A motor drive unit includes a controller configured to drive a motor to a target position by using a first driving mode in which a state of energization of coils of the motor is switched in accordance with outputs from rotor position detectors and a second driving mode in which a state of energization of the coils is switched on the basis of a predetermined time interval. The controller turns on the energization of the coils during a predetermined time under an energization condition at a completion of driving to the target position when the rotor position detectors detect that the rotor position shifts from the target position after turning off the energization of the coils according to the completion of driving to the target position.

The present invention relates to a motor drive unit such as a light-amount adjusting apparatus or a focusing apparatus used for an image-pickup optical device such as a video camera or a digital camera, and to an optical apparatus having the motor drive unit.
A camera such as a video camera or a digital camera having a solid-state image pickup device built-in, or a camera using film has a stop apparatus (a light-amount adjusting apparatus) which controls an aperture diameter in order to confirm a focal depth of a lens, and to adjust a light amount of an object imaged on a film or a solid-state image pickup device.
Such a camera has, not only a stop apparatus, but also a focusing apparatus which automatically adjusts a focal point of a shooting lens.
Some optical apparatuses for projecting images also have a light-amount adjusting apparatus or a focusing apparatus therein.
These light-amount adjusting apparatuses are mainly configured so as to vary their aperture diameters by driving a plurality of stop blades serving as light-shielding members with stepper motors serving as sources of driving force.
Further, those focusing apparatuses are mainly configured so as to adjust a focal point by driving some of shooting lens in its optical axis direction with stepper motors serving as sources of driving force.
In recent years, it has been desired to shorten a shutter time-lag in still image shooting by a camera, which has brought about an important issue that shortens a time required for stop driving or lens driving by driving a stepper motor to a target position at a high speed.
However, because a stepper motor may have a step-out due to high-speed driving or load fluctuation, it is necessary to set limits to a driving speed or calculate on a safety factor in torque. Therefore, the original performance cannot be used to the full.
In order to perform high-speed driving by using a stepper motor, a method of using a motor having wide steps or a method for reducing a reduction ratio of a transmission mechanism is conceivable. However, in this case, it is difficult to obtain a high resolution, which deteriorates accuracy in an aperture diameter or accuracy in focusing.
In a light-amount adjusting apparatus or a focusing apparatus with a stepper motor serving as a source of driving force, in a case of a digital camera for example, the apparatus starts energization of the stepper motor from a predetermined phase to determine an aperture diameter or a lens stop position in accordance with how many steps the rotor will be made to rotate.
Therefore, in order to obtain a high-accuracy aperture diameter or lens stop position, an angle of rotating the rotor is preferably smaller.
Further, in order to speed up a stepper motor without growing the stepper motor in size, a method for increasing a voltage or an electric current energizing in the motor may be used. In this case rapidly exhausts a battery serving as a power source.
Then, in order to avoid the battery serving as a power source from being consumed, after driving a motor to a predetermined position, it is preferable to turn off the energization of the motor at a high ratio. To that end, it is preferable to have many stop positions at which a rotor is capable of stably stopping per rotation of the rotor by cogging torque.
A light-amount adjusting apparatus or a focusing apparatus with a stepper motor serving as a source of driving force generally uses 1-2 phase excitation driving.
However, a number of positions at which the rotor is capable of stably stopping by cogging torque when turning off energization is the half of a number of positions at which the rotor is capable of stopping when continuing energization.
Turning off energization at a stop position at which the rotor becomes unsteady when turning off energization makes it impossible to specify whether the rotor shifts in a forward direction or shifts in the backward direction. As a result, an error of ± one step is brought about, which does not provide high accuracy in stopping when turning off energization.
Therefore, also when exposing for a relatively long time, it is necessary to continue energization of a coil in order to obtain high accuracy in stopping, which rapidly exhausts a battery serving as a power source.
As a solution to this problem, Japanese Patent No. 02566031 discloses a stepper motor which is configured so as to provide grooves at positions shifted by a predetermined angle from the center of the magnet pole on the outer circumferential surface of the magnet, to be capable of specifying a direction of rotating by cogging torque when turning off energization, which enables an improvement in stop accuracy without exhausting the battery during a long time exposure.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-282395 discloses a pulse motor by 1-2 phase excitation driving which is capable of obtaining required accuracy while lowering power consumption.
This motor using 1-2 phase excitation driving is configured such that, in a case of high-accuracy driving, the energization is turned off when stopping at a 1 phase excitation position, and the energization is maintained when stopping at a 2 phase excitation position. In a case of usual driving, the motor stops only at a 1 phase excitation position and the energization is turned off.
However, in the electromagnetic-driven light exposure amount adjusting apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 02566031, it is necessary to provide grooves in the outer circumferential surface of the magnet, and a sintered magnet or a compression magnet with strong magnetic force cannot be formed into such an accurate complicated shape.
Therefore, Japanese Patent No. 02566031 has a limitation that it is necessary to use an injection magnet with weak magnetic force.
Therefore, the motor has low torque or is required to increase a magnet diameter or a number of coil turns, which leads to a necessity to grow the motor in size.
Further, the outer circumferential surface of the magnet has grooves, which increases cogging torque. Thus, it is necessary to further grow the coil in size in order to operate the motor at a lower voltage and loud driving noise is brought about.
The pulse motor drive unit for a camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-282395, the energization is always to be maintained at a 2 phase excitation position in a case of high-accuracy driving. In a case of usual driving, the motor only stops at a 1 phase excitation position.


Methods of the present invention are provided for forming a plurality of electrochemical cell layers, each cell layer generally including a pair of electrodes and a separator electrically insulating the pair of electrodes. Cells of a desired size are formed by slicing the laminar sheet through both opposing major surfaces. In certain embodiments, individual cells are defined by fill regions, filled with removable substances. Thus, when the cells are sliced, individual cells and in certain embodiments current collectors or conductors are exposed with minimal or no further processing. In other embodiments, fluid access channels or porous layers are filled with removable substances. Thus, when the cells are sliced, structural support is provided for the intended void regions.

Electrochemical cells are ubiquitous in apparatus used by humans universally. These include electrical power sources such as batteries, fuel cells, and capacitors, as well as electrically induced chemical processes, such as deionization and fluid separation.
One example of an attempt to efficiently manufacture electrochemical cells is disclosed in EP 0 357 399 B1, wherein methods are provided for forming "jelly roll" or cube-shaped electrochemical cells. Also, EP 0 202 857 B1 discloses a method for forming an electrode assembly. Basically, a cell including a laminate of electrodes and solid electrolyte are either rolled to form a jelly roll cell, or fan folded to form a cube shaped cell. In EP 0 357 399 B1, current collector tabs are extended from the assembly for each fold layer, and subsequently electrically connected. In EP 0 202 857 B1, a single tab is formed at a distal end of the assembly for each electrode. These methods are limited in that only a single cell may be formed at a time. At best, long strips of laminate may be formed, cut, and rolled or folded. However, no method is taught to efficiently expose current collectors if the laminate is cut. It is known to grind or otherwise trim active electrolyte material to expose electrolyte, but this is time consuming and hence expensive.
Another example of an attempt to efficiently manufacture electrochemical cells is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,051304, wherein a lead acid cell is formed by using a single metal strip as the support for the active material of the positive electrode of one cell and the negative electrode of a neighboring cell. A length of such cells, naturally in a series electrical connection, are folded or wound and pressed into a cell structure, exposing a positive terminal at one end and a negative terminal at the other end. However, if a long strip is to be formed and cut to form plural cell structures, no method is taught to expose current collectors at the cut line.
Polaroid also forms a flat battery, as described, for example, in Chapter 8.37, Handbook of Batteries, 3rd Ed. for Polaroid P-80 design having a 6 V stack of 4 cells: The system uses laminate cells each having an anode current collector, Zn on conductive vinyl, cellophane, manganese dioxide with electrolyte(Zn-chloride), and a cathode current collector. Conductors are interconnected by subsequent laminating and trimming steps.
Another disadvantage of the above mentioned conventional cells and manufacturing methods is the inability to provide fluid flow (gas or liquid) between electrodes formed by a convenient laminating method.

Layered electrochemical cell and manufacturing method therefor


An ultrasonic probe including a piezoelectric vibrator and a layer, wherein the piezoelectric vibrator transmits and receives ultrasonic waves. The layer is connected to a rear surface of a side opposite a side receiving and sending ultrasonic waves from the piezoelectric vibrator and has an acoustic impedance and Young's modulus larger than that of the piezoelectric vibrator, and includes a plurality of grooves arranged such that the rear surface of the piezoelectric vibrator faces the grooves opening, wherein the plurality of grooves are shaped such that groove capacity occupying the layer volume is increased in a direction along a center to an end of the rear surface of the piezoelectric vibrator.

Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment exists that scans the inside of a subject with ultrasonic waves and images the internal state of the subject based on received signals, which are reflected waves from inside the subject. Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment such as this transmits ultrasonic waves from an ultrasonic probe to inside the subject, receives reflected waves generated from the non-conformance of acoustic impedance inside the subject, and generates received signals. Furthermore, the direction orthogonally intersecting the ultrasonic wave-transmitting and receiving direction may be referred to as the lens direction (the direction in which the ultrasonic waves are diffused or converged, i.e., in which the lens effect occurs), slice direction, or elevation direction. Moreover, the direction orthogonally intersecting the ultrasonic wave-transmitting and receiving direction as well as the lens direction may be referred to as the array direction.
The ultrasonic probe comprises a piezoelectric vibrator that generates ultrasonic waves by oscillating based on the transmitted signals and generates received signals by receiving the reflected waves. The piezoelectric vibrator in which a plurality of elements is arranged in the array direction is referred to as a one-dimensional array ultrasound transducer.
With the purpose of reducing the side lobe of an acoustic field in the lens direction of the one-dimensional array ultrasound transducer and uniform acoustic field, one technique involves weighting the transmitted sound pressure strength and the receiver sensitivity with respect to a piezoelectric vibrator 3. The technique of weighting may be referred to as a weighting technique.


The present disclosure relates to a device for the injection molding of an item including at least one face, a protruding peripheral part provided with an edge for the connection with another face, said device including mold elements movable with respect to each other and jointly cooperating by delimiting therebetween joint planes as well as a cavity intended to be filled with liquid plastic material through injection channels to form said item after the ejection from the mold, characterized in that it includes a mold element to form the protruding part of the item, whose joint plane with the immediately adjacent front mold element is angularly oriented from said edge and on at least a portion of the length thereof, according to the direction of ejection.

The invention relates to the field of the injection molding of items with plastic material.
In the state of the art, devices are known which are intended to be provided on presses to perform the molding of items through the injection of pressurised liquid plastic material. Such devices generally include mold elements which are movable with respect to each other and jointly cooperating by delimiting therebetween on the one hand joint planes and on the other hand a cavity intended to be filled with a liquid plastic material through injection channels with a view to form said item after ejection from the mold. When the production concerns items including, on at least one face, a protruding peripheral part such as a bossing or a lip provided with an edge for the connection with another adjacent face, the joint plane is tangent to such other face. In this case, it is necessary to carry out a subsequent machining of the item at said edge with a view to eliminating the flash produced at the joint plane and to obtaining the dimensions imposed by the specifications, for example by making a chamfer. Now this operation is difficult since it is carried out manually and requires specific tools on a work station which must be secured.
Conventional molding devices are thus often the origin of numerous problems relating to the quality and reliability upon the utilization of the item, more particularly when it is a technical part such as a sealing gasket. As a matter of fact, machining then concerns a functional area of the part which may have serious effects if it is not carefully inspected.
The present invention aims at solving the technical problems met by the prior art in a simple and efficient way. This goal is reached, according to the invention, using a device for the injection molding characterized in that it includes a mold element to form the protruding part of the item, whose plane of connection with the immediately adjacent front mold element is angularly oriented from said edge and on at least a portion of the length thereof according to the direction of ejection. Thanks to the invention, the joint plane is shifted out of the protruding functional part which has no more flash when the item is ejected from the mold. The subsequent machining of this part is no longer necessary then.
According to an advantageous characteristic, said joint plane is oriented along an angle between 10° and 80° with respect to the axis of symmetry of the cavity. According to another advantageous characteristic, said mold element of the protruding part has a draft intended for the molding of the protrusion connected to the joint plane frontwards through a chamfer extending up to said edge. Preferably, said front mold element has a plane face perpendicular to the axis of symmetry of the cavity. According to a specific alternative solution, said mold elements and said cavity have rotation symmetry about the axis of said cavity. According to another alternative solution, said mold element of the protruding part has a globally tapered shape.
In a particular embodiment of the invention proper to the production of items having two protruding parts each having an edge, the device then includes a central mold element providing the molding of the second protruding part and having a joint plane with said front mold element angularly oriented from said second edge and at least on a portion of the length thereof, according to the direction of ejection. In this case, said mold element of the first protruding part is a side element whose plane of connection with said central mold element is inclined rearwards and towards the axis of symmetry of said cavity. According to still another advantageous characteristic, said injection channels are arranged through the front mold element. Another object of the invention is a method for the production of an item of the type including at least one protruding peripheral part provided with an edge for the connection with the front face thereof, using the molding device according to the invention. Still another object of the invention is the utilization of the device of the invention to produce an item such as a simple or double lip annular sealing gasket made of elastomer.
The device and the method according to the invention make it possible to simplify the operations of the molding production of an item having at least one protruding functional part. In addition, the invention makes it possible to improve productivity and cost efficiency of industrial facilities since the output of the press supplying the power no longer depends on the frequency and duration of the subsequent machining operations which have become useless. The deviations in dimensions which existed, on the one hand, between the batches of produced items and, on the other hand, on the same item between the various protruding parts because of the additional operations of deflashing and finishing are no longer necessary, since such operations are eliminated and the items already have correct dimensions when leaving the mold. The risks of deterioration in the quality of the items and more particularly the edge area which resulted from the wear of machining tools and more particularly cutting tools are significantly reduced. Eventually, the invention makes it possible to avoid chips resulting from the deflashing operations which were the sources of pollution on the industrial site and to save energy by eliminating the need for machining stations.
For clarity, identical or similar elements are referred to using identical reference numbers on all the figures.


Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providing an integration framework that enables tools to be integrated. The integration framework enables tools participating in the framework to be encapsulated in a manner that hides their implementations, thereby preventing them from taking deep dependencies on each other. The integration framework also enables the tools participating in the framework to carry formal type definitions called service and data contracts that describe the public behaviors they offer. The integration framework also provides support for migrating integration logic from tools into pluggable commands to further reduce coupling between the tools.

Various tools exist today to allow users to develop software and related resources, such as the software and resources that comprise web sites, web services and client applications. Some tool vendors integrate the functionality of their particular tool with the functionality of separate tools offered by the same or other companies. The integration between tools allows their features to be used in some useful combination. One problem with the way such tools are integrated is that the tools are usually tightly coupled, with each tool depending on specific implementation details of the other. This means that a change to one of the tools often breaks the integration, requiring the other tool to also be reworked and recompiled to account for the changes.

Integrating loosely coupled tools using contracts and references


A double sided display comprises a first substrate, a first organic light-emitting device (OLED) disposed on the first substrate, a first spacer, a second substrate, a second OLED disposed on the second substrate and a second spacer. The first and second spacers are disposed on the first and second substrates, and close to the first and second OLEDs, respectively. A height of the first spacer is larger than a thickness of the first OLED. A height of the second spacer is larger than a thickness of the second OLED. During assembly, the first substrate is disposed opposite to the second substrate, and the first spacer is disposed opposite to the second spacer. Also, the exact positions of the first and second spacers are determined for preventing the direct touch between the first and second OLEDs while the double sided display is deformed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a double sided display and fabricating method thereof, and more particularly to the double sided AMOLED display constructed for preventing the direct touch between the organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) and fabricating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the increasing demand of the electronic products, especially the products with portability, the displays having great functions such as quick response, high resolution and vivid image have been developed. Besides the operational functions, it is one of major trends to develop an electronic product with lighter weight, smaller size, and even thinner form. Also, a double sided-type display is commonly applied for providing the user a more integrated electronic product.
Conventionally, a double sided-type display is constructed by integrating two liquid crystal displays (LCDs). For example, two LCDs can be assembled back-to-back to provide a double sided-type display. This conventional displayer disadvantageously possesses a bulky appearance (ex. about 8 mm to 10 mm in thick). Also, it increases the cost that the LCDs of the double sided-type display have to be fabricated individually before proceeding the assembling step. Thus, assembling the LCDs is not a proper design for making the double sided-type display. Regarding to a dual electroluminescent display (and denoted as "double sided display hereinafter), it can be easily constructed by interposing two organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) between two substrates (i.e. an upper substrate and a lower substrate). The resulting assembly of the double sided displayer not only possesses dual-panel function but also satisfy the requirements of lightweight, small size (thinner body in particular) and easy to carry.
However, the OLEDs disposed on the substrates of the double sided display may direct touch each other, while the substrates are deformed (e.g. bended) resulting from an external force unduly exerted on the display or the weight of the substrates itself. The OLEDs improperly touching each other may leave scratches on the cathodes of the OLEDs or cause current leakage during the operation, so as to degrade the image quality of the double sided display.

Double sided AMOLED display and fabricating method thereof


A bushing used in a developer container to seal a developer, has an aperture portion through which a rotary member extends. The aperture portion is provided with a seal portion contacting with the peripheral surface of the rotary member and preventing the developer from leaking out. A fitting portion fits in a recess formed in a frame of the developer container. The fitting portion is formed integrally with the seal portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a seal part for sealing a developer and a developing device having the same. This developing device is preferably used in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copier or an electrophotographic printer, or a process cartridge detachably attachable to the main body of the image forming apparatus.
The electrophotographic image forming apparatus is an apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium by the use of the electrophotographic image forming method. Examples of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus include, for example, electrophotographic copiers, electrophotographic printers (such as laser beam printers and LED printers), facsimile apparatuses and word processors.
Also, the process cartridge refers to at least one of charging means, developing means and cleaning means and an electrophotographic photosensitive member integrally made into a cartridge which is detachably attachable to the main body of the image forming apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
In the electrophotographic image forming apparatuses using the electrophotographic image forming process, it is known to use a process cartridge system whereby an electrophotographic photosensitive member and process means for acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally made into a cartridge detachably attachable to the main body of the image forming apparatus. According to this process cartridge system, the maintenance of the apparatus can be done by a user himself without resorting to a serviceman and therefore, operability could be markedly improved. So, this process cartridge system is widely used in the electrophotographic image forming apparatuses.
Also, the developing cartridge system whereby for example, developing means of the process means except the electrophotographic photosensitive member is integrally made into a cartridge detachably attachable to the main body of the image forming apparatus is adopted in multicolor electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, and has an effect similar to that described above.
In the electrophotographic image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic type (hereinafter referred to as the image forming apparatus), it is practiced to visualize an electrostatic latent image formed on an image bearing member as a toner image by a developing device.
As such a developing device, various dry monocomponent developing devices have been proposed and put into practical use. In any of these developing devices, however, it is difficult to form a thin layer of a toner which is a monocomponent developer on a developer bearing member.
However, now that improvements in the resolving power, definition, etc. of image are required, the development of a method of and an apparatus for forming a thin layer of a toner is requisite, and several measures for this have been proposed.
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 54-43038, an elastic blade or the like as a regulating member formed of such a material as a metal or rubber is made to abut against a developing sleeve which is a developer bearing member, and a toner is passed through the abutting portion between the elastic blade and the developing sleeve and is regulated, whereby a thin layer of the toner is formed on the developing sleeve and sufficient triboelectricity is imparted to the toner by the friction in the abutting portion.
In this case, when a nonmagnetic toner is to be regulated by the above-described elastic blade, a toner supplying member for supplying the toner onto the developing sleeve becomes discretely necessary. This is because in the case of a magnetic toner, the toner can be supplied onto the developing sleeve by the force of a magnet in the developing sleeve, but in the case of the nonmagnetic toner, the supply of the toner cannot be effected.
As an example, there is a case where a toner supplying roller formed of urethan or the like is used as the toner supplying member. The toner supplying roller comprises a metal shaft and a roller portion of urethane formed thereon, is mounted on a developing container so as to be in contact with the developer bearing member, is supported by bearing members mounted on the opposite ends of the developing container, and is rotated so that the peripheral surface of that portion thereof which is opposed to the direction of movement of the peripheral surface of the developer bearing member may be moved in the opposite direction. The developing container supporting a developing member has its interior and exterior partitioned by a partition member, and the space between the partition member and the developing member is sealed.
A conventional method of mounting the toner supplying roller will now be described with reference to FIG. 11 of the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 11, when mounting a toner supplying roller 9R on a developing container 26, one shaft 9jR of the toner supplying roller 9R is passed into an aperture portion 26aR formed at one end of a wall portion 26a which is a partition member for the interior and exterior of the developing container 26, and the other shaft 9jF of the toner supplying roller is put into a cut-away portion 26aK formed at the opposite side to the aperture portion 26aR of the developing container 26, and the shaft 9jF of the toner supplying roller 9R is passed into an aperture portion 25a provided in a filling member 25 filling the cut-away portion 26aK, and the filling member 25 is attached to the developing container 26 to thereby fill the cut-away portion 26aK.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11, shaft seal members 28 formed of felt or the like are fitted onto the shafts 9jF and 9jR at the opposite ends of the toner supplying roller 9R, and lastly bearing members 27F and 27R are assembled to the shafts from the opposite sides, whereby the toner supplying roller 9R is supported. In this construction, the shaft seal members 28 of felt may sometimes be deformed and therefore, auxiliary shaft seals such as oil seals 29 as auxiliary means for the shaft seal members 28 are assembled to the toner supplying roller shaft supporting portions 27Fj and 27Rj of the bearing members 27F and 27R on the opposite sides.
The relation between the filling member 25 and the toner supplying roller shaft 9jF is such that as shown in FIG. 11, the aperture portion 25a provided in the filling member 25 and the toner supplying roller shaft 9jF are not at all in contact with each other, but have a gap therebetween.
In recent years, however, the main body of the image forming apparatus tends to become lower in cost and smaller in size and along therewith, the necessity of lower cost and smaller size has also increased in the process cartridge.
In the above-described example of the conventional art, however, besides the filling member filling the cut-away portion when the toner supplying roller is incorporated into the developing container, a plurality of seal members such as the shaft seal members and the auxiliary seals for the shaft seals in which the bearing members of the toner supplying roller are provided become necessary and cause an increase in cost and also, provision must be made of spaces for incorporating those seal members therein, and this has hindered the downsizing of the process cartridge.
The present invention solves the above-noted problem and an object thereof is to provide a method of constructing the seal of a rotary member extending through a partition member at a low cost and with a saved space, and to provide a seal part and a developing device directed to the same purpose.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a seal part and a developing device of which a portion of the frame is formed by the seal part.

Seal part and developing device having the same


In an embodiment, a method is provided for improving signal and transducer alignment in a magnetic tape drive. The method includes writing a first track and a second track to a tape. Each track has an associated track characteristic, which may include fundamental frequency and test binary pattern, among other characteristics. The tracks are adjacent and substantially parallel to one another, and each track has a differing track characteristic value. Each track is read at multiple tracking positions to collect values corresponding to each position. An optimal offset is determined based on the collected values and the corresponding tracking positions. In another embodiment, a magnetic tape drive includes a data reader, a data writer, a processor, and a computer readable medium. The medium has stored instructions, executable by the processor, for carrying out the described method.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to tape drives and more specifically to signal-and-transducer alignment in a tape drive.
2. Background Art
Tape drives read and write data on magnetic tapes. They commonly write data to and read data from multiple data tracks which run parallel to one another over the length of the tape. A given drive has a tape head which includes one or more data readers and data writers for respectively reading and writing the tracks.
With increasing track density, properly aligning the tape and the tape head becomes increasingly important. For example, as the tape moves past the tape head, lateral drift of the tape can result in the tape drive reading or writing a wrong data track—or doing so at an imprecise location. To mitigate errors resulting from lateral drift, many tape drives have servo readers on the tape head that maintain alignment with pre-written servo tracks on the tape during read and write operations.
However, as track density further increases, variances in the manufacture of the tape head can cause tracks to be read from, or written to, the wrong location. For example, in the fabrication of certain tape heads, servo readers and data readers may be defined in one layer of the tape head, whereas data writers may be defined in another layer. A non-ideal fabrication of the tape head may cause a layer-to-layer offset, resulting in an incorrect distance between the servo readers and the data writers. This can result in imprecise reading and writing operations.

Technique for signal and transducer alignment in a tape drive


A frame relay communications network consists of a number of interconnected nodes. The network nodes include segmentation and reassembly device for fragmenting variable length frames of user data into packets of a predefined length. A preferred embodiment uses ATM AAL5 segmentation and reassembly to construct cells. Header and trailer information is added to each of the cells for transport across the frame relay network.

The desire to integrate data, voice, image and video over high speed digital trunks has led to the development of a variety of packet switching techniques. One such technique is called frame relay. A frame relay network provides a user with multiple independent data links to one or more destinations. User traffic on these data links is statistically multiplexed to provide efficient use of access lines and network resources. Since the multiplexing is at the link layer, end-to-end delay is minimized. Frame relay networks transfer user traffic without regard to content, thereby providing service which is effectively as transparent as a leased line. A frame relay network typically consists of a number of interconnected nodes which are capable of receiving data from other network nodes and forwarding that data through to other network nodes to its ultimate destination. Nodes are interconnected by transmission paths, each of which supports one or more virtual circuits. Communication from one user to another can thus be made using the pre-defined network connections of the virtual circuits.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a second packet switching technology that provides users with the ability to connect to one or more users in a transparent fashion. Unlike the variable length packets used by frame relay services, ATM service is based on switching fixed length packets of data known as cells. Cell switching, as it is called, is gaining popularity for a variety of reasons. First, switch architectures can be optimized to switch cells at much higher speeds than variable length packets. Second, multiple services requiring a variety of quality of service guarantees can be provided simultaneously. ATM user traffic must be segmented into cells, transmitted, then reassembled back into its original form. This segmentation and reassembly (SAR) process is done in a standardized way, regardless of the carrier providing the ATM service.
Although the use of variable length packets in frame relay can be more efficient in terms of overhead and bandwidth used when compared with the fixed length cells used in ATM, other problems, such as delay and latency, present themselves. In frame based environments, passing traffic from one end to another is somewhat unpredictable by nature. For example, if one virtual circuit is using a significant amount of bandwidth, it will have a tendency to choke out other sources. Also, if one virtual circuit is transporting relatively large frames through the network, other circuits with smaller frames may suffer. This is known as latency. For example, it is not uncommon for two sources, one transmitting large frames and the other transmitting smaller frames to be transported over the same wire. As the larger frame is being transported over the wire, the smaller frame will have to wait a relatively long period of time before it is transmitted on the wire. If both sources are transmitting latency insensitive traffic, e.g., data, this may not be a problem. However, if the smaller frame source is transmitting multimedia traffic (e.g., especially voice) which is very time sensitive, this latency can seriously degrade the quality of the service provided by the network. The latency problem is compounded if the wire is a relatively slow link.
One solution to the problems of latency and delay has been to fragment large frames into smaller packets for transmission through a frame relay network. Unfortunately, no standardized method of frame relay fragmentation has been adopted. As a result, a number of non-standard fragmentation schemes have been used. These non-standard fragmentation schemes lead to interoperability problems, generally resulting in increased user costs. In addition, for those users who do not have access to frame relay networks that use frame fragmentation schemes, the problems of latency and delay remain.


The invention relates to an angle measurement probe on board an aircraft, which comprises a fin, which can move in rotation about an axis, at least one first optical encoder and one second optical encoder, each comprising at least one disk, each disk being fixed at right angles to the central axis and being provided with at least two circular tracks, each track being provided with alternate opaque and transparent zones, means for processing the output signal from each encoder.

The data systems on board an aircraft, such as an aeroplane, comprise aerodynamic and thermodynamic sensors and their associated electronics which measure the characteristics of the air stream surrounding the aeroplane and convert this information into electrical signals. These sensors comprise transducers, rotating electrical machines, or, more generally, resolvers, or pressure difference devices, the signals of which are processed to obtain flight parameters such as the angle of attack and the side slip angle.
These sensors are situated at specific points of the cockpit of the aeroplane. They are in particular temperature sensors, rotating fins or multifunction devices incorporating probes of tube type ("tube-slot") with self-alignment capabilities.
Such instrumentation exhibits drawbacks such as a sensitivity to electromagnetic threats, heavy weight, a relatively large volume, a need for several power supply voltages, etc. Furthermore, the high accuracy of certain sensors can lead to high costs, and condition the technology to be employed and the positioning of these sensors.
In the aeroplanes, the data originating from the onboard sensors make it possible to provide information to the pilot. Some of these data relate to particular measurements, which are those of the angle of attack and the side slip angle. Currently, these measurements are performed using specific rotating electrical machines.
The angle of attack is an angle measured in the normally vertical plane X-Z of symmetry of an aeroplane. More specifically, this angle is measured relative to a reference line, which is a line linking the leading edge and the trailing edge at median points on a wing. Most commercial aeroplanes use the central line or the longitudinal axis of the fuselage as reference line. The angle of attack is defined as the angle at which the relative wind encounters the reference line of the wing or of the fuselage.
The side slip angle is the angle between a vector, called aeroplane speed vector, and the longitudinal axis thereof.
To measure the angle of attack and the side slip angle of an aeroplane, there are in particular known:                a measurement method based on probes using fins that can move in rotation,        a measurement method based on probes using pitot tubes and/or holed surfaces and/or tubes.
A probe 16 using a fin that can move in rotation is represented in FIGS. 1A to 1C and 2. With such a probe, it is possible to measure the angle of attack as follows. A fin 10 is oriented in the direction of the local air stream, parallel to the relative wind of the apparatus. Electronic means make it possible to determine the angle between the local air stream and a reference axis of the aeroplane, in order to then estimate, by difference, the angle of attack. The fin is mounted to move in rotation on a central axis 14 of a cylindrical housing 11. The latter is closed at both of its ends, and is also provided, on the one hand, with a connector 13 and, on the other hand, with a plate 12 pierced with a central circular orifice which is passed through by the axis 14.
A measurement method based on the use of this type of device is commonly used to measure the angle of attack and the side slip angle. The measurement of these angles makes it possible to know if the aeroplane is within the flight envelope limits specified by the aeroplane manufacturer.
The fin 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1C can revolve freely by a given angle, so as to be positioned in a local air flow in line with the probe and parallel thereto.
The rotation of the fin is transmitted to the axis 14, on which it is mounted, and which is in turn coupled to a rotary position transducer 15 with brushless resolver. The electrical signal generated by the latter can then be processed by a processing circuit and be converted into a digital signal, which can be transmitted to the onboard computer via a data bus.
Such a probe with rotating fin from the known art can also use an actively controlled slot heating technology, in order to de-ice the fin in all icing conditions.
The document FR 2922301 (or US 2009 099811) describes the use of such a probe which, as illustrated in FIG. 3, is positioned on the surface of the fuselage of an aeroplane 17, in the front part thereof, precisely in the region situated in front of the cockpit 18 (the term "front" being understood in the conventional manner, that is to say towards the nose 19 of the aeroplane, in the direction X). The measured side slip angle β is thus the angle formed locally between the orientation of the speed vector of the flow of the air in line with the probe {right arrow over (V)} and the direction X projected in a horizontal plane. Other side slip probes can be provided on the surface of the fuselage of the aeroplane, such as, for example, probes 16′, 16″.
Such a probe with rotating fin from the known art presents the following drawbacks:                its volume is large and can lead to integration difficulties because of the reduced space available,        its weight is heavy: approximately 1925 kg per probe.

Angle measurement probe on board an aircraft and aircraft implementing at least one such probe


A novel hybrid maize variety designated 38R50 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof, produced by crossing Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred maize lines. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprises crossing hybrid maize variety 38R50 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into 38R50 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the hybrid seed 38R50, the hybrid plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and trivial modifications of hybrid 38R50. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize lines derived from hybrid maize variety 38R50 and to the maize lines derived by the use of those methods.

Plant Breeding
The goal of plant breeding is to combine, in a single variety or hybrid, various desirable traits. For field crops, these traits may include resistance to diseases and insects, resistance to heat and drought, reducing the time to crop maturity, greater yield, and better agronomic quality. With mechanical harvesting of many crops, uniformity of plant characteristics such as germination, stand establishment, growth rate, maturity, and plant and ear height is important. Traditional plant breeding is an important tool in developing new and improved commercial crops.
Field crops are bred through techniques that take advantage of the plant's method of pollination. A plant is self-pollinated if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant. A plant is sib pollinated when individuals within the same family or line are used for pollination. A plant is cross-pollinated if the pollen comes from a flower on a different plant from a different family or line. The term "cross pollination" and "out-cross" as used herein do not include self pollination or sib pollination.
Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type for many generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce a uniform population of true breeding progeny. A cross between two different homozygous lines produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that may be heterozygous for many gene loci. A cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of gene loci will produce a population of heterogeneous plants that differ genetically and will not be uniform.
Maize (Zea mays L.), often referred to as corn in the United States, can be bred by both self-pollination and cross-pollination techniques. Maize has separate male and female flowers on the same plant, located on the tassel and the ear, respectively. Natural pollination occurs in maize when wind blows pollen from the tassels to the silks that protrude from the tops of the ears.
The development of a hybrid maize variety in a maize plant breeding program involves three steps: (1) the selection of plants from various germplasm pools for initial breeding crosses; (2) the selfing of the selected plants from the breeding crosses for several generations to produce a series of inbred lines, which, individually breed true and are highly uniform; and (3) crossing a selected inbred line with an unrelated inbred line to produce the hybrid progeny (F1). After a sufficient amount of inbreeding successive filial generations will merely serve to increase seed of the developed inbred. Preferably, an inbred line should comprise homozygous alleles at about 95% or more of its loci.
During the inbreeding process in maize, the vigor of the lines decreases. Vigor is restored when two different inbred lines are crossed to produce the hybrid progeny (F1). An important consequence of the homozygosity and homogeneity of the inbred lines is that the hybrid between a defined pair of inbreds may be reproduced indefinitely as long as the homogeneity of the inbred parents is maintained. Once the inbreds that create a superior hybrid have been identified, a continual supply of the hybrid seed can be produced using these inbred parents and the hybrid corn plants can then be generated from this hybrid seed supply.
38R50 may be used to produce a single cross hybrid, a double cross hybrid, or a three-way hybrid. A single cross hybrid is produced when two inbred lines are crossed to produce the F1 progeny. A double cross hybrid is produced from four inbred lines crossed in pairs (A×B and C×D) and then the two F1 hybrids are crossed again (A×B)×(C×D). A three-way cross hybrid is produced from three inbred lines where two of the inbred lines are crossed (A×B) and then the resulting F1 hybrid is crossed with the third inbred (A×B)×C. In each case, pericarp tissue from the female parent will be a part of and protect the hybrid seed.
Large scale commercial maize hybrid production, as it is practiced today, requires the use of some form of male sterility system which controls or inactivates male fertility. A reliable method of controlling male fertility in plants also offers the opportunity for improved plant breeding. This is especially true for development of maize hybrids, which relies upon some sort of male sterility system. There are several ways in which a maize plant can be manipulated so that is male sterile. These include use of manual or mechanical emasculation (or detasseling), cytoplasmic genetic male sterility, nuclear genetic male sterility, gametocides and the like.
Hybrid maize seed is often produced by a male sterility system incorporating manual or mechanical detasseling. Alternate strips of two inbred varieties of maize are planted in a field, and the pollen-bearing tassels are removed from one of the inbreds (female) prior to pollen shed. Providing that there is sufficient isolation from sources of foreign maize pollen, the ears of the detasseled inbred will be fertilized only from the other inbred (male), and the resulting seed is therefore hybrid and will form hybrid plants.
The laborious detasseling process can be avoided by using cytoplasmic male-sterile (CMS) inbreds. Plants of a CMS inbred are male sterile as a result of genetic factors in the cytoplasm, as opposed to the nucleus, and so nuclear linked genes are not transferred during backcrossing. Thus, this characteristic is inherited exclusively through the female parent in maize plants, since only the female provides cytoplasm to the fertilized seed. CMS plants are fertilized with pollen from another inbred that is not male-sterile. Pollen from the second inbred may or may not contribute genes that make the hybrid plants male-fertile, and either option may be preferred depending on the intended use of the hybrid. The same hybrid seed, a portion produced from detasseled fertile maize and a portion produced using the CMS system can be blended to insure that adequate pollen loads are available for fertilization when the hybrid plants are grown. CMS systems have been successfully used since the 1950's, and the male sterility trait is routinely backcrossed into inbred lines. See Wych, p. 585-586, 1998.
There are several methods of conferring genetic male sterility available, such as multiple mutant genes at separate locations within the genome that confer male sterility, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,654,465 and 4,727,219 to Brar et al. and chromosomal translocations as described by Patterson in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,861,709 and 3,710,511. These and all patents referred to are incorporated by reference. In addition to these methods, Albertsen et al., of Pioneer Hi-Bred, U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,068, describe a system of nuclear male sterility which includes: identifying a gene which is critical to male fertility; silencing this native gene which is critical to male fertility; removing the native promoter from the essential male fertility gene and replacing it with an inducible promoter; inserting this genetically engineered gene back into the plant; and thus creating a plant that is male sterile because the inducible promoter is not "on" resulting in the male fertility gene not being transcribed. Fertility is restored by inducing, or turning "on", the promoter, which in turn allows the gene that confers male fertility to be transcribed.
These, and the other methods of conferring genetic male sterility in the art, each possess their own benefits and drawbacks. Some other methods use a variety of approaches such as delivering into the plant a gene encoding a cytotoxic substance associated with a male tissue specific promoter or an antisense system in which a gene critical to fertility is identified and an antisense to that gene is inserted in the plant (see Fabinjanski, et al. EPO 89/3010153.8 Publication No. 329,308 and PCT Application PCT/CA90/00037 published as WO 90/08828).
Another system useful in controlling male sterility makes use of gametocides. Gametocides are not a genetic system, but rather a topical application of chemicals. These chemicals affect cells that are critical to male fertility. The application of these chemicals affects fertility in the plants only for the growing season in which the gametocide is applied (see Carlson, Glenn R., U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,904). Application of the gametocide, timing of the application and genotype specificity often limit the usefulness of the approach and it is not appropriate in all situations.
The use of male sterile inbreds is but one factor in the production of maize hybrids. The development of maize hybrids in a maize plant breeding program requires, in general, the development of homozygous inbred lines, the crossing of these lines, and the evaluation of the crosses. Maize plant breeding programs combine the genetic backgrounds from two or more inbred lines or various other germplasm sources into breeding populations from which new inbred lines are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. Hybrids also can be used as a source of plant breeding material or as source populations from which to develop or derive new maize lines. Plant breeding techniques known in the art and used in a maize plant breeding program include, but are not limited to, recurrent selection, mass selection, bulk selection, backcrossing, making double haploids, pedigree breeding, open pollination breeding, restriction fragment length polymorphism enhanced selection, genetic marker enhanced selection, and transformation. Often combinations of these techniques are used. The inbred lines derived from hybrids can be developed using plant breeding techniques as described above. New inbreds are crossed with other inbred lines and the hybrids from these crosses are evaluated to determine which of those have commercial potential. The oldest and most traditional method of analysis is the observation of phenotypic traits but genotypic analysis may also be used. Descriptions of breeding methods can also be found in one of several reference books (e.g., Allard, Principles of Plant Breeding, 1960; Simmonds, Principles of Crop Improvement, 1979; Fehr, "Breeding Methods for Cultivar Development", Production and Uses, 2nd ed., Wilcox editor, 1987).
Backcrossing can be used to improve inbred lines and a hybrid which is made using those inbreds. Backcrossing can be used to transfer a specific desirable trait from one line, the donor parent, to an inbred called the recurrent parent which has overall good agronomic characteristics yet that lacks the desirable trait. This transfer of the desirable trait into an inbred with overall good agronomic characteristics can be accomplished by first crossing a recurrent parent to a donor parent (non-recurrent parent). The progeny of this cross is then mated back to the recurrent parent followed by selection in the resultant progeny for the desired trait to be transferred from the non-recurrent parent. Typically after four or more backcross generations with selection for the desired trait, the progeny will contain essentially all genes of the recurrent parent except for the genes controlling the desired trait. But the number of backcross generations can be less if molecular markers are used during the selection or elite germplasm is used as the donor parent. The last backcross generation is then selfed to give pure breeding progeny for the gene(s) being transferred.
Backcrossing can also be used in conjunction with pedigree breeding to develop new inbred lines. For example, an F1 can be created that is backcrossed to one of its parent lines to create a BC1. Progeny are selfed and selected so that the newly developed inbred has many of the attributes of the recurrent parent and yet several of the desired attributes of the non-recurrent parent.
Recurrent selection is a method used in a plant breeding program to improve a population of plants. The method entails individual plants cross pollinating with each other to form progeny which are then grown. The superior progeny are then selected by any number of methods, which include individual plant, half sib progeny, full sib progeny, selfed progeny and topcrossing. The selected progeny are cross pollinated with each other to form progeny for another population. This population is planted and again superior plants are selected to cross pollinate with each other. Recurrent selection is a cyclical process and therefore can be repeated as many times as desired. The objective of recurrent selection is to improve the traits of a population. The improved population can then be used as a source of breeding material to obtain inbred lines to be used in hybrids or used as parents for a synthetic cultivar. A synthetic cultivar is the resultant progeny formed by the intercrossing of several selected inbreds. Mass selection is a useful technique when used in conjunction with molecular marker enhanced selection.
Molecular markers, which includes markers identified through the use of techniques such as Isozyme Electrophoresis, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCARs), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) may be used in plant breeding methods utilizing 38R50.
One use of molecular markers is Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping. QTL mapping is the use of markers, which are known to be closely linked to alleles that have measurable effects on a quantitative trait. Selection in the breeding process is based upon the accumulation of markers linked to the positive effecting alleles and/or the elimination of the markers linked to the negative effecting alleles from the plant's genome.
Molecular markers can also be used during the breeding process for the selection of qualitative traits. For example, markers closely linked to alleles or markers containing sequences within the actual alleles of interest can be used to select plants that contain the alleles of interest during a backcrossing breeding program. The markers can also be used to select for the genome of the recurrent parent and against the markers of the donor parent. Using this procedure can minimize the amount of genome from the donor parent that remains in the selected plants. It can also be used to reduce the number of crosses back to the recurrent parent needed in a backcrossing program. The use of molecular markers in the selection process is often called Genetic Marker Enhanced Selection.
The production of double haploids can also be used for the development of inbreds in a breeding program. Double haploids are produced by the doubling of a set of chromosomes (1N) from a heterozygous plant to produce a completely homozygous individual. For example, see Wan et al., "Efficient Production of Doubled Haploid Plants Through Colchicine Treatment of Anther-Derived Maize Callus", Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 77:889-892, 1989 and U.S. Patent Application 2003/0005479. This can be advantageous because the process omits the generations of selfing needed to obtain a homozygous plant from a heterozygous source.
Haploid induction systems have been developed for various plants to produce haploid tissues, plants and seeds. The haploid induction system can produce haploid plants from any genotype by crossing a selected line (as female) with an inducer line. Such inducer lines for maize include Stock 6 (Coe, 1959, Am. Nat. 93:381-382; Sharkar and Coe, 1966, Genetics 54:453-464) RWS (see world wide web site uni-hohenheim.de/%7Eipspwww/350b/indexe.html#Project3), KEMS (Deimling, Roeber, and Geiger, 1997, Vortr. Pflanzenzuchtg 38:203-224), or KMS and ZMS (Chalyk, Bylich & Chebotar, 1994, MNL 68:47; Chalyk & Chebotar, 2000, Plant Breeding 119:363-364), and indeterminate gametophyte (ig) mutation (Kermicle 1969 Science 166:1422-1424). The disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Methods for obtaining haploid plants are also disclosed in Kobayashi, M. et al., Journ. of Heredity 71(1):9-14, 1980, Pollacsek, M., Agronomie (Paris) 12(3):247-251, 1992; Cho-Un-Haing et al., Journ. of Plant Biol., 1996, 39(3):185-188; Verdoodt, L., et al., February 1998, 96(2):294-300; Genetic Manipulation in Plant Breeding, Proceedings International Symposium Organized by EUCARPIA, Sep. 8-13, 1985, Berlin, Germany; Chalyk et al., 1994, Maize Genet Coop. Newsletter 68:47; Chalyk, S. T., 1999, Maize Genet Coop. Newsletter 73:53-54; Coe, R. H., 1959, Am. Nat. 93:381-382; Deimling, S. et al., 1997, Vortr. Pflanzenzuchtg 38:203-204; Kato, A., 1999, J. Hered. 90:276-280; Lashermes, P. et al., 1988, Theor. Appl. Genet. 76:570-572 and 76:405-410; Tyrnov, V. S. et al., 1984, Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 276:735-738; Zabirova, E. R. et al., 1996, Kukuruza I Sorgo N4, 17-19; Aman, M. A., 1978, Indian J. Genet Plant Breed 38:452457; Chalyk S. T., 1994, Euphytica 79:13-18; Chase, S. S., 1952, Agron. J. 44:263-267; Coe, E. H., 1959, Am. Nat 93:381-382; Coe, E. H., and Sarkar, K. R., 1964 J. Hered. 55:231-233; Greenblatt, I. M. and Bock, M., 1967, J. Hered. 58:9-13; Kato, A., 1990, Maize Genet. Coop. Newsletter 65:109-110; Kato, A., 1997, Sex. Plant Reprod. 10:96-100; Nanda, D. K. and Chase, S. S., 1966, Crop Sci. 6:213-215; Sarkar, K. R. and Coe, E. H., 1966, Genetics 54:453-464; Sarkar, K. R. and Coe, E. H., 1971, Crop Sci. 11:543-544; Sarkar, K. R. and Sachan J. K. S., 1972, Indian J. Agric. Sci. 42:781-786; Kermicle J. L., 1969, Mehta Yeshwant, M. R., Genetics and Molecular Biology, September 2000, 23(3):617-622; Tahir, M. S. et al. Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, August 2000, 43(4):258-261; Knox, R. E. et al. Plant Breeding, August 2000, 119(4):289-298; U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,951 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/121,200, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Hybrid seed production requires elimination or inactivation of pollen produced by the female parent. Incomplete removal or inactivation of the pollen provides the potential for self-pollination. This inadvertently self-pollinated seed may be unintentionally harvested and packaged with hybrid seed. Also, because the male parent is grown next to the female parent in the field there is the very low probability that the male selfed seed could be unintentionally harvested and packaged with the hybrid seed. Once the seed from the hybrid bag is planted, it is possible to identify and select these self-pollinated plants. These self-pollinated plants will be genetically equivalent to one of the inbred lines used to produce the hybrid. Though the possibility of inbreds being included in a hybrid seed bag exists, the occurrence is very low because much care is taken by seed companies to avoid such inclusions. It is worth noting that hybrid seed is sold to growers for the production of grain and forage and not for breeding or seed production. By an individual skilled in plant breeding, these inbred plants unintentionally included in commercial hybrid seed can be identified and selected due to their decreased vigor when compared to the hybrid. Inbreds are identified by their less vigorous appearance for vegetative and/or reproductive characteristics, including shorter plant height, small ear size, ear and kernel shape, cob color, or other characteristics.
Identification of these self-pollinated lines can also be accomplished through molecular marker analyses. See, "The Identification of Female Selfs in Hybrid Maize: A Comparison Using Electrophoresis and Morphology", Smith, J. S. C. and Wych, R. D., Seed Science and Technology 14, pages 1-8 (1995), the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. Through these technologies, the homozygosity of the self pollinated line can be verified by analyzing allelic composition at various loci along the genome. Those methods allow for rapid identification of the invention disclosed herein. See also, "Identification of Atypical Plants in Hybrid Maize Seed by Postcontrol and Electrophoresis" Sarca, V. et al., Probleme de Genetica Teoritica si Aplicata Vol. 20 (1) pages 29-42.
Another form of commercial hybrid production involves the use of a mixture of male sterile hybrid seed and male pollinator seed. When planted, the resulting male sterile hybrid plants are pollinated by the pollinator plants. This method is primarily used to produce grain with enhanced quality grain traits, such as high oil, because desired quality grain traits expressed in the pollinator will also be expressed in the grain produced on the male sterile hybrid plant. In this method the desired quality grain trait does not have to be incorporated by lengthy procedures such as recurrent backcross selection into an inbred parent line. One use of this method is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,704,160 and 5,706,603.
There are many important factors to be considered in the art of plant breeding, such as the ability to recognize important morphological and physiological characteristics, the ability to design evaluation techniques for genotypic and phenotypic traits of interest, and the ability to search out and exploit the genes for the desired traits in new or improved combinations.
The objective of commercial maize hybrid line development resulting from a maize plant breeding program is to develop new inbred lines to produce hybrids that combine to produce high grain yields and superior agronomic performance. One of the primary traits breeders seek is yield. However, many other major agronomic traits are of importance in hybrid combination and have an impact on yield or otherwise provide superior performance in hybrid combinations. Such traits include percent grain moisture at harvest, relative maturity, resistance to stalk breakage, resistance to root lodging, grain quality, and disease and insect resistance. In addition, the lines per se must have acceptable performance for parental traits such as seed yields, kernel sizes, pollen production, all of which affect ability to provide parental lines in sufficient quantity and quality for hybridization. These traits have been shown to be under genetic control and many if not all of the traits are affected by multiple genes.
A breeder uses various methods to help determine which plants should be selected from the segregating populations and ultimately which inbred lines will be used to develop hybrids for commercialization. In addition to the knowledge of the germplasm and other skills the breeder uses, a part of the selection process is dependent on experimental design coupled with the use of statistical analysis. Experimental design and statistical analysis are used to help determine which plants, which family of plants, and finally which inbred lines and hybrid combinations are significantly better or different for one or more traits of interest. Experimental design methods are used to assess error so that differences between two inbred lines or two hybrid lines can be more accurately determined. Statistical analysis includes the calculation of mean values, determination of the statistical significance of the sources of variation, and the calculation of the appropriate variance components. Either a five or one percent significance level is customarily used to determine whether a difference that occurs for a given trait is real or due to the environment or experimental error. One of ordinary skill in the art of plant breeding would know how to evaluate the traits of two plant varieties to determine if there is no significant difference between the two traits expressed by those varieties. For example, see Fehr, Walt, Principles of Cultivar Development, pages 261-286 (1987) which is incorporated herein by reference. Mean trait values may be used to determine whether trait differences are significant, and preferably the traits are measured on plants grown under the same environmental conditions.


A dynamic self-adjusting memory storage device and method of operating. The device includes a plurality of adjustable-size phase change memory (PCM) storage sub-modules connected to and communicating over a bus with a control device. One of the plurality of adjustable-size memory storage sub-modules is in a stand-by mode of operation. The control device implements steps to: determine, based on a switching criteria, when the memory storage device needs to be switched to a different operation mode; select one or more adjustable-sized memory storage sub-modules for switching to said different operation mode; copy stored data from a selected actively operating adjustable-size memory storage sub-module to said adjustable-size memory storage sub-module in said stand-by mode; and change the capacity of the selected actively operating adjustable-size memory storage sub-module after the copying. The dynamic self-adjusting memory capacity method is performed without powering down the memory storage device or paying any timing penalty.

Modern computer systems rely on different types of storage, such as memory systems, disk systems etc. In the current state of the art, these systems come with a fixed capacity, e.g., a memory module may have the size of 1 GB, or a disk may have the size of 1 TB. The size of the storage module can generally not be changed once the system that is using the memory is running.
With the growth in memory storage device technologies such as PCM, one can create storage modules which can be put into one or more modes, where different modes can have different capacity. However, such modules in the current state of the art do not exist. For example, the SLC or MLC modes of commercially available NAND flash are designed as part of the product feature. Meaning thereby customers either buy SLC NAND or MLC NAND products off the shelf and do not have the flexibility of changing the mode. This means that system architect need to estimate the best mode (i.e., capacity) before the system is put into actual operation and the mode cannot be changed during the operation since storage systems currently do not have re-configurability.
These early estimates can sometimes be incorrect, i.e., hard to predict the new workloads since they are evolving over time. In order to adapt system to emerging workloads in a wider application space, it is desirable to have a storage module which can adjust its mode dynamically to provide for more storage and flexibility during the operation of the system. At a minimum, we would like to be able to adjust the capacity of the memory system in offline mode by powering it down and repowering it again for mode switching.

Self-adjusting phase change memory storage module


Disclosed herein is a lawn perforating tool and method of using same to prepare new lawn or garden areas or distressed regions of existing lawns or gardens for the planting of seed, example of which include, but are not limited to, grass seed, clover seed, wildflower seed, and the like. The lawn perforating tool of the present invention is particularly configured to provide in the soil and dead grass holes or indentations of a size, shape, and depth that is optimal for receiving and germinating new grass seed and of a density and distribution suitable to provide the resulting grass with a visually desirable pattern, rendering new growth indistinguishable from old growth.

Diseases, pests, irrigation difficulties and other factors can create regions of dead and/or dying grass and/or bare soil in existing lawns. Prior to sowing seed in these regions, so as to restore the lawn, one must first prepare the ground for planting. To that end, it is necessary to produce indentations or holes (also referred to herein as "perforations") in the lawn, preferably of a depth and size that maximizes seed-to-soil contact and is suitable for the germination of seed placed therein. The distribution of the holes must have density sufficient to allow the resulting plant growth to form a continuous grassy surface. In addition, it is desirable to provide spacing between the holes, and to the pattern the holes in a non-uniform manner to thereby prevent the resulting grass from having a visually objectionable pattern. A tool optimized for this utility should also be capable of tilling or plowing the neighboring earth; in particular, it is desirable to push up and loosen the soil around the hole so as to create a soft mound of soil that will readily crumble around the seed after watering. Finally, it is further desirable to configure the tool to minimize operator fatigue and muscle strain or, alternatively, to work in conjunction with a powered implement, such as a tractor or small engine.
There are a number of commercially available tools designed to loosen, cut, crumble and/or cultivate garden soil or the like. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,605,907 (Schuring et al.), 4,424,869 (vom Braucke et al.), and 4,678,043 (vom Braucke et al.) disclose various small hand tools specifically designed for such purposes. In addition, a variety of manual and automated lawn seeding machines are known in the art. However, none of the presently available options are capable of producing the optimized lawn perforations as described above while at the same time maximizing efficiency and minimizing operator fatigue. Thus, there remains a clear need in the art for a lawn tool capable of efficiently and effectively preparing a damaged area of lawn for reseeding. The present invention is directed to such a need.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Lawn perforating tool and method of using same


To facilitate the recognition and interpretation of actions undertaken within an environment, the environment is associated with a precision positioning system (PPS) and a controller in communication with the PPS. Within the environment, an entity moves about in furtherance of one or more tasks to be completed within the environment. The PPS determines position data corresponding to at least a portion of the entity, which position data is subsequently compared with at least one known action corresponding to a predetermined task within the environment. Using a state-based task model, recognized actions may be interpreted and used to initiate at least one system action based on the current state of the task model and correspondence of the position data to the at least one known action. In an embodiment, an entity recognition system provides an identity of the entity to determine whether the entity is authorized to perform an action.

Location determination systems are well known in the art. For example, the global positioning satellite (GPS) system may be used to determine the specific locations of GPS receivers with an accuracy down to a few meters. Other land-based location systems are likewise capable of determining a location of an object with a similar degree of accuracy. While such systems work well for the purposes for which they were designed, particularly on a large scale (e.g., hundreds or thousands of meters), they do not necessarily provide greater understanding of the movement and position data that they provide. Stated another way, although such systems can tell you where a particular object is, they cannot help you understand what that object is doing, why the object is moving in a certain way or what the object's next movement should be. Equally significant, because of the accuracy provided, such systems are unable to provide any understanding of actions performed on a human-scale.
More recently developed technologies, such as so-called ultra wideband (UWB) positioning systems, provide the ability to obtain three dimensional position data with much greater accuracy than previously available with the above-described systems. For example, a UWB system can determine the location of an appropriately configured "tag" with an accuracy of approximately one foot or less. This level of resolution may be used to develop a greater understanding of actions (particularly on a human scale) and, equally important, an understanding of what those actions mean within a given environment. However, such systems have not been employed for this purpose. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a system that incorporates the use of precision positioning determination to recognize and interpret actions undertaken within an environment.

Action recognition and interpretation using a precision positioning system


A system, method, and software product analyzes transportation infrastructure that includes roadways and bridges. Condition indicators are associated with each roadway and bridge, and costs involved with first repairing each bridge and roadway at different points in time considering the condition indicators are determined and compared. Costs involved with maintaining the bridges and roadways are determined and compared. Priority values are associated with each roadway and bridge. Predetermined condition parameters and secondary predetermined condition parameters associated with the priority values are compared to the condition indicators to determine if the roadways and bridges are in need of repair or in definite need of repair. Aggregate costs are determined and compared to current and projected budgets.

This invention relates generally to a system for evaluating infrastructure and minimizing overall repair costs. In particular, the present invention relates to a system that uses enumerated criteria for determining infrastructure condition and predicts the costs associated with repairing and maintaining the infrastructure if various repair/maintenance plans were to be implemented. In addition, this system minimizes overall costs of repair and maintenance and maximizes overall infrastructure quality while considering budget constraints.
Roadway and street managers face the daunting task of maintaining a transportation infrastructure that includes approximately six hundred thousand bridges and nearly four million miles of public roads and streets in the United States alone. Moreover, budgets for infrastructure maintenance are facing widespread shortages. As a result, these managers have to become increasingly proactive in analyzing maintenance scenarios and determining corrective measures while considering the various economic impacts and recognizing probable future trends.
Various proposals for systems that analyze pavement maintenance costs are found in the art, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,189,606; 5,737,227; and 6,584,414. Writings may also be found that address the issue, such as Pavement Management Guide November 2001: Executive Summary Report (American Ass'n of State Highway and Transportation Officials 2001). While assumably effective for their intended purposes, these systems do not minimize overall costs of repair and maintenance or maximize overall infrastructure quality while considering budget constraints. Nor do they take into consideration the entire transportation infrastructure; instead they focus solely on pavement.
Moreover, the applicant's system uses enumerated criteria and observed data to provide a user with a range of information, including the lifetime cost of repairing a specific segment of infrastructure at any given time compared to the lifetime cost of repairing that segment of infrastructure at any other given time, the repairs needed to minimize overall costs to the entire infrastructure system over any given time frame while considering budget constraints, and various solutions to maximize infrastructure condition while considering budget constraints.

System for analyzing transportation infrastructure and minimizing repair costs


An exercise apparatus for cooperating with an exercise ball during performance of core exercises thereon. The exercise apparatus comprises: (i) an exercise platform comprising a framework defining a first opening approximate its proximal end for receiving therein a first padded exercise mat and a second opening approximate its distal end for receiving therein a second padded exercise mat; (ii) an upright framework engaged with the exercise platform framework at its proximal end, the upright framework having a vertically adjustable backplate with an adjustable headrest and an adjustable handlebar grip, a handgrip support rail and a stabilizer bar integrally engaged with the proximal end of the exercise platform; (iii) a first padded exercise mat for demountable installation into the first opening defined in the exercise platform framework; and (iv) a second padded exercise mat for demountable installation into the first opening defined in the exercise platform framework.

Exercise is an important part of many people's daily lives. It is well known that regular exercise is a significant factor in maintaining physical fitness, controlling weight, improving intellectual functioning, and emotional well being. Exercises aimed at strengthening the back and abdominal muscles, also referred to as the "core" muscles, are known to be particularly beneficial. However, a significant challenge the many different forms and types of core exercises is that the person must place their body in contact with a floor or other hard surface. Extending contacting with hard surfaces while performing core exercises may cause discomfort and/or pain for many people, in particular, those who are just commencing with regular exercise routines.
One way of reducing discomfort and pain during performance of core exercises is to position a person's back or alternatively their abdomen or alternatively, their sides on an exercise ball while they are exercising. Exercise balls are also commonly known as Swiss balls, balance balls, body balls, pilates balls, yoga balls. Exercise balls are typically constructed of soft pliable and elastic polymers and generally available in a broad range of diameters between 14 inches to about 48 inches. The air pressure within the exercise ball may be adjusted as desired by a user to provide a desired degree of comfort and stability when the ball is used to support the user's body during their execution of core exercises. It is known that the use of exercise balls to support a user's body while performing core exercises will result in continuous positional instability during the full range of body movements thereby assisting in strengthening of the core muscles because they are directly engaged in stabilization of the body while it is in motion on the exercise ball.
A problem commonly encountered with the use of exercise balls, particularly those in the early stages of developing a routine exercise program, is that a user may have difficulty maintaining their balance on the exercise ball during the exercise resulted in unexpected falls or slipping of the exercise ball resulting in bruising and more serious injuries. Falls and slipping by users may be due to a lack of gripping surfaces or devices on the balls or adjacent to the balls to enable the user to stabilize themselves. Furthermore, where a user may be able to locate walls, bars or other objects to hold onto during the exercise, such surfaces may provide insufficient strength to properly stabilize the user. Additionally, the surfaces that a user may be able to find in a given location may be insufficient to provide the variety of grips desired by a user.


A rotary member for shaping replacement teeth including a metal support having a generally circular outer shape with a radius less than 20 mm, the metal support having a generally flat inner portion extending at least 30% of the radius, the metal support also having contoured contact surfaces located radially outward of the flat inner portion, and abrasive particles bonded to the contoured contact surfaces.

The invention relates to rotary members for shaping replacement teeth.
When making metal and porcelain replacement teeth, dental technicians perform a shaping procedure using rotary dental tools. The tools typically have flat metal discs with diamond abrasive surfaces, and some discs are flexible in order to bend to permit the dental technician to contour the replacement teeth surfaces.

Rotary tool for shaping replacement teeth


A device for severing syringe needles and storing the same for later disposal includes a lower box portion with a substantially flat bottom hinged to an upper lid portion, and a guillotine-like mechanism and an adjacent diaphragm spanning the two portions of an opposing side of the device. The guillotine preferably includes an angled blade in cross section such that when the needle is cut it is projected further through the diaphragm and into the device. The overall configuration and severing operation is in some ways akin to that of a stapler, in that a used syringe needle is inserted into a small gap between the two portions, and the top pushed down operating the guillotine to remove and retain the needle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safe disposal of syringe needles, and more particularly to a pocket-sized device that both cuts off and stores the needles and is disposable when full.
2. Description of the Related Art
Accidental needle sticks and re-use of disposable syringes, both which potentially spread serious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B, are serious problems. In recognition thereof, U.S. regulations now mandate use of safety devises or needle removers with disposable syringes in hospitals. Syringes have been developed with capping mechanisms operable with one hand, or auto-disable features that withdraw the needle into the syringe barrel after use.
Additionally, there are needle removers that physically separate the needle from the syringe. With purchase of a single piece of equipment, users can safely dispose of many needles and prevent re-use of those syringes. The used syringe body can be disposed of in the regular trash receptacles without danger to those handling the trash.
Some electrically-powered devices either melt the needle or cut it away. These require electricity and must be plugged into the wall, however. A manually operated and portable device would be preferable. Most desirable would be a small, lightweight and simple device that would provide the necessary mechanical advantage to sever the needle with moderate pressure from one hand while at the same time easy for the user to carry around on his or her person and inexpensively priced.

Pocket-sized needle remover and receptacle


Live pointer information for a stream of bytecodes is precomputed for each bytecode. The precomputed full live pointer information is stored only for bytecodes at predetermined intervals in the stream. Between the bytecodes for which full live pointer information is stored, changes in the live pointer information produced by each bytecode are encoded using a suitable compressive coding and stored. Later, when a program which needs the live pointer information, such as garbage collection, is initiated, the full live pointer information for the nearest bytecode preceding the desired bytecode boundary is retrieved along with the intervening coded changes. The changes are decoded and applied to the retrieved live pointer information to generate the live pointer information at the desired bytecode boundary. In one embodiment of the invention, the live pointer changes are delta encoded so that each code contains information relating to the live pointer changes produced by a bytecode from the live pointer information as modified by the previous delta code. In another embodiment of the invention, the delta coded changes are encoded with a Huffman encoding scheme.

One of the most important resources within a data processing system is the amount of memory directly available for utilization by tasks during execution. Accordingly, much interest has been directed to efficient utilization of memory and memory management strategies. An important concept in memory management is the manner in which memory is allocated to a task, deallocated and then reclaimed.
Memory deallocation and reclamation may be explicit and controlled by an executing program, or may be carried out by another special purpose program which locates and reclaims memory which is unused, but has not been explicitly deallocated. "Garbage collection" is the term used in technical literature and the relevant arts to refer to a class of algorithms utilized to carry out storage management, specifically automatic memory reclamation. There are many known garbage collection algorithms, including reference counting, mark-sweep, and generational garbage collection algorithms. These, and other garbage collection techniques, are described in detail in a book entitled "Garbage Collection, Algorithms For Automatic Dynamic Memory Management" by Richard Jones and Raphael Lins, John Wiley & Sons, 1996. Unfortunately, many of the described techniques for garbage collection have specific requirements which cause implementation problems, as described herein.
A data structure may be located by a "reference", or a small amount of information that can be used to access the data structure. One way to implement a reference is by means of a "pointer" or "machine address", which uses multiple bits of information, however, other implementations are possible. General-purpose programming languages and other programmed systems often use references to locate and access data structures. Such structures can themselves contain references to data, such as integers or floating-point numbers and to yet other structures. In this manner, a chain of references can be created, each reference pointing to a structure which, in turn, points to another structure.
Garbage collection techniques determine when a data structure is no longer reachable by an executing program, either directly or through a chain of pointers. When a data structure is no longer reachable, the memory that the data structure occupies can be reclaimed and reused even if it has not been explicitly deallocated by the program. To be effective, garbage collection techniques should be able to, first, identify references that are directly accessible to the executing program, and, second, given a reference to a data structure, identify references contained within that structure, thereby allowing the garbage collector to trace transitively chains of references.
A subclass of garbage collectors known as "relocating" garbage collectors, relocate data structures that are still reachable by the executing program. Relocation of a data structure is accomplished by making a copy of the data structure in another region of memory, then replacing all reachable references to the original data structure with references to the new copy. The memory occupied by the original data structure may then be reclaimed and reused. Relocating garbage collectors have the desirable property that they compact the memory used by the executing program and thereby reduce memory fragmentation.
Because relocating garbage collectors modify references during the garbage collection process, it is important that references be identified and distinguished from non-reference information, such as data, which cannot be modified for garbage collection purposes. Consequently, fully relocating garbage collectors belong to a subclass of garbage collection methods, known as "exact" garbage collectors, which require knowledge of the location of references or "live" pointers so that these can be modified or followed during the garbage collection process.
In order to positively identify references, some computing systems use a "tagged" representation for all memory locations. In such systems, references and primitive data, such as integers and floating-point numbers, are represented in memory in a manner that a reference always has a different bit pattern than a primitive value. This is generally done by including tag bits in each memory location in addition to the bits holding the memory location value. The tag bits for a memory location holding a reference value are always different from the tag bits for a memory location holding a datum value.
Other computer systems use an "untagged" data representation in which the entire memory word is devoted to representing the datum value. In such systems, the same bit pattern might represent a reference or a primitive value. In such systems, the distinction between references and primitive values can sometimes be made from external considerations or representations, such as the instruction that is to operate on the data, or the position of the data within an object. However, the use of external considerations to make this distinction was not possible in all systems.
For example, the Java programming language was originally designed for use in systems using untagged data representation. The Java programming language is described in detail in the text entitled "The Java Language Specification" by James Gosling, Bill Joy and Guy Steele, Addison-Wesley, 1996. The Java language was designed to run on computing systems with characteristics that are specified by the Java Virtual Machine Specification which is described in detail in a text entitled "The Java Virtual Machine Specification", by Tim Lindholm and Frank Yellin, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
According to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Specification, a local variable or stack slot in a computing system using 32-bit memory words may contain either a 32-bit integer, a 32-bit floating-point number, or a 32-bit reference. Consequently, tagged data representation cannot be used in all cases (programming languages that use tagged data representation on 32-bit computer architectures typically restrict the size of integers to 30 bits.) Further, in many cases, it is not possible to distinguish references from data by examining the Java instructions, because many instructions operate indiscriminately on references and data. Therefore other methods must be used to locate the live pointer information on the program stack.
To further complicate the process of locating live pointer information, many garbage collection algorithms, such as mark-sweep, relocating and generational collectors operate by halting operation of the ongoing computation, running a specialized garbage collection program and then resuming the ongoing computation. With these collectors, it is necessary to obtain the live pointer information on the program stack at the program code boundary at which the ongoing computation is stopped to perform garbage collection. In the following discussion the term "bytecode" will be used to describe a program code word. This corresponds to the case where program code operands are one byte long, however, the invention applies to systems where the program codes have other lengths as well and the term "bytecode" is not intended to be limiting. In a JVM, the ongoing computation may be stopped at many bytecode boundaries so that the problem of determining the live pointer information is complex.
Since the change in the live pointer information on the stack frame due to the operation of a particular bytecode can be calculated in many instances, one method of obtaining the live pointer information when garbage collection is needed is to start with the stack configuration at the beginning of a method and calculate, bytecode by bytecode, the change in the live pointer information for each method until the bytecode boundary at which garbage collection is to take place is reached. However, at best, such an approach is time-consuming and will lead to a large time delay at the beginning of garbage collection. In some cases, such a calculation may not be possible after the bytecode has been executed or because bytecode substitutions have been made. For example, the Java language substitutes "quick" bytecodes for some instructions under certain circumstances and it may not be possible to compute the live pointer changes with some quick bytecodes.
Another method for generating the required live pointer information is to precompute the live pointer information for each possible bytecode in a program in advance of program operation and store a map or "mask" indicating the location of the live pointers on the program stack for each bytecode. This mask computation might be performed during compilation or program load before the program is actually executed. Then, when garbage collection is initiated, the stored mask information corresponding to the selected bytecode boundary can be retrieved and used to determine the location of live pointers.
The aforementioned technique eliminates the delay required to compute the live pointer information on demand, but requires a large space overhead. For example, the live pointer information can be represented as a bit vector with one bit for each stack item. Using this representation, as a test, the live pointer information was precomputed for a sample program run. During this run 206,034 program bytecodes were loaded and 693,288 bits were required to store the precomputed live pointer masks (the latter figure does not include data structures which would be necessary to store and retrieve the bits). In many contexts, such a space overhead would be prohibitive.
Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to locate live pointers in the active stack frame on computer systems which do not accommodate tagged data representations without requiring an on demand computation of the live pointer information and without requiring live pointer information to be stored for all bytecodes.

Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding delta encoded information to locate live pointers in program data stacks