A method of gathering information relevant to the interests of a user includes receiving activity history associated with the user from a network data source, where the activity history includes a description of a user action initiated by the user, generating a first metadata item based upon the activity history; and storing the first metadata item as user profile information associated with the user in a user profile database. Generating the first metadata item may include extracting text from the activity history and generating the first metadata item based upon the text. The activity history may include a description of a user action. The method may further include providing a server plugin for performing a second method in response to access of web content on a server by the user, the second method comprising retrieving a content object from the server, determining if the first metadata item is relevant to the content object, adding a web link to the web content as a reference to the content object in response to the content object being relevant to the first metadata item; and providing the web content to the user.

1. Field
The present application relates generally to aggregation of content from multiple sources, and more particularly to augmenting online content with additional content that is relevant to interests of particular users.
2. Related Art
Aggregation and cross-referencing of online content hosted on multiple web sites, such as Flickr™, del.icio.us, YouTube™, and Facebook® to provide a more unified, comprehensive view of a user's online content such as blog posts, web site bookmarks, videos, and social networking information are known in the art. Lifestreaming refers to a process of collecting and storing information about a person's activities and life by aggregating online content that the person creates and consumes, such as blog posts, social network updates, online photos, and the like.
Blogs, also known as web logs, present content generated by a user. Blogs may cover a variety of subjects, and content entries are presented in reverse chronological order, thereby giving higher visibility to the latest updates. As new posts are added, the older posts become less prominent. The older posts may, for example, disappear from the main page of the web site to a visitor, but since most users view only the most visible, i.e., latest, content, older posts receive few hits.
Lifestreaming enables aggregation of user activities from multiple web sites. Users provide their usernames for web sites such as Flickr®, YouTube®, Last.fm, Netflix®, Twitter®, del.icio.us, Digg™, and the like to lifestreaming providers such as MyBlogLog™, FriendFeed™, Plaxo®, and the like. Such lifestreaming providers crawl web sites and aggregate the latest updates.
Knowledge about recent user activities across different services is not presently used to find posts of interest for a visitor. Such user activity knowledge increases the relevance significantly and enables websites to personalize content for particular users.
MyBlogLog is a network service for use by bloggers, i.e., users who maintain and author content on web log sites. A blogger may register with MyBlogLog to create a blog community for the blogger's blogs. Other users may subscribe to the blog community to receive updates from the blogs in the community. When the blogger adds content to a blog, the content may be syndicated, i.e., provided automatically, to other members of the community.
Existing techniques attempt to increase blog traffic, e.g., the number of readers and/or the time spent reading by each reader, by showing the most popular posts or content, ordinarily select interesting posts to display based upon information about all visitors to a web site or blog. However, these existing techniques do not accurately select content relevant to the interests of individual visitors.

Augmenting online content with additional content relevant to user interest


An orientation sensor that includes a user input device that is configured to set a heading of the orientation sensor based on an orientation of the orientation sensor. The orientation sensor may include a memory that is configured to store the heading. The orientation sensor may include a display that is configured to display the at least one orientation value. The orientation sensor may include a processor that is configured to generate orientation information based on the heading. The user input device may include a button, and in response to pressing the button the heading may be set based on the current orientation of the orientation sensor. For example, the at least one orientation value may be associated with orientation data detected by an orientation sensing component, and the at least one orientation value may be displayed based on the heading.

Some medical procedures rely upon a medical practitioner aligning tools by eye or with a cumbersome alignment guide. For example, when performing a hip replacement surgery a surgeon may use an impactor shaft to install an acetabular cup. The surgeon may use an anteversion guide or an alignment extension to orient the impactor shaft at a 20-degree (20°) anteversion angle relative to a longitudinal body axis of a patient. Also, the surgeon may use an alignment extension to orient an impactor shaft at a 45-degree (45°) inclination/abduction angle relative to the longitudinal body axis of the patient (and relative to a horizontal plane when the patient is lying on their side).
When alignment of the impactor shaft is not proper, misalignment of the acetabular cup occurs, which can cause complications after surgery to arise. Additional surgery may be required to correct the misalignment resulting from the original installation of the acetabular cup.

Surgical instrument with orientation sensor having a user identified heading


A drum head tension control device has a mounting post, two connectors and two adjusting bolts. The mounting post is mounted on a cylindrical shell of a drum between two drum hoops having multiple mounting holes. The connectors are pivotally attached to the mounting post and have a proximal end, a distal end and a threaded hole. The proximal end is attached to the mounting post, and the threaded hole is formed coaxially in the distal end. The adjusting bolts extend respectively through mounting holes in opposite drum hoops and screw respectively into the threaded holes of the connectors to adjust tension on the drum heads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drum head tension control device, and particularly relates to a drum head tension control device that is mounted on a drum to adjust the distance between two drum hoops and the resultant tension on the drum heads.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 4, a drum normally has a cylindrical shell (70), two annular drum hoops (80), two drum heads (81) and a tension control device (90). The cylindrical shell includes two round openings and an outer surface face. The drum hoops (80) are mounted respectively on the two openings and are separated by a distance. The drum heads (81) are mounted respectively in the drum hoops (80), cover the two openings, are made of leather or similar resilient material and emit a tone depending on tension applied to the drum heads (81). The tension control device (90) is mounted between the two drum hoops (80) and controls the tone of the drum heads (81) by controlling the distance between the two drum hoops (80).
With further reference to FIG. 5, a conventional tension control device (90) has a mounting post (91), a sleeve (92), a attachment bolt (93) and two adjustment bolts (94). The mounting post (91) is mounted on the outer surface of the of the cylindrical shell (70) and has a proximal end (not numbered), a distal end (not numbered), a longitudinal hole (911) and a transverse hole (912). The longitudinal hole (911) is defined coaxially through the proximal end into the mounting post (91). The transverse hole (912) is formed diametrically through the mounting post (91) near the distal end and communicates with the longitudinal hole (911). A sleeve (92) is mounted through the transverse hole (912) and has a middle (not numbered), two open ends (not numbered), an internal thread (not numbered) and an attachment hole (not numbered). The internal thread is defined longitudinally in the sleeve (92). The attachment hole is defined through the middle of the sleeve (92). The attachment bolt (93) is screwed into the longitudinal hole (911) in the mounting post (91) and the attachment hole in the sleeve (92) to securely hold the sleeve (92) in the transverse hole (912) of the mounting post (91). The adjustment bolts (94) are mounted respectively through two holes respectively in the drum hoops (80) and are screwed respectively into opposite ends of the sleeve (92). Each attachment bolt (94) has a proximal end (not numbered), a distal end (not numbered) and a flange (941). The flange (941) is formed near the distal end of the attachment bolt (94) and abuts the hole in the drum hoop (80) opposite to the sleeve (92). The proximal ends of the adjustment bolts (94) screw respectively into the ends of the sleeve (92) to adjust the distance between the drum hoops (80) and the tension on the drum heads (81).
However, the holes in the drum hoops are not necessarily aligned with each other. Screwing one end of one of the adjustment bolts (94) into one end of the sleeve (92) will cause the opposite end of the sleeve (92) to misalign with the corresponding hole in the opposite drum hoop (80). Consequently, extending the other adjusting bolt (94) through the hole in the opposite drum hoop (80) and screwing it into the other end of the sleeve (92) may be difficult or impossible. Furthermore, the tension on and tone of the drum head (81) may change when the second adjusting bolt (94) is screwed into the sleeve (92).
Therefore, the invention provides a drum head tension control device to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


In an automated methodology for in vivo image-guided cell patch clamping, a cell patch clamping device is moved into position and targeted to a specific cell using automated image-guided techniques. Cell contact is determined by analyzing the temporal series of measured resistance levels at the clamping device as it is moved. The difference between successive resistance levels is compared to a threshold, which must be exceeded before cell contact is assumed. Pneumatic control methods are used to achieve gigaseal formation and cell break-in, leading to whole-cell patch clamp formation. An automated robotic system capable of performing this methodology automatically performs patch clamping in vivo, automatically locating cells through image guidance and by analyzing the temporal sequence of electrode impedance changes. By continuously monitoring the patching process and rapidly executing actions triggered by specific measurements, the robot can rapidly find target cells in vivo and establish patch-clamp recordings.

Whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology of neurons [Hamill, O. P., Marty, A., Neher, E., Sakmann, B. & Sigworth, F. J., "Improved patch-clamp techniques for high-resolution current recording from cells and cell-free membrane patches", Pflugers Arch. Eur. J. Physiol. 391, 85-100 (1981)] has become the "gold standard" for observing electrophysiological properties of individual cells, permitting highly stable, low-noise recordings of neural activities in vivo [Margrie, T. W., Brecht, M. & Sakmann, B., "In vivo, low-resistance, whole-cell recordings from neurons in the anaesthetized and awake mammalian brain", Pflugers Arch. Eur. J. Physiol. 444, 491-498 (2002); Lee, A. K., Epsztein, J. & Brecht, M., "Head-anchored whole-cell recordings in freely moving rats", Nat. Protoc. 4, 385-392 (2009); Lee, A. K., Manns, I. D., Sakmann, B. & Brecht, M., "Whole-Cell Recordings in Freely Moving Rats", Neuron 51, 399-407 (2006]. Whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology of neurons in vivo enables the recording of electrical events in cells with great precision and supports a wide diversity of morphological and molecular analysis experiments important for the understanding of single-cell and network functions in the intact brain. However, high levels of skill are required in order to perform in vivo patching, and the process is time-consuming and painstaking.
In a typical whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology implementation, a glass pipette electrode is used to gain electrical and molecular access to the inside of a cell. This permits high-fidelity recording of electrical activity in neurons embedded within intact tissue, such as in brain slices, or in vivo. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings [Hamill, O. P., Marty, A., Neher, E., Sakmann, B. & Sigworth, F. J., "Improved patch-clamp techniques for high-resolution current recording from cells and cell-free membrane patches", Pflugers Arch. 391, 85-100 (1981); Margrie, T. W., Brecht, M. & Sakmann, B., "In vivo, low-resistance, whole-cell recordings from neurons in the anaesthetized and awake mammalian brain", Pflugers Arch. 444, 491-498 (2002)] of the electrical activity of neurons in vivo, which utilize the glass micropipettes to establish electrical and molecular access to the insides of neurons embedded in intact tissue, exhibit signal quality and temporal fidelity sufficient to report synaptic and ion-channel mediated subthreshold events of importance for understanding how neurons compute, and how their physiology can be modulated by brain disorders or pharmaceuticals. In vivo patching of cells in the intact brain presents several capabilities that make it of great use, including that the recordings present extremely high signal-to-noise ratios and thus can be used to reveal subthreshold responses such as synaptic or ion channel events. Current can be delivered into a cell being recorded through a pipette to drive or silence the cell or to support the characterization of specific receptors or channels in the cell.
Whole-cell patch clamping of cells in intact tissue also allows for infusion of chemicals and extraction of cell contents. Molecular access to the cell enables infusion of dyes for morphological visualization, as well as extraction of cell contents for transcriptomic single-cell analysis [Eberwine, J. et al., "Analysis of gene expression in single live neurons", Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89, 3010-3014 (1992)], thus enabling integrative analysis of molecular, anatomical, and electrophysiological information about single neurons in intact tissue.
However, whole-cell patch clamping of cells in intact tissue is laborious, being something of an art to perform, especially in vivo. Although protocols exist for performing whole-cell patch clamp recording in such conditions, much practice is required by individual investigators to master the technique, since each step in the process of looking for a neuron and establishing the recording requires intuition as well as fast judgment and action. This has limited adoption of this technique in neuroscience to a small number of labs, and also precludes systematic or scalable in vivo patch clamping experiments.
The combination of whole-cell patch clamping with two-photon laser scanning microscopy and fluorescence labeling tools [Margrie, T. W. et al., "Targeted whole-cell recordings in the mammalian brain in vivo", Neuron 39, 911-918 (2003); Komai, S., Denk, W., Osten, P., Brecht, M. & Margrie, T. W., "Two-photon targeted patching (TPTP) in vivo", Nat. Protoc. 1, 647-652 (2006)], called two-photon image-guided patch-clamp, is especially powerful, as it uniquely enables targeted characterizations of specifically identified neurons in the intact brain. However, only a limited number of expert experimenters have been able to utilize this technique to its full potential, because years of training and experience are usually required to learn the intricacies of important procedures and to master all the skills required to perform the technique.
The image-guided automatic pipette positioning system of Long et al. [Long, B., et al., "3D Image-Guided Automatic Pipette Positioning for Single Cell Experiments in vivo", Scientific Reports 5:18426 (2015)] automatically moves a pipette from outside the brain to the position near the target cell and uses two-photon microscope images to correct offsets, but the critical procedures for patch-clamp recordings, such as moving the pipette further to make its tip touch the target cell, forming a tight gigaohm seal by adjusting pressure applied to the pipette, and establishing the whole-cell configuration by applying a strong pulse of suction at the pipette tip, still need to be performed manually.

Image-guided closed-loop robotic system for automated whole-cell patch clamping electrophysiology of neurons in vivo


An improved golf bag with a built-in golf shoe cleaning device, which includes a base with a storage cavity therein, having a mouth exterior to the bag. A cleaning brush is mounted on a generally rectangular drawer member which is slidably inserted into mouth and fully retractable into the cavity in a closed condition, and, which is slidably extended in an open position. The drawer is biased toward an open position by a spring assembly that is mounted inside the cavity. The drawer is maintained in a closed position by a catch that may be released by the users's foot. When released, the drawer is biased outward automatically to a fully extended open position. An internal stop is attached to the rear of the drawer to prevent the drawer from completely exiting the cavity by engaging the base proximate the mouth.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to golfing equipment, and in particular to a golf bag having a built-in shoe cleaning device.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
The game of golf requires player to address a golf ball in a variety of terrains. The variety of terrains found on a given golf course is one of the great attractions of the game. With the added effects of weather and seasons, which can harden or soften a given surface, the golfer can be faced with a variety of different surface conditions in a single game. Occasionally, surfaces can hamper a game, particularly if the player's shoes lack sufficient traction. While traction is important when traversing a golf course, it can be crucial when addressing the golf ball. Bad traction can ruin a game of golf and even result in injury. The need for traction has long since given rise to a variety of golf shoes aimed at improving traction.
Golf shoes are typically characterized by a number of spikes extending from the soles of the shoes. When the shoes are in use, these spikes occasionally become clogged with turf or mud, resulting in a reduction or loss of traction. Dirty golf shoes can also be quite messy, and can quickly soil a trunk, locker, or car interior.
A variety of devices have been created to clean golf shoes. One such device is a cleaning brush designed to mount on a golf cart. Problems are encountered with such devices because they must, of necessity, project from the cart at a location readily accessible to the golfer and, they must be sufficiently rigid to permit the golfer to scrub dirt from his or her cleats. The rigid mounting and accessible location of such cleaners can cause injury to a player who walks into a shoe cleaning brush, or who is struck by a cleaning brush on a passing golf cart. Similarly, an impact with an object can damage the cart or brush. In order to overcome these problems, removable brushes were attached to the carts. However, these brushes must be stored separately and are prone to being misplaced. Another type of golf shoe cleaning device is one that attaches to a golf bag by a hinge which allows the brush to be folded out of the way. While this construction prevents someone from accidentally walking into the brush, the folded brush may still cause damage to a car interior, or become caught on an object.
Therefore, there is a need for a golf shoe cleaning device which is readily and rigidly supported for convenient use, yet may be stored inside the base of the golf bag, thereby minimizing damage or harm caused by inadvertent impact.
Examples of the inventions as summarized above include the following patent publications. U.S. Pat. No. 2,962,744 discloses a Shoe Brushing Device for use on an automobile. The device attaches under the floor of an automobile body and is moved between extended and concealed positions by an electric motor and fails to suggest its use in combination with a golf bag.
Typical examples of brushes intended for use with golf carts include those described in UK Pat. No. 2,232,580, which discloses a Shoe Cleaning Device For A Golf Cart having shoe cleaning surfaces, for removing heavy or light dirt, attached to the cart and U.S. Pat. No. 3,028,617 which discloses a Golf Shoe Cleat Cleaner comprising a golf shoe cleaning brush which is mounted onto a golf cart. Each brush can be pivoted to an out of the way position when not in use, but is unadaptable for use as described with a golf bag. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 3,142,853 discloses a Brush Assembly With Attachment Clamp for connection to a golf cart. The device comprises a wire brush that is removably attached to the cart frame, not intended to be permanently affixed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,075 discloses a Self-Storing Shoe Cleaning Brush that also removably mounts onto a golf cart. The brush is attached to the cart by a spring hinge which biases the brush into a non-use position. The brush is retained in an operative position by a removable brace.
Most notably, although U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,674 discloses a Golf Shoe Cleaning Apparatus For Attaching To A Golf Bag, the device comprises a cleaning brush which is removably retained inside a drawer member. The drawer member is pivotally attached to the base of a golf bag by means of a mounting bracket, and may be moved between use and non-use positions. No provision is taught for concealing the brush internal to the golf bag floor without aid of an externally mounted bracket.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a golf bag with shoe cleaning device solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


Apparatuses for identifying nerve tissue and methods for making and using the same are disclosed. An example apparatus may include an elongate shaft having a distal region configured to be percutaneously deployed within a patient. An active imaging structure may be disposed on the distal region. The active imaging structure may be configured to remotely image nerve tissue by exciting a signal in nerve tissue from a percutaneous location and receiving the signal from a percutaneous location. The active imaging structure may include one or more probes.

Nerve modulation therapies such as nerve ablation are beneficial for certain conditions. For example, sympathetic renal activity connected with congestive heart failure may cause unwanted symptoms such as fluid retention. Interrupting this sympathetic nerve activity may mitigate these symptoms. One technique for interrupting the renal sympathetic nerve activity is to ablate the sympathetic nerves, which are disposed in part around the renal arteries. Typical renal nerve ablation therapies involve the introduction of an ablation catheter into the renal arteries and ablating the arteries at various longitudinal and radial locations along the arteries. This procedure is done without identifying the specific location of the nerve tissue or identifying the nerve tissue.

Percutaneous devices and methods to visualize, target and ablate nerves


The invention is directed to a computer-implemented method for designing a three-dimensional modeled assembly of objects in a three-dimensional scene, wherein the method comprises the steps of: positioning and orienting a predefined set of trihedrals in the three-dimensional scene, each trihedral defining a position and an orientation; providing a set of objects; attaching each object of the set of objects to one corresponding trihedral of the predefined set of trihedrals; and positioning and orienting each object according to the position and the orientation of the corresponding trihedral of the predefined set of trihedrals.

A number of systems and programs are offered on the market for the design, the engineering and the manufacturing of objects. CAD is an acronym for Computer-Aided Design, e.g. it relates to software solutions for designing an object. CAE is an acronym for Computer-Aided Engineering, e.g. it relates to software solutions for simulating the physical behavior of a future product. CAM is an acronym for Computer-Aided Manufacturing, e.g. it relates to software solutions for defining manufacturing processes and operations. In such computer-aided design systems, the graphical user interface plays an important role as regards the efficiency of the technique. These techniques may be embedded within Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems. PLM refers to a business strategy that helps companies to share product data, apply common processes, and leverage corporate knowledge for the development of products from conception to the end of their life, across the concept of extended enterprise.
The PLM solutions provided by Dassault Systemes (under the trademarks CATIA, ENOVIA and DELMIA) provide an Engineering Hub, which organizes product engineering knowledge, a Manufacturing Hub, which manages manufacturing engineering knowledge, and an Enterprise Hub which enables enterprise integrations and connections into both the Engineering and Manufacturing Hubs. All together the system delivers an open object model linking products, processes, resources to enable dynamic, knowledge-based product creation and decision support that drives optimized product definition, manufacturing preparation, production and service.
CAD systems provide an intuitive and flexible user interface for designing precise 3D parts, from sketching in an assembly context to iterative detailed design. Such a solution is provided by CATIA Part Design (trademark) application which combines the power of feature-based design with the flexibility of a Boolean approach, offers a highly productive and intuitive design environment with multiple design methodologies, such as post-design and local 3D parameterization.
During the process of parts design, the designer may need to create several identical features from an existing one and to simultaneously position them on a part. To this aim, the designer generally uses two-dimensional patterns that allow to duplicate an original feature at a location chosen in the part by the designer. Common patterns are rectangular pattern and circular pattern. The designer may also need a particular pattern (also referred to as user pattern) that is created by hand by the designer. For instance, the designer selects a set of points in a plane on which the original feature will be duplicated.
During the process of assembly design, the designer may need to create several instances of an existing reference and to simultaneously position them in a three-dimensional scene according to pattern specifications. In this process, the user may want to reuse existing pattern specifications such as a part pattern.
Two approaches are currently used to create a pattern of objects. The first approach is a reuse pattern procedural approach: giving an object A1 and an existing pattern P of objects {B1, B2 . . . Bn}, the user has to position the object A1 relatively to one element of {B1 . . . Bn}. Then a procedure generates and positions the instances {A2 . . . An} of the object A1 according to the specifications of the pattern P (and only according to these specifications).
The second approach is an assembly pattern procedural approach: giving an object A1 and some pattern specifications (for instance, a pattern specification may be 5 instances around an axis with the third instance missing), a procedure generates and position the instances {A2, . . . , An} according to given pattern specifications (and only according to these specifications).
Both described approaches suffer several drawbacks. Firstly, the creation of a three-dimensional pattern is not possible because state of the art technologies only deal with two-dimensional patterns: indeed, the instances of the objects of the pattern assembly are positioned on a plane. Secondly, there is no way to reuse a pattern defined in a reference catalog; current reuse pattern technology requires that the reused pattern and the reusing pattern are in the same three dimensional scene. Therefore, it is not possible to provide to the designer a library of pattern. Thirdly, the known approaches for creating a pattern of objects are based on a procedure that does not permit to respect all the constraints between the objects and other elements (because the procedure is outside the constraints mathematical solver), e.g. two objects of the pattern constrained to be on the same plane. Fourthly, it is not possible to apply external constraints on the specifications of the pattern. For instance, the action consisting on constraining the rotation axis of a circular pattern on another object is not permitted.
Within this context, there is still a need for an improved method for designing a three-dimensional modeled assembly of objects in a three-dimensional scene.

Designing a three-dimensional modeled assembly of objects in a three-dimensional scene


The invention provides certain hydroxyacetamides which have been prepared by reacting primary etheramines with hydroxycarboxylic acid, particularly etheramine glycolamide, and their use as friction reducing additives in fuels and lubes.

This invention is directed to primary etheramines which have been reacted with hydroxycarboxylic acid to form hydroxyamides and the use of the resulting products as friction reducing additives in fuels and lubes. More particularly, it is directed to fuel and lubricating compositions and concentrates containing such friction reducing additives.
A major concern today is finding methods to reduce engine friction and fuel consumption in internal combustion engines which are safe for the environment and economically attractive. One means is to treat moving parts of such engines with lubricants containing friction reducing additives. Considerable work has been done in this area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,026 discloses the use of monocarboxylic acid ester of trihydric alcohol, glycerol monooleate, as a friction reducing additive in fuels and lubricants promoting fuel economy in an internal combustion engine.
The use of fatty formamides is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,789,493; 4,808,196; and 4,867,752.
The use of fatty acid amides is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,916.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,803 discloses the use of alkane-1,2-diols in lubricants to improve fuel economy of an internal combustion engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,903 discloses amides prepared from mono or poly hydroxy substituted aliphatic monocarboxylic acids and primary or secondary amines which are useful as friction reducing agents.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a composition for reducing and/or preventing friction.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for reducing friction in the operation of an internal combustion engine.

Friction reducing additives for fuels and lubricants


With the intention of producing a tomographic image having information in depth direction in a short time, image data is produced from multiple tomographic images and a projection process is implemented for extracting a certain value from the image data at a corresponding position of the tomographic images, with the projection process being ended after the value of image data along the direction of projection process has passed a first threshold value and when the value comes to a second threshold value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for image processing capable of displaying information in depth direction of multiple tomographic images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among diagnostic imaging apparatus, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus transmits an ultrasonic wave to a subject body, receives reverberated ultrasonic waves from positions of different sonic impedances, processes the ultrasonic reception signals to produce a tomographic image, and displays the image for the diagnosis of the subject body
The MRI apparatus utilizes the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance to measure the density distribution of nuclear spin, the relaxation time distribution, etc. for the intend portion of a subject body, and produces a tomographic image of the subject body from the measured data.
The radiation CT apparatus implements the radioactive irradiation through the entire surface of the subject body, detects the radiation, and composes the detected signals to produce a frame of tomographic image.
The above-mentioned various diagnostic imaging apparatus are sometimes designed to display a three-dimensional image, and the simplest scheme for it is known to be IP (intensity projection) process.
These apparatus enables the three-dimensional observation of blood vessels, the spatial relation between the lesion and blood vessels, and the judgement of the size and nature of a tumor based on a series of projected images produced by varying the observation angle (view point) in small step, for example.
The IP process mentioned above is to produce a projected image (IP image) by extracting the largest value (or smallest value or specific value) out of pixels of all tomographic images of the subject.
In the case of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, for example, which produces image data of multiple frames of images by moving the ultrasonic probe as shown in FIG. 1, a certain value of pixels is extracted along all view lines, thereby producing a frame of projected image. For extracting a certain value, the process uses a comparator as shown in FIG. 2A to compare the value of pixel in depth direction sequentially along a view line. The process of power Doppler imaging, which extracts the largest value as a projection Doppler power value, presents the relation of the Doppler power value to the depth of imaging as shown in FIG. 2B.
The IP process regarding the largest value is called MIP (maximum intensity projection) process, the IP process with regarding the smallest value is called MinIP (minimum intensity projection) process, and the IP process regarding a specific value is called specific-value IP process.
In the case of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus, for example, the MIP process regarding the largest value is effective for extracting the blood vessel wall and HV tissue such as a tumor which are displayed at a relatively high brightness, and the MinIP process regarding the smallest value is effective for extracting a tubular or hollow tissue such as a blood vessel and bile duct.
In extracting a portion such as a blood vessel based on the projection process, the MinIP process which displays a blood vessel at a low brightness is carried out. However, if there exists in another image along the same view line a pixel that is darker than the blood vessel, the darker pixel will be extracted instead of the blood vessel. On this account, the IP process involves such a problem that it is difficult to display blood vessels clearly.
Another problem is that at the extraction of a brighter portion of a blood stream in terms of a power Doppler image, particularly when the viewer intends to observe blood vessels running in the depth direction, the IP process cannot display as to which of the cross blood vessels displayed brighter is located at the front. That is, it is deficient in that positional information in depth direction is compressed and lost completely by projection.
This affair is shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, in which the thicker-hatched portion represents the brighter portion and the thinner-hatched portion represents the darker portion in the display. With FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B showing blood vessels running at the front and rear, respectively, the above-mentioned MIP process produces a projected image as shown in FIG. 3C and fails to reveal the positional relation in depth direction of the cross blood vessels.
A similar situation is shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, in which the thicker-hatched portion represents the brighter portion and the thinner-hatched portion represents the darker portion in the display. With FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B showing blood vessels running at the front and rear, respectively, the above-mentioned MIP process produces a projected image as shown in FIG. 4C and displays the cross blood vessels erroneously as if the brighter blood vessel in the rear is located at the front.
Similar problems also emerge in CT imaging and MR imaging. For example, a CT image of cross organs such as a bronchi and a CT image and MRI image of cross blood vessels based on contrast medium fail to reveal their spatial relation in depth direction.

Imaging method and apparatus using MIP projection of doppler power values


A lubricating oil composition, which comprises a perfluoropolyether base oil, and a fluorine-containing polyether diphosphonic acid ester, represented by the following general formula:(R2O)(R1O)P(O)(CH2)aCF(CF3)[OCF2CF(CF3)]bO(CF2)cO[CF(CF3)CF2O]dCF(CF3)(CH2)eP(O)(OR3)(OR4)(where R1, R2, R3, and R4 are hydrogen atoms, alkyl groups, cycloalkyl groups, aryl groups, alkylaryl groups, aralkyl groups, or any of the foregoing groups can be halogen atom-substituted groups, subscripts a, b, c, d, and e are in conditions of 2≦a+e≦8, b+d≦28, and 1≦c≦10, and b and d can be 0), and a grease composition which further contains a thickening agent in addition to the lubricating oil composition, have distinguished abrasion resistance and rust preventiveness without deteriorating the heat resistance inherent in the lubricating oil and the grease containing a perfluoropolyether oil as a base oil.

The fluorine-containing organophosphorus compound has a good effect on the improvement of solvent resistance, chemical resistance, mold releasability, friction-abrasion resistance, etc. and thus has been so far used as various kinds of additives, a mold releasing agent, etc. So far well known fluorine-containing organophosphorus compounds includes, for example, phosphoric acid ester series or phosphonic acid ester series having linear perfluoroalkyl groups, and their utilization as a base oil for lubricating oil or grease has been limited, because they have a poor compatibility with perfluoropolyether oil, trifluorochloroethylene polymer oil, etc.
Phosphonic acid ester series having perfluoropolyether groups and having one terminal group consisting of phosphonic acid ester RfRPO(OR′)2 has been so far proposed. The phosphonic acid ester series are soluble in fluorine-containing base oil and have a good lubricability, but fail to fully satisfy recently imposed more stringent requirements for lubricability or rust preventiveness.
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2003-27079
Phosphoric acid ester series having perfluoropolyether groups, or aryl phosphate, or phosphonate series, etc. having a mono- or poly-alkylene oxide bond group or not between the phosphorus and the fluorocarbon group have been also proposed. However, these compounds are liable to undergo hydrolysis, because the fluorine-containing group and the phosphoric acid group form a C—O—P bond, and thus have poor heat resistance and durability, failing to show a heat resistance, which is a characteristic inherent in fluoro series lubricating oil or grease.
Patent Literature 2: JP-A-6-136379
Patent Literature 3: JP-A-2002-510697

Lubricating oil composition and grease composition technical field


An apparatus for moving a unit to execute scanning includes a scanning unit including a motor, an encoder for outputting a signal according to movement of the unit, a detection unit for detecting a current supplied to the motor, a speed control unit for executing a speed control of the motor according to the signal output from the encoder and the current detected by the detection unit, a movement control unit for setting a threshold value, moving the unit by driving the motor, by using the speed control unit, and a current control unit for setting a value greater than the predetermined value according to the threshold value and value of the current detected by the detection unit at a predetermined timing during a time period while the unit is moving.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus configured to move a scanning unit to execute scanning and a method for controlling the apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus that employs a direct current (DC) motor as a driving source and a method for controlling the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional image reading apparatus (image scanner) scans a document by using a scanner unit having a reading sensor while moving the scanner unit from an initial position of the scanner unit (a reference position) to read an image of the document. An image reading apparatus like this generally uses a position detection sensor as a unit for determining an initial position of the scanner unit (i.e., a home position sensor). A direction, in which a scanner unit is moved, is generally called a "main scanning direction" while a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction is generally called a "sub scanning direction". In the sub scanning direction, a plurality of image reading sensors (e.g., a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor) is generally provided.
As a control method for determining an initial position of a scanner unit by using a home position sensor, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-22087 discusses a method that uses a plurality of home position sensors provided in the sub scanning direction. When the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-22087 is used in reading divided images, when the scanner unit reaches a position stored by the plurality of home position sensors, the scanner unit can return to a home position that is currently the nearest of the home positions that the scanner unit has gone over.
Furthermore, another conventional image reading apparatuses employ a DC motor as a driving source of the scanner unit.
As a method for detecting variation in the speed of moving the scanner unit and changes in the control to be executed thereafter, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-42584 discusses an image input and output apparatus configured, if the speed of the driving motor of the scanner unit is abnormal, to immediately stop the motor. More specifically, the image input and output apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-42584 estimates the current speed range based on the history of variation of the speed of the motor. If it is determined that the current speed of the motor has gone out of the estimated speed range, the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-42584 determines that the motor is not normally controlled and compulsorily stops the motor.
If the image reading apparatus described above does not have a sensor for detecting the position of the scanner unit, the image reading apparatus cannot use the sensor to determine the initial position of the scanner unit.
The conventional image reading apparatus described above initializes the position of the scanner unit by causing the scanner unit to contact the inner peripheral surface of the housing of the image input and output apparatus itself. After the position of the scanner unit is initialized in the above-described manner, the conventional image reading apparatus determines the initial (home) position by moving the scanner unit by a predetermined distance. The operation for initializing the position of the scanner unit is executed at the time of powering on the image reading apparatus, for example.
The scanner unit position initialization operation described above is executed by controlling the moving speed of the DC motor (the scanner unit driving source) to a low speed by limiting the value of the output current. Accordingly, it takes a long time to initialize the position of the scanner unit. In order to reduce the time taken for initializing the position of the scanner unit, it is necessary to increase the limit value of the output current to drive the scanner unit at a high speed.
However, even when the same limit value of the output current is set to a plurality of apparatuses, the driving torque transmitted to the DC motor during the operation for contacting the scanner unit may become high due to differences in the configuration of the apparatuses. If the driving torque becomes high, the DC motor that drives the scanner unit may continue rotating after the scanner unit actually contacts the inner peripheral surface of the housing of the image reading apparatus. As a result, an encoder, which is mounted on a rotational axis of the DC motor, may also rotate. Accordingly, in this case, the state of the scanner unit contacting the inner peripheral surface of the housing of the image reading apparatus cannot be detected.
Due to the above-described detection failure, the image reading apparatus cannot correctly determine the initial position of the scanner unit. The above-described problem may also arise in an apparatus other than the image reading apparatus configured to move the scanner unit.

Apparatus and method for controlling the apparatus


In a heat treatment method for supplying transforming gas and enriched gas inside a furnace and heat treating a workpiece inside the furnace, feedback control of carbon potential is performed by operating a supply flow rate of the enriched gas based on carbon potential inside the furnace, the feedback control is stopped before an opening of the furnace is opened and supply flow rates of the transforming gas and the enriched gas are increased from supply flow rates thereof immediately before the feedback control is stopped; and the supply flow rate of the transforming gas is returned to the supply flow rate thereof immediately before the feedback control is stopped and the feedback control is resumed after the opening of the furnace is closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat treatment method and a heat treatment apparatus for steel products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Atmosphere control is important in heat treatment of a steel product, and such atmosphere control is performed by controlling CP (carbon potential) in a heat treatment atmosphere. Conventionally, there is disclosed a method of stabilizing CP at a constant value by controlling a supply amount of enriched gas (CmHn gas) based on CP during carburization heat treatment of a steel product (Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 5-15782). There is also disclosed a method of stabilizing CP by feedback control such as proportional control, PID control or the like (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-013136).
However, in a conventional heat treatment furnace, there is a problem such that when an opening of the furnace is opened for carrying a workpiece in or out, air enters inside the furnace and decreases CP largely. Particularly, there is a problem such that when CP is feedback controlled, a control response (CP) overshoots. Furthermore, there are cases such that a control response becomes unstable to cause hunting, or take a long time to reach a target value.

Heat treatment method and heat treatment apparatus


An optical fiber wiring sheet includes: at least one optical-fiber aligning section including a plurality of two-dimensionally aligned and wired coated optical fibers; and at least one optical-fiber branching part where at least one of the plurality of coated optical fibers branches off as a branching coated optical fiber from the remaining coated optical fibers. The coated optical fibers have ends which constitute optical input/output ports.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber wiring sheet having a structure of branching coated optical fibers and used for optical circuit packages, optical circuit devices and other applications pertaining to optical communication and optical information processing, as well as a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As optical fiber wiring sheets that bundle coated optical fibers, optical fiber tape cores have been known. Just like optical fiber cables, etc., optical fiber tape cores are used in applications where coated optical fibers must be stored in small-diameter cables at high density, and are also used for multi-core optical fiber wires connecting devices or components inside devices. Optical fiber wiring sheets such as optical fiber tape cores have a structure wherein coated optical fibers are aligned in a manner leaving no space in between and thus mutually affixed together. These optical fiber wiring sheets allow for composition of smallest structures for wiring coated optical fibers.
As the "last one mile" communication lines are fast changing to optical cables, a process is being needed in which multi-core optical fiber tape cores are branched and connected to individual subscribers. Accordingly, splittable integral optical fiber tape cores have been proposed that are made by arranging multiple optical fiber tape cores (hereinafter referred to as "primary tape cores") in parallel, and then integrating the primary tape cores by means of secondary covering of the entire tape cores or applying highly peelable coupling resin layers between the parallel primary tape cores (such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. 2002-341205 and 2002-174759).
However, although these optical fiber tape cores can be split into individual optical fiber tape cores by way of splitting the resin layers covering the primary tape cores, the production process for these optical fiber tape cores presents problems. Specifically, these optical fiber tape cores must be produced through a step for producing primary tape cores, followed by another step for coating the primary tape cores with coupling resin. This results in poor production efficiency. Also, it is not possible to split desired numbers of cores and use them as wiring members directly. In addition, producing optical fiber tape cores branching at desired positions requires that bundles of primary tape cores having different numbers of cores be prepared beforehand, which adds to cost. Furthermore, since the resin layer formed on primary tape cores is different from the coupling resin layer, the coupling resin layer peels easily and the broken fragments of coupling resin layer that peel off when the cores are branched can contaminate the surrounding environment.
To connect two devices using optical fibers, the optical fiber must be wired in accordance with the input/output ports on the applicable devices. In actuality, however, the input/output ports on the connected devices often do not have matching positions, in which case the devices cannot be wired using normal optical fiber tape cores because the optical fibers in these optical fiber tape cores are aligned in parallel. If input/output port positions do not match between the devices, the optical fibers of the optical fiber tape cores must be rearranged. Currently, an optical fiber fan-out cable, made of optical fibers that have been wired in such a way that they branch at desired positions, is used to connect input/output ports at desired positions. Alternatively, the optical fibers comprising optical fiber tape cores are separated, and then two pairs of individual optical fibers are connected via connectors or by fusing to rearrange the individual optical fiber tape cores at ends, to make an optical fiber tape again. In the case of an optical fiber fan-out cable, the cable sheath that protects the coated optical fibers is bulky and takes up space. Optical fiber fan-out cables are also less flexible than optical fiber tape cores and thus less easy to work with. In addition, optical fiber fan-out cables provide little advantage over connecting individual single-core optical fibers, and thus congestion of coated optical fibers occurs as the number of input/output ends increases. In the case of the latter method of separating optical fiber tape cores and then rearranging/reattaching them into a tape, the cover of optical fiber tape cores is removed first, and then the single-core optical fibers are individually fused together or attached via connectors. This reduces work efficiency.
As optical fiber wiring members that can align coated optical fibers and thus create desired wiring patterns, optical-fiber wiring plates having two-dimensionally wired optical fibers have been developed. However, these optical-fiber wiring plates have a drawback in terms of size, because they are larger than optical fiber tape cores.
In addition, production of optical fiber tape cores conventionally requires that a wiring pattern of optical fiber tape cores be designed to determine splitting positions in advance. This makes it impossible to split finished optical fiber tape cores into bundles consisting of desired numbers of cores or rearrange the cores.

Optical fiber wiring sheet and method of manufacturing same


Protecting the devices of a charge pump includes the connection of a high-voltage transistor between the output node of the charge pump and the load being supplied, and in controlling this transistor with a fraction of the output voltage of the charge pump. This control is accomplished by connecting the control node of the high-voltage transistor to a node of connection between two stages of the multi-stage charge pump onto which a fraction of the controlled output voltage of the multi-stage charge pump is produced. The high-voltage output transistor protects the low voltage devices of the multi-stage charge pump, by preventing the controlled output voltage from undergoing excessively abrupt variations, that could damage the transistors of the last stage of the charge pump.

Charge pump voltage generators are widely used for powering certain electronic circuits at a specified boosted voltage VOut (higher than the supply voltage) that must remain substantially constant notwithstanding variations of the current absorbed by the load currently connected to the output of the boosted voltage generator. Keeping the output boosted voltage VOut of a charge pump substantially constant for ensuring the correct operation of the powered electronic circuits may be difficult in certain situations.
As depicted in FIG. 1A, in a nonvolatile memory device, the output node of the boosted voltage generator may be connected through an array of switches Si (i=1 . . . N) HV MANAGEMENT to respective loads Li, and switching from a load to another may cause an abrupt variation of the current drawn from the charge pump. To better understand how this may happen reference is made to FIG. 1b that shows a charge pump powering a load. The load is illustrated as a current generator drawing a current IL from the charge pump, in parallel with a capacitor CL representing the capacitance of the load. If at the instant of connecting the load to the output of the charge pump, the capacitance CL of the load is already charged at the nominal output voltage generated by the charge pump, only the current IL will be absorbed by the load. By contrast, if at the instant of connecting the load to the output of the charge pump the capacitance CL is practically discharged, a current sensibly greater than IL will charge the load capacitance.
Especially in memory devices, charge-pump generators must power loads of relatively large capacitance. If for example the load capacitance is practically discharged when a certain load is switched to the output node of the powering boosted voltage generator, the charge pump circuit may be momentarily unable to provide the specified voltage, and the output voltage VOut may even drop to zero.
Problems may arise when a load is disconnected from the output node Out of the charge pump and a different load is connected thereto, as shown in FIG. 2. At the instant the new connection is made, the voltage VOut may undergo a sensible variation, either increase or decrease, before reaching the correct value (for example VX2) specified for the new load (for example L2) to be powered. These abrupt variations of the voltage VOutdo not cause problems to the integrity of the transistors of the charge pump if they are designed to withstand a comfortably higher voltage than the largest voltage that may be foreseen, in other words so-called "high-voltage" transistors, because their relatively thicker gate oxides may withstand relatively high voltage differences VOX, between gate and source, between gate and drain and between gate and body. At the same time, the channel length of these "high-voltage" transistors are such that even by applying relatively high voltage differences VDS between their drain and source, the underlying depletion regions do not merge, and therefore punch-through of the channel, which could cause extraordinarily large drain-source current likely to damage the transistor, is prevented.
However, there is a penalty in using high-voltage transistors for the charge pump circuit because of the increased silicon area required. For this reason, very often the transistors of the charge pump are "normal" low-voltage transistors, as shown in the latch charge pump circuit of FIG. 3. In this situation, the transistors of the last stage of the multistage charge pump are likely to be damaged through the breaking of their gate oxide if the applied voltage VOX becomes larger than the design supply voltage Vdd. Moreover, because the channels of normal low-voltage transistors are relatively shorter than those of high-voltage transistors, if the drain-source voltage VDS exceeds the supply voltage Vdd, the channels are likely to be punched-through and the transistors damaged.
To prevent these risks that may be determined by a large and abrupt variation of the voltage VOut, it is known to interpose two protection circuits between the output node of the charge pump and the array of switches HV MANAGEMENT, as depicted in FIG. 4. A first protection circuit, UP PROTECTION, protects the devices of the charge pump when the output voltage VOut increases while the other, DOWN PROTECTION, protects the devices of the charge pump when the voltage VOut decreases. Indeed, these dedicated protection circuits may be used to protect any charge pump. For simplicity, only the circuit DOWN PROTECTION will be analyzed in detail.
As shown in FIG. 5, the circuit DOWN PROTECTION protect the transistors of the charge pump by preventing the voltage VOut from following the voltage VOutExt when it decreases abruptly. This circuit must be effective even in the worst case, that is when the voltage VOutExt undergoes the largest possible variation. As depicted in FIG. 6, this situation takes place when a load L1 charged at the maximum boosted voltage VXMax is disconnected and a load L2 is completely connected to the output of the charge pump.
A circuit for protecting the charge pump devices acts substantially as a voltage limiter, by preventing the voltage VOutIntto decrease below a minimum value VOutmin. A voltage limiter may be realized by inserting a high-voltage PMOS between the output node of the charge pump and the switches HV MANAGEMENT, as shown in FIG. 7. The gate of the high voltage PMOS transistor is set to a reference voltage VRef such to prevent the output voltage of the charge pump VOutInt from falling below a value VOutminVOutmin=VRef+VTh  (1)VTh being the threshold voltage of the PMOS transistor.
Preferably, the voltage VOutmin is close to the maximum admissible boosted voltage VXMax on a load, for limiting as much as possible the range of the output voltage VOutExt within which it may vary without turning off the PMOS. A limit condition is:VOutmin=VXMax  (2)In so doing the voltage VOutInt remains constantVOutInt=VOutmin=VXMax  (3)and the charge pump is protected.
Unfortunately, a constant voltage VOutInt implies that the current IOut delivered by the charge pump be constant and this is a drawback both in transient as well as in steady state conditions. To better understand why this is a drawback, consider first the case of steady state functioning and model the loads Li to be powered by the charge pump with current generators ILi. For dimensioning the charge pump it is necessary to determine its total capacitance CTot, given by the following equation:
                              C          Tot                =                                            N              2                                                                        (                                      N                    +                    1                                    )                                                                  V                  dd                                            -                              V                OutInt                                              ·                                    I              Out                        f                                              (        4        )            wherein f is the frequency of the clock signal used by the charged pump. To evaluate the maximum total capacitance, in the above equation (4), the current IOut is substituted with the maximum current IXMax that the loads Li may absorb, while the voltage VOutInt is the maximum possible voltage VXMax. The maximum capacitance CTotLim is
                              C          TotLim                =                                            N              2                                                                        (                                      N                    +                    1                                    )                                                                  V                  dd                                            -                              V                XMax                                                                                I              XMax                        f                                              (        5        )            The voltage on the load is always smaller than or equal to the voltage VXMax.
If the voltage on the load is VXMax, then the voltage limiter does not introduce any loss of efficiency, while if it is smaller than VXMax, the voltage limiter causes inefficiency by not allowing the voltage VOutInt to become smaller than the voltage VXMax. By contrast, without the limiter, the voltage VOutInt would decrease to a desired voltage VXDes and this would allow the charge pump to deliver to the load a current IXDes larger than the maximum current that it may deliver in presence of the voltage limiter. This situation is illustrated by the diagram of FIG. 8.
Alternatively, a charge pump without voltage limiter for delivering a certain maximum current IXMax, at a certain voltage VXDes<VXMax, could be designed with a smaller capacitance than that CTotLim required when the voltage limiter is present. Therefore, the presence of the voltage limiter in steady state conditions implies increasing the design capacitance CTot of the charge pump and thus the silicon area requisite.
The graph of FIG. 9 is a sample voltage-capacitance characteristic of a charge pump for a certain current IOut. The operation is analyzed in transient conditions by supposing that the charge pump must initially charge a completely discharged capacitance Ci. In a charge pump with voltage limiter, the voltage VOutInt equals VXMax, thus the delivered current and the raising slope of the voltage VOutExt are kept constant for the whole charge time, as shown by the straight line in FIG. 10. Without voltage limiter, the output voltage of the charge pump in transient conditions rise quickly from 0 to VXMax and the charge pump is able to provide a larger current than with the voltage limiter, thus achieving a charge time trNoLim smaller than trLim or, for the same charge time trLim, it requires a reduced silicon area.
By summarizing, the drawback of using the voltage limiter is that of fixing the voltage VOutmim. If VOutmin is smaller than VXMax the charge pump may be damaged. If VOutmin equals VXMax the charge pump is protected but the silicon area occupied by the charge pump is increased.
To avoid the drawbacks determined by the presence of a voltage limiter, it is necessary to use a circuit capable of varying the voltage VOutInt, in particular a circuit capable of reducing it from its maximum value (for instance VXMax) to zero, for adapting it as necessary. This circuit should also let the voltage VOutInt decrease slowly in respect to a clock period for permitting the internal nodes Int of the charge pump to fall in line with the gradual voltage reduction.
Referring to FIG. 11, a charge pump is shown with its parasitic output node capacitance COutInt powering a generic load Li initially at null voltage. The voltage VOutInt may undergo a large and abrupt reduction that could damage the transistors of the charge pump. This voltage drop is due to the large absorbed current IC and to the consequent discharge of the capacitance COutInt. To prevent any abrupt reduction of the voltage VOutInt, a current limiter is commonly used, as shown in FIG. 12. To let the voltage VOutInt decrease toward zero with a controlled slope such to prevent the risk of damaging the charge pump, the maximum current ILim allowed by the voltage limiter is properly chosen. In steady state conditions, the capacitance COutInt does not absorb any current, thusILim=IOut  (6)
The possibility of VOutInt dropping to zero must be contemplated, therefore the current ILim must be larger than or equal to the current IOut that would be obtained with a null voltage VOutInt, that is:ILim≧IOut|VOutInt=0  (7)
This is inconvenient. In fact the current IOut when VOutInt is null is two or three times larger than the current IOut when the voltage VOutInt is equal to VXMax.IOut|VOutInt=0≅2÷3IOut|VOutInt=steady—state  (8)
In turn, the current ILim must be larger than or equal to IOut|VOutInt= and this may determine an excessively fast decreasing of the voltage VOutInt. For example, for a charge pump that must provide a steady state current IOut|VOutInt=steady—state of 1 mA at a frequency f of 20 MHz, with a parasitic capacitance COutInt of 1 pF, the slope of VOutInt would be:
                                                                                ⅆ                                      V                    OutInt                                                                    ⅆ                  t                                            =                                                                    I                    Lim                                    -                                                            I                      Out                                                                                                                              VOutInt                        =                        steady_state                                                                                C                  OutInt                                                                                =                                                                                (                                              1                        ÷                        2                                            )                                        ·                    1                                                      m                                                                                A                                                  1                                    p                                                                                F                                                                                =                                                1                  ÷                  2                                                                  V                                      n                                                                                s                                                                                (        9        )            Therefore, in a half-period of 25 ns of the clock, the voltage VOutInt would drop by about 25-50V, and this is very risky for the charge pump integrity.
To prevent this, it is a common practice to connect a relatively large additional capacitor CAdd in parallel with the capacitance COutInt, as shown in FIG. 13, for letting the voltage VOutInt decrease to zero with a less steep slope
                                          ⅆ                          V              OutInt                                            ⅆ            t                          =                                            1              ÷              2                                                  I              Out                                                                                VOutInt                =                steady_state                                                                        C              OutInt                        +                          C              Add                                                          (        10        )            Unfortunately, the required additional capacitor occupies a relatively large silicon area.

Multi-stage charge pump voltage generator with protection of the devices of the charge pump


A method of constructing multiple conduits in building foundations that eliminates the process of core drilling after the foundation has been poured and set. This method creates optional openings for possible future connections. The process uses removable conduit molds installed before the foundation is poured. Once the foundation has set, conduit molds are removed to explose conduits in the foundation as needed.

Residential and commercial building foundations require multiple watertight openings from the interior of the foundation to the exterior of the foundation, below grade, to permit the uninterrupted passage of various power and fluid conduits. These conduits may include, but are not limited to: conduits for power lines to main panel and subpanels, low voltage lines, cable lines, telephone lines, water supply lines, sewage lines, line sets condensers, heat pumps, power lines to condensers, generator lines, and pool equipment. These conduits typical range in diameter from 1.25″ for water lines to 8″ for sewage or septic lines. These conduits may range from 18″ below grade, for power conduits, to 48″ below grade for water conduits, to even further below grade for sewer or septic conduits. Building constructions may have multiple conduits on multiple different locations of the foundation.
In typical building construction, these openings for conduits are created after the rebar-enforced concrete foundation has set. The locations of the conduits are determined in the foundation, and a core drill, drills the appropriate size conduit holes into the foundation from the interior side to the exterior side. Costs for each conduit hole to be drilled can run high, adding significantly to building costs.
Furthermore, use of the core drill to drill foundation conduit holes is cumbersome. The core drill is a heavy duty machine which must be bolted to the foundation wall, and supplied power and water for operation. The core drill utilizes diamond bits which are costly to replace. If the core drill encounters rebar within the foundation wall, it will significant shorten the life of the core drill bits.
Once the conduit holes are drilled, a cylindrical conduit is placed within the hole. A watertight seal is created around the conduit using a link seal which contains a plurality of links and a gasket. As you tighten the link seal, the links compress the gasket to create a tight fitting between the concrete foundation and the conduit. To save on costs, some construction completes the conduit seal with sprayed foam or cement. Both of these methods will deteriorate or crack over time, resulting in a loose conduit connection.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate at least some of the disadvantages of conventional construction techniques through the development of a pre-cast mold for creating conduit holes in building foundations.

Method and device for pre-casting conduit holes in building foundations


In a computer network having a cable for transmission of electrical signals between data terminal equipment and a device used to control and route data in the network, an apparatus for terminating the cable to minimize emissions radiating from the cable and susceptibility of the cable to outside interferences. The cable is comprised of unshielded twisted pairs of wires. Each twisted pair is individually terminated into a matching input impedance. The difference signals being conducted in each twisted pair produces common mode currents which sets up standing waves through the cable. Consequently, at each end of the cable, the common mode of the twisted pairs is terminated into a load having an impedance approximately equal to the common mode impedance of the twisted pairs. These loads effectively dissipate the energy from the standing waves, thereby minimizing emissions. Reciprocally, susceptibility is likewise minimized.

In the field of computer systems, computer networks have enjoyed increasing popularity because of their versatility, flexibility, and economy. In contrast to powerful, centralized and costly "mainframes," wherein processing is routed to and performed by the mainframe computer, a computer network typically distributes processing to various autonomous computers. These individual computers are coupled together so that each computer in the network can communicate with other computers connected to the network. This arrangement allows end users to work on a joint project on separate computers by sharing files and swapping information over the network. Furthermore, application programs, databases, and peripheral hardware such as printers, disk drives, etc., can be shared amongst the various end users. Thereby, information and computing resources can readily be pooled amongst individuals and work groups. In addition, reliability is improved because a breakdown of one computer on the network does not result in shutting down or crashing the entire computer network. The other parts of the computer network can continue to function while the particular failed component is being repaired. Moreover, it is a relatively simple procedure to upgrade an existing computer network by hooking up additional computers and network control equipment on an as-needed basis.
Typically, a computer network is comprised of a number of data terminal equipment (DTE) which are coupled together by transmission lines. DTEs include personal computers, workstations, an input terminal, etc. Each DTE has a transceiver which couples the DTE to the transmission line. The transceiver transmits data onto and receives data from the transmission lines as well as performing any necessary signal conversions. Numerous transmission lines conduct digital bits of data between the DTEs. Often, the transmission lines are connected to a hub or concentrator which is used to route and manage signal traffic on the network. To expand a computer network, repeaters are used to copy and forward bits of data from one network to another; bridges are implemented to interface networks having different protocols; and routers are used for efficiently directing data packets to their final destination.
Presently, there exists many different types of media which can be used for propagating the transmission of data between the various devices of a computer network. The different types of media include unshielded twisted pair wiring, shielded twisted pair wiring, coaxial cables, and fiber optic cables. Traditionally, electrical communications were conducted over two insulated copper wires twisted together, hence the term twisted pair wiring. However, twisted pair wiring is susceptible to outside interference which introduces distortions. The distortions caused by outside sources increase with longer distances and higher data rates. These distortions can lead to signal errors. Also, signals being conducted on these twisted pairs suffer from attenuation.
Increasing the signal strength addresses both these issues, but it also produces higher levels of emissions from the twisted pair wires. Government regulations mandate that emissions be limited to a particular level in order to minimize interferences with other apparatus. Thus, the signal strength for twisted pairs is governed by the standards set forth by the FCC. Sometimes, a shielding made of wire mesh or foil having a high permeability is used to surround the twisted pair wiring. One such implementation wherein four twisted shielded pairs for conducting differential signals, a 12 volt power line, and a master shielding and insulation layer encompassing all the wires is known as an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) cable. For broadband and many baseband systems, an alternative to twisted pairs is coaxial cables. Coaxial cables have a single center conductor surrounded by an insulator, which is then enclosed by a metal shield such as a wire mesh or foil. Coaxial cables can handle greater bandwidths and are less susceptible to outside noise. However, coaxial cables are typically more expensive than twisted pairs.
Fiber optic cables are also being implemented in computer networks. Fiber optic cables are generally immune to electrical noise and are capable of handling very high bandwidth and transmission speed. However, splicing and tapping fiber optic cables is an expensive and difficult process. Moreover, fiber optic cables are very expensive. Hence, fiber optic cables are typically applied for long distances and heavy traffic.
Choosing among these various different media is a matter of tradeoffs. For most small local area networks (LANs), cost is of paramount concern. Significant costs are incurred not only for purchasing the medium itself but also for physically routing the medium to each of the various terminals. Costs could be greatly reduced if the network could take advantage of an already existing medium. One such medium is the telephone lines already existing and installed in virtually all office buildings, factories, and homes. These same telephone lines comprising twisted pair wiring can be used to conduct digital signals for computers rather than analog signals for phone systems. The disadvantage with using telephone wiring is that they are limited to short run lengths because of the susceptibility and emissions problems inherent to all twisted pair wiring. In some cases, longer lengths are required than can be met by telephone lines. Consequently, more expensive medium have to be bought and installed in these circumstances.
Therefore, there is a need in the prior art for an apparatus and method for minimizing the susceptibility and emissions of twisted pair wiring in order that longer lengths can be implemented to conduct digital signals in a computer network. It would also be highly preferable for the apparatus and method to be inexpensive and easy to implement.

Apparatus and method for terminating cables to minimize emissions and susceptibility


A process for selectively separating hydrogen from at least one more strongly adsorbable component in a plurality of adsorption beds to produce a hydrogen-rich product gas from a low hydrogen concentration feed with a high recovery rate. Each of the plurality of adsorption beds subjected to a repetitive cycle. The process comprises an adsorption step for producing the hydrogen-rich product from a feed gas mixture comprising 5% to 50% hydrogen, at least two pressure equalization by void space gas withdrawal steps, a provide purge step resulting in a first pressure decrease, a blowdown step resulting in a second pressure decrease, a purge step, at least two pressure equalization by void space gas introduction steps, and a repressurization step. The second pressure decrease is at least 2 times greater than the first pressure decrease.

The present invention relates to pressure swing adsorption processes and more particularly to such processes for recovering hydrogen at high recoveries and high purities as an unadsorbed product from a feed gas mixture having relatively low hydrogen concentration.
Pressure swing adsorption processes are well-known for the separation of gas mixtures that contain components with different adsorption characteristics. For example, hydrogen production via pressure swing adsorption is a multi-million dollar industry supplying high purity hydrogen for chemical producing industries, metals refining and other related industries. The hydrogen is typically separated from gas mixtures having high hydrogen concentration, for example from reformers with or without shift reactors.
Typically, gas mixtures containing low hydrogen concentrations are combusted as fuel to recover the heating value from the hydrogen.
There are applications where recovery of hydrogen from feed gas mixtures having low hydrogen concentration would be useful. For example, in a molten carbonate fuel cell, synthesis gas (a gas comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen) may be passed to an anode compartment while an oxidizing gas, typically air, is passed to the cathode compartment. Exhaust gas from the anode contains unreacted fuel (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) as well as water and carbon dioxide. In order to improve the efficiency of the fuel cell, carbon monoxide and hydrogen can be separated from the carbon dioxide and water and the carbon monoxide and hydrogen can be recycled to the anode as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,192 and U.S. Pat. Publ. 2004/0229102. The carbon dioxide that was separated may be recycled to the cathode since carbon dioxide is required for molten carbonate fuel cells.
It may be desirable to recover pure hydrogen from the exhaust stream of the anode. In this case, the pure hydrogen may be used as fuel to a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell or could be stored for use in fuel cell vehicles. In this application, the composition of the anode exhaust gas, following the water gas shift reaction, may contain about 70% carbon dioxide, 25% hydrogen, and 5% water, with less than 1% carbon monoxide, nitrogen and methane.
A problem facing the fuel cell industry is to recover a high percentage of hydrogen from feed gas mixtures containing low concentrations of hydrogen. It would be desirable to obtain high purity hydrogen from feed gas mixtures containing low concentrations of hydrogen with high hydrogen recovery.
An option being considered for distributing hydrogen in the future hydrogen economy centers on the separation of dilute hydrogen from natural gas. Hydrogen is produced in low-cost centralized facilities, and is then injected into natural gas pipelines for subsequent transport to distributed refueling stations along the gas pipeline network. High purity H2 is separated from the H2/natural gas mixture at each refueling station. Practical issues limit the H2 content of this gas to less than about twenty percent, with the remaining components consisting of typical natural gas species (e.g., methane, N2, C2+ hydrocarbons).
Recovery of hydrogen from refinery fuel gas is another area of interest. Currently, many refineries are in need of hydrogen for various unit operations including hydrocracking, hydrodesulfurization and reforming. Recovering hydrogen from various low hydrogen concentration feed streams could be an attractive option to building a new hydrogen production plant if appropriate technology existed. Refinery fuel gas is a collection of light gases generated in any number of processing units in the refinery. A typical composition of refinery fuel gas is about 25% hydrogen, about 67% C1-C6 hydrocarbons, about 2% oxygen, about 5% nitrogen, about 1% carbon dioxide and ppm levels of hydrogen sulfide. An efficient process to recover a high purity hydrogen stream from such a feed gas with low hydrogen content would be desirable.
Prior art teaches that pressure swing adsorption is not suitable for recovering hydrogen from feed gas mixtures containing low hydrogen concentrations. For example, Lancelin et al., "Hydrogen Purification by Pressure Swing Adsorption," presented at the Hydrogen Symposium of the AFTP, 26 Feb. 1976) show a plot of hydrogen recovery as a function of the hydrogen concentration in the feed gas mixture using pressure swing adsorption. The plot shows a hydrogen recovery of about 80% for 70% hydrogen in the feed gas mixture, decreasing to about 60% hydrogen recovery for 50% hydrogen in the feed gas mixture.

Adsorption process to recover hydrogen from feed gas mixtures having low hydrogen concentration


An improved method, apparatus and computer system for automatically reporting of faults in a telephonic network is described. When a network fault is detected, a determination is made by a fault analyzer whether or not the detected fault is a reportable fault. If the detected fault is a reportable fault, then an alarm report based upon the reportable fault is generated which is then distributed based upon a distribution list. The distribution list includes only those destination addresses associated with the reportable fault. The alarm report in distributed to any number and kind of communications devices such as, a pager, an email server, and a control console.

1. Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to the field of communications. More particularly, the invention is directed to methods and apparatus for automatically reporting faults in a distributed communication network.
2. Description of Relevant Art
Telephony is the technology associated with the electronic transmission of voice, fax, or other information between distant parties using systems historically associated with the telephone. With the arrival of computers and the transmittal of digital information over telephone systems and the use of radio to transmit telephone signals, the distinction between telephony and telecommunication has become difficult to find. Moreover, with the advent of Internet telephony (i.e., the use of the Internet rather than the traditional telephone company infrastructure and rate structure to exchange spoken or other telephone information), the Internet has now made available (at local phone connection rates) international or other long-distance calls that are much less expensive than those made through the traditional call arrangement.
This great savings in communication costs has, in turn, prompted many companies to configure their telephone systems into LAN (local area network) type telephony systems that are ultimately coupled to and communicate with the Internet by way of a computer based bidirectional gateway, also referred to as a "telephony intranet server", or TIS unit. Currently, nearly all business telephone systems are based on a centralized, or star network, design where all telephones and trunk lines converge on a single switching point, typically a PBX or in some cases a programmable switch. Despite its popularity, there are a lot of problems with this kind of network architecture. These problems include, 1) if the central switch dies, the phone network is dead, 2) each switching product is typically usable only within a specific size range in that scaling to the next level means throwing the old switch out and buying a new one, and 3) a closed architecture where everything from the switch to individual telephone handsets are proprietary thereby limiting customer choices.
For these and other reasons, distributed telephone systems which use IP networks to route calls between nodes have started to become more attractive to businesses. Typically, the conventional distributed telephone system use IP based or ATM based LAN/WAN cabling to connect many small systems into a single super-system resulting in a fully distributed telephone network which can scale to an essentially infinite port capacity. In addition, the conventional distributed telephone system has many redundant components that will support many types of handsets, from standard analog sets to standards compliant IP telephones running H.323 over Ethernet.
Unfortunately, however, the distributed nature of the distributed network system makes the ability to identify and locate a malfunctioning component within the network very time consuming and costly. This problem of determining the location and type of malfunction is compounded as the distributed network increases in size and complexity greatly increasing the potential downtime for those affected systems.
Therefore, what is desired is an improved method and apparatus for efficiently identifying both a malfunctioning component and the nature of the malfunction in a distributed telecommunications system.

Method and apparatus for automatically reporting of faults in a communication network


A refrigerator door having a dispenser is disclosed. The refrigerator door includes an outer case forming a front appearance of the refrigerator door, an inner case forming a rear appearance of the refrigerator door, and an insulation layer disposed between the outer case and the inner case. First and second mounting frames are installed at both side ends of the refrigerator door and have first and second mounting slots longitudinally formed in the first and second mounting frames in opposition to each other. The dispenser is detachably coupled to a front surface of the outer case and includes a housing, which forms an external appearance of the dispenser and is formed with a recess section. An external plate section is coupled to the front surface of the outer case except for an area in which the dispenser is installed, forming an external appearance of the refrigerator door.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator door for opening or closing a storage cavity formed in a refrigerator body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As generally known in the art, a refrigerator generates cold air through a refrigeration cycle and supplies such cold air into a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment to keep freshness of foodstuffs stored in the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment for a long period of time.
Currently available large-sized refrigerators have dispensers allowing users to draw out water or ice cubes without opening refrigerator doors. Since a user can draw out water or ice cubes through such a dispenser without opening refrigerator doors, cold air contained in a storage cavity of a large-sized refrigerator may not exhaust to an exterior and users may conveniently use the large-sized refrigerator.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional refrigerator. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional refrigerator includes a refrigerator body 11 having a refrigerating compartment 12 and a freezing compartment therein. A plurality of shelves 13 are provided in the refrigerating compartment 12 and the freezing compartment in such a manner that foodstuffs or articles can be placed thereon.
The refrigerating compartment 12 and the freezing compartment are opened or closed by means of doors 15 and 15′. The doors 15 and 15′ are rotatably coupled to the refrigerator body 11 by means of hinge devices provided at upper and lower side edges of the refrigerator body 11.
Each of doors 15 and 15′ includes an outer case 15a made from steel and an inner case 15b made from synthetic resin, forming an external appearance of the doors 15 and 15′. The inner case 15b forms a rear surface of each door. In addition, an insulation layer 15d is provided in an internal space formed between the outer case 15a and the inner case 15b.
Generally, pigments, such as paints, are coated on an outer surface of the outer case 15a so as to improve an aesthetic value of the doors 15 and 15′. Additionally, a tempered glass 17 can be attached to the doors 15 and 15′. Reference numeral 15c represents a door grip.
In addition, a dispenser 20 is provided in a front surface of the door 15 of the freezing compartment. A user can draw out water or ice cubes through the dispenser 20 without opening the doors 15 and 15′ of the refrigerator. The dispenser 20 is installed in a recess 21 formed at the outer case 15a of the door 15.
The dispenser 20 includes an actuating lever 22 installed at an upper wall of the recess 21. In addition, a discharge port 24 is formed in the upper of the recess 21 adjacent to the actuating lever 22. The discharge port 24 is opened/closed according to a movement of the actuating lever 22. A water collecting section 26 is formed at a bottom wall of the recess 21 so as to collect waste water.
However, the above-mentioned conventional refrigerator door has problems as follows.
Firstly, in order to fabricate the conventional door 15, the outer case 15a is assembled with the inner case 15b by filling a foaming agent therebetween, and the tempered glass 17 is attached to the front surface of the outer case 15a. At this time, a color of the tempered glass 17 is determined to meet the demand of consumers.
However, since an external appearance of the dispenser 20 is formed by a part of the outer case 15a, the dispenser 20 has a color the same as a color of the outer case 15a. Thus, according to the conventional refrigerator door 15, it is necessary to match the color of the dispenser 20 with the color of the tempered glass 17 when fabricating the dispenser 20.
Accordingly, manufactures must fabricate the door 15 by using an outer case having the color identical to the color of the tempered glass 17, causing problems in material management and inventory management and increasing manufacturing costs.


A nested multi-stage polyphase filter can comprise: a first filter stage and a second filter stage. The first filter stage can be connected to the second filter stage via first through fourth intermediate connections. The first filter stage and the second filter stage can be laid out in a nested-ring layout. The first through fourth intermediate connections can be laid out so as to not cross over each other.

Polyphase filters can be used to provide a filtered output signal with both balanced phase and balanced amplitude outputs. In one example, a polyphase filter can provide four amplitude balanced outputs with the phases 90° apart (e.g., 0°, 90°, 180°, 270°). Various such filter devices have been designed. One type of polyphase filter design involves planar circuit implementations, such as those used in the integrated circuit (IC) and printed circuit board (PCB) industries. In these embodiments, the designs typically involve intricate, complex connection lines between stages of multi-stage polyphase filters. These designs can be complex due to attempts to balance the phase and amplitude of the outputs of the filter. Unfortunately, these solutions can be expensive and complicated—often involving more than two layers and having unwanted coupling between the signals of the various connection lines. Even at great expense, these attempts may not provide satisfactory amplitude and phase balance, and can be particularly unsatisfactory at high frequency bands. Thus, new and useful devices for improving polyphase filters are now described.