitted in a form suitable for its transmission to the radio interface.
In particular, coding (such as error correcting coding in particular) intended to introduce redundancy into the information transmitted provides protection against transmission errors. The coding rate is defined as the ratio of the number of information bits to be transmitted to the number of bits transmitted or bits coded. The coding is generally effected on sequences of information bits or blocks. For given allocated radio resources, the higher the coding rate the higher the information bit rate. However, a high coding rate necessitates good radio conditions, and otherwise quality of service is degraded.
Additional protection against transmission errors is generally provided for data services, generally by retransmitting blocks received incorrectly using a technique known as ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest). The blocks received incorrectly can be blocks in which errors are detected by an error detecting code or can be corrected by an error correcting code. The receiver signals the correct or incorrect status of the blocks received to the transmitter by means of acknowledgement messages (ACK) or non-acknowledgement messages (NACK).
Another processing operation is modulation to obtain an analog signal conveying information to be transmitted. Various modulation techniques are known in the art, characterized by their spectral efficiency, i.e. their ability to transmit a larger or smaller number of bits per symbol for the same allocated frequency band. In the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) system, for example, there is only one form of modulation, GMSK, which transmits one bit per symbol, and in the EGPRS (Enhanced General Packet Radio Service) system there are two types of modulation, GMSK, which transmits one bit per symbol, and 8PSK, which transmits three bits per symbol. The higher the spectral efficiency of the modulation, the higher the bit rate of bits transmitted. However, a high spectral efficiency necessitates good radio conditions and quality of service is otherwise degraded.
Various techniques can be used to optimize the performance of the above systems, such as the following techniques in particular:
link adaptation: this technique dynamically adapts the coding and/or modulation scheme used as a function of radio conditions; in particular, when radio conditions are good, the coding rate can be increased and/or a type of modulation with higher spectral efficiency can be used, to increase the bit rate; for example, as defined in the document "GSM 03.64 Version 8.2.0 Release 1999" published by the ETSI, there are four possible coding schemes (CS1 TO CS4) in the GPRS system and nine possible modulation and coding schemes (MCS1 to MCS9) in the EGPRS system;
cell reselection; because the above systems generally have a cellular architecture, this technique selects a best cell to which to hand over a call in progress in accordance with radio criteria and possibly in accordance with other criteria;
etc.
It is therefore very important in the above systems to be able to evaluate the radio conditions as accurately as possible; otherwise performance can be degraded.
The quality of a radio link is generally represented by one or more quality indicators, such as the raw bit error rate (BER), the block erasure rate (BLER), the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), etc.
The raw BER is obtained by comparing data received before error correcting decoding with corresponding data obtained after error correcting decoding followed by recoding using the same error correcting code as the transmitter.
The BLER corresponds to the rate of data blocks received incorrectly. If the retransmission technique is used, unlike other quality indicators, the BLER can also be determined at the transmitter, from the ACK/NACK messages transmitted by the receiver. Algorithms such as link adaptation or cell reselection algorithms, for example, are generally used in the network, so that the network can itself determine the BLER for the downlink direction without it being necessary for the mobile station to report to the network the BLER value that it determines.
A drawback of quality indicators like the raw BER or the SIR is that, unlike the BLER, they require an estimate, whence a risk of errors and therefore of degrading system performance.
Another drawback of quality indicators such as the raw BER or the SIR is that they are not directly representative of performance. These quality indicators are in fact representative of the quality of the transmission channel, and the relation between the quality of service and the quality of the transmission channel is not fixed, but depends on many factors such as the environment, the speed of the mobile station, etc. From this point of view, the BLER criterion is more pertinent or more representative of performance.
However, the BLER is not the most pertinent criterion in all cases.
In systems in which several coding and/or modulation schemes are possible, for example, such as the GPRS and EGPRS systems, for instance, unlike other quality indicators such as the raw BER or the SIR, the BLER depends on the coding and/or modulation scheme used.
Accordingly, for the GPRS system, the document WO 99/12304 proposes to estimate the value of the BLER that would be obtained for each coding scheme from statistical calculations on quality indicators obtained, such as the raw BER or the SIR, combined with the results of preceding trial and error or simulations. The document therefore does not propose to use quality indicators other than the raw BER or the SIR, and proposes a complex technique for estimating the BLER from the quality indicators obtained in this way, such as the raw BER or the SIR.
Similarly, if the technique of retransmitting blocks received incorrectly is used, the BLER is not the most pertinent criterion either.
There are other cases in which the BLER does not constitute a satisfactory criterion, in particular if the incremental redundancy technique is used. This technique is a more sophisticated and more effective retransmission technique than that previously mentioned. Instead of retransmitting a block always with the same coding scheme, it retransmits the block with a different coding scheme each time, and uses all successive retransmissions of the block conjointly to reduce the probability of decoding it incorrectly. All the blocks can then be transmitted without protection on their first transmission. For example, the effective coding rate is 1 after the first transmission, ½ after the first retransmission, ⅓ after the second retransmission, and so on. This technique, like the link adaptation technique, can therefore increase the usable bit rate, but as the BLER can then be much higher than in the case where this technique is not used, this criterion is not the most pertinent one either.
The document GB 2 330 737 proposes a quality indicator obtained by determining the difference between the number of packets received correctly or the number of packets whose transmission is required and the number of packets actually transmitted. However, this is not the most pertinent criterion either, especially if techniques such as the link adaptation or incremental redundancy techniques previously referred to are used.
There is therefore a need for a quality indicator that would in particular circumvent the various drawbacks previously cited and that would in particular be pertinent for most systems, although accurate and relatively simple to calculate.

Method of evaluating the quality of a radio link in a mobile radiocommunication system


The invention relates to an inductive angle sensor that includes a measuring element able to be positioned, within an angle measurement range, in different angle-positions about a rotational axis, as well as a coil that is at a distance from said measuring element. The surface of the measuring element is at a different distance from the coil in each angle-position, within said angle measurement range.

Eddy current sensors can be used, as is known for example from DE 196 31 438 A1, which is incorporated by reference, to determine the distance between a measuring body and a coil.
Inductive angle sensors that use eddy current sensors are known by way of example from DE 10 2004 033 083 A1, which is incorporated by reference. The eddy current sensor comprises a coil for generating eddy currents in a conductive measuring body and the measuring body itself. The coil and the measuring body can move relative to one another in a movement direction. The measuring body comprises a conductive track that is designed in such a manner that the inductance of the coil changes continuously, that is to say periodically, as the track is scanned in the movement direction. It is possible in this manner to perform time-continuous incremental angle measurements.
Moreover, it is known from DE 10 2009 033 242 A1, which is incorporated by reference, to ascertain an angle of rotation index using eddy current sensors.


Customers receive advertisements or “impressions” related to brick and mortar merchants while accessing online content. The merchants or other entities track which impressions correlate with customers coming to a physical store and conducting a transaction (e.g., making a purchase) by comparing transaction information with information about the customer that is provided by the source of online impressions. In one implementation, the merchant creates a hash from the customer's name and account number on a payment card. This hash is compared with a hash from the impression provider that is generated using the same technique. When a match is found, it is inferred that exposure to the online impression caused the customer to make a purchase at the physical store. Merchants may pay the impression providers an advertising or referral fee based on the matches.

An increasing number of people use the World Wide Web for e-commerce as well as for other purposes. These people represent a source of potential consumers that merchants wish to access. Techniques for referring potential customers to merchants benefits both the merchants, by increasing customer traffic, and the customers, by introducing the customers to merchants that provide goods and services the customers desire.
For example, an e-commerce website may pay an affiliate website for providing customer referrals. The e-commerce merchant may wish to draw potential customers to its website and encourage other website operators to link to the e-commerce website through a hyperlink or similar technology. The users that click through one of the links to the e-commerce website may be tracked by the use of a cookie or tracking token. The use of a cookie makes it possible to know which affiliate website directed the potential customer to the e-commerce website. If the potential customer makes a purchase from the e-commerce website, the e-commerce merchant may pay a commission to the affiliate website for being the source of the customer lead. These techniques have proven effective in the realm of e-commerce, and yet generally remain limited to this environment.

Tracking online impressions to offline purchases


A microwave electronics package has a microwave waveguide window assembly hermetically sealed to the electronics package using an intermediate bimetallic bushing. The metallic components of the bimetallic bushing have thermal properties similar to the thermal properties of the housing and waveguide window frame, respectively, permitting the use of fusion welding techniques such as laser welding to hermetically seal the waveguide assembly in the housing and to preserve the integrity of the waveguide window during fusion welding and during thermal cycling of the electronics package. A microwave grounding element is also provided in the assembled electronics package to provide a continuous microwave ground path.

Microwave electronics packages are frequently produced from aluminum alloys since such alloys have low weight and good thermal dissipation. These packages are generally machined from thick aluminum or an aluminum alloy block to house a microwave source. The housing has at least one wall with a through-opening over which a transparent waveguide window is hermetically sealed to allow microwaves to pass between the interior and exterior of the housing. It is necessary to have a reliable hermetic seal between the metal window frame and the metal electronics package housing.
Compatible metals may be interfaced with each other using standard procedures, such as laser welding, soldering, and the like. Dissimilar metals, e.g., metals characterized by differing thermal expansion properties, melting points, weld incompatibilities and the like, do not reliably interface using such standard laser welding and soldering procedures. For example, iron cannot be physically laser welded to aluminum, and solder joints between iron and aluminum have a definite thermal fatigue cycle life. As a result, an iron-based metal waveguide window frame cannot be reliably soldered or laser welded to an aluminum electronics package and undergo sustained periods of reliable operation.
Currently, waveguide windows are mounted to electronics packages using complicated solder techniques. A glass window is sealed to a metal frame using a conventional glass-to-metal sealing technique. The metal frame is typically made of an iron-based alloy such as KOVAR.RTM.. The metal frame is designed to interface with the glass in a standard fashion. The glass window/metal frame sub-assembly is mounted and soldered to a copper bellows. The copper bellows is soldered to the aluminum electronics package. The copper bellows helps relieve the thermal stresses caused by the different thermal expansion properties of the metal frame and the aluminum housing. The joint between the window assembly and the package housing must remain hermetic throughout repeated thermal cycling to provide reliable operation.
The use of the above-mentioned copper bellows between the glass window/metal frame subassembly and the electronics package housing has a number of drawbacks. It is difficult to coordinate soldering the window-to-bellows and the bellows-to-housing at the same time. Additionally, the window assembly is mounted within a small recess in the package housing which forms an abutment face to which the copper bellows is soldered. Since the copper bellows must be sealed to the package housing within the recess, it is difficult to obtain an accurate and reliable solder joint within the recess. Furthermore, the temperature required to solder, which is typically about 200.degree. C., often stresses the glass window and breaks it.
Soldering techniques typically produce a rather high heat affected zone (HAZ), which may extend into the glass-to-metal seal (GTMS) zone in waveguide assemblies. Use of joining techniques producing a large HAZ may adversely affect the integrity of the glass window, as well as the integrity of the connection between the glass window and the metal frame. To maintain the integrity of the GTMS zone, it is preferable to use joining techniques having a low or narrow HAZ. It is known that laser welding produces a relatively low HAZ. However, it is not possible to hermetically join metals having dissimilar thermal properties, such as copper or iron alloys with aluminum or an aluminum alloy.
Methods are known for interfacing dissimilar metals. For example, an aluminum body and a standard iron-based body may be joined through the use of a transition bushing. A transition bushing is a metal-to-metal interface bushing fabricated from a dissimilar metal sheet. A dissimilar metal sheet is a sheet of metal consisting of two or more layers of dissimilar metal which have been joined together by, for example, an explosive weld. An explosive weld connotes the metallurgical bond created at the point of impact when one metal is driven against another by the force of an explosion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,299 discloses an explosively bonded electronics package having an aluminum housing with upper and lower layers of a dissimilar metal clad thereto. Holes are drilled in the side of the housing to accommodate sealed wires that are connected to a ceramic substrate attached to the floor of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,594 discloses a method of making a sealed transition joint for an electrical contact pin connection unit. In this device, the pin is sealed to the connector by a glass seal having a uniform shape. In order to increase reliability of the glass seal, it must be relatively thick. The transition joint is made of dissimilar metal layers where one layer is made of the same material as the package housing and the other layer is made of the same material as the pin connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,307 discloses a bi-metal flange providing a hermetic seal between a pin connector and an electronics package housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,683 discloses a connector formed from at least two dissimilar metals that is capable of sealing a hermetic feed-through in an electronics package.
These prior art devices do not disclose a waveguide window assembly having a metal window frame for mounting a thin glass window that is capable of being hermetically sealed to an electronics package, preferably by a laser weld, without adversely affecting the integrity of the sealed glass window.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,257 discloses a waveguide window assembly in which a buffer section, composed of materials which progressively vary the coefficient of thermal expansion, is mounted between the housing and the window frame. A preferred embodiment employs a buffer section composed of two materials arranged in side-by-side relationship, with a deep groove formed near the interface between the two materials to provide stress relief. Soldering is the preferred method for joining the window to the frame and the frame to the housing. High thermal stresses are generated, however, during soldering, which result in high breakage rates for the delicate transparent window. The assembly disclosed in this patent furthermore suffers performance problems as a consequence of discontinuities in the microwave ground path along the waveguide tube where it joins the waveguide window assembly.
The waveguide assembly of the present invention is thus capable of being hermetically sealed in an electronics package in such a way that installation of the waveguide window in the electronics package and repeated thermal cycling of the assembly do not result in any breakage or deterioration in the performance properties. The assembly of the present invention also provides for a continuous microwave signal ground path, thereby improving signal transmission and fidelity.

Waveguide window assembly and microwave electronics package


A method for making slender seamless steel mold is disclosed, wherein the outer surface of a solid slender male mold is first chased with concave and convex stripes. Then, the male mold is hardened and fitted into a hollow female mold which has not been gone through hardening process. Thereafter, a hydraulic pressure is exerted onto the outer surface of the female mold so as to impress the concave and convex of the male mold onto the inner surface of the female mold. Then the male mold is annealed and drilled with a longitudinal through hole. At least three longitudinal slits are cut on the wall of the through hole in an outward direction. Finally, the male and female molds are together heat-treated and put into water with normal temperature in order to create fissures at the slit portions of the male mold and crack the male mold into pieces. Consequently, a slender seamless steel mold having inner surface formed with concave and convex stripes is completely made.

The present invention relates to a method for making slender seamless steel mold, and more particularly to a method for making seamless steel mold for manufacturing a grip sleeve of a golf club.
It is known that a general solid plastic conic article or cylindrical article is molded by an upper mold and an opposite lower mold detachably associated therewith. When a hollow conic article or cylindrical article is molded, an additional pin member must be disposed through the cavity defined by the upper and lower molds as shown in FIG. 8A. A sleeve member H having a through hole h as shown in FIG. 8B is molded in such a manner that a pin member P is disposed in a cavity R between the upper and lower molds M1, M2 of FIG. 8A to define an annular space. The plastic material is injected into the cavity from an injection gate S to form the sleeve H as shown in FIG. 8B. The thickness of the sleeve H is determined by the diameter of the pin member P. However, in general, the length of the pin member is much larger than the diameter thereof so that when suffering the strong injection force during the material injection process, the pin member P tends to deform into a curved configuration shown by the phantom lines in FIG. 8A. Even if the injection gate S is located at a not center portion, the pin member P will be inevitably curved. As a result, the through hole of the product will be eccentrical and the thickness of the wall thereof will be disunified. With reference to FIG. 8C, respecting the molding process of a basically hollow conic grip sleeve of a golf club, an upper and a lower molds are detachably joined during the molding process. After the molding process is completed, the upper and lower molds are separated for taking out the preliminary product of the grip sleeve as shown in FIG. 8C. The product has many rough edges T1-T5 at the seams L, L1, L2 formed by the joint between the molds. The portion with such seams and rough edges must be sanded and polished many times in subsequent processing. Consequently, the manufacturing cost will be greatly increased due to the labor in such processing. Moreover, the grip of the golf club is always chased with stripes and figures for the practice and appearance purposes. Such stripes and figures are often somewhat damaged during the sanding and polishing operation. Therefore, a grip with high quality can be hardly achieved.
It is known from the above that it is the only way to solve the aforesaid problems and manufacture a grip with high quality to substitute the conventional steel molds for molding the grip sleeve with a seamless steel mold. However, it is extremely difficult to make a slender seamless steel mold, not to mentioned chasing discontinuous and irregular concave and convex stripes or figures on the inner surface of a long slender tube with a length of 270 mm and an inner diameter of 14.5 mm. Even the most advanced CNC lathe at present can only operate on a plane-to-plane basis. Although the rifle line is chased in the gun barrel, the rifle line is a regular simple continuous curve. In contrast therewith, the stripes and figures of the grip sleeve of a golf club are discontinuous and irregular, so that the chasing method of the rifle line cannot be applied to the grip sleeve of a golf club.

Method for making slender seamless steel mold


In a multiplex communication system for a bus vehicle, including: a plurality of loads disposed in the bus vehicle and connected to a wire harness; a switch unit for inputting signals to operate the loads and generating multiplex data; a first load drive unit for controlling the loads placed mainly on a floor of the bus vehicle; and a second load drive unit for controlling the loads placed mainly on a ceiling of the bus vehicle, the multiplex communication system further includes a multiplex line interconnecting the switch unit, the first load drive unit and the second load drive unit, and transmitting the multiplex data to the first and second load drive units to execute a multiplex communication, each the first and second load drive units controlling the loads in accordance with the multiplex data received through the multiplex line from the switch unit. The wire harness can be formed with high assembling performance or productivity in the bus vehicle.

The present invention relates to a multiplex communication system for a vehicle, and more particularly to a multiplex communication system for a vehicle in which a large number of loads mounted on the vehicle are integrated into a plurality of units which are multiplexed for saving lines between the units.
Generally, in a vehicle, loads such as various kinds of lamps and motors are arranged dispersedly in parts of the vehicle, operation switches for operating the loads are disposed in the vicinity of a driver's seat, and the operation switches and the loads corresponding thereto are interconnected to each other by signal lines. Since recent vehicles mount a large number of loads, the number of signal lines increases and the diameter and weight of a wire harness (WH) bundling the signal and power lines also become large; work for wiring the wire harness in the vehicle becomes extremely burdensome and the vehicle weight also increases.
A conventional multiplex communication system has been proposed in that the operation switches disposed in the vicinity of a driver's seat are integrated into a single switch unit close to the driver's seat. Further, the loads arranged dispersedly in the parts of the vehicle are divided into front and rear groups of the vehicle in which each load of the two groups is integrated into a load drive unit arranged on the vehicle floor corresponding to the respective groups. In addition, the load drive units are interconnected by a multiplex line. With the proposed conventional system, a communication between the units can be made via the multiplex line for operating the corresponding load in response to an input signal from a specific operation switch, so that the number of lines of the wire harness which must be wired for connecting the operation switches and loads is drastically reduced.
The loads integrated into each load drive unit are connected to each other by the power and signal lines. On the other hand, with the proposed system, the loads are grouped on the front and rear of the vehicle and both the load drive units for integrating and connecting the grouped loads are arranged on the vehicle floor.
Thus, particularly in a bus vehicle arranging a large number of illuminating lamps and the like on the ceiling, the number of lines of a wire harness bundling power and signal lines increases and becomes bulky for connecting a large number of loads disposed on the front and rear of the ceiling to each load drive unit. In addition, the wire harness must be wired between the ceiling and floor.
However, a place for wiring the wire harness between the ceiling and floor is limited to specific places such as the wall faces of the vehicle; particularly the bus has a structure with the vehicle wall faces formed with a large number of glass windows, so that it is difficult to form the wire harness wired between the ceiling loads divided on the front and rear of the vehicle and the units disposed on the vehicle floor with high assembling performance or productivity.

Multiplex communication system for vehicle


Disclosed is a training apparatus for training players involved in contact sports, such as football. The training apparatus includes a frame assembly, a first driving mechanism, a drifting mechanism, a second driving mechanism, and a dummy. The frame assembly is configured to support the first driving mechanism, the drifting mechanism, the second driving mechanism, and the dummy thereon. The first driving mechanism is configured to move the dummy in a longitudinal direction, the second driving mechanism is configured to move the dummy in a transverse direction, and the drifting mechanism is configured to move the dummy along a vertical axis of the frame assembly. Further disclosed is a training system including a training apparatus and a controlling module. The controlling module is operatively coupled to the training apparatus for controlling the longitudinal direction movement, the transverse direction movement, and the vertical axis movement of the dummy.

A contact sport is a sport that includes significant physical contact between players participating in the sport. Some of the popular contact sports include rugby football, American football, ice hockey, lacrosse, amateur wrestling, and the like. American football, generally known as football in the United States and Canada, is a competitive team sport that involves both physical toughness of the players involved and a complex level of strategy between the players. Derived from the English game of rugby, American football was started in 1879. Since then, American football has become a multi-billion dollar business in its professional form.
Football is played between two teams of players, wherein the object of each team is to advance a ball into opposing team's area. The team which is advancing the ball may be referred to as an "offensive team" and the team which is preventing the advancement of the ball into their area may be referred to as "defensive team". To prevent the offensive team from advancing the ball, the defensive team may tackle a ball-carrying player of the offensive team by knocking the player to ground or out of bounds of the field of play. Accordingly, players of defensive team may use some technique of physical contact to knock the ball-carrying player of the offensive team to the ground. The game of football is both physically and intellectually demanding, and requires the players to possess excellent athletic skills, physical strength, and quick thinking.
Football players of the offensive team and the defensive team are involved in various playing techniques, such as tackling, blocking and drilling. These playing techniques require different training strategies and different movement pattern of the football players. For developing and improving athletic skills, physical strength and playing techniques of the football players, their coaches generally employ conventional football training devices and systems. The conventional football training devices are adapted to simulate conditions of an actual football game for enabling the football players to practice their techniques without requiring them to encounter real football players. A blocking sled is one of the conventional football training devices used for training football players to practice various playing techniques, such as blocking. A conventional blocking sled preferably includes a dummy attached to supports, such as crossbeams for enabling the football players to practice blocking techniques. However, the dummy of the blocking sled is generally stationary in the nature or capable of being moved in one direction only.
Most conventional football training devices, such as the aforementioned devices, do not simulate movement patterns of real football players for training the football players.
Further, the coaches of the football players may be required to accurately evaluate the athletic skills, physical strength and playing techniques of their players. In such instance, the conventional football training devices are not adapted to provide an accurate assessment of the athletic skills, the physical strength and the playing techniques of the players. Accordingly, the coaches are generally unable to strategize training sessions for the players to locate and up bring the shortcomings in the techniques of their players.
Based on the foregoing, there exists a need for a training apparatus that is capable of simulating actual game conditions for training players. More specifically, there persists a need for a training apparatus which is adapted to simulate various movement patterns of real players involved in a sport activity, such as football. Further, there exists a need for a training system that is capable of measuring and analyzing athletic skills, physical strength and playing techniques of the players in an easy and reliable manner.

Training apparatus for training players involved in sports activities


A rotary multi-port valve has a valve body having a primary flow port and a plurality of secondary flow ports. A rotary diverter is rotatable within the valve body and has an internal piston receptacle. A port selector piston is linearly moveable by hydraulic pressure from a de-energized position within the piston receptacle to an energized position for sealing with a selected flow port and accomplishes development of a spring force during hydraulically energized piston movement. Upon reduction of the hydraulic pressure the stored spring force returns the port selector piston to its de-energized position freeing the rotary diverter member for selective rotation to another selected flow port.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to multi-port diverter valves which may have a single input flow of fluid and multiple output flows of fluid or in the alternative may have multiple input flows of fluid and a single output fluid flow. More particularly, the present invention concerns a rotary multi-port diverter valve mechanism having a port selector piston member that is linearly moveable within a passage of a rotary diverter member to permit selective positioning of the piston member achieve selective flow to or from a plurality of secondary flow ports and a primary flow port.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many different types of rotary diverter valves have been developed over the years and are presently used in a wide variety of fluid handling environments. In particular, flow streams from a number of petroleum wells can be conducted through a multi-port valve so that the conditions of each of the flow streams can be measured or collected. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,196,266 and 7,059,349 present diverting valves of this nature. In the petroleum industry, U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,070 shows an insert valve for use as a choke valve. U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,042 discloses a multi-way valve mechanism.


A vacuum switching tube has a cylindrical housing, including an insulator which directly surrounds contact pieces of the tube. The radial distance of the insulator from the contact pieces is less than or at most equal to the length of the contact stroke. In addition, the contact pieces can be structured as axial magnetic field contacts, and the free cross-section can be narrowed in the back space of the contact pieces by radial expansion at the contact pins or by radial constriction of the insulator.

The present invention relates to the field of energy distribution. More particularly, the present invention pertains to the structure of a vacuum switching tube in which switching contacts are directly surrounded by an insulating housing.
Vacuum switches are used to interrupt current in energy distribution networks. They are also used in power supplies for large power consumption devices. Vacuum switches essentially include a vacuum switching tube and a drive device. The vacuum switching tube is the actual switching element, and it has an axially movable contact piece that is rigidly coupled with the drive device. The drive device is designed such that a certain distance between contacts exists when the switch is closed. This distance is denoted the contact stroke.
German Patent No. DE 19 15 198 discloses a vacuum switching tube that has a housing which includes a metallic hollow cylinder in the region of the contact pieces. The metallic hollow cylinder directly surrounds the contact pieces. Hollow cylinder insulators, generally made of ceramic material, are soldered on at both ends.
In addition to the aforementioned vacuum switching tubes, it is also common to provide a cylindrical housing in the vacuum switching tube which comprises one or two axially adjacent insulators as disclosed in German Patent Nos. DE 25 35 150, DE 26 12 129, DE 27 25 092. In these switches, a hollow cylindrical metal shield is provided to protect an inner wall of the insulator against the condensation of metal vapor. This metal shield surrounds the contact pieces directly, at a distance, and is attached to either the insulator, at the seam of the two insulators, or to one of the two end plates of the housing.
A vacuum switching tube disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,877 has a hollow cylinder insulator as an axially extending housing part and no metal shield is provided between the contact pieces and the insulator. A metal shield is attached to the fixed contact pin at one end of the insulator to prevent the condensation of metal vapor.


A media utilization administering device reads a medium ID saved in a memory card, obtains last update time information indicating the respective times during a data transfer at specified time intervals, and stores state information including the medium ID and the last update time information in a utilization administration memory. The media utilization administering device also stores the last update time information as the state information in the memory card. A transfer resumption judging device compares the medium IDs and the last update time information included in the state information and saved in both the memory card attached and the utilization administration memory when the data transfer was started. If the state information held by both agree as a result of the comparison, a transfer resumption controlling device causes a data transfer processing device to resume the data transfer from a position on the data indicated by the last update time information.

In recent years, it has become possible to quite easily distribute data in the form of digitized content data such as video images of high quality and audio sounds of high quality with the speeding up of networks and the rapid spread of personal computers and digital television receivers into general households. Further, as even general users have come to be able to easily handle digital content data (hereinafter, "contents"), services of providing various contents have become popular. With the diversification of storage media such as hard disk devices, DVDs (digital versatile discs) and SD (secure digital) memory cards (product name), the capacities of storage media are in the process of becoming larger. Thus, even small-sized storage media such as SD memory cards can store a content which becomes a large-volume data such as a two-hour long movie program, and even general households are coming to possess a huge amount of contents.
As one form of the storage media capable of storing contents, there are semiconductor storage media having built-in semiconductor memories. Further, card-shaped semiconductor memory cards (hereinafter, merely "memory cards") are known as semiconductor storage media. For example, memory cards are internally provided with semiconductor memories such as flash memories. The memory cards enable the storage and reproduction of contents by permitting video data and sound data to be written in the semiconductor memories and permitting them to be read.
Memory cards include, for example, SD memory cards (product name) mentioned above, memory sticks (product name), smart media (product name), compact flashes (registered trademark) or multimedia cards called MMCs. As compared to DVDs capable of storing a large-volume data, the memory cards are smaller and more compact. For this reason, the memory cards are coming to be used for storing or reproducing contents by being mounted in portable information processing apparatuses such as mobile phones or portable players. Further, personal computers and the like are coming to be provided with interfaces to and from which the memory cards can be attached and detached.
With the capability of mounting the memory cards in various information processing apparatuses and the like in this way, it becomes possible, for example, that one collects various data by means of a mobile phone and stores them in a memory card while being out, and mounts this memory card in a personal computer at home to edit the collected various data. Alternatively, one can store a music data edited using a personal computer in a memory card and mount the memory card in a portable player to reproduce the music data while being out. In this way, various modes of utilization taking advantage of the compactness of the memory card can be thought.
On the other hand, since the memory cards are small-sized and compact as described above, they are often used while being carried around and, hence, it can be predicted that the reproduction and storage of contents are often interrupted. For example, in the case of using a memory card in a portable music player, the frequent use is thought to temporarily interrupting the reproduction of the music data and resume the reproduction of a music data since music is often reproduced while the music player is carried around. Further, since the memory card is easily attachable and detachable to and from an apparatus main body, the attachment and detachment of the memory card to and from the apparatus main body are predicted to be relatively frequent with a power supply kept on. Furthermore, in the case of using a content download service using a mobile phone with a memory card mounted in the mobile phone, a communication interruption occurs when a user goes out of a wireless area or the quality of a radio transmission path is deteriorated, thereby interrupting the downloading. As a result, a problem of stopping the storage of the content halfway can be thought.
Thus, there has been proposed a technology of judging whether or not storage/reproduction can be continued after a data transfer for the storage/reproduction is interrupted in an information processing apparatus capable of storing and/or reproducing data by mounting a memory card mounted thereinto (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-288142, hereinafter referred to as patent document 1).
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the construction of a prior art communication terminal unit having a resumption judging function for an interrupted data transfer as disclosed in patent document 1. In FIG. 13, a communication terminal unit 99 is provided with a communicator 991, a controller 992, a memory card interface 993, a storage 994 and a user interface 995. Thus, the communication terminal unit 99 receives a data downloaded from a content server 91 via a communication network. The communication terminal unit 99 further stores the received data in a memory card 93 mounted in the memory card interface 993 thereof via the memory card interface 993.
The communicator 991 receives the data downloaded from the content server 91. The user interface 995 functions as an interface for a user. The controller 992 controls the respective parts of the communication terminal unit 99 including the interruption of the storage of the downloaded data, the control of resuming the storage and the processing of downloaded data. The storage 994 saves information used to control the respective parts of the communication terminal unit 99 including information used for controls to interrupt the storage of the downloaded data and resume the storage and information used to process the downloaded data. The memory card interface 993 functions as an interface for the mounted memory card 93.
A terminal ID used to individually distinguish the communication terminal unit 99 is saved in a terminal ID memory area 941 of the storage 994. Every time downloading is made, download identification information used to distinguish the download being executed from other downloads is saved in a download identification information memory area 942 by a download interruption controlling function 921 of the controller 992. The terminal ID and the download identification information are saved in an administration area 931 of the memory card 93.
In the case that a user inputs a download request by way of the user interface 995, the terminal IDs saved in the terminal ID memory area 941 and the administration area 931 and the pieces of the download identification information saved in the download identification information memory area 942 and the administration area 931 are compared by a download resumption judging function 922 of the controller 992. If the memory card 93 contains a data whose downloading was interrupted, the download resumption judging function 922 judges whether or not the downloading of the interrupted data can be resumed based on a comparison result. If it is judged that the downloading can be resumed from an interrupted position as a result of the resumption judgment, the downloading is so resumed as to continue from the interrupted position by the download resumption controlling function 923 of the controller 992, and the data after the interruption is saved in the memory card 93.
By the above construction, the downloading can be resumed only when the same communication terminal unit that was used before the interruption of the downloading is used and the same memory card that was used before the interruption of the downloading was interrupted. This can prevent a problem of saving contents as constituent parts of the same content in a plurality of memory cards in a divided manner.
However, the prior art technology disclosed in patent document 1 has a problem of being able to resume the downloading on a per-content basis. For example, if a data to be downloaded is a music content, the downloading had to be resumed from the starting end of a fifth song when an interruption is made during the downloading of the fifth song upon downloading ten songs together. As described above, SD memory cards are about to obtain a storage capacity sufficient to save a two-hour long movie content at present. If the downloading of such a huge content is interrupted, the downloading has to be resumed by reversing up to two hours.
Since the memory cards are frequently attached to and detached from various apparatuses and devices as described above, causes for interrupting the downloading are thought to include, for example, a contact failure at the time of mounting the memory cards, a contact failure during the storage and/or reproduction, an inadvertent error of turning the power supply off, i.e. entering an off state in addition to the aforementioned causes. If interruptions are often made due to such causes during the downloading of a huge content, the convenience or user-friendliness of the communication terminal unit and the memory card may be impaired.

Information processing apparatus, an integrated circuit, a data transfer controlling method, a data transfer controlling program, a program storage medium, a program transmission medium and a data storage medium


In general, the disclosure is directed to sealed enclosures and devices that include enclosures for protecting enclosed heat sensitive components from the heat generated by enclosed heat producing components. Heat producing components within the enclosure may be placed to achieve uniform distribution of heat produced by the heat producing components, to optimize the dissipation of heat from the heat producing components to the enclosure, and to minimize the heat experienced by the heat sensitive components. The exterior of the enclosure may be designed to increase thermal dissipation and to protect against thermal radiation.

Sensitive electronic components may be protected from harsh operating environments by being enclosed in a substantially air-proof and dust-proof enclosure. For example, in an automotive application, the sensitive electronic components may be subject to harsh vibrations, high temperatures, and environmental contaminants such as dirt, oil, fluids, and the like. While the enclosure keeps contaminants away from the enclosed sensitive electronic components by being substantially sealed, the sealed design of the enclosures may also trap in the heat produced by the enclosed electronic components such as microprocessors and high speed memory.

Thermal dissipation techniques for multi-sensory electromechanical products packaged in sealed enclosures


A recording medium conveying device comprising: a master roll holder to hold a master roll of a recording medium; a platen to support the recording medium supplied from the master roll holder in an image recording section; a conveyance roller positioned upstream of the platen to convey the recording medium by adding driving force to the recording medium and a guide positioned near the platen to guide the recording medium, wherein the guide changes an angle of the recording medium against the platen according to a stiffness of the recording medium.

The present invention relates to a recording medium conveying device, particularly to a recording medium conveying device which conveys a recording medium in accordance with image recording.
An image recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer is equipped with a recording medium conveying device which conveys a recording medium in accordance with image recording (see the Patent Documents 1 and 2, for examples.) The recording medium conveying device has a master roll holding section that holds the master roll of the recording medium upstream of the platen which is positioned in an image recording area of the image recording apparatus, and it also has an ejecting section that ejects the recording medium after recording an image downstream of the platen.
If the recording medium is lifted in this operation, the distance between the recording head and the recording medium becomes non-uniform, resulting in image quality degradation. Accordingly, the recording medium conveying device conveys the recording medium along the platen so as to maintain flatness.
[Patent Document 1] Tokkai No. 2000-326572
[Patent Document 2] Tokkai No. 2003-137464
However, an ink jet printer may record images on various different kinds of recording media and, because the stiffness of a recording medium is different from type to type, the recording medium may be lifted on the platen depending on its stiffness.
For example, a recording medium with high stiffness can be conveyed smoothly without being in tension because of its high stiffness, but a recording medium with low stiffness cannot be conveyed at a stable feed rate if no tension is added to the medium. Accordingly, if the conveyance path is so designed that the recording medium is tilted upward in the traveling direction when it enters the platen, tension is added by the weight of the recording medium itself. However, if a recording medium with high stiffness is conveyed on this conveyance path, there is a possibility that the recording medium is lifted from the platen because of its stiffness when it transfers from the tilted portion onto the platen. On the other hand, when the recording medium is ejected after having an image recorded, a recording medium with high stiffness can be ejected smoothly without added tension because of its high stiffness. In case of ejecting a recording medium with low stiffness, however, if no tension is added, buckling may be caused by the conveyance resistance to the recording medium when it is separated from the platen. This buckling may cause the recording medium to rub against the discharge surface of the recording head, possibly resulting in recording medium jamming.
If the conveyance path is so designed that the recording medium is tilted downward in the traveling direction when the recording medium separates from the platen, tension is added by the weight of the recording medium itself. However, if a recording medium with high stiffness is conveyed on this conveyance path, the recording medium may be lifted from the platen because of its form maintaining force due to the stiffness when the recording medium hangs down, and may rub against the discharge surface of the recording head, possibly resulting in recording medium jamming.


An optical disc according to the present invention includes a plurality of recording layers; a receiving section for receiving, from outside an optical disc, a switching instruction for switching a target layer to be targeted for recording or reproducing information among the plurality of the recording layers; and a switching section for switching the target layer among the plurality of recording layers, based on the switching instruction received.

In recent years, ID information is becoming more important. Experimentation on incorporating integrated circuits including ID information has been attempted. Such kinds of applications are expected to continue in the future (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-83482). Conventionally, a method for physically searching a portable-type optical disc which includes an IC including ID information has not been proposed.
Portable-type optical discs are dispersed after recording of the contents due to their portability. Thus, there is a demand for a method of searching for contents which have been recorded in the portable optical discs. The objective of the present invention is to provide an optical disc and a remote control device which enable searching for contents recorded on an optical disc by mounting an IC including ID information on an optical disc.
The objective of the present invention is also to provide a multi-layer disc capable of switching a target layer without applying a voltage to a conducing layer of a disc directly from outside the disc.
The objective of the present invention is also to provide an apparatus capable of controlling tracking of a laser light irradiated onto a target layer even in the case where no track is provided on the target layer.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America


A fuel cell vehicle thermal management system with cold start function includes a fuel cell stack, electronic water pump, electronic thermostat, cold start heater and first solenoid valve, all connected to a thermal management controller, and air intake preheating heat exchangers. The coolant outlet of the fuel cell stack is connected with an inlet of the electronic water pump, and an outlet of the electronic water pump is connected with the inlets of the electronic thermostat and the first solenoid valve. The first outlet of the electronic thermostat is connected with the inlet of the heater. The outlet of the heater is connected with the inlet of the fuel cell stack. The outlet of the first solenoid valve is connected with the inlet of the intake preheating heat exchanger. The outlet of the intake preheating heat exchanger is connected with the inlet of the heater.

Countries all over the world are actively developing new energy technologies. As a new energy vehicle with low oil consumption, high energy conversion rate, zero emission, and low noise, fuel cell vehicles are considered to be an important way to solve the energy crisis and environmental degradation. The "Energy Technology Revolution and Innovation Action Plan (2016-2030)" organized by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration has deployed 15 key tasks including hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology innovation.
The current use of pure electric vehicles is limited by the energy density of the power battery, and the driving range is limited. In winter, electric heating is used to heat the vehicle and in summer to provide cooling for air conditioning, which further limits the driving range of pure electric vehicles. Fuel cell vehicles only need to provide fuel for refilling, which greatly increases the driving range. In a fuel cell vehicle, a proper working range can ensure the safety and cycle life of the power battery; considering the thermal comfort of the human body, it is also necessary to control the temperature of the passenger compartment. The cold start of fuel cell is a major problem that limits the operation of fuel cell vehicles in cold environments.
The working characteristics of the fuel cell stack determine that the air entering the stack cannot be lower than 0° C., because the long-term low-temperature air entering the stack will cause the temperature of the monolithic membrane electrode at the stack entrance to blow down, resulting in ice piercing the membrane electrode. In addition, the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the monolithic membrane electrode is large, and long-term use will accelerate the degradation of the stack performance and reduce the service life. Starting the fuel cell in an environment below 0° C., due to the formation of ice and blockage of the reaction site, reduces the operating performance and life of the fuel cell, thereby causing irreversible damage to the battery components.
The utility model patent with publication number CN207398272U and publication date on May 22, 2018 discloses a thermal management system and control pipeline for a fuel cell, which is controlled by controlling the on and off of the three-way solenoid valve and the opening of the water pump. The on-off and direction of the waterway in the road, and select the radiator and heating device to start and stop according to the temperature to realize the heating, heat dissipation and insulation of the system. It does not realize the cold start of the fuel cell in the low temperature environment and the preheating of the cold air before entering the stack, and it does not use the waste heat generated during the fuel cell operation to heat the passenger compartment and the lithium power battery, resulting in energy waste.

Fuel cell vehicle thermal management system with cold start function and control method thereof