A method for providing electronic message authentication employs an article, such as a card, sticker, or any other suitable article, that includes sender authentication information and location information such as row and column headings. In one example, each recipient of interest is issued an article that embodies unique sender authentication information that is identifiable by corresponding location information such as column and row identifiers. In both an apparatus and method, when the sender of an electronic message wants to send a message to a recipient of interest, the sender sends the electronic message and both location information and corresponding desired sender authentication information located at the coordinate identified by the location coordinate information. If the sent desired sender authentication information matches authentication information found on the article, the sender of the message is trusted.

Ensuring that a sent email message or other electronic message has been sent by a sender that can be trusted, also referred to as being authentic, helps ensure against theft of important information by unscrupulous parties and can help limit spam and phishing. Phishing is a form of Internet scam that usually involves the mass sending of emails which appear to be from a legitimate organization such as a bank or other financial institution or other organization. These emails often direct the recipient to a fraudulent website or form where he or she is tricked into divulging personal or financial information. An alternative phishing scam may not ask for such information but, upon entering the URL, execute a download of a keystroke-logging program that lets the phisher harvest information from the recipient's machine. The information can then be used for identity theft and fraud.
Phishing attacks can be costly and can drain a company's resources since, for example a large number of attacks can be run against target companies in large volumes and billions of phishing messages pass through filtering systems that can slow down email delivery, use up valuable processing times of servers and can ultimately result in the loss of important financial data to unscrupulous parties.
Several solutions are known that attempt to address this problem. Because phishing attacks often begin with large volumes of email sent from a forged sending address, efforts to reduce spam email may be somewhat effective in reducing the number of phishing attacks. For example, one method referred to as Sender Policy Framework, an originator of a message or originator domain publishes in a directory or other suitable form legitimate sending computer addresses which are verified by receiving message transfer agents. The message transfer agent may verify a received message via a DNS server (domain name server). However, this technique can require widespread adoption of SPF-enabled message transfer agents which can potentially be costly to implement and deploy.
Another technique referred to as Coordinated Spam Reduction Initiative again requires originators in an originator domain to publish legitimate sending computer addresses which are verified by receiving message transfer agents in a relatively similar manner as described above.
Another technique requires domains to digitally sign email which is verified by the receiving message transfer agent via DNS servers. Again, this can require the widespread adoption of modified versions of message transfer agents.
Another technique uses the S/MIME protocol wherein sending individuals or domains digitally sign emails that are verified by receiving incoming message transfer agents or user email clients. This can require special email client features or recipient message transfer agents that are not currently supported in web based email clients.
Another technique employs a secret images that are shared between a sender and a recipient. As understood, a personalized image is sent by a user to an authentication server. The server stores the recipient sent image. The authentication server may then send the personalized image to the recipient with an email and the user seeing the image recognizes that it is the one he sent. Also, during logon to a site, the server may include the image in the logon page so that a user trusts the login page when the user sees their personalized image (see e.g., www.passmarksecurity.com). Among other drawbacks, this system appears to use the same image for multiple logins until the shared image is changed and may require the recipient to choose and send the image to a sending server.
In addition, other systems are known which attempt to provide, instead of sender authentication, recipient authentication. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,627 discloses, among other things, an issued identification card that has indicum at one of the addressable positions on an assigned card. The card may have rows and columns with different numbers, characters or symbols that are addressable by the rows and columns. To determine whether a person seeking access to data is authorized to obtain requested access, the identification card is distributed to authorized users. A requesting person seeking access provides the indicia at one or more addressable positions on the card as specified by a security system. To notify the person which indicum to enter and send back, the system selects coordinate indicia known to be present on a particular card. The recipient must then send back the indicia located at the address sent by the security system. If the indicia matches that assigned to the person seeking access then access is granted. However, such systems do not resolve the problem with respect to phishing since the system provides authentication of a receiver and not a sender and requests that a person seeking access identify themselves to the system and the system requires entry and sending by the user of information located on the security card.
Other authentication systems are also known that have been employed, for example, in the military, numeral cipher/authentication systems have been used that employ cards that are held by a sender and recipient. A transmission is made secure for example by using a challenge and reply authentication scheme. A sender of an electronic transmission for example may use the card and randomly select a letter from a row and column grid and transmit the letter. For a reply, the first letter of the challenge in the column is found and the second letter in the line indicated by the first letter is then communicated back. As such, the sender can then get confirmation. However, this also requires a reply by the receiver.
Another technique also uses a card that includes rows and columns of information on both the sender and receiver side, however, this transmission authentication scheme is used to authenticate transmissions. For example during transmission authentication, columns of transmission authentication diagraphs are located on the back of a cipher table and used to authenticate a sender. Column assignments are made by a designated representative such as a commander of a unit. The column assignments are known to both the sender and receiver apriori. Transmission authentication diagraphs are used only once. The first unused authenticator in the assigned column is used and a line is drawn through that authenticator to preclude its reuse. Such schemes do not utilize a random selection of information on the card and do not utilize the sending of coordinate information since the column information is known apriori. As such, only the authentication information is apparently communicated. If the sender sends authentication information and it is valid as determined by the recipient, the recipient crosses the authentication information off the card. The next time authentication is required, the next authentication information in the same column is then used. As such, a sequential and non-random approach is used. However, if the authentication card of a recipient is lost or obtained by an unscrupulous party, they would know how to act as a sender since they know which authentication information is next in the column since no random selection is utilized and since the card has markings thereon. In this system no coordinate information is sent since the column of information used to authenticate a sender is made known apriori to the sender and receiver. In addition, if the receiver does not receive the sender's transmission, the synchronization between the sender and receiver would be lost which may cause subsequent authentication attempts to fail.
Also, information security and user identification security are becoming increasingly important as technology becomes more sophisticated. For example, multi-factor authentication schemes are used in an attempt to thwart hackers or to thwart other inappropriate uses of information and user identities. For example, a two factor authentication scheme may use information known to a recipient or user such as a password or personal identification number (PIN) as well as some type of physical token such as a banking card, credit card, password token or other physical token which a user must be in physical possession of in order to initiate and complete an on-line transaction. Another level of authentication may include biometric authentication that may include the scanning of a fingerprint, eye or other biometric to again verify that the user attempting to gain access to a process, device, application or other right is in fact the appropriate user.
Transaction cards are known that may include for example smart cards, magnetic strip-based cards, and other transaction cards that facilitate banking transactions, credit card transactions, or any other suitable transactions. As known in the art, a user personal identification number (PIN) is usually required in addition to the possession of a banking card to obtain cash from a cash-dispensing machine or to otherwise carry out an online transaction. One known multi-factor authentication technique employs the use of a hardware token such as a battery operated smart card that displays a periodically changing and seemingly random number on a portion of the smart card. When a user wishes to execute a transaction with the smart card, for example, the user enters the seemingly random number that changes often. The receiving transaction server compares the received code entered by the user as displayed on the smart card with a corresponding number generated by a code source generator. If the code entered by the user matches the number generated by the code source generator, the transaction is approved and the user is granted a particular right such as accessing a bank account, purchasing goods, obtaining information, gaining access to a website or other software application, or any other suitable right as desired. However, such hardware tokens can be quite expensive and are battery powered thereby requiring changing of the battery and the potential of an electronic malfunction due to moisture problems or any other problems related to electronic circuitry.
Other smart cards that do not employ such screens typically require a card reader that reads, for example, a magnetic strip. This can be a restriction where a user wishes to perform an online transaction but is not sitting at a terminal that contains or has access to a magnetic strip reader.
In an apparently unrelated field, translucent cards are known such as plastic cards that contain a semi-transparent picture or pattern that when visually evaluated does not appear to connote any particular information. However, when the translucent card is held over a display with a corresponding background filter pattern, the combination of the pattern on the card with the background pattern on the display screen combine to present a visually recognizable message or word such as the word "sorry" or "you're a winner". These are static messages which are not unique to any user and typically include only a single message. Such plastic cards may be used for example to see if a holder has won a prize. The card for example may be mailed in the mail to members of a population. Those recipients then go to a web page identified on the translucent card or otherwise indicated in the mailing information to see if they have won a prize. However, such plastic cards do not provide multi-factor authentication, are not user specific, do not include multiple messages and typically include static messages.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that overcomes one or more of the above problems.

Method and apparatus for providing electronic message authentication


The present invention comprises a process for the production of flame-resistant polyesters with at least 50 mol-% ethylene carboxylate units through esterification or ester interchange and co-polycondensation of at least one diol and a dicarboxylic acid or its dialkyl ester with a carboxyphosphinic acid, whereby the carboxyphosphinic acid, before being added to the co-polycondensation mixture, is dissolved in ethylene glycol of not more than 90.degree. C., and the acid number of this solution is standardized to 50 to 350 mg KOH/g of carboxyphosphinic acid by adding at least one basic alkali metal compound in the absence of oxygen, and said solution is added to the co-polycondensation mixture during the second half of the esterification or ester interchange reaction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the production of flame-resistant polyesters with at least 50 mol-% ethylene carboxylate units through co-polycondensation with at least one carboxyphosphinic acid.
2. Summary of the Related Art
Flame-resistant polyesters, especially for textile applications such as washable curtains or decorative materials, are preferably manufactured today by co-polycondensation with bi-functional phosphorus containing compounds. Carboxyphosphinic acids or their cyclic anhydrides, the phospholanes (U.S. Pat. No.3,941,752), are suited for that purpose. The disadvantage of the production of phospholanes is that it is relatively complex. The synthesis of carboxyphosphinic acids, for example of carboxyethyl(phenyl)phosphinic acid (IUPAC name 3-(phenyl(hydroxyphosphoryl))propanoic acid) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,463), is less complicated.
However, the carboxyphosphinic acids are bi-functional acids with a strong acidic nature (pH<1.5). A result of this, in the case of its application as a co-monomer, the polyester produced therefrom has a higher content of diethylene glycol (DEG) with all of the accompanying disadvantages (e.g., stickiness of the granulate during drying and/or thermal pre-treatment before spinning, as well as a lowered melting temperature of the polyester to a point where it causes difficulties during ironing). During matting of the polyester with titanium dioxide, there is the risk that the titanium dioxide suspension will be rendered unstable by the acidic protons and that agglomerates will precipitate, leading to shorter filter clogging times and to difficulties during the spinning process. The acidic nature of the carboxyphosphinic acid has an especially negative effect on the batch production of polyester by direct esterification of dicarboxylic acids with ethylene glycol, because of the substantial amount of the esterification product of the previous batch remaining in the reactor, which causes the DEG content to rise from batch to batch.
It is also known that flame-resistant polyesters can be produced by co-polymerization with alkali salts of phosphinic acids (U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,444). Because of their mono-functional nature, however, such salts act as chain breaking agents and promote corrosion of the processing machinery. Others have used an alkali salt of a diolester of a bis-(carboxy)phosphinic acid as a co-monomer (DE Patent Specification 12 32 348). This co-monomer is produced by boiling bis-(carboxy)phosphinic acid and sodium chloride with an abundance of ethylene glycol for several hours. When sodium chloride is replaced with sodium carbonate, no salt is obtained. As a result of the then tri-functional nature of the bis-(carboxy)ester of the phosphinic acid, only heavily cross-linked, gel-like, unspinnable polyesters are produced.
It is further known that the formation of DEG during direct esterification of terephthalic acid with ethylene glycol and the subsequent polycondensation in the absence of carboxyphosphinic acid can be reduced by adding sodium or potassium hydroxide (U.S. Pat. No. 3,050,548), sodium oxide (DE-A 20 17 072), lithium or postassium hydroxide, lithium carbonate or sodium acetate (DE-A 1 520 976), or sodium or calcium acetate (U.S. Pat. No. 3,024,220) to the esterification reaction.
There are no suggestions with regard to the application and/or procedure during the co-polycondensation with carboxyphosphinic acids. In particular, there is no information regarding how the strongly acidic groups of the carboxyphosphinic acid, responsible for the higher DEG formation, can be neutralized without impairing their reactivity with regard to polyester formation. Consequently, new methods of producing flame-resistant polyesters are desired.

Process for the production of flame-resistant polyesters


Disclosed is a resin composition comprising 20 to 90 parts by weight of an ethylene/(meth)acrylic ester/carbon monoxide terpolymer having been graft modified with an unsaturated carboxylic acid or its anhydride and 80 to 10 parts by weight of a polyester elastomer having been graft modified with the above modifier, the total amount of said graft modified ethylene/(meth)acrylate/carbon monoxide terpolymer and polyester elastomer being 100 parts by weight. Also disclosed is an adhesive comprising the above-mentioned resin composition. The resin composition and the adhesive according to the invention are excellent in adhesion properties, heat resistant adhesive properties, hue and heat stability.

Polyvinyl chloride resins are known as substrates having poor adherend properties, and it is difficult to thermally adhere these polyvinyl chloride resins to different materials such as other thermoplastic resins and metals.
It has been conventionally known that some of thermoplastic resins show thermal adhesion properties to polyvinyl chloride. However, most of these resins are insufficient in adhesion to other thermoplastic resins or metals, and they cannot withstand uses as adhesives depending on cases.
By the way, a graft modified product of an ethylene/vinyl acetate/carbon monoxide terpolymer (modified terpolymer) proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 60(1985)-158282 exhibits good adhesion to various adherends including polyvinyl chloride, and it can be used as an excellent adhesive. However, this adhesive has been desired to be much more improved in the practical use. That is, this adhesive (graft modified product) is easily colored in the preparation thereof and is hardly obtained as a colorless and transparent one, and hence there is yet room for improvement in the case of using this adhesive as an adhesive for adhering transparent substrates together. Further, it is difficult to use this adhesive in such a case that the adhesive is extruded together with high-melting materials such as polyamide and polyester, because the adhesive is not always sufficient in heat stability at high temperatures.
In the light of the foregoing, the present inventors have earnestly studied to pursue adherent resins having higher general-purpose properties, for example, capable of being used as the adhesion for polyvinyl chloride resin and other material, and as a result, they have found a novel modified terpolymer (graft modified product) which is by no means inferior to the aforementioned modified terpolymer in the adhesion properties and is excellent in other properties such as hue and heat stability. However, it has been also found that there is yet room for further improvement in this novel modified terpolymer in the heat resistant adhesive properties or adhesion to polyester, and therefore this adhesive is eagerly desired to be much more improved in those properties in order to increase general-purpose properties.

Resin composition and adhesive using the same


A consumer appliance, a provided herein, may include a cabinet and a user interface disposed on the cabinet. The user interface may include an external panel, a control board, a touch sensor, a reflector plate, and a light source. The external panel may include an outer surface facing outward and an inner surface positioned opposite from the outer surface. The control board may be positioned behind the external panel and include a forward surface facing the external panel and a rearward surface facing away from the external panel. The control board may define a light aperture extending therethrough. The touch sensor may be mounted on the control board and spaced apart from the forward surface. The reflector plate may be spaced rearward from the control board to define an open region. The light source may be mounted on the control board at the rearward surface and face rearward.

Consumer appliances, such as washing machine appliances, dryer appliances, dishwashing appliances refrigerator appliances, oven appliances, microwave appliances, etc., generally include a user interface or control panel. Using the control panel, an appliance user can input control commands to the appliance and operate the appliance. Certain control panels include touch sensors, such as capacitive touch sensors, to detect an electrical field generated by a user's body to operate or engage the touch sensor. In particular, capacitive touch sensors can detect a change in capacitance when the user touches the control panel.
Touch sensors have various benefits. For example, touch sensors can assist with providing a clean appearance for an associated or corresponding consumer appliance. In particular, touch sensors are frequently positioned behind a dielectric panel on a rigid or semi-rigid printed circuit board, sometimes also referred to as a "PCB." A user touches an outer surface of the dielectric panel opposite the touch sensors to actuate the touch sensors. The smooth outer surface can have a pleasant cosmetic appearance or may be less prone to wear, especially particularly compared to tactile buttons, knobs, etc.
Often, it may be desirable to provide one or more lights or light sources to illuminate a portion of the user interface on or near to the surface that a user must touch in order to engage a particular touch sensor. Such light sources and illumination may provide feedback to a user or generally indicate the presence of a touch sensor.
In spite of these advantages, however, incorporating a touch sensor and a light source within a user interface can create various challenges (e.g., for assembly or manufacture). For instance, although it may be desirable to mount a touch sensor relatively close to the dielectric panel (e.g., in order to readily detect a user's electrical field), light sources must generally be held relatively far from the dielectric panel. The relatively far distance needed for light source may, for instance, be necessary in order to ensure adequate dispersion of light emissions (e.g., to one or more light guides) without bleeding to surrounding areas, which might cause confusion or detract from the overall appearance. Multiple separate control panels must often be provided for a touch sensor and a light source. In other instances, separate conductive elements must be mounted between a touch sensor and the dielectric panel in order to ensure that the touch sensor can be engaged. Such configurations may, however, increase the cost and difficulty of assembly for a user interface.
As a result, it would be desirable to provide a consumer appliance or user interface having one or more features for addressing the above challenges. In particular, it may be advantageous to provide a user interface with features for maintaining a touch sensor and light source in a mutually-desirable position on a common element.

Consumer appliance and user interface having one or more touch sensors


To provide a communications apparatus for preventing degradation in data quality, which is caused by the missing of reception data at the time of a data communication, an application processing unit comprises a load monitor processing unit for monitoring a load imposed at the time of a reception data process, and a reception response processing unit for issuing a reception response instruction to a protocol processing unit, and the protocol processing unit comprises a first data notifying unit for transmitting a reception response to reception data, and a second data notifying unit for transmitting a reception response according to an instruction from the reception response processing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data communications apparatus for controlling a retransmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
Normally, high reliability to assure that data surely reaches a transmission destination is required when a data communication is made. For example, in a data communication made on the Internet, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is used as a standard protocol. This is because TCP is a protocol having a retransmission capability.
For instance, in a data communication using TCP, a transmitting side sets a retransmission timer each time it transmits transmission data (transmission segment). Upon detection of a timeout, the transmitting side retransmits the same transmission data. In the meantime, a receiving side checks a sequence number attached to the header of the transmission data, and issues a request to retransmit the transmission data that does not reach.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram exemplifying a configuration of a conventional data communications system.
An opposed communications apparatus 1201 shown in FIG. 1 is configured with an application processing unit 1201a for making a data communication, a protocol processing unit 1201b for enabling a communication between arbitrary computers and for assuring transmission data, and an interface 1201c for converting an electric signal on a network into digital data and for enabling a data transmission between the computers.
For example, the application processing unit 1201a is equivalent to an application layer of TCP/IP (Internet Protocol), and the protocol processing unit 1201b is equivalent to TCP and IP layers of TCP/IP. The interface 1201c is equivalent to a network interface layer of TCP/IP.
Also a communications apparatus 1202 is configured with an application processing unit 1202a, a protocol processing unit 1202b, and an interface 1202c. The opposed communications apparatus 1201 and the communications apparatus 1202 are interconnected via a communications network 1203 to make a communication. The communications network 1203 may be directly connected, or may be connected by a network via a plurality of apparatuses.
FIG. 2 is a schematic showing the outline of a communication process performed in the conventional data communications system. A case where the opposed communications apparatus 1201 and the communications apparatus 1202 make a data communication is described below in correspondence with (1) through (14) shown in FIG. 2.
(1) When the opposed communications apparatus 1201 starts a communication, the application processing unit 1201a transmits transmission data to the protocol processing unit 1201b.
(2) The protocol processing unit 1201b, which receives the transmission data, transmits a connection request to the communications apparatus 1202, being a transmission destination, in order to establish a connection. At this time, the connection request is transmitted to the communications apparatus 1202 via the interface 1201c and the communications network 1203, although this is not shown in FIG. 2.
(3) When the communications apparatus 1202 accepts the connection request signal, the protocol processing unit 1202b transmits a connection response to the opposed communications apparatus 1201, being the transmitter, and establishes a connection.
(4) When the connection is established, the protocol processing unit 1201b partitions the data received from the application processing unit 1201a into a predetermined size, and starts to sequentially transmit the partitioned data to the communications apparatus 1202.
(5) In the meantime, in the communications apparatus 1202, the protocol processing unit 1202b transmits a data reception response to the opposed communications apparatus 1201 each time the data is received.
(6) When the reception of the communication data is complete, the protocol processing unit 1202b restores the transmission data partitioned in (4), and transmits the restored data to the application processing unit 1202a.
The above described process is repeated, whereby the transmission process of the data from the opposed communications apparatus 1201 to the communications apparatus 1202 is performed. Also a case where the communications apparatus 1202 makes a data transmission to the opposed communications apparatus 1201 is similar.
Here, a case where the opposed communications apparatus 1201 transmits data α and β to the communications apparatus 1202 is considered.
(7) The protocol processing unit 1201b, which accepts the data α from the application processing unit 1201a, transmits the data α to the communications apparatus 1202.
(8) The protocol processing unit 1202b, which receives the data α, transmits a reception response to the data α to the opposed communications apparatus 1201 which is a transmitter.
(9) Furthermore, the protocol processing unit 1202b transmits the received data α to the application processing unit 1202a.
(10) Similarly, the protocol processing unit 1201b, which accepts the data β from the application processing unit 1201a, transmits the data β to the communications apparatus 1202.
(11) For example, if collision of data occurs on the communications network 1203, the data β transmitted from the opposed communications apparatus 1201 disappears and is not transmitted to the communications apparatus 1202.
(12) In the meantime, the protocol processing unit 1201b transmits the data β, and activates a retransmission timer to monitor the reception response to the data β. Upon detection of a timeout, the protocol processing unit 1201b retransmits the data β.
(13) The protocol processing unit 1202b, which receives the data β, transmits the reception response to the data β to the opposed communication apparatus 1201 which is the transmitter.
(14) Furthermore, the protocol processing unit 1202b transmits the received data β to the application processing unit 1202a.
At this time, for example, if memory for storing the data β cannot be secured for a reason that the throughput of the application processing unit 1202a is inferior to that of the protocol processing unit 1202b, the data β is destroyed and the application processing unit 1202a cannot receive the data β.
Namely, the application processing unit 1202a has completed the reception of only the data α although the application processing unit 1201a has completed the transmission of the data α and β to the communications apparatus 1202.
Accordingly, the conventional retransmission process shown in (10) through (12) cannot cope with the case where transmission data disappears between the protocol processing unit and the application processing unit as shown in (12) through (14), leading to a problem that the reliability of the data is degraded.
Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H11-177536 discloses a wireless data link layer error control method for preventing a throughput characteristic from degrading due to the number of unnecessary retransmissions, which grows with an increase in transmission errors caused by degradation in a line state, by monitoring the line state and suspending a retransmission control when the line state degrades below a reference value, and by restarting the retransmission control when a monitoring result restores to a more favorable value than the reference value.
Additionally, WO Patent Publication No. 2002/056631 discloses a mobile communications system, which can reduce a delay time required for a retransmission between two processing units of a layer by suppressing the missing of data and a retransmission request frame for a retransmission request between the two processing units of the layer in a base station and a mobile station, and can prevent a throughput from degrading by suppressing an occurrence of a timeout in an upper TCP.


In one embodiment, methods are described to provide a binary translation and randomization system. Relocation metadata is received, which comprises, for each of a plurality of execution units in an executable file, a mapping from the executable file into an address space range. For at least one of the plurality of execution units, the mapping is modified to replace instructions within the address space range with a relocated copy of the instructions at a randomly located address space range. An order of the plurality of execution units may thus be modified. An image is generated from the executable file using the relocation metadata, and an execution of the image is caused. The randomization may be carried out in two passes to provide executable files that are uniquely randomized for each computer and for each execution.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
To protect computer systems from malicious attacks that may compromise system security, it is useful to harden computer applications against exploit techniques enabling the unauthorized execution of arbitrary code. Certain classes of exploits rely on the knowledge of code and data layouts to successfully attack an application. Existing approaches to prevent these classes of exploits are only effective to a certain degree.

Binary translation and randomization system for application security


A system includes a router including a processor and a memory. The memory stores instructions executable by the processor to receive a wireless request from a first computing device to initiate a connection mode for a wireless network. The instructions are further executable to join a second computing device to the wireless network under the connection mode. wherein the connection mode allows the second device to join the wireless network without input of a password stored prior to the wireless request.

Routers can be equipped with a button to initiate a connection mode, i.e., in response to detecting an activation of the button, the router can be programmed to initiate the connection mode for a time during which computing devices can join a wireless network provided by the router without user input to submit an identifier previously stored by the router. Routers may be installed in remote or inconvenient locations.


A portable ac power system for providing cordless remote electrical power. The portable ac power system includes a pair of portable power supply devices, and a recharging assembly. The pair of portable power supply devices each including a portable housing, an outlet, and an energy storage assembly, the outlet is designed for coupling with conventional electrical plugs. The recharging assembly is electrically couplable to a conventional household ac outlet. The recharging assembly is preferably electrically couplable to each one of the pair of portable power supply devices. The energy storage assembly is for recharging the portable power supply devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical service extension devices and more particularly pertains to a new portable ac power system for providing cordless remote electrical power.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of electrical service extension devices is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,109 describes a device providing remote electrical power, but requiring an cord assembly as an extension from a conventional outlet.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a system that allows conventional household electrical items to be run without a wired connection to a conventional outlet.


A sheet of imageable film for use in an overhead projector is provided with at least one, and preferably two, opaque flaps attached in a foldable manner to the film so that the flaps may be unfolded to prevent unwanted light from shining past the edges of the transparency.

Transparencies are transparent or translucent films which may be clear or colored and include textual or graphical data. The data on the transparency may be projected on a distant surface or screen, usually in enlarged form, by an overhead projector so that the data may be observed by a large number of people at once. A typical overhead projector includes a stage upon which the transparency may be placed and light from a source within the projector is directed through the stage and the transparency to a lens system which focusses the light, and an image of the data contained on the transparency, on the distant viewing surface.
The transparency is typically the size of standard letter paper while the stage is of a greater size to accommodate a variety of different possible transparency sizes. Usually this results in light beyond the edges of the transparency being projected to the screen along with the data contained on the transparency. This situation is not a great problem if the transparency is clear, but, if the transparency is colored or translucent, the white light projected from those areas beyond the edges of the transparency is very distracting.
U.S Pat. No. 4,402,585 describes a rectangular envelope which has folding flaps attached to two opposed edges. In use, the transparency is placed within the envelope and the flaps extended to block the light which would otherwise shine past the edges of the transparency. In this fashion, light transmission to the distant viewing surface is limited to that passing through the transparency. These envelopes have proven very successful, but they have the disadvantage that the light must pass through three layers of film, including two comprising the envelope and the transparency itself, which affects the brightness and clarity of the projected image. In addition, the envelope/transparency combination results in a somewhat bulky package.
The transparency itself is most conveniently produced today by the use of a sheet of polymeric film which may have a coating and which can be imaged in a copy machine or laser printer. If a coating is used, it is designed to enhance anchorage of the toner particles used in electrography or xerography to the film. The coating and the film are selected to withstand the temperatures necessary for fusing the toner particles to the transparency sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,003 discloses a transparency film for use in plain paper electrostatic copiers. The base of the transparency film is a flexible, transparent, heat resistant polymeric film. An image receiving layer, preferably, a toner-receptive, thermoplastic, transparent polymethyl methacrylate polymer containing dispersed silica particles is coated on a first major surface of the polymeric film. On the second major surface of the film base is coated a layer of non-migratory electrically conductive material, preferably a polymer derived from the reaction of pyrridine and 2 amino-pyrridine with partially chloromethylated polystyrene. It is preferred that a primer coating be interposed between the polymeric film base and the layer of conductive material to provide suitable adhesion of the coating to the film base. It is also preferred that the layer of conductive material be over-coated with a protective coating having additives to control abrasion, resistance, roughness and slip properties. It is disclosed that the sheet can be fed smoothly from a stack and produces clear background areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,955 discloses an element suitable for preparing transparencies using an electrostatic plain paper copier. The element comprises a polyethylene terephthalate support (polyester), at least one subbing layer coated thereon and, coated to the subbing layer, a toner receptive layer comprising a mixture of an acrylate binder, a polymeric antistatic agent having carboxylic acid groups, a crosslinking agent, butylmethacrylate modified polymethacrylate beads and submicron polyethylene beads. These elements produce excellent transparencies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,225 discloses yet another transparency suitable for electrographic and xerographic imaging comprising a polymeric substrate with a toner receptive coating on one surface thereof. The toner receptive coating comprises blends selected from a group consisting of: poly(ethylene oxide) and carboxymethyl cellulose; poly(ethylene oxide), carboxymethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl cellulose; poly(ethylene oxide) and vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer; poly(chloroprene) and poly(alpha-methylstyrene); poly(caprolactone) and poly(alpha-methylstyrene); poly(vinyl isobutylether) and poly(alpha-methylstyrene); poly(caprolactone) and poly (.alpha.-methylstyrene); chlorinated poly(propylene) and poly(.alpha.-methylstyrene); chlorinated poly(ethylene) and poly(.alpha.-methylstyrene); and chlorinated rubber and poly(.alpha.-methylstyrene). Also disclosed are transparencies with first and second coating layers.
EP Application 0349,227 discloses a transparent laminate film for full color image-forming comprising two transparent resin layers. The first resin layer is heat-resistant, and the second resin layer must be compatible with a binder resin constituting the toner to be used for color image formation. The second resin layer has a larger elasticity than that of the binder resin of the toner at a fixing temperature of the toner. The second resin can be of the same "kind" i.e., type, e.g., styrene-type or polyester type, as the toner binder, as long as the resins differ in storage elasticity.
EP 408197A2 discloses an imageable copy film comprising a thermoplastic polymeric film substrate with a widthwise thermal expansion of 0.01 to 1% at 150.degree. C. and a lengthwise thermal shrinkage in the film of 0.4 to 2.0% at 150.degree. C. The substrate has a receiving layer on at least one surface thereof comprising an acrylic and/or methacrylic resin comprising any film-forming resin, e.g., polymers derived from alkyl esters having up to 10 carbon atoms, e.g. methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, hexyl, 2-ethylhexyl, heptyl and n-octyl. The use of ethylacrylate or butylacrylate together with an alkylmethacrylate is preferred. Other suitable monomers include acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, halo substituted acrylonitrile and (meth)acrylonitrile, acrylamide, methacrylamide, n-methylol acrylamide and methacrylamide, n-ethanol acrylamide and methacrylamide, n-propanol acrylamide and methacrylamide, t-butylacrylamide, hydroxyl ethylacrylamide, glycidyl acrylate, and methacrylate, dimethylamino ethyl methacrylate, itaconic anhydride and half ester of itaconic acid. Vinyl monomers such as vinylacetate, vinylchloroacetate, vinyl benzene, vinyl pyrridine, vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, maleic acid, maleic anhydride, styrene and substituted styrene, and the like can optionally be included.
EP 442567A2 discloses a medium for electrophotographic printing or copying comprising a polymeric substrate coated with a polymeric coating having a Tukon hardness of about 0.5 to 5.0 and a glass transition temperature of about 5.degree. to 45.degree. C. The coating comprises at least one pigment which provides a coefficient of static friction of from 0.20 to 0.80 and a coefficient of dynamic friction of from 0.10 to 0.40. The medium has improved image quality and toner adhesion. It is particularly useful in laser electrophotographic printing. The polymer employed in the coating can contain thermosetting or thermoplastic resins, and preferably aqueous acrylic emulsions such as Rhoplex.TM. resins from Rohm and Haas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,731 discloses a dry toner imaging film media having good toner affinity, antistatic properties, embossing resistance and good feedability through electrophotographic copies and printers. The media comprises a suitable polymeric substrate with an antistatic matrix layer coated thereon. The matrix layer has resistance to blocking at 78.degree. C. after 30 minutes and a surface resistivity of from about 1.times.10.sup.8 to about 1.times.10.sup.14 ohms per square at 20.degree. C. and 50% relative humidity. The matrix contains one or more thermoplastic polymers having a T.sub.g of 5.degree. C. to 75.degree. C., and at least one crosslinked polymer which is resistant to hot roll fuser embossing, at least one of the polymers being electrically conductive.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 947,252 to Ali et. al., filed Sep. 18, 1992 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses another film and coating which is useful in making transparencies in a standard copy machine or laser printer. The subject matter of this patent application is described in greater detail below. This patent application, U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,585 and the patents and patent applications described above relating to the production of transparency in a copy machine or laser printer are hereby incorporated by reference.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A calibrated VCO for use in a phase-locked loop includes a low frequency calibration block for setting a bias signal for a ring oscillator to a center point to prompt the ring oscillator to generate an oscillation that is in the middle of its output frequency range and a high frequency VCO gm stage for generating an adjustment calibration signal that is added or subtracted to and from the bias signal created by the low frequency calibration block. A low pass filter coupled between the gates of a current mirror of the low frequency calibration block operates to filter noise and interference generated within the low frequency calibration block. Additionally, the magnitude of the bias signal produced by the low frequency calibration block is significantly greater than the adjustment bias signal generated by the high frequency VCO gm stage.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communication systems and more particularly to high speed serial data transmissions.
2. Description of Related Art
Communication systems are known to transport large amounts of data between a plurality of end user devices, which, for example, include telephones, facsimile machines, computers, television sets, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, etc. As is also known, such communication systems may be local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs) that are stand-alone communication systems or interconnected to other LANs and/or WANs as part of a public switched telephone network (PSTN), packet switched data network (PSDN), integrated service digital network (ISDN), or Internet. As is further known, communication systems include a plurality of system equipment to facilitate the transporting of data. Such system equipment includes, but is not limited to, routers, switches, bridges, gateways, protocol converters, frame relays, private branch exchanges, etc.
The transportation of data within communication systems is governed by one or more standards that ensure the integrity of data conveyances and fairness of access for data conveyances. For example, there are a variety of Ethernet standards that govern serial transmissions within a communication system at data rates of 10 megabits per second, 100 megabits per second, 1 gigabit per second and beyond. Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET), for example, requires 10 gigabits per second. In accordance with such standards, many system components and end user devices of a communication system transport data via serial transmission paths. Internally, however, the system components and end user devices process data in a parallel manner. As such, each system component and end user device must receive the serial data and convert the serial data into parallel data without loss of information.
Accurate recovery of information from high-speed serial transmissions typically requires transceiver components that operate at clock speeds equal to or higher than the received serial data rate. Higher clock speeds limit the usefulness of prior art clock recovery circuits that require precise alignment of signals to recover clock and/or data. Higher data rates require greater bandwidth for a feedback loop of the recovery circuits to operate correctly. Some prior art designs are bandwidth limited.
As the demand for data throughput increases, so do the demands on a high-speed serial transceiver. The increased throughput demands are pushing some current integrated circuit manufacturing processes to their operating limits, where integrated circuit processing limits (e.g., device parasitics, trace sizes, propagation delays, device sizes, etc.) and integrated circuit (IC) fabrication limits (e.g., IC layout, frequency response of the packaging, frequency response of bonding wires, etc.) limit the speed at which the high-speed serial transceiver may operate without excessive jitter performance and/or noise performance.
A further alternative for high-speed serial transceivers is to use an IC technology that inherently provides for greater speeds. For instance, switching from a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) process to a silicon germanium or gallium arsenide process would allow integrated circuit transceivers to operate at greater speeds, but at substantially increased manufacturing costs. CMOS is more cost effective and provides easier system integration. Currently, for most commercial-grade applications, including communication systems, such alternate integrated circuit fabrication processes are too cost prohibitive for wide spread use.
Modern communication systems, including high data rate, wire lined and wireless communication systems, typically include a phase locked loop for generating an oscillation that is used to drive clock rates, set transmission frequencies, and for down-converting received radio frequency transmissions to baseband frequencies. While there are many different designs for generating a clock or reconstructing a clock from a received data signal, the designs typically involve circuitry that increases or decreases a bias signal to a device that generates the local oscillation. Noise and interference, however, often affect the magnitude of a bias signal thereby resulting in local oscillations whose frequencies are not as accurate as desired. What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus and method that provide accurate or improved local oscillation signals by eliminating or reducing noise that contribute to error.

Method and circuit for reducing VCO noise


Client instance data including a plurality of incidents and a plurality of knowledge elements comprising information relating to resolving one or more of the plurality of incidents is obtained. A validation set is built based on the obtained client instance data, the validation set including fingerprint data of plural fingerprints of known incident-knowledge relationships, each of fingerprint representing a link between one of the incidents and one of the knowledge elements used for resolving the incident. A knowledge element class is predicted from among plural knowledge element classes for each of knowledge element based on the built validation set, the plural knowledge element classes being defined based on respective threshold values indicating a quality of coverage provided by a knowledge element for resolving an incident. Classification data of the plural knowledge elements classified into the plural knowledge element classes is presented with the obtained client instance data.

Customer (or technical) support may be provided to a user (e.g., customer, employee, or agent) of an enterprise when the user is experiencing an issue. An enterprise having a relatively large number of users may employ a number of customer support representatives or technicians particularly knowledgeable about various aspects including services, processes, functions, or applications (hardware or software systems) of the enterprise. Customer support may also be provided by the enterprise to help users efficiently use its hardware and software systems, or any of its services, processes, functions, or other aspects. Customer support may be provided by the technicians by resolving incidents (i.e., incident or trouble tickets, help desk tickets, service requests, or incident reports) created by users. Many users may prefer to find an answer themselves rather than contacting customer service or an internal helpdesk. To address this need, the enterprise may provide a self-help portal based on a knowledge management (KM) solution where users may navigate to search for and view content to help them find solutions to issues or questions. The KM solution may provide a platform for creating, sharing, using, improving, and managing a KB (knowledge repository) and information of the enterprise to help the enterprise achieve its organizational objectives. The self-help portal based on the KM solution may be implemented on a self-hosted system or a cloud computing based system of the enterprise.
Cloud computing relates to sharing of computing resources that are generally accessed via the Internet or other wide area network (WAN). In particular, cloud computing infrastructure allows users to access a shared pool of computing resources, such as servers, storage devices, networks, applications, and/or other computing-based services. By doing so, users, such as individuals and/or enterprises, are able to access computing resources on demand that are located at remote locations in order to perform a variety of computing functions that include storing and/or processing computing data. For enterprise and other organization users, cloud computing provides flexibility in accessing cloud computing resources without accruing up-front costs, such as purchasing network equipment and investing time in establishing a private network infrastructure. Instead, by utilizing cloud computing resources, users are able redirect their resources to focus on core enterprise functions.
In today's communication networks, examples of cloud computing services a user may utilize include software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) technologies. SaaS is a delivery model that provides software as a service rather than an end product. Instead of utilizing local network or individual software installations, software is typically licensed on a subscription basis, hosted on a remote machine, and accessed as needed. For example, users are generally able to access a variety of enterprise and/or information technology (IT) related software via a web browser. PaaS acts as an extension of SaaS that goes beyond providing software services by offering customizability and expandability features to meet a user's needs. For example, PaaS can provide a cloud-based developmental platform for users to develop, modify, and/or customize applications and/or automate enterprise operations without maintaining network infrastructure and/or allocating computing resources normally associated with these functions.
In the context of customer support, it is desirable that the issues the users are experiencing may be resolved by content included in the KB. For example, a customer support representative may identify information relevant to the user's issue or question from the KB and provide that information to the user to resolve an incident created by the user. This identified link (or relationship) between a knowledge element of the KB including information relevant to the user's issue and the incident created by the user may be documented by the support technician when resolving the incident. However, the technician may not always formally document this relationship. Since KM (e.g., creating, sharing, using, improving, or managing content in the KB) is resource intensive, it is desirable to identify or predict this relationship between incidents and knowledge elements that may have been used to resolve the incidents to determine the overall effectiveness of the knowledge elements in the KB, determine the number of incidents that may be covered or resolved by content included in the KB, determine the percentage of knowledge elements in the KB that are actually resolving issues for the users, and determine areas where additional KB content is needed but does not exist.

Knowledge management using machine learning model trained on incident-knowledge relationship fingerprints


An agricultural harvesting machine for harvesting and/or processing crop material has a transfer device for transferring crop material, an intake device that includes a foreign-object detection device for detecting foreign objects in a monitoring region of a crop material flow, in the case of which, when a foreign object in the crop material flow is detected by the foreign-object detection device, the agricultural harvesting machine is braked automatically, and/or at least one energy storage medium is withdrawn in order to reduce the ground speed, it being possible to adjust the value for the braking effect and/or the withdrawal of the energy storage medium.

The present relates to an agricultural harvesting machine with an intake device for conveying harvested crop material to downstream processing assemblies. The intake device is equipped with a foreign-object detection device for detecting foreign objects in the crop material flow, and with devices for braking the conveyance devices immediately when a foreign object is detected in the crop material.
Conveyance devices in the form of front harvesting attachments with foreign-object detection devices are typically used in agricultural harvesting machines, in forage harvesters in particular, in order to detect metal objects that may have entered the machine along with the crop material, e.g., an auger tine, a fence stake, an aluminum can, or a nail, and to then automatically shut off the conveyance device and downstream processing assemblies. The purpose is to prevent the metal objects from causing damage inside the agricultural harvesting machine and to ensure that they are removed before the crop material is fed to animals, who could ingest them and suffer injury or even death. In a typical design, a conveyance device of this type is composed of one or more pairs of intake rollers installed in series. Crop material that is picked up by a front harvesting attachment of the harvesting machine is drawn in by the rollers and directed, e.g., to a downstream chopper drum or another working unit.
A foreign-object detection device of this type is made known in DD 247 117 A3, with which a metal detector is located in a conveying roller that interacts with another conveying roller. The metal detector is typically fixed in position inside one of the front intake rollers. The detection region of the metal detector is formed by a magnetic measurement field generated by the magnet system. The magnetic measurement field is preferably oriented into the crop material flow, nearly perpendicularly from below, and/or often diagonally toward the front, in the direction of the front harvesting attachment. The detector signal that is measured is measured continually and compared with a predefined threshold value. If the threshold value is exceeded, a shut-off signal is sent to the conveyance device.
Foreign-object detection devices designed as stone detectors are also known, which are designed to protect the working units from damage caused by stones embedded in the crop material. A foreign-object detection device of this type is made known in DD-PS 247 118, with which acceleration is measured and evaluated at a part of the conveyance device that is movable perpendicularly to the conveyance device. When a certain acceleration threshold is exceeded, a stop signal is triggered and transmitted to the devices that brake the conveyance elements.
The disadvantage of the known foreign-object detection devices and their use in agricultural harvesting machines is that the agricultural harvesting machine is no longer able to pick up crop material, because all of the working units have stopped. Crop material can become jammed since, due to the operator's reaction time, a certain length of time passes from the instant when the foreign-object detection device is triggered until the harvesting machine is stopped. In particular, a forage harvester that is harvesting grass travels at high harvesting speeds. As a result, when a foreign object is detected, large swaths of grass are pushed in front of the forage harvester before it comes to a standstill. When it becomes necessary for the harvesting machine to pick up these piles of crop material after the foreign object has been removed, the harvesting machine often becomes overloaded, which may result in damage being done to the harvesting machine. If the crop material is a crop that is yet to be harvested, e.g., corn, it is driven over and pressed into the ground. Significant crop-material losses may therefore result if the foreign-object detection device is activated frequently.

Agricultural harvesting machine with a foreign-object detection device

CLAAS Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen GmbH


A baling apparatus is provided for forming fibrous material into rectangular bales. The apparatus includes a bale chamber having a rectangular cross-section with a substantially vertically (typically 10.degree.-12.degree. from vertical) disposed inlet end. Structure is disposed forwardly of the bale chamber for delivering a mat of material to be baled to the bale chamber. The structure includes a conveyor having a vertically reciprocating discharge chute for discharging the mat of fibrous material in a vertical zig-zag pattern at the inlet end of the bale chamber to form successive layers of folded material within the bale chamber. Dedicated structure is provided for compressing the fibrous material with a flat surface at upper and lower portions of the bale chamber in a direction towards the rear of the bale chamber.

Many types of balers are known today. While balers have been in use for many years that form relatively small rectangular bales for manual handling, the technology is relatively new for devices that are suitable for forming relatively large bales for machine handling.
Several balers are known for forming relatively large rectangular or round bales. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,197 discloses a baler for producing large round bales of approximately four to five feet in width and having a similar diameter. While round bales generally have good field storage characteristics, they are difficult to handle and also difficult to stack in enclosed areas. Because of the propensity of a round bale to roll compared to a rectangular bale, additional care must be exercised in the handling of round bales.
Several types of large rectangular balers are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,552,109 and 4,118,918 disclose balers that are, in effect, scaled up versions of designs used for smaller 16.times.18 inch bales. This results in a device having a relatively heavy structure and high power requirements. Other balers for forming large rectangular bales utilize rotating feeding and compacting mechanisms. U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,832 discloses a relatively complex device that does not have a dedicated structure for compressing the hay in the baling chamber and utilizes rotating feeding and compacting structure. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,487 employs feeder-compactor rotating rollers that oscillate up and down across the intake port of the bale forming channel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,923 discloses a device and method in which the bale forming chamber is fed from the bottom and oscillates back and forth over a feeding mechanism. Alternatively, the feeding mechanism moves back and forth underneath the baling chamber. In both devices, rotating feeder-compactor rollers are utilized.
A need exists for a baler and baling method capable of forming large rectangular bales that is relatively simple in design and operation. A need also exists for a large rectangular baler that is capable of making vent holes in central portions of the bale that extend completely through the bale. A need further exists for a large rectangular baler that deposits the bale into the field so that the layers of hay in the bale are horizontally oriented.
Finally, a need exists for a bale construction of crop or other material, which may be hay, having improved rain shedding and drying characteristics.


An apparatus for two dimensional orientation of an object, providing independent inclining and rotational capability while controlling undesired reactive motions is described. Applications for such a device occur in the fields of measuring and controlling instruments, machine tools, robotics, and various other disciplines requiring orienting mechanisms, for example the positioning of cameras, antennas, or telescopes. The apparatus can be constructed from five annular members, two annular gears, a series of mounting members, a constraining device, and two controllable motors for rotation of two of the annular members. The first, second, and fifth annular members include parallel upper and lower mounting planes. The third and fourth annular members each include an identical angle between their upper and lower mounting planes. The first annular member is mounted to a fixed surface with second through fifth annular members rotatably mounted on top of the first and succeeding members. Typically the rotatable mounting is achieved using devices such as ball or roller bearings. The object to be oriented is mounted to the upper mounting plane of the fifth annular member. By securing the fifth member to the second member with a constraining device, typically a flexible bellows, undesired rotation during inclining operations is eliminated. By linking the fourth and second members together using attached annular positioning means, undesired inclination during rotating operations is eliminated. Externally mounted control devices, typically electric motors connected to worm and ring gear mechanisms, allow the apparatus to rotate continuously without twisting of electrical cables or requiring complex sliding connections.

Description of the Prior Art
The desirability for controllably orienting an object in three dimensions, namely rotation about an axis and inclination with respect to that axis, and tilting of the axis itself, has long been recognized in various diverse fields of endeavor. These fields of endeavor include astronomy, antenna control, spacecraft attitude control, microscopy, photography, and construction of various flexible work platforms. Numerous United States and foreign patents have addressed the problems associated with control of an objects orientation. Noteworthy among the United States patents are U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,218, issued in 1996 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,002, issued in 1989.
The prior art devices have focused on providing orientation of an object in three dimensions, whereas the present invention addresses problems specifically related to orienting an object in two dimensions, namely rotation about an axis and inclination with respect to that axis. The problem with the prior art devices is that they have not met all of the desired features for a device which is optimized to control the orientation of an object in the above two dimensions. Principal among these features is the ability for the object to be rotated continuously about an axis. Prior art devices typically rotate the object by means of electric motors located within the rotating mounting structures. This limits rotation to the length and twisting capabilities of the electrical connections. The present invention locates all rotating and inclination actuators outside of the rotating mounting structures, thus permitting continuous rotation. Another desired feature not adequately addressed by the prior art is ability of the device to maintain an accurate rotational orientation while effecting a inclination of the object. Prior art devices achieve this type of control through complex feedback circuitry or similar means while the present invention solves this problem through simple mechanical linkage.
In addition, as most prior art devices provide three dimensional control for the orientation of an object, they are necessarily more complex, difficult and expensive to manufacture and more complex for the user to control. The present invention successfully addresses all of these issues while prior art devices have failed adequately to meet one or more of the above described desirable features.

Apparatus for two dimensional orientation of an object


A peripheral device is connected to a host device by a transmission path according to a predetermined interface standard to be communicable with the host device, and operates with power supply received from the host device through the transmission path. The peripheral device includes a main operation unit and a control unit. The main operation unit uses, in the operation thereof, non-standard current higher than an upper limit current value specified by the interface standard. The control unit operates in a standard power mode, which consumes current not exceeding the upper limit current value specified by the interface standard, to send the host device information indicating the use of the non-standard current, and performs, upon receipt from the host device of permission to use an extended power mode, which consumes the non-standard current, a process of activating the operation of the main operation unit in the extended power mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a peripheral device, a method of operating a peripheral device, a host device, and a method of operating a host device, e.g., a peripheral device and a host device connected to each other in accordance with a predetermined interface standard such as USB (Universal Serial Bus).
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been generally widespread an electronic device capable of performing various types of data communication with an external device in the connection according to an interface standard such as a USB standard, for example. For example, when a host device is assumed to be a personal computer, a peripheral device USB-connected to the personal computer (a USB device) includes a variety of electronic devices, such as a printer, an optical disc drive device, a magnetic disc drive device, an HDD (Hard Disc Drive), a camera, and a solid memory device (e.g., a flash memory device referred to as a so-called USB memory). Further, in the USB connection, power is supplied from the host device to the USB device through a USB cable.
Examples of the related art include Japanese Patent No. 3674855 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-339067.

System and method for operating USB peripheral device in extented power mode or standard power mode wherein permission from host must be granted before extended power is provided


Slabstock foam free of cavities can be produced without any restriction, i.e. also from rapidly reacting chemical systems, by introducing the liquid reaction mixture from underneath, in front of, and/or through an optionally swivellable floor plate, wherein the floor plate and the inlet for introducing the liquid reaction mixture is arranged in a manner such that the reaction mixture above the floor plate is substantially still liquid.

The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus for the continuous production of slabstock foam, in which a liquid reaction mixture is fed, divided transversely and allowed to cream and foam, following which the expanded slabstock foam is then removed.
It is known for example to produce a liquid reaction mixture of polyol and isocyanate for the continuous production of polyurethane slabstock foam by feeding the liquid reaction mixture into a relatively large distributing trough for a certain residence time, a run-off plate whose angle of inclination can be adjusted being arranged behind the trough. As a result of this residence in the distributing trough, the upper region of the reaction mixture creams, flows as it were in the "rising jet" onto and over the run-off plate and then foams to form a block (see DE-OS 2 142 450, believed to correspond to GB-PS 1 354 34). It has been found that this process and the associated apparatus are not suitable for processing rapidly reacting chemical systems since the mixture in the trough in this case quickly foams starting from the dead zones, i.e. the low-flow zones in the distributing trough. Complicated and expensive cleaning and paper lining procedures for the distributing trough are necessary before and after each foaming procedure.
According to another known process the liquid reaction mixture is usually applied from above to a trough-shaped paper film spread over a floor plate, the paper film being drawn, together with the applied and still liquid reaction mixture, underneath by an air gap. This air gap is formed by a guide roller underneath which runs a cover film (manufacturer's logo "51/1" "QFM" of Hennecke GmbH, D-53754 Sankt Augustin, No. D 9901-820 362 3T 10/98 Gö). Under the correct procedure the liquid reaction mixture forms a small bulge in front of this air gap, which prevents penetration of air between the reaction mixture and cover film. However, this does not prevent bubbles of air forming undesirable eddies in the reaction mixture when the latter is applied to the lower paper film. These bubbles are subsequently often the starting point for the formation of cavities.
There is thus a need to provide a process and apparatus by means of which slabstock foam can be produced without any restrictions a priori free of cavities, i.e. can be produced from rapidly reacting chemical systems.

Process and apparatus for the continuous production of slabstock foam


In a preferred embodiment, a battery charging system in the form of an integrated circuit (IC), incorporated in a consumer electronic device, has a charging controller, a charging current generator, a junction temperature sensor, and a device current monitor. The junction temperature sensor provides to the charging controller a measured junction temperature of the IC. The charging current generator utilizes fractional synthesis, which involves regulating the duty cycles of multiple current sources, to achieve increased current resolution. The charging controller regulates the charging current provided by the charging current generator based on the relation of the measured junction temperature to three or more threshold temperatures. The device current monitor provides to the charging controller information about the current utilization of the consumer electronic device, thus allowing the charging controller to determine the device non-charging current and give priority for available current to user applications running on the consumer electronic device.

1. Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to rechargeable battery systems, and more particularly, to systems and methods for controlling the charging of rechargeable batteries.
2. Description of the Related Art
Batteries are typically used in situations where steady electric current is needed but not readily available from a power line. Portable electronic devices, for example, are typically powered by batteries. Rechargeable batteries allow for the repeated use of the same batteries by recharging them. Although many rechargeable batteries are recharged in dedicated chargers, a growing number of electronic devices contain an integrated charger allowing for the recharging of the device's batteries while the batteries remain inside the device. Examples include mobile and handheld computers and portable music players. Advantages of recharging the batteries inside the electronic device in which they are used include that there is no need to remove and re-insert the batteries, which reduces the risks of losing the batteries or inserting them incorrectly, and there is no need for a separate battery charger, which reduces the number of items that need to be manufactured, packaged, and tracked together with the portable electronic device itself. Additionally, recharging the batteries inside the electronic device increases portability and mobility by reducing the components associated with the product that a user may need to carry when traveling or on the go.
Rechargeable batteries allow for bidirectional conversion between electrical and chemical energy, as opposed to non-rechargeable batteries which allow for only the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy, but not vice versa. Chargers provide electrical current to rechargeable batteries, which convert the received electrical energy back into storable chemical energy. Rechargeable batteries typically have limited lifetimes. The lifetime and utility of a rechargeable battery depend on factors such as the battery type (e.g., battery chemistry, construction, and size), the way it is drained, and the way it is recharged. Providing too much current and continuing to charge after the battery is fully charged are actions likely to reduce the overall health of the battery.
The simplest chargers provide a relatively steady current to the battery. More advanced chargers provide more elaborate charging characteristics that can vary with one or more factors, such as time, battery voltage, battery type, battery current, battery impedance, and battery temperature. Such advanced functionality is typically provided by an integrated circuit (IC) controller.

Multi-threshold charging of a rechargeable battery


An apparatus can correctly discriminate between types of a recording medium, and obtain good fixed image by performing fixing in the optimum fixing conditions for a variety of different types of recording media. The apparatus includes an LED 101 serving as a first irradiation section, an LED 104 serving as a second irradiation section, a phototransistor 103 serving as a first reading section, and a phototransistor 102 serving as a second reading section. The light output from the LED 101 operating as the light source and passing through a slit 111 illuminates a surface of recording paper P on a recording paper conveyance guide 105. Besides, the recording paper conveyance guide 105 has a window opened for illuminating the recording paper from its underside in the present embodiment. The reflected light from the recording paper P is gathered via slits 112 and 113 and is received by the phototransistors 102 and 103.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium discrimination apparatus and method, and more particularly to a recording medium discrimination apparatus and method for distinguishing between the types of a recording medium by detecting reflected light from a surface of the recording medium and the quantity of transmitted light through the recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and laser printer transfers to a recording medium an image to be visualized and developed by a developing section, and fixes the developed image by applying heat and pressure in predetermined fixing conditions. Since the predetermined fixing conditions differ greatly depending on the material, thickness, surface processing and the like of the recording medium, meticulous settings in accordance with the types of the recording medium are required to make full use of a plurality of types of the recording medium.
Conventionally, such an image forming apparatus displays the sizes and types of the recording medium (paper type when the recording medium is paper) on the operating panel mounted on the image forming apparatus for a user to select, and changes the fixing conditions (such as fixing temperature and transport speed of the recording medium passing through the fixing apparatus) in response to the selection.
In contrast with such a manual method, a technique has been proposed recently which automatically discriminates between the types of the recording medium with a sensor installed in the image forming apparatus for differentiating the recording medium, and carries out variable control of the developing conditions, transfer conditions or fixing conditions in response to the type differentiated.
The technique for automatically detecting the type of the recording medium includes the following methods: a method of acquiring a surface image of the recording medium with a CCD sensor, and detecting the degree of the surface smoothness of the recording medium by converting the information to fractal dimension information; a method of acquiring a surface image of the recording medium with a CCD sensor or CMOS sensor, and discriminating between paper types from the degree of the surface smoothness by detecting the degree of the roughness of the recording medium from the intensity of the light of the surface image; and a method of detecting the thickness of the recording medium from the length of a shadow formed at the edge of the recording medium (for example, see Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2001-139189).
However, the foregoing methods of detecting the degree of the surface smoothness of the recording medium cannot discriminate between recording media such as plain paper and cardboard which have nearly the same surface smoothness, but have a different compression state of paper fibers. Thus, the method can make a wrong decision of the cardboard as plain paper, and hence cannot carry out suitable settings for the recording paper in terms of the developing conditions, fixing conditions and transfer conditions, thereby offering a problem of deteriorating the fixing property.
On the other hand, as for the method of deciding the thickness of the material of the recording medium, it cannot discern the smoothness of the surface of the recording medium. Thus, as to glossy paper or the like which has more difficulty in passing light than plain paper, it makes a thicker decision as to the thickness of the material, and hence prevents proper setting of the conditions.
In addition, in spite of increasing types of recording media, demands for print quality have been increased recently, and hence accurate discrimination between a wide variety of recording media is required.

Recording medium discrimination apparatus and method


A heat sink assembly adapted for use with an electronic device package such as a microprocessor having a grid array is shown having, in a first embodiment, a threaded base of a finned heat sink adapted to be received in a threaded bore of an adaptor which mounts onto the electronic device package. Desired thermal coupling is achieved by screwing down the heat sink in biasing engagement with the package. An alternate embodiment shows the heat sink which has a snap on flange to attach the heat sink to the adaptor.

This invention relates generally to electronic solid state devices and more particularly, to apparatus for dissipating heat generated by such devices.
As advances are made in the electronics industry with more functions provided in smaller architecture, the efficient removal of heat becomes increasingly important. Solid state devices, such as microprocessors and the like, generate a great deal of heat during operation which must be removed to prevent adverse effects on operation of the system in which the solid state device is used and even self-destruction of the device or destruction of near-by components.
It is known to thermally couple heat sinks with such devices in order to dissipate heat generated by the devices and, consequently, lower the temperature of the devices to safe limits. One example of such a heat sink is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,456. In that patent, a finned heat sink comprising a central post having a plurality of spaced fins extending radially from the post is secured to an electronic device package by means of a clip which attaches to a latch mechanism on a frame in which the device package is held and which releasably grips the heat sink and urges it into engagement with the device package. This structure, while effective when the clamping force biases the heat sink into firm engagement with the electronic device package, tends to be inconsistent as the semi-conductor heats up and, at elevated temperatures, the force biasing the heat sink against the device package can decrease making the thermal path less efficient. In fact, apparently due to differences in the thermal expansion of the several parts, the thermal coupling between the heat sink and the device package can be significantly diminished caused by a slight tilting of the heat sink surface to break the plane to plane contact of the heat sink core with the top surface of the electronic device package. Even when thermal grease is placed between the heat sink and the device package, it is found that thermal coupling can be significantly reduced with the result that the device package overheats and causes deleterious operational effects.
Heat sinks have also been permanently bonded to the electronic device package to provide an efficient thermal coupling between the two components; however, over time the bond tends to break thereby adversely affecting the thermal path between the heat sink and the device package.
Another approach to preventing overheating has been to mount a small fan on the heat sink to increase thermal dissipation of the heat sink. While this can be very effective in maintaining the temperature of the device package to acceptable levels, it is not only costly if operation of the fan is interrupted due to some malfunction, but the device will be ineffective to prevent unwanted temperature rise.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat sink assembly for removing heat from an electronic device which is reliable yet inexpensive, one which obviates the limitations of the prior art mentioned above.

Heat sink assembly for solid state devices


A wall plate for engagement with an identical wall plate including an opening for the passage of wires or conduit therethrough. The plate is capable of being separated at its center to allow for the passage of oversized connectors and fittings and includes extender sections to increase the size of the opening. The invention includes a first plate section and identical second plate section that are mateable for easy separation and attachment. Both first and second plate sections include cantilever tab-like elements that extend from the ends of each plate section to join the plates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wall plates for electrical wiring, and more specifically, to a plate including an opening for the passage of wires or conduit. The plate is capable of being separated, then reconnected and securely interlocked at its center to allow for oversized connectors and fittings to be passed therethrough. The plate is secured to standard gem boxes and includes extender sections to increase the size of the opening.
2. Description of Related Art
Wall plates to cover electrical devices mounted in gem boxes are well known in the art. Wall box mounted devices such as switches and receptacles are commonly provided with a wall plate serving both as a decorative cover for the device and to prevent access to the areas which contain the electrical wiring. Such wall plates are usually mounted upon the device by one or more screws passing through openings in the plate and received in a threaded aperture in the device. In some installations, two or more devices are mounted in side-by-side relation with a corresponding wall plate for each device.
Other types of wall plates include plates that can be interlocked at their sides to provide for interchangeable wall panel assemblies for each configuration of electrical devices in any number of ganged gem boxes. Each wall plate includes specific openings to accommodate various electrical device apertures. However, there exists a need for a plate that allows for the aperture to be split then reconnected, to allow for varying size wires and connectors to pass therethrough. Furthermore, there exists a need for the connected plate to withstand the pulling forces of wires and connectors that would otherwise separate the connected plate.


A dual-chamber air bed includes an air pump, a bed body air chamber and peripheral air chambers. The air bed is enclosed by a top surface, a bottom surface and a side wall. An upper supplementary-material encircling piece is provided between the top surface and the side wall; a lower supplementary-material encircling piece is provided between the bottom surface and the side wall. The peripheral air chambers are enclosed by the top surface, the side wall and the upper supplementary-material encircling piece, and by the bottom surface, the side wall and the lower supplementary-material encircling piece. The bed body air chamber is enclosed by the top surface, the bottom surface, the side wall, the upper supplementary-material encircling piece, and the lower supplementary-material encircling piece.

At present, existing air beds in the market are generally not provided with a single independent peripheral air chamber, and are only formed with an inflation chamber. Therefore, a bed body of this kind is rather unstable, and people are apt to fall once they sit on the bed. In addition, since air pressures and forces of the middle and the edge of the air bed easily tend to be uneven due to the fact that the air bed tends to expand to the middle, people are apt to slide down.
In addition, the air beds in the prior art are generally provided with drawstrings in the inflation chamber so as to enable the air bed to form a certain shape and have a flat surface. The drawstrings used by traditional inflatable mattress are all surface sheets and bottom sheets vertically connected to the inflatable mattress, and the drawstrings may exert pulling forces in a vertical direction on the surface sheets and the bottom sheets upon inflation of the inflatable mattress. However, the inflatable mattress with such a structure has the following deficiencies. Firstly, a joint seam at which a drawstring connects a surface sheet or a bottom sheet is relatively concentrated with force, so that a joint where the drawstring connects the surface sheet or the bottom sheet easily breaks, or the surface sheet or the bottom sheet is torn apart. Secondly, the bed body is easy to be partially collapsed or convex upwards to be inclined without enough stability, thereby affecting the using effect and service life.

WANGLI PLASTIC & ELECTRONICS (HUIZHOU) CO., LTD.