To provide a parking lot management system capable of maintaining a high vehicle number recognition rate even with reduced camera performance. A parking lot management system 1 comprises a parking lot system 10 installed in a parking lot, and a server device 30 connected thereto by a network 2. The parking lot system 10 comprises a camera unit 11, and the server device 30 comprises a server-side control means 31, server-side memory 32, a data analysis means 33, and a server-side communication means 34. The camera unit 11 comprises a camera-side control means 13, a flashlight 14, an indicator 15 for indicating that a space is occupied, a camera 16, camera-side memory 17, and a camera-side communication means 18. Because the data analysis means 33 of the server device 30 has high analytical power, a low-performance camera 16 is sufficient for the camera unit 11.

Systems are known in which an image of a vehicle wishing to park in a paid parking lot or the like is photographed and the vehicle number displayed on the license plate is recognized to determine whether the vehicle wishing to park is a preregistered vehicle (see Patent Reference 1).
In accordance with the system disclosed in Patent Reference 1, there is provided a parking lot management system wherein the regions of an image of a vehicle number captured by a camera are divided into a place name section, a class number section, a use display section, and a unique number section, the system having a high recognition rate, even if some reading errors occur, and placing as little burden as possible on the driver for confirmation, etc.


A process including:. blending carrier particles; PA1 separating the resulting blended carrier particles from fine particles formed in blending; and PA1 blending the resulting blended carrier particles with toner particles to form a two component developer.

The present invention is generally directed to developer compositions and processes for the preparation thereof, and more specifically, the present invention is directed to developer compositions with high conductivities, for example, from about 10.sup.-12 (ohm-cm).sup.-1 to about 10.sup.-7 (ohm-cm).sup.-1. More specifically the present invention relates to carrier and developer preparative processes, comprising, for example, preconditioning resin coated carrier particles to achieve highly desirable developer, development, and image properties, for example, high efficiency donor roll reload efficiencies at time zero(t=0).

Carrier composition and processes thereof


The systems and methods of the disclosure relate to estimating the location of a remote device, e.g., a mobile phone or other user equipment (“UE”), that is in communication with equipment aboard a high altitude platform (“HAP”). Because the HAP is in motion, the location of the equipment aboard the HAP is not at a fixed location. While this breaks some forms of traditional UE location positioning techniques, it creates new information that can be used instead. Thus, when traditional GPS or ground-station based location services are unavailable, a remote device in communication with equipment aboard a HAP can still be positioned.

Mobile communication equipment, e.g., cellular telephones, mobile modems, and the like, provide communication services to end-users by interacting with a communication network via a radio link. Depending on the protocol or standard used for the radio link, the mobile communication equipment may be referred to as a mobile device, mobile terminal, mobile station, or as user equipment ("UE"). For example, the standards for Global System for Mobile Communications ("GSM") usually refer to the mobile communication equipment as the "mobile station," whereas the standards for Universal Mobile Telecommunication System ("UMTS") usually refer to the mobile communication equipment as the "user equipment." This disclosure uses the term "user equipment" (or "UE" for short) to refer to all forms of mobile communication equipment, including devices traditionally referred to by the term "user equipment," as well as mobile communication equipment traditionally referred to by other terms.
It is useful to be able to estimate the location of a UE. For example, some jurisdictions require service providers to locate user equipment during an emergency ("E-911"). Many UE devices incorporate a Global Positioning Satellite ("GPS") receiver and can use GPS signals to pinpoint its location. However, GPS location data is not always available. For example, the satellite signals may be obstructed or the GPS receiver may be disabled, e.g., to conserve power. When a UE cannot report its location based on GPS, other methods are needed to estimate the UE's location. Estimating a location of a UE is known as "positioning." While precise positioning is desirable, e.g., using GPS, the ability to position a UE to within even a reasonably-sized geographic area can still be helpful, e.g., for locating a UE in an emergency.
User equipment interacts with the communication network via a radio link between the UE and a network access node that includes one or more antennas, transceivers, and computer controllers. The discrete elements of the network access node may include, for example, various antenna structures for omnidirectional or directed antennas, radio transceivers ("TRX"), a base transceiver station ("BTS," also called a "Node B," "Evolved Node B," or "eNodeB," depending on the implemented protocol or standard), amplifiers, controllers, and so forth. For simplicity, the network access node is referred to herein as a "base station" without limitation to any particular form or type of network access node.
If a UE is in communication with a particular base station, then the location of the UE is somewhere within the coverage area of the base station. In some settings, a network service provider will maintain multiple base stations covering a geographic area. When a UE is within range of multiple base stations, it is possible to narrow the possible location of the UE based on the locations of the base stations.
However, typical positioning methods require multiple base stations at fixed locations. These methods do not work when the UE is interacting with a single base station that is in motion.

User equipment positioning utilizing motion of high altitude platform


Cable-driven robotic platform systems and methods of operation are disclosed. The system includes a robotic platform suspended by a system of overhead cables, motorized cable reels and pulleys. A master control computer coordinates operation of the motorized cable system as a function of sensor data captured by navigation sensors on-board the platform so as to move the robotic platform inside an industrial plant. The system is configured to maneuver around pipings and avoid obstacles in the plant in order to maximize the effective workspace that the robotic platform can reach to perform operations including inspection or repair. Additionally, a robotic “wire jacket” device can be attached to suspension cables and configured to crawl along a cable. The wire-jacket can be selectively positioned on a cable to provide an intermediate cable suspension point that improves platform mobility within congested spaces and avoids obstacles.

Routine inspection of equipment is critical in most industries in order to ensure safety and optimize performance.
Industrial plants, such as oil and gas and petrochemicals plants, usually consist of various multiple processes that are interconnected via pipes. Most of such plants are complex and involve a massive convoluted network of pipes. Inspecting and maintaining such facilities is a complicated and rather time-consuming task especially without the aid of technology. There are multiple technologies that can enhance asset integrity and maintenance by reducing time, cost and hazards associated with these jobs. For instance, robots have been implemented to perform inspection and maintenance jobs such as ground robots, magnetic robot, robotic arms, drones, etc. However, these technologies cover specific applications and have limitations as to where they can effectively be deployed or applied.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Cable suspended robot for industrial plants


A rotation angle detecting device includes a resolver that outputs three-phase signals based on a rotation angle of a rotary shaft, and an R/D converter that acquires the three-phase output signals via signal lines corresponding to the respective phases. The R/D converter determines the rotation angle of the rotary shaft on the basis of the three-phase output signals. The R/D converter includes switching elements that change the potential of the first-phase signal line and the potential of the second-phase signal line, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rotation angle detecting device that detects a rotation angle of a rotary shaft.
2. Discussion of Background
There is known a rotation angle detecting device of this type, which utilizes a resolver that outputs multiple-phase signals based on a rotation angle of a rotary shaft. The resolver includes a rotor that rotates together with the rotary shaft and a stator that is arranged so as to surround the rotor. The resolver includes an exciting winding and multiple-phase detecting windings. In the resolver, a magnetic field is formed by inputting an exciting signal to the exciting winding. The magnetic field is applied to the multiple-phase detecting windings, and thus, an induced voltage is generated in the detecting winding of each phase. Thus, sinusoidal signals having different phases are output from the detecting windings of the respective phases. In addition, when a magnetic field that is applied to output windings of the respective phases varies with the rotation of the rotor, an induced voltage that is generated in the detecting winding of each phase varies. Thus, the amplitude of the signal that is output from the detecting winding of each phase varies with the rotation angle of the rotor. The signal that is output from the detecting winding of each phase is input to a resolver/digital converter (R/D converter) via a signal line corresponding to each phase. The R/D converter computes the rotation angle of the rotor, that is, the rotation angle of the rotary shaft, on the basis of output signals of the respective phases.
In such a rotation angle detecting device, when a short circuit occurs in the signal lines of the respective phases, corresponding signals that are input to the R/D converter do not correspond to the rotation angle, and it is not possible to appropriately detect the rotation angle. Thus, in such a rotation angle detecting device, it is desirable to be able to detect a short circuit in the signal lines. A conventional rotation angle detecting device that includes such a short circuit detecting function is described in US2004/0017206 A1.
In the rotation angle detecting device described in US2004/0017206 A1, resistive elements are respectively provided in lines that respectively connect the detecting windings and signal lines of the respective phases of the resolver. Then, by setting the resistance values of the resistive elements corresponding to the respective phases to values different from one another, the median values of output signals that are output from the resolver to the signal lines of the respective phases are set to values different from one another. Thus, when a short circuit occurs in the signal lines of the respective phases, the median values of output signals of the respective phases, which are input to the R/D converter, vary on the basis of the locations of the short-circuit signal lines. Therefore, by monitoring the median values of output signals that are input to the R/D converter, it is possible to detect a short circuit in the signal lines.
In the rotation angle detecting device described in US2004/0017206 A1, it is necessary to provide the resistive elements in the resolver. Therefore, there is a possibility that the size of the resolver may increase.


An extendable USB male plug is disclosed. The extendable USB male plug comprises a button for controlling the terminal block. The terminal block is outwardly extendable by pressing and shifting the button so the length of the USB male plug is elongated. Thus, it facilitates the insertion of the USB male plug and also solves excessively deep position, crowding, and insufficient space problems of the USB female socket on the computer.

It is commonly seen that many computers and peripheral apparatuses, such as scanners, digital cameras, removable hard disks, etc, introduce the Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification into the connection interface of a transmission connector. The USB connector can unify various specifications for various connectors so as to overcome the conventional shortcoming of providing a specific connector for a specific apparatus.
A computer is generally equipped with two USB female sockets. Moreover, the existing peripheral apparatus of the computer is mainly equipped with the USB male plug. In response to this, the new generation computer is always equipped with several USB female sockets for insertion of the USB male plugs on the peripheral apparatuses.
Nevertheless, for the purpose of not changing the dimension of the computer or reducing the occupied space of the computer, such as the barebone system, the positions and depths of the USB female sockets formed in various computers are different from one another. Accordingly, the following problems are caused, in which:
1. If the USB female sockets are mounted excessively deep, the USB male plug cannot be inserted into the USB female socket even through they are provided complying with the specification.
2. If the number of the USB female socket is increased, a USB male plug cannot be inserted into a USB female socket when another excessively close female socket, is occupied by another USB male plug.
In view of the shortcoming in the conventional structure, an extendable USB male plug for overcoming excessively deep position and insufficient space problems of the USB female socket is provided in accordance with the motive of the present invention.


In a stereo/two-tone demodulator for demodulating an intermnediate-frequency signal having stereo or two-tone sound signals modulated on a first and a second sound carrier, the second sound carrier having a lower amplitude than the first sound carrier, ceramic filters or bandpass filters are saved and complete integration can be achieved in that a first (1) and a second (2) linear narrow-band phase-locked loop are provided each having their own frequency selectivity, the first narrow-band phase-locked loop (1) being implemented in such a way that it locks in at the frequency of the first sound carrier, and the second narrow-band phase-locked loop (2) being implemented in such a way that it locks in at the frequency of the second sound carrier. The first narrow-band phase-locked loop (1) is preceded by a first amplifier stage (4) and the second narrow-band phase-locked loop (2) is preceded by a second amplifier stage (5), each amplifier stage controlling the input signal of the subsequent phase-locked loop (1; 2) at a nominal amplitude. A carrier suppression circuit (3) is provided in which an output signal having a phase position of 0° or 180° of a voltage-controlled oscillator (20) of the first narrow-band phase-locked loop (1) and the input signal of the first narrow-band phase-locked loop (1) are superimposed and which supplies a modified interrnediate-frequency signal as an output signal in which the first sound carrier is suppressed and which is coupled to the second amplifier stage (5) preceding the second narrow-band phase-locked loop (2).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stereo/two-tone demodulator for demodulating an intermediate-frequency signal comprising stereo or two-tone sound signals modulated on a first and a second sound carrier, the second sound carrier having a lower amplitude than the first sound carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a stereo or a two-tone signal is transmitted, an intermediate-frequency signal, which may also comprise a picture signal, has two sound carriers on which ,sound signal components are modulated. Dependent on the transmission standard, the two sound carriers do not have equal amplitudes. One of the sound carriers may be up to 20 dB smaller as compared with the other.
In known stereo/two-tone demodulators, either ceramic bandpass filters preceding the demodulator are used, or bandpass filters are arranged within the demodulator. Since such demodulators are usually built into integrated circuits, such bandpass filters interfere because they cannot be realized within the IC but must be realized by means of additional external components which do not only require an additional external number of components, but the IC must also be provided, with equally additional connection, which is also detrimental.


In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a chronic complement-mediated disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a Th17-associated disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a chronic respiratory system disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of administering a complement inhibitor to a subject. In some embodiments, a method of treating a subject comprises administering multiple doses of a complement inhibitor to the subject according to a dosing schedule that leverages the prolonged effect of complement inhibition in chronic respiratory disorders. In some embodiments, a subject has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In some embodiments, a subject has asthma.

Chronic disorders of the respiratory system are significant causes of morbidity and mortality whose incidence is increasing worldwide. According to World Health Organization estimates, about 80 million people have moderate to severe chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), and more than 3 million people died of COPD in 2005 (˜5% of all deaths globally). COPD was the fifth leading cause of death in 2002, and estimates suggest that it will be the third leading cause of death worldwide in 2030 unless major risk factors, particularly tobacco use, can be successfully curbed. Asthma is also a significant global health problem, affecting an estimated 300 million individuals worldwide. Both asthma and COPD can have debilitating effects on patients' daily functioning and quality of life, particularly when severe. These diseases also represent significant burdens in terms of health care costs and lost productivity.
Pharmacological therapies such as bronchodilators and corticosteroids are widely used in the treatment of asthma and COPD. However, a significant proportion of patients experience persistent symptoms despite such interventions. Furthermore, these agents can be associated with significant side effects. There is a need for additional pharmacological therapies for treating disorders affecting the respiratory system.

Methods of treating chronic disorders with complement inhibitors


A method and apparatus for charging large capacitances of a circuit, such as an integrated circuit, without imparting noise on an operating voltage. A comparator compares a reference voltage to a voltage representing the voltage on the capacitance and a multiplexer routes one of an external voltage or an operating voltage derived from said external voltage to charge the capacitance depending on the output of the comparator.

Many circuits including integrated circuit devices require the charging of large capacitances for operation. One such integrated circuit device is a flash memory device; a nonvolatile memory which retains stored data when power is removed. A common type of flash memory architecture is the "NAND" architecture, so called for the resemblance which the basic memory cell configuration has to a basic NAND gate circuit.
A flash memory device can be erased and reprogrammed in blocks instead of one byte at a time. A typical flash memory device comprises a memory array, which includes a large number of memory cells and peripheral support circuits. Each of the memory cells includes a floating gate field-effect transistor capable of holding a charge. The cells are usually grouped into blocks. Each of the cells within a block can be electrically programmed in a random basis by charging the floating gate. The data in a cell is determined by the presence or absence of the charge in the floating gate. The charge can be removed from the floating gate by a block erase operation.
The operation of a flash memory requires charging and discharging the capacitances associated with the memory cells, bit lines, and other components within the device, which can be on the order of 50 nF. Charging these capacitances requires a large amount of current.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional circuit 10 for regulating current to charge the capacitance 104 within a NAND flash memory device. The capacitance 104 may be a capacitance associated with memory cells, bit lines and/or other components and lines within the flash memory device. An external power supply 100 supplies an external voltage Vext that is higher than the regulated voltage Vcc required for the general operation of the NAND flash memory device and other circuits 106 present on the same integrated circuit (IC) chip. An operating voltage regulator 102 converts the external voltage Vext to the lower operating voltage Vcc, which is then supplied to the components of the flash memory array and the other circuits 106.
The operating voltage Vcc is used to charge the capacitance 104. However, if the charging current I2 is uncontrolled, the capacitance 104 of the NAND flash memory may charge too quickly, causing the operating voltage Vcc to drop. This drop causes noise in the operating voltage Vcc, which adversely impacts the operation of the other circuits 106.
A technique for controlling the charging current I2 is to use a current mirror circuit 108 to maintain the charging current I2 equal to a reference current Iref. The current mirror circuit 108 includes two transistors 120 and 122 whose gates are connected to each other and to the reference current Iref.
The current mirror circuit 108 restricts the charging current I2 to the known amount of the reference current Iref and thus reduces potential noise from impacting the operating voltage Vcc. However, because the capacitance 104 of the flash memory is charged using less current, the amount of time needed to charge the capacitance 104 is increased. Therefore, the reduction of noise in the operating voltage Vcc is traded off for an increased time required to charge the capacitance 104.
A method and apparatus is therefore needed for charging a large capacitance of a circuit such as an integrated circuit device, e.g., a flash memory device, quickly without disrupting the operating voltage supplied to other circuits on the same integrated circuit chip.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for charging large capacitances


A process for selectively removing an aluminide-containing coating from the surface of a metal-based substrate is disclosed. It includes the following steps:. (a) contacting the surface of the substrate with at least one stripping composition to degrade the coating without severely pitting the substrate, wherein the stripping composition is selected from the group consisting of: (i) aliphatic or aromatic sulfonic acids; (ii) a solution of an inorganic acid and an organic solvent; and (iii) sulfuric acid or an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid; and then PA1 (b) removing the degraded coating without damaging the substrate.

A variety of specially-formulated coatings are often used to protect metal parts which are exposed to high temperatures, e.g., metal parts made from superalloys. For example, aluminide coatings are often used to provide oxidation-and corrosion-resistance to superalloys. Sometimes, the aluminide coatings serve as a bond layer between the superalloy substrate and a thermal barrier coating (TBC), e.g., a coating based on a ceramic material like zirconia.
Some of the aluminide coatings are often referred to as "diffusion coatings" because the aluminide material is diffused into the substrate surface. In one such process, a very thin layer of platinum (e.g., about 1-6 microns) is first applied to the substrate surface by electroplating. The aluminide material is then usually applied by a vapor deposition process. For example, a mixture of alumina and an ammonium halide can be heated to form an aluminum halide such as aluminum fluoride. The aluminum halide is then chemically reduced to aluminum, which is diffused into the substrate surface. The aluminum reacts with the platinum and with the substrate material (e.g., nickel) to form a variety of intermetallic compounds, such as platinum aluminide and nickel aluminide. A reaction-diffusion zone usually forms below the aluminide region. Upon oxidation exposure, an aluminum oxide film forms on the surface of the aluminide. The oxide film serves as the primary barrier against further reactions with environmental constituents, thereby maintaining the integrity of the substrate. If the aluminum oxide film spalls or becomes damaged during use, the underlying, exposed aluminide is then usually re-oxidized, preserving the protective barrier.
It is sometimes necessary to repair the aluminide coating. For example, coatings applied on turbine engine parts are frequently repaired when the turbine itself is overhauled. The repair process can involve various steps, including stripping of the aluminide coating, and deposition of a new aluminide coating in the affected area. In current practice, the aluminide materials are often stripped from the substrate by exposure to various acids or combinations of acids, e.g., hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and phosphoric acid.
There are some drawbacks associated with the use of the various stripping compositions mentioned above. Frequently, the overall procedure is time-consuming, requiring as much as 4-6 hours of contact time with the stripping compositions and with rinsing solutions. Moreover, some of the stripping compositions do not remove sufficient amounts of the aluminide material, and further time and effort is required to complete the removal. Furthermore, some of the compositions that do sufficiently remove the aluminides also attack the base metal of the substrate, pitting the base metal substrate or damaging the metal via intergranular boundary attack.
Furthermore, many of the currently-used stripping compositions have to be used at elevated temperatures, e.g., above about 75.degree. C. Operation at these temperatures can attack masking materials which are used to protect selected portions of the part, e.g., airfoil roots or internal surfaces, while also raising energy costs and potentially requiring additional safety precautions.
Moreover, some of the prior art processes require heavy grit-blasting prior to treatment, to roughen the substrate surface. They also often require heavy grit-blasting after exposure to the stripping compositions. These steps can be very time-consuming, and can also damage the substrate, thereby limiting part life.
It is thus apparent that new processes for removing aluminide-based materials from metal substrates would be welcome in the art. The processes should be capable of removing substantially all of the aluminide material, while not attacking the base metal. Moreover, it would be desirable if the processes could be carried out at lower temperatures than those associated with the prior art. It would also be desirable if the processes could simplify the subsequent re-coating procedure, e.g., by eliminating preliminary steps like grit-blasting, or by greatly decreasing the force required for any grit-blasting step.

Method for removing an aluminide-containing material from a metal substrate


The present invention comprises (4-Piperidinyl)-1H-2-Benzopyran derivatives useful as antipsychotic agents, their intermediates, pharmaceutical compositions and methods of making these compounds. These compounds are useful in treating psychosis.

Psychosis is a disorder which grossly interferes with the capacity to meet ordinary demands of life. Conceptually, it is a loss of ego boundaries or a gross impairment in reality testing. Included under the term pyschosis are the disorders Schizophrenia, Schizophreniform Disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder, Delusional Disorder, Brief Psychotic Disorder, Shared Psychotic Disorder, Psychotic Disorder due to a General Medical Condition, Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder and Psychotic Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, as defined by the DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS, FOURTH EDITION, published 1994 by the American Psychiatric Association, Washington D.C. USA, incorporated herein by reference.
Schizophrenia is a disorder of thought which is characterized by positive (delusions, hallucinations, markedly bizarre behavior) and negative (flat affect, poverty of speech, social isolation, anhendonia) symptoms. The development of schizophrenia is thought to be due to an excess of dopaminergic transmission in the brain. This theory has been proposed based on the observations that typical antipsychotic drugs block D.sub.2 -type dopamine receptors, and drugs which increase the level of dopamine cause a psychosis that resembles the paranoid subtype of schizophrenia. Losoncyzy, M. F., et al., "The Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia", H. Y. Meltzer, ed., Psychopharmacology: The Third Generation of Progress. New York: Raven Press; 1987: 715-726.
There are presently therapeutic treatments available for treating psychosis by administering to the patient neuroleptic drugs such as chlorpromazine, haloperidol, and sulpride, for example. Of course, many of these drugs have unwanted side effects (e.g. extrapyramidal symptoms) or are not as effective as desired by all patients. Therefore, the need for different drug therapies still exists.

4-piperidinyl) H-2-benzopyran derivatives useful as antipsychotic agents


There is provided a battery temperature adjusting system for realizing warming of a battery without dew condensation, and for charging the battery in an efficient manner. The battery temperature adjusting system includes: a battery temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of a battery pack; a duct for blowing warm wind toward the battery pack; a controller for warming the battery pack by causing the warm wind to be flown into around the battery in accordance with the temperature detected by the battery temperature sensor; a dew condensation determining unit for determining whether or not dew condensation occurs on the battery pack; and an evaporator for dehumidifying the warm wind. The controller causes the dehumidified warm wind to be flown into around the battery pack, when determining that the dew condensation will occur on the battery pack.

Generally, a vehicle is equipped with a battery for storing electric energy to be supplied to various electric parts. For instance, an electric vehicle running only by an electric motor is equipped with a large capacity of battery to repeatedly run by charging the battery with an external charger. For charging this type of a vehicle battery, not only an electric vehicle but also, for example, a hybrid vehicle running by a combination of an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, the electric energy is recovered as a regenerative energy to be stored on the battery while running. In addition to it, the battery is sometimes made chargeable from an external charger. Further, since various types of fuel are converted into the electric energy in a fuel cell powered vehicle, the battery for storing the converted electric energy can be charged from an external charger.
This type of vehicle battery is subject to the influence of external environments such as an external temperature, in some cases. An example is that when the battery has a low temperature when it is charged, the charging efficiency will degrade. Therefore, there is a proposal for using an air conditioner of the vehicle to flow hot wind to the battery side so that the battery can be warmed to fall within a temperature range in which the battery can be charged in an efficient manner (examples are Patent Documents 1 to 3).
In these years, the quick charge of the vehicle battery is enabled for widespread use. In particular, since the charging efficiency degrades under the low-temperature condition below the freezing point, the quick charge would be made impossible. Hence, it is important to warm the battery to fall within the most suitable temperature range quickly.

Battery temperature adjusting system and battery charging system


A multiband antenna transmission, including: a driving gear, a shifter, and a plurality of screw assemblies. The position and the driving gear are coaxially and rotatably arranged, and the shifter comprises a plate and a boss protruding from a side of the plate. The plurality of screw assemblies are arranged in a circumferential direction of the driving gear. Each of the plurality of screw assemblies includes: a lead screw, a driven gear selectively connected with or separated from the lead screw, and a first elastic member arranged between the lead screw and the driven gear. The boss is configured to sequentially push the driven gear of the respective screw assembly during rotation of the shifter, such that the driven gear is connected with the corresponding lead screw and whereby the driven gear is in mesh with the driving gear for transmission.

With the development of mobile communication technology, large-capacity multi-band antennas have become an important development trend of mobile communication antennas. To accommodate more antennas within a limited space, it is not possible to simply assemble multiband antennas together, which would otherwise make the whole antenna bulky, heavy, and inefficient.
A large-capacity multiband antenna of an existing product, in which a plurality of frequency bands are collectively assembled in a single antenna, a regulator for the respective frequency band is connected with a rack, and a plurality of racks are arranged side by side on a plane and driven by a common driving gear to move, thereby realizing the regulation. Regulation of the different racks is achieved when the common gear meshes with different racks at different positions. Since the common gear has to be moved to different racks positions, strict requirements are imposed on the positions of the common gear and the racks, and the common gear of the existing product is prone to be jammed when moving, which affects the timeliness and accuracy of the regulation of the antenna.

SHENZHEN ZHAOWEI MACHINERY & ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A system for facilitating client and advisor communications which may include a port to an aggregate database of a client's holdings and profile. When servicing or analyzing a client's financial needs, a financial advisor at a call center or other facility may be presented with a screen displaying some or all of the client's accounts, profile or analysis tools, collected via Internet or other sources. Other parties, including the client, may be offered access to the same, similar or related data and the financial advisor's analysis via a Web browser or other interface.

In the financial services industry, the ability of an organization to provide enhanced customer service may be a valuable competitive advantage. Within the financial industry, certain categories of customers tend to have a range of financial needs and use a variety of financial vehicles to meet their needs. For instance, comparatively higher net worth individuals may maintain a number of cash, securities, insurance, credit and other accounts within a financial institution or from a number of institutions.
Financial advisors at call centers or other facilities asked to service that type of clientele may be hampered in their ability to service those relationships fully, because when a call or other contact arrives the financial advisor may only be able to pull up a single account related to that customer. More powerful support platforms are desirable. Other problems exist.

System and method for aggregate portfolio client support


Systems and methods related to an expanding pallet skirt (EPS) are shown and described. In one example, an EPS includes a side including a stabilizer flap (SF), a display flap (DF), and a convertible shelf (CS) positioned between the SF and the DF. The SF has a ship-orientation and a display-orientation. The DF has a ship-orientation and a display-orientation. The CS converts from a shipper-rest-orientation to an expansion-spacer-orientation. Some systems may optionally include a removable shipper-cover configured to interface with the EPS when the DF is in its ship-orientation.

Warehouse club stores, e.g., Costco Wholesale Corporation and Sam's Club, often sell merchandise in bulk directly off pallets. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of items 2a and 2b displayed on pallets 4a and 4b.
Pallets such as 4a and 4b however are typically designed for storage and transport rather than display for sale. As a result, pallets may be unsightly, for example, dirty or irregular. Some stores may try to improve pallet appearance by painting the pallet, which may be time consuming and expensive.
In addition to single pallet display, as illustrated in FIG. 1, some items, e.g. smaller items, may be displayed on a plurality of pallets to bring the items closer to consumer eye level or reach. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of smaller items 2c, e.g. electronics, positioned on a plurality of pallets 4c. When a plurality of pallets are used, pallet unsightliness may be emphasized, for example, if multiple unsightly pallets are placed side by side, or when dirty or irregular pallets are placed next to clean or more regularly shaped pallets.
In addition to being unsightly, exposed pallets may represent additional liability, e.g. from large splinters or exposed nails.
Applicants believe that any one or combination of these problems are undesirable and may, for example, distract from sales.
Pallet skirts represent one attempt to address the problem of unsightly pallets. An exemplary pallet skirt may include planar sheets, e.g. of paper, designed to cover each exposed side of the pallet. Such systems may be sufficient when only a single pallet is used. Applicants believe, however, that when multiple pallets are used, existing technologies leave much to be desired and may be difficult to use. For example, if pallets are not flushly vertically aligned, traditional pallet skirts may have a variety of performance problems, for example, at least one of not covering the pallets, buckling, not properly closing, extending outwardly or irregularly. etc.
As a result, Applicants desire systems and methods to address any of the above mentioned, or additional, problems.

Shipping and display systems and methods


An electro-optic modulator includes a doped structure disposed on a top silicon layer of a substrate. The doped structure includes an optical waveguide, and a first P-type doped region and a first N-type doped region disposed respectively on two sides of the optical waveguide. The first P-type doped region is connected to the optical waveguide by means of a plurality of P-type doped link arms, and the first N-type doped region is connected to the optical waveguide by means of a plurality of N-type doped link arms. End portions of the plurality of P-type doped link arms and end portions of the plurality of N-type doped link arms are alternately arranged along a direction of light propagation to form PN junction depletion layers. The PN junction depletion layers are periodically arranged along the direction of light propagation to form the optical waveguide.

A silicone-based electro-optic modulator is one of the most important active devices on a silicon-based optoelectronic chip and plays a crucial role in high-speed optical communication. Such a modulator functions to convert a rapidly changing electrical signal to a rapidly changing optical signal.
For silicon optical chips used to transmit faster than 25 Gbps by single wavelength, the most feasible and commonly used technical solution at present is a Carrier Depletion Modulator based on a plasma dispersion effect. In this solution, the structure of a phase shifter is as shown in FIG. 1, including a P-type doping region 11′ and an N-type doping region 12′ that form a ridge waveguide 10′, as well as a P-type electrode and an N-type electrode that are connected to the two sides of the ridge waveguide 10′. A slab area 20′ of the ridge waveguide 10′ requires partial etching. Therefore, it is relatively difficult to control the thickness of the slab area 20′ of the ridge waveguide 10′, causing the device to suffer from poor uniformity. In addition, the thickness of the slab area 20′ of the ridge waveguide 10′ is small and the electrical resistance is high, thus limiting the bandwidth of the modulator.


A food dishing robot system capable of dealing with dishing operations of foods of various characteristics. Trays are supplied to vicinities of food dishing robots RB1–RB3 by food supplying lines L1–L3. Four food conveying containers are placed on each tray. Each of the robots RB1–RB3 handles a food conveying container containing a food on the tray to move the food conveying container over a lunch box supplied by a lunch box supplying line L4 at a predetermined position, and dishes the food on a predetermined space in the lunch box. The food contained in the food conveying container is discharged through a cutout or an opening formed at a side thereof by inclining the food conveying container. The food conveying container may have a bottom plate to be opened/closed or the robot may have an auxiliary member in the form of scoop to forcedly discharge the food from the food conveying container. After completing the dishing of the food, the food conveying container is returned on the tray. Shaped, shapeless, solid, powdery, granular and liquid food can be dished on the lunch box.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot system for dishing food contained in a food conveying container on a food dishing container, e.g. a lunch box and a dish, by handling the food conveying container using a robot. The present invention is applicable to dishing operations of liquid or fluid food as well as processed food and rice. The "food" as referred to in the specification includes various condiments such as sugar, salt, source and soy source.
2. Description of Related Art
Handling of food by a robot is adopted in packing a processed food such as a frozen food into a box in a food processing factory. However, dishing of a cooked food processed by heat on a dishing container, such as a lunch box, a dish and a plate, has been carried out manually and it is scarce to use a robot for dishing such food.
In the case of using a robot for dishing food on a dishing container, it is carried out by holding a shaped food and it is regarded to be difficult to dish the liquid or fluid food and thus scarcely carried out. There is not known a robot system for dishing food comprising a plurality of pieces of food such as boiled vegetables or shapeless food such as julienne of cabbage on the dishing container such as lunch box and a dish by a robot.
A cause of failing to provide a robot system for dishing food other than shaped food on the food dishing container is considered that the food which can be held by a hand of a robot is restricted to the solid food. There arise problems that a structure of the robot hand is made complicated for handling a food other than the shaped food such as a frozen food and special hands dedicated for respective kinds of food are required, to increase a cost of the robot system.
Further, in the conventional method of directly hold the food, it is difficult to cope with new menu rapidly. Specifically, the food heated or thawed is soft and tends to be deformed and therefore there is a case where the food is deformed by direct holing by a robot hand to lose value as a commodity. Further, it is difficult to securely carry the deformed food to a predetermined position for conveyance.
This is not a rare case. For example, the foods to be dished on a lunch box are shapeless and of variety of kinds, such as rice, cut cabbage, boiled vegetable and pasta, etc. It has been desired a robot system for securely dishing the various foods on the food dishing containers.


A basket carrier for beverage bottles. The end cells of the carrier are narrower than the interior cells, so that when the carrier is loaded the end bottles force out the end panels, creating a tight fit and rounded corners. The carrier is formed from a single blank. Fold lines may be provided in the end and side panels to facilitate forming the rounded corners.

Basket-style carriers are commonly employed to package beverage bottles. They normally include a central handle panel located between spaced parallel side panels, a bottom panel connected to the side panels and end panels connected to both the side panels and the handle panel. Dividers extending from the handle panel to the side panels are often included to provide individual cells for the bottles. The packaged bottles typically extend up beyond the side and end panels so that substantial upper portions of the bottles are visible. This is deemed beneficial since a distinctively shaped bottle known to be associated with the beverage company can thus be more readily identified.
Typically, basket-style carriers of this type are fabricated from collapsed carriers which have been formed from blanks. The carriers are loaded either by dropping bottles into place after the bottom panel has been formed or by moving an opened carrier over the bottles and then forming the bottom panel. Packaging machines designed to load and form the finished basket carrier package are employed to rapidly carry out these operations.
Basket carriers are conventionally made with the end panels at right angles to the side panels, giving a squared appearance. This arrangement also makes the gluing process simpler. Although such basket carriers are satisfactory from a performance point of view, it would be desirable from a marketing point of view to be able to package bottles in a basket-style carrier so that the end panels closely follow the contour of the end bottles. The resulting rounded corners not only would show off the shape of the bottles to greater advantage but would provide an additional degree of integrity to the carrier as a result of the corners more tightly holding the end bottles in place.
An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a basket carrier having rounded corners which meet the desired goals noted above. Another object is to provide such a carrier which can be glued by means of a flat gluing process. The carrier must also possess adequate strength and rigidity, and preferably should be produced from a nested web arrangement to minimize the required amount of paperboard.


A fan housing has a radially outer surface. A pair of radially intermediate surfaces includes a first surface spaced towards a first axial end, which has an inner bore positioned radially outward of an inner bore of a second surface. Vanes extend between the radially outer surface and an outer periphery of the pair of radially intermediate surfaces. A bearing bore extends radially inwardly of the first surface. A mounting lug nub is formed on an outer periphery of the radially outer surface. A first distance is defined between the first axial one end of the fan housing and an opposed axial end. A second distance is defined between the first axial end and a center of the mounting lug. A ratio of the first distance to the second distance is between 2.13 and 2.11. An intermediate part, a ram air fan and a method are also disclosed.

This application relates to a fan housing for use in a ram air fan.
Ram air fans are known, and are utilized in aircraft applications as a source of air, such as for an aircraft cabin air cooling system. Generally, a ram air fan includes a fan impeller received within a housing, that is mounted on an aircraft in a location where it may be exposed to air during flight of an aircraft. The fan is provided with an electric motor, which drives the impeller to supply cooling air.
A fan housing typically supports the fan rotor, and includes a number of static vanes. In the past, the fan housing was a relatively elongate structure, extending from a location adjacent an intermediate portion of the motor up to a forward location for the entire ram air fan, axially beyond the impeller. Such fan housings typically had manufacturing lugs which were positioned forwardly on the relatively long fan housing.
For any number of reasons, splitting the fan housing into two pieces is desirable.


A skateboard truck comprising a hanger pivotably mounted to a base, the hanger having a central aperture extending through opposite sides and a kingpin passing through the hanger central aperture. The truck includes a first and second bushing received on the kingpin, a first bushing seat receiving a portion of one of the first and second bushings and a second bushing seat receiving a portion of the other of the first and second bushings. The first and second bushing seats have different wall configurations. The hanger may be mounted to permit the first bushing to deform, rotating the hanger with respect to the base to a degree when subject to a force offset from the axis of the kingpin. The hanger may be reversibly mounted to permit the first bushing to deform, rotating the hanger with respect to the base to a different degree when subject to the same force.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to skateboards and skateboard trucks, and to the hangers used in such trucks.
2. Description of Related Art
Skateboard trucks use resilient, elastomeric bushings, usually two per truck, to provide spring and damping force between the truck base and the hanger carrying the wheels. One bushing is immediately below the truck, between the truck base and the hanger (also known as the truckside bushing), and the other is between the hanger and the kingpin head (also known as the streetside bushing). The truckside bushing primarily provides the flex and springiness of the truck during turning. Some skaters like tighter trucks, while some skaters like looser trucks. In addition to the size, shape and resilience of the bushing, the bushing seat in the hanger of the truck can make all the difference in the way that the trucks ride.


Generally described, one or more aspects of the present application correspond to techniques for automatic recovery from dual isolation in which both the primary and secondary replicas of a volume are stored on isolating servers. The disclosed techniques use handshakes between the client and the replicas to determine which has a better health score. The replica with the better health score becomes the primary replica, and confirms that it and the secondary replica are both in an isolating state. In response, the primary replica seeks a solo blessing, undoes the isolating state at the volume level (the server host will still be in isolating state), and continues handling I/O and peer replication until its healthy peer is complete. These techniques can avoid availability drops when the servers hosting the primary and secondary replicas of a volume enter the isolating state at around the same time.

Cloud computing, in general, is an approach to providing access to information technology resources through services, such as Web services, where the hardware and/or software used to support those services is dynamically scalable to meet the needs of the services at any given time. In order to maintain data availability even in the event of hardware failure, data is often replicated across multiple servers. Further, in order to sustain a healthy server fleet, servers can be isolated (e.g., cut off from network communication with other components) after detection of critical server-level errors, in order to prevent problems from propagating to other servers in the fleet. Typically, if the hardware storing one replica of data enters this isolated state, reads and writes to the data (input/output operations, or "I/O operations"), will failover to another replica, such that there is little or no interruption in access to the data.

Dual isolation recovery for primary-secondary server architectures


An air bearing has a rotor having a circularly curved radial rotor bearing surface along its circumferential direction. The air bearing also has a stator having at least one radial stator bearing surface partially enclosing the rotor in the circumferential direction. The radial stator bearing surface is curved according to a profile following the circumferential direction of the rotor and is fashioned to generate an air gap between it and the radial rotor bearing surface so that, upon operation, the rotor is borne, supported by an air current in the air gap. The profile shapes the air gap such that, at a starting temperature that deviates from an operating temperature, the air gap has a smaller thickness (measured in the radial direction) in a second region of the radial stator bearing surface in comparison to a first region of the radial stator bearing surface along the circumferential direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an air bearing and a use of such an air bearing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In contrast to conventional bearings, known air bearings are characterized by their practically negligible friction and aging as well as by their high-precision and high-speed capability. The absence of oil is likewise of decisive importance because this significantly expands the field of use (for example in dusty environments), and the maintenance of the oil system is simultaneously foregone. Instead of the oil, in an air bearing an air film or an air flow in a relatively narrow air column produces a contact-free bearing. A stator and a rotor to which a body is attached interact via the air film.
The basic positive properties of air bearings have facilitated the entry of air bearings into the medical technology field. The requirements for an air bearing in this field can be summarized as being that they should run without need of maintenance, quietly and stably, over a wide temperature range, independent of the rotational frequency. Optimally small installation volumes and cost-effective solutions are additionally required.
An example of an air bearing that approaches these properties required in medical technology is commercially available from the company NEWWAY with headquarters at 50 McDonald Blvd., Aston, Pa., 19014, USA, under the name Air Bearing Slewing Rings, and is depicted in a cross-section representation in FIG. 1. This type of an air bearing is in the form of a positive air bearing 1 in which, according to one embodiment, a stator 2 of annular design, which can be mounted firmly in an apparatus, has on its inner side, a rotor 3 that is fashioned in one piece and likewise in annular form. The rotor 3 is completely enclosed by the stator 2 at its outer side in the radial direction (characterized by the first arrow 4) and at least partially in the axial direction (characterized by the second arrow 5). Conforming to an external, circumferential (peripheral) rotor surface that forms a radial rotor bearing surface, the stator 2 has a circumferential radial stator bearing surface 7 that is fashioned for supportive bearing of the rotor 3 or of a body connected with the rotor 3 in the radial direction 4 of the rotor 3. The stator 2 additionally has circumferential axial stator bearing surfaces 9 (corresponding to the body surfaces of the rotor 3 that are oriented in the axial direction 5 and form axial rotor bearing surfaces 8) that are fashioned for supportive bearing of the rotor 3 or of a body connected with the rotor in the axial direction 5. To generate the air gap necessary for bearing, the radius of the radial rotor bearing surface 6 and the radius of the radial stator bearing surface 7 differ slightly. The air gap formed upon operation has an essentially homogeneous thickness along the bearing surfaces 7 in the circumferential direction.
This type of positive air bearing 1 does in fact satisfy the criterion of the space-saving design. This known air bearing 1, however, exhibits relatively tight limit values with regard to its operating temperatures, which hinders the use of this air bearing. This problem occurs because—due to the 360° design of the stator 2 surrounding the rotor 3—the air bearing 1 may be operated only with a slight temperature difference between the rotor 3 and the stator 2, since otherwise the danger exists that excessive heating of the rotor 3, and an associated expansion of the rotor 3, can lead to a seizing of the rotor 3 and the stator 2. This situation is exacerbated by the use of different materials. The rotor 3 is typically made of steel and the radial stator bearing surface is made of a porous graphite. Since steel has a much greater value of the coefficient of thermal expansion than graphite, in this known bearing seizing between stator and the positively embedded rotor is inevitably to be expected. Although this could in principle be counteracted by two measures, neither of these measures nor their consequences are desirable. One possibility would be to continuously cool the rotor 3, but this is cost-intensive and complicated. Another possibility would be to increase the air gap thickness between the rotor 3 and the stator 2, but the effectiveness of the air bearing would then be decreased, because the thickness of the air gap must be relatively small (for example in the range of 1/1000 mm) in order to obtain an effective bearing. It should also be noted that, very generally, an air bearing 1 with a smaller air gap can bear (support) a larger load than an air bearing 1 with a larger air gap.


A multi-chip module has at least two semiconductor chips. Each of the semiconductor chips has chip electrodes of the semiconductor chip, electrically conductive interconnections for electrically connection with the chip electrodes, electrically conductive lands for electrically connection with the interconnections, external terminals placed on the lands, and a stress-relaxation layer intervening between the lands and the semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chips are placed on a mounting board via the external terminals. The distance between farthest ones of external terminal positioned at an outermost end portions of said second semiconductor chip is smaller than that of the first semiconductor chip.

The present invention relates to a multi-chip module in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are mounted on a mounted board.
In recent years, mobile phones, note type computers, PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) or the like are rapidly coming into wide use, while miniaturization and weight reduction and higher performance of these consumer-oriented electronic systems are rapidly being pursued. In order to realize these, there is a need for a technology for densely packing semiconductor devices, such as a CPU, microprocessor, logic, and memory, and passive electronic components and assembling them into a system module.
Although an ultimate aspect of the system module is a system-on-chip in which all devices are made into a single chip, it is difficult to make different devices into a chip at the same time, and thus there is fear for a reduction in yield. Further, such a system module is made on orders for each of products and tends to be manufactured in small volumes with different configurations. Therefore, there is a problem that newly designing of such products from the stage of devices may be not cost-justified. Thus, the technology development of MCM (Multi-Chip Module) is actively pursued, in which a plurality of separately manufactured chips are densely mounted with wiring length as short as possible to assemble into one system module.
An example of conventional MCM's is described in JP-A-10-126044 specification, which discloses an MCM structure, wherein a plurality of semiconductor chips are flip-chip mounted on a base board via solder and a sealing resin is flowed between the semiconductor elements and the base board.
Further, JP-A-2000-196008 specification discloses a multi-chip type semiconductor device, in which semiconductor chips of not less than three are arranged on a board in a planar manner, electrical connections between the chips are made with fine lines, and the whole of the semiconductor chips and fine lines are covered with a sealing resin, and then a ball grid array which becomes as external electrodes is formed on a back surface of the board.
However, any of JP-A-10-126044 and JP-A-2000-196008 specification does not disclose how to improve the reliability of the whole multi-chip modules to thermal stress or the like.
Therefore, the invention has an object to provide a multi-chip module having high reliability to thermal stress or the like.


Disclosed is a living body measurement apparatus, comprising: an input unit; a measurement unit; an arithmetic unit; and a display unit. According to the present invention said input unit enters body information for a person under test, and said measurement unit measures physical characteristic for the person under test. Furthermore, said arithmetic unit calculates an index of body composition for the person under test based on the entered body information and the measured physical characteristic, and said display unit displays the calculated index of body composition by using an animation in such manner that the animations is differently displayed according to the result of calculation by said arithmetic unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display format for a living body measurement apparatus for measuring physical characteristic for a person under test and for calculating body composition based on the measured value.
2. Prior Art
Various types of apparatus have been known in the art for calculating an index of living body composition such as body fat rate, visceral fat level, basal metabolism, etc., using bioelectrical impedance. Such apparatus are considered useful for health care and become popular in home use.
Previous measurement apparatus have generally been designed to display the measurement result in numerical value. Accordingly, a person under test, if having no expert skill, could not immediately decide whether the value is higher or lower. Therefore, it was common that the decision of whether the result is normal or not is made with reference to a table or a brochure listing some standard values, for example.
Another type of apparatus has been proposed that is configured to display a graph showing the progress of body condition up to now, together with the past data.
However, such apparatus was defective in that even if the person can see the measurement result it is very difficult to determine whether the body condition for the person is normal or not based on the measurement result.
In case of further apparatus that has been proposed to display a plurality of living body compositions, because of several numerical values simply displayed for those body compositions, it was difficult for a person under test to immediately understand which of the values is higher than normal. In addition, it was hard for the person to memorize all the values and to remain them in his memory. Accordingly, irrespective of a plurality of living body compositions displayed with much effort, they actually have not fully been utilized for health care.
Furthermore, display of the measurement result in numerical value was especially devoid of interest and was the cause for getting tired of the measurement. Therefore, there was such tendency that the measurement apparatus such as a body fat meter and a visceral fat meter that are necessary for health care during longer period of time by continuous measurement is used only once and thereafter it is not used at all. From the viewpoint of health care it is hard to say that the previous measurement apparatus has properly been utilized.
In addition, a child who has not yet learned the numerals could not understand the measurement result displayed in numerical value. Therefore, the child had no way for understanding it, except for asking the parent, for example.
Further type of apparatus has been proposed wherein some letters are used to represent what measurement result is displayed. However, such apparatus has not fully been utilized by the foreign people who do not read the letters because they could not understand the meaning of the measurement result.
In view of the above an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved measurement apparatus for outputting the measurement result for living body composition, which is displayed not only in numerical value, but also in visually understandable manner, and which can be understood by any person under test and can be memorized as some visual image.
Displaying the measurement result with great interest makes possible for a person under test to continue the measurement, which is consequently useful for health care for longer period of time.


A vehicle body reinforcing structure which increases rigidity of a front side member, a shock absorber housing, and a fender apron of a vehicle body may include the fender apron that connects the front side member and the shock absorber housing, and the fender apron that is formed in a pipe shape so that work hardening occurs in a process of manufacturing the pipe-shaped fender apron.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle body reinforcing structure, and more particularly, to a vehicle body reinforcing structure for increasing rigidity of a vehicle body.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, shock-absorbing performance refers to performance that mitigates impact force that occurs when two objects collide.
Recently, stability performance has attracted attention, among items of performance of a vehicle. The stability performance includes shock-absorbing performance at the time of a vehicle collision. In addition, the shock-absorbing performance is a major part of determining marketability of the vehicle. Of course, devices such as airbags and seat belts are used to mitigate impact transmitted to occupants at the time of a vehicle collision. However, the shock-absorbing performance of a vehicle body needs to be improved prior to improving performance of safety devices.
Particularly, a front body of the vehicle is a place where an engine, a front wheel suspension system, a radiator, a steering gear box and the like are mounted, and rigidity of the front body is required. Further, in the case of a front-wheel (FF) drive vehicle, since an engine room is positioned in the front body, rigidity of the front body is more important. Therefore, the front body needs to be designed to mitigate impact force and protect occupants in the interior of the vehicle at the time of a vehicle collision.
The front body includes a shock absorber housing, a front side member, a fender apron, and the like.
The shock absorber housing is a housing in which a shock absorber is mounted. The shock absorber is a constituent element of a suspension system which stabilizes the vehicle body against external impact. Further, the shock absorber allows a spring, which receives and cancels impact, to be smoothly operated, and attenuates vibration of the spring.
The front side members are members that form a frame of the front body, and mounted at both sides of a front portion below a dashboard that partitions the front body and the interior room of the vehicle. That is, the front side members are mounted at both sides of a front floor that constitutes a front bottom of the interior room of the vehicle. Further, the front side member mainly has a structure which blocks impact that is applied to the suspension system. In addition, the front side member serves to support a front bumper.
The shock absorber housing is installed on the front side member. Further, the shock absorber housing is coupled to the front side member and the fender apron by spot welding.
The fender apron refers to a portion that is positioned inside a fender, and partitions a wheel and the engine room. Further, the fender apron is coupled to the shock absorber housing and the front side member. In addition, the fender apron supports force transmitted from the suspension system, and protects numerous components.
Recently, a size of a head lamp has increased. Therefore, there is a need to adjust for a shape of the fender apron which prevents interference between the fender apron and the head lamp.
However, in a case in which a part of the fender apron has a curved shape or a tapered shape in order to prevent interference with the head lamp, rigidity of the fender apron may deteriorate, and shock-absorbing performance of the front body may be adversely affected.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for improving the circulation of blood through a patient's heart and extremity. The method comprises applying external positive regional pressure on an extremity synchronously with the patient's heartbeat. An adjustable timing cycle is initiated at the QRS complex of the arterial pulse cycle. The timing cycle is based on an average time period between QRS complexes, which is calculated from a measurement of several successive QRS complexes in the patient's heart rate. Pressure pulses are applied in the end-diastolic portion of the arterial pulse cycle to reinforce the pulse that forces blood into the extremity. The pressure is then relieved prior to the next projected QRS complex to enable the next pulse to enter the extremity without undue obstruction, thereby promoting circulation of blood through the extremity. To promote circulation of blood through the heart, compression of the extremity is released shortly before the next projected QRS complex with a controlled fluid supply.

For the treatment of various diseases, it is often helpful to enhance the patient's natural blood circulation. It is particularly desirable to promote blood circulation in the treatment of ischemic diseases occurring in the extremities of limbs of the body. By artificially promoting blood circulation, the development of ischemic lesions on a patient's extremities may be curtailed and ischemic lesions that have already developed may be healed. Artificial promotion of blood circulation may also be used in the treatment of coronary heart disease, where it can be utilized to reduce myocardial ischemia and support left ventricle function, thereby increasing coronary artery perfusion and myocardial oxygen supply while reducing cardiac oxygen demand and work.
A non-invasive means of enhancing a patient's natural blood flow involves the use of devices which apply and remove pressure from at least a portion of the patient's extremity. For example, a patient's legs may be enclosed in air bags which may be inflated to apply pressure on the leg and deflated to remove pressure from the leg. Synchronous application of pressure on an extremity can enhance the flow of blood into the extremity, as well as enhancing the pumping of blood through the heart.
Intermittent compression of an extremity can improve the circulation in several ways. First, it facilitates return of interstitial fluid, i.e., lymph fluid or edema, from the extremities. Second, it facilitates venous return. If the venous valves are intact, venous back pressure on the capillary bed in the extremity is reduced to zero, thereby improving the arterial-venous gradient. Both of these actions may increase volume return to the heart, and neither is dependent upon timing the leg compression with the end-diastolic portion of the heartbeat.
End-diastolic intermittent pressure to an extremity provides several additional advantages, however. The first is the promotion of arterial flow in an ischemic extremity, such as a leg. The blood pulse wave is allowed to enter the leg, and compression provides a driving force to disseminate the blood through the tissues. Moreover, timing of compression with the end-diastolic portion of the heart cycle tends to augment the wave form that is reflected back from the compressed extremity. In a resting patient, the normal pulse wave that enters a leg, for example, wells up and is reflected backward toward the heart. Properly timed end-diastolic pumping applies pressure in addition to the normal pulse waves in the leg, which both disseminates blood in the leg and augments the reflected wave form. This augmentation of the reflected wave form can increase splanchnic, renal and coronary flow.
Properly timed end-diastolic pressure also has the potential of promoting aortic pulse wave harmonics. Decompressing the extremity in the presystolic phase of the heart cycle functions to drop the pressure in the inflatable enclosure, thereby creating a negative pressure gradient that effectively augments the reflected wave form from the aortic valve in presystole and decreases cardiac afterload. The diastolic timing of the compressions and their release in presystole thus augments normal pressure waves and allows the compression device to effectively operate at comfortable pressures, such as 45-70 mm Hg. Thus, end-diastolic intermittent pressure on an extremity has several positive effects on cardiac function. First, in preload phase, the blood returning to the heart from the peripheral circulation has a greater momentum, thereby enabling more efficient loading of the heart without as much work. Second, the decrease in afterload allows more complete emptying of the heart, thereby allowing the ejection fraction and cardiac output to increase.
Intermittent external pressure on the extremity, when timed to the end-diastolic portion of the heart cycle has significant positive clinical effects. For example, patients may be relieved of heart failure. Their pulmonary edema may be relieved and their serum lactate/pyruvate ratio reduced. Those patients with a murmur due to insufficiency of the mitral valve are found to have a decrease in the intensity of their murmur as more blood enters the aorta and legs, and is returned to the left atrium. Urinary output commonly increases in patients with prerenal azotemia. An increase in cardiac output per heartbeat is associated with a reflex slowing of the pulse rate in both sick and normal patients.
The observed effect of rescuing patients from acute myocardial infarction has been hypothesized to result from several factors. First, as described earlier, the work of the heart and its oxygen requirements are decreased when properly-timed intermittent compression of an extremity is applied. The observed increased ejection fraction of the heart probably signifies that stunned heart muscle is again contracting, thereby resuming the work of pumping blood. Additionally, intermittent compression of an extremity stimulates the formation of fibrinolysins in the blood, which may aid in dissolving coronary clots. Thus, the augmentation of preload and decrease in afterload can normalize muscle contractions, mechanically moving and possibly squeezing the coronary arteries. This action, together with the stimulation of fibrinolysins, can help restore patency to coronary arteries blocked with thrombus.
To this end, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,961,625, 4,269,175, 4,343,362 and 4,590,925 to the present inventor disclose methods and apparatus to provide end-diastolic intermittent pressure to one or more extremities. The above-referenced patents emphasize a unique timing that relates compressions of the extremity to the occurrence of the QRS complex in the EKG tracing, which represents electrical systole for the ventricles.
With respect to timing compression of the extremity to promote blood flow through the extremity, the time delay from the QRS complex to the entry of the blood pulse into the extremity must be taken into account. The application of pressure is typically set at a pre-determined variable interval after the QRS complex, and the release of pressure may be set at a pre-determined variable interval after application of the pressure, or it may be triggered by the next QRS complex.
The timing of application of pressure depends on the pulse rate of the patient and on the size of the extremity. Compression is preferably applied as late as possible in the diastolic portion of the heart cycle. However, because the pressure in the air bag must overcome the inertia of blood in the extremity, the time of inflation of the air bag must be sufficiently long to overcome this inertia. For circulation-promoting systems such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,302, a compression time of no less than 0.34 seconds is necessary.
Thus, an intermittent external compression system, in order to provide effective promotion of circulation through an extremity, is regulated by a timing cycle comprising a time delay (time from the pulse generated at the QRS complex to reach the extremity) and a compression period (time which the extremity is compressed to facilitate movement of the blood through the extremity). The compression period should be calculated and set on the basis of the size of the extremity, and the time delay should compensate for movement of the pulse from the heart to the extremity. Current systems accomplish this either by pre-setting the time delay and the compression period, so that the sum of the two is approximately equal to the time between QRS complexes, or by manually adjusting the time delay to take into account changes in heart rate. Neither of these current methods is adequate to assure effective pumping of blood through the extremities of patients having either a very rapid and/or an irregular heart rate, nor can they compensate for the normal slowing of the heart rate that accompanies intermittent pressure therapy. Currently, no method is available for adjusting the timing cycle to better coincide with QRS complexes of patients with variable heart rates. Clearly, in order for external intermittent pressure therapy to be fully effective in such cases, such a method is needed.
With respect to promoting the flow of blood through the heart, the timing of pressure and release on the extremity again is important. The first fraction of mechanical systole is an isometric contraction in which the muscle tightens around the contained blood, raising the pressure within the ventricle from a low level to the level of diastolic blood pressure. When the intraventricular pressure reaches diastolic blood pressure, the aortic valve opens and blood begins to leave the ventricle, as the ventricular chamber actually decreases in size. Electrical systole, hence, precedes the first movement of blood from the ventricles by approximately 0.05 seconds. Peak ventricular outflow occurs approximately 0.1 seconds later, or 0.15 seconds after the QRS complex occurs. Blood ejection from the ventricles ends with the closure of the aortic valve, which follows the QRS complex by about 0.24 seconds. Assuming that pulse waves from the extremity to the heart travel at approximately 20-40 feet per second (the rate at which they would travel in water, a noncompressible medium), the drop in pressure caused by release of compression on the extremity is perceived by the heart within approximately 0.1-0.15 seconds. In view of the fact that blood ejection from the ventricles takes approximately 0.24 seconds after the QRS complex, if the extremity is decompressed at the next QRS complex, and 0.1-0.15 seconds pass before the drop in pressure is perceived by the heart, the drop in aortic blood pressure due to the release of the extremity is perceived by the heart for perhaps only the last 3/4 of the systole. To facilitate complete unloading of the heart, however, it would be preferable if pressure to the extremity were released approximately 0.1-0.15 seconds before the next occurring QRS complex, so that the drop in pressure perceived by the heart occurs for the entire duration of systole. This could be accomplished by triggering the decompression of the air bag either by the "P" wave (atrial systole), or by manually anticipating occurrence of the next QRS complex and triggering deflation of the air bag approximately 0.1 seconds earlier. The use of the "P" wave is limited to those patients having "P" waves. Patients with atrial fibrillation have no "P" waves.
Thus, promotion of blood circulation through the heart involves precise timing of decompression of the extremity to occur shortly (e.g., 0.1 seconds) before the next occurring QRS complex. Manual adjustment of the time delay, which is the method currently available to regulate compression and decompression with the QRS complex, is clearly a cumbersome and inadequate means to precisely control decompression of the extremity to enable complete unloading of the heart. Patients with rapid or irregular heart rates are particularly disadvantaged because it is extremely difficult to continuously adjust compression and decompression of the extremity to coincide with a particular instant in the QRS cycle. In promoting pumping of blood through the heart and through an extremity, then, a method of adjusting compression and decompression of the air bag would indeed be a marked improvement over the methods currently available.

Method for promoting circulation of blood


A system that facilitates menu management in an OLE document environment. The system includes a menu component that receives a server menu of a server application with a container menu of a container application. The menu component detects a menu conflict between the menus. The system further includes a conflict component that resolves the conflict between a server menu item of the server menu and a container menu item of the container menu, wherein at least one of the server menu item and the container menu item is modified to be unique from the other. The conflict component then outputs the integrated final menu.

A common programming model is when one application "hosts" another application or applet where the character of the user interface changes as the hosted application is activated. One example is when a spreadsheet embedded in a word application is activated in order to manipulate the contents of the spreadsheet. When two applications want to present user interface (UI) elements to the user, conflicts can arise. One way of solving this was to hide conflicting information based on complex rules that could involve accessing the object model and/or modifying source code. OLE in-place editing technology has enabled two applications to behave as one by allowing one application to run within the frame of another. The user remains in the same frame window (within the context of the container) but is actually running another application (the server). Coordination between resources of the container and server applications is required to achieve this functionality. One of such resources is a menu.
Standard OLE menu merging allows container and server to merge their menus. However, the protocol does not handle extensive menu name collisions, except for the case of the "Help" menu. In cases when two functionally rich applications participate in menu merging, naming conflicts can be quite common. In one example, there can be a number of conflicting menus between two applications that have common menu items such as View, Tools, and Data. If these applications were to follow standard OLE menu merging protocol, the final menu would contain two identical "View" menus, two identical "Tools" menus, and two identical "Data" menu items. Moreover, usability studies show rather cumbersome and difficult usage where duplicate menus are involved. Users are frustrated when trying to accomplish tasks since there is no indication in UI which menu to use.
What is needed is an improved menuing system.

Menu management in an OLE document environment


Conductive adhesive bonds are used preferably where the contact bonds are subject to great temperature variations, for example, on a throttle valve controller. In order to increase the mechanical stabilization of the conductive adhesive bonds, the surface of the contacts are machined and provided with structures such as ribbing, prickles, etc. As a result of this structuring, the conductive adhesive interlocks mechanically at these points. This leads to a high contact reliability also at extreme temperature changes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conductive adhesive bond on metal contacts.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conductive adhesive bonds are used preferably where the contact bonds are subject to great temperature variations, for example, on a throttle valve controller.
DE 40 12 061 A1 discloses a conductive and adhesive paste, which can also be used as a conductive adhesive on metal contacts. DE 37 03 465 C2 discloses a use of the conductive adhesive in electrical switching devices.
Despite good contacting of the conductive adhesive, this bond can loosen.
DE 35 45 789 C2 describes a switching device, the movable contacts of which have wiping grooves on the surface, which run at an angle of 45° oblique to the center line of a contact bar. A turning-gliding wiping motion is thereby created during interaction with other elements.
DE 37 24 237 C2 discloses a contact terminal, which is additionally provided with ribs on a contact area that provides for good electrical contact between a contact area of a supporting part and a clamped object.


An idler group is disclosed for a mobile machine having a tracked undercarriage with an endless track. The idler group may include a retainer disposed on an axle and within an opening in an idler. The retainer may be configured to achieve an interference fit with the idler sufficient to hold the retainer within the opening of the idler during operation of the mobile machine. In another embodiment, a retaining ring may be disposed within a channel formed in the idler and may contact the retainer. In yet another embodiment, a swaged connection may be formed between the idler and the axle.

A mobile machine may be used to perform various types of work on different worksites, such as a construction site, a demolition site, a mining site, or a landfill site. For example, a bulldozer may be used to push soil and rock on a construction site. The bulldozer, as a track-type mobile machine, may include a tracked undercarriage with tracks on the left and right sides of the machine. Each of the tracks may include a chain formed by connecting a number of track links to one another, and connecting a number of track shoes to the chains. The tracks are supported by various roller assemblies on both sides of the machine, including idler groups that guide the tracks.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of a known idler group 100. As illustrated in the drawings, idler group 100 includes an idler 102, which is typically formed of multiple components welded to one another. Idler 102 includes a rim 104 that is sized and shaped to engage and guide the track links. Idler group 100 also includes an axle 106, radial and thrust bearings 108 and 110 (only shown in FIG. 2), and end caps 112, among other components. Each end cap 112 is attached to idler 102 by multiple bolts 114, so that idler 102 is able to rotate on the bearings while being retained on axle 106.
Use of the known idler group results in numerous disadvantages, however. For example, assembly and disassembly of the idler group is labor intensive and expensive due to the number of bolts used to attach the end caps to the idler. Further, vibrations experienced by the idler group may result in the bolts loosening, so that the end caps are no longer reliably attached to the idler.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved idler group. The idler group and method of assembly in accordance with the current disclosure may overcome or avoid disadvantages resulting from the use of the above-described or other known idler groups.


Described herein are techniques related to the generation of data blocks that collectively include padding appended before a first or after a last of the data blocks. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Digital subscriber line (DSL) technology provides high-speed data transfer between two or more modems or multicarrier apparatuses across ordinary telephone lines (e.g., twisted pair of copper wires), while still providing for plain old telephone service (POTS). Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and Very High Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) have emerged as popular implementations of DSL systems, where ADSL is defined by American National Standard Institute (ANSI) standard T1.413 and International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) standards G.992.3, G.992.5, and VDSL is defined by ANSI standard T1.424 and ITU-T standard G.993.1. ADSL, VDSL and other similar DSL systems (collectively referred to as "xDSL") typically provide digital data transfer in a frequency range above the POTS band (e.g., about 300 Hz to 4 kHz), for example ADSL G.992.3 operates at frequencies from about 25 kHz to about 1.1 MHz. Packet-based technology (e.g., ITU G.hn, HomePNA, HomePlug® AV and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA)) also provides high-speed data transfer for multicarrier apparatuses. Some multicarrier apparatuses may be enabled to communicate using IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) wireless technologies.
One feature of such multicarrier apparatuses that allows them to provide high data rates is their ability to communicate symbols over a multi-carrier channel. Such a multi-carrier channel may include a number of frequencies or "carriers" (e.g., carriers f1, f2, . . . fN) that span a frequency spectrum supported by the telephone line or other communication medium. In effect, by breaking the frequency spectrum into multiple carriers, the multicarrier apparatuses can transmit data over each of the carriers (instead of just a single carrier), thereby allowing them to "stuff" more data through the communication medium (e.g., telephone twisted pair).
During communication, a specific number of bytes per unit time may be transmitted on each carrier based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Typically, more bytes are transmitted on carriers that have a relatively high SNR, while fewer bytes are transmitted on frequencies that have a relatively low SNR. Although encoding and decoding data conveyed on multiple frequencies makes multicarrier communication computationally complex, it gives the multicarrier apparatuses the ability to provide users with high speed data connections with relatively few errors.
Although a multicarrier channel affords communication systems some ability to account for particularly noisy regions of the frequency spectrum, other components are typically used to account for more dynamic noise sources, such as impulse noise. Therefore, to achieve high data rates with high accuracy, improvements can be made to allow communication systems to communicate more efficiently.

Padding after channel encoding repetition and interleaving


The present invention provides a color-coded optical fiber cable and a method for manufacturing the color-coded optical fiber cable. The optical fiber cable of the present invention comprises a glass fiber, a buffer surrounding the fiber, which may be comprised of nylon, an aramid fiber strength member surrounding the fiber buffer, and an outer sheath surrounding the aramid fiber strength member. In accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, optical fiber cables are color coded by using aramid fiber strength members of different colors. Once a color-coded aramid fiber strength member has been placed about the fiber buffer, it is surrounded by a light-transmissive outer sheath so that the color of the aramid fiber strength member can be easily ascertained, even when the optical fiber cable is wound up on a reel. When employed with a duplex cable, this embodiment allows a technician to easily determine which miniature jumper cable of the duplex cable is the transmit jumper cable and which is the receive jumper cable. In accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, an optical fiber cable is color coded by placing a colored jacket about the aramid fiber strength member of the optical fiber cable. An outer light-transmissive jacket is then placed about the colored jacket. When a duplex optical fiber cable is color coded in accordance with this embodiment, the colored jackets of each of the jumper cables are simultaneously covered with the light-transmissive outer sheath by extruding the light-transmissive outer sheath over the colored jackets. The light-transmissive outer sheath holds the jumper cables together. The colored jackets of the jumper cables can be easily seen by a technician through the outer light-transmissive jacket of the duplex cable. The present invention can be used in a similar manner to color code optical fiber jumper cables contained in optical fiber quad cables and in optical fiber break-out cables.

Optical fiber cables are implemented in communications systems for transmitting information between a laser transmitter and a receiving photodiode. Some optical fiber cables, such as premises cables, are intended to be handled by persons from time to time and, therefore, must be manufactured so that handling of the optical fiber cables will not damage the cables or interfere with signals being transmitted over the cables. Some optical fiber cables manufactured for this purpose are commonly referred to as miniature jumper cables. Each miniature jumper cable commonly is comprised of the fiber itself, which typically is comprised of glass, a fiber buffer surrounding the fiber, which typically is comprised of nylon, an aramid fiber strength member surrounding the fiber buffer, and an outer sheath surrounding the aramid fiber strength member, which typically is comprised of PVC that is opaque.
Duplex optical fiber cables comprise a pair of miniature jumper cables that are attached to each other along the lengths of the jumper cables to form a cable that looks similar to a lamp chord. One of the miniature jumper cables corresponds to the transmit jumper cable and the other miniature jumper cable corresponds to the receive jumper cable. The ends of each of the jumper cables has a connector attached thereto which is used to connect the jumper cables to other devices, such as to an optical transmitter and an optical receiver.
In order to distinguish the transmit jumper cable from the receive jumper cable, manufacturers of duplex cables typically mark one of the jumper cables. For example, it is known to place a stripe of ink along the length of one of the jumper cables of the duplex cable. It is also known to print lettering on one of the jumper cables of the duplex cable, such as the name of the manufacturer of the cable. These markings allow a technician to easily distinguish between the transmit and receive jumper cables. However, placing markings on one of the jumper cables is not an easy task and is prone to error. In fact, one of the greatest wastes of optical fiber cable in the optical fiber cable industry is attributable to cable which is discarded because of inaccurate printing on the cable. Furthermore, when the cables are wound up on reels, as is often the case, the markings are often difficult to see.
Another way to distinguish the transmit jumper cable from the receive jumper cable is to physically remove a portion of the outer sheath of the jumper cable and a portion of the aramid strength member to expose the fiber buffer. It is common in the optical fiber cable industry to use colored buffers. A well known industry standard defines the colors that are used for buffers of different optical fiber cables in order to distinguish between optical fiber cables. The color of the buffer of an optical fiber cable may be determined by looking at the end of the optical fiber cable. However, once a connector has been placed on the end of the optical fiber cable, the buffer is no longer visible.
Therefore, if the cables are not marked in such a manner that the cables can be distinguished, the cables can only be distinguished by removing a portion of the outer sheath and of the aramid strength member so that the color of the buffer is ascertainable. However, in attempting to remove a portion of the sheath and of the aramid strength member, a technician may inadvertently damage the fiber itself Accordingly, a need exists for a method of providing optical fiber cables with a distinguishing characteristic that does not require marking of the cables and that allows the cables to be easily distinguished without piercing the cables. Each of the jumper cables is color coded, either in accordance with one of the color-coding techniques of the present invention or in accordance with a conventional color-coding technique. The color code of each of the jumper cables can easily be ascertained through the outer light-transmissive jacket of the quad cable.
In accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention, a six-fiber break-out cable comprising six optical fiber miniature jumper cables has an outer light-transmissive jacket. Each of the jumper cables is color coded, either in accordance with one of the color-coding techniques of the present invention or in accordance with a conventional color-coding technique. The color code of each of the jumper cables can easily be ascertained through the outer light-transmissive jacket of the break-out cable.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following discussion and claims, as well as from the drawings.

Color-coded optical fiber cable and a method for manufacturing the same