A closed-loop control system for stereoscopic video capture is provided. At least two motorized lenses are positioned in accordance with specified parameters to capture spatially-disparate images of a scene. The motorized lenses focus light on a corresponding one of the at least two sensors, which generate image streams. One or more processors execute instructions to provide a stream analyzer and a control module. The stream analyzer receives the image streams from the sensors and analyzes the image streams and the specified parameters in real time; the stream analyzer then modifies the image streams and generates metadata. The control module then receives and analyzes the image streams and metadata and transmits updated parameters to a control mechanism that is coupled to the at least two motorized lenses. The control mechanism then modifies operation of the at least two motorized lenses in real time in accordance with the updated parameters.

The present embodiments relate to image processing, in general, and in particular to processing of real-time stereoscopic vision images.
Stereoscopic 3D has gained significant importance in the entertainment industry today. However, production of high quality stereoscopic content is still a challenging art that requires mastering the complex interplay of human perception, 3D display properties, and artistic intent.
The entertainment industry is steadily moving towards stereoscopic 3D (S3D) movie production, and the number of movie titles released in S3D is continuously increasing. The production of stereoscopic movies, however, is more demanding than traditional movies, as S3D relies on a sensitive illusion created by projecting two different images to the viewer's eyes. It therefore requires proper attention to achieve a pleasant depth experience. Any imperfections, especially when accumulated over time, can cause wrong depth perception and adverse effects, such as eye strain, fatigue, or even motion sickness. The primary challenge of S3D is the complex interplay of human perception, 3D display properties, and content composition. The latter, in particular, represents the artistic objective of using depth as an element of storytelling, which often stands in contrast to problems that can arise due to inconsistent depth cues. From a production perspective, this presents a highly complex and non-trivial problem for content creation, which has to satisfy all of these technical, perceptual, and artistic objectives. Unfortunately, shooting high-quality, stereoscopic, live video content remains an art that has been mastered only by a small group of individuals. More specifically, the difficulty arises from the fact that in addition to setting traditional camera parameters (e.g., zoom, shutter speed, aperture, focus), S3D-related parameters, such as camera interaxial distance and convergence plane, have to be set correctly to create the intended depth effect. Adjusting all these parameters for complex, dynamically changing scenes poses additional challenges. Furthermore, scene cuts and shot framing have to be handled appropriately in order to provide a perceptually pleasing experience. These problems become even more pronounced for live broadcast of stereoscopic content, such as in sports applications. Capturing high-quality stereoscopic 3D footage therefore requires very sophisticated equipment along with the craftsmanship of an experienced stereographer all of which makes the S3D production inherently difficult and expensive.

Computational stereoscopic camera system

ETH ZÜRICH (EIDGENÖESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZÜRICH)


A material receiving duct is provided for a comminuting apparatus. The material receiving duct includes a material entrance section, a material exit section, and a telescoping section. The material entrance section has a material entrance. The material exit section is provided beneath the material entrance section with a material exit configured to mate with an entrance enclosure of a comminuting apparatus. The telescoping section is provided between the entrance section and the exit section to adjust height of the material entrance.

A variety of comminuting apparatus are known for use with horizontal trim presses for subdividing scrap material that is generated by a trim press on a thermoforming line. More particularly, horizontal trim presses are configured to generate a scrap thermoformed web from which articles have been severed via the trim press. The web is delivered in a downward direction from the trim press and into a comminuting apparatus. Several such apparatus are sold as Chesaw® comminuting apparatus, Model Nos. Standard Series, C-Series, M-Series, and CLS, sold by Irwin Research & Development, of Yakima, Wash. Such a comminuting apparatus has an entrance duct formed by a pair of guide plates that guide scrap web into the comminuting apparatus from a trim press. However, there are gaps between the exit of the trim press and the entrance duct of the comminuting apparatus sufficient for an operator to insert a limb. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a protective cage about the area between the entrance duct of the comminuting apparatus and the exit of the trim press when incorporated into a thermoforming line. It is possible to construct a trim press with a custom-sized entrance duct that perfectly matches the exit clearance beneath a particular trim press. However, comminuting apparatus are frequently removed from beneath a particular trim press in order to clean out material from the comminuting apparatus when changing the materials that are being formed by a particular thermoforming line. Oftentimes, the comminuting apparatus may be subsequently placed beneath another trim press on another thermoforming line. It is usually the case that different trim presses on different thermoforming lines have different vertical clearances, which means that comminuting apparatus with a custom-sized vertical entrance duct clearance height will not interchangeably fit between different trim presses without leaving a potentially hazardous gap between the trim press exit and the comminuting apparatus entrance duct. Accordingly, a need exists to efficiently and easily adjust the vertical clearance height for an entrance duct of a comminuting apparatus when mating the comminuting apparatus beneath each one of several trim presses.

Comminuting apparatus and material receiving duct for comminuting apparatus


An orthopedic plate for treating orthopedic peri-articular fractures and osteotomies, including a flat and curve edged blade for insertion into the spongy or cancellous bone to gain fixation, a side plate portion which includes a plurality of screw holes, the side plate portion fixing the plate to the bone when screws are inserted in the screw holes, and a worm gear mechanism which connects the blade and the side plate portion, and which allows for variable angles between the blade and the side plate portion to overcome problems associated with fracture and osteotomy orientation and rigid fixation in cancellous bone in the metaphyseal portion of long bones such as the shoulder, knee, ankle, and hip, and thus, greatly facilitate the proper fixation and alignment for peri-articular fractures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an orthopedic surgical implant for bone stabilization of peri-articular fractures, peri-articular osteotomies, and other orthopedic procedures involving periarticular regions.
Stable fixation in spongy or cancellous bone is, at times, a difficult problem in the field of orthopedic surgery, especially in orthopedic trauma and orthopedic osteotomy surgery. Often comminuted and geriatric/osteoporotic bone is difficult to stabilize with conventional screw and plate fixation. An equally difficult problem pertains to the placement of two large bone fragments in their proper sagittal and coronal orientation when performing orthopedic osteotomies.
2. Description of the Related Art
A procedure which is used commonly to treat early arthritis of the knee is the peri-articular valgus osteotomy. This osteotomy takes a "bow legged" deformity and creates a partial "knock kneed" deformity in order to transfer the weight off of the inner arthritic compartment of the knee onto the outer non-arthritic compartment of the knee. The average period of pain relief and maintenance of the knock kneed alignment is 5-7 years; at which time, the patient is left to live with his or her pain or depending on their age, may elect to have a total knee replacement. The fixation of these types of osteotomies has been commonly done with one piece plates, staples, and one piece blade plates.
These fixation systems are limited by their one piece solid designs and do not allow for small corrections which may be necessary because of anatomic variation. Even the correction of a few degrees of alignment may mean the difference between 5 years of pain relief and a lifetime of pain relief without the need for a second procedure.
The fixation of fractures, delayed unions, and non-unions in close proximity to the hip, knee, shoulder and ankle joints often poses similar and sometimes more troublesome problems as compared to peri-articular osteotomies. Fractures which occur in the elderly are often difficult to treat because of the osteoporotic nature of their bone.
Conventional plates rely on screw fixation into bone to secure the plate to the outside of the bone. The use of a blade plate attempts to overcome this lack of fixation. However, the proper placement of this blade plate is essential to return the normal anatomic alignment of the limb. It is often difficult to judge this placement because of the shattered bone fragments which accompany the fracture.
The conventional one piece blade plates, shown in FIG. 4, are constructed of a single piece of metal at fixed angles, but are without the ability to compensate for variations in bony anatomy. Therefore, even when precise placement of these plates is achieved when used for fracture fixation and periarticular osteotomies, the overall alignment of the limb may not be optimum because of the one piece fixed angled plate.
Although conventional two piece variable angle screw devices exist, they are currently used in hip fractures. These variable angle screw devices include a compression screw inserted into the femoral cortex, and include adjusting the angle of the device before screwing the plate into and flush with the femur, as shown in FIG. 5. However, this system does not allow for the treatment of metaphyseal fractures or osteotomies of the hip, knee, ankle, or shoulder by virtue of its inherent configuration.

Variable angle blade plate for fixation of cancellous bone


The apparatus for generating ionic flow of media includes a DC voltage supply having a positive terminal and a negative terminal with a collector connected to the negative terminal of the direct current voltage supply. The collector has a substantially tubular configuration with a rear and front section with inwardly tapering frusto-conical section therebetween. An emitter pin is connected to the positive terminal of the direct current voltage supply with the majority of the tip being located within the frusto-conical section of the collector. Alternatively, the front section of the collector may be made of a dielectric material, such as plastic. As a result, fluid flow, such as air flow, is generated from the input port of the rear section of the collector, through the frusto-conical section of the collector and out the output port of the front section of the collector.

The present invention generally relates to devices for use in generating air flow for thermal applications. Moreover, the present invention relates to using such devices to cool parts and components, such as those in a computer system, so those parts do not fail over time. The present invention relates to air flow generators that have no moving parts.
In the prior art, there are many ion media flow generating devices in the prior art. These prior art devices typically include an emitter pin and a surrounding collector body. The configuration of the collector casing is typically all metallic and in a tubular shape with the emitter pin located therein. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,259, issued to Gloersen, et al., for example. Gloersen shows a plasma accelerator system. Plasma may be defined as gas in an ionized state. In accordance with the Gloersen, there is provided a plasma accelerator 10 with a DC power supply 16 and a driving coil 13 that surrounds electrodes 11 and 12. The coil 13 is electrically insulated by sleeve 14. The coil 13 surrounds the cylindrical electrode 12 and is connected in series with the radial discharge gap and creates a magnetic field axially of the gap. One or more capacitors 18 are charged by the power supply 16. Current flow, indicated by J, is through conductor 21 along the inner electrode 11 across the radial gap to the cylindrical electrode 12 and, via flange 22, through the coil 13 and back through conductor 23. The shape of the electrodes 11 and 12 and the position of the coil 13 are such that the two forces will be operative in expelling the plasma from the discharge end of the accelerator into outer space or other evacuated region. The '259 patent discloses a system that is used in space craft for propulsion in zero or very low gravity. While the '259 patent does teach a plasma accelerator, its collector configuration is not well optimized for efficient production of gas for thermal management purposes or for being installed inline within a conduit.
Also, the collector in prior art devices have been found to be in a shape where the metallic body is first convergent then diverging. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,239,130, issued to Naundorf, Jr. which discloses a gas pumping ionic wind generator that uses a conical collector. This patent states that its convergent-divergent shape to help maintain a continuous arc. It appears that the shape of the collector, location of the emitter pin and other specific construction issues are the focus, as it is clear that the general concept of an ionic wind generator is well known in the art. See also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,782, issued to Yu et al. which discloses a collector region similar to that of Naundorf et al. See also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,159, issued to Schwab et al.
However, each of these prior art ion air flow generating devices include a collector shape and emitter pin location that is specific which will generate a given output of air flow. Further, none of the prior art references are specifically designed for air and liquid flow for thermal cooling environments and applications.
Therefore, there is a need for a ion air and liquid flow device with no moving parts that is well-suited for cooling parts in a thermally sensitive application, such as in a computer environment.

Ionic flow generator for thermal management


A plug-type electrical connector includes a housing (10), an insert (20), a number of contacts (50), a conductive grounding clip (40) and a plastic spring latch (30). The contacts mount in the housing, the latch and grounding clip both clamp to a front of the insert, and the insert is mounted to a top of the housing. The grounding clip is formed in the shape of an elongate ring, with a front end bended downward to form a hook to clamp the front of the insert, and a rear end bended upward to electrically engage with a grounding surface of a mating receptacle (2). The spring latch has a lock (31) on a top surface to engage with an aperture (7) in the receptacle connector. The spring latch and the grounding clip are both more difficult to permanently deform during use than prior art metallic clips.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a small form factor plug connector for high speed data transmission which has a plastic spring latch and separate conductive grounding tabs.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIG. 9, a prior art concept for a small form factor plug connector 700 and complementary receptacle connector 800 are shown. The plug connector 700 has a main body 710, an insert 720, a plurality of contacts 730, and a conductive metal latch 740. A front portion 742 of the latch 740 is attached between the main body 710 and the insert 720. A rear portion 744 of the latch 740 connects to a rear end of the insert 720. A central portion 746 of the latch 740 extends in an arc between the front portion 742 and the rear portion 744. A lock 748 sits atop the central portion 746.
The mating receptacle connector 800 has a conductive shell 810, roughly rectangular in shape and having an opening 820 for insertion of a front end of the mating plug connector 700. A window 830 is defined in an upper wall 815 of the shell 810 for engaging with the lock 748 of the latch 740 on the plug connector 700. The latch 740 serves a second purpose of establishing electrical grounding contact with the shell 810 of the receptacle. The latch 740 is quite long, and if the plug 700 is inserted into the receptacle 800 at a high angle, the latch 740 can be easily bent so that it no longer locks with the window 830, and further, so that it no longer provides a reliable grounding contact between the plug connector 700 and the receptacle connector 800.
Referring to FIG. 10, patent application Ser. No. 09/826,995, having the same assignee as the present application, discloses an electrical connector 901 having a housing 910 which includes an upper half 912 and a lower half 911. A plastic latch 920 is rotatably mounted between the lower half 911 and a pair of retaining tabs 915, which are integrally a part of the upper half 912. A coil spring 926 arranged between the latch 920 and the upper half 912 biases the latch 920 in an upward position. A grounding tab 930 is fixed to the upper half 912, and has a pair of spring arms 932 for electrically contacting a wall of a mating receptacle connector (not shown). Two retaining posts 940 of the upper half 912 can insert through holes 941 in the spring arms 932 and can be deformed into enlarged heads, thereby retaining the grounding tab 930 to the housing 910. The retaining tabs 915 are vulnerable to being bent, and the inclusion of the coil spring 926 and the requirement for deforming the retaining posts 940 unnecessarily complicates manufacture of the connector 901, increasing manufacturing costs.
An improved plug connector with a more robust latch design is desired to overcome the limitations of the prior art.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a small form factor plug connector which has a robust latching mechanism for locking the plug connector into a mating receptacle connector;
A second object of the present invention is to provide a small form factor plug connector which has a ground tab which reliably establishes an electrical connection with the mating receptacle connector.
A third objective of the present invention is to provide a small form factor plug connector which is easily and cheaply manufactured.
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, a plug connector in accordance with the present invention includes a housing, an insert, a plurality of contacts, a plastic spring latch, and a metallic grounding clip.
The housing has two sidewalls with a bed, a front shelf, and a top beam connecting the two sidewalls together. The contacts are mounted in the housing and are accessible at the front shelf for connecting with terminals of a mating receptacle connector.
The insert is slab-shaped and forms a thin tongue at a center of its forward end. The tongue is flanked by a pair of thicker support beams, which are flanked by side beams.
The grounding clip is made of a metallic material and is ring-shaped. The grounding clip is bended downward into a hook at its forward end to allow it to clamp to the support beams at the forward end of the insert. The grounding clip bends upward at its rearward half to electrically contact a grounding surface of the receptacle.
The spring latch is elongate and forms a hook at its front end to clamp to the tongue of the insert. A lock is formed on an upper surface of the spring latch for engaging with an aperture cut in the receptacle connector to lock the plug connector to the receptacle connector. The spring latch is made of plastic and is of such a design that it will not permanently deform in normal use.
The insert attaches to a top of the housing, completing assembly of the plug connector. The advantage of the present invention over the prior art is that the spring latch is more durable and provides for easier assembly than that of the prior art, and the grounding clip is more protected from permanent distortion and is simpler in design.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Electrical plug connector with spring latch and grounding tabs


A method of producing a water resistant fiber-cement product. The water repelling agent can be added or applied to the fiber-cement or indeed the material forming the fiber cement at a number of different stages in the process. The resultant material has increased water impermeability over conventional fiber-cement products.

Fibre-cement products which may include board tiles and/or panels are commonly used in the building industry in the manufacture of sidings, exterior cladding, skirting and interior panels, and many other interior construction materials. In the industry, fibre-cement board may also be known as "fibreboard".
The problem with fibre-cement products is that if water enters the product (eg a wall panel) before installation, the panel will expand slightly and, if installed, stress will build up in the panel as it dries that can lead to bowing and like problems. Thus it is clearly desirable that the fibre-cement product be water-resistant or water repelling to combat such problems.
The difficulty in producing water resistant fibre-cement products has been primarily due to the harsh conditions used during the preparation of the fibre-cement product. To increase its flexural strength, fibre-cement products are normally cured in an autoclave. The saturated steam pressure used is usually about 1000 KPa. The pressure is held at this level for approximately 8 hours, and the alkalinity of the board may be as high as a pH of 13. These harsh conditions affect the molecular integrity of the organic polymers used and this prevents the formation of water resistant fibre-cement.
Whilst many different hydrophobic polymers have been successful at waterproofing building materials, such as gypsum, they have failed to impart water resistance on fibre-cement products primarily due to the problems of the autoclaving process used for fibre-cement production:
In this specification, the relationship between a water repelling agent and fibre-cement is described by the term "integrally associated". This term is understood to describe the substantially even spread or distribution of a water repelling agent throughout the fibre-cement.


A method of charging an industrial maintenance-free Ni-MH storage cell, the method comprising in combination a first stage at a constant current I.sub.1 lying in the range I.sub.c /10 to I.sub.c /2, and a second stage at a constant current I.sub.2 lying in the range I.sub.c /50 to I.sub.c /10, the changeover from the first stage to the second stage taking place when the time derivative of the temperature reaches a threshold value which varies as a function of the temperature at the time of the changeover.

Alkaline electrolyte storage cells presently on the market are either of the "open" type (also referred to as being of the "industrial" type) enabling gas to be interchanged with the surrounding atmosphere, or else of the "sealed" type (also referred to as the "portable" type) having no interchange with the outside in normal operation. Most "sealed" type storage cells are intended mainly for incorporation in portable appliances; they are therefore small in size and of limited capacity. "Open" type storage cells are usually prismatic in shape, of high capacity, and low internal pressure. Storage cells of this type need to have their electrolyte level periodically readjusted because of losses by electrolysis and by evaporation, due to the contact with the ambient atmosphere. The increasingly tight requirements of users of "open" type storage cells have led to the development of storage cells that do not require maintenance, with this being done by reducing their interchanges with the outside.
The Ni-MH couple under development provides high performance, but it has been observed that it is necessary to put a strict limit on overcharging phenomena in such storage cells in order to guarantee satisfactory lifetime. For example, in the context of use for electric vehicle traction, the lifetime must be at least 1500 charge/discharge cycles. The performance of Ni-MH batteries depends on the charging method used enabling a maximum charge state to be achieved without accepting a large overcharge coefficient.
A maintenance-free alkaline electrolyte cell is charged in two stages. A first stage comprises charging proper, and corresponds to oxido-reduction of the active materials of the electrodes. For an Ni-MH storage cell, this reaction is slightly exothermal and it takes place without gas being given off. Once all of the active material of the positive electrode has been transformed, the cell enters a second stage known as the "overcharging" stage, during which oxygen is given off by the positive electrode. Electrochemical reduction of the oxygen at the negative electrode, or "recombination", leads firstly to an increase in temperature (exothermal reaction) which has the side effect of lowering the voltage of the cell, and secondly to increasing the internal pressure of the cell due mainly to the oxygen that is being recombined.
The higher the temperature at which the cell is being charged, the more progressive the changeover from the charging stage to the overcharging stage, thus making it that much more difficult to detect. Consequently, it is necessary to monitor permanently the parameters of a battery that is being charged.
Firstly, the charging method must make it possible to reach the maximum chargeable capacity with the best possible efficiency. Unfortunately, the chargeability of an Ni-MH cell decreases as its internal temperature increases. It is therefore necessary to define a method making it possible to optimize charging regardless of the initial charge state of the battery and regardless of the way its internal temperature varies during charging. The method may be included in the battery management system to enable the user to charge the battery without risk either for the environment or for the battery.
The charging method must also avoid allowing the internal pressure of the cell to increase excessively. In the event of excess pressure, safety valves open and as a result a loss of capacity is observed over cycling due to progressive drying out of the cell.
Finally, the charging method must minimize the duration of the overcharging stage. Overcharging is necessary to finish off the charging performed during the first stage, firstly to maximize the charge of the cell and secondly, in a battery of cells, to bring the various cells to a uniform charge level. The problem lies in selecting a reliable criterion for indicating the end of charging regardless of the initial conditions in which a battery was to be found. This criterion can only be based on the available physical parameters: voltage, pressure, and/or temperature.
The following end-of-charging criteria have already been proposed:
voltage drop (-.DELTA.V), which criterion is commonly used for the Ni--Cd couple with a switchover signal being generated conventionally at about -10 mV to -20 mV, this criterion is not suitable for application to the Ni-MH couple because of the small voltage signal generated by this couple at the end of charging (0 to -5 mV); PA1 the absolute increase in temperature (+.DELTA..theta.) of the cell between the beginning and the end of charging; this criterion is difficult to apply to the Ni-MH couple because temperature begins to increase as soon as charging begins; PA1 the relative increase in cell temperature compared with a reference heating relationship (.theta.-.theta..sub.ref), which method was adapted to the Ni-MH couple after the exothermal behavior of the charging stage of said couple had been modelled mathematically (FR-2 705 835); the switchover signal used is generally of the order of +10.degree. C. to +15.degree. C. for the Ni--Cd couple, but only of the order of +5.degree. C. to +6.degree. C. for the Ni-MH couple; and PA1 the rate of change of cell temperature, i.e. the time derivative of the temperature (+d.theta./dt), which criterion is frequently used for the Ni-MH couple because of the small size of the absolute temperature signal as generated by said couple at the end of charging; the switchover signal used is conventionally of the order of 20.degree. C. /hour to 60.degree. C. /hour. PA1 a "charging" first stage performed at a constant current I.sub.1 lying in the range I.sub.c /10 to I.sub.c /2 where I.sub.c is the current that would discharge said cell in one hour, during which stage the temperature .theta. of said cell increases; and PA1 a second "overcharging" stage performed at a constant current I.sub.2 lying in the range I.sub.c /50 to I.sub.c /10; changeover from said first stage to said second stage taking place when the time derivative of said temperature d.theta./dt reaches a threshold value (d.theta./dt), which varies as a function of the temperature .theta. of said cell at the moment of said changeover: (d.theta./dt).sub.s =f(.theta.).
All of those criteria relate to charging method adapted to cells of the sealed type and of small size, having a metal container that is generally cylindrical, and of small capacity (approximately up to 10 Ah). Those cells use a recharging method based on a high rate sequence (I.sub.c /2 to 2I.sub.c, i.e. charging at a rate that enables 100% of the capacity to be charged in 2 h to 1/2h). Since portable cells have low thermal inertia, they are very sensitive to variations in outside temperature. Their charging method can be interfered with by changes in the temperature of the environment in which they are placed (charging turned off too soon, charging not turned off at all, etc. . . . ). Documents DE-4 332 533, WO-92/11680, and WO-89/02182 have proposed taking account of any such possible fluctuations by using criteria based on cell temperature (+.DELTA..theta. and +d.theta./dt) together with a correction for ambient temperature.
Maintenance-free industrial Ni-MH cells have much larger capacities (10 Ah to 200 Ah) than do portable cells. Their rectangular shapes and the nature of their containers (plastics material) do not enable them to withstand significant excess pressure. Consequently, high rate charging governed by the above-mentioned criteria is not possible without running the risk firstly of the safety valves opening and secondly of significant heating, and that is prejudicial to the lifetime of the cell.

Method of charging maintenance-free nickel metal hydride storage cells


An uninterruptible power supply includes an isolation transformer having dual primary windings. The secondary winding generates an output voltage based on the magnetic field generated in one of the dual primary windings. A first primary winding is coupled to an inverter circuit that receives an alternating current input voltage and applies a clean and filter alternating current to the first primary winding. A second primary winding is coupled to a bypass circuit that applies a bypass voltage when the inverter circuit is in a failure state. The power supply also includes a compensation circuit to maintain the output voltage at a desired level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power supplies for electronic devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to an uninterruptible power supply to provide power to critical equipment.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) provide power to critical equipment that cannot experience any break in service. In other words, even a short duration brownout or blackout is unacceptable. Examples of such equipment include computer servers, computer networks, telecommunication electronics, medical devices, security networks, and the like. Regulated power is available no matter the status of the power supply.
Isolated power is important for these devices so that the input power is isolated from the output power. In short, UPSs use an isolation transformer to provide clean power to the device. An isolation transformer may have the same output voltage as input voltage. Isolation of the input and output power also prevents mutual interference, and may be required under certain conditions.
A device or equipment using a conventional UPS may include two modes of operation. First is an online mode using alternating current (AC) power applied to the primary winding. The online mode converts DC power that is rectified from an AC power input. The output power from the UPS may be reduced because of loss in the converting process.
The other mode may be called a bypass mode. If the online inverter circuit fails to provide power to the secondary winding, or load side, then a bypass circuit ensures power is provided from the power supply. The bypass mode can be implemented in two ways. One bypass mode configures the bypass power directly to the output power, thereby "bypassing" the transformer entirely. This mode does not isolate the input bypass power from the output power. If the bypass power is connected directly to the output, then any power spikes will be transferred to the output side of the power supply because the bypass is not isolated.
The other mode for providing bypass power uses a switch to apply the power to the primary winding of the transformer. Drawbacks of this configuration include a voltage interruption during the switchover of power, the output of the inverter circuit needs to be the same voltage as the input, and pulse-width modulation limitations that raise the possibility of distortion, which makes it difficult to compensate the voltage to keep the output of the inverter circuit the same. In terms of supplying uninterrupted power, a transient timing issue exists as the power supply switches from online inverter mode to bypass mode. Further, the bypass and online inverter circuits are connected to the same winding. Thus, the bypass voltage needs to be the same as the output voltage. This aspect results in unregulated voltage going to the primary winding and no adjustment available for the output voltage.
In summary, measures exist to provide uninterruptible power to devices and equipment. These measures, however, reduce the effectiveness of the power supply to provide isolated power, or result in temporary loss of power when switching to a bypass mode. Thus, these approaches fail to provide totally isolated output power in an uninterrupted manner.

Uninterruptible power supply with total isolation


In one embodiment, a carbon dioxide capturing system includes an absorber to absorb CO2 from first gas into lean liquid, and produce rich liquid that is the lean liquid absorbing the CO2 and second gas that is the first gas removing the CO2, and a regenerator to separate third gas including the CO2 from the rich liquid flowing from the absorber, and provide the lean liquid and the third gas. The system further includes a flowmeter to measure a flow rate of the third gas, a liquid level gauge to measure a liquid level of the lean liquid and/or the rich liquid, and a controller to regulate a quantity of heat energy supplied to the regenerator based on the flow rate of the third gas, and regulate a total amount of the lean liquid and the rich liquid in the system based on the liquid level.

In recent years, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology has been paid attention as an effective measure against the global warming problem. For example, it is considered to use a carbon dioxide capturing system that captures carbon dioxide with absorbing liquid from process exhaust gas (process target gas), which is generated from an exhaust gas discharge facility such as a thermal power plant, steel mill, trash burning site, and manufacturing facility.
In addition, it is considered to use the carbon dioxide captured by the carbon dioxide capturing system. In the case of using the carbon dioxide, it is necessary to constantly supply a certain amount of carbon dioxide depending on the process of a use destination. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to stably and continuously supply a certain amount of carbon dioxide due to various fluctuation factors, such as fluctuations in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the process exhaust gas, fluctuations in the system, and reduction in efficiency caused by deterioration of the absorbing liquid.

Carbon dioxide capturing system and method of operating the same

TOSHIBA ENERGY SYSTEMS & SOLUTIONS CORPORATION


Transmitting signals, e.g., high power narrow band signals on a periodic basis to facilitate detection of a frequency band and/or carrier signal to be used for communication with a basestation are described. The detected frequency band may be a downlink frequency band. The uplink frequency band to be used can be determined from a know frequency relationship between the detected downlink carrier and a corresponding uplink carrier or by monitoring the detected downlink frequency band for information indicating the uplink frequency band/carrier to be used. Carrier search methods involving searching for the narrowband high power signals used to provide carrier information and/or to indicate the frequency band to be monitored are described. Power detection methods can be used to detect the high power signals avoiding the need for symbol timing synchronization and/or channel estimation with regard to detection of the signals used to locate the frequency band to be used.

Various service providers have been acquiring frequency spectrum in various frequency bands based on the availability of wireless communication spectrum in various, relatively limited, geographic regions. A goal of at least some of these service providers is to create a relatively large network by providing service using the available frequency bands which can be acquired from region to region.
Multichannel Multipoint Distribution System (MMDS) band, is a title sometimes used to describe an unconventional band formed by a plurality of different frequency bands in different geographic regions. MMDS enables opportunities for service providers who own the rights to different frequency spectrum in different geographic locations. The MMDS band is unconventional in that a service provider may be assigned different frequency bands in different geographic regions, e.g., cities or states. It is also unconventional in that the carrier frequency to be used may be different in different geographic areas and may be determined by the particular service provider in the region. Thus, there is no single primary carrier, which is known throughout a wide area, e.g., the entire country, to which a mobile can initially tune upon entering a service area to obtain additional carrier and/or band allocation information.
Service providers may deploy the system in different carriers in different areas, depending on spectrum availability. Wireless terminals, which may operate in any number of different areas, have to search and find the available carrier upon entering an area in order to obtain services using the MMDS band. In addition, in FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) systems, the pairing of downlink and uplink carrier frequencies may not be fixed throughout a wide area, e.g., different carriers used for downlink signaling may be associated with different carriers used for uplink signaling in different geographic areas.
It should be appreciated from the above discussion, that the use of different frequency bands and/or carriers in different locations can greatly complicate the task confronting a wireless terminal regarding what frequency band and/or carrier frequency (or frequencies) should be used in a particular geographic region.
Accordingly, there is a need for apparatus and methods that will enable a wireless terminal to quickly and efficiently search and find the carrier frequency or frequencies and/or the frequency band to be used for communications purposes in a particular geographic region.


A one-piece molded basket with a bottom defining an outer periphery and an inner section that defines a number of openings and is interior to, and at least substantially surrounded by, the outer periphery. The outer periphery is constructed and arranged to rest on a relatively flat surface and some or all of the inner section is located above the bottom of the outer periphery such that the inner section is above the flat surface when the outer periphery is on the flat surface. There are one or more indented vent channels that extend through the outer periphery and lead to the inner section, to allow air to pass through the outer periphery, a top rim, and a sidewall contiguous with and extending between the bottom and the top rim.

Laundry baskets and hampers are available in multiple shapes (e.g., round, oval, rectangular), sizes and materials (e.g., plastic, wicker, rubber, cloth). Plastic laundry baskets and hampers are popular because they can handle damp or wet clothing and are easy to clean. Unlike wicker or cloth baskets or hampers, however, plastic baskets and hampers do not allow ambient air to freely circulate through the contents. As a result, plastic baskets and hampers are likely to harbor unpleasant odors, and are prone to mold and mildew.
To address this issue, some plastic laundry baskets and hampers include holes or openings for air flow, typically in the sides or the top of the basket. In some cases, holes or openings are included in the bottom of the basket. However, when the basket or hamper is placed on a floor or table, these openings in the bottom of the basket are blocked, restricting air circulation. There is a need in the art for a laundry basket or hamper with improved ventilation capabilities.


The present invention provides a compilation system for compiling and linking an integrated executable adapted to execute on a heterogeneous parallel processor architecture. The compiler and linker compile different segments of the source code for a first and second processor architecture, and generate appropriate stub functions directed at loading code and data to remote nodes so as to cause them to perform operations described by the transmitted code on the data. The compiler and linker generate stub objects to represent remote execution capability, and stub objects encapsulate the transfers necessary to execute code in such environment.

Parallel processing, which generally comprises employing a plurality of microprocessors coupled to the same computer system to concurrently process a batch of data, is of great importance in the computer industry. Generally, there are three major types of parallel processing. These are parallel processing systems employing shared memory or distributed memory or a combination of the two. Typically, shared memory is memory that can be accessed in a single operation, such as a "load" or "read" command, by a plurality of processors. Distributed memory is memory that is localized to an individual processor. In other words, in a distributed system, each processor can access its own associated memory in single access operation, but typically cannot access memory associated with the other processors in a single operation. Finally, there is a hybrid, or "heterogeneous," parallel processing, in which there is some system memory accessible by one or more processors, and some memory which is distributed and local to at least one processor.
One such example of a hybrid parallel processor system comprises at least one reduced instruction set (RISC) main processor unit (MPU), such as a PowerPC™ processor, and at least one specialized or "attached" processor unit (APU), such as a Synergistic™ APU (SPU). Typically, the MPU is employed to execute general purpose code, wherein the general purpose code comprises complex control flows and orchestrating the overall hybrid parallel processing function. The MPU has access to the full range of system memory. The APU is generally directed to executing dataflow operations. In other words, the APU calculates highly repetitive multimedia, graphics, signal or network processing workloads which are identified by high compute to control decision ratios. In conventional hybrid systems, APUs do not have access to the system memory, and their own memory, the local store, is typically smaller than the shared memory.
Generally, while employment of the hybrid system provides high computational performance, it poses significant challenges to the programming model. One such problem relates to the APU. The APU cannot directly address system memory. Therefore, any code to be run on the APU has to be transferred to an associated local storage of the APU before this code can be executed on the APU. Furthermore, the APU and the MPU can have different instruction sets.
However, in the program design process, conventional compilers generally do not assign information sequences, such as specific code sequences or data, to be run on a PU or an APU in a hybrid system. Instead, programmers determine how to allot code functionality to the APU or the MPU. This allotment of code to a processor typically entails inefficiencies in the programming process. Furthermore, there is no standard programming "tool box" for passing information, be it text (that is, code) or data, between the attached processor and the main processor. Therefore, programmers typically have no standard format for passing this information sequences, thereby also creating inefficiencies in the programming process.
Therefore, what is required is a programming environment that allows for systematized programming of an MPU and an APU, and the transference of code and data between the MPU and the APU, that overcomes the deficiencies of conventional systems.

Method and apparatus for creating and executing integrated executables in a heterogeneous architecture

International Business Machines Corporation


A breakaway tray assembly for supporting items is disclosed. The tray assembly has a first tray that is movably attached to a support structure and a second tray that is pivotally attached to and extends from the first tray. The support structure has a bracket that supports the first tray in the extended generally horizontal position and can assist in holding the first tray in a generally vertical position when said first tray is placed in a stored-away position. The second tray has an upright position wherein it is generally coplanar with and semi-rigidly extends from the first tray. The second tray also has a breakaway position where it is not generally coplanar with the first tray.

The use of cup holders, storage bins and the like is common within motor vehicles. In addition, beverage container holders that extend from a console or dashboard are known to those skilled in the art. However, the use of a tray to hold items has not been fully developed. In particular, a tray that has a stored-away position wherein the tray does not occupy limited interior space within a motor vehicle and an extended in-use position where the tray can be used would be desirable. However, the use of such a tray should afford for the possibility of an occupant impacting the tray during a sudden stop or accident and thus have a mechanism wherein at least part of the tray collapses. Therefore, a breakaway tray assembly that can be stored away and then extended when in use would be desirable.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


The present disclosure is concerned with the production of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid suitable for medicinal administration to mammals without provoking an immune response from microbiological fermentation. The cultures may be prepared from specially developed strains of hyaluronic acid generating bacteria obtained by passaging in serologically negative host animal blood. The cultures are kept in log phase growth for an extended period by appropriate temperature, pH and glucose content adjustments. If the cultured strain is not hyaluronidase negative the hyaluronidase activity is inhibited. The hyaluronic acid is precipitated from the culture by the sequential addition of an anionic surfactant and then a cationic surfactant and extended from the precipitate with a high molarity aqueous calcium ion solution. The isolated aqueous hyaluronic acid solution may then be purified by passage through a nitrocellulose filter. Its pyrogenicity may be alleviated by treatment with a strong acid washed activated carbon.

Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring high molecular weight polysaccharide typically recovered as its sodium salt having an empirical formula of (C.sub.14 H.sub.20 N Na O.sub.11).sub.n where n>1000. The general structure of hyaluronic acid is illustrated in Merck Index, Ninth Ed. (3rd printing, 1978), at page 624. It is well known that hyaluronic acid and its salts, hereafter collectively referred to as HA, can be obtained from at least three sources: human umbilical cords, rooster combs and certain bacterial cultures such as group A and C hemolytic streptococci. However, certain disadvantages are associated with the former two sources (e.g. relatively low yields, contamination with chondroitin sulfate, and labor intensive processing and purification steps).
Since HA is found in aqueous and vitreous humor of eyes and the synovial fluid of mammalian joints, there has been considerable interest in obtaining purified HA for use as a fluid replacement to correct pathological conditions in the eye and in joints. The preparation of HA from rooster combs and human umbilical cords and its use in eye and joint applications is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,973 to E. A. Balazs. That patent also provides a detailed review of the technical literature describing the isolation, characterization and uses of HA.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,676, also to E. A. Balazs, describes cosmetic formulations containing sodium hyaluronate fractions in various molecular weight ranges made from rooster combs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,803 to L. G. Pape discloses the use of an ultrapure hyaluronic acid salt in eye surgery. The HA product used was a sodium hyaluronate salt available under the registered trademark HYLARTILB.RTM. from Pharmacia, Inc. and obtained in commercial quantities from rooster combs.
Because the medical applications of HA require that the HA be injected into a mammalian body (e.g. as a fluid replacement), it is very important that the injected products be as pure as possible to avoid reactivity problems. This importance of purity is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,973 which describes an ultrapure HA product prepared from rooster combs or, alternatively, from human umbilical cords. In addition to purity, it appears that control of molecular weight of an HA product is very important (e.g. the U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,973 suggests an average molecular weight of at least 750,000 daltons and U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,676 suggests having two distinct fractions of controlled molecular weight, one low and one high). Although there is a description of a high molecular weight (1,200,000 daltons) HA preparation of very high purity (i.e. less than 0.05% protein) in a paper by Swann, Arch. Opthal. 88, pp. 544-8 (1972), we are unaware of any description of an HA product having the following advantages: (1) derivable from a microbiological source at relatively low costs, in high yields, and with low reactivity upon injection; (2) having a desirably high and closely controlled average molecular weight; and (3) being substantially free of protein and nucleic acid impurities.
The microbiological production of hyaluronic acid is well known in the literature. A rather extensive discussion is found in "The Biosynthesis of Hyaluronate by Group A Streptococci", a 1955 doctoral thesis on file at The University of Minnesota. Japanese Published Patent Application 83-56692 teaches greatly enhancing the production of hyaluronic acid from Streptococcus zooepidemicus and Streptococcus equi cultures by adding high levels of glucose to a protein (yeast extract) containing culture and continuously aerating while shaking. Although a 1976 paper of Kjem in Acta. Pathol.Microbial Scand. is acknowledged as teaching microbiological production of hyaluronic acid no explicit mention of a chemical defined medium (CDM) or a protein free medium is made. There is no indication that its technology could be applied to such a specialized medium. U.S. Pat. No. 2,975,104 to Warren teaches a technique for increasing the acceptable incubation time of streptococci in producing hyaluronic acid by the use of a particular medium which contains a hyaluronidase inhibitor. The growth of Group A streptococcal strains in a chemically defined medium (CDM) with the production of a hyaluronic acid capsule is disclosed in "Growth Characteristics of Group A Streptococci in a New Chemically Defined Medium" by Van de Rijn and Kessler at pages 444 to 448 of Volume 27, Number 2 (February 1980) of Infection and Immunity. The recovery of hyaluronic acid from a somewhat different CDM by heat killing the culture, filtering the medium, precipitating with ethanol, centrifuging the precipitate, suspending the precipitate in an aqueous sodium chloride solution, reprecipitating with cetyl pyridinium chloride, centrifuging the reprecipitate, dissolving this reprecipitate in an aqueous sodium chloride solution and finally precipitating once again with ethanol is described in "Isolation of Hyaluronic Acid from Cultures of Streptococci in a Chemically Defined Medium" by Kjems and Lebech at pages 162 to 164 of Section B, Volume 84 (1976) of Acta Path. Microbial. Scand. This procedure has some significant disadvantages. The heat killing of the microorganisms will result in the hyaluronic acid's becoming unnecessarily contaminated with proteins, nucleic acids and other internal cell components which are difficult to separate from the hyaluronic acid and can provoke immune reactions in mammals. Thus, some of the benefit of utilizing a chemically defined medium to avoid protein contamination and achieve nonantigenicity is unnecessarily lost as compared to the contamination suffered merely from the natural death of cells in a growing culture. Furthermore, this CDM itself has limited utility because it will not support the growth of most streptococcal strains. The recovery of hyaluronic acid of a mean molecular weight of about 55,000 daltons from an anaerobically grown culture of Streptococcus pyogenes inactivated with trichloroacetic acid by filtering using a 0.22 micrometer pore size, disfiltering with a filter having a nominal retention of 30,000 daltons molecular weight until the conductivity of the filtrate is 0.5 mesa-ohms (believed to mean inverse ohms per centimeter times 10), precipitating with ethanol, resuspending in an aqueous sodium chloride solution, precipitating with CETAB (believed to be hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide), coarse filtering, resuspending in an aqueous sodium chloride solution and disfiltering with a filter having a nominal molecular weight retention of 30,000 daltons until the conductivity is "0.5 mesa-ohms" is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,295 to Bracke and Thacker. This procedure also involves the troublesome killing of the culture cells. In this case, the trichloroacetic acid not only kills these cells with the resultant contamination problem, but it also is relied on for an effective separation of the cells from the broth. Furthermore, this broth is only semi-defined and contains casein derived proteins which may also contaminate the obtained hyaluronic acid.
Non-antigenic hyaluronic acid is also discussed in the literature. A process of obtaining hyaluronic acid free from proteins, antigens and pyrogens by treating an aqueous alkaline suspension to denature the protein, subjecting the suspension under appropriate conditions to proteolytic ferments, removing amino acids and mineral salts with ion exchangers, and aciditying to pH 3 to 4 to precipitate the remaining impurities with some of the hyaluronic acid is described in U.S. Patent No. 3,396,081 to Billek. A reportedly ultrapure hyaluronic acid suitable for injection into the human eye or animal joints and obtained by an involved extraction procedure including a five day chloroform extraction under mixing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,973 to Balazs.
A useful procedure for the isolation of hyaluronic acid capsules from streptococci cultures by incubating the bacteria, which had already been isolated by centrifugation and washed with saline, with sodium dodecyl sulfate in a saline suspension until the capsule was released, centrifuging to recover the supernatant, filtering the supernatant through a 0.22 micrometer pore filter, precipitating the hyaluronic acid with hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, recovering the precipitate by centrifugation, redissolving the precipitate in 2M calcium chloride and clarifying the solution by centrifugation, precipitating with ethanol, redissolving with water followed by the addition of sodium chloride and clarifying the solution by centrifugation, and repeating the ethanol precipitation five times is described in "Streptococcal Hyaluronic Acid: Proposed Mechanism of Degradation and Loss of Synthesis During Stationary Phase" by Van de Rnn at pages 1059 to 1065 of volume 156, number 3 (December, 1983) of the Journal of Bacteriology. The use of sodium dodecyl sulfate to separate another virulence factor, M-protein, from Streptococcus equi is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,798 to Brown, Bryant and Lewis. These latter two developments became publicly available after many of the developments with which the present disclosure is concerned.
There is a need for an efficient and inexpensive procedure to obtain high molecular weight hyaluronic acid suitable for injection into mammals. A microbiological fermentation which gives high yields of a relatively uncontaminated high molecular weight hyaluronic acid and a recovery procedure which does not create unnecessary purification problems and does not adversely affect the molecular weight of the hyaluronic acid are both desirable and would meet this need.

Method for the microbiological production of non-antigenic hyaluronic acid


A photographic element comprises a silver halide emulsion layer having associated therewith a dye forming coupler and a compound of the following Formula I1:

In a silver halide photographic element, a color image is formed when the element is exposed to light and then subjected to color development with a primary aromatic amine developer. Color development results in image wise reduction of silver halide and production of oxidized developer. Oxidized developer reacts with one or more incorporated dye-forming couplers to form an image wise distribution of dye. Dye-forming couplers (as well as other various photographic addenda) are typically dispersed in silver halide emulsion layers of the photographic element with the aid of coupler solvents, which are typically oily or low melting compounds.
In any polychromatic chromogenic photographic material, it is desirable that the dyes so formed should have certain properties. For instance, the dyes should be bright in color with very little secondary absorption so that good color reproducibility is obtained. The stability of image dyes generated on chromogenic development often does not meet performance expectations. These expectations include resistance to light fade and both humid and dry heat dark fade. The dyes that are formed by any color coupler during processing have a tendency to fade over time as a result of exposure to light, heat, humidity and oxygen resulting in a deterioration of the original recorded image. It is therefore highly desirable that the formed dyes should be resistant towards fading by heat, humidity and light.
Techniques are known in the art for providing resistance to light fade of photographic dyes. Unfortunately, these techniques have not been completely successful resulting in the development of many unique stabilizing chemistries. Compounds which have been disclosed as light stabilizers image dyes, e.g., include substituted phenolic and blocked phenolic compounds including; heterocyclic phosphorous materials (U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,645), substituted and blocked bisphenols (UK 1,267,287, U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,011, DE 4,307,439, DE 4,307,439, DE 4,320,828, EP 0 508 398, EP 0 538 862, U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,530, U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,021, U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,855, U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,861, U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,569, U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,613, WO 91/008,515, U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,578, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,284,742, 5,091,294, EP 0 310 552, U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,773). In addition, dyes may also be stabilized against fading by light with the use of aromatic thiomorpholine dioxide compounds as described in EP 1 116 99, U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,037, EP 457,543, EP 310,552, EP 310,551, EP 397,050, EP 393,718, U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,711; and various sulfonamido compounds (U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,031, U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,686, U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,429). German patent application DE 1 96 32927 describes the use of cyclic imides, cyclic carbamates, and cyclic ureas as a means of improving the chromogenically developed color image dye stabilities. However, in particular, the amount of dye stabilization to light fade is only modest. U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,572 reports the use of a specific bis-urea compound in combination with malonamide yellow couplers. However, the bis-urea was not shown to be effective for other couplers and was specifically reported to be ineffective for beta-ketoamide yellow couplers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,987 describes the use of amide group substituted aromatic compounds, wherein the amide groups are directly bonded to a phenyl ring, as addenda to coupler dispersions, and in particular the use of such compounds in association with magenta and cyan dye image-forming couplers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,707 discloses the use of urethane compounds and U.S. Pat. No. 6,555,306 describes the utilization of a substituted dipiperidine compound as coupler solvents in photographic elements to improve image dye stability. Most recently aliphatic bis-amide compounds have been patented as light stabilizing yellow coupler solvents (U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,620).
Various stabilizers classes have been chemically bonded together to form combination stabilizers. For example, thiomorpholine dioxide stabilizers have been linked to sulfonamido stabilizers (U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,031) and phenolic stabilizers have been bonded to Hindered Amine Light Stabilizers (U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,265).
It is still desirable to improve on the light stabilization of dyes beyond that afforded with use of the above stabilizers. Ra rely mentioned is the lifetime of an individual stabilizer itself. Theoretically if the stabilizer is consumed during the process, at some point the system will fail due to lack of stabilizer. For example, hindered phenolic antioxidant have a turn over number of four at their greatest [Ohkatsu, Y., Matsuura, T., and Yamato, M.; Polym. Degrad. And Stab., (2003), 81, 151–156]. This means a phenolic stabilizer will only go through the stabilizing process a maximum of four times before it is consumed. It would be advantageous to have a method to increase the lifetime of the stabilizer, the result of which would lead to an increase in the lifetime of the dye imaging system.
Energy dissipation is a well-known mechanism of action in certain compounds capable of protecting molecules against decomposition by light, such as ultraviolet light absorbers (UVA's). They absorb unwanted UV energy and then dissipate this energy via heat release or other harmless mechanisms to return the excited molecule back to its ground state. Cinnamates are one class of UV absorber utilized in many commercial sun block cosmetics. For example, ethylhexyl-p-methoxy cinnamate, Parsol MCX (CAS 5466-77-3), is one most commonly utilized. Cinnamates are known to dissipate energy through an efficient reversible cis/trans photoisomerization reaction. The E to Z and Z to E isomerization is not far from unity. Cinnamates have been patented as UV absorbers for photographic uses (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,705,805; 3,707,375).
In spite of the above attempts to improve dye stability, further improvements are still needed to stabilize image dyes against light exposure.

Coupler and image dye light-stabilizing systems

Abstract: wherein                L is a linking moiety;        X is a heteroatom group selected from O, S, or NR′ where R′ is H or a substituent;        w is 0 or 1;        R is hydrogen or a substituent group;        n is an integer from 0 to 5; and        ST represents a stabilizer selected from the group consisting of:                    A. a thiomorpholine dioxide;            B. a dialkoxy aromatic group linked through a phenolic oxygen;            C. a dialkoxy aromatic group linked through the aromatic ring;            D. a sulfonamido group;            E. a hydroxyphenyl benzotriazole group; and            F. a phenolic group.


A photographing lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, and a sixth lens element. The first lens element has positive refractive power. The second lens element has refractive power. The third lens element has positive refractive power. The fourth lens element with refractive power has an object-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. The fifth lens element with positive refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof and an image-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof. The sixth lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. The photographing lens assembly has a total of six lens elements with refractive power.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a photographing lens assembly. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a compact photographing lens assembly applicable to electronic products.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the popularity of mobile products having camera functionalities, the demand of miniaturized optical systems has been increasing. The sensor of a conventional optical system is typically a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) sensor. As the advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies have allowed the pixel size of sensors to be reduced and compact optical systems have gradually evolved toward the field of higher megapixels, there is an increasing demand for compact optical systems featuring better image quality.
A conventional optical system employed in a portable electronic product mainly adopts a four-element lens structure or a five-element lens structure. Due to the popularity of mobile products with high-end specifications, such as smart phones and tablet personal computers, the requirements for high resolution and image quality of present compact optical systems increase significantly. However, the conventional optical systems cannot satisfy these requirements of the compact optical systems.
Other conventional compact optical systems with six-element lens structure enhance image quality and resolution. However, the surface shape of the second lens element is excessively curved, so that it provides unfavorable moldability for plastic lens elements during the injection molding process. It also tends to result in a rather small distance between the peripheral regions of the second lens element and the third lens element. Accordingly, it is not applicable to the portable and compact electronic products with high image quality.

Photographing lens assembly and image capturing device


Processing chamber shutter blade and robot blade assemblies are constructed to eliminate thermal effects on the placement of elements in processing chambers. Such blade assemblies may contain at least two parts, which may include a positioning member including a low CTE material and a thermal compensating member including a high CTE material. The positioning member includes a coupling point and a reference point on a reference axis separated by a first distance. The thermal compensating member includes a connection point and a controlled point separated by another distance that is less than the first distance. A distance ratio of the first distance to the other distance is substantially equal to a CTE ratio of the high CTE material to the low CTE material, and the positioning member is joined to the thermal compensating member through the coupling point and the connection point.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to substrate processing chamber assemblies and physical vapor deposition chamber assemblies in particular.
Description of the Related Art
Many semiconductor processes are typically performed in a vacuum environment. For example, physical vapor deposition (PVD) is generally performed in a sealed chamber having a pedestal for supporting a substrate disposed thereon. The pedestal typically includes a substrate support that has electrodes disposed therein to electrostatically hold the substrate against the substrate support during processing. A target generally comprised of a material to be deposited on the substrate is supported above the substrate, typically fastened to a top of the chamber. A plasma formed from a gas, such as argon, is supplied between the substrate and the target. The target is biased, causing ions within the plasma to be accelerated toward the target. Ions impacting the target cause material to become dislodged from the target. The dislodged material is attracted toward a substrate and deposits a film of material thereon.
Generally, two conditioning operations are performed in the PVD chamber to ensure process performance. A first conditioning process is known as burning-in the target. Target burn-in generally removes oxides and other contaminants from the surface of the target and is typically performed after the chamber has been exposed to atmosphere or idled for a period of time. During the burn-in process, a utility wafer or shutter disk is disposed on the substrate support to prevent deposition of target material on the support. The burn-in process generally comprises forming a plasma within the chamber and using that plasma to remove the surface layer of material from the target.
A second conditioning process is known as pasting. Pasting generally applies a covering over material deposited on chamber components during a conventional PVD process. For example, PVD application of titanium nitride generally results in a layer of titanium nitride on the PVD chamber surfaces. The titanium nitride layer is typically brittle and may flake off during subsequent processes. Pasting generally applies a layer of titanium over the titanium nitride layer. The titanium layer substantially prevents the underlying titanium nitride from flaking or peeling. Typically, the chamber is pasted at predetermined intervals, such as after every 25 substrates are processed using a conventional titanium nitride PVD process. As with target burn-in, a shutter disk is disposed on the substrate support to prevent deposition of target material thereon during the pasting process.
Additionally, in PVD processes where titanium and titanium nitride are sequentially applied in-situ, the target requires cleaning prior to each titanium deposition to remove nitrides that may be present on the target from titanium nitride deposited on the prior substrate. Generally, target cleaning is similar to a burn-in process, having a few seconds duration, and includes protecting the substrate support with a shutter disk.
After completion of each burn-in, pasting and cleaning process, the shutter disk is rotated by a robotic arm disposed within the PVD chamber to a cleared position where the shutter disk does not interfere with the deposition process within the chamber. The position of the shutter disk is determined by various sensors in the shaft drive coupled to the robotic arm and in and on the chamber to detect the rotational position of the arm.
The shutter disk is placed on a heater puck in the processing chamber by rotating a shutter blade (robotic arm). An initial disk set up is done at room temperature. However, the temperature of the blade varies as different process steps are performed and, as a result, the position of the shutter disk is shifted due to the effects of uncoordinated lifting and lowering of the shutter disk on the robot arm with respect to the temperature change. The position of the shutter blade may vary because of the expansion (and contraction) of the blade. Even when using a low CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) blade material, the variation in shutter disk radial displacement can be significant so as to expose the heater which the shutter disk is intended to protect to unplanned deposition and damage which may require additional positioning cycles to correct and/or repair, each of which reduces the usable life of the heater.
A misalignment between the shutter disk and the robotic arm may result in a portion of the shutter disk remaining in the path of the ceramic substrate support (heater). As the ceramic support is elevated into a process position, a portion of the substrate may contact the shutter disk, which may result in damage to the substrate or misalignment of the substrate on the ceramic support. Moreover, if the shutter disk comes in contact with the ceramic support, the ceramic support may become chipped or damaged and necessitate replacement. Additionally, if the shutter disk is not properly aligned on the robotic arm, the disk may be misaligned relative to the ceramic support (heater) during the burn-in and pasting process, thereby resulting in unwanted deposition on a portion of the ceramic support. Deposition material on the ceramic support may lead to particle generation, scratching of the wafer and a deterioration of process performance.
Similarly, a robot blade delivering substrates, which under current generations are of increasing large size, require consideration of additional positioning variables, related to temperature when robotically lifting and lowering substrates to and from high and low temperature environments based on the expected relative position of where the robot arm is programmed to expect the substrate to be and the actual location of the robot arm blade substrate center reference point. When temperature variations exist between pick up and drop off locations, the robot blade center reference point location varies due to the temperature changes.
Therefore, there is a need for improved shutter blade assemblies and robot blade assemblies in temperature elevated substrate processing chambers and their adjacent and associated support housing.

Shutter blade and robot blade with CTE compensation


For maintaining a certain quality of service for a certain type of data traffic, the data traffic may be directed to a corresponding bearer established with respect to a user equipment. By sending probe packets on the bearer and/or on a further bearer and receiving a response packets returned in response to the probe packets, a parameter corresponding to a time period between sending a probe packet and receiving the corresponding response packet can be measured. On the basis of the measured parameter, a bearer control procedure with respect to the user equipment is initiated. This bearer control procedure may for example include directing data packets of selected data traffic from one bearer to another bearer, modification of at least one quality of service parameter of a bearer, and/or establishing or releasing a bearer.

In communication networks, differentiated handling of network traffic may be used to meet requirements with respect to Quality of Service (QoS) depending on the type of network traffic. For this purpose, a forwarding treatment of data packets, i.e., the way of forwarding data packets by a node, may be adjusted so as to obtain a desired QoS level or prioritize certain types of traffic over others.
For example, in mobile communication networks network traffic related to a specific service may be directed to a bearer offering a certain QoS level. In this respect, a bearer is considered to be an information transmission context or path of defined characteristics, e.g. capacity, delay and/or bit error rate. It is possible to establish a number of bearers between a gateway of a mobile communication network and a user equipment (UE), e.g., a mobile phone or other type of mobile terminal. A bearer may carry downlink (DL) data traffic in a direction from the network to the user equipment, and may carry data traffic in an uplink (UL) direction from the user equipment to the network. In the gateway and in the UE the data traffic, which includes a plurality of IP data packets (IP: "Internet Protocol", which may be the IP Version 4, also referred to as IPv4, or the IP Version 6, also referred to as IPv6) can be filtered, e.g. using IP 5-tuple packet filters, thereby directing the IP data packets to a desired bearer.
However, when performing differentiated handling by directing certain types of data traffic to a corresponding bearer, situations may arise in which available resources are not used in the best way. For example, there may be a situation in which data traffic to be prioritized is assigned to a priority bearer, but using this priority bearer is actually not necessary to achieve a desired Quality of Experience (QoE) at the UE. This may for example be the case if there is a low load in the network.
Accordingly, there is a need for techniques which allow for an efficient usage of resources when performing differentiated handling of data traffic.


A diagnostic system for an automatic transmission is provided in which a microcomputer determines that torque that can drive the driving wheels of the vehicle is not transmitted to an output shaft of the automatic transmission when the vehicle is stopped and the ignition key is operated to the OFF position, and performs forced energization of solenoids of solenoid valves associated with respective friction devices of the transmission, while monitoring current passing through the solenoid valves. If the current monitored does not match the current for energizing any of the solenoids, the microcomputer determines that the corresponding solenoid valve is at fault. Thus, the diagnostic system appropriately determines the presence of a fault of each solenoid valve for controlling the hydraulic pressure to each friction device, with increased flexibility and freedom.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a diagnostic system for an automatic transmission, which diagnoses an automatic transmission installed in a drive train of a vehicle to determine the presence of faults therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well known in the art, an automatic transmission installed in a drive train of the vehicle includes a plurality of friction devices, such as clutches and brakes, to which hydraulic pressure is selectively applied so as to engage the friction devices. With the selected friction device(s) thus engaged, a power transmission path, or a gear position of the transmission, is determined depending upon the operating conditions of the vehicle. More specifically, a hydraulic pressure source is provided which is driven through rotation of an output shaft of an internal combustion engine so as to supply hydraulic oil to each of the friction devices, and a plurality of solenoid valves are placed in conjunction with the respective friction devices. A control system, which performs various controls of the automatic transmission in integrated manners, controls the degrees of opening of the solenoid valves by controlling the amounts of current passed through the solenoid valves. In the automatic transmission of this type, a target gear position is set based on the operating conditions of the vehicle, and a selected one or ones of the friction devices is/are engaged while a selected one or ones of the friction devices is/are released so as to shift the transmission to the thus set target gear position. To engage each of the selected friction devices, the control system causes a required amount of current to be fed to the solenoid valve associated with the friction device to be engaged, so as to increase the opening of the solenoid valve and thus increase the hydraulic pressure applied to the friction device. To release each of the selected friction devices, the control system operates to de-energize the solenoid valve associated with the friction device to be released, so as to close the solenoid valve and reduce the hydraulic pressure applied to the friction device.
In the automatic transmission as described above, if a fault, such as disconnection or a short-circuit, occurs to a solenoid of any of the solenoid valves, the transmission may suffer a problem that, for example, a friction device to be engaged for shifting is not able to be engaged, or a problem that a friction device to be released for shifting is not able to be released. In this case, the automatic transmission may not be able to be shifted to the target gear position, or the automatic transmission may lock in itself, which naturally results in deterioration of the shifting performance of the automatic transmission.
Under the circumstances as described above, it has been proposed to provide hydraulic switches that operate in response to the hydraulic pressures of the respective friction devices that constitute the automatic transmission, and determine the presence of a fault of any of the solenoid valves by monitoring the outputs of the hydraulic switches. Such diagnostic systems are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2001-116134 and JP-A-2006-77892. In these systems, the hydraulic switch provided for each of the friction devices generates an "ON" signal when the hydraulic pressure applied to the corresponding friction device is increased and the friction device is engaged, and generates an "OFF" signal when the hydraulic pressure applied to the corresponding friction device is reduced and the friction device is released. If, upon shifting of the automatic transmission to a target gear position during operation of the vehicle, the "OFF" signal is generated from the hydraulic switch associated with the friction device that is supposed to be engaged for shifting, for example, it is determined that the solenoid valve that controls the hydraulic pressure of the friction device in question is at fault. Thus, even in the event that a fault, such as disconnection or a short-circuit, occurs to a solenoid of any of the solenoid valves, the diagnostic system as described above makes it possible to perform a fail-safe process suitable for the fault condition, and thus prevent locking, or other malfunctions, of the automatic transmission in advance.
As discussed above, it is certainly possible to make fault diagnoses of the solenoid valves by monitoring the outputs of the hydraulic switches which correspond with the respective friction devices of the automatic transmission and operate in response to the hydraulic pressures of the friction devices. It is, however, to be noted that the hydraulic switches are adapted to generate the "ON" or "OFF" signals depending upon the operating (engaged/released) states of the corresponding friction devices, or changes in the states of the devices. Therefore, the frequency of diagnosing the solenoid valves inevitably varies from one solenoid valve to another, depending upon the manner of operating the automatic transmission itself, even though fault diagnoses may be performed on the solenoid valves in the above manner. Thus, if the transmission is less likely to be shifted to a certain gear position due to, for example, the driving practice of the driver, the frequency of diagnoses is naturally reduced with respect to each solenoid valve for regulating the hydraulic pressure applied to each friction device that is to be engaged for establishing the gear position. Thus, the diagnostic system still suffers a problem in terms of the flexibility or freedom with which fault diagnoses are performed.

Diagnostic system for automatic transmission


A mixture of a fuel gas obtained by vaporizing hydrocarbon and air is burned in an engine 11 to generate mechanical power. The fuel gas obtained by reforming the hydrocarbon is supplied to a fuel electrode layer of a fuel cell module 13 in which plural electric power generating cells each including a solid electrolyte layer, and a fuel electrode layer and an air electrode layer disposed on both sides thereof are laminated, and the air or oxygen is supplied to the air electrode layer, so that the fuel cell module 13 is constructed to be capable of generating electric power at 930° C. or lower. One of or both of mechanical power generated by the engine 11 and electric power generated by the fuel cell module 13 are outputted. As a raw material of the fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell module, gasoline, light oil or the like which can be supplied in a normal gasoline station can be used.

Conventionally, a fuel cell power generating system is constructed such that a raw material containing liquid fuel and water as its main ingredients is heated and decomposed by a burner of a reformer to generate hydrogen gas, a fuel cell in which a fuel electrode and an oxygen electrode are disposed on both sides of an electrolyte layer introduces the hydrogen gas generated by the reformer into the fuel electrode to generate electric power and supplies steady electric power to a specified load, a secondary battery supplies required electric power to the load at least at the time of load starting or the time of load variation, and power supply changeover means can switch between power supplied from the fuel cell and power supplied from the secondary battery (JP-A-6-140065). This fuel cell power generating system is constructed such that fuel cell heating means for guiding combustion gas jetted from the burner of the reformer to the fuel cell is provided, and the fuel cell is heated by the fuel cell heating means up to a temperature at which starting is enabled (electric power generation is enabled). Besides, the electrolyte layer is formed of a polymer film having ion conductivity, and methanol is used as the liquid fuel.
In the fuel cell power generating system constructed as stated above, the time that elapses before the fuel cell starts the electric power generation can be greatly shortened by heating the fuel cell to a predetermined temperature by the combustion gas of the burner used at the time of generation of hydrogen in the reformer, so that the power generation efficiency of the fuel cell can be improved. Besides, since the power supply from the secondary battery can be reduced by this, the number of secondary batteries can be decreased, and the compact and lightweight fuel cell power generating system can be obtained.
However, in the conventional fuel cell power generating system disclosed in JP-A-6-140065, since the raw material of the fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell is methanol, if this system is mounted in an automobile, there has been a disadvantage that refueling can not be carried out in a normal gasoline station.
Besides, in the conventional fuel cell power generating system, since the working temperature of the fuel cell is relatively low, there has been a problem that unless methanol is supplied to the fuel cell after it is completely reformed into H2 (hydrogen gas) by the reformer, the power generation efficiency of the fuel cell is lowered.
Further, in the conventional fuel cell power generating system, since the electrolyte layer is formed of the polymer film, there has been a problem that there is a fear that CO (carbon monoxide) is exhausted from the power generating cell, and the treatment of the carbon monoxide is troublesome.

Hybrid power system including an engine and a fuel cell module


A device for improving the protection of a component against surface discharges includes a non-woven substrate made of fibers and configured to be electrically insulating and a coating containing silicon carbide (SiC) disposed on the substrate.

Rotating electric machines such as, for example, generators, usually have a rotating rotor and a stationary stator, both the rotor and the stator having a plurality of windings made of electrically conductive material. Electric current flows through the windings on the stator as well as through those on the rotor. In order to ensure a malfunction-free operation of the generator or of the electric motor, the windings of the stator or of the rotor have to be electrically insulated. The insulation as such, however, does not offer sufficient protection against surface discharges, that is to say, against damage, especially destruction, caused by electric discharges on the surface of the insulation. Corona protection devices are known for protecting the components at the relevant places from such electric discharges—also called corona discharges. Such a corona shield is arranged on the surface of the insulation to be protected and it has a weak electric conductivity that can be achieved, for example, through the addition of graphite and/or carbon black. Normally, such corona protection devices have a woven substrate as well as a corona protection coating applied thereupon.

Device for improving the protection of a construction unit against electrical corona discharges


A carrier for holding and transporting a plurality of bottles includes a top panel, a bottom panel, and two side panels extending between said top and bottom panels to form a sleeve through which the bottles extend. When the carrier is formed to carry six or more bottles, the top panel has at least two rows of outboard apertures which are adapted to receive the bottles to engage the bottles to retain the bottles in the carrier. The bottom panel extends between the side panels and also includes at least two rows of outboard surrounding apertures which are aligned with, but radially offset from the outboard apertures of the top panel, such that the centers of the bottom panel outboard apertures are closer to the side panels than are the outboard apertures of the top panel. If the carrier includes inboard apertures in the top and bottom panel, the inboard apertures of the top and bottom panel are preferably concentric with each other. Further, the bottom panel outboard apertures are larger than the bottom panel inboard apertures. Lastly, when bottles are introduced into the carrier, the position of the outboard apertures and the size of the side panels cause the side panels to slope downwardly and inwardly. The carriers can be provided with a flexible handle to facilitate carrying heavy packages (i.e., 12 packs or greater).

This invention relates to multi-pack carriers for bottles and other molded containers, and in particular to a multi-pack carrier which is simple to manufacture, easy to assemble, and which will securely hold bottles and containers therein.
Multi-pack carriers have long been available to facilitate the carrying of bottles or the like so that customers can buy containers of beverages in packages. Many of these carriers, however, lack total consideration of the economics of high speed manufacture, bulk shipment of the carriers in a flat state, and ease and speed of assembly of the carrier. Other available carriers, while suitable for their intended purpose, are complicated in construction, in their assembly, and do not facilitate removal of bottles from the carrier by the consumer.
The most common multi-pack beverage containers for bottles is the basket carrier, which, as the name denotes, is formed into a basket which receives the bottles. Six-packs of soda or beer are often seen in such basket carriers. Basket carriers, as is known, form a plurality of individual compartments which separate the bottles from each other. Basket carriers are formed from complex blanks which produce a significant amount of waste. Because the blanks for basket carriers are complex, they require complex machinery to assemble the basket carriers. Typically, the basket carriers are formed and placed into a shipping case and filled with empty bottles. The bottles in the basket are then transported to the filling plant. At the filling plant, the bottles are removed from the basket carrier, washed, and then placed on the filling line. Once the bottles are filled and capped, crowned, or otherwise closed and labeled, they are placed back in the carrier. Basket carriers also create difficulties in the store. They are difficult to stack, and when they are, a basket can catch the crown of a bottle in a basket adjacent the selected basket. This can cause the bottles in the adjacent basket to fall, resulting in breakage and loss of product, as well as associated revenue for the store.
To overcome the problems associated with basket carriers, many different carriers have been provided which are in the form of flat or planar carriers which accept the bottles or in the form of sleeves through which the bottles extend. In our above noted U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,776, we disclose a six-pack box-top carrier, the basic construction of which lends itself well to being used for a variety of designs or bottle types. There however is a demand for carriers which can hold up to twelve or more bottles. In our just noted U.S. Patent, we disclose that two six-packs can be combined to form a twelve-pack. However, the mechanics of a single twelve-pack (as opposed to a twelve-pack made from two connected six-packs) are significantly different than for a six-pack, and such differences must be overcome in order to make a single or one-piece box-top carrier which can hold twelve or more beverage bottles.
There is also a demand for a basic design of a carrier which can easily be modified to carry a desired number of beverage containers and which can easily be modified to carry different sizes of beverage containers.
Glass bottles are relatively tall and have narrow diameters when compared to beverage cans. Thus, when the bottle is held by its neck, the bottle may form a pendulum with respect to the carrier and be able to swing when held by the carrier. If the bottles are allowed to swing too much, they can contact each other and break. Regulatory and practical requirements dictate against a construction which will allow the bottle to swing in the carrier. In our U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,776, which is incorporated herein by reference, we disclosed a box-top carrier which will substantially prevent bottles, when placed in the carrier, from swinging relative to the carrier and to each other. That carrier, however, can be improved upon, and in our above noted application Ser. No. 895,055, the carrier was modified to allow bottles, when packaged with the carrier, to be inserted into a shipping case.

Multi-pack carrier for molded bottles and containers


Various examples provide a safety protection method, a firewall, a terminal device and a computer-readable storage medium. According to the method, a firewall injects a code module including a first function capable of modifying package safety information corresponding to an illegal application into a target process, and triggers the first function to modify the package safety information corresponding to the illegal application to make the illegal application fail to perform an operation due to the modified package safety information.

At present, mobile phones are providing diversified functions and thus are more and more often used in accessing the Internet. But the more functions a mobile phone provides, the more safety challenges are faced by the mobile phone. Therefore, it has become a common practice to install a firewall in a mobile phone.
In recent Android operating systems for mobile phone, functions of a firewall are implemented by using an iptable/netfilter module in the system kernel. In earlier versions of Android firmware, however, there is no such iptable/netfilter module, and many phone manufacturers add an iptable/netfilter module into mobile phones when compiling ROM (Read-Only Memory) of the mobile phones to enable the mobile phones to provide firewall functions.

Safety protection method, firewall, terminal device and computer-readable storage medium

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


Lower alkyl esters of fatty acids can be used for the cleaning of paint brushes and/or for the removal of paint from painted surfaces.

The present invention relates to the new use of at least one lower alkyl ester of a fatty acid for the cleaning of paint brushes from wet or dry paint and/or for the removal of paint from painted surfaces.
In cleaning of brushes which have been used for painting with paints on non-aqueous basis white spirit is primarily used today which exhibits a number of known disadvantages from environmental and health point of view. Accordingly it is a long existing desire to be able to replace white spirit in cleaning of paint brushes with a cleaning liquid which is considerably more lenient from environmental and health point of view.
For the removal of paint from painted surfaces there are also used compositions which are less desirable from environmental as well as health point of view and the handling of which requires great care. Also in this case there is a long existing desire to be able to replace these compositions with an agent which is considerably more lenient from environmental and health point of view.

Method of removing paint from surfaces using fatty acid alkyl esters