A slotted mandrel is used in displacement pier construction. Longitudinal slots are formed in the sides of the hollow mandrel which allow for the introduction of aggregate efficiently into the mandrel from a hopper through which the mandrel passes while being driven into the ground. Water may also be employed with the aggregate. Once in the ground the mandrel is raised to release the aggregate (and water if present) into the formed hole in lifts and a mandrel head then compacts the aggregate in the hole. This apparatus and method obviates the need for complicated and expensive hoppers that are raised with the mandrel or the use of expensive aggregate delivery systems.

Heavy or settlement-sensitive facilities that are located in areas containing soft or weak soils are often supported on deep foundations, consisting of driven piles or drilled concrete piers. The deep foundations are designed to transfer the structure loads through the soft soils to more competent soil strata.
In recent years, aggregate piers have been increasingly used to support structures located in areas containing soft soils. The piers are designed to reinforce and strengthen the soft layer and minimize resulting settlements. The piers are constructed using a variety of methods including the drilling and tamping method described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,249,892 and 6,354,766 ("short aggregate piers"), the driven mandrel method described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,713 ("Lateral Displacement Pier), and the tamper head driven mandrel method known as the "Impact Pier" as disclosed in published U.S. patent application, Pub. No. U.S.2004/0115011, dated Jun. 17, 2004.
The Short Aggregate Pier method (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,249,892 and 6,354,766), which includes drilling or excavating a cavity, is an effective foundation solution when installed in cohesive soils where the sidewall stability of the hole is easily maintained.
The Lateral Displacement Pier (U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,713) and Impact Pier (U.S. patent application, Pub. No. U.S.2004/0115011) methods were developed for aggregate pier installations in granular soils where the sidewall stability of cavities is not easily maintained. The Lateral Displacement Pier is built by driving a pipe into the ground, drilling out the soil inside the pipe, filling the pipe with aggregate, and using the pipe to compact the aggregate "in thin lifts". A beveled edge is used at the bottom of the pipe for compaction. The Impact Pier covers an extension of the Lateral Displacement Pier. In this case, a smaller diameter (8 to 16 inch) tamper head is driven into the ground. The tamper head is attached to a pipe, which is filled with crushed stone once the tamper head is driven to the design depth. The tamper head is lifted allowing stone to fall into the cavity and then the tamper head is driven back down densifying each lift of aggregate. One advantage of the Impact Pier is the speed of pier construction.
To supply sufficient aggregate for the completion of the pier, the methods for both the Lateral Displacement Pier and the Impact Pier require either that a hopper, located at the top of the pipe or mandrel, be filled and lifted with the pipe or mandrel as part of pier installation activities, or that an aggregate delivery system be implemented to raise aggregate to the top of the pipe or mandrel during installation activities. Both the use of a raised hopper and the use of an aggregate delivery system add complexity and costs to the pier construction process.

Slotted mandrel for lateral displacement pier and method of use


A computerized system receives an input request from the orderer for a retailer, of searching selected wholesalers, and of then comparing these wholesalers to one another so as to provide a desired allocation of resources among these selected wholesalers. The system is preferably capable of searching both the warehouse of a primary wholesaler and the warehouses of a number of secondary wholesalers and of allocating resources so as to meet designated ordering criterion or constraints for the warehouse of the primary wholesaler. The search may be performed, for example, on the basis of net price per unit item or on the basis of net price per unit weight or per unit volume. The system preferably automatically creates an order file which can be transmitted to the selected warehouses to order the selected products but which can be manually edited prior to transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a resource allocation systems and methods, and more particularly relates to a system and method for allocating the resources of a retailer such as a grocer among a plurality of wholesalers.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Retailers typically order anywhere from a few to a relatively large quantity of each of a plurality of items from one or more wholesalers. Many wholesalers have computerized ordering systems which may be linked to retailers by modem or which may receive orders from retailers via computerized files on disks or via a manual order sheet which is input into the wholesaler's computer at the wholesaler's warehouse.
Although retailers may have access to information about the prices being demanded by wholesalers for various products, they have heretofore not been able to economically allocate their resources among more than one warehouse. For example, up until now, if a retailer desired to obtain its products at the lowest possible price, it had to obtain a hard copy of the prices being demanded by each of its suppliers and to manually compare the prices being demanded by its suppliers and to select the lowest-priced supplier based upon this manual comparison. This comparison was rendered more difficult by the fact that most wholesalers offer various rebates to their retailers while at the same time adding shipping costs to the price. Allocating resources so as to obtain products at the lowest net price thus is typically a very time-consuming and uneconomical procedure for most retailers. As a result, many retailers obtain most or all of their products from a single primary wholesaler without any price comparison. This can lead to a very inefficient allocation of resources, particularly in instances in which a retailer is ordering a relatively small number of each of a high number of items.
Even those retailers which do attempt to allocate resources based on price are, as a practical matter, incapable of allocating resources based upon other criterion such as cost per unit weight or per unit volume because such comparisons require still further calculations rendering such comparisons uneconomical. A need therefore exists for economically comparing wholesalers to one another based upon price or some other criterion.
Allocating resources becomes even more difficult when a retailer is obligated by contract, by weight or volume constraints, or by some other criterion to obtain a designated minimum or maximum amount of goods from a particular supplier. Allocating resources among one or more suppliers under this type of constraint may require a plurality of iterations rendering a useful comparison of suppliers to one another practically impossible. A need therefore exists for automatically allocating the resources of a retailer among various wholesalers while meeting real-world criteria.
Some computerized systems are currently available for permitting comparison among various suppliers. However, none of these systems is designed for use by retailers for ordering products from wholesalers, and none is capable of automatically creating an order file for ordering the goods demanded by the retailer. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,940, which issued to Ross E. Dworkin on Feb. 12, 1991, discloses an automated system permitting consumers to compare the goods being offered by one or more vendors and to obtain a listing of various information about price and availability of the product. U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,506, which issued to Brockwell et al. on Nov. 5, 1991, discloses a similar system for permitting a manufacturing facility to optimize its cost when ordering parts from various suppliers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,165, which issued to Schumacher et al. on Oct. 22, 1991, discloses a computerized system for optimizing mail processing by matching publisher and printer entities. None of the systems disclosed in these patents is suitable for use by a retailer when ordering parts from a wholesaler and none is capable of creating order files for such wholesalers. In addition, none of the systems disclosed in these patents is capable of allocating resources while still obtaining the required maximum or minimum value from a particular supplier.

System and method for allocating resources of a retailer among multiple wholesalers


There is provided a safe image display apparatus for projecting an image on a screen that can minimize a stimulus to eyes, retinae and optic nerves from projected light entering into the eyes directly. By comparing a displayed image captured by a camera with an input image signal, a changed area is detected as a difference area and, then, a projected image signal is generated wherein a picture area image signal in the input image signal that corresponds to this difference area is masked by a black signal. The obtained projected image signal is projected onto the screen.

The present invention relates to a safety improvement technique in a projector type image display apparatus that is configured to display visual information by projecting it on a screen.
In a conventional liquid crystal projector that is configured to project an image on a screen in front of the projector, as there is a risk in that eyes of a speaker or other persons on the platform are stimulated by strong light when the persons enter into the path of the light projected from the projector to the screen and look toward the projector, such risk must be prevented by indicating precautions on the main body of the projector and so on.
Further, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-305481 and Japanese Patent No. 2994469, there has been proposed a method for preventing such risk by providing detection means for detecting whether there is an object in a projection path and control means for controlling an amount of light from a projection lens, wherein light intensity from the projection lens is reduced when the object is detected.


The present invention has an object to provide a fiber-spreading method which can form a thin spread fiber sheet having a large and uniform spread width by uniformly distributing fibers of a fiber bundle having an increased number of fibers. Since a set of regions Si each including a pair of a fiber-spreading region Ai and an expansion region Bi are arranged in a movable region M set so that the fibers of the fiber bundle can move in the width direction, the fiber-spreading region Ai moving the fibers in the width direction while bending the fibers by letting a fluid pass through the fiber bundle, thereby spreading the fiber bundle to a spread width Wi (i=1, . . . , n), and the expansion region Bi which is set on the upstream side in the feeding direction corresponding to the fiber-spreading region Ai and in which the width of the fiber bundle expands toward the end with movement of the fibers in the width direction in the fiber-spreading region Ai, by performing pre-spreading in which a movement phenomenon in the width direction caused by distribution of the fibers of the fiber bundle occurring in the fiber-spreading region Ai is made to act on the expansion region Bi on the upstream side, the fibers can be uniformly distributed in the fiber-spreading region Ai and the spread width can be expanded to a predetermined width so as to make the thickness uniform.

A fiber-reinforced composite material in which reinforced fibers such as a carbon fiber, a glass fiber, and an aramid fiber and a matrix resin such as an epoxy resin are combined has been developed, and regarding such reinforced fibers, by laminating thin spread fiber sheets aligned in one direction in multiple directions for use, reliable composite material moldings with high strength can be obtained. Also, in view of advantages of recyclability, short time moldability, improvement in impact resistance of the moldings and the like, use of a composite material molding using a thermoplastic resin such as polyamide 6 resin, polyether imide resin, polyetheretherketone resin and the like for the matrix resin is expected to increase.
Recently, a carbon fiber composite material has drawn a marked attention as materials for aircrafts and vehicles. There are various carbon fibers, and major carbon fibers include a carbon fiber called a general-purpose carbon fiber of a type having a tensile modulus of approximately 24 ton/mm2 and a single-fiber diameter of approximately 7 μm used for industrial applications and sport applications and a carbon fiber called high-strength and moderate-elasticity carbon fiber having a tensile modulus of approximately 30 ton/mm2 and a single-fiber diameter of approximately 5 μm used for aircraft application.
A plurality of the carbon fibers is bundled and sold as a carbon fiber bundle, and the number of fibers is also varied. From the viewpoint of price, quality of the product (straightness of the fiber, aligned state of the fibers and the like), and ease of handling, those with the number of fibers of 12000 and 15000 (fineness of approximately 800 to 1100 g/1000 m) are mainly used for the general-purpose carbon fiber bundle and those with the number of fibers of 12000 and 24000 (fineness of approximately 400 to 1000 g/1000 m) for the high-strength and moderate-elasticity carbon fiber bundle.
The general-purpose carbon fiber bundles include a type in which the number of fibers is increased in order to reduce the price, and those with the number of fibers of 24000 (fineness of approximately 1600 g/1000 m) and 48000 (fineness of approximately 3200 g/1000 m) or more are sold in the market. Since these fiber bundles have large fineness, they are also called large-fineness carbon fiber bundles. However, the carbon fiber bundle having an increased number of fibers has a defect that the larger the number of fibers becomes, the more meandering and tangling of fibers occur.
For development of a thin sheet and improvement of impregnating performance of a highly viscous resin such as a thermoplastic resin, a spreading process of making the fiber bundle wide and thin is needed. Particularly, the spreading process is important for a fiber bundle having an increased number of fibers. As a spreading technology, Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a manufacturing method of a multifilament spread sheet in which an airflow is made to pass several times in a direction crossing the multifilament while the multifilament is fed from a fiber feeding portion to a take-up portion so as to bend the multifilament in an arc shape in the leeward direction so that filaments forming the multifilament is unwound and spread in the width direction. Also, in Patent Document 2, a spreading device is described which includes a feeding-out roll around which a fiber assembly is wound, a spread portion which spreads the fiber assembly fed out of this feeding-out roll by causing a fluid to flow in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the fiber assembly, and a take-up roll which takes-up a spread sheet having been spread in the spread portion, and in which spread portions are disposed in plural stages in the moving direction. Also, in Patent Document 3, a spreading device is described in which a fiber bundle is pulled out of each of a plurality of fiber feeding bodies and supplied and the supplied fiber bundle is made to run through an air flow in a plurality of fluid flowing portions so that the fiber bundle is spread in the width direction while being bent by the action of the airflow.

Method for spreading fiber bundles, spread fiber sheet, and method for manufacturing a fiber-reinforced sheet


The film developing machine includes a tank containing developing fluid, to which a dosing device continually adds regenerating fluid received from a regenerating-fluid supply tank. To prevent the gradual emptying of the supply tank from producing an accuracy-reducing gradual decrease in the pressure applied to the input side of the dosing device, the latter is connected to the supply tank via a buffer vessel provided with an internal valve mechanism serving automatically to keep the volume of regenerating fluid in the buffer vessel substantially constant despite variations in the amount of regenerating fluid contained in the supply tank.

The present invention concerns continuous-transport developing machines for photographic emulsion carriers of the type including at least one tank filled with processing fluid, to which regenerating fluid must be continually added to maintain the chemical activity of the processing fluid. The replenishing means used to supply the regenerating fluid typically comprises a dosing valve provided with a flow meter and a supply tank containing regenerating fluid and supplying such fluid to the dosing valve.
With continuous-transport developing machines of the type in question, because of the high rate at which photographic emulsion carrier is transported through the machine, the rate at which regenerating fluid must be added to the processing-fluid tanks is quite high. For this reason, the regenerating fluid is typically kept in relatively large supply tanks and from there directly fed to the processing-fluid tanks to be replenished. For reasons of limited space availability, it is often necessary that these large supply tanks be located relatively distant from the processing-fluid tanks which they are to replenish, the regenerating fluid then being fed to the dosingvalves for the processing-fluid tanks by reliance on gravity descent or utilizing pumps. In either case, the pressure just upstream of the dosing valve fluctuates very considerably in dependence upon the extent to which the supply tank is filled with regenerating fluid at any particular time. As a result, in order to achieve high-precision dosing of regenerating fluid, it becomes necessary to provide the dosing valve with negative-feedback volumetric flow rate control means, or else to frequently readjust the dosing valve as the supply tank continually empties.

Accurate dosing of regenerating fluid to processing-fluid-tank in film developing machine


Intraocular implants having optical lenses that are light, non-toxic, biocompatible, nonleachable in the presence of eye fluids and absorb at least 90% of the ultraviolet light in the 300-380 nm wavelength range but are transparent to most of the visible radiation. The intraocular implants will have a haptic for fixation in the posterior or anterior chamber of the eye. The optical lens has uniformly dispersed therein an ultraviolet light absorbing amount of 2-(hydroxy-lower alkylphenyl) benzotriazole which may be halogen substituted in the 4, 5, 6 or 7 positions.

Certain injuries to the eye and certain diseases to the eye (e.g. cataracts) require surgical removal of the eye lens. Removal of the natural lenses of the eye is known as aphakia which must be corrected by the use of a corrective lens in order to restore vision. Generally, intraocular implants are used to correct aphakia and restore vision. These implants may be permanently placed in the anterior or posterior chamber of the eye. Intraocular implants have an optical lens and a haptic for fixation of the lens, by a surgeon, in the anterior or posterior chamber of the eye. However, even with the most suitable of lenses, vision is not as desirable as it should be for the aphakic individual since such lenses do not adequately compensate for certain changes in light transmission which occur in the absence of the natural human crystalline lens. The result is potential damage to the retina due to increased ultraviolet light transmission.
A considerable portion of incident light entering the eye is absorbed and only the unabsorbed or transmitted portion strikes the retina. Natural light encompasses the entire spectrum of wavelengths in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared radiation ranges. Various artificial light sources also contain many wavelengths.
The crystalline lens of the eye preferentially absorbs a substantial portion of ultraviolet radiation. Accordingly, it is desirable that the lenses of intraocular implants for aphakic individuals, absorb at least 90% of light in the 300 to about 380 nm range but transmit most of the light in the visible spectrum. In addition, intraocular implant lenses are preferably made of a thermoplastic polymer and optically clear, inert to the eye, biocompatible and have a specific gravity of less than about 1.7.
Polymethylmethacrylate sometimes referred to as "PMMA", and various copolymers thereof, have the desired properties discussed above and have been used to make intraocular lenses as well as haptics. PMMA has physical properties which permit it to be formed into introcular optic lenses that are relatively thin in cross section and, because of PMMA's relatively low specific gravity, about 1.4 or lower, such lenses are relatively comfortable in the eye. However, PMMA, and copolymers thereof have a serious disadvantage in that they are substantially transparent to ultraviolet radiation which, if transmitted to the retina, can cause eye injury. To avoid this disadvantage intraocular lenses have been fabricated from glass which can absorb ultraviolet radiation. However, compared to PMMA which is relatively easy to machine, glass lenses of relatively thin cross sections are much more difficult to produce. Furthermore since glass lenses have a specific gravity of 2.5 or higher such lenses are relatively heavy and therefore mitigate against the use of such lenses in aphakic individuals.
To overcome the disadvantage of PMMA lenses to ultraviolet radiation transmission, natural and synthetic crystals have also been used to construct intraocular lenses. U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,470 discloses a chemically durable optical implant lens formed from a low density natural or synthetic crystal, such as Corundium, Sapphire, Ruby, Sircon, Strontium, Diamond or Anatase. Because of the ability of these materials to absorb ultraviolet radiation such crystals provide an advantage over lenses made from PMMA. However, as with glass, it is more difficult to produce intraocular lenses which have relatively thin cross sections from these crystals. In general, lenses made from such crystals must be considerably thicker than lenses made from PMMA. Crystal lenses like glass lenses, are relatively heavy due to their high specific gravity, about 3.5 or higher, and larger size. Consequently, such crystal lenses are also heavier than the natural lenses of the human eye, and may also impose an undesirable strain to the eye. For these and other reasons, intraocular lenses made from PMMA, tend to be preferred over synthetic or natural crystals and glass lenses.
There is a need for an intraocular implant having an optical lens which is nontoxic, biocompatible and which absorbs a high percentage of ultraviolet light and does not contain leachable or potentially harmful ultraviolet light absorbing additives.
There is also a need for an intraocular optical lens material made of a thermoplastic polymer which is strong, ductile and easily machined or molded into thin sections and having a specific gravity less than about 1.7 and preferably about 1.4 or lower, which is chemically inert and stable, is biocompatible, nonleachable by fluids of the eye, is optically clear and absorbs a major portion of harmful ultraviolet light.

Ultraviolet light absorbing intraocular implants


A resuscitation/ventilation apparatus incorporates an entrainment mixer with a nozzle, discharging entraining gas into an entrainment chamber, the nozzle being connected with a high pressure source of the entraining gas. One entrainment port to the entrainment chamber is connected to atmosphere and another entrainment port is connected to an oxygen source. A continuously variable restriction is disposed in the oxygen supply conduit upstream of the other entrainment port and is variable independently of any control of the entraining gas supply, to enable delivery of a gas mixture of steplessly variable oxygen concentration.

Entrainment mixers are devices of commendably simple construction appropriate for incorporation in apparatus of this character. However, their simplicity also imposes constraints upon their controllability and performance under varying operational circumstances. GB-A-2174609 discusses these problems and discloses an arrangement that addresses these problems in a preferred type of resuscitation/ventilation apparatus. In summary, entrainment mixers that can provide a high mixing ratio deliver a gas mixture with flow rates and mixing ratios that are highly dependent upon the back pressure to which their output is exposed, whereas those that can only provide a low mixing ratio, typically in the range 1:1 to 2:1, are able to do so with relative stability of flow rate and mixing ratio over a wide back pressure range. However, as established in the art, resuscitation/ventilation apparatus having an entrainment mixer adapted to deliver a stable low ratio gas mixture has been arranged to deliver selectively a mixture at a single, fixed, ratio as an alternative to delivering 100% oxygen. Thus, typically, a resuscitation/ventilation apparatus with an entrainment mixer has been arranged to deliver a gas mixture at one oxygen concentration only, selected from 60%, 50% and 45%, as a single alternative to the delivery of 100% oxygen by the apparatus.

Gas mixing devices for resuscitation/lung ventilation apparatus


Migrating fish often want to travel between different bodies of water, which may be positioned at different heights. To overcome these heights, water passages may be used that provide a water path at a slope over which a fish is able to swim up. A compact housing is provided by allowing a water guide over which the water flow flows to rotate around an axis parallel to gravity in a helical shape. The fish lock may be provided with a resting chamber which comprises a volume of water with a low flow velocity. Sensors and a controller may be provided to control a flow rate of the water through the fish lock according to for example the type of fish passing through the fish lock and an administrator may monitor the fish lock at a distance and may be contacted in case of malfunction.

Fish migrate one or more times in their life, for example from a sea or ocean to fresh water and back or the other way around. Different species of fish may prefer different times in the year to migrate. The different bodies of water through which they migrate usually have different water levels, creating a need for the fish to swim up or down. Manmade barriers such as dams and locks create barriers which fish may not be able to overcome.
Providing a meandering path around or in parallel to such barriers for fish to swim through requires a large surface. EP2767635 discloses an active lift device for transporting fish from a lower situated body of water to a higher situated body of water.


A cathode ray tube includes an evacuated envelope having an inner surface supporting an arc limiting coating which includes insulator oxide particles, graphite particles and a silicate binder and is characterized by the improvement of insulator oxide particles having an exothermic heat of formation greater than the exothermic heat of formation of iron oxide.

Internal arc limiting coatings for cathode ray tubes have long been known. Such coatings have been utilized to provide a discharge path for secondary electrons emitted by the perforated mask when impinged by the primary electron beam. Normally, such coatings have been of the so-called "soft" aquadag variety which are primarily graphite dispersed in a binder material. Moreover, the coating is disposed intermediate a viewing screen, an anode button electrode and a mount assembly sealed into the envelope.
However, the appearance of solid state circuitry added complexity to the arcing problem because of the tendency toward catastrophic failure of the semiconductors of the solid state circuitry whenever a high current or arc current was transmitted to the circuitry by way of the internal coating and high voltage anode button. Thus, inhibition of currents developed by undesired arcing within the cathode ray tube became necessary and a replacement for the so-called "soft" aquadag coating was developed.
One form of replacement coating is an arc resistive coating utilizing a glass frit and a conductive oxide such as cadmium or copper oxide. This arc resistive coating provides a relatively high resistance whereby arc currents are limited and catastrophic semi-conductor failures inhibited. Moreover, such a coating is set forth and discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,540 issued to Foreman et al. on Nov. 7, 1978 and assigned to the Assignee of the present application.
Although the above-mentioned "soft" aquadag and so-called "frit" type coatings have been and still are utilized in some applications with excellent results, it has been found that there are other applications wherein such coatings leave something to be desired. Moreover, the "soft" aquadag coatings tend toward undesired loose particles and arcing while the so-called "frit" type coatings are most difficult to salvage and are expensive of labor and materials.
In an effort to reduce the above-mentioned arcing problems and provide a salvageable but relatively inexpensive resistance coating, the so-called iron oxide type coatings were developed. As exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,546 issued to Maley et al., an iron oxide, graphite and alkali silicate coating was provided. This coating had an oxide to graphite ratio in the range of about 2:1 to 6:1 which unfortunately tended to provide an excessive amount of graphite particles and these excess graphite particles became loose and tended to cause arcing.
Additionally, it has been found that the iron oxide mixed with the graphite tends to undesirably reduce due to the relatively high temperatures produced by the electron beam impingement occurring in a cathode ray tube. Unfortunately, the iron oxide is reduced to a lower oxide or even a metallic iron producing carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Such a reaction is indicated by the formulation: EQU Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 +2C.fwdarw.FeO+Fe+CO+CO.sub.2
Thereafter, the carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide oxidizes any free barium at the surface of the cathode of the cathode ray tube to provide barium oxide. EQU CO+Ba.fwdarw.C+BaO EQU CO.sub.2 +2Ba.fwdarw.C+2BaO
This depletion of the free barium at the surface of the cathode undesirably raises the work function and lowers the electron emission for a given amount of power input. As a result of this reduced emission, premature and often times catastrophic tube failure is encountered.


A process for forming heterogeneous silicide structures on a semiconductor substrate (10) includes implanting molybdenum ions into selective areas of the semiconductor substrate (10) to form molybdenum regions (73, 74, 75, 76). Titanium is then deposited over the semiconductor substrate (10). The semiconductor substrate (10) is annealed at a temperature between approximately 600.degree. C. and approximately 700.degree. C. During the annealing process, the titanium deposited in areas outside the molybdenum regions (73, 74, 75, 76) interacts with silicon on the substrate to form titanium silicide in a high resistivity C49 crystal phase. The titanium deposited in areas within the molybdenum regions (73, 74, 75, 76) interacts with silicon to form titanium silicide in a low resistivity C54 crystal phase because the presence of molybdenum ions in silicon lowers the energy barrier for crystal phase transformation between the C49 phase and the C54 phase.

Semiconductor devices and integrated circuits fabricated on semiconductor substrates often include silicide structures serving as conductive electrodes. In some applications such as, for example, electrostatic discharge protection circuits, input/output drivers, etc., high resistance silicide structures are beneficial. In other applications such as, for example, inverters, low noise amplifiers, etc., low resistance silicide structures are beneficial in improving the circuit performance. To form high resistance titanium silicide structures, titanium is disposed on the semiconductor substrate. The substrate then goes through an annealing process at a temperature not exceeding 700 degrees Celsius (.degree. C.), during which titanium interacts with silicon on the substrate to form silicide in an orthorhombic base centered crystal phase referred to as C49. C49 crystal phase silicide has a resistivity between approximately 60 micro-ohm-centimeter (.mu..OMEGA.-cm) and approximately 90 .mu..OMEGA.-cm. Low resistance silicide structures can be formed in several ways. In one approach, the substrate with high resistivity C49 silicide formed thereon is put through a rapid thermal annealing process at a temperature of between 800.degree. C. and 1000.degree. C. The high temperature annealing transforms the titanium silicide from C49 phase to an orthorhombic face centered crystal phase referred to as C54, which has a resistivity between approximately 12 .mu..OMEGA.-cm and approximately 20 .mu..OMEGA.-cm. In another approach, the low resistance silicide structures are formed through a refractory metal, e.g., molybdenum, implantation, titanium deposition, and annealing. During the annealing process, the titanium interacts with silicon to form silicide structures in the C54 crystal phase because the molybdenum lowers the barriers for phase transformation from the high resistance C49 crystal phase to the low resistance C54 crystal phase.
In some applications, it is beneficial to have both high and low resistance silicide structures in the same circuit element, or in different circuit elements within the same functional block. It is sometimes also beneficial for process integration to have silicide structures of different characteristics formed on the same semiconductor wafer.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a semiconductor structure that includes heterogeneous silicide structures on a semiconductor substrate and a method or a process for forming such a structure. It is desirable for the process to be simple and efficient. It is also desirable for the process to be compatible with existing semiconductor device fabrication processes.

Semiconductor structure having heterogeneous silicide regions and method for forming same

International Business Machines Corporation


A cylinder block of a multicylinder engine, having a cylinder main body in which multiple cylinder bores are provided in parallel in an axial direction of a crankshaft, and a crankcase having plural journal walls. The crankcase is integrally provided with the cylinder main body, in which a communication hole extending in parallel to the axial line of the crankshaft is provided in the cylinder main body and the crankcase while at least a part of which is opened in the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder bore. This permits the cylinder block to be downsized, increases freedom of positional setting of the communication hole, and reduces ventilation resistance of air flow through the communication hole. A cut-processed member is expanded further outward from a piston slide surface and is formed along a radial direction of cylinder bores, in inner surfaces of the cylinder bores in at least portions closer to a piston at an open edge of a communication hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cylinder block for a multicylinder engine and more particularly, to a cylinder block for a multicylinder engine having a cylinder main body in which multiple cylinder bores, each having a piston slide surface to slide a piston in an inner periphery, are provided in parallel in an axial direction to a crankshaft and a crankcase. The crankcase has multiple journal walls rotatably supporting at least a part of the crankshaft, integrally provided with the cylinder main body. Communication holes extending in parallel in the axial line of the crankshaft are provided in the cylinder main body and the crank case, while at least a part of the communication holes are opened in the inner peripheries of the cylinder bores.
2. Description of Background Art
Conventionally, such a cylinder block is already known, e.g., in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 11-182326.
Conventionally known is a structure where a communication hole connecting adjacent crankcases is provided in a cylinder block to prevent increase in pumping loss due to increase in pressure in the crankcase upon down movement of piston. A burr, which cannot be removed by honing process to form a piston slide surface in an inner surface of a cylinder bore, may occur at an open edge of the communication hole.
For this reason, in the above conventional art, the distance between the burr which occurs in the open edge of the communication hole and an oil ring at a lower end of the piston at the bottom dead center is set to 3 mm or longer. This configuration is set so as to prevent the increase in slide resistance by contact between the oil ring at the lower end of the piston and the burr at the open edge of the communication hole.
However, in the above-described dimensional setting, downsizing of the cylinder block is limited in a direction along the axial line of the cylinder bore, and freedom of positional setting of the communication hole is narrowed. Further, as the burr remains at the open edge of the communication hole, ventilation resistance of air flow through the communication hole increases. To sufficiently reduce the pumping loss, it is necessary to reduce the ventilation resistance of the air flow through the communication hole.
The present invention has been made in view of such situation. The present invention has its object providing of a cylinder block of a multicylinder engine which enables downsizing of cylinder block, increases freedom of positional setting of the communication hole, and reduces ventilation resistance of air flow through the communication hole.


A mask is provided for the inhalation of medication, such as asthmatic medication. The mask is molded of a resilient plastic or rubber material and has a central through opening and includes an open front portion adapted to receive an aerosolization chamber which receives medication from a metered dose inhaler. A sidewall expands outwardly from the open front portion and is adapted to fit sealingly on a face covering the mouth and nose. The sidewall is provided with an extension to accommodate the nose. A one-way exhalation valve is provided in the mask, preferably at the far end of the nose accommodating extension for conveying exhaled air to the outside, and preventing entrance of outside air therethrough into said mask.

Breathing problems due to allergies, asthma, etc. are widespread. It is known that such problems can be helped with inhalation of appropriate medication, such as a beta agonist. Small cartridges containing such medication are provided. Each cartridge has a valve which when activated dispenses a predetermined quantity of medication as a spray. Such devices are known as metered dose inhalers (MDI). Such metered dose inhalers are rather inefficient in delivering the medication to the patient. It is known that provision of some sort of an inhalation chamber between the MDI and the patient's mouth materially improves delivery to the patient. One such device that has met rather considerable commercial success is disclosed and claimed in Nowacki et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,412.
Further problems are encountered with delivery of antiasthmatic medication to children. With adults in otherwise reasonably good health the patient generally can be relied upon to handle the matter himself, or to communicate with a healthcare provider. However, children, particularly infants, cannot readily follow directions, and often cannot communicate with a healthcare provider. Accordingly, efforts have been made so that a healthcare provider can readily observe whether a small child or infant is properly inhaling and exhaling, and thereby taking in the necessary medication. Two inhalers for this purpose are shown in Nowacki et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,692, and in Nowacki et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,015. It has been found in practice that anxious mothers often produce false readings with infants and other small children, and it further has been found that producing requisite plastic moldings at a commercially acceptable cost has been difficult.
In the last two U.S. patents noted above a small mask is attached to the exit end of the aerosolizing chamber to engage an infant's face to ensure proper movement of the vaporized or aerosolized medication from the chamber into the patient's mouth and nose. Such mask is generally made of a plastic or rubber material. In the first of these two patents a whistle is provided that operates upon inhalation or exhalation of the patient (or both) so that a sound will be produced that can be observed by a healthcare provider. However, the sound is not very loud, and is sometimes indiscernable in conditions of relatively high ambient noise levels. In the second of such two patents a bubble of thinner material is formed integral with the mask, and is intended to move in and out with inhalation and exhalation. The bubble must be thin enough to flex readily, but not so thin as to tear or otherwise fracture. Molding of the mask to produce a relatively thick mask, and the extremely thin integral bubble is difficult.
It will be recognized that a person who is elderly, or who is sick, or who is in some manner incapacitated may present many of the same problems of communicating with or being observed by a healthcare provider as with infants.

Exhalation valve for face mask with spacer chamber connection


When a word suitable for an attribute value of a search object is included in search words that are being inputted, the attribute value can be presented as a candidate for a search condition. When there are two or more search words that are being inputted, an information processing apparatus identifies a search object division suitable for a first search word among the search words from a plurality of search object divisions. From a storage unit that stores an attribute name and an attribute value of an attribute corresponding to the search object division in association with each other, the information processing apparatus acquires an attribute value suitable for a second search word different from the first search word among the search words from among attribute values associated with the identified search object division. The information processing apparatus causes the acquired attribute value to be presented as a candidate for a search condition.

Conventionally, search systems are known which perform a search process on the basis of search words inputted by a user. Among such systems, for example, a search support system is proposed which is described in Patent Literature 1.
On the other hand, a technique is known which presents a candidate for a search word including a search word that is being inputted. For example, when "ABODE" is a brand name of an electrical product, if a user inputs "ABODE P", for example, a search word "ABODE Phone" is presented. When the user selects the "ABODE Phone", search objects are searched for by using the search words "ABODE Phone".
Further, a technique is known which presents a division related to a search word that is being inputted. For example, when a user inputs "ABODE", information "ABCDE home electric appliance" is presented. When the user selects the "ABODE home electric appliance", a search of search objects included in a category of home electric appliance by using a search word "ABODE" is performed.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing program


A method of manufacturing flow selector disk for a fluid pressure regulator, including the steps of providing a plate having a first face and a second face, and forming at least one baseline orifice in the plate including a first diameter portion adjacent the first face and a second diameter portion adjacent the second face. The first and second diameter portions are spaced a distance from each other to form an annular ring therebetween. A central flow portion is formed through the baseline orifice that is in fluid communication with both of the first and second diameter portions. The central flow portion has a relatively smaller diameter than either of the first and second diameter portions. The method also includes the step of plastically deforming a portion of the annular ring adjacent the central flow portion to thereby reduce the diameter of the central flow portion.

Conventionally, devices for the delivery of pressurized fluid flow, such as gas flow, can include an apparatus for regulating the flow rate of the pressurized fluid flow. In one example, the regulation apparatus can consist of a device, such as a plate or the like, having a plurality of variously sized orifices extending therethrough. Thus, a user can select a particular flow rate for delivery of the pressurized fluid by selecting one of the variously sized orifices for delivery of the fluid flow. Accordingly, the pressurized fluid will flow through the orifice at the desired flow rate.
The variously sized orifices can be formed using various conventional manufacturing processes. For example, where the regulation apparatus includes a plate, the variously sized orifices can be manufactured using operations, such as micro-drilling, laser machining, punching, or the like. However, where the desired flow rates must be highly accurate and repeatable, such as in the field of medicine where very specific fluid flow rates must be achieved, the manufacturing process must be similarly accurate and repeatable (e.g., producing highly accurate dimensions and/or dimensional tolerances). While each of the aforementioned manufacturing processes are capable of producing a regulation device having orifices of specific sizes and accuracies, the processes can be expensive, time consuming, inefficient, and/or difficult to repeat effectively.

Method of manufacturing flow selector disk for fluid pressure regulator


The cassette is mounted horizontally or vertically on a support rail and defines a front action face. One of its compartments is used for storing an excess length of optical cable while its other compartment is used for storing an excess length of optical jumper. The cassette includes a fixed first connection for the cable conductor and a removable cross-connection second connection for the jumper, said connections being mounted separately, substantially on the front action face, and being interconnected by an optical lead which is wound down together with the cable conductor and in the same compartment. The cassette is applicable to a distribution frame for telephones or computers.

The cross-connection problem per se is already known. Cross-connections are established by means of independent jumpers that provide the desired interconnections between connection boxes referred to as "optical cassettes". Thus, for example, the conductors of a "transport" cable are selectively connected to the conductors of one or more smaller capacity "distribution" cables via a first set of optical cassettes attributed to the transport cables, a second set of optical cassettes attributed to the distribution cables, and jumpers extending between the cassettes in the two sets. These two sets of cassettes and the interconnecting jumpers constitute a distribution frame or a subdistribution frame in a telephone or a computer transmission installation.
Each of the cables is fixed at one of its ends to its set of cassettes. Its rods, or pairs of conductors, or individual conductors are separated from one another at the cable fixing point, and they are guided to corresponding cassettes, and a certain amount of excess length of each of them is left in place. The cassettes serve to store the excess lengths, with the excess lengths being used for connection to jumpers, for establishing or changing connections.
Patent document FR-2 573 544 in particular describes a cassette of this type. That cassette has a bottom on which the following are defined on a single side thereof: an outer ring between an outer wall and an inner wall; and an inner ring between the above-mentioned inner wall and at least one central cylinder. The rings are used for storing excess cable conductor length(s) together with conductor(s) of a jumper cable, with the conductors being interconnected inside the cassette by one or more connector devices in the form of an optical connector strip. Tabs on the edges of these walls and of the cylinder serve to hold the excess lengths inside the cassette.
With a cassette of this type, any action on the connector device leads to excess conductor lengths from both cables being manipulated in order to separate the conductors and change the connections.
In the Applicants' patent application FR 89 16813 proposals are made for a different type of cassette referred to as a "two-compartment" cassette having a plate at one of its ends extending the cassette and designed to receive a block of optical connectors. The compartments of that cassette are used for storing respectively a first excess length and a second excess length of a single optical conductor or of several optical conductors. Each conductor is held where it passes from one compartment to another to enable one of its excess lengths to be manipulated without affecting the other excess length thus made independent therefrom which remains coiled down in its own compartment.
Thus, one of the excess lengths is used for extracting one of the cassettes from a stack of cassettes, while the other one is used for changing or correcting a connection under conditions of use.
An object of the present invention is to simplify conditions of use as much as possible and to make it particularly easy and quick to make optional connection changes and to establish interconnections within distribution frames.


A multi-homed edge device VxLAN data traffic forwarding system includes a first VTEP device that receives an Ethernet packet from a first edge device, encapsulates the Ethernet packet in a VxLAN packet, generates a source port value, and provides the source port value in a field in the VxLAN packet. The first VTEP device transmits multiple copies of the VxLAN packet to second VTEP devices that each determine whether the source port value in their respective copy of the VxLAN packet is included in a forwarding range for that second VTEP device that is different than forwarding range(s) for each of the other second VTEP device(s). If not, that second VTEP device prevents information in that copy of the VxLAN packet from being transmitted to the second edge device. If so, that second VTEP device transmits information in that copy of the VxLAN packet to the second edge device.

The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to forwarding data traffic in a multi-homed information handling system in a VxLAN.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are sometimes used to provide a virtual extensible Local Area Network (VxLAN) using network virtualization technology that utilizes a virtual LAN (VLAN)-like encapsulation technique to encapsulate Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layer 2 Ethernet frames with layer 4 User Datagram Protocol (UDP) datagrams, which can provide enhanced scalability for cloud computing environments and well as other benefits known in the art. VxLAN endpoint devices included in the VxLAN are referred to as VxLAN Tunnel EndPoint (VTEP) devices that operate to terminate VxLAN tunnels provided through the VxLAN, and may be provided by physical or virtual switch devices. Edge devices such as, for example, Provider Edge (PE) devices and Customer Edge (CE) devices, couple to the VxLAN and may transmit data traffic via the VTEP devices to each other. However, the transmission of data traffic from the VxLAN to edge devices can raise some issues.
For example, some CE devices may be provided in a multi-homing configuration (e.g., using Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) multi-homing techniques) with multiple VTEP devices that are each connected that CE device and that operate together as a single device (e.g., a single switch device) in order to provide redundancy and/or other benefits known in the art. In such multi-homing configurations, data traffic such as Broadcast, Unknown Unicast, and Multicast (BUM) data traffic received by the VTEP devices in the multi-homing configuration can result in the VTEP devices providing duplicate traffic to the CE device. Conventional solutions to this issue include BGP EVPN techniques such as using Type 4 Ethernet Segment Routing to elect one of the VTEP devices as a designated forwarder for the BUM data traffic, while having the remaining VTEP devices block that BUM data traffic (i.e., those VTEP devices receive that BUM data traffic but do not forward it to the CE device.) However, such solutions result in a relatively high bandwidth utilization on the link between the designated forwarder VTEP device and the CE device, along with a relatively low bandwidth utilization on the links between the other VTEP devices and the CE device. Such relatively high bandwidth utilization on the link between the designated forwarded VTEP device and the CE device can result in data traffic packet dropping, particularly when that link has relatively high bandwidth utilization for other data traffic.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved multi-homed edge device VxLAN data traffic forwarding system.

Multi-homed edge device VxLAN data traffic forwarding system


Methods and systems for assisted lane entrance are disclosed. In some aspects, a method of assisting movement of a vehicle from one lane to another, includes detecting an entrance to a restricted access lane within a threshold distance in front of the vehicle, determining entrance parameters for the restricted access lane based, at least in part, on a position of the entrance relative to a position of the vehicle, and generating an output signal based on the entrance parameters.

Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to methods, systems, and apparatus for autonomous driving of vehicles, and in particular, to autonomous assistance with entering a restricted access lane.
Description of the Related Art
Autonomous driving systems are immature but rapidly being developed. Features such as self-parking, automatic braking, adaptive cruise control and highway autopilot have already been delivered to the marketplace. Some claim these features can reduce energy consumption by as much as ten (10) percent when compared to human drivers. Additional features are under development, with an eventual goal of complete automation of driving tasks. Therefore, a need exists for additional autonomous driving features to move from the semi-assisted driving experience of today to the more complete autonomous driving experience of tomorrow.

Methods and systems for electronically assisted lane entrance


A zipper assembly is provided having a first profile and a second profile having interlocking members facing each other. Each of the profiles has an extension on a surface directed toward the other profile and disposed between its interlocking member and a lower distal end from which the zipper may be sealed to a bag. A slider may be disposed about the zipper assembly for engaging and disengaging the profiles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zipper and a slide zipper assembly for use in plastic bags of the type in which items, such as foodstuffs, may be stored.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Slide zipper assemblies for use with plastic bags are well known in the reclosable fastener art. Examples of conventional slide zipper assemblies can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,007,143, 5,008,971, 5,131,121 and 5,664,299.
Conventional slide zipper assemblies typically comprise a plastic zipper having two interlocking profiles and a slider for opening and closing the zipper. The slider straddles the zipper and has a separating finger at one end which is inserted between the profiles to force them apart as the slider is moved along the zipper in an opening direction. The other end of the slider is sufficiently narrow to force the profiles into engagement and close the zipper when the slider is moved along the zipper in a closing direction.
Recently, slide zipper assemblies which do not make use of a separating finger have been disclosed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,621, a slide zipper assembly is disclosed wherein one of the zipper profiles is provided with a pair of handles which cooperates with the slider. As the slider is moved in an opening direction, the handles are squeezed together to disengage the profiles. The slider is narrower at the closing end than at the opening end.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,838, a slide zipper assembly is disclosed wherein the zipper profiles are engaged and disengaged by a "rolling action". This "rolling action" is described as being achieved through cooperation between flanges on the profiles and shoulders which project inwardly from the arms of the slider. The slider shoulders are shaped throughout the length of the slider for engagement with the flanges and have a greater spacing at the closing end of the slider than at the opening end. Thus, as with other prior art slide zipper assemblies, the closing end of the slider is narrower than the opening end.
Many prior art slide zipper assemblies, however, have often proven unsatisfactory. For example, some prior art slide zipper assemblies provide for inadequate interlocking of the zipper profiles, thereby resulting in leaking of the contents of the bag. Other prior art slide zipper assemblies do not function consistently, often failing to properly interlock the zipper or smoothly open and/or close the zipper. Yet other slide zipper assemblies are of a complex design and often difficult and expensive to manufacture.
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a unique and novel slide zipper assembly for use with plastic bags which overcomes the problems associated with the prior art as discussed above.


A sensing method includes acquiring a thermal image of an object space, identifying an object within the object space included in the thermal image, based on the acquired thermal image, presenting to a user the thermal image to which information, indicating identification results of the identifying, has been added, and accepting a response as to the presented thermal image to which the information has been added. And at least one of the acquiring, the identifying, the presenting, and the accepting is performed by a processor.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a sensing method and a sensing system, and to an air conditioning device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a technology where thermal distribution in a room, and person location information, are measured using a thermal image sensor, and the results are used for energy conservation and comfortable air conditioning (e.g., Japanese Patent No. 5289518).

Sensing method and sensing system, and air conditioning device having the same

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA


An image of a negotiable instrument may be communicated from a user to a financial institution using a messaging application so that funds associated with the negotiable instrument may be deposited into a user's bank account. A user may launch an instant messaging application and establish a communications session with a predetermined account at the financial institution to communicate the image. The image may be stored in a file or created by a capture device under control of the instant messaging application. The image file may be processed and verified by the financial institution, where it may be deposited in an account associated with the user.

Checks typically provide a safe and convenient method for an individual such as a payor to purchase goods and/or services. To use a check, the individual usually opens a checking account, or other similar account, at a financial institution and deposits funds, which are then available for later withdrawal. To pay for goods and/or services with a check, the payor (i.e., the buyer) usually designates a payee (i.e., the seller) and an amount payable on the check. In addition, the payor often signs the check. Once the check has been signed, it is usually deemed negotiable, meaning the check may be validly transferred to the payee upon delivery. By signing and transferring the check to the payee, the payor authorizes funds to be withdrawn from the payor's account on behalf of the payee in return for the goods and/or services provided by the payee.
While a check may provide a payor with a convenient and secure form of payment, receiving a check may put certain burdens on the payee, such as the time and effort required to deposit the check. For example, depositing a check typically involves going to a local bank branch and physically presenting the check to a bank teller. To reduce such burdens for the payee, systems and methods have been developed to enable the remote deposit of checks. For example, the payee may scan a check in an electronic image using a scanning device and a computing device, and upload the check to the financial institution through a mechanism provided by the financial institution's website. The financial institution may then receive from the payee the electronic image of the check. However, such a technique requires the user to log into the website and navigate a sequence of web pages to upload the images.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for financial deposits by electronic message

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)


A ceramics sintered compact is provided in which a relative dielectric constant and an electromechanical coupling coefficient are improved in superior balance and which shows a relatively high piezoelectric coefficient. A ceramics sintered compact having a perovskite structure is provided in which a (002)/(200) ratio by X-ray diffraction after polarization is applied is 1.0 or greater.

In the related art, a barium titanate ceramics which is a lead-free piezoelectric ceramics is obtained by crashing and mixing barium carbonate (BaCO3) and titanium oxide (TiO2) and sintering for 4 hours under a temperature of 1300 degrees to 1400 degrees. However, in the barium titanate ceramics obtained in this manner, the Curie temperature which is a temperature in which the piezoelectric characteristic is lost is relatively low and a piezoelectric constant d33 is lower than 200 pm/V, and, thus, the ceramics is not practical.
In recent years, a composition of and a method of manufacturing a niobate-based (KNbO3—NaNbO3—LiNbO3-based) ceramics having a relatively high piezoelectric characteristic have been found (Non-patent Document 1), and a structure has been obtained which is close to practical such as a Curie temperature of about 250° C. and a piezoelectric constant d33 of about 400 pm/V.
In addition, an example is known in which a barium titanate (BaTiO3) powder of a nano-size material which is hydrothermally synthesized is sintered in a range of 1050° C. to 1200° C. to achieve a piezoelectric constant d33 which is close to 400 pm/V (Patent Document 1).
Moreover, an experimental example is known in which two stages of sintering is applied and a barium titanate ceramics is obtained in which the performance is improved (Non-patent Document 2).

Ceramic sintered compact and piezoelectric element


The present invention includes a method of repairing an annular metallic article and the repaired article itself which has an axially extending annular support and a projection generally radially extending therefrom. The projection has an associated operating radial height as measured from a radially facing annular first surface of the support and an associated shape. An upper portion of the projection is removed forming a stub extending away from the first surface and having a bonding surface at a stub end spaced apart from the first surface. A metallic material is metallurgically bonded to the bonding surface forming an annular heat affected zone in the stub bounded by the bonding surface. A first portion of the metallic material is removed to restore the projection to the operating height and shape. At least one annular outer surface of the tooth extending over at least a portion of the heat affected zone is laser shock peened, preferably after the first portion of the metallic material is removed. A tip of the stub formed by the removing of the first portion of the metallic material may also be laser shock peened as may a non-heat affected zone portion of the stub extending at least a partial length of a distance from the heat affected zone to the first surface. Opposite forward and aft facing annular surfaces of the projection may be laser shock peened, preferably simultaneously. The laser beam may be fired normal to or at an oblique angle to the forward and aft facing annular surfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gas turbine engine rotor seals with teeth such as labyrinth seal teeth and, more particularly, to such teeth having localized compressive residual stresses imparted by laser shock peening and repaired seals with teeth rebuilt by welding.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of stationary and rotating seals, often referred to as the labyrinth type, are used in various parts of a gas turbine engine. During manufacture, operation, maintenance, etc., such seals, which include one or more projections or teeth connected with a support structure, can be worn or damaged.
It has become common practice to repair in a relatively cost effective manner certain types of such seal teeth or projections by first removing the damaged portion of the tooth. The same material of the tooth then is reapplied as by welding, with excess added material being removed, such as by machining, to regenerate the tooth. Methods and apparatus for conducting such repair is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,171 by Bertrand G. Robins, issued Apr. 14, 1987. As is described in this and other patents referenced therein, a filler material in wire form is moved in a reciprocating manner into and out of a weld pool created by a heating source such as an electric arc to build up the teeth.
Poor weldability, including poor weld flow characteristics and crack sensitivity of the metal from which the projection or tooth is made, characterizes seal teeth repaired in this manner and often prevents repairs in a practical manner or limits the useful operating life of the components thus repaired. Accordingly, when damaged, the costly member may be replaced rather than repaired. The weldment repairs forms a heat affected zone which is that portion of the base metal which was metallurgically altered due to the welding heat. The heat affected zone also is very crack sensitive and, therefore, reduces the useful operational life of the repaired part. Therefore, it is highly desirable to improve the crack sensitivity of the heat affected zone as well as that of the part itself. The present invention incorporates laser shock peening to accomplish this and provide an improved weld repair and article therewith.
Laser shock peening or laser shock processing, as it is also referred to, is a process for producing a region of deep compressive residual stresses imparted by laser shock peening a surface area of a workpiece. Laser shock peening typically uses multiple radiation pulses from high power pulsed lasers to produce shock waves on the surface of a workpiece similar to methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,698, entitled "Altering Material Properties"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,477, entitled "Laser Shock Processing"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,957, entitled "Material Properties". Laser shock peening, as understood in the art and as used herein, means utilizing a laser beam from a laser beam source to produce a strong localized compressive force on a portion of a surface by producing an explosive force by instantaneous ablation or vaporization of a painted or coated or uncoated surface. Laser peening has been utilized to create a compressively stressed protection layer at the outer surface of a workpiece which is known to considerably increase the resistance of the workpiece to fatigue failure as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,421, entitled "Laser Peening System and Method". These methods typically employ a curtain of water flowed over the workpiece or some other method to provide a confining medium to confine and redirect the process generated shock waves into the bulk of the material of a component being LSP'D to create the beneficial compressive residual stresses.
Laser shock peening is being developed for many applications in the gas turbine engine field, some of which are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,429, entitled "Laser shock peening surface enhancement for gas turbine engine high strength rotor alloy repair"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,892, entitled "Laser shock peening for gas turbine engine vane repair"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,009, entitled "Laser shock peened gas turbine engine fan blade edges"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,447, entitled "Laser shock peened rotor components for turbomachinery"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,329, entitled "Adhesive tape covered laser shock peening" as well as others.

Laser shock peened gas turbine engine seal teeth


A saw machine includes a seat disposed in a housing, two frames rotatably secured to the seat with pivot pins and each having a sector gear and a saw blade, and a driving device for driving the saw blades. A shaft is rotatably secured to the seat and has a worm engaged with the sector gear of one of the frames, to rotate and adjust the frame relative to the seat. A conduit is rotatably engaged on the shaft and has a worm engaged with the sector gear of the other frame, to adjust the other frame relative to the seat. A support device includes a block having an orifice to rotatably receive the shaft and to stably support and retain the shaft to the seat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a saw machine, and more particularly to a saw machine having two or more saw blades driven by different driving motors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical saw machines comprise a single saw blade for cutting work pieces. Normally, after the work pieces are cut by the saw blade, a coarse side edge will be formed on the work pieces and may hurt the workers and/or the users inadvertently.
In order to prevent the coarse side edges of the work pieces from hurting the workers or the users, the coarse side edges of the work pieces may have to be ground by the other sander or grinding machines.
Accordingly, for some of the other typical saw machines may provide an additional sander or grinding machine or tool member beside the saw blade, for allowing the workers to easily grind the coarse side edges of the work pieces with the additional sander or grinding machine or tool member.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,913,025 to Richards discloses one of the typical saw machines having an additional sander or grinding machine or tool member provided and disposed beside the saw blade, for grinding purposes.
However, after the cutting operations by the saw blades, the work pieces should further be removed from the cutting or saw machine, and to be engaged with the sander or grinding machine or tool member for grinding purposes.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional saw machines.


A hybrid intra-inter bi-predictive (or multi-predictive) coding mode allows both intraframe (intra) and interframe (inter) predictions to be combined together for hybrid-encoding a current macroblock or a subblock. Bi-prediction may be used also in I-pictures, combining two intra predictions that use two different intra prediction directions. A video encoder processes data representing a two-dimensional video image which has been produced by a conventional commercially available video camera. The video encoder is adapted to select, for coding a current macroblock, between an intra encoding mode, an P-frame inter encoding mode, a B-frame bi-predictive inter mode, and a hybrid intra-inter bi-predictive encoding mode. A video decoder receives and decodes a data stream that may contain a block/macroblock encoded in accordance with the hybrid intra-inter bi-predictive encoding mode.

A video encoder can be used to encode one or more frames of an image sequence into digital information. This digital information may-then be transmitted to a receiver, where the image or the image sequence can then be re-constructed (decoded). The transmission channel itself may include any of a number of possible channels for transmission. For example, the transmission channel might be a radio channel or other means for wireless broadcast, coaxial Cable Television cable, a GSM mobile phone TDMA channel, a fixed line telephone link, or the Internet. This list of transmission means is only illustrative and is by no means meant to be all-inclusive.
Various international standards have been agreed upon for video encoding and transmission. In general, a standard provides rules for compressing and encoding data relating to frames of an image. These rules provide a way of compressing and encoding image data to transmit less data than the viewing camera originally provided about the image. This reduced volume of data then requires less channel bandwidth for transmission. A receiver can re-construct (or decode) the image from the transmitted data if it knows the rules that the transmitter used to perform the compression and encoding. The H.264 standard minimizes redundant transmission of parts of the image, by using motion compensated prediction of macroblocks from previous frames.
Video compression architectures and standards, such as MPEG-2 and JVT/H.264/MPEG 4 Part10/AVC, encode a macroblock using only either an intraframe ("intra") coding or an interframe ("inter") coding method for the encoding of each macroblock. For interframe motion estimation/compensation, a video frame to be encoded is partitioned into non-overlapping rectangular, or most commonly, square blocks of pixels. For each of these macroblocks, the best matching macroblock is searched from a reference frame in a predetermined search window according to a predetermined matching error criterion. Then the matched macroblock is used to predict the current macroblock, and the prediction error macroblock is further processed and transmitted to the decoder. The relative shifts in the horizontal and vertical directions of the reference macroblock with respect to the original macroblock are grouped and referred to as the motion vector (MV) of the original macroblock, which is also transmitted to the decoder. The main aim of motion estimation is to predict a macroblock such that the difference macroblock obtained from taking a difference of the reference and current macroblocks produces the lowest number of bits in encoding.
For intra coding, a macroblock (MB) or a sub-macroblock within a picture is predicted using spatial prediction methods. For inter coding, temporal prediction methods (i.e. motion estimation/compensation) are used. Generally, inter prediction (coding) methods are usually more efficient than intra coding methods. In the existing architectures/standards, specific picture or slice types are defined which specify or restrict the intra or inter MB types that can be encoded for transmission to a decoder. In intra (I) pictures or slices, only intra MB types can be encoded, while on Predictive (P) and Bi-predictive (B) pictures or slices, both intra and inter MB types may be encoded.
An I-picture or I-slice contains only intra coded macroblocks and does not use temporal prediction. The pixel values of the current macroblock are first spatially predicted from their neighboring pixel values. The residual information is then transformed using a N×N transform (e.g., 4×4 or 8×8 DCT transform) and then quantized.
B-pictures or B-slices, introduce the concept of bi-predictive (or in a generalization multiple-prediction) inter coded macroblock types, where a macroblock (MB) or sub-block is predicted by two (or more) interframe predictions. Due to bi-prediction, B pictures usually tend to be more efficient in coding than both I and P pictures.
A P-picture or B-picture may contain different slice types, and macroblocks encoded by different methods. A slice can be of I (Intra), P (Predicted), B (Bi-predicted), SP (Switching P), and SI (Switching I) type.
Intra and Inter prediction methods have been used separately, within video coding architectures and standards such as MPEG-2 and H.264. For intra coded macroblocks, available spatial samples within the same frame or picture are used to predict current macroblocks, while in inter prediction, temporal samples within other pictures or other frames, are instead used. In the H.264 standard, two different intra coding modes exist: a 4×4 intra mode which performs the prediction process for every 4×4 block within a macroblock; and a 16×16 intra mode, for which the prediction is performed for the entire macroblock in a single step.
Each frame of a video sequence is divided into so-called "macroblocks", which comprise luminance (Y) information and associated (potentially spatially sub-sampled depending upon the color space) chrominance (U, V) information. Macroblocks are formed by representing a region of 16×16 image pixels in the original image as four 8×8 blocks of luminance (luma) information, each luminance block comprising an 8×8 array of luminance (Y) values; and two spatially corresponding chrominance components (U and V) which are sub-sampled by a factor of two in the horizontal and vertical directions to yield corresponding arrays of 8×8 chrominance (U, V) values.
In 16×16 spatial (intra) prediction mode the luma values of an entire 16×16 macroblock are predicted from the pixels around the edges of the MB. In the 16×16 Intra prediction mode, the 33 neighboring samples immediately above and/or to the left of the 16×16 luma block are used for the prediction of the current macroblock, and that only 4 modes (0 vertical, 1 horizontal, 2 DC, and 3 plane prediction) are used.
FIG. 1 illustrates the intraframe (intra) prediction sampling method for the 4×4 intra mode in the H.264 standard of the related art. The samples of a 4×4 luma block 110 to be intra encoded containing pixels "a" through "p" in FIG. 1 are predicted using nearby pixels "A" through "M" in FIG. 1 from neighboring blocks. In the decoder, samples "A" through "M" from previous macroblocks of the same picture/frame typically have been already decoded and can then used for prediction of the current macroblock 110.
FIG. 2 illustrates, for the 4×4 luma block 110 of FIG. 1 the nine intra prediction modes labeled 0, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Mode 2 is the 'DC-prediction'. The other modes (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) represent directions of predictions as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2.
The intra macroblock types that are defined in the H.264 standard are as follows:
TABLE 1Intra Macroblock typesMbPartPredModeIntra16x16CodedBlockCodedBlockmb_typeName of mb_type(mb_type, 0)PredModePatternChroPatternLuma0I_4x4Intra_4x4NANANA1I_16x16_0_0_0Intra_16x160002I_16x16_1_0_0Intra_16x161003I_16x16_2_0_0Intra_16x162004I_16x16_3_0_0Intra_16x163005I_16x16_0_1_0Intra_16x160106I_16x16_1_1_0Intra_16x161107I_16x16_2_1_0Intra_16x162108I_16x16_3_1_0Intra_16x163109I_16x16_0_2_0lntra_16x1602010I_16x16_1_2_0Intra_16x1612011I_16x16_2_2_0Intra_16x1622012I_16x16_3_2_0Intra_16x1632013I_16x16_0_0_1Intra_16x16001514I_16x16_1_0_1Intra_16x16101515I_16x16_2_0_1Intra_16x16201516I_16x16_3_0_1Intra_16x16301517I_16x16_0_1_1Intra_16x16011518I_16x16_1_1_1Intra_16x16111519I_16x16_2_1_1Intra_16x16211520I_16x16_3_1_1Intra_16x16311521I_16x16_0_2_1Intra_16x16021522I_16x16_1_2_1Intra_16x16121523I_16x16_2_2_1Intra_16x16221524I_16x16_3_2_1Intra_16x16321525I_PCMNANANANA
FIG. 3 depicts a current macroblock 310 to be inter coded in a P-frame or P-slice using temporal prediction, instead of spatial prediction, by estimating a motion vector (i.e., MV, Motion Vector) between the best match (BM) among the blocks of two pictures (301 and 302). In inter coding, a current block 310 in the current frame 301 is predicted from a displaced matching block (BM) in the previous frame 302. Every inter coded block (e.g., 310) is associated with a set of motion parameters (motion vectors and a reference index ref_idx), which provide to the decoder a corresponding location within the reference picture (302) associated with ref_idx from which all pixels in the block 310 can be predicted. The difference between the original block (310) and its prediction (BM) is compressed and transmitted along with the displacement motion vectors (MV). Motion can be estimated independently for either 16×16 macroblock or any of its sub-macroblock partitions: 16×8, 8×16, 8×8, 8×4, 4×8, 4×4. An 8×8 macroblock partition is known as a sub-macroblock (or subblock). Hereinafter, the term "block" generally refers to a rectangular group of adjacent pixels of any dimensions, such as a whole 16×16 macroblock and/or a sub-macroblock partition. Only one motion vector (MV) per sub-macroblock partition is allowed. The motion can be estimated for each macroblock from different frames either in the past or in the future, by associating the macroblock with the selected frame using the macroblock's ref_idx.
A P-slice may also contain intra coded macroblocks. The intra coded macroblocks within a P-slice are compressed in the same way as the intra coded macroblocks in an I-slice. Inter coded blocks are predicted using motion estimation and compensation strategies.
If all the macroblocks of an entire frame are encoded and transmitted using intra mode, it is referred to as transmission of an 'INTRA frame' (I-Frame or I-Picture). An INTRA frame therefore consists entirely of intra macroblocks. Typically, an INTRA frame must be transmitted at the start of an image transmission, when the receiver as yet holds no received macroblocks. If a frame is encoded and transmitted by encoding some or all of the macroblocks as inter macroblocks, then the frame is referred to as an 'INTER frame'. Typically, an INTER frame comprises less data for transmission than an INTRA frame. However, the encoder decides whether a particular macroblock is transmitted as an intra coded macroblock or an inter coded macroblock, depending on which is most efficient.
Every 16×16 macroblock to be inter coded in a P-slice may be partitioned into 16×8, 8×16, and 8×8 partitions. A sub-macroblock may itself be partitioned into 8×4, 4×8, or 4×4 sub-macroblock partition. Each macroblock partition or sub-macroblock partition in H.264 is assigned to a unique motion vector. Inter coded Macroblocks and macroblock partitions have unique prediction modes and reference indices. It is not allowed in the current H.264 standard for inter and intra predictions to be selected and mixed together in different partitions of the same macroblock. In the H.264/AVC design adopted in February 2002, the partitioning scheme initially adopted from Wiegand et al included support of switching between intra and inter on a sub-macroblock (8×8 luma with 4×4 chroma) basis. This capability was later removed in order to reduce decoding complexity.
In P-pictures and P-slices, the following additional block types are defined:
TABLE 2Inter Macroblock types for P slicesName ofNumMbPartMbPartPredModeMbPartPredModeMbPartWidthMbPartHeightmb_typemb_type(mb_type)(mb_type, 0)(mb_type, 1)(mb_type)(mb_type)0P_L0_16x161Pred_L0NA16161P_L0_L0_16x82Pred_L0Pred_L01682P_L0_L0_8x162Pred_L0Pred_L08163P_8x84NANA884P_8x8ref04NANA88InferredP_Skip1Pred_L0NA1616
FIG. 4 illustrates the combination of two (temporal) predictions for inter coding a macroblock in a B-Picture or B-Slice.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, for a macroblock 410 to be inter coded within B-pictures or B-slices, instead of using only one "Best Match" (BM ) predictor (prediction) for a current macroblock, two (temporal) predictions (BML0 and BML1) are used for the current macroblock 410, which can be averaged together to form a final prediction. In a B-picture or B-slice, up to two motion vectors (MVL0 and MVL1), representing two estimates of the motion, per sub-macroblock partition are allowed for temporal prediction. They can be from any reference pictures (List 0 Reference and List 1 Reference), subsequent or prior. The average of the pixel values in the Best Matched blocks (BML0 and BML1) in the (List 0 and List 1) reference pictures are used as the predictor. This standard also allows weighing the pixel values of each Best Matched block (BML0 and BML1) unequally, instead of averaging them. This is referred to as a Weighted Prediction mode and is useful in the presence of special video effects, such as fading. A B-slice also has a special mode—Direct mode. The spatial methods used in MotionCopy skip mode, and the Direct mode are restricted only on the estimation of the motion parameters and not of the macroblocks (pixels) themselves, and no spatially adjacent samples are used. In Direct mode the motion vectors for a macroblock are not explicitly sent.
The following macroblock types are defined for use in B-pictures and B-slices:
TABLE 3Inter Macroblock types for B slicesName ofNumMbPartMbPartPredModeMbPartPredModeMbPartWidthMbPartHeightmb_typemb_type(mb_type)(mb_type, 0)(mb_type, 1)(mb_type)(mb_type) 0B_Direct_16x16NADirectNA88 1B_L0_16x161Pred_L0NA1616 2B_L1_16x161Pred_L1NA1616 3B_Bi_16x161BiPredNA1616 4B_L0_L0_16x82Pred_L0Pred_L0168 5B_L0_L0_8x162Pred_L0Pred_L0816 6B_L1_L1_16x82Pred_L1Pred_L1168 7B_L1_L1_8x162Pred_L1Pred_L1816 8B_L0_L1_16x82Pred_L0Pred_L1168 9B_L0_L1_8x162Pred_L0Pred_L181610B_L1_L0_16x82Pred_L1Pred_L016811B_L1_L0_8x162Pred_L1Pred_L081612B_L0_Bi_16x82Pred_L0BiPred16813B_L0_Bi_8x162Pred_L0BiPred81614B_L1_Bi_16x82Pred_L1BiPred16815B_L1_Bi_8x162Pred_L1BiPred81616B_Bi_L0_16x82BiPredPred_L016817B_Bi_L0_8x162BiPredPred_L081618B_Bi_L1_16x82BiPredPred_L116819B_Bi_L1_8x162BiPredPred_L181620B_Bi_Bi_16x82BiPredBiPred16821B_Bi_Bi_8x162BiPredBiPred81622B_8x84NANA88inferredB_SkipNADirectNA88
In B-slices, as shown in the above table, the two temporal predictions are always restricted to using the same block type.
Deblocking filters, and Overlapped Block Motion Compensation (OBMC) use some spatial correlation. According to these methods, the reconstructed pixels, after prediction and the addition of the associated residual, are spatially processed/filtered depending upon their mode (intra or inter), position (MB/block edges, internal pixels etc), motion information, associated residual, and the surrounding pixel difference. This process can considerably reduce blocking artifacts and improve quality, but on the other hand can also increase complexity considerably (especially within the decoder). This process also may not always yield the best results and it may itself introduce additional blurring on the edges.

Method and apparatus for encoding hybrid intra-inter coded blocks


The present invention relates to a handover technology between an unlicensed mobile access network and a cellular communication network. According to a first aspect of the present invention, a method of handing over a communication connection from an unlicensed mobile access network to a cellular communication network in a mobile terminal is provided. The method includes the following steps: acquiring a location information and/or moving direction and/or moving velocity of the mobile terminal (301); determining a handover timing or a handover probability of the handover at least partly according to the location information, moving direction and moving velocity (302); initiating the communication connection between the mobile terminal and the cellular communication network for handover preparation when the handover timing is less than a predetermined value or the handover probability is more than a predetermined value (303); executing the handover (304). By using the method, device and apparatus of the present invention in combination with the positioning-related information of the mobile terminal, handover between an unlicensed mobile access network and a cellular communication network is performed, and thus the handover reliability is improved.

The unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technology has been put into use more and more widely. FIG. 1 is a system block diagram illustrating UMA technology, wherein a mobile terminal employing UMA technology may perform handover between a cellular communication network and a wireless local area network, e.g., between a GSM network and a WIFI network. In UMA technology, the choice of handover timing from a WIFI network to a GSM network is a problem.
In prior art, the most well-known mechanism of determining handover timing is a mechanism of signal strength threshold. Because of small-scale fading, etc., radio signals are sometimes not stable. Even within the coverage area of a WIFI signal, signal strength received by a mobile terminal in a short period may be low, and thus unnecessary handover will be resulted in. Therefore, the mechanism of signal strength threshold is not reliable enough.
More and more handover mechanisms based on geo-location have come into existence, which are more accurate and reliable than the mechanism of merely signal strength threshold. Some proposals suggest adopting pure WIFI solutions to solve the positioning problem of WIFI equipments. One solution is: establishing a reference point database for a plurality of reference points; storing characteristic data of the plurality of reference points, wherein the data include adjacent access points, received signal strength from a particular access point, etc.; comparing characteristic data of a WIFI equipment with the characteristic data of each reference point to find a most matched reference point and thus determine the location of the WIFI equipment; determining whether or not to perform handover according to the determined location of the WIFI equipment and other conditions, such as received signal strength.
The aforementioned solution, however, has the following disadvantages: 1) the cost is too high to establish a complete and accurate reference point database, especially in a case of a wide coverage application; 2) the characteristic data of different reference points may be so close as to result in erroneous matching and erroneous positioning.

Handover methods between an unlicensed mobile access network and a cellular communication network and apparatuses thereof


An integrated circuit for digital signal routing. The integrated circuit has analog and digital inputs and outputs, including digital interfaces for connection to other integrated circuits. Inputs, including the digital interfaces, act as data sources. Outputs, including the digital interfaces, act as data destinations. The integrated circuit also includes signal processing blocks, which can act as data sources and data destinations. Signal routing is achieved by means of a multiply-accumulate block, which takes data from one or more data source and, after any required scaling, generates output data for a data destination. Data from a data source is buffered for an entire period of a data sample clock so that the multiply-accumulate block can retrieve the data at any point in the period, and output data of the multiply-accumulate block is buffered for an entire period of the data sample clock so that the data destination can retrieve the data at any point in the period. Multiple signal paths can be defined by configuration data supplied to the device, either by a user, or by software. The multiply-accumulate block operates on a time division multiplexed basis, so that multiple signal paths can be processed within one period of the sample clock. Each signal path has a respective sample clock rate, and paths with different sample clock rates can be routed through the multiply-accumulate block on a time division multiplexed basis independently of each other. Thus, speech signals at 8 kHz or 16 kHz can be processed concurrently with audio data at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a signal routing circuit, and in particular to a signal routing circuit that can be used as a digital audio hub, for interconnecting various signal sources and signal destinations in consumer devices, of which smartphones are just one example.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to provide an integrated circuit that acts as an "audio hub", which is able to receive a number of signals from analogue and digital sources, converting the analogue signals to digital signals and then combining or processing the signals in the digital domain, in order to generate output signals. If required, the output signals can be converted by the audio hub into analogue signals, in order to be applied to analogue transducers such as headphones or speakers. Such a digital audio hub device can be incorporated into a consumer device, such as a smartphone or the like, allowing the received signals to be processed in predetermined ways.
It is desirable to allow the customer of the "audio hub" integrated circuit to use it to interconnect a number of different signal processing components within a consumer device in a flexible manner, without being restricted to specific external devices or to specific processing paths.