A method and system for automatically printing a hard copy of transaction information relating to a transaction conducted electronically between a user-side and a supplier side. A control apparatus performs an operation of identifying a selected aspect of information regarding the electronic transaction to thereby generate a print apparatus which is sent to a printing apparatus which prints transaction information in response to said print request. In addition, a printer for use with the method and system is provided.

FIG. 1 represents a typical arrangement of customers and suppliers engaging in transactions electronically. Various suppliers 3 make their products and services available electronically via supplier servers 3a. Users, or customers, communicate electronically with the suppliers 3 using personal computers 1 or computer terminals 2 (which can also be personal computers) connected as part of a local area network (LAN) 4. These personal computers 1 and computer terminals 2 generally have access to a printing apparatus that will print data when the user requests such printing. In the case of a personal computer 1, the printing apparatus 6 is generally directly connected to the personal computer, while in the case of a computer terminal 2 in a LAN 4, the computer terminal 2 is generally connected to a shared printing apparatus 6a via the LAN 4. Printing only takes place when a user manually requests that data be printed.
Increasingly, customers are purchasing more and more of the products and services they desire through suppliers making their products available through electronic transactions performed in the environment displayed in FIG. 1. These transactions should be recorded and tracked in order to ensure that customers receive the goods and services that they have purchased. Such tracking is commonly accomplished through the generation of confirmation numbers by the suppliers 3 which allow customers to track the status of their purchases and serve as a confirmation that a transaction actually took place. It is desirable necessary to communicate such records generated by the suppliers to users so that users can maintain a record of their electronic transactions.
Several methods are used to communicate this information to users presently. In one method, record information is generated, e-mailed to the user and then manually printed by the user via a manual direction to print the record on a printing apparatus on the user side of the communication. In another method, the record information is printed as result of an instruction on the supplier side of the communication, with the paper copy of the record being mailed to the user subsequently. Alternatively, the transaction record can be transmitted directly to the user as part of the information displayed on the user screen. The information can then be printed by the user using a manual request to print the data on the screen. The common problem shared by all of these methods, is that they are all subject to error when either the user or supplier fails to manually request printing of the transaction information. If no manual request to print is made, the transaction information may be lost and users would be left with no record of their transaction.

Printing system, apparatus and method for automatically printing records of electronic transactions


Novel pyrimidoindolone compounds are disclosed. Methods of using the pyrimidoindolone compounds and compositions containing the compounds in the treatment and/or prevention of disease and other conditions related to inflammation, neurodegeneration, osteoarthritis and apoptosis are also disclosed.

Cell death is generally classified into one of two forms, necrosis or apoptosis. Necrosis typically occurs in response to severe physiological or environmental insult. Cells dying by necrosis show a distinct pattern of cellular breakdown, which eventually results in cell autolysis. The resulting release of cellular contents can cause inflammation in the surrounding tissues, furthering cell injury. Apoptosis on the other hand is a controlled or programmed series of cellular events ultimately leading to cell death. It is a mechanism for an organism to remove unwanted cells and is an important part of normal physiology. The two most often cited examples of apoptosis are in fetal development and in immune cell development. However, excessive or insufficient apoptosis can play a role in disease. Diseases in which there is an excessive accumulation of cells and insufficient apoptosis include cancer, inflammatory disorders and autoimmune diseases. Disorders in which excessive apoptotic cell death has been observed include neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and ischemic stroke, brain or myocardial diseases. Tissue damage following stroke or myocardial infarction is largely apoptotic and there is growing evidence that the inhibition of apoptosis following ischemic injury can lessen the tissue damage.
One of the most specific molecular markers for apoptosis is the activation of the family of cysteine-dependent aspartate proteases, which are known as caspases. At least 11 human caspases have been characterized and these can be subdivided into three groups based on homology and substrate specificity. Group I caspases including 1, 4, 5, appear to be predominately involved in inflammation. Group II caspases including 6, 8, 9 and 10, are initiators of apoptotic signaling and further caspase activation. Group III caspases, including 3 and 7, are predominantly effector enzymes responsible for degrading cellular substrates in a highly specific manner. Although the precise repertoire of caspases involved in ischemic neuronal cell death have not been fully elucidated, histochemical and biochemical data combine to show the presence of activated caspases from each class in adult ischemic brain (Chen et al., J. Neuroscience, 18: 4914-4928 (1998), Krupinski et al., Neurobiol. Dis. 7: 332-342 (2000), Benchoua et al., J. Neuroscience 21: 7127-7134 (2001), Namura et al., J. Neuroscience. 18: 3659-3668 (1998)).
The utility of a caspase inhibitor for the treatment of a number of mammalian diseases associated with an increase in cellular apoptosis has been demonstrated using peptidic caspase inhibitors. For example, in rodent models caspase inhibitors have been shown to reduce infart size and inhibit cardiomyocyte apoptosis after myocardial infarction, to reduce brain lesion volume and neurological deficit resulting from stroke, to reduce post traumatic apoptosis and neurological deficit in traumatic brain injury, to be effective in treating fulminant liver destruction and to improve survival after endotoxic shock. (Yaoita, et al., Circulation, 97: 276 (1998), Endres et al., J. Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 18: 238 (1998), Cheng, et al., J. Clin. Invest., 101: 1992 (1998); Yakovlev, et al., J. Neuroscience, 17: 7415 (1997), Rodriquez, et al., J. Exp. Med., 184: 2067 (1996), Grobmyer, et al., Mol. Med., 5: 585 (1999)).
A caspase inhibitor may provide utility for the treatment of osteoarthritis. A recent study demonstrated an increase in the level of the active form of caspase 3 in osteoarthritis chondrocytes. (Pelletier, et al., Arthritis & Rheumatism, 43 (6): 1290 (2000)). In osteoarthritis chondrocytes, the distribution of cells staining for caspase 3 was superimposable to that of cells undergoing apoptosis. The strong correlation between caspase 3 and apoptosis supports the notion that caspase 3 plays a role in chondrocyte apoptosis.
A chemical agent that can regulate the activity of the caspases in either a broad or a selective manner may be a useful therapeutic agent to treat diseases where an excessive or an insufficient level apoptosis is apparent. Of particular interest is treating ischemic diseases resulting in cerebral or myocardial injury such as stroke or as in the case of myocardial infarction. Since caspases are also implicated in the inflammatory process, a caspase modulator may be of therapeutic utility to treat inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, cholangitis, colitis, encephalitis, endocerolitis, hepatitis and pancreatitis.

Pyrimidoindolones and methods for using same


An optic disk opener includes an elongate stem having an end defining an interior space receiving a spring-biased sharp member that is extendible out of the space by being manually driven, against the biasing force, to physically engaging an optic disk pack that is wrapped with a plastic film, whereby when the opener is moved along an edge of the optic disk pack, the sharp blade breaks the film. Two spaced flanges are formed on the first end to receive the edge of the optic disk pack and guide the movement of the opener. An elongate member is pivoted to the first end and movable between an operation position where a soft layer attached to a surface of the elongate member is exposed to wipe and clean an optic disk and a stowed position where the elongate member overlaps the stem to shield the soft layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device for facilitating removal of a plastic wrapping film out of an optic disk pack, and in particular to a combination of an optic disk pack opener with a writing implement to facilitate operation effectiveness of the optic disk pack opener.
2. The Prior Arts
Optic disks, such as compact disks and video compact disks, are commonly stored in a rigid plastic case that has a small thickness as compared to length and width thereof. The optic disk case is wrapped with a plastic film for protection and burglary-proof purposes. The plastic film must be removed before the general consumers may access the disk contained in the plastic case. Often a sharp article, such as a knife or a sharp-ended pin, must be used to break and thus remove the film. This is to some extents troublesome to the general users.
The present invention is aimed to provide an optic disk pack opener that breaks and thus helps removing the plastic film from the optic disk pack.


A method, system and article of manufacture to boot a computer system from a remote Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) image. A request for a local Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) image of a computer system is intercepted by a controller of the computer system. A remote BIOS image for the computer system is retrieved from a remote computer system communicatively coupled to the computer system via the controller. The remote BIOS image is executed by the computer system.

1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of computer systems and more specifically, but not exclusively, to booting from a remote Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) image.
2. Background Information
Generally, the pre-boot phase is defined as the period of time between computer system startup and the OS taking control of the system. At the startup of a typical computer system, a BIOS image is loaded from non-volatile storage, such as Flash memory, and executed. The system BIOS initializes the platform hardware, performs system tests, and prepares the system for the operating system (OS) to take control.
When the OS takes control of the system, the period commonly known as OS runtime begins. During OS runtime, the system BIOS may act as an interface between software and hardware components of a computer system. Such interface services include assisting with software interrupts.
The system BIOS of many of today's computer systems are limited by the size and cost of Flash memory devices. For low-margin systems, such as desktops, the cost of Flash parts and the amount of functionality that may be embedded is of concern. A conflict exists between minimizing the number of Flash devices to save money versus including additionally functionality in the system BIOS.
In enterprise level systems, while the cost of Flash devices is a consideration, the greater concern is the ability to fit all the desired functions and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) value-added features in a limited Flash size profile. Manufacturers may not be able to provide all the desired capabilities in a platform due to non-volatile storage limitations.


The present invention discloses a clock edge detection device capable of detecting the positive and negative edges of a target clock, comprising: a delay circuit for receiving the target clock and transmitting it; a register circuit coupled to the delay circuit for recording and outputting plural target clock levels in accordance with a working clock; a positive edge detection circuit including a plurality of positive edge detectors coupled to the register circuit for detecting the positive edge of the target clock; and a negative edge detection circuit including a plurality of negative edge detectors coupled to the register circuit for detecting the negative edge of the target clock, wherein the positive edge detection circuit is operable to perform a logic operation to the target clock levels while the negative edge detection circuit is operable to perform a different logic operation to the target clock levels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a level detection device and method, especially to a clock edge detection device and method.
2. Description of Related Art
A general electronic circuit needs a reference clock for its individual elements operating properly or different elements functioning synchronously. Said reference clock is usually generated by a frequency synthesizer with a source clock. In order to make sure that the level high and level low durations of the reference clock are the same for preventing malfunction, the frequency synthesizer is supposed to generate the reference clock of 50% duty cycle. However, due to the limitation such as manufacturing process variation, the frequency synthesizer is likely to generate a reference clock having the duty cycle other than 50%. Moreover, in consideration of the limited design resources, the frequency synthesizer might lack for a preinstalled calibration function to correct the duty cycle. Therefore, in view of the problem caused by process variation and the cost-effective issue about design resources, a solution capable of detecting the duty cycle of a reference clock is desired, which is supposed to be capable of determining the influence caused by process variation or the like and then providing the analysis for clock skew calibration or future design reference.
Those interested in more detail of the prior art references may refer to the following documents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,652, U.S. Pat. No. 7,400,555, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,403,055.


Methods and apparatuses for transmitting and receiving signaling, by a User Equipment (UE) with reduced processing capabilities, to conserve power are provided. A method for transmitting from a network a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) to a first User Equipment (UE) from a first class of UEs or to a second UE from a second class of UEs, includes transmitting a PDSCH to the first UE using a first bandwidth unit; and transmitting a PDSCH to the second UE using a second bandwidth unit, wherein the second bandwidth unit is smaller than the first bandwidth unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to the transmission and reception of control channels and data channels to and from, respectively, UEs with limited capabilities.
2. Description of the Art
A communication system includes a DownLink (DL) that conveys transmission signals from transmission points such as Base Stations (BSs) (which may also be referred to as NodeBs) to User Equipments (UEs) and an UpLink (UL) that conveys transmission signals from UEs to reception points such as NodeBs. A UE, also commonly referred to as a terminal or a mobile station, may be fixed or mobile, and may be a device such as a cellular phone, a personal computer device, etc. A NodeB, which is generally a fixed station, may also be referred to as an access point or other equivalent terminology.
DL signals include data signals, which carry information content, control signals, and Reference Signals (RSs), which are also known as pilot signals. A NodeB conveys data information to UEs through respective Physical Downlink Shared CHannels (PDSCHs) and control information through respective Physical Downlink Control CHannels (PDCCHs). Multiple RS types may be supported, such as a Common RS (CRS) transmitted over substantially the entire DL BandWidth (BW) and the DeModulation RS (DMRS) transmitted in a same BW as an associated PDSCH.
UL signals also include data signals, control signals, and RSs. UEs convey data information to NodeBs through respective Physical Uplink Shared CHannels (PUSCHs) and control information through respective Physical Uplink Control CHannels (PUCCHs). A UE transmitting data information may also convey control information through a PUSCH. The RS may be a DMRS or a Sounding RS (SRS), which a UE may transmit independently of a PUSCH.
Downlink Control Information (DCI) serves several purposes, and is conveyed through DCI formats in respective PDCCHs. For example, DCI includes DL Scheduling Assignments (SAs) for PDSCH reception and UL SAs for PUSCH transmissions. As PDCCHs are a major part of a total DL overhead, the resources required to transmit PDCCHs directly reduce DL throughput. One method for reducing PDCCH overhead is to scale it's the size of the overhead according to the resources required to transmit the DCI formats during a DL Transmission Time Interval (TTI). When Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) is used as a DL transmission method, a Control Channel Format Indicator (CCFI) parameter transmitted through a Physical Control Format Indicator CHannel (PCFICH) can be used to indicate a number of OFDM symbols occupied by PDCCHs in a DL TTI.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional structure for PDCCH transmissions in a DL TTI.
Referring to FIG. 1, a DL TTI includes one subframe having a number N of OFDM symbols. In the present example, N=14. A DL control region that includes PDCCH transmissions occupies a first M OFDM symbols 110. A remaining N-M OFDM symbols are used primarily for PDSCH transmissions 120. A PCFICH 130 is transmitted in some sub-carriers, also referred to as Resource Elements (REs), of a first OFDM symbol and includes 2 bits indicating a DL control region size of M=1, or M=2, or M=3 OFDM symbols. Moreover, some OFDM symbols also contain respective RS REs 140 and 150. These RSs 140 and 150 are transmitted substantially over an entire DL operating BandWidth (BW), and are referred to as Common RSs (CRSs), as they can be used by each UE to obtain a channel estimate for its DL channel medium and to perform other measurements. The BW unit for a PDSCH or a PUSCH over a subframe is referred to as a Physical Resource Block (PRB). A PRB includes several REs, such as 12 Res, for example.
A PDCCH and a PCFICH transmitted with the conventional structure in FIG. 1 are referred to as C-PDCCH and a C-PCFICH, respectively. Additional control channels may be transmitted in a DL control region but are not shown for brevity. For example, when using a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) process for a transmission of data Transport Blocks (TBs) in a PUSCH, a NodeB may transmit HARQ-ACKnowledgement (ACK) information in a Physical Hybrid-HARQ Indicator CHannel (PHICH) to indicate to a UE whether its previous transmission of each data Transport Block (TB) in a PUSCH was correctly received (i.e., through an ACK) or incorrectly received (i.e., through a Negative ACK (NACK)). A PHICH transmitted with a conventional structure is referred to as C-PHICH. The aforementioned conventional DL control channels will be jointly referred to as C-CCHs.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional encoding and transmission process for a DCI format.
Referring to FIG. 2, a NodeB separately codes and transmits each DCI format in a respective PDCCH. A Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) for a UE, for which a DCI format is intended for, masks a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of a DCI format codeword in order to enable the UE to identify that a particular DCI format is intended for the UE. The CRC of (non-coded) DCI format bits 210 is computed using a CRC computation operation 220, and the CRC is then masked using an exclusive OR (XOR) operation 230 between CRC and RNTI bits 240. The XOR operation 230 is defined as: XOR(0,0)=0, XOR(0,1)=1, XOR(1,0)=1, XOR(1,1)=0. The masked CRC bits are appended to DCI format information bits using a CRC append operation 250, channel coding is performed using a channel coding operation 260 (e.g. an operation using a convolutional code), followed by rate matching operation 270 applied to allocated resources, and finally, an interleaving and a modulation 280 operation are performed, and the output control signal 290 is transmitted. In the present example, both a CRC and a RNTI include 16 bits.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional reception and decoding process for a DCI format.
Referring to FIG. 3, a UE receiver performs a reverse of the operations performed by the NodeB transmitter in order to determine whether the UE has a DCI format assignment in a DL subframe. A received control signal 310 is demodulated and the resulting bits are de-interleaved at operation 320, a rate matching applied at a NodeB transmitter is restored through operation 330, and data is subsequently decoded at operation 440. After decoding the data, DCI format information bits 360 are obtained after extracting CRC bits 350, which are then de-masked 370 by applying the XOR operation with a UE RNTI 380. Finally, a UE performs a CRC test 390. If the CRC test passes, a UE determines that a DCI format corresponding to the received control signal 310 is valid and determines parameters for signal reception or signal transmission. If the CRC test does not pass, a UE disregards the presumed DCI format.
The DCI format information bits correspond to several Information Elements (IEs) such as, for example, the Resource Allocation (RA) IE indicating the part of the DL BW or UL BW allocated to a UE for PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission, respectively, the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) IE indicating the data MCS, the Transmission Power Control (TPC) IE indicating an adjustment to the PUSCH transmission power or to the HARQ-ACK signal transmission power in a PUCCH, the New Data Indicator (NDI) IE informing a UE whether the scheduled data TB corresponds to a new transmission or to a retransmission for the same HARQ process, and so on.
In order to avoid a C-PDCCH transmission to a UE that blocks a C-PDCCH transmission to another UE, a location of each C-PDCCH in the time-frequency domain of a DL control region is not unique. Therefore, a UE may perform multiple decoding operations per DL subframe to determine whether there are any C-PDCCHs intended for the UE in a DL subframe. The REs carrying a PDCCH are grouped into Control Channel Elements (CCEs) in the logical domain. For a given number of DCI format bits in FIG. 2, a number of CCEs for a respective C-PDCCH depends on a channel coding rate (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) is the modulation scheme in the present example). A NodeB may use a lower channel coding rate (i.e., more CCEs) for transmitting PDCCHs to UEs experiencing a low DL Signal-to-Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) than to UEs experiencing a high DL SINR. The CCE aggregation levels may include, for example, 1, 2, 4, and 8 CCEs.
For a C-PDCCH decoding process, a UE may determine a search space for candidate C-PDCCH transmissions after the UE restores the CCEs in the logical domain according to a common set of CCEs for all UEs (i.e., a Common Search Space (CSS)) and according to a UE-dedicated set of CCEs (i.e., a UE-Dedicated Search Space (UE-DSS)). A CSS may include the first C CCEs in the logical domain. A UE-DSS may be determined according to a pseudo-random function having UE-common parameters as inputs, such as the subframe number or the total number of CCEs in the subframe, and UE-specific parameters such as the RNTI. For example, for CCE aggregation levels Lε{1,2,4,8}, the CCEs corresponding to PDCCH candidate m are given by Equation (1)CCEs for C-PDCCH candidate m=L·{(Yk+m)mod└NCCE,k/L┘}+i  (1)
In Equation (1), NCCE,k is the total number of CCEs in subframe k , i=0, . . . , L−1, m=0, . . . , MC(L)−1, and MC(L) is the number of C-PDCCH candidates to monitor in the search space. Exemplary values of MC(L) for Lε{1,2,4,8} are, respectively, {6, 6, 2, 2}. For the UE-CSS, Yk=0. For the UE-DSS, Yk=(A·Yk−1)modD, where Y−1=UE_RNTI≠0, A=39827, and D=65537.
DCI formats conveying information to multiple UEs are transmitted in a CSS. Additionally, if enough CCEs remain after the transmission of DCI formats conveying information to multiple UEs, a CSS may also convey some DCI formats for PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission. A UE-DSS exclusively conveys DCI formats for PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission. For example, a CSS may include 16 CCEs and support 2 DCI formats with L=8 CCEs, or 4 DCI formats with L=4 CCEs, or 1 DCI format with L=8 CCEs and 2 DCI formats with L=4 CCEs. The CCEs for a CSS are placed first in the logical domain (prior to interleaving).
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a conventional transmission process of a DCI format in a respective C-PDCCH.
Referring to FIG. 4, after channel coding and rate matching are performed (as described with reference to FIG. 2), encoded DCI format bits are mapped to C-PDCCH CCEs in the logical domain. The first 4 CCEs (L=4), CCE1 401, CCE2 402, CCE3 403, and CCE4 404 are used for C-PDCCH transmission to UE1. The next 2 CCEs (L=2), CCE5 411 and CCE6 412, are used for C-PDCCH transmission to UE2. The next 2 CCEs (L=2), CCE7 421 and CCE8 422, are used for C-PDCCH transmission to UE3. Finally, the last CCE (L=1), CCE9 431, is used for C-PDCCH transmission to UE4.
The DCI format bits are then scrambled, at step 440, by a binary scrambling code, and the scrambled bits are modulated at step 450. Each CCE is further divided into Resource Element Groups (REGs). For example, a CCE including 36 REs can be divided into 9 REGs, such that each REG includes 4 REs. In step 460, interleaving is applied among REGs in blocks of four QPSK symbols. For example, a block interleaver may be used where interleaving is performed on symbol-quadruplets (i.e., four QPSK symbols corresponding to the four REs of a REG) instead of on individual bits. After interleaving the REGs, in step 470, a resulting series of QPSK symbols may be shifted by J symbols, and finally, in step 480, each QPSK symbol is mapped to an RE in a DL control region. Therefore, in addition to RSs from NodeB transmitter antennas 491 and 492, and other control channels, such as a PCFICH 493 and a PHICH (not shown), REs in a DL control region contain QPSK symbols for PDCCHs corresponding to DCI formats for UE1 494, UE2 495, UE3 496, and UE4 497.
The C-PDCCH structure in FIG. 4 uses a maximum of M=3 OFDM symbols and transmits the signal substantially over a total DL BW. As a consequence of using such a structure, such a control region has a limited capacity, and therefore cannot achieve interference coordination in the frequency domain. There are several cases where expanded capacity or interference coordination in the frequency domain is needed for transmission of control signals. One such case is the extensive use of spatial multiplexing for PDSCH transmissions, where multiple DL SAs correspond to the same PDSCH resources. Another case is for heterogeneous networks where DL transmissions in a first cell experience strong interference from DL transmissions in a second cell and DL interference coordination in the frequency domain between the two cells is needed.
Due to REG-based transmission and interleaving of C-PDCCHs, the control region cannot be expanded to include more OFDM symbols while maintaining compatible operation with existing UEs that cannot be aware of such an expansion. An alternative to the REG-based transmission and interleaving of C-PDCCHs is to extend the control region in the PDSCH region and use individual PRBs for transmitting new PDCCHs, which are referred to as Enhanced PDCCHs (E-PDCCHs).
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a conventional E-PDCCH transmission structure.
Referring to FIG. 5, although E-PDCCH transmissions start immediately after C-PDCCH transmissions 510 and are transmitted over all remaining DL subframe symbols, they may instead always start at a fixed location, such as the fourth OFDM symbol. E-PDCCH transmissions occur in four PRBs, 620, 630, 640, and 650, while remaining PRBs 660, 662, 664, 666, 668 are used for PDSCH transmissions. As an E-PDCCH transmission over a given number of subframe symbols may require fewer REs than the number of subframe symbols available in a PRB, multiple E-PDCCHs may be multiplexed in a same PRB. The multiplexing can be in any combination of possible domains (i.e., time domain, frequency domain, or spatial domain) and, in a manner similar to a PDCCH, an E-PDCCH includes at least one Enhanced CCE (E-CCE).
A transmission for an extended control channel (E-PDCCH, E-PCFICH, E-PHICH) may be in a same PRB, in which case the transmission is referred to as localized, or over multiple PRBs, in which case the transmission is referred to as distributed. The aforementioned Enhanced Control CHannels are jointly referred to as E-CCHs. The demodulation of information in an E-CCH may be based on a CRS or on a DMRS.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a conventional DMRS structure.
Referring to FIG. 6, DMRS REs 610 are placed in some OFDM symbols of a PRB. When there are two NodeB transmitter antenna ports, a first DMRS transmission is assumed to apply the Orthogonal Covering Code (OCC) of {1, 1} over two DMRS REs that are located in a same frequency position and are successive in the time domain while a second DMRS transmission is assumed to apply the OCC of {1, −1}. A UE receiver can estimate the channel experienced by the signal from each NodeB transmitter antenna port by removing a respective OCC.
UL Control Information (UCI) is transmitted from a UE to a NodeB to facilitate PDSCH transmissions or PUSCH transmissions. UCI includes HARQ-ACK information associated with a transmission of one or more Transport Blocks (TBs) in a PDSCH, Channel State Information (CSI) informing a NodeB about a channel experienced by DL transmissions to a UE, and Service Request (SR) informing a NodeB that a UE has data to transmit. CSI may include a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), which implicitly or explicitly informs a NodeB of a wideband or a sub-band SINR experienced by a UE, a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), which informs of an entry in a precoding matrix for a NodeB to apply beamforming to a DL signal transmission, or a Rank Indicator (RI) which informs a NodeB that a UE can support spatial multiplexing for a DL signal transmission.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a conventional structure for a HARQ-ACK signal transmission in one of the two subframe slots of a PUCCH.
Referring to FIG. 7, HARQ-ACK signals and RS that enable coherent demodulation of HARQ-ACK signals are transmitted in one slot 710 of a PUCCH subframe including 2 slots. The transmission in the other slot can be at a different part of the UL BW. HARQ-ACK information bits 720 modulate 730 a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence 740, for example using Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) for 1 HARQ-ACK bit or QPSK for 2 HARQ-ACK bits, which is then transmitted after performing a Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) operation 750. Each RS 760 is transmitted using an unmodulated ZC sequence.
For a UL system BW including NRBmax, UL RBs, where each RB includes NscRB=12 REs, a ZC sequence ru,v(α)(n) can be defined by a Cyclic Shift (CS) α of a base ZC sequence ru,v(n) according to ru,v(α)(n)=ejαn ru,v(n), 0≦n<MscRS, where MscRS=mNscRB is a length of the ZC sequence, 1≦m≦NRBmax, UL, and ru,v(n)=xq(n mod NZCRS) where a qth root ZC sequence is defined by
                    x        q                          (        m        )              =          exp                    (                                            -              jπ                                                                                qm                                            (                                  m                  +                  1                                )                                                          N            ZC            RS                          )              ,0≦m≦NZCRS−1 with q given by q=└ q+1/2┘+v·(−1)└2 q┘ and q given by q=NZCRS·(u+1)/31. A length NZCRS of a ZC sequence is given by a largest prime number such that NZCRS<MscRS. Multiple RS sequences can be defined from a single base sequence through different values of α. A PUCCH transmission is assumed to be in one RB (MscRS=NscRB).
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a conventional structure for a periodic CSI signal transmission in one of the two subframe slots of a PUCCH.
Referring to FIG. 8, CSI signals and RSs that enable coherent demodulation of CSI signals are transmitted in one slot 810 of a PUCCH subframe including 2 slots. The transmission in the other slot can be at a different part of the UL BW. After encoding (using for example a block code) and modulation (using for example QPSK) which are not shown for brevity, encoded CSI bits 820 modulate 830 a ZC sequence 840 which is then transmitted after performing an IFFT operation 840. Each RS 850 is transmitted using an unmodulated ZC sequence.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a transmitter for a ZC sequence for which, without modulation, serves as an RS and with modulation serves as a HARQ-ACK signal or as a CSI signal.
Referring to FIG. 9, a mapper 920 maps a ZC sequence 910 to REs of an assigned transmission BW as they are indicated by RE selection unit 925. Subsequently, an IFFT is performed by IFFT unit 930, a CS is applied to the output by CS unit 940, followed by scrambling with a cell-specific sequence using scrambler 950, a Cyclic Prefix (CP) is inserted by CP insertion unit 960, and the resulting signal is filtered by filter 970. Finally, a transmission power PPUCCH is applied by power amplifier 980 and a ZC sequence is transmitted 990. The reverse of these operations is performed at a NodeB receiver.
Different CSs of a ZC sequence provide orthogonal ZC sequences. Therefore, different CSs a of a same ZC sequence can be allocated to different UEs in a same PUCCH RB and achieve orthogonal multiplexing for HARQ-ACK signals and RS or for CSI signals and RS. For a RB including NscRB=12 REs, there are 12 different CSs. A number of usable CSs depends on the channel dispersion characteristics, and can typically range between 3 and 12 CSs. Orthogonal multiplexing can also be in the time domain using OCC where PUCCH symbols conveying a same signal type in each slot are multiplied with elements of an OCC. For example, for the structure in FIG. 7, a HARQ-ACK signal transmission can be modulated by a length-4 OCC, such as a Walsh-Hadamard (WH) OCC, while an RS transmission can be modulated by a length-3 OCC, such as a DFT OCC. In this manner, the multiplexing capacity is increased by a factor of 3 (determined by the OCC with the smaller length Noc).
UEs may communicate over a total system BW or over only a part of the system BW. The former UEs can benefit from most or all network capabilities for PDSCH receptions or PUSCH transmissions, are typically used by humans, and are referred to as conventional UEs herein. The latter UEs have substantially reduced capabilities compared to the former UEs in order to substantially reduce their cost, are typically associated with machines, and are referred to as Machine Type Communication (MTC) UEs herein.
MTC UEs are low cost devices targeting various low data rate traffic applications including smart metering, intelligent transport systems, consumer electronics, and medical devices. Typical traffic patterns from MTC UEs are characterized by low duty cycles and small data packets in the order of a few tens or a few hundred bytes. MTC UEs have typically low mobility, but high mobility MTCs, such as in motor vehicles, for example, may also exist. Also, unlike conventional UEs, MTC UEs generate more UL than DL traffic and a majority of DL traffic is higher layer control information, such as Radio Resource Control (RRC) information, for configuration of a communication with a NodeB.
Unlike conventional UEs, such as for example a smart-phone, which may have many features, MTC UEs only have a minimum of necessary features, and the modem is a primary contributor to the cost of an MTC UE. Therefore, main cost drivers for MTC UEs are Radio Frequency (RF) components and Digital Base-Band (DBB) components mainly for the receiver. RF components include the power amplifier, filters, transceiver radio chains, and possibly a duplexer (for full duplex FDD operation). DBB components include a channel estimator, a channel equalizer, a PDCCH decoder, a PDSCH decoder, and a subframe buffer. For example, a channel estimator may be based on a Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) estimator, a channel equalizer may be an FFT, a PDCCH decoder may be a decoder for a Tail Biting Convolutional Code (TBCC), and the data decoder may be a decoder for a Turbo Code (TC) or a TBCC.
RF costs are related to implementation and production methods as well as to design choices. For example, considering economies of scale, it may be more cost effective to use the same amplifier for conventional UEs and MTC UEs, which will also ensure a same UL coverage, while the number of transmitter antennas for MTC UEs may be limited to one antenna.
DBB costs are related to the communication capabilities of MTC UEs and are dominated by the receiver complexity, which is typically about an order of magnitude larger than the transmitter complexity. As the channel estimator complexity, the FFT complexity and the subframe buffering requirements are directly associated to the reception BW, DL transmissions to MTC UEs may be over a smaller BW than DL transmissions to conventional UEs. For example, DL transmissions to MTC UEs may be over a 1.4 MHz BW while DL transmissions to conventional UEs may be over a 20 MHz BW.
A complexity of a PDCCH decoder depends on a number of decoding operations an MTC UE needs to perform per DL subframe. As MTC UEs do not need to support a same number of transmission modes (TMs) as conventional UEs, for example MTC UEs may not need to support spatial multiplexing for PDSCH or for PUSCH, a maximum number of decoding operations per DL subframe can be significantly smaller than that for conventional UEs. A complexity of a PDSCH decoder depends on a maximum supportable data rate. Allowing for a relatively small maximum data rate for MTC UEs provides a limit to an associated decoder complexity.
MTC UEs generally access the communication system in the same manner as conventional UEs. Synchronization signals are first acquired to establish synchronization with a NodeB followed by a detection of a Broadcast CHannel (BCH) that conveys essential information for subsequent communication between a NodeB and UEs (conventional or MTC ones). Regardless of a DL BW, synchronization signals and BCH are transmitted over a minimum DL BW located in the center of a DL BW, such as in the middle six RBs of a DL BW, and over a number of OFDM symbols in a subframe, for example. After establishing communication with a NodeB, a different part of a DL BW may be allocated to an MTC UE.
One aspect of supporting communication of MTC UEs is a design of DL control signaling. As transmissions of C-CCHs are distributed substantially over a total DL system BW, if MTC UEs receive DL transmissions only in a BW smaller than the total BW, the MTC UEs may not be able to decode C-CCHs. The use of E-CCHs can provide DL control signaling support for MTC UEs, but due to reduced receiver DBB capabilities of MTC UEs, it may not be possible to use a same design of E-CCHs for MTC UEs and for conventional UEs.
Another aspect of supporting communication of MTC UEs is a reduction in an overhead associated with DL control signaling and UL control signaling for MTC UEs. As data TBs associated with MTC UEs are typically substantially smaller than the ones associated with conventional UEs, applying same DL or UL control or data multiplexing mechanisms for MTC UEs as for conventional UEs will cause resource utilization for MTC UEs to be substantially worse than the resource utilization for conventional UEs.
Another aspect of supporting communication of MTC UEs is applying a set of functionalities associated with signal transmissions to or from MTC UEs. If signal transmissions for MTC UEs are over a smaller BW than for conventional UEs, different functionalities can be often needed for MTC UEs compared to conventional UEs. Higher power utilization can also be desirable for MTC UEs.
Therefore, there is a need to design control signaling and data or control multiplexing for MTC UEs.
There is also a need to reduce control overhead for MTC UEs.
There is also a need to define, whenever necessary, different functionalities for signal transmissions to or from MTC UEs compared to conventional UEs and to increase power savings for MTC UEs.

Communication support for low capability devices


An example method to mediate messages in a product integration platform includes receiving a message request from a source healthcare system where the message request contains a message payload. The example method includes determining an interface to be used to route the message to a target healthcare system. The example method includes creating a platform message based on the message request. The example method includes adapting the platform message into a message format expected by the interface and routing the platform message to the interface.

Healthcare environments, such as hospitals or clinics, include information products and/or systems. Healthcare information systems may include, for example, hospital information systems (HIS), radiology information systems (RIS), clinical information systems (CIS), and cardiovascular information systems (CVIS), and storage systems, such as picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), library information systems (LIS), and electronic medical records (EMR). Information stored may include patient medication orders, medical histories, imaging data, test results, diagnosis information, management information, and/or scheduling information, for example.
Often times, these healthcare information systems will be required to communicate to provide higher quality healthcare services with increased efficiency. However, many healthcare information systems operate using various message exchange standards and/or protocols that may make system integration and/or communication more difficult.

Intelligent mediation of messages in a healthcare product integration platform


A method of treating oil and gas produced water may include: receiving produced water from one or more wells; separating an aqueous portion of the produced water from oil and solids included in the produced water in order to provide recovered water; performing anaerobic bio-digestion of organic matter included in the produced water using a biomass mixture of anaerobic bacteria obtained from a plurality of wells; aerating the recovered water in order to promote metal precipitation; and performing aerobic bio-digestion of organic matter present in the recovered water. Some embodiments may also include one or more of anoxic equalization, filtration, pasteurization, reverse osmosis, and biocide treatment of the recovered water. The recovered water may be used for oil and gas well fracking and/or land and stream application. Other methods of treating oil and gas produced water are also described.

There is an increasing problem with scarcity of available water around the world with only about 3% of total water being freshwater. The world's population is estimated at 7.5 billion with demand for freshwater sources growing rapidly. Water scarcity is recognized as one of the greatest problems and challenges of the 21st Century making water reuse a necessity. The oil and gas industry in managing oil and gas production both onshore and offshore have access to an untapped source of potential useable water, known as produced water, that is considered a hazardous waste product by industry and requiring costly disposal. Produced water includes formation water which may include seawater or freshwater that has been trapped in geological reservoirs with oil and natural gas. Globally, the produced water to oil ratio is about 3:1 with global estimates of approximately 250 million barrels/day. As wells mature, this ratio generally increases.
Chemical constituents and characteristics of produced water can vary significantly from location to location and region to region. Although primary constituents may vary in quantity, they remain a mixture of organic and inorganic compounds with insoluble formation solids. Minerals and heavy metals along with dissolved gasses and dispersed hydrocarbons are also present, along with the potential for naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), thus increasing the challenges for development of an effective treatment process.
Due to demands for freshwater and increasing production activity, there is a serious need for treatment methods that are flexible and cost effective to collect, treat, and recycle produced water for both stream and land application to meet irrigation needs and restoration of underground freshwater supplies. Multiple approaches have been employed to try and achieve repurposing of produced water; however, these approaches have proven to be deficient for a number of reasons, including an inability to handle large treatment volumes and high operational costs.
Methods currently employed to treat produced water have generally been limited for repurposing to meet a fracking water standard that is high in total dissolved solids consisting primarily of salt and commonly referred to as brackish or brine water. Melo et al. (Melo et al. 2010, Desalination, 250, 1016-1018) published a treatment method that evaluated incorporation of reverse osmosis and nano-filtration to produce a potentially beneficial product. The disclosed method included multiple pre-treatment steps and incorporated an oil/water separator, water softener, sand filters, ion exchange softener and cartridge filtration. One concern that the authors had with the process was that hazardous materials might still be present. No further reports on this treatment method have been identified.
Additional methods for purifying produced water have been employed such as evaporation/condensation and distillation, but large volume processing and time of processing remain serious issues for these types of approaches. Membrane anaerobic bioreactor approaches have had some laboratory success. For example, Pendashteh (Pendashteh et al. 2012. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 90, 45-55) reported the necessary reaction time for processing to be at least 12 hours, with 48 hours being optimal under their laboratory experimental design. Low throughput and reactor time necessary thus far have defeated field application of that approach.
There is a need for improved methods for treating produced water from oil field operation so that processed produced water may be transformed for useful purposes.

Methods for treatment and purification of oil and gas produced water


An image forming system includes: an image forming mechanism configured to form an image on a sheet of a transfer material; a post-processor configured to perform post-processing on a plurality of sheets of transfer materials, respectively, there being on at least one of which a respective image has been formed by the image forming mechanism; a transporter to transport the sheets through the post-processor along one or more transport paths; and a controller operable to do the following including, determine a first stopping condition of whether the number of sheets exceeds a reference number, and detect a second stopping condition of whether a cumulative thickness of the sheets loaded in the post-processor exceeds a reference thickness, and stop further image formation by the image forming mechanism when at least one of the first and second stopping conditions is satisfied.

In general, an electronographic image forming system, for example, a copier, a facsimile, a printer, etc., includes an image forming mechanism, an ejection tray, and a finisher. The image forming mechanism may form an image, such as a toner image, on a sheet of a recording medium (e.g. transfer material). After images are formed, the sheets may be sent to the finisher that may perform post-processing, for example, aligning, sorting, stapling, and/or punching of recording mediums.
However, it is inappropriate to staple the sheets when the finisher receives a larger amount of sheets than it has the capacity to staple or when only one recording medium is sent to the finisher. In such cases, the finisher may eject the sheets without stapling.
An example finisher may include a stapler to staple sheets, a stapling determination unit to determine whether or not stapling is appropriate, and an ejection tray. The stapling determination unit may include a unit to determine whether or not the number of transfer materials exceeds the capacity of the stapler. When the finisher determines that the stapling of the transfer materials is inappropriate, the finisher may eject the sheets onto the ejection tray without stapling.
However, use of glossy sheets in an image forming system has been increasing due to an increased demand for photo image forming. The glossy sheets have lower friction force and are more slippery. Therefore, it is difficult to tidily stack a large amount of glossy sheets on the ejection tray when the sheets are automatically ejected without being stapled. Further, failure in transporting the sheets (e.g. paper jam) may occur.


An electromagnetic bandgap structure is provided, which includes a ground layer; a first power layer facing an upper portion of the ground layer with a dielectric interposed and comprising at least one first patch and at least one first branch; and a second power layer facing an upper portion of the first power layer with a dielectric interposed and comprising at least one second patch and at least one second branch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure, and more particularly, to an EBG interrupting transmission of wideband noise and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently marketed multimedia devices are designed such that devices having various signal characteristics such as digital, analog, radio frequency (RF), and the like are combined on a single printed circuit board (PCB), so as to reduce size and weight of the multimedia devices.
In the multimedia devices, a noise induced from one device easily propagates to another device through the PCB being shared. According to an increase in an operation speed of the device and a transmission rate of signal lines, frequency characteristics of the propagated noise are becoming wideband.
The wideband noise may reduce a noise margin necessary for power stabilization of a digital device. Also, the wideband noise may increase undesired reduction in a signal amplitude, overshot, and jitter as being coupled with the signal lines. In case of an RF device, reception sensitivity may be reduced due to the wideband noise. An apparatus capable of covering frequency regions from a megahertz (MHz) band to a gigahertz (GHz) band is necessary to isolate such a wideband noise.
Conventional technologies for isolating the wideband noise is ineffective for size reduction and have a relatively narrow noise isolation frequency band. Therefore, an electromagnetic bandgap structure needs to be enlarged in order to reduce the noise isolation frequency band to the MHz band.
To make the noise isolation frequency appropriate for a wideband, electromagnetic bandgap structures having different noise isolation frequencies need to be used in to combination, which may also increase the entire size. Accordingly, there is a desire for a minimized apparatus capable of a noise from the MHz band while having wideband noise characteristics.

Electromagnetic bandgap structure and method for manufacturing electromagnetic bandgap structure

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A security subsystem controls the data transfer rights among components of a secured system via a common bus. The security subsystem includes a secure block that is coupled to an access controller, preferably via a hard-wired connection to the controller. This secure block exclusively controls the access rights among components, and can effectively isolate security functions and data from the main processor. Because the security is provided via access control to components or subsets of components via a common bus, an efficient and effective integration of the security subsystem within the secured system can be achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of electronic systems, and in particular to an electronic system with a security co-processor that isolates select blocks from a main processor, thereby isolating the select blocks from a potential compromise of the main processor.
2. Description of Related Art
The need for security systems to protect electronic systems from hackers, and/or the viruses that some hackers produce, continues to increase. In the realm of entertainment systems, hackers have targeted such devices as cable or satellite "converter boxes", in an attempt to steal the services provided without paying the required access fees. In the realm of computing systems, hackers continually attempt to access and/or modify information in other computers, either directly or via the dissemination of a virus program. As advances are made in home-automation and seamless integration of consumer equipment, the distinction between a "computing system", an "entertainment system", an "appliance network", and so on, will become increasingly blurred, and virtually all or most of one's collection of electronic devices will be susceptible to hackers.
In a typical security system, such as used for preventing access to select content material from a television converter box, a security device, such as a "smart card" is used to authenticate a user's action, such as the purchase of the content material. Typically, the smart card generates a cryptographic key that is communicated to a decryption device that decrypts the content material using this key. Also typically, to allow for modular design practices, the smart card device communicates this key to the decryption device via a common bus, generally under the control of a processor that also controls other functions within the converter box. A corruption of the code used by the processor can compromise the security provided by the smart card, for example, by copying the key and distributing it to users who have not purchased the material.
In other security systems, the security device is isolated from the common bus, and from the common processor. Such systems, however, are generally more costly, requiring direct point-to-point connections, and less versatile, because of the direct connection between particular devices. Also, because these systems are purposefully isolated from the common processor, these systems are generally not well integrated into the common system, often, for example, having a different user interface from the interface provided by the common processor. A common example of such a system is the maintenance systems common on a mainframe computer system, wherein remote diagnostics occur via a secure channel. In the personal computer field, or consumer electronics field, secure coprocessors are used to provide secure processes and procedures, but are purposely provided a minimal interface with the main processor of the computer or consumer device.

Security processor with bus configuration


The disposable excreta management device has a longitudinal centerline, a transverse centerline, a wearer facing surface and an opposing surface. The disposable excreta management device comprises a flexible bag to contain excreta and an adhesive flange to attach the device to the body of a wearer. The flexible bag has an opening surrounded by the adhesive flange. The adhesive flange has an outer periphery and an inner periphery. The adhesive flange comprises an adhesive layer and a substrate. The substrate has at least one base-slit extending from the outer periphery to the inner periphery along the longitudinal centerline. Alternatively, the adhesive layer may have a surface-slit extending from the outer periphery to the inner periphery along the longitudinal centerline and the surface-slit is positioned between an anus and a urethra when the device is worn.

Excreta management devices are known as articles that are designed to be worn principally by incontinence sufferers and in particular by bedridden patients. Such excreta management devices are attached to the perianal area or urethral area of a wearer and are intended to entrap and immediately contain fecal material, urine and other bodily discharges.
A representative excreta management device is disclosed in, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,989. It discloses a disposable elimination-trapping bag comprising a sack having an open-top portion and a thin annular oval-shaped flange secured to the sack around the open-top portion. The flange comprises a layer of adhesive material as a means of attaching the disposable bag to a wearer. The disposable bag is specifically designed for attachment to a wearer in the vicinity of the anus.
Another representative excreta management device is disclosed in, e.g. UK Patent Application No. GB 2152387A. It discloses a fecal collector comprising an elongate bag and a flat ring. The elongate bag comprises a pair of panels of thermoplastic sheet joined at their margins such that the bag has an opening at one end thereof. The surface of the flat ring is coated with a layer of pressure-sensitive and water-resistant adhesive. The inner margin of the flat ring defines a generally circular aperture that is directly aligned with the opening of the elongate bag. The flat ring and the elongate bag are secured together along the inner margin of the ring. The flat ring of the fecal collector is adhesively attached to the perianal area of a wearer.
A problem naturally associated with such a device is its attachment to the human body. The approach mostly used in the field is to provide the device with an adhesive flange sticking to the perianal or urethral area. The complete attachment of the device to the desired area of the skin of a wearer is a key point in the excreta management device comprising an adhesive flange. Incomplete attachment of the device leads to a serious problem, in particular, incomplete collection of feces/urine and leakage of feces/urine. For example, if the adhesive flange of an excreta management device is not completely attached to the skin around an excretory orifice (e.g., an anal orifice or a urethra orifice) of a wearer, excreta such as feces or urine intrude between the flange and the skin, and then substantial pressure occurs toward the flange of the device during the defecation process. Such substantial pressure results in the detachment of the adhesively secured device.
As disclosed in the above prior arts, an adhesive flange used for an excreta management device conventionally has an opening positioned at the center of the flange, and comprises a substrate continuously surrounding the opening and an adhesive layer supported by the substrate. The substrate to support the adhesive layer conventionally is made from inelastic materials such as nonwoven materials, foams or plastic films. The adhesive layer is applied on the substrate such that the adhesive layer continuously surrounds the opening. Therefore, the adhesive flange is adhesively attached to the skin in whole circumference of an excretory orifice when the device is worn.
In such a conventional adhesive flange, it has been recognized that the adhesive flange often/sometimes detaches from the wearer's skin during use of the device due to skin movement caused by a wearer's motion such as walking, crawling, running, sitting and defecating. This is because the adhesive flange does not sufficiently conform to such movement of the skin of a wearer due to inelasticity of the substrate of the adhesive flange continuously attached to the skin in whole circumference of an excretory orifice. If intense skin movements happen during use of the device, the conventional substrate tends to prevent the adhesive flange from following such skin movements. This results in partial/complete detachment (i.e., the above-mentioned "incomplete attachment") of the adhesive flange from the wearer's skin. Such detachment leads to incomplete-collection/leakage of excreta, and often/sometimes makes the wearer feel even skin pain when the detachment of the adhesive flange happens. Particularly, detachment of the adhesive flange at a perineum (i.e., region between an anus and a urethral orifice) tends to provide the wearer with serious skin pain since a perineum is usually very sensitive.
In case of female wearers having genitalia at a perineum, attachment of the adhesive flange at a perineum provides serious discomfort. In addition, discharged urine tends to flow to a perineum since a female wearer has a urethral orifice close to a perineum. This could result in contact of the adhesive layer constituting the adhesive flange with urine. The contact of the adhesive layer with urine facilitates detachment of the adhesive flange at a perineum and leads to deterioration of the adhesive layer.
Accordingly, there still exists a need for an excreta management device which conforms movement of a wearer such that the device continues to be surely attached to the desired area of the skin of a wearer during use of the device, and which does not provide a wearer with discomfort and skin pain during use of the device.


The present invention relates to an aqueous cosmetic composition based on a bicarbonate salt, said composition being stabilized by a pair of particular gelling agents, and also to the cosmetic use thereof as a deodorant. It also relates to a roll-on deodorant containing this composition.

Deodorants and antiperspirants have become indispensable hygiene products. While the first act on perspiration odors either by camouflaging them or by targeting the bacteria that feed on apocrine sweat, or else by absorbing perspiration, the second regulate the amount of sweat emitted. The innocuousness of the aluminum salts used as antiperspirant agents has been questioned over the past few years, and this has led to consumers turning to products containing natural deodorant agents, such as talc and/or certain plants in dried form or in the form of essential oils. However, the effectiveness of these products is not always optimal.
Sodium bicarbonate constitutes a recognized natural deodorant active agent. At the doses considered to be effective, its formulation is on the other hand complicated by its incompatibility with numerous starting materials. It in particular has a tendency to degrade in aqueous or aqueous-alcoholic solutions, in which it is moreover difficult to dissolve. In addition to the unpleasant feeling that it causes on the skin, the presence of sodium bicarbonate crystals is in particular problematic when this compound is introduced into compositions dispensed in roll-on deodorants, because of the propensity of these crystals to block the rollerball.
For this reason, roll-on deodorants contain a limited amount (less than 3% by weight) of sodium bicarbonate, or else it is recommended to shake them before use.
One solution for overcoming this problem is proposed in document U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,962. It consists in formulating the bicarbonate salts in an aqueous-alcoholic medium in the presence of a particular suspending agent, hydroxyethylcellulose, and optionally of polyols. It is indicated in this document that the other cellulose derivatives, and in particular carboxymethylcellulose, do not make it possible to prevent sodium bicarbonate sedimentation. It is moreover essential for the composition to contain large amounts of alcohol (at least 50%). The solution proposed is not therefore satisfactory, because of the irritation that the composition may cause on application, in particular to skin that has recently undergone hair removal.
An alternative solution is presented in document U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,179, which consists in coating bicarbonate crystallites with a mixture of fragrance and of polymer, generally by spraying. The polymer can be chosen from a diversity of materials of natural or synthetic origin, including plant gums, xanthan gum and cellulose derivatives. This process has the drawback of being complex and thus negatively affects the production costs of the deodorants for which it is implemented. In addition, the coated crystallites are intended to be incorporated into anhydrous compositions containing high volatile oil contents and not into aqueous gels or emulsions with a continuous aqueous phase, which are sought for the freshness effect that they provide.

Bicarbonate-based aqueous cosmetic composition


To provide a water-in-oil emulsion composition having a high stability and which provides fresh feeling in use and glossy finish. The water-in-oil emulsion composition of the present invention is characterized by comprising: (a) 1 to 20 mass % of a polyhydric alcohol fatty acid ester and/or a hydrocarbon; (b) 3 to 20 mass % of a transparent non-volatile silicone oil that separates when mixed with component (a) at 25° C.; (c) 0.1 to 5 mass % of zinc decyl trisiloxanecarboxylate; and (d) water.

Generally, it is known that a water-in-oil emulsion composition widely used as a base for cosmetics increases in fresh feeling in use as the blending quantity of water increases. Moreover, viscosity increases as the internal-aqueous-phase increases and it tends to become stabilized as a composition. On the other hand, it is also known that incorporating a large amount of water to a water-in-oil emulsion composition is not easy and contrivance in the formulation is necessary.
Moreover, in a water-in-oil emulsion composition, various oil agents such as ester oil, silicone oil and hydrocarbon oil are used according to desired effects, and, in general, each property of these oils differ. Therefore, when two different oil agents are used in combination to obtain an emulsion composition having respective properties, it was not easy to maintain stability of the composition because of the separation of oil agents. The combination of oil agents which can be used in combination in a water-in-oil emulsion composition was limited.
Such problems in stability and the like of a water-in-oil emulsion composition that an aqueous phase and an oil phase are respectively related have been solved generally by combining highly compatible oil agents, or by gelling an oil phase that is a continuous-phase and suppressing fluidity and separation of the total composition.


This invention relates to the field of immune therapy of cancer, more specifically to immunoconjugates of a cytotoxic moiety with a targeting moiety, more specifically to immunoconjugates of antibodies or fragments or functional derivatives of antibodies coupled to a cytotoxic substance such as drugs, toxins or radioisotopes. It especially relates to the release of substances bound to a targeting moiety through the use of acid-cleavable linker molecules.

Immunotherapy is already an often suggested treatment modality in the field of cancer therapy. With the targeting possibility of antibodies or members of a specific binding pair a much more precise localization of the active compounds can be achieved, while at the same time the overall dose of the active compound can be lowered, thereby reducing the general detrimental effects. In early attempts (monoclonal) antibodies or other targeting moieties have been loaded directly with radioactive elements such as .sup.67 Ga, .sup.131 I, .sup.99m Tc, .sup.111 In or other isotopes (e.g. Marchalonis J.J., Biochem. J. 113, 299-305, 1969). In a later study coupling of isotopes to antibodies has been achieved by using chelating agents such as EDTA (Krejcarek and Tucker, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 77, 581-585, 1977) or DTPA (U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,106).
The use of drugs or toxins has also been suggested. The coupling of drugs or toxins to the antibody or to a carrier loaded with one or more antibodies has to be performed through a linking agent, although it is also possible to make recombinant fusion proteins of toxins and/or carriers and targeting moiety.
Linking agents are well known and a considerable range of these reagents is available. In broad terms, a linking reagent comprises two or more reactive functional groups covalently linked together, such as carbohydroxy-, amino-, thio- or sulfhydryl-groups. The covalent linkage between the two functional groups may be direct, but in many cases the reactive functional groups are separated by respective covalent attachment to a bridging group or spacer. The reactive functional groups may be the same or different. Different groups are to be preferred because they allow a more controlled coupling.
The chemical structure of the linker determines the ability of the active compound to be released and to express its activity at the target site. Initially, peptidic linker structures were applied, which were susceptible to cleavage by lysosomal enzymes (Trouet et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 79, 626-629, 1982). This approach requires internalization of the conjugates following binding to the target cell. In the target cell the lysosomal enzymes release the active compound from the targeting molecule.
Another development is a linker structure based on aconitic acid, in order to attach amino group containing drugs through an acid labile amide bond (Shen and Ryser, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 102, 1048-1054, 1981). Here again effective release of the drug requires transport of the conjugates to intracellular, acidic organelles such as endosomes and lysosomes (De Duve et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 137, 391-397, 1983).
The same holds true for U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,492 which describes the use of amino-sulfhydryl linking reagents characterised by the ability to hydrolyse in mildly acidic solutions.
For the application of such a linker, the conjugate has to be internalized. However, only a minor part of the antibodies produced against tumour-associated antigens are able to induce internalization of the immune complex and thus of the active compound attached. This is especially true when the size of the conjugate is increased by the presence of a carrier.
This failure to induce internalization is a major drawback in the use of immunoconjugates in the field of cancer therapy.


A bit sequence (b, b′) from QPSK or QAM symbols is decoded, in which an associated receive probability (w, w′) is assigned to each receive bit (b, b′). The receive probability (w, w′) is adaptively determined taking into account the transfer properties of the channel.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for decoding a bit sequence from QPSK or QAM symbols
There are generally two known fundamental techniques for decoding QPSK or QAM symbols-hard demapping and soft demapping. In the hard demapping approach, the individual received QPSK or QAM signals (received vectors) are assigned based on an unambiguous decision to a constellation point (symbol vector) (see FIG. 16). With soft demapping, decoding of the received signals as data is performed, from which data and the reliability of a given decision for a specific QPSK or QAM symbol is obtained (see FIG. 17). Examples of these soft-decision-output demappers are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,661,282; 6,115,435; 6,226,333 and 6,424,685 as well as the article by Tosato F., Bisoglia P. "Simplified Soft-Output-Demapper for Binary Interleaved. COFDM with Application to HIPERLAN/2", Research Report, Department of Electronics, University of Padova, 2001.
This soft decision decoding, which weights the demodulated data by the error probability of the data, results in an improved forward error correction. For communication systems that utilize M-level QAM, the receiver thus requires a decoding algorithm that uses a two-dimensional (complex) receive signal to calculate the corresponding soft decision values as the input signals for the channel decoder. The prerequisite to ensure the reliability of this type of system is that the correct occurrence probability parameters for a given symbol are used as the basis for calculating the corresponding soft decision values.
As a rule, the receiver operates according to the maximum likelihood principle in which the individual probabilities are each multiplied and the receive sequence with the highest overall probability is selected. The main approach to determining the required individual probabilities is to use the Euclidean distance between receive vector and the nearest ideal symbol vector. In addition, it is generally assumed that the transfer channel shows a Gaussian amplitude distribution for the noise. Given a high signal-to-noise ratio, the logarithmic maximum likelihood function for this transfer channel is assumed to be approximately represented by:LLR˜(CTF(i)2/σ2*(min[r(i)−α0]−min[r(i)−α1]2)where:    i is an index for the carrier I,    CTF is a noise amplitude of the channel transfer function,    σ2 is a noise variance in the transfer channel,    r(i) is a receive vector with the coordinates I/Q,    α0 is the set of constellation points that correspond to a transmitted "0" (corresponding to the "ideal" symbol vectors for a transmitted "0"), and    α1 is the set of constellation points that correspond to a transmitted "1" (corresponding to the "ideal" symbol vectors for a transmitted "1").
In coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (COFDM) systems, the soft information for the forward error correction (FEC) should for this reason be computed from the energy of the given carrier, the detected noise energy, and the probability of the corresponding constellation point.
The prior-art approach to accomplishing this starts with a fixed noise energy.
Calculation of the soft information is frequently implemented using mapping or lookup tables, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,435. Using this approach, the handling of the various constellations or hierarchy modes, such as those supporting, for example, DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting—terrestrial), specifically, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, a non-hierarchical constellation, a hierarchical constellation, et cetera, is difficult.
If, on the other hand, the decoding characteristic is calculated explicitly, the implementation is often either too complex, or significant approximation errors occur. For example, although U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,685 provides a comparatively simple calculation of the decoding characteristic from polar coordinates, considerable effort is required to adapt to the different constellations or hierarchy modes.
To simplify the decoding process, recent publications propose a transformation of the received constellation vectors into a simpler constellation arrangement. The term used here is "remapping". For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,661,282 describes a remapping by subtraction of an offset. However, this procedure is suitable only for the 16-QAM method. However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,333 describes the decoding of QAM symbols from a single quadrant by employing a rotator.
Therefore, there is a need for a technique of decoding QPSK or QAM symbols in which different constellations and hierarchy modes are easily implementable. In addition, the technique should have a high degree of reliability in predicting the decoded QPSK or QAM symbols.

Apparatus and method for decoding a bit sequence from QPSK or QAM symbols


The invention is aimed at providing a lens having a wider angle of view, increased relative aperture, and higher quality of images. To achieve this technical object, there is a wide-angle lens with a large relative aperture, which contains an aperture diaphragm and seven optical components arranged along the pathway of luminous radiation from the object to the image as follows: the first positive component, the second one, which is a negative meniscus having the concave surface facing the image side, the third negative component, the fourth and the fifth components, the sixth negative component, the seventh positive component, and the aperture diaphragm located between the fifth and the sixth components, wherein the fourth component has a negative power and is made up of two lenses cemented together, the first lens being a biconcave one and the second lens being a biconvex one, the fifth component is a biconvex lens having a positive power, the sixth component is a single biconcave lens, the seventh component is a meniscus with its concave surface facing the object, and after the seventh component several additional ones are introduced, i.e. the eighth component, which is a biconvex lens, the ninth component having a positive power, which is cemented of two lenses, of which the first is a negative meniscus with its concave surface facing the image, and the second one is positive, the tenth component, which is a negative meniscus with its convex surface facing the image, and the eleventh component having a positive power, which is built up of two lenses cemented together, the first lens being a positive biconvex one and the second lens being a negative biconcave one.

A wide-angle hydro lens is known, comprising five components, of which the first one is a positive (converging) meniscus with its convex surface facing the object side, the second and the third ones are negative menisci, the fourth one is a negative meniscus cemented to a biconvex lens, the fifth component is a positive meniscus cemented to a negative one, and the sixth component is a biconvex lens. The lens demonstrates adequate correction of aberrations and features a considerable angle of view in water 2ω=90° (in the air 2ω=141°).
The disadvantage of this lens is its insufficient relative aperture (1:2.8).
A fast lens "Electron-1" is known comprising eight components, the first of which is a negative meniscus cemented to a biconvex lens, the second one is a biconvex lens, the third one is a positive meniscus, the fourth component is a positive meniscus cemented to a negative one, the fifth one is a meniscus, the sixth one is a positive meniscus, the sevenths one is a biconvex lens, and the eighth component is a biconcave lens. This lens has a large relative aperture (1:0.75).
The limitation of this lens is its small field of view (2Y=180 mm) and an appreciable deterioration of image quality when shifting from the field of view center to its margin (from 0 mm to 180 mm).
A lens is known comprising seven optical components, of which the first two are negative menisci, the third one is a biconcave lens cemented to a biconvex lens, the fourth one is a biconvex lens, the fifth one is a diverging lens cemented to a biconvex one, the sixth component is a biconvex lens with its first surface on the way of optical radiation being aspherical, and the seventh one is a plane-parallel plate. This lens is characterized by a large relative aperture (1:0.8) and a substantial angle of view (2ω=62.3°).
The drawbacks of this lens are its insufficient angle of view and application of the lens with an aspherical surface, which is not adaptable to a streamlined production.
The principles of developing wide-angle lenses are set forth in the paper. The paper presents the methods of selecting the schematic arrangement of the lens that would correspond to the specified parameters. The author describes the photographing lens and the projection lens developed according to the proposed methods. The schematic arrangement of the "Planar" type lens was accepted as a baseline configuration. The drawback of the mentioned lens was its poor light distribution. The basic configuration was supplemented by corrective elements of the wide-angle lenses "Mir" and "Russar". By means of introducing the power-corrective lens components the main planes of the lens were shifted towards the image plane in order to increase S′F′, and the magnitude of negative distortion was reduced. The photographing lens (FIG. 1) mentioned in the paper was developed using this methods, and it is the closest one to the claimed invention in its essential technical features.
The author has been granted the inventor's certificate for that lens. The lens comprises the aperture diaphragm and seven optical components, of which the first one is a positive meniscus, the second and the third ones are negative menisci with their concave surfaces facing an image side, the fourth one is a positive meniscus, the fifth one is a negative meniscus with its concave surface facing an object side, the sixth component is a positive meniscus having the concave surface facing an object side, which is built up of a biconcave and a biconvex lenses cemented together, the seventh component is biconvex, and the aperture diaphragm is located between the fifth and the sixth components. The lens with its specified characteristics provides high image quality and adequately uniform light distribution. The disadvantages of this lens are its insufficient angle of view (2ω=53°) and small aperture ratio (1:1.4).
The latter invention has been taken as a prototype.


There is provided a device for calculating impedances of a battery cell for respective frequency domains. The device includes: a Fourier transformation calculator configured to perform Fourier transformation on voltage waveform data and current waveform data, which are output from the battery cell, and calculate an impedance of the battery cell by dividing a Fourier transformation data of the voltage waveform data by a Fourier transformation data of the current waveform data; a circuit constant estimator configured to estimate circuit constants of a predetermined equivalent circuit model of the battery cell, based on the impedance calculated by the Fourier transformation calculator; and an impedance estimator configured to estimate impedances of the battery cell for respective frequency domains, based on the estimated circuit constants and the equivalent circuit mode.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments described herein relate to a device for calculating impedances of a battery cell for respective frequency domains and a battery impedance measuring system.
2. Related Art
Secondary batteries that are charged repetitively have been widely used as a driving power source for a drive motor of a hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, or the like. Furthermore, secondary batteries have been also widely used in industrial fields, public institutions, general households, or the like from the viewpoint that the secondary battery may store energy which is obtained from solar power generation, wind power generation, or the like with a relatively small environmental load, without depending on fossil fuel.
In general, these secondary batteries are configured as a battery module in which a predetermined number of battery cells from which a desired output voltage is obtained are connected in series, or as a battery pack in which a predetermined number of battery modules from which a desired output voltage is obtained are connected in parallel to obtain a desired current capacity (AH).
However, from a convenience aspect of a charging time, traveling distance, and the like, currently, it is believed that the lithium ion battery will become the mainstream for secondary batteries that are mounted in vehicles as a driving power source for a driving motor.
FIG. 10 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a battery system using the secondary battery in the related art. In FIG. 10, a battery module 10 is configured in such a manner that a plurality of battery cells 111 to 11n and a current sensor 12 are connected in series, and the battery module 10 is connected to a load L in series.
A battery monitoring device 20 includes a plurality of A/D converters 211 to 21n+1 that are provided to independently correspond to the plurality of battery cells 111 to 11n and the current sensor 12 that make up the battery module 10, and a processing device 23 to which output data of the A/D converters 211 to 21n+1 is input via an internal bus 22.
An output voltage of each of the battery cells 111 to 11n of the battery module 10 and a detection signal of the current sensor 12 of the battery module 10 are input to the corresponding A/D converters 211 to 21n+1 and are converted to digital signals, and the output data of the A/D converters 211 to 21n+1 is input to the processing device 23 via the internal bus 22.
The processing device 23 obtains, for example, an internal resistance value of each of the battery cells 111 to 11 based on the output data of the A/D converters 211 to 21n+1, estimates a value corresponding to voltage drop at the time of taking out a desired current from the internal resistance value, and transmits this data to a host battery system controller 40 via an external bus 30.
The battery system controller 40 controls the battery module 10 and the load device L in order to stably drive the load device L by a current output voltage of the battery module 10 based on the data input from the battery monitoring device 20.
As an index of evaluating performance of the secondary battery making up the battery module 10, an internal impedance characteristic shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 may be exemplified. FIG. 11 shows a diagram illustrating an impedance characteristic example in a case where a fully charged battery is left as is in a high-temperature state, and FIG. 12 shows a diagram illustrating an impedance characteristic example in the case of repeated charge and discharge in a high-temperature state. In addition, in FIGS. 11 and 12, the left-side drawing illustrates a Cole-Cole plot in which complex impedance based on an AC impedance measurement result is plotted in complex coordinates, and the right-side drawing illustrates a Bode diagram showing an impedance frequency characteristic.
The left-side drawing of FIG. 11 shows a process in which the period left increases, for example, for one year, for two years, . . . , AC impedance increases. The left-side drawing of FIG. 12 shows a process in which as the charge and discharge is repeated, for example, for 50 times, for 100 times, . . . , the AC impedance increases.
As the impedance increases, voltage drop of a battery increases when producing a current, and thus a sufficient output voltage may not be obtained. A low-frequency portion of the right-side drawing corresponds to a case in which an accelerator of a vehicle is continuously pressed for a long time. From this data, since the impedance increases at the low-frequency portion, it may be assumed that the voltage drop gradually increases. That is, an output characteristic varies according to deterioration of the battery, and thus a sufficient output may not be produced.
FIG. 13 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a measuring circuit that measures the AC impedance of the secondary battery in the related art, and in FIG. 13, the same reference numerals are attached to the same parts as FIG. 10. In FIG. 13, a sweep signal generator 50 is connected to both ends of a serial circuit of the battery 10 and the current sensor 12. This sweep signal generator 50 outputs an AC signal in which an output frequency varies in a sweeping manner within a range including a frequency characteristic region shown in the right-side drawing of FIGS. 11 and 12 to the serial circuit of the battery 10 and the current sensor 12.
An AC voltage monitor 60 measures AC voltage of both ends of the battery 10, and inputs this AC voltage to an impedance calculator 80. An AC current monitor 70 measures an AC current that flows to the current sensor 12 and inputs this AC current to the impedance calculator 80.
The impedance calculator 80 calculates complex impedance of the battery 10, which is a ratio between a measured voltage of the AC voltage monitor 60 at each frequency of the output signal of the sweep signal generator 50 and a measured current of the AC current monitor 70. The calculated complex impedance is plotted on the complex plane, thereby obtaining the Cole-Cole plot shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.
From the Cole-Cole plot that is created in this way, for example, each parameter of an equivalent circuit of the battery 10 as shown in FIG. 14 may be estimated. In addition, in the equivalent circuit of FIG. 14, a DC power source E, a resistor R1, a parallel circuit of a resistor R2 and a capacitor C2, a parallel circuit of a resistor R3 and a capacitor C3, and a parallel circuit of a resistor R4 and an inductance L4 are connected in series. JP-A-2003-4780 discloses in detail measurement of impedance by an alternating current method together with an automatic measurement method.
As described above, since various kinds of information of a battery may be obtained through measurement of the internal impedance characteristic of the battery, when the internal impedance characteristic of the battery may be measured on the spot, such as a vehicle, a power plant, a household power storage system, and the like that actually use the battery, a present state of the battery may be ascertained based on the information, and the battery may be controlled so as to be effectively used to the maximum depending on the present state of the battery.
However, in the system configuration in the related art shown in FIG. 10, the internal resistance value of each of the battery cells 111 to 11n may be obtained, but since data communication between the processing device 23 and the battery system controller 40 is performed intermittently, voltage data of each of the battery cells 111 to 11n becomes discrete data of which a period is, for example, 100 ms or more.
As a result thereof, only a state of each of the battery cells 111 to 11n may be detected with reference to a table including a voltage, a current, a temperature, and the like, and the internal impedance characteristic of each of the battery cells 111 to 11n in which many pieces of information are collectively contained may not be measured.
In addition, according to the measuring circuit in the related art as shown in FIG. 13, the sweep signal generator 50 is necessary, and it is difficult to mount the measuring circuit as shown in FIG. 13 in each of the on-site cells in terms of both cost and space.

Device for calculating impedances of battery cell and battery impedance measuring system


A brush includes a bristle section and a base. The bristle section includes fiber bundles and binding fibers, which bind and couple the fiber bundles together. The base has a clamping part, which clamps part of the bristle section. The fiber bundles are arranged in a row in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which fibers of the fiber bundles extend. The binding fibers are sequentially adjacent in a direction in which the fibers of the fiber bundles extend. The clamping part clamps part of the bristle section to cover the binding fibers.

The present invention relates to a brush and a rotary brush unit for an electric vacuum cleaner.
In general, electric vacuum cleaners include a main body and a suction device, which is connected to the main body via a hose. An intake port is provided on the bottom surface of the suction device. While the suction device is moved on a floor surface such as a carpet, a wooden floor, and a tatami mat, air is drawn in from the intake port so that dust is drawn by suction into the main body. A suction device has been proposed that has a rotary brush unit therein to improve dust collection performance on the floor surface such as a carpet from which dust is not easily drawn in by suction of the air.
The rotary brush unit includes a rotating body and brushes, which are attached to the rotating body. As such a rotary brush unit, for example, a brush assembly disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-125811 has been proposed. The brush assembly (brush) disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-125811 is manufactured by inserting a brush (bristle section), which is formed by sewing and connecting pile fibers, into a groove of a brush base (base), and then sewing the brush onto the brush base.
However, in the brush assembly of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-125811, since the brush is formed of pile fibers, the relative position of the brush with respect to the brush base cannot be maintained in a stable manner when the brush is sewn to the brush base. Thus, the joint portion between the brush base and the brush made by sewing is likely to loosen, and may cause lack of joint strength between the brush base and the brush.

Brush and rotary brush unit for electric vacuum cleaner


A sheet forming method including the steps of: holding a blank between a blank holder and an opposing die so that wrinkling is prevented in the blank; and forming the blank to an objective shape with a punch, while imposing a force of a variable bead on the blank at a selected position in a point manner and only during a part of the entire forming period selectively. An apparatus for conducting the above method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet forming (including drawing) method and apparatus wherein a bead capable of applying a variable bead force to a blank (hereinafter, a variable bead) is operated to be effective selectively in position and time and to press a blank in a point manner so that formability of the blank is improved (and, breakage of the blank during sheet forming is essentially prevented).
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional methods of drawing, in order to prevent breakage of a blank during drawing, methods such as selecting a blank material having a high extensibility, increasing a thickness of a blank, and coating lubricating oil of a high lubrication on a blank have been used.
Further, Japanese Patent Publication SHO 59-206120, the disclose of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a longitudinal bead capable of applying a variable bead force to a blank. The force of the longitudinal bead is made less effective at a predetermined stage of the forming time period to improve the formability of the blank.
However, the conventional drawing methods described above have the following problems:
Grading-up the blank material and increasing the blank thickness is accompanied by an increase in manufacturing cost. High lubrication of the oil is accompanied by sliding of the blank relative to the dies, which will generate wrinkling in the blank during drawing and will lower the dimensional accuracy of the blank.
With the longitudinal variable bead, because the bead should be movable relative to either one of a blank holder and an opposing die to which the bead is mounted, it is difficult to embody a movable longitudinal bead structure in a bead mounting die.

Method and apparatus for sheet forming a blank using a variable bead