A method for processing meat for a customer that includes receiving a selected specification for a meat product from a buyer device via a communication network. The method includes the step of processing the meat that is responsive to instructions from the seller device to provide a meat product having the selected specification.

A problem in the meat packing industry is the formation of metmyoglobin and growth of aerobic bacteria on finished packages of meat, reducing the shelf life of meat and ending in vast amounts of waste. Metmyoglobin is an oxygenated form of myoglobin, a protein in meat. The problem arises when the meat, in either ground or sliced form, is exposed to air for too long. Deoxymyoglobin is a precursor protein which when oxygenated forms oxymyoglobin in a normal atmosphere of oxygen. Oxymyoglobin is responsible for the bright red color of meat which is desirable. When oxymyoglobin is immersed in a substantially oxygen deficient atmosphere, the process reverses itself and the oxymyoglobin will reduce, yielding oxygen in gas form or dissolved in the surface water of the meat. If the free gas space in the package is very small, such as a chubb package, or even a vacuum package, the relative percentage volume of oxygen can become very high. This can lead to metmyoglobin formation, discoloration and growth of aerobic bacteria in the areas of high oxygen concentration.
Previous methods of controlled atmosphere or modified atmosphere packaging have sought to eliminate oxygen in packages, however, not realizing the detrimental effect that oxygen trapped in the form of oxymyoglobin can have, once packaged. Bright red meat, full of oxymyoglobin, packaged in low oxygen will inevitably result in the worst looking meat. Attempts to deal with this included using oversized packages with excess amounts of free space in the package. Further, methods of processing beef are beset with other inefficiencies and problems.
For example, typically all carcasses are chilled prior to further processing, yet the carcasses contain a great deal of bone and other materials that are not used for human consumption and yet the entire carcass is chilled prior to processing. Furthermore, the shape of meat primals made into food items used for human consumption are of irregular and inconvenient profile. Conversely, packaging trays that have been cost effectively and efficiently manufactured, are invariably rectangular and/or square in profile. By adopting procedures disclosed herein, it will be seen that costs of chilling are reduced since, for example, the skeleton can be removed before chilling thereby saving costs of such chilling process. Fresh red meat tissue is typically quite soft and easy to cut immediately after the animal has been slaughtered and prior to the natural, "hardening" effects of rigor mortis has occurred. It can therefore be easier and quicker to cut primal portions from animal carcasses, during the normal animal "disassembly" process prior to rigor mortis and chilling. Those fresh red meat primal items, that are intended for human consumption, can then be shaped by placing into molds of a specifically designed and desired profile prior to rigor mortis and then chilled during the natural rigor mortis process. This device will provide a method to change and adjust the shape of fresh red meat primal items so that, for example, fresh red meat primal items can be readily and automatically processed during the slicing and cutting process as required prior to packaging. Furthermore, profiles of primal meat portions can be fixed so as to be more convenient when slices of fresh red meat primal items are loaded into improved packaging, such that packaging volume can be efficiently utilized, while still maintaining a space efficient, appealing and attractive appearance for the consumer at the point of retail display and/or food service outlet.
Typical modified atmosphere packages for fresh foods, such as red meats and other perishable foods, have a limited shelf life, and typically include a thermoformed tray or other package composed of EPS/tie/PE (barrier foam trays) plastics material or other suitable substantially gas impermeable material, i.e., tray, overlaid with a single transparent web of plastics material that can be heat sealed to the tray. A typical substantially gas impermeable heat scalable composite web includes a biaxially oriented polyester (PET) layer/tie layer/gas barrier layer (such as PVDC) an adhesive layer/heat sealing layer (such as polyethylene), which in turn is finally adhered by a heat sealer to the tray. The polyethylene layer is a heat sealable layer that is tied to a gas barrier layer such as polyvinylidene chloride which is in turn adhered to polyester. Because of the diverse types of materials that are employed in the foregoing package, it is difficult to reprocess and recycle the post-consumer package. Moreover, the cost associated with post-consumer recycling of multiple layer plastics material renders the process impractical and substantially not economically feasible.
Commonly used modified atmosphere packages for fresh foods such as red meats and other perishable foods having a limited shelf life typically comprise a tray thermoformed from a sheet of EPS (expanded polystyrene) laminated to a web of substantially gas impermeable web material or other suitable substantially gas impermeable material. A lid, such as a single or composite transparent web of plastics material that can be bonded to the flanges of the tray. Both tray and lid materials are typically substantially gas impermeable heat sealable composite structures and cannot be readily recycled. Lid material typically comprises a laminated structure including several layers such as bi-axially oriented polyester bonded to a gas barrier layer (such as PVDC) which is sandwiched between an adhesive or heat sealing layer (such as polyethylene). Because of the diverse types of materials that are employed in the foregoing package, it is difficult to reprocess and recycle the "post-consumer" package. Moreover, the cost associated with post-consumer recycling of multiple layer plastics material, such as the aforementioned, renders the process impractical and substantially not economically feasible.
A further limitation of packaging perishable goods such as fresh red meats in hermetically sealed gas barrier packages results from the need to enclose a relatively large volume of gas, within the package. Clearly, consumers have no interest in purchasing these gasses that accompany the red meat. Minimizing the size and bulky appearance of such packaging is desirable. Additionally, a major proportion of red meat production occurs at locations that are located at a substantial distance from the point of retail sale of red meats to consumers. Most U.S. beef is produced in the central plains around Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa and the major markets are situated on the coastal regions such as New York or California. Costs of shipping these fresh red meat items from the point of production and packaging can be reduced if the packages are reduced in volume. However, reduction in the volume of gases provided within a package can have a deleterious effect on shelf life of the perishable goods and red meat contained therein as explained above.
The packaging industry has therefore felt the need for simplified individual packaging structures that will provide finished package performance including label requirements for a variety of applications. Additionally, if the packaging can be handled economically both in the pre-consumer handling and in post-consumer recycling, significant economic advantages are available.
With conventional packaging of meats and other perishable type goods, the shelf life is limited due to bacterial growth within the package. The growth can be inhibited when the package contains carbon dioxide gas, however, carbon dioxide will dissolve in liquids such as water contained within the goods in the package. After time, carbon dioxide can become substantially dissolved in the water, limiting the shelf life. When carbon dioxide dissolves into liquids and water, this can cause the package to collapse inwardly. Collapsing causes the appearance of the package to be unacceptable to consumers and can also cause the package to rupture.
In order to extend shelf and storage life of the packaged goods several inventions have been disclosed and examples of known packaging for this purpose are given in the following U.S. patents:
5,779,832KocherMethod and Apparatus for making a peelable film5,629,060GarwoodPackaging with Peelable Lid5,560,182GarwoodPackaging Method5,534,282GarwoodPacking Perishable Goods5,514,392GarwoodPackaging for Perishable Goods5,323,590GarwoodMethod of producing food packaging withgas between tensioned film and lid5,226,531GarwoodFood Packaging with gas between tensionedfilm and Lid5,155,974GarwoodFood Packaging with gas between tensionedfilm and Lid5,115,624GarwoodThermoplastic skin packing means5,129,512GarwoodPackaging
The subject matter of the above patents is hereby incorporated by reference.
Prior art as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,832 to Kocher, discloses a method of making a multilayer peelable film. Kocher discloses a method of co-extruding two webs of material simultaneously in the form of a multilayer film that can be delaminated into a third web and a second web and then, after treating the second web to improve gas permeability therethrough, re-laminating the third and second webs together. These two re-laminated webs can be sealed to a first web of gas barrier material and thereby produce a package. The first web may have a depression formed therein into which goods such as red meat can be placed before heat sealing the third and second webs to the first web. Typically, goods will not completely fill the depression and space will remain in the depression in addition to the goods. A blend of gases or a single gas such as CO2 can be provided in the space with the goods and thereby can contact the goods. After storage and prior to retail display at an intended point of sale to consumers, the third web can be peeled from the package allowing atmospheric oxygen to permeate the second web of gas permeable material and to contact the goods. The atmospheric oxygen can then allow generation of a bright red colored substance such as oxymyoglobin thereby providing an appearance attractive to the consumers.
It has been found that when applying the second and third webs extruded in the manner as disclosed in Kocher to packaging as that disclosed in the inventor's own U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,282, a dull appearance of the second web can result with reduced clarity when compared with other webs of material that are produced in a single web such as plasticized PVC (pPVC). Furthermore, after removal of the third web, from the re-laminated co-extrusion, by peeling, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,282, distortions and ripples can appear in the second web. This occurs, partly, as a result of inadequate lateral tension provided in the second web when limited by the inherent limitations of co-extruding the second and third webs simultaneously. This can, therefore, severely detract from the visual appearance of the package in the eyes of consumers.
Conventional modified atmosphere "case ready" retail packaged fresh red meats and other perishable type goods experience limited shelf life because of bacterial growth, such as aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, on the packaged goods; rancidity "off flavors" caused, in part, by oxidizing fats; and discoloration to visible meat surfaces. The growth can be inhibited when goods are treated by exposure to certain agents prior to packaging and then providing certain gases and/or other agents with the goods within the finished and sealed package. However, some gases such as carbon dioxide gas, for example, can quickly dissolve in substances such as oils and water contained in the goods. After time, carbon dioxide can become substantially dissolved in water which may limit shelf life. Furthermore, when oxygen is present and more particularly when a quantity of approximately 5,000 to 30,000 parts per million of oxygen is present in a gas within a package, discoloration due to formation of metmyoglobin on the visible surface of red meat, reduces consumer appeal of the packaged goods. When carbon dioxide dissolves (into another substance) the combined volume of the residual substances is substantially reduced which can cause the package to collapse inwardly. Collapsing causes the appearance of the package to be unacceptable to consumers and can also cause the package to rupture and render it unfit for use. In compensating for such a deleterious event, several existing packaging systems require large volumes of gas to be packaged with the goods. However, when large volumes of gas are provided, the resultant "bulky" condition does not provide for cost efficient shipping and distribution from the location of packaging to the point of retail sale of the packaged goods.
Conventional packages for red meat are produced in one or more sizes. When packaging red meats or other perishable goods, the package must conform to the goods. Therefore, if a red meat portion is too large for one size of a package, the next larger size must be used. Oftentimes, this will lead to an overly large sized package introducing inefficiency into the process because of the wasted space. In order to maximize efficient use of the internal space available in a typical road, rail or sea, refrigerated shipping container or trailer, it is important to increase the density and unit weight per unit volume of the packaged perishable goods. The maximized efficient use of the space in the shipping containers can be achieved by adjusting the shape of the inconveniently shaped animal fresh red meat primal portions such that slices of the fresh red meat primal portions will fit and substantially fill the available space within trays of the improved packaging.
High oxygen case ready packages are inefficient, in large part, due to the inherent need to include a quantity/volume of gas that is equal to, or greater than the volume of the package meat contents. For example, a high oxygen package comprising a barrier foam tray and clear barrier film lid, hermetically sealed to flanges of the barrier foam tray and with a 2 lb. quantity of meat sealed therein will require approximately 1 liter of gas to be enclosed and sealed within the package to ensure that an approximate 10 day shelf life extension can be provided. Said gas (referred to as modified atmosphere) will typically comprise 80% Oxygen and 20% Carbon Dioxide but other combinations that may include relatively small quantities (say <10%) of residual atmospheric nitrogen are also typical. The relatively high level of CO2 (when compared to ambient atmosphere) is provided to inhibit bacterial growth, and with good storage temperature control, a shelf life for ground, fresh meat can be extended to over 10 days from packaging. The bacterial controlling effect is a consequence, in part, of a characteristic of bacteria entering a "lag phase" when the environment in which it is placed, significantly changes. Eventually, the bacteria will adapt to the atmosphere that is present and commence normal, reproduction and extended infection. The shelf life extension will vary according to several factors including, for example, the following storage temperature, i.e., the less variation from a minimum temperature of approximately 29.5° F. is optimum, (while ensuring that freezing of the meat, which occurs at about 26-27° F., does not occur); the condition and age of the meat at packaging, the conditions at the point of packaging such as hygiene, temperature etc., muscle type and age of animal from which the meat was harvested. Nevertheless, a shelf life extension of 10 days is readily reproducible when conditions are maintained as required. After a relatively short period of time, the CO2 provided within the package will dissolve into the water and oils contained in the meat and the oxygen is present to ensure that a consumer appealing/acceptable "bloom" or "redness" is maintained. The "bloom" is caused by the natural color of oxymyoglobin and oxyhemoglobin that is present in freshly cut meat but when oxygen is present, after approximately 9 to 10 days discoloration such as browning due to increased levels of surface metmyoglobin will occur, rendering the product unsalable or requiring a reduction in price to sell to a consumer. Furthermore, the excessive volume of the finished packages, results in excessive packaging material and shipping costs and display case space at retail outlets and also excessive costs incurred for disposal of additional cardboard, etc., at the supermarket outlets.
Effective packaging materials for existing, extended shelf life, retail packaged, case ready perishable goods are often relatively expensive and the associated packaging processes are typically labor intensive. The use of EPS and FP can provide desirable low cost packaging materials but the inherent cell structure of these materials can retain residual oxygen (from air) within the cell structure, even during and after exposure to very low levels of air pressure (vacuum). When EPS and FP materials are used in low residual oxygen modified atmosphere packaging, such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/039,150, residual oxygen can diffuse and exchange from the cell structure, and become present as a free gas within the master container thereby elevating the level of oxygen present therein to a potentially undesirable level. As described in the subject matter of U.S. patent applications in the name of the present inventor, apparatus for minimizing the level of residual oxygen retained in the cell structure and master containers are disclosed. However, such a process of gas exchange is problematic and difficult to reliably maintain. Therefore, packaging fabricated from solid plastics sheet, may be more efficiently employed in this present application.
Conventional "master container" or "master package" modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) systems include loading perishable goods into trays and then a plurality of loaded trays are subsequently placed into a larger "master container" which may be manufactured from a suitable gas barrier material. The "master container" is typically evacuated of air and then filled with a gas blend that may include a mixture of any desirable gases which may include, for example, 40% carbon dioxide and 60% nitrogen for a low oxygen MAP system. The master container is then sealed with loaded trays to provide an airtight, sealed master container, containing loaded trays and a gas blend with a residual quantity of atmospheric oxygen. Most desirably, for low oxygen MAP systems, the residual quantity of atmospheric oxygen will not exceed an amount of 100 to 300 PPM (parts per million) with the balance of the gas blend including nitrogen and carbon dioxide and/or other inert or oxygen free gases. Low cost packaging materials include foamed polystyrene (EPS trays), however, the choice of material for tray manufacture must exclude materials (unless treated in a manner that will substantially remove atmospheric oxygen from the cell structure), such as expanded (foamed) polystyrene (EPS), that have a capacity to "retain" air, even after exposure to a high vacuum as may occur in packaging processes. Therefore, in order to maintain the residual quantity of atmospheric oxygen at not more than 100 PPM, untreated expanded (foamed) polystyrene (EPS) or FP trays cannot be easily and efficiently used. By way of explanation, EPS trays are typically thermoformed from extruded EPS sheets. A typical method of producing an EPS sheet is to "foam" the melted (liquid) polystyrene by injection of a foaming agent, such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide or pentane, into liquid polystyrene thereby causing it to foam (become frothy, with bubbles and/or tiny gas filled cells within the foam) and then extrude the foam through a slot in a flat or annular die. The extruded EPS can then cool and solidify into a sheet that can be slit and wound onto a roll prior to further processing. Immediately after extrusion of the EPS sheet, cells retained within the foam are filled with nitrogen or other gas (foaming agent) used in the foaming process. However, such a foaming agent gas, if not retained by other means in the cell structure, can quickly exchange with the ambient air during storage and the cells can become filled with air. When placed within a vacuum chamber and exposed to a high level of vacuum, as is normal in a "master container "packaging process for low oxygen MAP systems, cells can retain a quantity of air, even during and subsequent to evacuation (unless the exposure to vacuum is significantly extended to the extent required). The retained quantity of air in the cells, can subsequently exchange with gas within the sealed "master container" which can, thereby, elevate the residual oxygen content of the "free" gas contained within the "master container" above a desirable level.
A fundamental need that resulted in the development of thermoformed EPS trays initially arose in the modem supermarket. Fresh meats and poultry were processed and retail packaged at the supermarket immediately prior to retail display and sale. EPS foam trays were developed to meet these supermarket requirements, and have provided a functional and low cost retail package, when "over wrapped" with, a low cost web of plastic material such as plasticized PVC. However, with case ready MAP systems, such EPS trays are now required to be shipped in trucks and other means of transport from the point of packaging, which may be located many hundreds of miles from the point of sale. Abuse and damage can occur to the packaging during this shipping. In an effort to protect against damage, rigid and heavy weight cartons with sheets, cushions' and/or columns, made from suitable materials such as chipboard are manufactured and assembled with EPS trays and goods contained therein. Such protective packaging is expensive, bulky and results in excessive shipping costs. Furthermore, excessive packaging, as required for the sole purpose of protection during shipping, must be discarded at the supermarket thereby creating excessive waste disposal problems with the attendant costs to the environment. It would therefore be desirable to produce rigid packages and containers that can withstand the abuse of long transportation routes.
Typically meat packing companies slaughter cattle and then process the dressed carcass by chilling and then disassembling the carcass into portions of meat which can then be, in part, delivered to the point of sale to consumers, in vacuum packs. However, approximately 40% of the disassembled meat is processed by coarse grinding and then blended to provide ground meat with a selected with a selected fat and lean content as required by the retailer. The fat and muscle content of the ground meat may be, for example, 20% fat and 80% lean. Typical current processing methods require that the boneless meat be firstly coarse ground then blended, vacuum packaged, delivered to a supermarket or packaging facility close to the consumer where the coarse ground meat is fine ground and then retail packaged immediately prior to retail display. This conventional process inherently results in excessive exposure of the ground meat to ambient atmosphere including oxygen during the grinding and blending process at the point of slaughter. Furthermore, this process requires that relatively large quantities of ground beef are blended together in a single batch. Because it is not possible to disassemble a carcass and provide boneless meat therefrom with a precise and selected ratio of fat to muscle tissue, the typical batch blending process often requires several attempts to produce the desired ratio of fat to lean content. The general industry practice is to deposit selected boneless beef with a fat to lean ratio as close to a desired tolerance as possible. The selected boneless beef may have a fat to lean ratio of 15% fat to 85% lean +/−5%. Typically, a sample of the blended boneless beef is then removed from the blender and then can be tested to determine fat and lean content using, for example, a device known as an Analray testing procedure. After determining the fat and muscle content of the coarse ground meat, additional fat or lean meat is added to the batch blender and the full batch is again blended for a period of time and then a second sample is extracted and tested to determine fat and lean content. If the fat and lean content is as required at this point, the batch of coarse ground meat can be vacuum packaged and stored in refrigerated facilities prior to delivery to the point of retail sale. However if the fat and lean content is not as required, then, additional fat or lean meat can be added to the batch and further mixing is then required. This process is often repeated as many as 5 times or more. Each time the coarse ground meat is blended again it is damaged by the blending process. This damage may include "fat smear" or over heating. Heat is generated during this blending process and "fat smear" occurs when the meat has been exposed to excessive blending. This procedure is expensive in terms of energy, labor and equipment time. Furthermore, damage to the ground meat is undesirable and yet damage typically occurs as a matter of normal process with the currently predominant industry procedures. During the process described above the meat is exposed to ambient air and bacteria such as E. coli 0157:H7 and other dangerous bacteria can be present in the blended ground meats. Excessive blending can cause the bacteria to spread throughout the batch of meat in the blender.
Ground meat such as ground beef is produced by processing selected portions of boneless meat, including fat and muscle tissues, through a grinding machine. The relative quantities of fat and muscle contained in any batch of the portions of boneless meat is typically arranged to correspond with set industry standards. The batch of boneless meat may include about 93% muscle tissue and therefore the balance of about 7% would be fat. The following TABLE 1 of items 1 to 5, shows the fat and muscle tissue content of some typical industry specifications for boneless meat:
TABLE 1ItemMuscle TissueFat Tissue193% 7%290%10%375%25%465%35%550%50%
Although the industry standards are established, it is difficult to produce large quantity of boneless beef to any specification or ratio of fat and muscle. This difficulty can arise as a result of genetic variation in the animals from which the boneless meat is harvested. Consequently, there is often variations that could be as much as +/−2% to 3%, which corresponds to a possible variation of up to 6% and perhaps even more, in the actual fat or muscle content of the boneless meat.
Typically, consumers can purchase fine ground beef with a fat content that is specified and clearly marked on any retail package. The fat content may be specified to 10%, 25%, or 30% and it is illegal, in several U.S. states, such as California and New York, to sell such retail products to consumers if the fat content is higher than the amount shown on the retail package. Therefore, producing retail packages of ground beef with a fat content of, for example, 25%, may be achieved by grinding a known quantity of Item 2 (listed above) and blending this with a known, measured and corresponding quantity of Item 4 (listed above). The fat content of the resulting ground beef can be measured but it is common for the fat content variation in the initial quantity of the boneless beef items to vary to such an extent that a compensating procedure must be accommodated during production of the product for retail packaging. This compensating procedure can often result in production of ground beef that has a muscle content that is higher than is specified on the retail package. The consumer, however, only pays for the ground beef according to the fat content shown on the retail package. Thus a loss of profit for the ground beef producer can be incurred.
Typically, a quantity of boneless beef, with a specified muscle and fat content, for example, Item 5, is loaded into a hopper which is connected directly to a primary meat grinder. The portions of meat are progressively carried, by augers and compressed into a tubular line with a perforated grinding plate fitted across. The grinding plate is typically manufactured from suitably hardened steal and the perforations may include drilled and reamed holes of a chosen diameter, which may be about 0.5″ diameter, and which extend completely through the grinding plate. The primary grinder typically produces coarse grinds with the diameter of the meat pieces corresponding with the diameter of the drilled and reamed holes in the grinding plate.
After primary grinding a quantity of Item 5 may be blended with a selected quantity of coarse ground Item 4. After the blending of Item 5 with Item 4 the resultant mix is processed through a secondary fine grinding machine prior to portioning and retail packaging. The secondary fine grinding machine may be similar to the primary coarse grinding machine except that the grinding plate can be drilled and reamed with holes of less than about 0.25″ diameter.
Typical fine ground meat for retail packaging and sale to consumers may be produced with fat and muscle content as shown in the following TABLE 2:
TABLE 2ItemMuscle TissueFat Tissue1F90%10%2F75%25%3F65%35%
The existing grinding, blending and processing equipment, such as that made by the Weiler/Beehive Company, has been demonstrated as effective for grinding meats of various types. However, little has been proposed to improve the quality of the ground meats by, for example, arranging equipment in such a manner so as to substantially prevent contact of the ground meats with air and/or atmospheric oxygen during the grinding and blending processes. The conventional equipment does not allow for continuously and automatically grinding, measuring and blending the ground meats in such a manner so as to continuously produce quantities of ground meats to an exact and predetermined muscle and fat content. In particular, nothing has been proposed in the way of automatically controlling the fat content.
The present invention provides methods, systems and apparatus to automatically and continuously grind, condition, blend, treat and package the ground meat products with improved accuracy of muscle tissue to fat tissue ratio, so as to minimize losses to the processor. The ground meat can then be packaged in suitable packaging that will enhance the keeping qualities of the products and provide a safer effective method of delivering the goods to consumers.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalophathy (BSE) is an incurable disease, that can "jump" from cows to humans, and is considered (albeit low) a threat to the US beef industry. It has been, typically, contracted by cattle as a consequence of the animal eating "blood & bone meal" that has been used as a component of the animal's feed where the "blood and Bone" meal has been derived from a cow that has BSE. The practice of feeding "blood & bone" to cattle in their feed is now illegal in the USA and many other countries but there is still a risk of the disease being imported from a country that still allows this practice. Furthermore, a cow can become infected by eating as little as 1 gram of contaminated meal. BSE has been reported in 18 countries and is a threat to the US beef industry. BSE is not believed to be contagious and can only be contracted in humans by consuming of a part of the cow. "Foot and Mouth" or "Hoof and Mouth" is also another threat to the US beef industry and all other cloven foot animals.
Some one billion lbs. of boneless beef is imported from Australia and New Zealand, into the USA annually. US Federal legislation may someday dictate the requirement to display information on the retail pack to consumers and show the country of origin as well as all other details as, among other things, a guard against illegal imports from banned source countries such as China.
Global Animal Management (GAM) is a company owned by Schering Plough that has established a system and large computer data-base that is intended to record all information about a beef animal from birth to slaughter. Unfortunately, the value of this information is lost at all US slaughtering plants because they cannot trace the animal through the packing plant disassembly process.

Processing meat products responsive to customer orders


A user's historical service data of a first time period and a second time period is obtained. Means and variances of a plurality of users' historical service data of the first time period and the second period are calculated. A risk model is generated based on at least one type of the plurality of users' historical behavioral data. The user's service data is obtained. At least one type of the user's behavior data is introduced to the risk model. A determination is made whether the at least one type of the user's behavior data is outside of the safety threshold. A service corresponding to the service data is rejected when the at least one type of the user's behavior data is outside of the safety threshold.

Identity theft is one of the most significant issues in cybersecurity, especially for online transactions involving payment and fund transfer. Anti-identity theft systems normally identify identity theft based on information used to perform the transaction and associated with the user's computing device, geographic location, or IP address. If abnormal behavior is found, the system may determine that the transaction is performed by an unauthorized user. When the information is unavailable, or an authorized user changes user computing devices or geographic location, the system may falsely indicate that an identity theft has occurred or require additional user identity authentication. The additional user identity authentication can be time consuming and compromise user experience.

Risk identification based on historical behavioral data


The various embodiments herein provide a method and system for providing location based content delivery by embedding a hidden data in a multimedia file. The method comprises of encoding a hidden marker along with a multimedia content in the multimedia file, playing the multimedia file at a terminal of a particular location, initializing a client application pre-installed in a mobile device, recognizing and decoding the hidden marker in the multimedia file through the client application, sending the decoded hidden marker information to a central server, generating a list of postulated tasks based on the hidden marker information, sending the list of postulated tasks to the client application of the mobile device, selecting a task from the list of postulated tasks through the client application, sending the selected task information to the central server and playing the selected task at the terminal of the particular location by the central server.

1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relates to embedding digital information in multimedia files and particularly relates to method and system for recognizing and decoding hidden data embedded in the multimedia file in the mobile device. The embodiments herein more particularly relates to a method and system for providing services colligated with the hidden marker information to the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally in the general advertisement delivery model adopted for television broadcasting, the advertising (images) are sent unidirectional to the television receivers by the television stations for viewing the images by the users. Furthermore, it is well known that advertising images are broadcasted in the intervals between the regular programs. Therefore, it is important for an advertiser to sponsor the programs that are likely to be viewed by most people so that the peoples viewing the program may view the advertisements displayed between the intervals and purchase the class of products displayed in the advertised images.
A growing number of television content sources enable interactive television. When operational, interactive television provides useful e-commerce, advertising, and information capabilities to viewers. One mechanism for interactivity typically involves the insertion of information or data in hidden portions of a multimedia signal. Modern analog/digital set top boxes or other client terminals can decode these signals to obtain the trigger information, and with the appropriate enabling software, convert the trigger information into a rich interactive experience for the viewer.
However, typical interactive television systems leave the interactive experience under the exclusive control of content providers. The user has limited opportunity to customize or enhance the viewing experience. In other words, because the content providers are typically the parties that provide and encode the multimedia information into the television signals, the MSO's role is often reduced to simply relaying the television signals to viewers without any modification or customization.
In addition, due to the embedded nature of the multimedia information, only the set top box has the capability to access and process the hidden information. This is inconvenient to viewers that wish to view and or otherwise have an interactive experience via use of devices other than the set top box and television. These ancillary devices includes a personal computer (PC), handheld display device, a mobile devices companion set top boxes, or other client terminals different from the set top box. Ancillary devices that are connected to the Internet, through a cable modem for instance, cannot decode the hidden information unless they have both the software and hardware compatibility.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for providing a method and system for recognizing hidden information embedded within a multimedia file in a user device. There is also a need for a method and system which provides a plurality of services/tasks to the user based on the recognized hidden information. There is also a need for a method and system which enables the user to perform a plurality of customizable functionalities on the services based on the user preferences.
The abovementioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.

Method and system for providing location based content delivery by embedding hidden data in a multimedia file

TELIBRAHMA CONVERGENT COMMUNICATIONS PVT. LTD.


A method of playing a card game involves a dealer and at least one player. Each player makes at least first and second stage wagers against a gaming house conducting the game. The first card is dealt to each player for the first stage and a payout is made to each player having a winning card according to a predetermined payout schedule or rule. A second card is dealt to each player for a second stage and then a payout is made to each player having a winning hand of two cards by comparing each hand to the payout schedule of winning two card hands. In the event that there is at least one player who has won at the second stage so as to qualify for a third stage, a third card is dealt to each player who is qualified and a payout based on the third stage wager is made to each player having a winning hand at three cards by comparing the hand to a payout schedule for a winning three card hand. The card game may also include fourth and fifth stages for qualifying players who have made additional wagers for these stages.

A wide variety of poker-type games are known in the gaming industry including such games played at casinos. The people who gamble at casinos can vary widely in their skill level ranging from serious poker players who may play the game for competitive, compensatory, and even professional reasons to casual gamblers who are seeking primarily entertainment as a result of game participation. Casual players seeking entertainment usually do not wish to commit a high level of concentration and mental activity to the game. It is generally felt important for casinos and other professional gaming facilities to provide games which appeal to both serious players as well as more casual players. Current poker games played in casinos or other gaming establishments with cards require the use of a banker provided by the casino, this banker usually acting as a dealer or a croupier. Generally, poker players will play against other players while the casino manages the game by means of the banker and collects a commission fee at each round of the game. Poker games that are played against the dealer or banker or against other players can be intimidating to many patrons of the casino.
In many poker games both the players' cards and a dealer's cards are dealt face down in order to prevent the passing of information from one participant to another. Passing information from the dealer to the players or among the players themselves can affect the fairness, honesty and integrity of the game.
Many current poker games require participants after they are given the chance to examine their initial set of cards to make a decision on whether or not to stay in the game or to fold and lose the initial wager. In order to make a proper decision, each player needs to know and understand the strategy and rules of the game. Casual players who are not particularly familiar with the rules of the game or players involved in a poker game that has complex rules may find it difficult to make a wise decision.
Many current poker games require the players to make a decision after each stage of the game or after each card is dealt in the round. This decision may be to withdraw the placed wager or not or to place an additional wager to stay in the card game. Many card poker games have a limit on the additional wagers that a player can place when a decision to stay in the game is made. Often the additional wager is equal to or double the wager the player has initially risked. To make a good decision, the player may need to know the following:
(a) whether or not an additional wager is possible at that stage;
(b) an understanding of the strategy of the particular game; and
(c) the statistics and odds of the game for particular poker hands that may be winning hands.
In many current poker games the winner or winners of each round of the game are decided only once and on a fixed number of cards, for example three, four or five cards, with or without community cards. This can be the case even in a poker game where a partial hand is provided to each player after an initial wager and the actual hand of poker involves the potential for one, two or more cards to each player or potential community cards. Also, in most known poker games it is important for each player to know and understand the ranking of poker hands.
Some multi-staged poker games played in casinos are taught in the patent literature.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,550 to Awada describes a stud poker game for a casino wherein a player can make three wagers against the casino. The first of the three wagers is resolved by dealing a first card face up and placing it within a first of three rectangular indicia on a playing surface. If the first card is a nine or higher, the player wins the first wager. The second of the three wagers is resolved by dealing a second card face up and placing it within a second of three card areas on the table. When the second card is a nine or higher or the first and second cards are any pair from two's to eight's, the player wins a second wager. The third of the three wagers is resolved by dealing three additional cards face up and placing them within a third card receiving area on the table, thus providing the player with a five card poker hand. Any payout to the player based on the third wager is in accordance with a payout schedule.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,467 to Kal describes a multi-staged poker game that can be played with a conventional deck of cards with a different wild card designated at each stage. A wager is placed and a hand of cards is dealt to each player at each stage. The cards dealt to each player in previous stages become part of that player's hand at each subsequent stage. A winning hand of cards is determined at each stage by comparing the player's hand including any wild cards to a schedule of winning card combinations and an odds schedule. In this poker-type game each player may be required to ante an additional wager after the cards are dealt at each stage as a condition for continued play within that stage and within the round. In variations of this game a community card can be part of all the players' hands of cards for a particular stage and the dealer can also be dealt a hand of cards at each stage.
Despite the existence of these prior poker games, there remains a need for a poker-style game with simplified wagering structure and dealing procedures and also a card game that has playing integrity while allowing wagering options that add to the interest of the game.

Method of playing a card game involving a dealer


An electromagnetic relay has a fixed touch piece having a fixed contact, a movable touch piece having a movable contact contactably and separably opposed to the fixed contact, and configured to elastically deform, an auxiliary member configured to energize the movable touch piece to the fixed contact piece side, an electromagnet, and an intermediate member configured to be operated by magnetization of the electromagnet and elastically deform the movable touch piece.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic relay.
2. Related Art
As a conventional electromagnetic relay, for example, one is known in which three plate springs are superimposed and integrated by fastening and fixing the one end side at three protrusions while fastening and fixing the other end side with a contact, so as to constitute a spring assembly (movable touch piece) (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 7,710,224).
However, in the above conventional electromagnetic relay, since the movable touch piece is made up of the three plate springs and those are integrated, in the case of elastically deforming them, it is necessary to act force against elastic force of the three plates. Hence it is necessary to increase driving force generated by a coil assembly (electromagnet) which is used for elastically deforming the movable touch piece. This may result in having to increase the size of the electromagnet or increase a current supply amount.


A parking brake apparatus includes: a braking member; a ratchet having a plurality of serrations and disposed on one of the braking member and a vehicle body-side member; a pawl rotatably disposed via a pawl pin on the other; and a pawl-urging spring. At start of braking, every time the pawl relatively climbs over the serration, the pawl is brought into contact with a non-locking surface side of the serration in accordance with an urging force of the pawl-urging spring. The pawl has a triangular engagement tooth that is inserted into a tooth groove of the ratchet, and a second side end surface facing the non-locking surface is covered with a synthetic resin except a tip portion of the engagement tooth. The non-locking surface is a concave surface concaved so as to be recessed from a straight line connecting a tooth tip and a tooth bottom of the serration.

There has been proposed a parking brake apparatus that includes (a) a braking member that is moved in one direction to pull a brake cable, thereby actuating a packing brake; (b) a ratchet that has a large number of serrations along a moving direction of the braking member, and that is disposed on one of the braking member and a vehicle body-side member; (c) a pawl that is rotatably disposed via a pawl pin on the other one of the braking member and the vehicle body-side member, and that is brought into contact with a locking surface side of the serration in accordance with a tensile force of the brake cable, thereby preventing the braking member from moving backward toward an original position in a direction opposite to the one direction; and (d) a pawl-urging spring that urges the pawl in such a rotational direction that the pawl engages with the ratchet, and in which (e) at the start of braking, at which the braking member is moved in the one direction, every time the pawl relatively climbs over the serration, the pawl is brought into contact with a non-locking surface side of the serration in accordance with an urging force of the pawl-urging spring, wherein (f) the pawl has a triangular engagement tooth that is inserted into a tooth groove of the ratchet, and a second side end surface that faces the non-locking surface of the serration is covered with a synthetic resin except a tip portion of the engagement tooth. In a foot-operated parking brake operation apparatus described in Patent Document 1, which is one example of the above-described parking brake apparatus, each of a pawl and a ratchet is made of a metal material, and a second side end surface of an engagement tooth of the pawl is covered with a synthetic resin, thereby reducing operating noise (successive hitting noise) generated by contact between the pawl and the ratchet at the start of braking, at which a braking member is moved in one direction (at the time of a brake operation of depressing a pedal).


A seismic brace or restraint for supporting the spine of lengths of electric cable tray. The seismic brace has a generally U-shaped yoke. The ends of the spines of two adjacent sections of cable tray are supported between the arms of the yoke. A cap over the yoke is supported by a hanger rod. The hanger rod inhibits the cap from moving vertically. The cap and yoke have formations enabling the yoke to be slid longitudinally of the cable tray into position at the cap with the cable tray spines in the yoke. Lateral struts extend in opposite directions laterally from the cap to inhibit lateral motion of the brace. Longitudinal struts extend in opposite longitudinal directions from the cap to inhibit longitudinal motion of the brace. The struts are supported on side brackets positioned on the cap.

The present invention relates to a cable tray for electric cable used in buildings, factories and other structures and particularly to a seismic brace or restraint for the cable tray.
Electric wire or cables extend through homes, factories, buildings and other structures. The cables could be stretched the substantial distance between widely spaced supports. But they would hang down, stretch or be damaged. The cables are instead supported on elongate trays that are suspended from ceilings, beams, walls, etc. along their path to where the cables are connected.
Cable trays can take various forms. One type, for which the invention is particularly adapted, is suspended from an overhead structure, such as a ceiling, the underside of the floor above, structural beams, etc. This cable tray may have an elongate center support or spine with elongate trays extending along opposite sides of the center support spine, or possibly may have an "L" arrangement with a vertical support and a cable supporting tray off to only one lateral side of the support. The cable tray is supported from the structure above by hangers located at spaced apart intervals along the tray.
Some geographic localities are subject to earthquakes and earth tremors. Building code writers and builders have desired a seismic restraint or brace for supporting a cable tray, which restraint or brace can be subjected to the movement of a structure during an earth tremor without the brace breaking or releasing its hold on the cable tray or separating from the supporting structure above.
A cable tray is assembled from a plurality of elongate sections. Each of the sections may have a central spine. The ends of adjacent sections meet at a splice connector. Normally, a simple cable tray hanger rod is attached between the splice connector and the supporting structure above the hanger rod. In the event of an earth tremor or earthquake, the hanger rod may separate from the support above it, or may break the rod, or connector or spine, or the splice connector may separate from the hanger rod or from the spine of one of the sections of the cable tray.


This invention provides beta-carboline compounds of formula I:

The transcription (nuclear) factor NF-κB is a member of the Rel protein family, and is typically a heterodimer composed of p50 and p65 subunits. NF-κB is constitutively present in the cytosol, and is inactivated by its association with one of the IκB family of inhibitors. Palombella et al., WO 95/25533, teaches that the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway plays an essential role in the regulation of NF-κB activity, being responsible for the processing of p105 to p50 and the degradation of the inhibitor protein IκB-α. Chen et al., Cell 84:853 (1996), teaches that prior to degradation, IκB-α undergoes selective phosphorylation at serine residues 32 and 36 by the multisubunit IκB kinase complex (IKK). IκB-α is phosphorylated by IKK, which has two catalytic subunits, IKK-1 (IκB kinase α or IKK-α) and IKK-2 (IκB kinase β or IKK-β). Once phosphorylated, IκB is targeted for ubiquitination and degradation by the 26S proteasome, allowing translocation of NF-κB into the nucleus, where it binds to specific DNA sequences in the promoters of target genes and stimulates their transcription. Inhibitors of IKK can block the phosphorylation of IKB and its further downstream effects, particularly those associated with NF-κB transcription factors.
The protein products of genes under the regulatory control of NF-κB include cytokines, chemokines, cell adhesion molecules, and proteins mediating cellular growth and control. Importantly, many of these proinflammatory proteins also are able to act, either in an autocrine or paracrine fashion, to further stimulate NF-κB activation. In addition, NF-κB plays a role in the growth of normal and malignant cells. Furthermore, NF-κB is a heterodimeric transcription factor which can activate a large number of genes which code, inter alia, for proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-2, TNFα or IL-6. NF-κB is present in the cytosol of cells, building a complex with its naturally occurring inhibitor IκB. The stimulation of cells, for example by cytokines, leads to the phosphorylation and subsequent proteolytic degradation of IκB. This proteolytic degradation leads to the activation of NF-κB, which subsequently migrates into the nucleus of the cell and activates a large number of proinflammatory genes.
Rinehart et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,149 (1986), discloses beta-carboline compounds useful as antiviral, antibacterial, and antitumor agents.
Ritzeler et al., WO 01/68648, discloses beta-carboline compounds with IκB kinase inhibitory activity for use in the treatment of inflammatory disorders (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis), osteoarthritis, asthma, cardiac infarct, Alzheimer's disease, carcinomatous disorders (potentiation of cytotoxic therapies) and atherosclerosis.
It would be beneficial to provide novel IKK inhibitors that possess good therapeutic properties, especially for the treatment of inflammatory disease.

Beta-carbolines useful for treating inflammatory disease

Abstract: wherein Ring A is a substituted pyridinyl, pyrimidinyl, morpholinyl, piperidinyl, piperazinyl, pyrrolidinyl, pyranyl, tetrahydrofuranyl, cyclohexyl, cyclopentyl or thiomorpholinyl ring and R1, R2 and R3 are as described in the specification. The compounds are IKK-2 inhibitors that are useful for treating IKK-2-mediated diseases such as inflammatory diseases and cancer.


The present invention generally relates to a wireless banking system and a wireless banking method using a mobile phone. The mobile phone includes a smart card inputting smart card information consisting of bank account information, log information, and an authentication key. A card applet is provided which operates the smart card information. The banking service uses a common full text and individual full texts used for banking transactions, prepared through the smart card information and an input of the mobile phone. An encoding/decoding module is provided for encoding the banking service full text and decoding the response to the banking service full text by using a session key; and a card manager communicating the application with the smart card.

The present invention generally relates to a wireless banking system and a wireless banking method using a mobile phone, and more specifically, to a wireless banking system and a wireless banking method using a mobile phone to reduce a load of the mobile phone while safely and effectively providing a banking service, by generating a new session key whenever one communication full text is transmitted during a communication process between a client built in the mobile phone and a banking server to open a session between the client and the banking server and by cutting off the session if a result of the communication full text is transmitted to perform wireless communication in a stage only where a user employs the service.
Generally, in case a wireless service is used through wireless communication, the service is provided while a mobile phone is connected to a server which supplies the wireless service from the start to the end. At this time, a session key is generated during a handshake process synchronized between the mobile phone and the server at an early stage, and the generated session key is used to encode and decode communication, thereby maintaining a security system. In this case, a communication full text is divided into a common full text and individual full texts during the communication. While a session is open, one common full text is transmitted, and then plural individual full texts are transmitted until the communication is over, so that a user can use the wireless service.
To use a general wireless service by using the above method is not so problematic. However, it may cause unstable results when being used for a wireless service with regards to banking transactions such as money transferring, balance inquiry, and others.
The banking transactions must be highly secured while guaranteeing stability. But, in the prior wireless service, various full texts are transmitted while the session is open once, resulting in a possibility of session key exposure. Once the session key is exposed, problems occur during banking transactions. Also, wireless communication may be disconnected while using the service. Furthermore, since the wireless service is provided while being connected all the time, there causes an overload in a mobile phone system and a wireless service server.
In addition, users are reluctant to use the service owing to a burden about wireless communication charges.

Wireless banking system and wireless banking method using mobile phones


The present invention relates to a switch controller and a converter having the same. The converter according to the present invention includes a power transfer device that transmits input power to an output terminal as output power, a power switch connected to a first end of the power transfer device and that controls power transmission of the power transfer device, and a switch controller that controls switching operation of the power switch. The switch controller receives an output voltage detection signal corresponding to an output voltage according to the power transmitted from the power transfer device, generates a duty control signal corresponding to a difference between the output voltage detection signal and a reference signal for controlling the output voltage, and determines turn-on/off of the power switch by using the duty control signal, and a DC gain of a feedback transfer function between the reference signal and the output voltage has a constant value.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch controller and a converter having the same. In further detail, it relates to a switch controller that can compensate efficiency deterioration according to an input voltage of a converter, and a converter having the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, when forming a power factor controller (PFC) circuit with a converter, a method (hereinafter referred to as a multi-input method) that controls a level of an output voltage to be changed according to an input voltage is advantageous in efficiency of the converter compared to a method that maintains an output voltage in a constant level. A slope at which an input current is decreased when a switch of the converter is turned off is proportional to a difference between the output voltage and the input voltage. When the input voltage is decreased so that the output voltage is decreased, the difference between the output voltage and the input voltage is decreased compared to the case in which the output voltage is maintained at a constant level. Then, the input current decreasing slope is decreased and thus a switching operation period of the switch is increased so that a switching loss is decreased. In addition, since the output voltage is decreased, a duty of the switch is decreased so that a conduction loss is also decreased. Accordingly, efficiency of a converter using the multi-output method is increased.
In general, the converter generates a reference voltage to determine a duty of a switch that controls operation of the converter. The converter using the multi-output method senses an input voltage and generates a reference voltage according to the input voltage, or senses an output voltage and generates a reference voltage according to an input voltage. As described, the converter using the multi-output method requires an additional configuration for sensing an input voltage or an output voltage to generate a reference voltage.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Switch control device and converter including the same


A sterile container is provided, especially for receiving and containing surgical instruments or material in sterile conditions, comprising a receiving area formed by a container bottom and container walls, a lid for sealing the receiving are, and a gas exchange opening which can be sealed by a sterile filter maintained in a filter holder. In order to simplify replacement of the sterile filter and to simplify the production of the lid, the sterile filter and filter holder form a filter unit and the filter holder is mounted on the lid.

The invention relates to a sterile container, in particular for the holding and sterile storage of surgical instruments or material, comprising a holding space, which is defined by a container base and container walls, a lid for closing the holding space and a gas exchange opening, which can be closed off by a sterile filter held in a filter holder.
Sterile containers of this type, together with, for example, surgical instruments or material stored therein, are sterilized in a sterilizer. They can then be transferred to a sterile operating region, where they can be opened. The sterile filter is required in order to prevent germs from penetrating into the holding space of the container following the sterilization operation. However, this filter has to be replaced from time to time. In known sterile containers, this can be achieved only with difficulty. Moreover, production of a lid with filter holder arranged integrally thereon is very complex.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to improve a sterile container of the type described in the introduction in such a way that the sterile filter can easily be exchanged and the lid is particularly simple to produce.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Heat dissipation apparatus applies to a package device on a substrate. The package device has an upper surface, a bottom surface, and a sidewall between the upper and bottom surfaces, in which the bottom surface thermally contacts the substrate through multitudes of conductive bumps. For dissipating heat from the bottom surface, the heat dissipation apparatus includes a first heat-dissipating structure contacting a portion of the bottom surface and a second heat-dissipating structure on the upper surface. With the surrounding association of the first and the second heat-dissipating structures, these structures release heats from the sidewall of the die. Such a heat dissipation apparatus is capable of discharging heat at three dimensions, preventing the conductive bumps from collapsing, and enhancing reliability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to heat dissipation apparatus, and more particularly to heat dissipation apparatus for a package device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Following the development of integrated circuit technology, the packing requirement is more and more strict for the IC (integrated circuit), because the packaging technology is directly related to the function of the electronic products. The conventional packaging methods include DIP (Dual In-line Package), QFP (Quad Flat Package), and PFP (Plastic Flat Package). When the frequency of IC exceeds 100 MHz, the conventional packaging method generates a phenomenon called "Cross-Talk". Furthermore, when the number of pins is larger than 208, the packaging becomes more difficult in the conventional packaging technology. In addition to the QFP technology, the BGA (ball grid array package) technology is the most popular packaging technology if the chip has many pins, such as graphic chips and chip module. Thus, in the present, the BGA technology is the best choice for the chip with a high density, and high performance, and multitudes of pins such as CPU (central processing unit) and south/north bridges chip on/in the motherboard.
On the other hand, the BGA packaging technology can be classified into five types: PBGA (Plastic BGA) substrate, CBGA (Ceramic BGA) substrate, FCBGA (Flip chip BGA) substrate, TBGA (Tape BGA) substrate, and CDPBGA (Cavity Down PBGA) substrate. Typically, the IC packaging process is packaged from a single IC, which needs a leadframe or substrate, and also include some processes such as the die attach, bonding, molding, or trim and form processes, such that the chip size of the packaged IC is greater than the chip after the IC is packaged. FCBGA located on the IC chip that has a metal gold (Au) or a solder bump thereon, which used to bond with PWB (printed wiring board).
However, when the operating speed of IC and the density of the pins are increased, the heat is an important factor that affects the reliability of chip, wherein the heat is generated from the RF device has amount of current and high frequency. Thus, an important issue for the development of the device is how to release the heat quickly and effectively.

Heat dissipation apparatus for package device


Mechanisms for providing a subscriber-side interface with a passive optical network are described herein. An optical network termination (ONT) having an integrated broadband passive optical network processor is utilized to receive downstream data from an optical line termination (OLT) via a passive optical network and provide the contents of the downstream data to one or more subscriber devices via one or more data interfaces. Similarly, the ONT is adapted to receive and transmit upstream data from the one or more subscriber devices to the OLT via the passive optical network. The ONT preferably implements one or burst buffers for buffering upstream and/or downstream data. The ONT can be adapted to notify the OLT of the status of the burst buffer, thereby allowing the OLT to modify the bandwidth allocations.

A number of network technologies have been developed for connecting the so-called "last mile" between a central office and subscriber. One such development is the passive optical network (PON). PONs typically include a fiber optic network between a central office (CO) and a subscriber comprising active network devices only at the CO and at the subscriber premises. As such, PONs generally require less power to operate, are more reliant, and can be upgraded without having to upgrade the plant between the CO and the subscriber.
PONs often are used to provide multiple types of data content, such as voice, data, and video, over the same network. To properly distribute this content, a number of common network protocols, such as Ethernet and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), are used to deliver the content over the PON. ATM PONs, or APONs, are particularly well suited for delivering real-time content, such as voice or videoconferencing, due to Quality of Service (QoS), small cell size, and other features incorporated by the ATM protocol. A specification for APONs has been adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as Recommendations G.983.1, G.983.2, G.983.3, G.983.4, and G.983.5 (collectively known herein as the ITU G.983.X Recommendation). These recommendations address APON systems with symmetrical line rates of 155.520 Mbps and asymmetrical line rates of 155.520 Mbps upstream and 622.080 Mbps downstream. The recommendations also cover the physical layer requirements and specifications for the physical media dependent layer for an APON range up to 20 km (12.4 miles), the trans-convergence (TC) layer, security, and a ranging protocol. Additionally, dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) and data protection mechanisms are outlined.
Referring now to FIG. 1, an exemplary implementation of a known PON is illustrated. The known system 100 includes a central office 104 having an optical line termination (OLT) 110 connected to a number of optical network terminations (ONTs) 130-134 via a PON 120. Data, video, and/or voice content from various content providers is delivered to the OLT 110 of the CO 104. The OLT 110 typically is a component of an access multiplexer shelf that terminates the optical network in the CO 104. It receives and transmits APON optical signals via a fiber management shelf utilized to route between access multiplexer shelves and the outside fiber plant (PON 120). An optical module of the OLT 110 performs optical filtering, electronic-to-optical (E/O) conversion, and optical-to-electrical (O/E) conversion. The upstream data (i.e., from the subscriber devices to a content provider via the OLT 110) is de-framed, OAM extracted, and upstream data multiplexed with other upstream data before being sent to a back plane bus interface, such as a Utopia Optical Connection Level 3 (OC3) physical interface. The back plane upstream bus interface, by means of a vendor specific method (dedicated pipe, shared structure with share/grant mechanisms, etc.) sends the data to the network interface connected to the one or more content servers.
Conversely, downstream data (i.e., from the content server to the subscriber devices via the OLT 110 and an ONT) is routed to the OLT 110 by means of a vendor specific interface method (dedicated pipe, shared structure with share/grant mechanisms, etc.) from the network termination through the back plane bus interface to the APON interface of the OLT 110 (such as by a Utopia OC3 or OC Layer 12 (OC 12) physical interface). The downstream data is placed into the appropriate data slot assigned to the intended ONT of the ONTs 130-134. OAM is added to the data, the data is framed, and then sent to the optical transmitter of the OLT 110. This ATM downstream data is encrypted by the APON interface utilizing a key received from each ONT 130-134 specifically for each ONT's own data stream. In addition to the data interfacing function, the back plane bus may contain a separate management interface for equipment inventory & management, facilities management of ONT services, permanent virtual circuit (PVC) assignment, virtual circuit (VC)/virtual path (VP) cross connection management, alarm surveillance, etc.
The ONTs 130-134 are the components that terminate the optical link of the PON 120 at the customer premises. For example, the ONT 130 terminates outside of the subscriber premises 150, where the ONT 130 can be used to: provide voice content (e.g., VoIP) to/from one or more telephones 152 via a RJ11 twisted pair line; provide network data (such as Internet content) to one or more computers 154 over an Ethernet network; and provide video (either analog or digital) to one or more televisions 156. The ONTs 130-134 typically include an optical module that performs optical filtering, E/O conversion, O/E conversion, and downstream clock recovery. Downstream data received from the OLT 110 is de-framed, OAM extracted, and processed according to its content and/or destination (voice, network data, video) by the APON interface 140. For example, downstream voice content is provided to a telephone 152 (one example of a subscriber device) via a voice interface 142, downstream video content is provided to a video display 156 (another example of a subscriber device) via a video interface 146, and data content, such as data from a server on the Internet, is provided to a computer 154 (yet another example of a subscriber device) via the data interface 144. Upstream data from subscriber devices intended for the CO 104 is collected from the interfaces 142-146, multiplexed into a data stream, framed, and OAM inserted before being sent to an optical transmitter of the ONT 130. The transmitter data is adjusted into its proper system time slot by the APON interface 140 by offsetting its transmit data clock (by an amount determined by the ranging protocol) relative to the downstream clock.
While the use of optical network terminations (ONTs), also known as network interface devices (NIDs) or optical network units (ONUs), in passive optical networks provides a great deal of flexibility in data content, data transmission rates, and other design considerations, known ONTs have a number of limitations. For one, known ONTs typically implement the functionality of the APON interface 140 and the subscriber interfaces 142-146 as discrete devices often connected via a printed circuit board. However, the implementation of separate devices for the APON interface 140 and the subscriber interface 142-146 exhibits numerous disadvantages. For one, the use of separate devices on a PCB limits the reduction of the size of the ONT. Additionally, utilizing separate devices to provide PON processing functionality results in unnecessarily high power consumption, as the interfaces between the devices results in power loss due to parasitic capacitance, current leak, poorly controlled interfaces between the devices, and the like. Likewise, the signal loops on the PCB and the interconnects produce a relatively large amount of electromagnetic interference (EMI) which can interfere with the operation of the ONT. Similarly, the connections between devices and PCBs and the traces between the devices of the PCB often are somewhat unreliable, so by implementing a relatively large number of devices to provide PON processing functionality, the reliability of the ONT can be compromised. Another limitation is resource duplication between the devices, since each device often implements some common functionalities, such as memory, memory access controllers, registers, and the like. Additionally, by using numerous discrete components to implement the PON processing capability of the ONT, ONT manufacturers often must keep large inventories of the individual devices on hand.
In addition to the limitations of the physical structure of known ONTs, PON standards, such as the ITU G.983.X Recommendation, are deficient in a number of areas. For example, the ITU G.983.X Recommendation provides for a rudimentary data protection method referred to "churning." However, the churning key used in accordance with the G.983.X Recommendation is only 24 bits long, a key length that is recognized by those skilled in the art as relatively weak. Additionally, although the G.983.X Recommendation makes provision for the dynamic allocation of bandwidth between the OLT and the ONTs, it is incumbent on the OLT to analyze the data transfer status between the OLT and the ONTs in order to modify the bandwidth allocations.
In view of the limitations of known optical network termination implementations, improved mechanisms for providing passive optical network connectivity to subscribers would be advantageous.

System and method for dynamic bandwidth allocation on PONs


In an example, there is disclosed a configurable impedance element, having: a first impedance network including a plurality of series impedance elements and providing an initial impedance; a trim impedance network parallel to the first impedance network, including a plurality of corresponding impedance elements to the impedance elements of the first impedance network; and antifuses between the impedance elements of the first impedance network and their corresponding impedance elements of the trim network. There is also disclosed an integrated circuit including the impedance element, and a method of manufacturing and configuring the impedance element.

Semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) are generally packed with large numbers of transistors, such as MOSFETs, to carry out their digital logic functions. ICs may also require other integrated elements, such as resistors, capacitor, and inductors. Rather than supplying these as discrete elements, these can often be provided on-chip via appropriate processing.


An opening and closing device including: a fixed side member; a movable side member retained by the fixed side member to be opened and closed freely; a wire member that is fixed at one end thereof to one of the fixed side member and the movable side member; a rotary member that is provided in the other of the fixed side member and the movable side member, has the wire member wound therearound when the movable side member is closed, and rotates in such a direction as to draw out the wire member when the movable side member is opened; and an elastic member that is provided in the rotary member and accumulates an elastic force which causes the rotary member to rotate reversely to a direction in which the rotary member rotates when the wire member is drawn out, due to rotation of the rotary member at a time when the wire member is drawn out.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an opening and closing device, a sheet conveying apparatus, and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a constitution for opening and closing an opening and closing portion constituted by a fixed side member and a movable side member.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, for example, in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a fax machine, a copier, or a printing press, images are formed by an image forming method such as an electrophotographic process, an offset printing method, or an ink-jet method. As an example of such an image forming apparatus, there is a color image forming apparatus that forms color images by the electrophotographic process. Such a color image forming apparatus adopts a tandem method in which a plurality of image forming units constituting an image forming portion are arranged side by side, a rotary method in which a plurality of image forming units are cylindrically arranged, or the like. A transfer method for such a color image forming apparatus is classified into a direct transfer method in which a toner image is directly transferred from a photosensitive member onto a sheet and an intermediate transfer method in which a toner image is transferred first onto an intermediate transfer member and then onto a sheet.
Herein, in an intermediate transfer tandem method in which a plurality of (four) image forming units are arranged side by side on an intermediate transfer belt, there is no need to retain a sheet on a transfer drum or a transfer belt unlike the case of the direct transfer method. Therefore, the intermediate transfer tandem method is advantageous in that a great variety of sheets including ultra-thick papers and coated papers can be dealt with and that a sheet path to a secondary transfer portion for transferring an image onto a sheet from the intermediate transfer belt can be simply structured. Moreover, since the degree of freedom in stretching the intermediate transfer belt is high, the intermediate transfer tandem method is advantageous in reducing the size of the image forming apparatus as well.
In addition to the above-mentioned merits, the tandem method offers a highly advantageous constitution in accomplishing speedup because of its features including a parallel processing in a plurality of image forming units and a batch transfer of full-color images. Therefore, the tandem method is suited for a color image forming apparatus, which is targeted for high productivity.
In such a color image forming apparatus, it is necessary to have access to a relevant portion from the outside of the apparatus during replenishment, replacement, and service maintenance of consumables, or during an operation of removing a sheet etc., at the time of jamming. For this reason, the color image forming apparatus is provided with various opening and closing portions. Further, in the case where the color image forming apparatus is provided with an original reader, this original reader is provided with an original pressure cover as an opening and closing portion. In using the original reader, a user operates the original pressure cover in its opening and closing directions.
For such an opening and closing portion, there have been proposed various opening and closing devices that are intended to prevent a damage from being caused by a dropping impact of a movable side member such as a door, to reduce the load imposed on an operator, and so forth. Herein, some of the simplest ones of such opening and closing devices are provided with a wire member (a wire, a rope, a chain, a ribbon, or the like) which also serves to regulate an opening and closing angle so as to prevent the opening and closing portion from opening beyond a certain angle. In the opening and closing device as described above, however, the wire member may be fractured due to an impact unless the movable side member to be opened and closed is light or the opening and closing angle is relatively small.
On this account, if the movable side member to be opened and closed is heavy, an opening and closing device equipped with a shock absorber such as a damper is often employed. Herein, such an opening and closing device is broadly classified into three types depending on where the shock absorber is installed.
In the first type, a shock absorber supports a turning end of a movable side member such as a door, which is open, for example, after having been turned downwards. This type has a merit in that since the neighborhood of the turning end which is most distant from a turning center of the movable side member is supported, the force required for support can be held relatively small even when the movable side member is heavy (e.g., as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-84791).
In the second type, a shock absorber is provided at a turning center of a movable side member. This type has a merit in that since there is no need to provide the turning end with a support portion, an ample open space with a clean-cut constitution can be achieved (e.g., as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-15237).
In the third type, a member interlocking with a movable side member is provided with a shock absorber. This type has a merit in that since the location for installing the shock absorber is not particularly limited to an opening or a turning center, a high degree of freedom in layout is obtained (e.g., as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-84982).
However, in an opening and closing device and an image forming apparatus provided with the conventional shock absorber as described above, for example, in the case of the opening and closing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-84791, there is a problem in that the opening and closing device cannot be easily applied to an opening and closing portion with a limited vertical dimension in particular because of a large installation space for a damper.
Further, in the case of the opening and closing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-15237, the installation space for the damper can be reduced by providing the damper at the turning center (i.e., on the turning shaft). However, since the largest load is imposed on the turning center in supporting the movable side member, the required torque capacity increases and the size of the damper also increases as the weight of the movable side member increases. Thus, the hinged structure is enlarged in size, which causes a problem in that it is difficult to reduce the thickness of the opening and closing device.
Further, the opening and closing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-84982 adopts a method in which the load applied to the rotary damper is dispersed by providing an interlocking member interlocking with the movable side member with the rotary damper and an extension spring as auxiliary damper means. However, if the opening and closing portion is a sheet conveying passage, for example, a rigid body such as the interlocking member must be structured not to shut off the sheet conveying passage when a guide plate or the like constituting the sheet conveying passage is closed.
In the case of such a structure, however, the space required for other members than the sheet conveying passage increases and consequently, the sheet conveying apparatus is considerably enlarged in size. Furthermore, in a place requiring a large opening and closing angle, since the length of the interlocking member or the operating length of the extension spring increases, the space required for opening and closing operations increases in either case.
On the other hand, as a rule, in the case where high productivity, high reliability, and high durability are especially demanded of an image forming apparatus, its respective units demonstrate high rigidity and tend to increase in size and weight. In the case of such an image forming apparatus, it is also necessary to give careful consideration to what does not raise a serious problem in the field of office equipments and the like, for example, an opening and closing operational force that is applied in coping with the jamming of the sheet conveying passage.
Further, in the case where the sheet conveying passage is disposed in a lower portion of the image forming apparatus, since a user assumes a stooping posture in coping with the jamming of the apparatus, it is highly necessary to lighten the load imposed on the user. In addition, as the productivity of the image forming apparatus is enhanced, the image forming portion and the like increase in size and become complicated, and enhancement of the capacity of a sheet feeding device is also desired. From the standpoint of usability, however, the position of an operating portion or the height of the image forming apparatus body cannot be changed with ease. Therefore, it takes on great significance how to reduce the thickness and size of the opening and closing device for opening and closing the opening and closing portion such as the sheet conveying passage.

Opening and closing device, sheet conveying apparatus, and image forming apparatus


A probe arrangement, in the case of which a probe is arranged within a tubular housing, wherein the tubular housing has at least one process window open to the process medium, and at least one functional element is secured on the probe and surrounded by the process medium. In order to suppress a taking along of the process medium during transfer of the functional element from the measured medium into a rinsing chamber, the tubular housing includes at least one treatment window open opposite the probe (3), preferably for washing, rinsing and/or calibrating the functional element, wherein the functional element is movable between the process window and the treatment window, and, during the measuring in the process medium, the at least one functional element is arranged approximately coincident with the at least one process window of the housing.

For measuring various process variables in liquid media, sensor arrangements are usually used, which are immersed in the liquid medium. Such sensor arrangements are, as is presented in FIG. 1, preferably composed of a double-walled tubular housing 2 and a long, extended sensor 3 made from glass, synthetic material or metal, which is arranged within the tubular housing 2 and on whose tip a sensitive element 5 is secured. In such case, the tubular housing 2 extends over the sensitive element, 5 and is sealed below by the sensitive element 5. The tubular housing 2 is generally referred to as an immersion tube, since an end of this immersion tube is in contact with the process medium. Through two traversing, oppositely positioned openings 6 on the end of the immersion tube extending into the measured medium, the process medium enters into the interior of the immersion tube, and comes there in contact with the sensitive element 5.
In order to clean or to recalibrate the sensitive element, the entire sensor arrangement with the immersion tube and the sensor body is translated out of the process medium and into a rinsing chamber. In such case, a large amount of process medium is brought along and into the rinsing chamber, which leads to contamination, and especially always proves disadvantageous, whenever the sensitive element should be newly calibrated, since, in this case, the rinsing chamber must first be cleaned of the process medium using a large amount of washing or rinsing medium before a calibration medium can be introduced.

Endress + Hauser Conducta Gesellschaft für Mess- und Regeltechnik mbH + Co. KG


A display device of projection type capable of projecting an image with well defined image frame is disclosed. The device comprises 3 spatial light modulators on which color image information is written in 3 primary colors respectively and is read out as a combined optical color image in a form of light beam, the light beam is then projected out of the display device through lens groups for forming a projected image on a screen, the device further comprises a mask disposed in a proximity of an imaginary image formation plane arranged to locate in a vicinity of one of the lens groups, the light beam is caused to form an optical image on the imaginary image formation plane. The mask has a variable light shielding configuration controlled either electronically or electro-mechanically for cutting off unnecessary light portions of the light beam carrying the optical image so that an image of high contrast and well defined clear fringe is projected on the screen.

1. Field of the Invention:
Particularly, the present invention relates to a device capable of projecting an image, a frame of which is made variable on the screen depending on an aspect ratio of the image to be displayed.
2. Description of the Related Art:
FIG. 1 shows a construction of an image projector disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 913,445. The image projector shown in FIG. 1 is constituted mainly with a spatial light modulator 1 for forming a red image, a spatial light modulator 2 for forming a green image, a spatial light modulator 3 for forming a blue image, a color combining optical system 4, a first lens group 5, a second lens group 6, a third lens group 7 and a screen 8.
In the reproduction of image by this prior art display device, a reading light from a light source which is not shown is separated through a polarizing beam splitter and dichroic mirrors, etc., to monochromatic red, green and blue lights and supplied to the respective spatial light modulators 1, 2 and 3. Then, images formed on the respective spatial light modulators 1, 2 and 3 are directed to the color combining optical system 4 and combined thereby and the combined image is focused through the first lens group 5 on the second lens group 6. The focused image on the second lens group 6, is passed to the third lens group 7 through which it is projected onto the screen 8 as an image of a predetermined magnifying power.
According to this image projector, it is possible to make a back focal length larger to thereby minimize the thickness or depth of image projector and to obtain an image of high resolution.
It has been known that, with the use of such spatial light modulators of image (light) writing type, it is possible to wright an input image while arbitrarily varying its frame size, configuration or aspect ratio of writing image according to the original form of the input image.
However, since reading light from a light source irradiates uniformly and fully an effective area (area available for writing in or reading out) inherent to the spatial light modulator, unnecessary areas outside the formed image on the spatial light modulator are also irradiated by the reading light resulting in too bright presentation of such unnecessary areas on the screen, this deficiency is aggravated by the reading light reflected from a substrate surface of each spatial light modulator and reaching to the screen so that a frame or fringe of the projected image becomes unclear.
In such a case, it is conceivable that a contrast of an image area to a periphery thereof may be improved by cutting unnecessary light by means of an aperture member composed of a light shielding plate having a predetermined aperture formed therein.
When such aperture member is provided as a fixed structure, there is a problem that it can not respond to an input image whose frame is, for example, larger than a size of the predetermined aperture, resulting in that even necessary area of the image is cut off.

Projection type display device having a mask for cutting off unnecessary light parts of displayed picture


A fuel cell system and method of removing impurities from a catalyst are provided. The fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell stack comprising a pair of end plates and at least one unit cell. The unit cell contains a gas diffusion layer in contact with a membrane electrode assembly which is constructed of a polymer electrolyte membrane enclosed between two electrodes. The at least one unit cell is stacked between the end plates. The fuel cell system further comprises a voltage supply means and a means of impressing a cyclically varying voltage from the voltage supply means on the fuel cell stack. The cyclically varying voltage removes impurities that adhere to catalysts on the electrode surfaces in the fuel cell stack.

Fuel cells have been developed as alternative power sources for motor vehicles, such as electrical vehicles. A fuel cell is a demand-type power system in which the fuel cell operates in response to the load imposed across the fuel cell. Typically, a liquid hydrogen containing fuel, for example, gasoline, methanol, diesel, naphtha, etc. serves as a fuel supply for the fuel cell after the fuel has been converted into a gaseous stream containing hydrogen. The conversion to the gaseous stream is usually accomplished by passing the fuel through a fuel reformer to convert the liquid fuel to a hydrogen gas stream that usually contains other gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, oxygen, and unburned fuel. The hydrogen is then used by the fuel cell as a fuel in the generation of electricity for the vehicle.
A polymer electrolyte membrane type of fuel cell is generally composed of a stack 10 of unit cells 72 comprising a polymer electrolyte membrane 11 enclosed between electrodes 12 and gas diffusion layers 13, and further enclosed between separators 15 and channels 14 for fuel gas and oxidant gas, as shown in FIG. 1. The stack 10 is fixed by end plates 16. A current collector may be provided between the end plate and stack, or the end plate 16 itself may function as current collector. When hydrogen is used as the fuel gas and oxygen is used as the oxidant gas, electrons are released due to a chemical reaction occurring at catalyst reaction sites on the electrode surfaces. Water is formed as a by-product, via the reaction:H2+½O2→H2O.
Consequently, the fuel cell is an energy source that has no adverse impact on the global environment, and has been the focus of much research for use in automobiles in recent years.
From the standpoint of durability, fuel cell electrical generating performance deteriorates over its operating life, due to a build-up of impurities such as metallic ions and organics in the fuel cell. The impurities result from various sources: for example, they may be extracted from tubing used to supply gas or coolant to the fuel cell, or from auxiliary equipment. In addition, there may be impurities mixed with the fuel gas or oxidant gas. It is possible to reduce the concentration of impurities by using material that does not contain impurities for tubing or auxiliary equipment, or by filtering the fuel gas and oxidant gas. However, when generating electricity over a long period of time, it is difficult to prevent the accumulation of impurities inside the fuel cell and the accompanying deterioration of fuel cell performance. Impurities inside the fuel cell adhere to catalytic reaction sites and causes loss of catalytic performance.
There are known methods of re-activating the catalyst by electrochemically removing the impurities that adhere to it. U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,464, for example, describes a method of generating electricity in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell module at an oxygen utilization rate of 50% or higher, and impressing on the fuel cell module an average voltage of 0.3 V or less per unit cell. Japanese Patent Disclosure 2001-85037 describes another method of restoring fuel cell performance by operating the fuel cell at a current density 1.5 times greater than the normal operating current density or by reversing the direction of current flow.

Fuel cell system and method for removal of impurities from fuel cell electrodes