The Variable Foil Machine harnesses fluid flow energy and propels fluids. A flexible foil (120) with reversible camber is secured to leading draft member (150) on leading support (122) and to trailing draft member (130). The trailing draft member (130) is secured to trailing guide (132), movable on trailing support (136). Apparatus can be installed on the ground or a craft via pivoting carrier (138), for alignment with fluid flow. In one embodiment, trailing draft member (130) reciprocates between support members 136l and 136r, upon oscillation of the foil (120). In other embodiments, a reciprocation amplitude offset between leading draft member (150) and trailing draft member (130) promotes cyclic translation of the foil (120) and linkage thereto. An energy converter (142) may be cooperatively coupled to produce energy or perform work. Integration of foil oscillations into rotary movement via a crank arm (48) is also embodied.

An oscillating wing is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/266,553 to Platzer et al (2008): an unstable pivoting wing with a spike is mounted on an axle with pitch control rods; this assembly is attached to a base plate with arms and switching rods. To produce oscillations this design relies on a pitch reversal spike, two pitch control rods, two arms and two switching rods. Although sails are mentioned in the above application, a pertinent sail wing design is not disclosed. A wind fin assembly, made of segmented and articulated airfoils, is disclosed in Patent Application CA2599435 to Morris (2007) and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/895,568 to Morris (2007): the wind fin assembly pivots a supporting mast upon oscillation. An inflatable airfoil is mentioned in the above design; however, oscillation of the device is anticipated on the basis of a segmented and articulated assembly of airfoils, a trim bias element and a facilitating weight on a component airfoil. A flexible sheet pivotably tensioned between aligned support members is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/984,850 to Gartner (2007). This design relies on the tensioned sheet imparting a limited torsional movement to the support members. Elaborate sheet tensioning spindle, telescoping adjustment and inter support member distance adjustment devices are embodied in this design. Tensioning of the sheet between aligned support members minimizes potential oscillation amplitude and effective energy capture cross section area. A vibrating membrane fixed at two ends is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,573,143 to Frayne (2009). This design relies on the natural tendency for thin sheets of materials to flutter in the wind or aeroelastic flutter. Flutter devices are limited to small scale energy harvesting machines or sensors, largely due to the limitations of the small amplitude working membrane, low load capacity of the membrane and the requirement for securing the membrane's ends in fixed positions.
Thus, current designs in oscillating foil machines are either small scale systems with limited oscillation amplitude and power output or require additional tensioning, trimming and actuating devices or articulated foil combinations to initiate and sustain oscillations. Therefore, it is an object and advantage of the Variable Foil Machine to address the limitations in the prior art, as outlined above. Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from the detailed description that follows and upon reference to the drawings.


A method wherein a methanol-containing waste gas stream, such as a pulp mill waste stream which contains methanol and other waste products, including methyl mercaptans, is passed in contact with a catalyst comprising certain supported metal oxides in the presence of an oxidizing agent; preferably the gas stream is contacted with the catalyst, in the presence of the oxidizing agent, for a time sufficient to convert at least a portion of the methanol to formaldehyde (CH.sub.2 O).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention broadly relates to a process for treating methanol-containing waste gas streams, such as encountered in a paper (pulp) mill. More particularly, this invention provides a method wherein a gas stream, such as from a paper pulp mill containing methanol, and other waste products, including methyl mercaptans, is passed in contact with a catalyst comprising certain supported metal oxides in the presence of an oxidizing agent. In a preferred embodiment, the gas stream is contacted with the catalyst, in the presence of the oxidizing agent, for a time sufficient to convert at least a portion of the methanol to formaldehyde (CH.sub.2 O).
2. Description of Related Art
Pulp mills that chemically digest wood sources, such as by using the Kraft process, generate a significant amount of by-product methanol, in addition to other potential pollutants such as reduced sulfur compounds, higher alcohols, terpenes, acetone, amines, acetaldehyde and methyl ethyl ketone. Significant methanol emissions are encountered during the overall pulping and paper-making operation, particularly from the following pulp mill sub-systems: pulp digesters, blow heat recovery units, and multiple-effect evaporators. In the past, this methanol was often discharged into the air or directly into wastewater. With growing environmental concerns over pollution caused by these past practices, however, more stringent emission requirements have evolved. As a consequence, processes must be developed to dispose of the methanol, and the other pulp mill by-products, in a more environmentally satisfactory manner. At the present time, two alternatives have been suggested as being suitable for complying with regulatory standards. Gamer, Jerry, Pulp & Paper, (Aug. 1996):59-62. In both approaches, the various waste steams generated in a pulp mlll containing by-product methanol, and a variety of the other noted compounds, are first consolidated into a single condensate stream.
In a first alternative, this consolidated condensate stream is fed to a steam stripping column which is operated in a way to remove and concentrate, in the gas phase, a major portion of the pollutants from the liquid condensate. Over 80-90% of the methanol of the consolidated feed steam is removed in the stripping column, while the methanol concentration is increased from about 0.1-0.5% in the liquid feed to about 35-55% in the steam stripper gaseous overhead.
This methanol-containing stripper overhead is then treated by indiscriminate (noncatalytic) oxidation (incineration) to produce a waste gas that can be safely discharged into the environment. To safely complete the oxidation of the gas constituents, the incineration process must be operated at temperatures approaching 1000.degree. C. Such operation generally requires the use of an auxiliary fuel source. In some facilities, the fuel value of the stripper overhead is recovered by using it, for example, to power a boiler or a lime kiln. In some cases, the methanol content of the stripper overhead is further concentrated by distillation to increase its value before use as a fuel.
The second alternative delivers the condensate stream to a wastewater treatment system where aerobic microorganisms use the methanol as a carbon source, converting it to carbon dioxide and water.
While highly dependent on the wood source and the basic operating conditions of a pulp mill, the consolidated waste methanol stream or condensate from a pulp mill can be expected to contain, among other materials, methanol and other higher alcohols, methyl ethyl ketone, acetaldehyde, acetone, terpenes, amines, ammonia and reduced sulfur compounds. The concentration of these materials in the aqueous condensate is enriched by steam stripping and results in a gas stream which typically contains about 40-55 wt. % methanol, 2-8 wt. % higher alcohols, such as ethanol and isopropanol, 2-8 wt. % ketones, including methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone and acetone, 1-3 wt. % reduced sulfur compounds including hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptans, such as methanethiol (CH.sub.3 SH), dimethyl sulfide (CH.sub.3 SCH.sub.3) and dimethyl disulfide (CH.sub.3 SSCH.sub.3) about 1-2 wt. % amines, including ammonia, 1-6 wt. % terpenes, such as .alpha.-pinene and .alpha.-terpineol, and the balance (generally 40-50 wt. %) water.
Simply incinerating or biologically degrading this methanol-containing waste stream constitutes a costly and inefficient use of the inherent resources present in the stream. While procedures used to recover the fuel value of the stream seek to reduce such inefficiencies, they create their own source of problems. In particular, the variable nature of the methanol-containing stream creates the risk of operational upsets in the operation of the lime kiln or a boiler. Further, if the lime kiln or boiler operation is interrupted, then the operation of the stripper must be discontinued since there is no way to dispose the concentrated stripper overhead. As a result of these potential problems, a pulp mill likely would need to operate with a dedicated incinerator using a power boiler as back-up.
In its preferred aspects, the present invention is directed to an improved process for using by-product methanol from methanol-containing waste streams, such as encountered in a paper (pulp) mill, to produce a valuable chemical commodity, formaldehyde.

Treating methanol-containing waste gas streams


A second planetary gear unit PR and a clutch C1 for outputting reduced speed rotation are located on one axial side of a first planetary gear unit PU, with an output unit located therebetween. A clutch C2 which connects/disconnects an input shaft 2 to/from a sun gear S2 of the planetary gear unit PU and a clutch C3 connects and disconnects the input shaft to/from a carrier CR2 of the planetary gear unit are on the other axial side of the first planetary gear unit PU. Compared with a transmission wherein a clutch C2 or clutch C3 is located between the second planetary gear unit PR and the planetary gear unit PU, the second planetary gear unit PR and the first planetary gear unit PU can be located closer together, and a member which transmits the reduced speed rotation can be made shorter. Further, compared to the case wherein, for example, the clutches C1, C2, C3 are located together on one axial side, oil supply to their servos is simplified.

Generally, a vehicular automatic transmission comprises two linked planetary gear units, and planetary gearing for reducing speed of the rotation received from the input shaft (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-125345). Such a transmission achieves, for example, six forward speeds and one reverse speed, by input of reduced speed rotation from the planetary gearing via a clutch to, for example, one rotary component of a planetary gear unit that has four rotary components. Further, in the case of fifth speed forward, for example, when the rotation of the input shaft is simultaneously input into two of the rotary components of the planetary gear unit by engaging two clutches, this fifth speed forward is a directly coupled state, with rotation similar to that of the input shaft (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-274498, for example).
The above-described automatic transmission comprises two clutches for input of the rotation of the input shaft into two of the rotary components of the aforementioned planetary gear unit, and planetary gearing for reducing the speed rotation input into the rotary components of the planetary gear unit. However, if those two clutches or the oil servos that control the engagement of those clutches are located between the planetary gear unit and the speed-reduction planetary gearing, the element(s) for transmitting the reduced speed rotation of this speed-reduction planetary gearing to the rotary components of the planetary gear must be axially lengthened.
The axial lengthening of the element(s) that transmits the reduced speed rotation means that the unit transmitting a large torque is elongated, and an elongated unit that can withstand the large torque requires elongation of a relatively thick material, preventing a compact automatic transmission. Further, the weight of such a unit would be heavier, and not only would a lightweight automatic transmission become impossible, but inertia (inertial force) would increase, thereby reducing the controllability of the automatic transmission and speed change shocks would become more likely to occur.
In order to engage or disengage the reduced speed rotation output to the planetary gear unit from the speed reduction planetary gearing, a clutch or brake must be provided. When a clutch is provided, this clutch and the above-mentioned two clutches, in other words three clutches, are necessary. In general, a clutch has a drum-shaped member (clutch drum) that transmits the input rotation to the friction plates, and therefore, for example with a problem such as relative rotation, supply of oil pressure to the oil compartment of the hydraulic servo of the clutch must come from the mid-section of the automatic transmission.
However, if the required three clutches are located on one axial side of the planetary gear unit, oil lines for supplying oil pressure to three hydraulic servos are provided in triplicate in the mid-section of the automatic transmission, and the configuration of the oil lines becomes complicated.


A laser amplification system is disclosed that enables reliable operation over large ambient temperature operating window, as well as a significant reduction of laser temperature sensitivity typically associated with diode pumped lasers. The techniques employed by the system effectively eliminate damaging gain hot spots and lower ASE and ESA thresholds, thereby increasing laser peak and average power levels. Additionally, the techniques allow for thermal programming of active gain medium material to minimize thermally induced aberrations. In one particular example embodiment, a variable dopant concentration multi-pass laser amplifier is provided having a customized active ion concentration profile, tailoring the combination of laser absorption and gain distribution using a ceramic YAG host.

As is known, a laser produces an intense, coherent, directional beam of light or radiation. A laser generally includes three main components: an energy 'pump' source, a gain medium, and a resonator cavity. The energy pump source generates a population inversion in the gain medium, and the gain medium amplifies light traveling therein. The resonator cavity typically includes a mirror disposed at each end of the gain medium, effectively defining the cavity. The pump source can be implemented, for example, with a laser diode array or flash-lamp, and the gain medium can be implemented as gas, liquid, or solid, as typically done.
During the lasing process, photons propagating along the axis of the cavity bounce back and forth across the active medium, thereby building intensity. The light in the cavity forms resonant standing waves having a frequency equal to n(c/2D), where n is the standing wave pattern or mode (e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc), c is the speed of light, and D is the distance between the mirrors. These modes are sustained in the resonator cavity, and the generated light beam is generally limited to be within the corresponding range of frequencies.
As is further known, pumping of uniformly doped gain medium tends to cause non-uniform heating or "hot-spots", which causes internal stress/strain within the medium where the outer surfaces are cooled. This problem is exacerbated when longitudinal pumping with a single wavelength pump source. In more detail, consider the exponential decay of the transmission function: I=I0e(−αl), where I0 is the input pump beam, α is the absorption coefficient at the pump wavelength, and l is the propagation distance through the gain medium. Thus, more energy is absorbed at the beginning of the gain medium than at the end of the gain medium. Longitudinal pumping of a uniformly doped host can also cause localized thermal augmentation due to excited state absorption (ESA) and upconversion processes, both of which are exacerbated by uneven pump energy absorption.
As is further known, amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) is produced when a laser gain medium is pumped to generate a population inversion. Feedback of the ASE by the resonator cavity may produce laser operation if the lasing threshold is reached. Excessive ASE, however, is undesirable, because it limits the gain that can be achieved in the gain medium. This is particularly problematic in high gain lasers, and ASE must be mitigated in such applications so that it does not deplete the excitation of the gain medium, thereby allowing the desired coherent laser radiation to do so.
Typical solutions to such problems include using more pump diodes of varied spectral outputs, to insure some percentage of pump diodes will be in laser material absorption band, or using reduced, uniform dopant concentration and long absorption path to provide sufficient pump absorption off pump diode peak wavelength. These solutions are associated with a number of disadvantages, such as limited operating ambient temperature window, low ASE and ESA thresholds, and/or complex optical arrangements that are expensive to manufacture.
What is needed, therefore, are better laser amplifier designs.

Multi-pass laser amplifier with staged gain mediums of varied absorption length

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


An ink cartridge (1) for inserting into an inkjet printer, with an outer housing (2) and an ink container (4) located inside, wherein the ink contained comprises an ink outlet piece (5) through which the ink container (4) can be contacted from the outside in a fluid-conductive manner, wherein on the outer housing (2) of the ink cartridge (1) guiding means (136) are provided in order to align the outer housing (2) on inserting the ink cartridge (1) in the inkjet printer relative to puncturing means, arranged in the inkjet printer in a fixed location, the outer housing (2) of the ink cartridge (1) at least for the greatest part is of a cellulose material and the guiding means are formed as a component that is separate from the outer housing (2) and fixed to the latter, and the component comprises a material that differs from the material of the outer housing.

The invention relates to an ink cartridge for inkjet printers, having an outer housing and an ink container located inside, in particular an ink bag, which comprises an ink outlet piece through which the ink container can be contacted from the outside in a fluid-conductive manner.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,146 an ink cartridge for the self-aligning insertion in a printer is known. Said ink cartridge comprises an outer housing, which in practice is produced from plastic, in which an ink bag is provided, the flexible outer walls of which are formed by aluminium or nylon film. The ink bag can be contacted in a fluid-conductive manner from the printer through an ink outlet piece by way of interface means or puncturing means belonging to the printer. To this end, a puncturing needle of the interface means of the printer punctures the ink outlet piece when the ink cartridge is inserted in the printer. On a front wall of the outer housing, guide openings are provided, which serve for receiving guide extensions on the printer side. These guide openings interact with the extensions on the printer side such that when the cartridge is inserted in the printer, the cartridge first contacts the extensions on the printer side and is brought in position through these. Following this, the puncturing needle punctures the ink outlet piece in a defined position. When the cartridge punctures the printer the guiding function of the guide openings is ensured through the extensions on the printer side abutting the inner circumference of the guide openings or through the resultant backpressure. This is achieved in that the diameter of the extensions on the printer approximately corresponds to the diameter of the guide openings. Furthermore, a support plate is provided on the ink bag which serves to stiffen the ink bag on a bag side. On the support plate, a filling level indicator is provided, which as soon as the ink bag is (almost) empty of ink, protrudes through a recess in the outer housing. In this case, the filling level indicator can exert pressure on a switch (attached outside the ink cartridge) in the printer, as a result of which on the printer side a low ink filling level in the cartridge can be detected.
A similar ink cartridge is described in DE 692 14 512 T2 (EP 016 088 B1). The ink cartridge described there is characterized in that the ink outlet piece is designed circular in cross section and in that in the ink outlet piece a circular groove is formed, which is positively connected to the outer housing such that the ink outlet piece is held and positioned in a predetermined position relative to the housing. In the outer housing, a semi-circular notch is provided for receiving the groove of the ink outlet piece.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,606 an ink cartridge is disclosed, in which the support plate comprises portions projecting away in a co-planar manner, through which the support plate supports itself on the outer housing. On emptying the ink cartridge, the portions projecting away in a co-planar manner rub along the inside of the outer housing.
Especially in recent times, more value is attached to an environmentally friendly use of resources. The plastic cartridges of the prior art however can only be disposed in an environmentally friendly manner with much effort. In addition, plastic requires mineral oil, a raw material which is becoming increasingly valuable.
From U.S. Pat. No. 7,488,059 B1 a so-called "bulk ink system" is known, in which an ink reservoir arranged outside the printer supplies an ink cartridge (provided in addition to the ink reservoir) arranged in the printer by means of an ink feed line. The guiding means-free housing of the ink reservoir in this case can be of cardboard or plastic. In contrast with the commercially available plastic ink cartridge, no centring of the freely positionable ink reservoir is necessary.
From DE 44 25 694 A1 a further such "bulk ink system" is also known, wherein the guiding means-free housing of the freely positionable ink reservoir is of cardboard. The ink cartridge which is connected to the ink reservoir via an ink line is a moulding, usually of a half plastic, which is adapted to the shape of the cartridge receiving region of the printer.
From US 2005/0151813 A1 a printing frame, in particular for the printing of T-shirts is known, in which a multiplicity of freely positionable and guiding means-free ink reservoirs are placed onto a frame. The ink reservoirs are connected to the printing head via flexible hoses, which are to ensure that they can be freely positioned.
It is thus altogether known with ink reservoirs, which are connected by way of locally flexible hoses, to also produce the outer housing from a cellulose material such as cardboard or pasteboard. In the cases in which the ink reservoir supplies an ink cartridge positioned in the printer these are commercially available plastic cartridges. In contrast with the previously described freely positionable ink reservoirs provided in addition to the ink cartridges, ink cartridges comprise guiding means in order to align or to centre the ink cartridge relative to the fixed-location puncturing or interface means in the printer when being pushed in. For this purpose, the interface means can comprise counter-guiding means, wherein these guide the ink cartridge into a desired position through a counter-force on the guiding means when the ink cartridge is inserted.


A device for driving capacitive light emitting elements includes a plurality of electrical charge recovery switches that send a current corresponding with an electrical charge, which has accumulated in a capacitor, individually to a plurality of drive electrodes connected to the respective capacitive light emitting elements. The electrical charge recovery switches also supply a current corresponding with the electrical charge that has accumulated in each of the capacitive light emitting elements to the capacitor individually via each of the drive electrodes. The driver device also includes a plurality of output buffers that apply a pixel-data-dependent voltage to the drive electrodes. It is determined, for each drive electrode, whether the voltage of the drive electrode has shifted from a high voltage to a low voltage or from a low voltage to a high voltage on the basis of the pixel data. If the voltage shift has occurred on the drive electrode concerned, the associated electric charge recovery switch is set to the ON state over a predetermined period. If no voltage shift has occurred, the electrical charge recovery switch is set to the OFF state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for driving capacitive light emitting elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display panels that include capacitive light emitting elements are often called capacitive display panels and marketed as wall-mounted TVs. Typical wall-mounted TVs are plasma display panels (hereinafter called 'PDP') and electroluminescence display panels (hereinafter called 'ELDP').
FIG. 1 of the attached drawings shows part of a driver device that drives a capacitive display panel to emit light by applying a variety of drive pulses to the capacitive display panel. This driver device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open Application) No. 2002-156941.
In FIG. 1, a PDP 10 has a plurality of row electrodes (not shown) and a plurality of column electrodes Z1 to Zm arranged to intersect one another. Discharge cells (not shown), which correspond with pixels, are formed at the points of intersection between the row and column electrodes.
A column electrode driver circuit 20 includes a power supply circuit 21, which generates a resonance pulse supply voltage in accordance with switching signals SW1 to SW3, and a pixel data pulse generation circuit 22, which generates a pixel data pulse applied to each of the column electrodes Z1 to Zm on the basis of the resonance pulse supply voltage.
The pixel data pulse generation circuit 22 includes switching elements SWZ1 to SWZm and SWZ10 to SWZm0. The switching elements SWZ1 to SWZm and SWZ10 to SWZm0 are each controlled to become an ON state or an OFF state (turned on or off) individually in accordance with one display line's worth of (m) pixel data bits DB1 to DBm that designate the states (lit or unlit) of the discharge cells on the basis of an inputted picture signal. Each of the switching elements SWZ1 to SWZm enters the ON state as long as the pixel data bit DBi supplied thereto is logic level 1, for example, and applies the resonance pulse supply voltage of the supply line 2 to the corresponding column electrode Zi (Z1 to Zm). On the other hand, when the pixel data bit DBi is logic level 0, the switching element SWZi0 (SWZ10 to SWZm0) enters the ON state and applies the ground potential to the corresponding column electrode Zi (Z1 to Zm). That is, when a resonance pulse supply voltage is applied to the column electrode Zi, a high-voltage pixel data pulse is generated and supplied to the column electrode Zi, and when the ground potential is applied to the column electrode Zi, a low-voltage pixel data pulse is generated and supplied to the column electrode Zi.
The operation of the power supply circuit 21 for generating this resonance pulse supply voltage will be described below.
Switching signals SW1 to SW3 which repeatedly set the switching elements S1 to S3 to the ON state in the order of the switching elements S1, S3, and then S2, are supplied to operate the power supply circuit 21.
When only the switching element S1 enters the ON state in accordance with the switching signal SW1, the capacitor C1 is discharged and the discharge current thereof is released to the power supply line 2 via the coil L1 and diode D1. If the switching element SWZi of the pixel data pulse generation circuit 22 is in the ON state, the discharge current flows into the column electrode Zi of the PDP 10 via the switching element SWZi, the load capacitor C0 that is parasitic on the column electrode Zi is charged, and an accumulation of electrical charge occurs within the load capacitor C0. Therefore, the potential of the power supply line 2 gradually rises because of the resonance action caused by the coil L1 and the load capacitor C0. This voltage increase is the rising edge of the high-voltage pixel data pulse.
When the switching element S3 alone enters the ON state in response to the switching signal SW3, a power supply voltage Va generated by a DC power supply B1 is applied to the power supply line 2. The power supply voltage Va is the maximum voltage of the high-voltage pixel data pulse.
When the switching element S2 alone enters the ON state in response to the switching signal SW2, the load capacitor C0 that is parasitic on the column electrode Zi of the PDP 10 is discharged. The discharge current flows into the capacitor C1 via the column electrode Zi, the switching element SWZi, the power supply line 2, the coil L2, the diode D2, and the switching element S2, whereby the capacitor C1 is charged. That is, the electrical charge that has accumulated in the load capacitor C0 of the PDP 10 is gradually recovered by the capacitor C1 provided in the power supply circuit 21. The voltage of the power supply line 2 gradually drops in accordance with the time constant that is determined by the coil L2 and load capacitor C0. This decrease of the voltage is the trailing edge of the high-voltage pixel data pulse.
That is, in the power supply circuit 21, the electrical charge that has accumulated in the PDP 10 as a capacitive load is recovered by the capacitor C1 and reused, whereby a reduced consumption of electrical power is achieved.
When the switching element SWZ1enters the ON state in response to the pixel data bit DB1 of logic level 1, for example, the resonance pulse supply voltage, whose variation between the leading and trailing edges thereof is gradual and whose maximum voltage is Va, is supplied to the column electrode Z1 as a high-voltage pixel data pulse. On the other hand, when the pixel data bit DB1 is logic level 0, the switching element SWZ10 enters the ON state, and therefore a low-voltage (ground potential) pixel data pulse is applied to the column electrode Z1. Part of the electrical charge that has accumulated in the load capacitor C0 of the PDP 10 is consumed via the current path including the column electrode Z1 and switching element SWZ10. Therefore, if the bit data train for the display lines of the pixel data bit DB1 is successively logic level 1 such as '1,1,1, . . . , 1,1,1', the switching element SWZ1 is fixed in the ON state and the SWZ10 in the OFF state during this interval. As a result, all the electrical charge that has accumulated in the load capacitor C0 of the PDP 10 is not recovered by the capacitor C1. Thus, the resonance pulse supply voltage applied to the power supply line 2 maintains the maximum voltage Va but the resonance amplitude gradually decreases. This is equal to applying a DC power supply voltage to the power supply line 2 (DC drive state).
Accordingly, when a certain type of image should be displayed, a resonance circuit that includes the capacitor C1, coils L1 and L2 and the load capacitor C0 of the PDP 10 enters the DC drive state and this creates the risk of a faulty operation due to the localized generation of heat, noise generation, and so forth.

Driver device for driving capacitive light emitting elements


An electrical card connector (100) for receiving and ejecting an electrical card (6), includes a housing (1) holding a number of terminals (2), and having a rear base (11) and two opposite side portions (12, 13) extending forwards from the rear base; an ejector (4) mounted on one of the side portions of the housing and comprising a slider (41) and an elastic member (42) for urging the slider to slide in response to insertion and ejection of the electrical card; and a shielding member (5) covering on the housing and defining a receiving cavity together with the housing for receiving the electrical card, the shielding member formed with a supporting member (511) disposed adjacent to the rear base of the housing. The elastic member has one end fixed at the slider and the other end abutting on the supporting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical card connector provided for electrically connecting a card to a circuit board, specifically to a card connector having an ejection mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
In electronic appliances, such as portable telephones, PDA, cameras and the like, various expandable functions are achieved by installing IC cards, such as SIM (subscriber identify module) card, MMC (multimedia card), SD (secure digital) card, MS (memory stick) card and the like therein. Such an IC card is usually connected to the circuit board via a card connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,726 shows a conventional card connector including a housing comprising a rear wall and a pair of opposing side walls extending forwards from the rear wall, a plurality of terminals retained in the rear wall of the housing, a shielding member covering on top of the housing so as to define a receiving cavity together with the housing for receiving an electrical card, and an ejector positioned on one of the side walls of the housing for realizing ejection of the card. The ejector comprises a slider and a spring connecting the slider to the housing and making the slider slidable relative to the housing in response to insertion of ejection of the card. The spring has one end fixed in a hole defined in the slider, the other end fixed on and abutting against the rear wall of the housing. While the electrical terminals being soldered to a circuit board, the whole connector is at a relatively high temperature. Especially for the rear wall of the housing, as a lot of heat will conveyed from the electrical terminals to the rear wall of the housing on which the electrical terminals are mounted during soldering of the electrical terminals, the rear wall will be intenerated by those heat. Once the rear wall is intenerated, the spring directly abutting against and giving a pressure on the rear wall will cause a deformation of the rear wall. In reverse, the deformation of the rear wall will affect soldering effect of the electrical terminals fixed therein.
Therefore, an improved card connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior arts.


An apparatus and method for positioning an orthopedic implant within a cavity in a bone, including a plug member which is inserted into the cavity in the bone. A cutter movably engages the plug member and is used to create a first mating surface in the bone. A positioning jig having a second mating surface which is adapted to substantially mate with the first mating surface and a third surface adapted to removably engage the orthopedic implant is used to center the orthopedic implant within the cavity in the bone. Upon the second mating surface of the positioning jig mating with the first mating surface within the bone and the third surface removably engaging the orthopedic implant, the orthopedic implant is substantially centrally positioned within the cavity of the bone.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for use in orthopedic surgery and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for positioning an orthopedic implant in a cavity in an intramedullary canal.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A natural hip joint may undergo degenerative changes due to a variety of etiologies. When these degenerative changes become so far advanced and irreversible, it may ultimately become necessary to replace the natural hip joint with a prosthetic hip. When implantation of such a hip joint prosthesis becomes necessary, the head of the natural femur is first resected and a cavity is created within the intramedullary canal of the host femur for accepting the prosthetic hip. If the acetabulum also needs repair, all remnants of articular cartilage are removed from the acetabulum and a cup which will accommodate the head or ball of the prosthetic hip may be affixed to the acetabulum by means of cement, screws or other appropriate fixation means. The hip prosthesis may be inserted and supported within the host femur using generally one of two techniques.
These techniques either involve cementing the hip prosthesis within the host femur or using a non-cementing technique which generally uses a hip prosthesis which snugly fits within and is supported by the host femur.
When utilizing the cementing technique, it is generally desirable to position the hip prosthesis within the cavity made in the intramedullary canal so that a desired cement mantel is formed about the hip prosthesis. By providing a desirable cement mantel, this generally ensures that there are no regions within the cement mantel which may cause stress risers that may lead to subsequent fractures of the cement in these areas. If the hip prosthesis is not located in the desired position, the hip prosthesis may cause abnormal stress to the cement mantel and thereby lead to loosening of the hip prosthesis and the need for revision of the prosthetic hip. Various methods of positioning the prosthetic hip are known and used in the art. However, use of these various methods and techniques sometimes have several disadvantages.
For example, one method of positioning the hip prosthesis is to use a pair of sleeves made of high density polyethylene or polymethyl methacrylate for distal and proximal centering of the hip prosthesis within the cement mantel. One sleeve is positioned at the distal end of the hip prosthesis and the other sleeve is positioned at the proximal end of the hip prosthesis, thereby centering the hip prosthesis within the intramedullary canal. However, the disadvantage with this type of centering technique is that the distal and proximal sleeves are left in place as the cement hardens and may thus create stress risers in the cement mantel at these locations. The stress riser can be much more prominent in the proximal sleeve because this sleeve is generally larger than the distal sleeve.
Another centering method used incorporates a series of small bosses or pegs positioned about and integral with the periphery of the hip prosthesis at the distal and proximal portions. The bosses are used to center the hip prosthesis within the intramedullary canal similar to the sleeves. This technique, however, can also create stress risers in the cement mantel about the distal and proximal bosses.
An additional method utilizes a provisional prosthesis that carries a thumb screw. The thumb screw passes through the lateral portion of the provisional prosthesis and is used to engage the medial wall of the intramedullary canal. The provisional prosthesis is laterally centered within the intramedullary canal by appropriately adjusting the thumb screw. A transverse hole is then created in the host femur and a pin is inserted as close to the provisional prosthesis as possible. This pin is used to prevent the actual hip prosthesis from drifting medially as the implant is placed into the intramedullary canal. The disadvantages of this method are that it only provides control and centering in one direction or axis and may create a small stress riser in the cement mantel when the pin is subsequently removed after the bone cement is cured.
Still another method of positioning the hip prosthesis utilizes an integral collar positioned at the proximal end of the hip prosthesis. The collar nests with the calcar portion of the host femur that is exposed by resection of the head portion of the host femur. However, the integral collar hip prosthesis is generally more difficult to manufacture and therefore is more expensive to utilize than a collarless hip prosthesis.
What is needed then is an apparatus and method for positioning an orthopedic implant which does not suffer from the above mentioned disadvantages. This in turn, will help provide a desirable cement mantel about the orthopedic implant, reduce the number of possible stress risers within the cement mantel, provide implant positioning about multiple axes, reduce the amount of bone material removed from the host bone, and promote the use of lower cost implants, where appropriate. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus and method for positioning an orthopedic implant.

Apparatus and method for positioning an orthopedic implant


A display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate arranged to face the first substrate, and a seal member arranged to bond the first substrate and the second substrate to each other with a display medium layer enclosed between the first substrate and the second substrate. At least one of the first substrate and the second substrate has a layered structure of a reinforcing layer and one or more layers having a lower strength than that of the reinforcing layer, and at least a portion of the seal member is bonded directly to the reinforcing layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device having a substrate defined by a plurality of layers including a reinforcing layer, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent progress in communication technology, display devices such as a liquid crystal display device capable of driving with low power consumption and a self light-emitting organic EL display device have been developed as display devices for use in, for example, portable information terminal equipment. Reduction in weight and thickness, improvement in shock resistance, and the like have been demanded for display devices accordingly.
In order to respond to this demand, the use of a plastic substrate instead of a commonly used glass substrate has been proposed. However, a plastic substrate made of a sheet of a single resin has various problems as a substrate for display devices.
The most critical problem is that a plastic substrate has a relatively large linear expansion coefficient. In other words, glass generally has a linear expansion coefficient of about several ppm/° C., whereas plastic has a linear expansion coefficient of about several tens of ppm/° C. or higher, which is much higher than the linear expansion coefficient of glass. A substrate having a high linear expansion coefficient significantly varies in its dimensions with the ambient temperature. It is therefore extremely difficult to accurately pattern driving elements such as TFTs (thin film transistors) and the like. It can be considered to use a glass substrate having high dimension stability as a TFT substrate and to use a plastic substrate only as a counter substrate. In this case, however, it is difficult to accurately align a CF (color filter) formed on the counter substrate with pixel electrodes on the TFT substrate.
In order to achieve a reduced linear expansion coefficient and improved dimensional stability of a plastic substrate, it has been proposed to form a reinforcing layer containing a filler in a resin of a plastic substrate so that the resultant substrate becomes a composite material substrate as a whole. For example, a plastic substrate having a high heat resistance and a high rigidity can be obtained by including a fibrous material in the reinforcing layer (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H11-2812). Especially when the plastic substrate is a transparent substrate, it is preferable to use transparent fibers such as a glass cloth as the fibrous material.
On the other hand, a liquid crystal display device, for example, has a TFT substrate and a counter substrate which are laminated to each other through a frame-shaped seal member. Inside the seal member is enclosed a liquid crystal layer between the TFT substrate and the counter substrate. If a part of the seal member peels off from the substrate, a liquid crystal material flows out or a foreign matter enters the liquid crystal layer, degrading display quality.
In order to improve the adhesive power of a seal member to a substrate, it is known to form a substrate having a concave-convex surface in a seal-material formation region (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H04-20929). It is also known to form a substrate having a rough surface (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H03-55516). These methods aim to improve the contact power of the seal member by increasing the contact area between the substrate surface and the seal member.
In the case where a reinforcing layer containing a fibrous material is formed in a plastic substrate as described above, the reinforcing layer has a concave-convex surface corresponding to the concave-convex shape of the fibers. In order to improve smoothness of the surface of the reinforcing layer, it is necessary to further form a resin layer as a smoothness improving layer. Moreover, since it is generally extremely difficult to assign a function to reduce moisture permeability, oxygen permeability, and the like to a single resin, it is also necessary to separately provide an inorganic barrier layer for preventing moisture permeation and the like. As a result, the substrate having the reinforcing layer has a layered structure of a plurality of resin layers.
In the case where a plastic substrate has such a layered structure, however, the adhesion power between resin layers varies depending on the layers, whereby film peeling is likely to occur at an interface of the layers. This problem is particularly significant in a seal-member formation region which is likely to be subjected to an external force. In other words, in a display device having a substrate with such a layered structure, not only a seal member may peel off from the substrate, but film peeling is likely to occur in the substrate itself in the sealing-member formation region.
For example, in the case where the adhesion power between the seal member and the substrate surface is stronger than that between the layers at the interface, film peeling may occur at the interface of the layers rather than the seal member peeling off from the substrate. Moreover, in a baking process that is performed after the substrates are laminated to each other, film peeling may occur at the interface of the layers in the seal-member formation region due to the difference in expansion (thermal shrinkage) between the TFT substrate and the counter substrate.

Display and process for producing the same


An adjustable stand includes a leg, a first member secured to the leg, a second member adjustably secured to said first member, and a support member for holding items on the stand, the support member is secured to the second member. A first adjustment mechanism is coupled between the first member and the second member. Movement of the first adjustment mechanism shifts the position of said second member relative to said first member thereby raising or lowering said support member. A retention member is secured between the first member and the second member, the retention member securing the first member to the second member, while allowing at least limited relative movement relative to the first member. A first adjustment mechanism includes a nut threaded on a shaft, bearing against the first tubular member and an anti-rotation lock secured to the shaft and coupled to the first tubular member.

Woodworking stands are stands that support heavy materials in the course of sawing, milling, or other operations that require the moving of the heavy materials relative to a tool. Generally, stands have been of two types: heavy, immobile, and expansive stands and flimsy, portable, and unstable stands. To date, the principal determining factor in the price and quality of a stand has being the mechanism for adjusting a height of the stand to correspond with the level of a tool.
As a rule, the adjusting mechanism for the most expensive stands comprises of the plurality of threaded shafts and stabilizing rods to ensure the head of the stand remains in constant orientation to its space. Rotating the threaded shafts simultaneously ensures that the stand remains orthogonal to the supporting stand and parallel to the plane of the tool. In many instances, the threaded shafts are in geared relationship one to the other to assure their simultaneous and precise rotation in response to the rotation of an additional handle. All of the mechanism necessary for the adjustment in height adds weight to the stand. Ultimately this weight limits the utility of the stand outside of a permanent woodworking shop. Such stands could not readily be brought to the job site.
The inexpensive stands generally use some form of wedges or threaded screws to fix the height of a sliding shaft. By holding the shaft at desired height and then tightening the wedge or threaded screw assembly the stand assumes a desired height. Such adjusting mechanisms are coarse in adjustment though mechanically simple. Generally, the shaft is allowed to slide feely in the stand in order to allow this coarse adjustment of height. Unfortunately, the same freedom of movement allowed the shaft to fall apart when transported to or from a job site.
The coarse adjustment possible with the inexpensive stands is generally unsatisfactory to a woodworker seeking a precise fit and finish in his woodworking products. The adjusting mechanisms tend to be sloppy and difficult to precisely adjust. Only with the greatest attention is one able to perfectly align the top of the stand with the table of the tool in question. Because of the coarseness of the adjustment it is also difficult to maintain the stand at the appropriate height.
What is needed in the art then is the adjustable stand that is both relatively inexpensive and capable of fine and precise adjustment.


An improved regression-based qualitative analysis algorithm useful when the mixture to be analyzed contains a compound not in the library spectra, a so-called unknown. A regression of a measured spectrum is computed against the library spectra. This regression is referred to as a “master” regression. Estimated mixing coefficients for an estimated spectrum are computed from the regression. Next, a residual error is computed between the estimated spectrum and the measured spectrum. Peaks in the residual error are identified that extend in a direction opposite to that of peaks in the measured spectrum. These peaks are referred to as “negative” peaks. A regression is performed on the peaks. This is referred to as a “retro-regression” to be distinguished from the master regression performed on the measured spectrum. Using information from the retro-regression, corrected mixing coefficients are computed and the process repeats.

The present invention is directed to a method for improving performance of spectroscopic algorithms that are used to classify spectra, and more particularly to techniques to make spectroscopic algorithms more robust when analyzing data from unknown constituents.
Spectroscopy is a key technology for remote detection of biological or chemical constituents (such as biological and chemical warfare agents). The common thread in all spectroscopies is that each chemical and/or biological substance has a unique spectrum due to their unique structure. One of the goals of qualitative spectroscopy is to determine the component makeup of a substance given a library of the spectra of pure compounds. Quantitative analysis is not always necessary, and based on the sensor's construction and its operation, may not be possible. The use of spectroscopy requires algorithms that are capable of classification and de-convolution of spectra that arise from mixed substances. Regression methods are commonly used for qualitative data analysis. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) methods are extremely useful for classification and de-convolution of mixed signals with a set of known library signals, called library spectra. Operationally, a library of spectra and a measured spectrum are input into the MLR model. The output is a vector called "mixing coefficients" that describes the quantities of the library spectra needed to linearly add the library spectra thereby generating a "best-fit" spectrum that is sufficiently close to the measured spectrum. Calculation of the mixing coefficients varies by model, and constraints may be employed. The advantages of MLR models for mixed signal identification include simplicity of implementation and operation, simultaneous determination of multiple compounds, speed of operation and the ability to use "pure" library spectrum (rather than a population of spectra to span the error space). In addition, most MLR models are based on rules that are consistent with the physics of spectroscopy in general. One particular advantage of many simple MLR models, including Classical Least Squares (CLS), is that no assumptions about the underlying probability densities of the signals need to be made or determined a priori. The importance of the contemporary algorithms cannot be overstated as these techniques are at the forefront of unmanned chemical and biological warfare detection.
These contemporary algorithms perform well against known compounds that are represented in the spectral library but are limited in their ability to handle unknown constituents that are not present in the library. Typically such unknowns will cause false alarms, as the algorithms attempt to use the library to describe the spectral features introduced by the unknowns. Historically, unknown spectral constituents are the Achilles heel of spectroscopic analysis. When performing spectroscopy in an uncontrolled setting (e.g., remote spectroscopic sensing of the environment) the assumption that the library contains everything that might generate a spectroscopic response is violated. At the onset, this puts conventional algorithms at a disadvantage, due to their inability to compensate for unknowns. Furthermore, many unknowns may share spectral similarity with any number of chemicals in the library, which further exacerbates the false alarm problem. For example, the functional group phosphate is responsible for a characteristic Raman peak in many chemical warfare agents such as Sarin, Soman, and Tabun. Similar chemical structure and therefore similar spectral features may be found in many of the pesticides sold in retail gardening stores. Unknown signals are ubiquitous and frequently degrade the sensor's performance even on well characterized signals. Thus, when unknowns are present, they tend to cause false positive detections. This introduces type II errors (accepting a false hypothesis).
Due to the almost infinite number of substances that may be encountered, it is impossible to include every possible constituent in the library spectra. This leaves the qualitative spectroscopist with three choices:
1. Ignore the unknowns and hope that they do not affect the analysis.
2. Control the sample rigorously—this may mean that samples are pre-treated to separate out anything besides the items of interest.
3. Build algorithms and routines that are robust against unknowns.
The first choice is the most common solution: make the a priori assumption that unknowns will not be present or if they are present, they will not cause significant problems. Although this greatly simplifies the problem of identification, for real world applications, those are dangerous assumptions to make. For these reasons, the second choice is often used in industrial settings, laboratory settings, and in environmental testing, where it is convenient to obtain a sample and perform the wet chemistry or preparative separation on it prior to (and sometimes in conjunction with) spectroscopic analysis. Pre-treatment is not always the most desirable choice, especially if the samples being analyzed are dangerous or if the samples are being sensed at such a distance, frequency, or under other circumstances that make pre-treating impossible. Thus, the better solution for performing real-time or in-the field measurements of un-treated samples is to make algorithms and routines robust to unknowns.
Attempts have been made to overcome these problems by either adding the unknown features into a calibration library, or subtracting them from the sample. All of these techniques involve analysis of quantitative data, and seek to correct both for unknowns and for disturbances in the spectrum due to disparate environmental effects. These methods require extensive knowledge of the system being measured, which is not available when performing remote analysis of environmental samples, in which the sensor may contain some variance, and the samples analyzed are unconstrained with respect to chemical composition. Another disadvantage for these competing attempts is that they require expert knowledge, and frequently expert operation, which hinders the ability of the algorithm to work unassisted, as a remote, real-time system would need to.
What is needed is a technique for automatically correcting spectroscopic analysis for unknown components present in the measured mixture.

Retro-regression residual remediation for spectral/signal identification


A plug for coupling with an industry-standard EXPRESSCARD™ receptacle is described. The plug includes a plurality of plug-side metal contacts disposed on a bottom substrate. The plurality of plug-side metal contacts is configured to electrically couple with receptacle-side metal contacts in the industry-standard EXPRESSCARD™ receptacle. When the plug is disconnected from the industry-standard EXPRESSCARD™ receptacle, the surfaces of the plurality plug-side metal contacts are exposed by not being covered by a top housing.

The present invention relates in general to computer technologies and in particular to an apparatus for an improved peripheral electronic interconnect device.
The functionality of many modern electronic host devices or hosts (e.g., personal computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, game consoles, etc.) can often be expanded by the addition of external devices.
Generally, market adoption of any new technology may be encouraged through the adoption of standards. For example, advances in technology in several areas have converged to bring about high functionality small footprint PC cards. These cards generally use some type of open interface standard (e.g., USB, EXPRESSCARD™, etc.), and are generally configured to communicate through an electronic interconnect device or connector (e.g., peripheral connector, host receptacle connector, etc.).
A common PC card configuration may include a plastic frame for supporting a printed circuit board. Peripheral connectors are typically coupled to one end of the frame for providing an electrical connection to the printed circuit board. Metal or plastic covers are then placed over the frame to shield and protect the printed circuit board. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,360; U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,222; U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,340; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,387.
Another type of card configuration does not require the separate plastic frame. In this frameless embodiment, peripheral connectors are separately placed and then soldered to the printed circuit board. The peripheral connectors and the printed circuit board are then covered with top and bottom metallic or plastic covers.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a simplified diagram of a PC card device is shown. Generally, a printed circuit board (PCB) 104 may be coupled to peripheral connector 110, and may be sandwiched between a top cover 102 and a bottom cover 108. As previously stated, plastic frame 106 may be optional in some configurations.
One common open interface standard is Universal Serial Bus (USB). Peripheral devices that implement USB do not generally require a specialized reader host device, but rather can be directly plugged into a USB host connector on a personal computer (PC) or other host device. Included on PC motherboards since 1997, USB is a serial bus architecture in which a USB host controller interface is coupled to the host chipset. USB supports dynamically loadable and unloadable drivers, allowing a user to insert the external device without having to restart the electronic device. The host is able to detect additions, interrogate newly inserted devices, and load appropriate drivers. USB may be commonly used for: wired and wireless LAN, wired PAN, flash memory, flash card adapters, security, legacy I/O (PS2, serial, parallel, optical disk drives, GPS receiver, etc.).
Another more recent standard is PCI Express. PCI Express comprises a multi-drop, parallel bus topology that may contain a host bridge coupled to a CPU, and a switch and several potential endpoints (the I/O devices) coupled to the host chipset. The switch replaces the multi-drop bus and is used to provide fan-out for the I/O bus, providing peer-to-peer communication between different endpoints and this traffic. In addition, because of a relatively low signal-count, simplified and physically smaller point-to-point connections may be constructed with peripheral connectors and cables. PCI Express may be commonly used for: wired LAN, broadband modems, TV tuners/decoders, I/O adapters (e.g., 1394a/b), magnetic disk drives, etc.
In general, peripheral connectors enable the PC card to plug into a port or interface in the host device. Most peripheral and host connectors are either male (containing one or more exposed pins), or a female (containing holes in which the male connector can be inserted). Peripheral and host connectors are commonly comprised of housings and contacts.
Housings protect the peripheral and host connectors against dust, dirt, moisture, electromagnetic interference (EMI), or radio frequency interference (RFI). Housings support contacts to ensure proper mating through keying or polarization and to provide "strain relief" protection to keep peripheral and host connectors united despite accidental pulls or strong vibrations. Mating is the joining of two halves of an electronic interconnect device when a male contact is united with the female contact. Keying is a mechanical means built into a peripheral or host connector housing that indicates the two correct connector halves necessary for mating. Polarization allows only one correct mating alignment of male and female connector halves. The most common metals used for connector contacts are brass, phosphor bronze and beryllium copper. Peripheral and host connector contacts are often plated (e.g., tin, nickel and gold) to increase efficiency and protect against corrosion.
A common contact configuration is stamped/formed. Stamped/formed contacts can be single beam (the receptacle contact holds the plug contact between itself and the housing wall), or dual beam (the female contact holds the male contact between two beams). For example, EXPRESSCARD™ peripheral and host connectors use a type of stamped/formed style called beam-on-blade.
Referring now to FIG. 2, a simplified diagram of a PCI Express configuration for an electronic host device 214 is shown (i.e., PC, PocketPC, mobile phone, PDA, etc.). PCI Express cards may be configured for two card bay configurations 206. ExpressCard/54 202 is typically 54 mm (W)×75 mm (L)×5 mm (H), while ExpressCard/34 204 is typically 34 mm (W)×75 mm (L)×5 mm (H) (these cards are also referred to by engineers and industry publications by the term "ExpressCard" to refer to cards conforming to the standard by the same name). As previously stated, an ExpressCard may be configured to communicate to the host chipset 212 through USB bus 210 or PCI Express bus 208.
Referring now to FIGS. 3A–E, a set of simplified diagrams is shown of an EXPRESSCARD™ peripheral plug connector, at different viewing angles. For purposes of convenience, these three axes have been defined (x, y, z). The x-axis primarily defines width, and hence runs laterally and horizontally across the EXPRESSCARD™, substantially perpendicular to the metal contacts. The y-axis primarily defines height, and hence runs laterally and vertically across the EXPRESSCARD™, and is also substantially perpendicular to both the metal contacts and the x-axis. In addition, the positive direction along the y-axis is toward the top of the EXPRESSCARD™. The z-axis primarily defines length, and hence runs longitudinally across the EXPRESSCARD™, and is also substantially perpendicular to both x-axis and the y-axis. In addition, the positive direction along the z-axis is toward the host device. Subsequently, descriptions of width run along the x-axis, descriptions of height run along the y-axis, and descriptions of length run along the z-axis.
Peripheral plug connector 300 is approximately 34 mm wide, 11 mm long and 5 mm thick. It generally includes lateral guides 302 that allow the user to insert and remove the PC card into receptacle host connector 400, and stopper 312 that generally prevents over insertion of peripheral plug connector 300 into the receptacle host connector 400, as shown in FIGS. 4A–D. Stopper 312 is generally also of a height such that it contacts the bottom surface of receptacle host connector 400 when inserted.
FIG. 3A shows a top isometric view looking at EXPRESSCARD™ peripheral plug connector 300 from rear (PCB side) to the front (host device side), in which a set of metal contacts 310 is exposed, with a height 311 of about 5 mm. As previously described, a peripheral plug connector can both physically and electrically connect a PCB and PC card assembly 306 to a receptacle host connector 400, as shown in FIGS. 4A–D.
Physically, top surface 308 and lateral guides 302 allow PC card assembly 306 to be firmly seated in the receptacle host connector with a specified mating and un-mating force value. In addition, lateral guides 302 also provide finger guides that allow the user to insert and remove the PC card from a host device.
Electrically, the set of metal contacts 310 (or blades) comprise a substantially straight layer for connection to a PCB, and a bended (gull-wing) layer for soldering to PCB substrate. The bended layer may allow the substrate board to be positioned at about the center height position of a PC card. Subsequently, integrated circuits (IC's) or chips and components may be mounted on both top and bottom sides of the PCB substrate.
FIG. 3B shows a top isometric view of peripheral plug connector 300 of FIG. 3A, from the front to the rear (i.e., by rotating the X-Z axis 180 degrees as shown), from the perspective of host device 304.
FIG. 3C shows a bottom isometric view of the peripheral plug connector 300 of FIG. 3A, from the perspective of host device 304. Stopper 312 is shown to prevent peripheral plug connector 300 from being over-inserted into receptacle 400, potentially damaging the set of metal contacts 310.
FIG. 3D shows a bottom isometric view of the peripheral plug connector 300 of FIG. 3A, from the perspective of PCB & PC card assembly 306.
FIG. 3E shows a simplified top down view of the peripheral plug connector perpendicular to the x-z plane. Stopper 312 includes a length 332 and a width 334 that is substantially less than the peripheral plug connector opening width 336.
FIG. 3F shows a simplified side down view of the peripheral plug connector perpendicular to the x-y plane. The peripheral plug connector housing can be functionally divided into three layers: top housing layer 330A, bottom housing layer 330B, and stopper layer 330C. Top housing layer 330A is approximately 2.5 mm in height, and includes the layer of the peripheral plug connector that provides the overhead protection the metal contacts 310 against dust, dirt, moisture, electromagnetic interference (EMI), or radio frequency interference (RFI). It may also provide "strain relief" protection to keep peripheral plug connector and the host receptacle connectors united despite accidental pulls or strong vibrations.
Bottom housing layer 330B includes the layer of the peripheral plug connector that provides the underside protection to the metal contacts 310 against dust, dirt, moisture, electromagnetic interference (EMI), or radio frequency interference (RFI). It may also provide "strain relief" protection to keep peripheral plug connector and the host receptacle connectors united despite accidental pulls or strong vibrations.
Stopper layer includes the layer of the peripheral plug connector that contacts the bottom surface of receptacle host connector 400 when inserted, and prevents over insertion of peripheral plug connector 300 into the receptacle host connector 400, as shown in FIGS. 4A–D. The combined heights of the layers of the peripheral plug connector housing that reside in the bottom housing layer 330B and stopper layer are approximately 2.6 mm.
Referring now to FIGS. 4A–D, a set of simplified diagrams is shown of an EXPRESSCARD™ receptacle host connector. Notice that the orientations shown in FIGS. 4A to 4D are respectively identical to the orientations shown in FIGS. 3A to 3D. FIG. 4A shows a top view of receptacle host connector 400 in which the spring layer of a set of metal contacts 410 (or beams) is exposed. As previously explained, peripheral plug connector 300 and receptacle host connector 400 are designed and built with a set of matching guide rails 302, as shown in FIGS. 3A–E, and guide channels 402 such that they can be easily and accurately mated together. Guide channels 402 provide a substantially U-shaped cavity into which a guide rail 302 may be inserted. Because three sides (350, 352, and 354 of FIG. 3F) of each guide rail 302 are generally in contact with guide channel 402 when the peripheral plug connector and the host receptacle host connector are mated, a specified level of mating and un-mating force is maintained.
FIG. 4B shows a top view of the receptacle host connector 400 of FIG. 4A, from the perspective of host device chipset 404.
FIG. 4C shows a bottom view of the receptacle host connector 400 of FIG. 4A, from the perspective of host device chipset 404.
FIG. 4D shows a bottom view of the receptacle host connector 400 of FIG. 4A, from the perspective of peripheral plug connector 406.
FIG. 4E shows an expanded view of a guide channel 402A, in the x-y plane which is perpendicular to the card longitudinal direction. As previously described, guide channel 402 provide a substantially U-shaped cavity comprising a bottom-height surface 420, a bottom-width-inner surface 422, a height-inner surface 424, a top-inner-width surface 426, and a top-height surface 428.
Referring now to FIG. 5, a simplified diagram of peripheral plug connector 300 is coupled to a receptacle host connector 400. As previously described, receptacle host connector 400 commonly has spring-type metal contacts 410, generally comprising spring-type beam metal contacts that may make physical and electrical contact with a corresponding set of blade metal contacts 310 of peripheral plug connector 300. In addition, stopper 312 generally prevents over insertion of peripheral plug connector 300 into the receptacle host connector 400, as shown in FIGS. 4A–D.
However, as host devices become smaller and are implemented in non-traditional form factors (e.g., mobile phone, digital cameras, watches, etc.) card design flexibility may be substantially advantageous. For example, PC cards which implement the ExpressCard/34 of the specification, with a thickness of about 5 mm, are about half the size of a standard PCMCIA card. Further reductions in size that are still compatible with the appropriate specification would be even more beneficial. For example, in a configuration in which two EXPRESSCARD™ slots are stacked on top of each other, a thinner EXPRESSCARD™ design would allow for the simultaneous use of cards of varying thickness and functionality (i.e., cards that are both less than and greater than 5 mm), as long aggregate thickness as the was less than about 10 mm.
In view of the foregoing, there are desired improved peripheral electronic interconnect device apparatus.

Apparatus for an improved peripheral electronic interconnect device


A spreader system for use in an agricultural harvester having a threshing system and a cleaning system. The spreader system includes a chopper for the chopping of straw from the threshing system and a chaff spreader system and a straw spreader system. The chaff spreader system is configured to receive a flow of chaff from the cleaning system; and the straw spreader system is configured to receive a flow of straw from the chopper. The chaff spreader system is configured to emit a chaff airflow stream in a first flow path, and the straw spreader system is configured to emit a straw airflow stream in a second flow path. The first flow path and the second flow path intersect at a place of confluence apart from the chaff spreader system and the straw spreader system.

The present invention relates to agricultural harvesters, and, more specifically to residue spreader systems used with such harvesters.
An agricultural harvester known as a "combine" is historically termed such because it combines multiple harvesting functions with a single harvesting unit, such as picking, threshing, separating and cleaning. A combine includes a header, which removes the crop from a field, and a feeder housing which transports the crop matter into a threshing rotor. The threshing rotor rotates within a perforated housing, which may be in the form of adjustable concaves and performs a threshing operation on the crop to remove the grain. Once the grain is threshed it falls through perforations in the concaves onto a grain pan. From the grain pan the grain is cleaned using a cleaning system, and is then transported to a grain tank onboard the combine. A cleaning fan blows air through the sieves to discharge chaff and other debris toward the rear of the combine. Non-grain crop material such as straw from the threshing section proceeds through a residue system, which may utilize a straw chopper to process the non-grain material and direct it out the rear of the combine. When the grain tank becomes full, the combine is positioned adjacent a vehicle into which the grain is to be unloaded, such as a semi-trailer, gravity box, straight truck, or the like; and an unloading system on the combine is actuated to transfer the grain into the vehicle.
More particularly, a rotary threshing or separating system includes one or more rotors which can extend axially (front to rear) or transversely within the body of the combine, and which are partially or fully surrounded by a perforated concave. The crop material is threshed and separated by the rotation of the rotor within the concave. Coarser non-grain crop material such as stalks and leaves are transported to the rear of the combine and discharged back to the field. The separated grain, together with some finer non-grain crop material such as chaff, dust, straw, and other crop residue are discharged through the concaves and fall onto a grain pan where they are transported to a cleaning system. Alternatively, the grain and finer non-grain crop material may also fall directly onto the cleaning system itself.
A cleaning system further separates the grain from non-grain crop material, and typically includes a fan directing an airflow stream upwardly and rearwardly through vertically arranged sieves which oscillate in a fore and aft manner. The airflow stream lifts and carries the lighter non-grain crop material towards the rear end of the combine for discharge to the field. Clean grain, being heavier, and larger pieces of non-grain crop material, which are not carried away by the airflow stream, fall onto a surface of an upper sieve (also known as a chaffer sieve) where some or all of the clean grain passes through to a lower sieve (also known as a cleaning sieve). Grain and non-grain crop material remaining on the upper and lower sieves are physically separated by the reciprocating action of the sieves as the material moves rearwardly. Any grain and/or non-grain crop material remaining on the top surface of the upper sieve are discharged at the rear of the combine. Grain falling through the lower sieve lands on a bottom pan of the cleaning system, where it is conveyed forwardly toward a clean grain auger.
The clean grain auger conveys the grain to a grain tank for temporary storage. The grain accumulates to the point where the grain tank is full and is discharged to an adjacent vehicle such as a semi trailer, gravity box, straight truck or the like by an unloading system on the combine that is actuated to transfer grain into the vehicle.
During the process of harvesting with a combine, the desired grain is gathered and saved while crop material other than the desired grain is expelled from the combine. The non-grain crop material, crop residue, or material other than grain (MOG) is usually derived from two areas in the combine, the threshing rotor and the cleaning system. The material expelled from the threshing rotor is generally referred to as straw and includes much of the larger plant material such as stalks, stems, cobs, leaves and the like as well as foreign or non-crop material. The material expelled from the cleaning system is generally referred to as chaff and includes much of the finer plant material residue, such as pods, husk fragments and particulates. The combined flows of crop residue to be expelled from the combine can be dealt with in several ways; however, the processes for redepositing the residue material back into the field can be categorized generally as either windrowing or spreading.
In a windrowing process, the crop residue is deposited onto the harvested crop stubble in a continuous narrow stream or windrow, which is much narrower than the harvested swath width. Accumulated in this manner, the windrowed residue material can be picked up easily for baling or other subsequent processing or use.
In a spreading process, a mechanical device distributes the straw and/or chaff evenly across the extent of the combine header cutting width. The material to be spread is usually chopped to a short length so that after spreading the material will break down quickly to add nutrients to the soil and/or to be sufficiently small so as to not interfere with subsequent tilling or seeding operations.
Residue spreaders can be of horizontal and vertical types. A horizontal spreader includes a spreader device with a rotor driven on a generally vertical axis and a plurality of vanes or paddles on the rotor to propel residue in a wide swath behind the combine. Commonly, two such side-by-side rotors are used, the rotors rotating in opposite directions within a housing. After being chopped, the crop residue enters the rotor area through a vertical inlet in the spreader housing, and as the paddles rotate about the axis the residue is propelled towards a tangential outlet of the housing. Typically, the tangential outlet of the housing is formed by a deflector whose orientation and shape influences the spread pattern of the crop residue. It is known to use adjustable structures of the housing and deflector to control the outlet flow of material, by adjusting the size and position of the deflector and of the space between the rotor paddles and the adjustable structures, to distribute the crop residue material across the width of a distribution swath behind the combine. It is desirable to achieve an even distribution of material for more even and consistent residue material breakdown and to facilitate subsequent field tilling and seeding operations.
A vertical spreader includes a rotor driven about a generally horizontal axis and a plurality of vanes or paddles are on the rotor to propel residue from the spreader housing. Again, commonly two such side-by-side rotors are used, rotating in opposite directions.
As combine harvesters increase in size and crop processing capability, the width of the header of the combine can increase in order to make fewer passes in a field. As the width of the header increases, so too must the spread width of crop residue behind the combine in order to uniformly cover the field which now is mostly bare of crops. The spread width can be adjusted, for example, by increasing the rotational speed of the rotors and paddles so the crop material is spread a greater distance from the spreader system. The positioning of the deflector is controlled to prevent, for example, crop residue being spread onto standing crop, which would then be collected and reprocessed by the combine.
One particular problem that arises with greater spread widths is the creation of "stripes" of high and low volumes of crop residue along the driving direction of the combine in hard crop conditions. The stripes of high and low crop residue volumes are an uneven thickness of the crop residue, with higher thickness of the crop residue resulting in a high volume stripe and lower thickness of the crop residue resulting in a low volume stripe. The stripes of crop residue distribution can lead to some areas of the field being practically bare of crop residue, with little added nutrients from the residue, while other areas of the field have excess crop residue that can interfere with seeding and tilling.
What is needed in the art is a crop residue spreader that will uniformly distribute the crop residue across the full cut width of the combine.

Chaff/straw spreader system of an agricultural harvester


A method for detecting closure of a solenoid coil in a solenoid arrangement in a solenoid arrangement having first (4) and second (40) solenoid coils and a solenoid armature (5) that communicates between the coils (4, 40). A holding current signal (25) is provided (70) to the first solenoid coil (4) to maintain the solenoid armature (5) in an initial closed position with the first solenoid coil (4). A pulling current signal (27) is provided (50) to the second solenoid coil (40), the pulling current signal includes current peaks (19) with a measurable rise time (21). A value representative of the rise time for one of the current peaks is stored (58, 60), then the holding current signal is removed from the first solenoid coil (4). A rise time of each of the current peaks in the second solenoid coil (40) are sensed, and a determination when the rise time of a current peak changes from the stored rise time by a predetermined amount is made (90). An indication (94) that the solenoid armature is in a closed position with the second solenoid coil is made when the rise time of a current peak returns to substantially the same value as the stored rise time.

Solenoids are frequently used to inject fuel into automotive engines, to control electronic transmissions, and sometimes to actuate brakes. All such solenoids use a solenoid driver that causes current to be injected into the solenoid's coil at preselected times in order to control the position of the solenoid armature and hence the opening and closing of the solenoid coil.
In many applications, it is desirable that the closure of the solenoid coil can be detected accurately. Closure detection allows, for example, verification of the operation of the solenoid, fault diagnosis, and the power dissipation in the load can be reduced by adaptively controlling the coil energise time to the minimum required for the solenoid armature to move. Accurate closure detection has particular further advantages for automotive injector solenoid coils. By detecting the closure of the injector coil, mechanical lags in the injector system can be measured and compensated for thereby improving engine timing.
The benefits from closure detection are well known, however, arrangements for implementing closure detection have so far been significantly expensive.
European patent application no. EP-A-0400389 discloses a solenoid closure detection arrangement that uses the fact that as the solenoid armature moves towards the closed position, the solenoid's inductance increases which increases the decay time of the current in the coil. The arrangement therefore detects closure of the solenoid by detecting the increase in decay time.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved method for detecting closure of a solenoid coil which is simpler and less expensive to implement.

Method for detecting closure of a solenoid coil from the rise time of each of the current peaks of the solenoid coil


An optical processing device includes: a light source that outputs second light having a first polarization state or a second polarization state in synchronization with the pulse timing of the pulse of first light; a first nonlinear medium that controls the polarization state of the first light pulse in accordance with the polarization state of the second light pulse, using a nonlinear effect; and a separator that outputs the first light pulse from the first nonlinear medium selectively to a first output path or a second output path in accordance with the polarization state controlled by the first nonlinear medium. In this device, the first nonlinear medium uses the nonlinear effect to compensate the level of each first light pulse output selectively to the first output path or the second output path by the separator, with each first light pulse receiving the energy of the second light pulse.

Optical fiber communications have developed into ring-type structures and are further developing into mesh-type structures by the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technique utilizing the characteristics of optical fiber communications, having started from a system that connects two points with large capacity. In a photonic network having optical fibers connected in a mesh-like manner, each node having optical fibers connected thereto preferably has the function to direct signals to different destinations.
After an optical signal is converted to an electric signal, the electric signal is converted back to an optical signal based on the destination to which the electric signal is directed, and the optical signal is transmitted to the next node. This is a stable technique, but gives rise to enlargements of device size, power consumption, and the like. In view of the above, there has been provided an optical ADM (Add/Drop Multiplexer) that can switch wavelength paths by diverging or inserting optical signals of certain wavelength (see "Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer in Metro/Access Network System" by Masayoshi Kagawa, et al., Journal of the Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. January 2003).
A ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer) that can diverge or insert optical signals of desired wavelength has the advantages that optical paths can be arbitrarily set by remote control, and a photonic network that does not depend on bit rates can be constructed. With such a ROADM, a network operation becomes easier, and more flexible construction of photonic networks is realized.
However, a ROADM does not have the function to input and output optical signals of the same wavelength at high speed in a time domain, though being flexible in inputting and outputting wavelengths of optical signals. To realize a photonic network with higher granularity in the future, it is preferable to develop an optical switching technique by which optical signals can be arbitrarily input and output at high speed in a time domain. Therefore, intensive studies are being made on switches for inputting and outputting optical signals at high speed in a time domain.
A technique for switching optical signal paths in a time domain is disclosed in "All-Optical 80-Gb/s Add-Drop Multiplexer Using Fiber-Based Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror" (by Ju Han Lee, et al., IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 17, NO. 4, April 2005 (hereinafter referred to as Reference 2)). According to this technique, with the use of an optical switch using an interferometer called NOLM (Nonlinear loop mirror) formed with optical fibers, optical signal paths are switched on the time axis by an interference action using control light. The NOLM is a high-speed and wide-band device, using a nonlinear effect of the optical fibers. Unlike regular optical fibers for transmitting optical signals, nonlinear fibers having a high nonlinear effect can form a small-sized structure. Also, electricity is not applied in the NOLM.
The technique disclosed in Reference 2 can be clearly distinguished from techniques using electronic circuits. However, it is difficult to maintain stable operations of the interferometer switch using the interference of light in the NOLM, and it is also difficult to increase the switching efficiency due to insertion loss of an optical component or the like. As a result, the optical signal quality is degraded. In a future photonic network that is expected to have a number of nodes for an optical signal to pass through, it is preferable to achieve higher switching efficiency.

Optical processing device and optical processing method


Various embodiments provide a battery, a bulk energy storage system including the battery, and/or a method of operating the bulk energy storage system including the battery. In various embodiment, the battery may include a first electrode, an electrolyte, and a second electrode, wherein one or both of the first electrode and the second electrode comprises direct reduced iron (“DRI”). In various embodiments, the DRI may be in the form of pellets. In various embodiments, the pellets may comprise at least about 60 wt % iron by elemental mass, based on the total mass of the pellets. In various embodiments, one or both of the first electrode and the second electrode comprises from about 60% to about 90% iron and from about 1% to about 40% of a component comprising one or more of the materials selected from the group of SiO2, Al2O3, MgO, CaO, and TiO2.

Energy storage technologies are playing an increasingly important role in electric power grids; at a most basic level, these energy storage assets provide smoothing to better match generation and demand on a grid. The services performed by energy storage devices are beneficial to electric power grids across multiple time scales, from milliseconds to years. Today, energy storage technologies exist that can support timescales from milliseconds to hours, but there is a need for long and ultra-long duration (collectively, ≥8 h) energy storage systems.
This Background section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with embodiments of the present inventions. Thus, the foregoing discussion in this section provides a framework for better understanding the present inventions, and is not to be viewed as an admission of prior art.

Negative electrodes for electrochemical cells


A multilayered apertured film wrapping element for an absorbent article is disclosed. At least one outer layer of the fluid-impervious plastic material has a continuous phase of a thermoplastic polymeric component and an immiscible, dispersed phase of a thermoplastic polymeric component having a lower melting point. The wrapping element is useful in applications involving heat sealing and similar thermal processes in absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, diapers, bandages, tampons, and the like.

The present invention relates to a multilayered apertured film wrapping element for an absorbent article. At least one outer layer of the fluid-impervious plastic material has a continuous phase of a thermoplastic polymeric component and an immiscible, dispersed phase of a thermoplastic polymeric component having a lower melting point. The wrapping element is useful in applications involving heat sealing and similar thermal processes in absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, diapers, bandages, tampons, and the like.
There are several types of wrapping elements, including covers, that have been or are currently in use for absorbent articles: woven fabrics, nonwoven fabrics, apertured films, reticulated films, polymer nets, and the like. There has been a progression from woven fabrics to nonwoven fabrics and apertured films in these covers. These covers are often adhesively attached to other components in the absorbent article. An adhesive may be applied as a separate component between the cover and another component, or adhesion may result from "heat sealing" or heating one of the components to cause it to become adhesive.
Nonwoven fabrics may incorporate multicomponent fibers having at least two different melting points. Then these fabrics may be adhered to an absorbent article, such as a tampon, as described in Friese, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,816,100; 4,836,450; and 4,859,273. This is one example of heat sealing a wrapping element or cover.
It may also be desirable to heat seal an apertured film. While it may be possible to heat seal an apertured film that is formed of only one component, this is generally only in areas where it is acceptable or even desirable that the apertures in the film become closed. However, heat sealing an apertured film to an underlying fibrous structure in a manner that maintains open apertures in the heat sealing area is more complex, and it generally requires the use of a film material having at least two different components having at least two different melting point temperatures. An example of this is described in Thompson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,334. In this example, the apertured film is formed from a co-extruded film having a higher melting point polymeric material on a first, non-bonded surface, and a lower melting point polymeric material on a second, heat-bondable surface. Unfortunately, this arrangement provides a large surface area of bondable material on the second surface, and it may allow unwanted or overly aggressive adhesion in the manufacturing process or final product. The film may adhere to process equipment, such as the apertured film forming surfaces and heat sealing elements. In addition, both layers of the film are exposed to process equipment.
Therefore, what is needed is an apertured film that is heat sealable in a controlled manner, that maintains open apertures, that separates at least one intermediate layer of the film from process equipment to protect both the layer and the equipment from damage, and that allows improved balance of film properties over a monolayer or bilayer film.

Multilayered apertured film wrapping element for absorbent articles


A system and a method for parsing a user query. The system includes a database arrangement operable to store an ontology; and a processing module communicably coupled to the database arrangement. The processing module operable to receive the user query; refine the user query to obtain a search query using an algorithm; generate a plurality of strings for the obtained search query; sort the plurality of strings in a decreasing order of length of the plurality of strings; assign a part-of-speech tag to each of the query segments of the plurality of strings based on the ontology; identify at least one of the query segments as at least one output class or at least one input class based on the assigned part-of-speech tags; and establish semantic associations between the query segments based on the ontology to obtain the parsed user query.

Generally, there is a lot of scope for research in advancing technological development in various fields. Specifically, research inspires innovation and promotes learning in community of scholars, scientists and inventors. Furthermore, there are number of available platforms which act as sources of information for researchers. Conventionally, printed media (such as books, encyclopaedias, and so forth) were a primary information source of knowledge and content. However, with advancements in technology, digital media has now replaced the printed media as an information source with easy accessibility and improved availability.
Typically, the digital media has a lot of data spread across various platforms. Consequently, existing search techniques require a lot of time and processing complexity for accessing contextually relevant data from these existing digital media platforms. In an example, a user performs search to obtain a user-specific content from information available on the digital media. Generally, the information available contains key terms related to the search of the user. In such a case, a frequency of the key terms present in the information allows for providing a desired search result to the user. However, in such a process, the context of usage of the key terms is not properly understood and thus there is always a risk of accessing non-relevant data. In addition, a skewed result reflecting only the current trend of key terms without considering the updated or refined versions is provided to the user.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing discussion, there exists a need to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks associated with the conventional method of searching context-based data.

System and method for parsing user query