A method for achieving rendezvous in a multiple access network having two or more access channels includes the steps of generating channel access sequences in rounds for each user of the multiple access network, wherein each round includes at least one jump-pattern and at least one stay-pattern, performing the at least one jump-pattern alternated by the at least one stay-pattern in each round, and whereupon the at least one jump-pattern alternated by the stay-pattern in each round are performed, continuously generate at least one channel access sequence rounds and perform the jump-pattern of the channel access sequence rounds until a user in the network achieves rendezvous with its intended neighbor user or users.

In a cognitive radio network (CRN), rendezvous refers to such a process that two users access a commonly available channel at the same time and thus establish a desired communication link. Rendezvous is a challenging problem since users are even not aware of the presence of each other before rendezvous and available channels of users may be different and change over time. Channel-hopping (CH) is a typical technique for the design of rendezvous methods. With CH technique, the network is assumed to be time-slotted. In each timeslot, a user hops on one of its available channels and attempts rendezvous with its potential neighbors. A rendezvous is said to be achieved if two users hop on the same channel in the same timeslot. Given a CH method, time-to-rendezvous (TTR) is defined as the number of timeslots that it takes for users to achieve rendezvous when all the users have begun their channel-hopping. MTTR (maximum TTR) and E(TTR) (expected TTR) are two most important metrics to evaluate CH methods.

Method for achieving rendezvous for cognitive radio networks


A multi-stage submersible pump uses impellers having only one shroud to provide stages with shorter stack lengths to allow more stages per housing and more head pressure per housing. The impellers are biased with wave springs to keep the rotating impeller vanes close to the mating diffusers. The entire stack of impellers is assembled in contact with each other using the wave springs and are always under axial load. The wave springs also take up any tolerance variations in the stack to keep the impellers in proper running position. To keep the impellers in their proper locations, thrust washers formed from hard materials are used between adjacent impellers to avoid erosion thereof.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to multi-stage pumps and, in particular, to a system, method and apparatus for an open shroud impeller and diffuser assembly for a multi-stage submersible pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an oil well is initially completed, the downhole pressure may be sufficient to force the well fluid up the well tubing string to the surface. The downhole pressure in some wells decreases, and some form of artificial lift is required to get the well fluid to the surface. One form of artificial lift is suspending an electric submersible pump (ESP) downhole, normally on the tubing string. The ESP provides the extra lift necessary for the well fluid to reach the surface. One type of ESP is a centrifugal pump. Centrifugal pumps have a series of impellers inside of a tubular housing, which are rotated by a drive shaft in order to propel fluids from the radial center of the pump towards the tubular housing enclosing the impellers.
The impellers have an inlet or an eye towards the radial center portion around the drive shaft. Spinning the impeller creates centrifugal forces on the fluid in the impeller. The centrifugal forces increase the velocity of the fluid in the impeller as the fluid is propelled towards the tubular housing. The height that the fluid would be able to travel in a passageway extending vertically from the exit of the impeller is the "head" generated from the impeller. A large amount of head is necessary in order to pump the well fluid to the surface. Either increasing the impeller diameter or increasing the number of impellers can increase the amount of head generated by a pump. The diameter of the impellers is limited by the diameter of the well assembly. Therefore, increasing the number of impellers is the common solution for downhole pumps in order to generate enough head to pump the well fluid to the surface.
The fluid enters a stationary diffuser after exiting the impeller. The fluid loses velocity in the diffuser because it is stationary. Decreasing the velocity of the fluid in the diffuser causes the pressure of the fluid to increase. The diffuser also redirects the fluid to the eye or inlet of the next impeller. Each impeller mounts directly to the drive shaft, but the diffusers slide over the drive shaft and land on the diffuser of the previous stage. Each impeller and diffuser is a "stage" in a pump. The pressure increase from one stage is additive to the amount of head created in the next stage. After enough stages, the cumulative pressure increase on the well fluid is large enough that head created in the last impeller pumps the well fluid to the surface. Thus, improved solutions for increasing the number of stages in a given length of well would be desirable.

System, method and apparatus for open impeller and diffuser assembly for multi-stage submersible pump


A pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of cancers or tumors in mammals is disclosed which comprises 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol and its derivatives. A chemotherapeutic agent can be used in conjunction with 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol and its derivatives as can potentiators. 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol and its derivatives can also be used to treat viral infections, either alone, in conjunction with other anti-viral agents or with a potentiator.

Cancers, including leukemia, are the leading cause of death in animals and humans. The exact cause of leukemia is not known, but links between certain activities such as smoking or exposure to carcinogens and the incidence of certain types of leukemia and tumors has been shown by a number of researchers.
Many types of chemotherapeutic agents have been shown to be effective against cancers, tumors and leukemia, but not all types of cancer and tumor cells respond to these agents. Unfortunately, many of these agents also destroy normal cells. The exact mechanism for the action of these chemotherapeutic agents are not always known.
Despite advances in the field of cancer and leukemia treatments the leading therapies to date are radiation and chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants. Chemotherapeutic approaches are said to fight cancers that are particularly aggressive. Such cytocidal or cytostatic agents work best on cancers with large growth factors, i.e., ones whose cells are rapidly dividing. To date, hormones, in particular estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, and some antibiotics produced by a variety of microbes, alkylating agents, and anti-metabolites form the bulk of therapies available to oncologists. Ideally cytotoxic agents that have specificity for leukemia, cancer and tumor cells while not affecting normal cells would be extremely desirable. Unfortunately, none have been found and instead agents which target especially rapidly dividing cells (both diseased and normal) have been used.
Clearly, the development of materials that would target cancer or leukemia cells due to some unique specificity for them would be a breakthrough. Alternatively, materials that were cytotoxic to leukemia or cancer cells while exerting mild effects on normal cells would be desirable. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition that is effective in treating leukemia with mild or no effects on normal blood cells
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a composition comprising a pharmaceutical carrier and a 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol and its derivatives as defined herein along with a method for treating cancer, leukemia and tumors.
The use of 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol and its derivatives in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents which are effective in destroying the tumor is a novel method of treatment. 2-(2,4-Difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-o l and its derivatives can also be used to treat viral infections either alone or in the presence of a potentiator.

Compositions for treating viral infections


A fluid monitoring apparatus to simultaneously detect the temperature and level of fluid within a container includes a translucent tube with a proximal end, a distal end, an aperture within the wall of the tube proximate the proximal end of the tube, the distal end able to extend into the fluid container, a thermocouple secured within the tube and tethered via a wire disposable through the aperture in the tube wall, the wire including a first end secured to the thermocouple and a second end secured to a display device to display the temperature of the fluid, and a cap secured to the proximal end of the tube to create a pressure within the tube sufficient to cause the fluid that fills the distal end of the tube to remain in the tube, thereby permitting a user to determine the fluid level of the container.

The embodiments herein relate generally to a fluid monitoring apparatus. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to an apparatus configured to access a remote fluid container and simultaneously detect both the temperature and level of the fluid in the container.
In certain applications, it is desirable to know the temperature and level of a fluid in a container. This presents users with several challenges when oddly-shaped containers, hard-to-reach containers or hidden containers with limited access are present. The transmission oil pan of an automobile is one type of container that is partially hidden and difficult to access. Certain automobiles require users to monitor the transmission oil level in the pan at a particular temperature after an oil change. In this situation, the user must determine whether the amount of oil refilled is adequate by checking the level of oil in the pan when the oil is at the particular temperature. It is particularly important to measure the oil level in the pan at the correct temperature because the oil level varies by temperature.
Current systems and devices for measuring the temperature and level of oil in a pan are inefficient and limited. Users use a dip stick to measure the oil level in the pan and an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil. However, these devices are ineffective because the temperature and level of oil are measured at different times, which can lead to an oil level and temperature reading that is inaccurate. In addition, infrared thermometers are limited because they sometimes give false readings under ambient and environmental conditions. Likewise, dip sticks are not accurate because oil often drips down the stick during the time the stick is removed from the transmission pan. As a result, the oil level displayed on the dip stick is usually an approximation.
As such, there is a need in the industry for a fluid monitoring apparatus that can detect the temperature and level of a fluid simultaneously and accurately.

Apparatus for detecting fluid temperature and level in a container


A portable computer has a sunken socket on an upper plane of the portable computer for accommodating a keyboard device. A front end and a rear end fixing mechanisms are installed at a front and rear end of the sunken socket respectively for fixing the keyboard device. The rear end fixing mechanism has an aperture. The keyboard device has a base plate, a front edge clamping mechanism installed at the front edge of the base plate for clamping with the front end fixing mechanism of the sunken socket to fix the front edge of the base plate, and a rear edge clamping mechanism installed at the rear edge of the base plate. The rear edge clamping mechanism has at least one fastening device. The fastening device has a track installed at the rear edge of the base plate, a sliding cap slidingly installed on the track along a front-and-rear direction, and a locking device for locking the sliding cap on the track to prevent the sliding cap from moving forward. Thus, a rear protrusion at the rear end of the sliding cap can be fixed in the aperture of the rear end fixing mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a keyboard device, and more particularly, to a keyboard device that can be fixed on a portable computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is a research goal of portable computers to make them more durable and easier to use. In a prior art method, screws are used to install a keyboard device to a portable computer. These screws are drilled into a lower side of the portable computer for fixing the keyboard device. The method is secure, but it is inconvenient for installation, or for removal during maintenance.
Another prior art keyboard device 10 (Taiwan Patent Number 356257) is designed to solve this problem. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art keyboard device 10. The keyboard device 10 comprises a base plate 12, a plurality of key caps 13, and two fastening devices 14. Each fastening device 14 comprises a housing 16, an upper cover 18, a sliding portion 20, and a spring (not shown) installed inside the housing 16. The sliding portion 20 is retractably installed in the housing 16. When installing the keyboard device 10 in a portable computer, the upper cover 18 is pulled backward and thereby causes the sliding portion 20 to retract into the housing 16. After placing the keyboard device 10 in a sunken socket (not shown) on the upper side of the housing of a portable computer, the upper cover 18 is released and the sliding portion 20 extends from the housing 16 because of the spring. Thus, an end of the sliding portion 20 is inserted into an aperture of the sunken socket, and the keyboard device 10 is fixed into the sunken socket. When removing the keyboard device 10, the upper cover 18 is pulled backwards again and thereby causes the sliding portion 20 to retract into the housing 16, and the keyboard device 10 can be removed from the housing of the portable computer.
The prior art keyboard device 10 uses a spring to push the sliding portion 20 and fix the keyboard device 10. However, since the portable computer is often carried and moved, the keyboard device 10 can unexpectedly release from the portable computer due to vibration or impact. That is very inconvenient for the user.
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a keyboard device to solve the above the mentioned problems.
Briefly, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a portable computer comprises a sunken socket on an upper plane of the portable computer for accommodating a keyboard device. A front end and a rear end fixing mechanisms are installed at a front and rear end of the sunken socket respectively for fixing the keyboard device. The rear end fixing mechanism comprises an aperture. The keyboard device comprises a base plate, a front edge clamping mechanism installed at the front edge of the base plate for clamping with the front end fixing mechanism of the sunken socket to fix the front edge of the base plate, and a rear edge clamping mechanism installed at the rear edge of the base plate. The rear edge clamping mechanism comprises at least one fastening device. The fastening device comprises a track installed at the rear edge of the base plate, a sliding cap slidingly installed on the track along a front-and-rear direction, and a locking device for locking the sliding cap on the track to prevent the sliding cap from moving forward. Thus, a rear protrusion at the rear end of the sliding cap can be fixed in the aperture of the rear end fixing mechanism.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the keyboard device can be easily installed onto a portable computer and, furthermore, securely fixed on the portable computer. Thus, the portable computer is more convenient and more reliable.
These and other objectives and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

Keyboard device fixed on a portable computer


In a laser beam processing apparatus, a laser monitor comprises a photo sensor, a laser power measuring circuit, an A-D converter, a monitor control unit, a comparison decision unit, a display control unit, a display, an alarm generating circuit and a buzzer. A measured laser power signal (analog voltage signal) representative of an instantaneous value of laser power of a pulsed laser beam is produced by the photo sensor and the laser power measuring circuit, and the digital measured laser power signal from the A-D converter is supplied to the comparison decision unit and to the monitor control unit. The monitor control unit sets or determines a monitor reference waveform corresponding to a laser control reference waveform used for waveform control in the processing apparatus and controls the comparison decision unit. The comparison decision unit provides a monitoring decision on the power of the pulsed laser beam, which is displayed by a visual presentation or by display lamps on the display.

The present invention relates to a laser apparatus of the waveform control type and a laser monitor apparatus for use therewith.
A pulsed laser beam processing apparatus employs a method to variably control a laser power waveform of a pulsed laser beam in order to meet various processing requirements. In accordance with the waveform control method, a desired reference waveform of laser power is preset into the laser beam processing apparatus. In the laser beam processing apparatus, a laser electric power supply which supplies electric power to a laser oscillator is controlled by an open-loop control or a closed-loop control so that the power of the laser beam oscillated from the laser oscillator can follow the reference waveform.
A laser monitor apparatus for monitoring laser power, which is incorporated in a laser beam processing apparatus or has the form of an independent unit electrically connected thereto, has been used for the sake of quality control in a laser beam processing site.
In the prior art laser monitor apparatus, a part of a laser beam is projected on a photo detector such as photo-diode which produces an electric signal (a laser detection signal) corresponding to the laser power or intensity of light of the laser beam. The signal is integrated to obtain a measured value of laser energy (Joule) per unit time or one pulse. Judging how far apart the measured laser energy value is from a predetermined reference value or whether the measured value is within the limit of a predetermined monitoring value or not, the laser monitor apparatus outputs decision on whether the laser beam processing has been performed normally or not, or whether the resulting quality of processing is good or not.
However, such laser monitor apparatus has not worked effectively in the above type of laser apparatus using waveform control method. In the waveform control method, it is important how closely an actual laser power waveform follows a reference waveform. The prior art laser monitor apparatus makes a decision of good or bad on the quality of processing on the basis of a measured value (mean value) of laser energy per unit time or one pulse. Therefore, even if the actual laser power waveform deviates so far apart from the reference waveform as to influence the quality of processing, the laser monitor apparatus may determine the processing to be normal, failing to determine it to be defective, as long as the total laser energy or the average laser energy of the whole pulse is within the allowable range.

Laser monitor apparatus and a laser apparatus


A ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material (10) with increased interlaminar strength is obtained without a corresponding debit in other mechanical properties. This is achieved by infusing a diffusion barrier layer (20) into an existing porous matrix CMC to coat the exposed first matrix phase (19) and fibers (12), and then densifying the matrix with repeated infiltration cycles of a second matrix phase (22). The diffusion barrier prevents undesirable sintering between the matrix phases and between the second matrix phase and the fibers during subsequent final firing and use of the resulting component (30) in a high temperature environment.

The current generation two-dimensional laminate porous oxide ceramic matrix composites (CMC) have relatively low interlaminar strength properties. Three-dimensional CMC materials have higher interlaminar strength; however 3D materials are more expensive and have not yet been fully developed for commercial applications, such as for use in the hot gas path of a gas turbine engine. It is known to improve the interlaminar strength of 2D CMC materials by further densifying the porous matrix in a conventional manner with additional sinterable phase matrix material. Unfortunately, as porosity is decreased in such materials, there is a corresponding reduction in in-plane strength (reduced by more than half in some embodiments) and the material becomes brittle as the interconnection between the matrix and the fibers becomes stronger.
It is known in both oxide and non-oxide CMC materials to apply an interface coating material to the fiber prior to matrix formation in order to decrease the fiber-matrix interconnection. The interface material functions to deflect cracks forming in the matrix material away from the fibers, thereby preserving the fiber network strength and the resulting in-plane mechanical properties. Unfortunately, fiber tows that are coated with interface coating materials are more difficult and expensive to weave and the coatings tend to spall off of the fibers during weaving. Furthermore, no viable process has yet been demonstrated for solution coating of filaments in fiber form, since close-packed fibers in cross-over points are difficult to coat.

CMC with multiple matrix phases separated by diffusion barrier


A proximity alert system including a pair of portable electronic, coded transmitter/receiver units designed to operate in a specific signal band. Each unit transmits a coded signal that is picked up by the other unit. The strength of the received coded signal controls the rate of an audible beeper. The rate of the beeper indicates the approximate distance between companion units. A direction-finder antenna is used to indicate the direction of the received coded signal.

When participating in outdoor activities with others, it is often desirable to know the location of other participants. This is particularly true when engaging in potentially dangerous activities such as hunting under conditions where the co-participants cannot easily see one another.
Although numerous signal and alarm protection units are known, none provide an indication of the approximate distance and direction of one unit with respect to another companion unit.
Those concerned with these and other problems recognize the need for an improved proximity alert system.


The present invention relates to a circuit for integrating a local switch and a remote-control switch, primarily comprising a remote-control circuit, a first trigger circuit, a second trigger circuit, an integrating unit and a power circuit, in which the integrating unit further comprises two timer circuits, a local switch detecting circuit, a switching circuit and a power supplement circuit. When the circuit described above is in an initial state, in the event of the local switch does not operate within a certain time period, the control priority belongs to the remote-control circuit. When a user controls a load by remote control, the remote-control circuit will send a signal to reset the local switch detecting circuit and to make the output signal of the remote-control circuit be the control source of the switching circuit directly.

The present invention relates to a circuit for integrating a local switch and a remote-control switch and, more particularly, to a circuit design being capable of integrating and selectively recognizing a control priority between a local switch and a remote-control switch.
The remote-control technology is generally used as well as a convenient way of controlling electronic appliances. Presently, such a technology has been extensively applied to general household appliances, such as a television, a high fidelity stereo, a video recorder and the like.
But there is no hiding the fact that, even though the remote-control technology is convenient to everybody, in fact, there are still many household appliances that do not yet have a remote-control function provided, for example, a set of lamps, a ceiling fan, etc., and they are still controlled by the local switches set on the wall. Since they can not be controlled in the same way as utilized by the household facilities with a remote-control function, that is, by remote controlling rather than a local switch, there still exist some inconveniences.
To remedy this shortcoming, an attachment type of remote-control device has appeared on the market for providing the remote-control function to equipment originally without the remote-control ability provided. However, an original local switch can not be utilized once a remote-control device has been installed on such equipment and inconveniences in this type of control still remain. Both of the local switch function and the remote-control function that are achieved by these types of equipment at the same time can be achieved through remodeling them. The remodeling technology is rather complicated and electricians are often expensive. Additionally, how to make the control signals of the local switch and the remote-control switch compatible and how to avoid a situation of mutual conflicts are also problems in the aspect of the remote-control technical application to be resolved.

Circuit for integrating a local switch and a remote-control switch


A fastening device for supporting various objects on a brick wall, block wall, tile wall or a wall having grooves therein, wherein the fastening device may comprise a clip member and a mounting member, wherein the clip member has a first arm portion, a second arm portion, an intermediate portion and a biasing mechanism, and wherein the mounting member extends downward from the clip member and may take the form of an S-shaped hook member. Alternatively, the mounting member may include a cam member. The fastening device may also be provided with a plurality of tangs on the exterior of the clip member and a living hinge that connects the first and second arm portions of the clip member. To accommodate different sizes of mortar joints the clip member may include a notch that allows for the alteration of the clip member to fit within different sizes of mortar joints. Another embodiment may include a second mounting member.

Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a fastening device, and more specifically to a fastening device for supporting various sized objects along a brick or block wall having a spring-action clip member and a mounting device.
2. Description of the Invention Background
Some conventional fastening devices comprise a clip and a retainer, wherein the clip has two flat legs extending outward from a bend in an untensioned state. To install the clip within a mortar joint, the legs are forced together, the clip is positioned between two adjacent bricks and received within a mortar joint, and the legs are released such that the free ends of the legs engage the adjacent bricks. The disadvantage of this type of conventional fastening device is that it is made to hold only lightweight objects such as plants and vines along a brick wall and is not able to support heavier objects such as pictures and wreaths.
Another conventional type fastening device comprises two spring biased arms and a hook member, wherein the arms extend horizontally from the hook member and are received within the horizontal mortar joint, and the hook member is also received within the vertical mortar joint. To install this type of fastening device, the arms are compressed such that they can fit within the horizontal mortar joint. Once within the horizontal mortar joint, the arms are released resulting in the arms engaging the adjacent bricks. The disadvantage of this type of fastening device is that the fastening means cannot be used with various sizes of mortar joints in that if the bricks are spaced too close together the hook member and the arms will not fit within the mortar joint.
None of the prior art teaches or suggests a fastening device that can support objects having various sizes and weights along a brick wall without being easily disengaged from the brick wall and a device that may be used with various sizes of mortar joints to support objects along a brick wall.
Accordingly, the need exists for a fastening device that can support objects having various sizes and weights along a wall having grooves without being easily disengaged from the wall.
There is also a need for a fastening device that may be used with various sizes of mortar joints to support objects along a wall having grooves.
The present invention provides a fastening device for stablely supporting various sizes of objects along a wall having grooves, wherein the brick wall and mortar joints may be of various sizes and shapes.
The present invention further provides a fastening device having a clip member including a first arm portion, a second arm portion, an intermediate portion, and a biasing mechanism, and a mounting member that extends downwardly from the clip member such that when an object is attached to the mounting member the weight of the object increases the friction between the first and second arm portions and the structure to which the device is attached. The clip member may be concave and have tangs extending from the exterior portion thereof.
The present invention further provides for the clip member having notches such that the clip member can be altered to fit within various sizes of mortar joints.
The present invention provides for the mounting member to take many forms such as, for example, a hook member having an S-shaped portion.
The present invention further provides a fastening device having an engagement member including a first arm portion, a second arm portion, and an intermediate portion wherein the intermediate portion is a living hinge that allows for the first arm portion to frictionally engage the mortar joint. The fastening device of the present invention may be made from plastic; however, suitable metals may also be used.
The present invention further provides a fastening device having a clip member including a first arm portion, a second arm portion, an intermediate portion, and a biasing mechanism, and a mounting member including a cam body, wherein the cam is received within the clip member and when rotated forces the first arm portion and the second arm portion into frictional engagement with adjacent bricks of the brick wall. The cam may be non-circular, for example, the cam may be oblong having a plurality of slots.
Other details, objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent with the following description of the present invention.


An agricultural system that includes a planter frame. A track and/or wheel couple to and support the planter frame. A first row unit bracket couples to the planter frame. A first offset bracket couples to the first row unit bracket. A first row unit couples to the first offset bracket. The first offset bracket offsets the first row unit from a path of the track and/or wheel.

The present application relates generally to agricultural implements.
Planting implements (e.g., planters) are typically towed behind a tractor across fields. These planting implements typically include multiple row units distributed across the width of the implement. These row units deposit seeds at a desired spacing and soil depth, thereby establishing rows of crops. Each row unit may include a seed meter that controls the rate and/or spacing of the seeds deposited in the ground. As the implement is pulled across fields, the tracks or wheels that support the weight of the implement compress the soil. Unfortunately, compressed soil may inhibit root growth and thus growth of the plant. Rows of seeds planted in or proximate the compressed soil may therefore have a lower crop yield.


An iron aluminide fuel injector component such as a nozzle, plunger or other part is manufactured from iron aluminide or includes an iron aluminide coating on at least a portion of a surface in contact with the fuel which passes through the fuel injector. The iron aluminide alloy can include 8 to 32 wt. % Al, up to 5 wt. % refractory metal, B and/or C in amounts sufficient to form borides and/or carbides. The fuel injector component can be formed from powders of the iron aluminide alloy by powder metallurgy techniques and the coating can be formed by a diffusional reaction process, cathodic plasma process, chemical vapor deposition or physical vapor deposition. The fuel injector component is corrosion, carburization, sulfidation and/or coking resistant.

The present invention is directed generally to apparatus for controlling fuel input into a spark ignited and direct injection internal combustion engine. More specifically, the present invention is directed to fuel injector apparatus having a component such as a nozzle and/or plunger manufactured from an iron aluminide alloy or having at least a portion of a fuel contacting surface coated with an iron aluminide alloy.
Internal combustion engines operate by combusting fuel supplied to one or more combustion chambers. It is conventional to use one or more fuel injectors to supply fuel to an individual combustion chamber. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,458,655; 4,886,032; 5,331,937; 5,482,023; 6,067,970; and 6,155,212. Of these, the ""655 patent states that the fuel injector is made of steel and other components such as the spray tip body, spray tip, bushing, valve, coil spring, spacer ring, cap, adjusting screw are made of an electrically conductive material such as steel. The ""212 patent discloses use of catalytic coatings such as platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium, nickel, nickel oxide and intermetallics of transition metals such as vanadium-copper-zinc on the surface of valve seats of an electrode spray nozzle. To improve cold starting capabilities, some fuel injectors deliver heated fuel to the combustion chamber. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,826. Some fuel injectors can incorporate an integral fuel pump and/or sensor arrangement. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,716,001 and 6,283,095.
Fuel injectors have been proposed for direct injection engines. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,116,218; 6,267,307; and 6,295,969. Of these, the ""307 patent states that a high-performance ceramic coating can be deposited on injector tips made from a nickel and chrome alloy. According to the ""969 patent, direct injection can be used for two-cycle or four-cycle engines such as outboard motors or other engines for marine propulsion or land vehicles or utility machines such as lawn mowers.
Conventional fuel injectors can include a housing having an internal passage and the injector can be installed in a fuel rail to supply the passage with fuel under pressure. A solenoid operated needle valve can be moved on and off a valve seat to control the outflow of fuel from the injector from the injector nozzle or tip. The injector nozzle can be received in a bore in an intake manifold or cylinder head runner passage of a spark ignited and direct injection internal combustion engine. With such an arrangement, fuel can be injected in the form of a spray as an aid to vaporization of the fuel.
Fuel injectors can be designed to operate with a given fuel volumetric flow rate and a fuel spray pattern for optimization of fuel economy and reduction in exhaust emissions. A recognized problem in fuel injection is the formation of coke that can foul the injector nozzle. Coking is a surface phenomenon which has bee observed with iron and nickel-based alloys containing chromium in the range of 10 to 25 wt. %. In addition to negatively impacting thermal performance, coking can result in an excessive pressure drop across the injector nozzle, even blocking of the injector nozzle, thereby adversely affecting the fuel injector and the engine performance. For example, carbon deposits may alter the spray pattern such that the spray penetrates to an undesirable depth in the combustion chamber. Poor atomization can also lead to higher levels of exhaust particles and increase levels of soot in the crank case. Further, coking can lead to increased pressure in the fuel injector, and the degradation of mechanical properties can lead to catastrophic failure of injector nozzles and is a safety hazard.
Another problem in fuel injector nozzles is carburization (e.g., carburization can be severe with alloys such as HP steels, INCO 803, and other materials that contain significant amounts of chromium and nickel). Carburization results in the formation of carbides in the metal matrix or in grain boundaries of metallic components from exposure to a carbon containing atmosphere.
A variety of solutions have been proposed for addressing the problems of coke formation, carburization, and related materials phenomena in fuel injector nozzles. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,307 B1 to Pontoppidan, A. A. Aradi, et al., xe2x80x9cThe Effect of Fuel Composition and Engine Operating Parameters on Injector Deposits in a High-Pressure Direct Injection Gasoline (DIG) Research Enginexe2x80x9d, SAE Technical Paper Series, 1999-01-3690 (1999), and S. Rossi et al., xe2x80x9cCorrosion Behavior of P/M Components for Gasoline Injectorsxe2x80x9d, International Journal of Powder Metallurgy, Vol. 36, pp. 39-46 (2000).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,323 discloses iron-aluminum alloys having 30 to 50 atomic % aluminum and up to 6 atomic % hardening elements(Zr, Mo, C, Ti, V, Ta, La) for exhaust valves of internal combustion engines. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,328,527 and 5,425,821 disclose an iron aluminum alloy having 9 to 13.3 weight % Al, 0.05 to 0.35% C, 0.5 to 3% refractory metal (V, Mo, Nb, W, Ta) and/or 0.3 to 1.5% Ti for an intake valve of an internal combustion engine. U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,714 states that titanium aluminide has been proposed as a replacement for steel inlet and exhaust valves.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,651 discloses aluminum containing iron base alloys useful as coatings having oxidation and corrosion resistance or as sulfidization or corrosion resistant materials for use in the chemical industry, pipe for conveying coal slurry or coal tar, substrate materials for catalytic converters, exhaust pipes for automotive engines or porous filters. According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,197, iron base alloys having 10 to 18 weight % aluminum can be alloyed with Zr and B to refine the grain structure and thus enhance workability of the otherwise brittle alloys.
Thus it would be advantageous to limit the deposition of carbon and carbon by-products on the interior surfaces of components of fuel injectors and to inhibit the carburization of system metallurgical components. Additionally, it would be advantageous that the fuel injector material exhibit strength at operating temperatures and oxidation resistance. Thus, there is a need in the art for fuel injector materials with improved materials performance that address these needs and others.
The invention provides a component of a fuel injector such as an injector nozzle or plunger wherein the component comprises a coating or bulk part of an iron aluminide alloy. The injector nozzle can have any desired configuration. For example, the injector nozzle can include a recess in a first surface adapted to engage a plunger of the fuel injector. Alternatively, the injector nozzle can include a body formed from a first material and having a recess in a first surface adapted to engage a plunger of the fuel injector, and a coating of a second material disposed on at least a portion of the recess wherein the second material is an iron aluminide alloy. In a preferred embodiment, the recess is substantially in the form of an inverted frustum of a right circular cone.
The iron aluminide alloy can be cast and thermomechanically processed into the shape of the component or the component can be made by sintering an iron aluminide alloy powder. The iron aluminide alloy preferably has at least 8 wt. % aluminum and optional alloying additions such as up to 5 wt. % of one or more refractory metals (e.g., Ti, Ta, Nb, W, Cr, Mo, V, Hf and Zr), up to 0.02 wt. % B, up to 0.5 wt. % C, up to 1% rare earth metal (e.g., Y, La, etc.). For example, the iron aluminide can further comprise B and/or C in an amount effective to provide borides and/or carbides in the iron aluminide alloy. If desired, up to 20 vol. % oxide particles can be incorporated in the iron aluminide (e.g., Al2O3, Y2O3, etc.). An exemplary iron aluminide can include 10-32 wt. % Al, up to 20 vol. % transition metal oxides, up to 0.020 wt. % B, up to 2.0 wt. % Mo, up to 1.0 wt. % Zr, up to 2.0 wt. % Ti, up to 1.0 wt. % La, up to 0.2 wt. % C, up to 1 wt. % Cr, balance Fe and impurities.
A method of manufacturing a fuel injector component such as an injector nozzle includes hot extruding a cast iron aluminide material and machining the extruded body or pressing an iron aluminide powder into a shape and sintering the shape to a density of at least 90% theoretical density. For example, the iron aluminide can be a sintered nanocrystalline iron aluminide powder. If desired, the fuel injector component can be formed by forming iron aluminide powder into a body and sintering the body to a density of at least 90% theoretical density.
In an embodiment in which the fuel injector component has a coating of an iron aluminide alloy, the component is made by forming a first material into the shape of the component and coating an iron aluminide alloy on at least a portion of a surface of the first material that directly contacts fuel during operation. The coating can be formed by various techniques including a diffusion reaction process or a cathodic plasma process.
The fuel injector component can be provided with various properties such as corrosion, carburization, sulfidation and/or coking resistance and a fuel injector with such a component can be operated in a manner which produces reduced greenhouse emissions and reduced particulate matter.


A set of parameters (W) is calculated for an equalizer which equalizes a transmission line impulse response (LIR) in such a way that the equalized impulse response (EIR) approximates a target impulse response (TIR) with predetermined length (L). An error function (E) is minimized via eigenvalue-eigenvector calculation of a channel dependent matrix (O). This channel dependent matrix (O) is built up from a signal (X), a distorted signal (Y), and length (L) and delay (D) of the target impulse response (TIR). The error function (E) comprises a first contribution which represents the difference between the equalized impulse response (EIR) and the target impulse response (TIR) and a second contribution which represents the energy (E.sub.DC) that is transmitted in unused frequency bands. The eigenvector corresponding to the minimum eigenvalue of the channel dependent matrix (O) represents the set of equalizer parameters (W).

Such a method and equipment to perform such a method are already known in the art, e.g. from the article `Adaptive Channel Memory Truncation for Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation`, written by D. D. Falconer and F. R. Magee, Jr., and published in The Bell System technical Journal, Vol 52, No. 9, November 1973, from page 1541 to page 1562. As described in the second paragraph of the introduction on page 1541, an equalizer or linear prefilter which forces the overall impulse response of the channel prefilter combination to approximate a desired truncated impulse response is presented therein. The overall impulse response of the channel prefilter combination is equivalent to the equalized impulse response mentioned in the preambles of the independent claims hereof, while therefor the desired truncated impulse response in the above mentioned article is called a target impulse response with predetermined length in the present application. In the known method, the desired impulse response is obtained by calculating an eigenvector corresponding to the minimum eigenvalue of a certain channel dependent matrix. This channel dependent matrix and more specifically the minimum eigenvalue thereof is representative for a mean square error between the output of the prefilter and the output of the desired prefilter, the desired prefilter having an impulse response equal to the just mentioned desired truncated impulse response. When minimizing the mean square error, the desired impulse response is optimized. As is proven in section III of the above cited article, the known method then adaptively or iteratively calculates the linear prefilter parameters from the desired truncated impulse response. Thereto, in successive iterations, the Viterbi algorithm is applied to the prefilter output, the result thereof is applied to the desired prefilter and the output of this desired prefilter is subtracted from the prefilter output in such a way that an error sequence for adjustment of the desired impulse response and prefilter parameter set is obtained. The receiver structure allowing to perform the known method is drawn in FIG. 3 on page 1545 of the above mentioned article. Although the known technique or derivatives thereof wherein e.g. the Viterbi algorithm is not used exhibit very low mean square error values and as a consequence a theoretically negligible intersymbol interference, its applicability in ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is doubtful. The main reason is linked to the finite precision limitations of the hardware. Indeed, the equalizer transfer function obtained when applying the known technique in ADSL; will boost the unused frequency band, i.e. the frequency band below 25 kHz, and will attenuate the tones in the ADSL passband, which approximately cover the frequency band from 25 kHz to 138 kHz. A first consequence is the decrease of numerical stability. It is even possible that the attenuation is so severe that the first stages of an FFT demodulator as is used in ADSL receivers rounds off the frequency components to zero such that the frequency domain equalizer of the receiver is unable to boost these tones again. An additional consequence is that, by implementing the known method in ADSL, the attenuation is very severe at the filter boundaries between the unused and used frequency bands. This is a result of the very sharp filter edges there. The pilot tone will very likely be located close to the region where the transmission channel exhibits a relatively low attenuation. This is mostly located near the lower downstream filter edge. Synchronization may therefore be subjected to an unexpected decrease of the signal to noise ratio of the pilot tone.

Method for transmission line impulse response equalization and a device to perform this method


The present disclosure relates to a push-pull transimpedance amplifier (TIA) that receives a push-pull radio frequency (RF) input current signal having a push current and a pull current and includes a common-emitter pre-amplifier and a dynamic feedback current source (DFCS). The common-emitter pre-amplifier receives at least a portion of the push current and provides a first RF signal based on amplifying the push-pull RF input current signal. The DFCS provides at least a portion of the pull current based on the first RF signal. The push-pull TIA may operate at high data rates, may have high input sensitivity, may provide linear amplification of the push-pull RF input current signal, or any combination thereof. The push-pull TIA may provide an RF output signal based on amplifying the push-pull RF input current signal.

Spectrally efficient fiber optics communications systems may evolve toward using differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulation, differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) modulation, or both of a fiber optics signal. Detection of such a modulated signal may be achieved using either a twin photo-diode detector or a stacked photo-diode push-pull detector followed by a transimpedance amplifier (TIA). The stacked photo-diode push-pull detector may be preferable over the twin photo-diode detector due to ease of implementation and inherent match of adjacent monolithic photo-detectors, which may provide superior DPSK or DQPSK demodulation. However, when using the stacked photo-diode push-pull detector, for optimum performance, a TIA is needed that has both high input sensitivity and has linear push-pull input current handling capability. Further, fiber optics communications systems are evolving toward increasing data rates. Data rates above 100 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) are desirable. As such, a TIA is needed that operates at high data rates, has high input sensitivity, and has linear push-pull input current handling capability.
Present push-pull input TIAs may use complementary technologies that may limit data rates to less than 10 Gbps due to limited hole mobility of P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) or PNP transistor technologies. A common-emitter input TIA may eliminate the use of PMOS or PNP transistor technologies. However, such a TIA is a push only TIA that can accommodate only push input currents and cannot accommodate pull input currents without significantly degrading linearity. To provide pull input currents, a common-emitter input TIA may include a shunt input resistor in parallel with the stacked photo-diode push-pull detector to provide pull input currents. However, the shunt input resistor may contribute excessive input-referred current noise, which may degrade input sensitivity of the TIA. Alternatively, to provide pull input currents, the common-emitter input TIA may include a single-ended common-base input stage to provide input pull currents. However, the single-ended common-base input stage may require a large quiescent current that results in high input shot noise, which may degrade the input sensitivity of the TIA. As such, there remains a need for a TIA that operates at high data rates, has high input sensitivity, and has linear push-pull input current handling capability to provide linear amplification of a push-pull radio frequency (RF) input current signal.


Methods and compositions concerning an ultraviolet light curable formulation useful for repairing composite materials including the repair of a hole in the exterior of an airplane. The formulation may contain an acrylic oligomer, an acrylic monomer, an organic peroxide, a dialkylaniline promoter, a photoinitiator. The formulation can include a filler such as carbon fabric or Kevlar fabric.

This invention pertains to a UV light curable composition which may comprise an acrylic oligomer, an acrylate monomer, a photoinitiator, and a filler such as Kevlar and carbon.
Rapid, high-quality, on-aircraft repair techniques for composite components are desirable. However, current field level repair techniques use thermally accelerated adhesive bonding to restore the original design strength of the composite laminate. In practice, several problems exist with on-aircraft thermally cured repair methods. Airframe structural members act as heat sinks, and make it difficult to obtain a uniform cure temperature profiles. Excessive power requirements can result from efforts to offset this heat sinking effect. Also, commonly used resin systems require low temperature storage to avoid premature degradation, increasing storage cost and support complexity. Furthermore, the thermally accelerated require heat blankets for cure that can be difficult to work with depending on the size and geometry of the aircraft part being repaired.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,144,544 discloses compositions including fiberglass that meet these needs. However, this patent discloses that composite compositions containing Kevlar did not cure below the Kevlar when exposed to UV light. It would be desirable to find curable compositions that include Kevlar or Carbon particles or fabric layers.

Ultraviolet light curing compositions for composite repair


An anchoring device is disclosed providing an easily deployable and removable anchoring point. The anchoring device includes a lower portion configured to be buried into a bottom of a body of water comprising a weighted anchor and at least one spray outlet location upon a bottom surface of the weighted anchor, the spray outlet hole being configured to aid installation and removal of the anchoring device by selectively projecting a spray of water to displace soft debris on the bottom away from the weighted anchor. The anchoring device further includes an upper portion comprising a vertical pole extending upward from the bottom, the pole comprising an anchoring point.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure. Accordingly, such statements are not intended to constitute an admission of prior art.
Normal waves strike the shore obliquely, thereby dispensing most of their energy at the shoreline. Rip currents occur when waves, usually a result of weather pressure systems, strike the shore perpendicularly, and with greater force. This causes a buildup of excess water trying to return seaward. Larger than normal wave pressure carries sand upwards toward the shore and depending upon where the sand gets dispensed, it can create a sandbar barrier to wave water looking for an avenue to return to sea. A rip current occurs when the trapped water erodes a trough through the sandbar. Large objects like jetties, piers, or naturally occurring objects like rocks can also channel excess water, sometimes parallel to shore. The flow created by returning wave water is called a rip current. Five different types of rip currents have been identified by experts. When the water current runs parallel to shore, it is referred to as a longshore current. A swimmer can be drawn sideways along the beach and into a rip current if the returning water force is strong enough.
Rip currents result in 80% of the 60,000 water rescues annually in the United States alone. Up to 150 beachgoers drown every year just in the United States. A dangerous rip current may be as slow as 1 to 2 ft/sec (0.7 to 1.4 mph) on up to 8 ft/sec (5.45 mph). Rip currents can occur near the surface.
A rip current can be 40 feet wide on up to 50 yards wide. They can occur anywhere on a shore of an ocean beach or large lake, e.g., the Great Lakes.
Known methods to anchor an object or device in a large body of water include using a large anchor object which is dropped in the water and rested upon the floor of the water. Placement and maintenance of such an anchor object, due to its size and difficulties associated with working underwater, can be labor intensive and costly. Wherein the floor made of sand which is subject to shifting and constant change, a location of an object on the floor of the water can change substantially over time. Known methods do not permit maintaining anchors in sandy floor locations in an upright orientation for long periods of time.
Port authorities, coast guard officials, property owners, and others can use large concrete blocks or pile-driven posts to provide a post projecting from a surface of the water. Such a post can be used as anchoring points, permitting boats, buoys, and other floating objects to be tethered to the post. However, concrete blocks shift position as the bottom under the block shifts. Pile-driven posts are expensive and permanent.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An engine ECU executes a program including a step of sensing a coolant temperature TW of an engine, if a start request of the engine is sensed, a step of causing only an intake manifold injector to inject fuel to start engine 10, if coolant temperature TW is lower than a threshold value TW(0), and a step of causing only an in-cylinder injector to inject fuel to start engine 10, if coolant temperature TW is higher than threshold value TW(0).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus for an internal combustion engine having a first fuel injection mechanism (an in-cylinder injector) injecting fuel into a cylinder and a second fuel injection mechanism (an intake manifold injector) injecting the fuel into an intake manifold or an intake port, and relates particularly to a technique for starting the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Background Art
An internal combustion engine having an intake manifold injector for injecting fuel into an intake manifold of the engine and an in-cylinder injector for injecting the fuel into a combustion chamber of the engine is known. When starting such an internal combustion engine, the fuel is injected into the intake manifold.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-073854 discloses a fuel injection control apparatus for an internal combustion engine of in-cylinder injection type that has a main fuel injection valve injecting fuel directly into a combustion chamber and an auxiliary fuel injection valve injecting the fuel into an intake manifold, and that is capable of reducing emission of uncombusted components in starting the engine to suppress undue fuel consumption. The fuel injection control apparatus according to Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-073854 includes: an auxiliary fuel injection valve controller causing the auxiliary fuel injection valve to start injecting fuel when the engine is started; and a main fuel injection valve controller prohibiting the main fuel injection valve from injecting the fuel for a period from a time point where the engine is started until a time point where the concentration of an air-fuel mixture formed in the combustion chamber by the fuel injected from the auxiliary fuel injection valve reaches at least a prescribed value, and allowing the main fuel injection valve to start injecting the fuel when the period has elapsed.
According to the fuel injection control apparatus, when the engine is started, the concentration of the air-fuel mixture formed in the combustion chamber by the fuel injected from the auxiliary fuel injection valve is awaited to be at least a prescribed value, and then the main fuel injection valve is allowed to start injecting the fuel. Therefore, a period from a time point where the main fuel injection valve starts injecting the fuel until a time point of initial combustion is shortened, or the main fuel injection valve starts injecting the fuel after initial combustion. This minimizes such an event that vaporization of the fuel injected from the main fuel injection valve is not facilitated and the fuel is accumulated in the combustion chamber in the liquid state, when starting the engine where the temperature thereof is low. Thus, emission of uncombusted components in starting the engine can be reduced and undue fuel consumption is suppressed.
However, according to the fuel injection control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-073854, the internal combustion engine is started while fuel is injected into the intake manifold to facilitate vaporization. Accordingly, if the temperature of the internal combustion engine is fully high, for example, vaporization may be unduly facilitated. In such a case, the air-fuel mixture is excessively high in ignitionability, which may lead to its self-ignition before being ignited by the spark plug (hereinafter also referred to as preignition) or to knocking. Accordingly, there has been a problem in establishing compatibility between prevention of preignition/knocking and prevention of occurrence of uncombusted fuel.

Control apparatus for internal combustion engine


To provide an inertial drive actuator that is easy to assemble and achieves high accuracy in position detection, the actuator has a fixed member, a vibration substrate, a piezoelectric element (movement unit), first and second moving bodies that moves relative to the vibration substrate by inertia, a first electrode provided on the surface of each of the first and second moving bodies, a second electrode provided on a surface of the vibration substrate, an insulating film provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, a drive unit, and a position detection unit that detects the position of the moving body with respect to the vibration substrate based on capacitance of the portion in which the first electrode and the second electrode are opposed to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inertial drive actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a drive pulse with a waveform having a moderate rise and a subsequent steep fall is applied to a piezoelectric element, which is a kind of electro-mechanical transducer, the piezoelectric element expands slowly at the moderate rise of the drive pulse and contracts quickly at the steep fall of the drive pulse. There is a known inertial drive actuator that utilizes such characteristics. In the inertial drive actuator, drive pulses having the above described waveform are applied to a piezoelectric element to generate vibration having different speeds in the directions of expansion and contraction in the piezoelectric element thereby causing a drive member fixed to the piezoelectric element to reciprocate at different speeds. Thus, a movable member in frictional contact with the drive member is moved in a predetermined direction.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-185406 discloses an inertial drive actuator having a function of detecting the position of a movable member. This inertial drive actuator is shown in FIG. 17. The inertial drive actuator 100 has a piezoelectric element 120, one end of which is fixed on the frame 110 of the actuator by, for example, adhesion. A drive shaft 130 is fixed on the other end of the piezoelectric element 120 by, for example, adhesion. A movable member 140 is in frictional contact with the drive shaft 130. A detection member 150, which constitutes a fixed electrode used to detect the position of the movable member 140 based on capacitance, extends parallel to the moving direction of the movable member 140 while being kept away from the movable member 140. The detection member 150 is fixed on the frame 110. The drive shaft 130, the movable member 140 and the detection member 150 are made of electrically conductive materials. The detection member 150 has projections and depressions that are arranged at regular intervals along the moving direction of the movable member 140 on its surface facing to the movable member 140 to constitute an electrode 151. The electrode 151 and the movable member 140 constitute a capacitor with a gap D therebetween.
When assembling the above described inertial drive actuator 100, the drive shaft 130 and the detection member 150 are required to be assembled in such a way that the spacing and degree of parallelization therebetween is kept within an allowable range. This is because variations in the gap (i.e. spatial variations and changes with time) between the electrodes that constitute a capacitor can deteriorate the detection accuracy in the position detection utilizing capacitance.
In the above described inertial drive actuator 100, however, since the drive shaft 130 and the detection member 150 are provided as separate members, it is difficult to arrange them with good accuracy in terms of the above described spacing and parallelization while paying attention to their axes. Thus, such requirements have been factors that deteriorate efficiency in assembling.


Several methods for retrospective correction of intensity inhomogeneities in digital diagnostic radiation images are presented. The methods are based on the correction of a digital image representation by means of a bias field. The bias field is deduced from the digital image representation of the diagnostic radiation image.

Digital radiography offers the possibility for computer aided diagnosis and quantitative analysis using image processing techniques such as segmentation, classification and contrast enhancement. However, computer-based image interpretation may be hindered by the presence of the non-uniformities in radiation exposure that are inherent to the image formation.
In the field of X-ray exposure these non-uniformities can be largely attributed to the Heel effect, nevertheless other sources of inhomogeneities exist such as recording member non-uniformities or read-out inhomogeneities.
Although the intensity inhomogeneities induced by all these factors are smoothly varying as a function of location and are easily corrected by the human visual perception system, they complicate the use of automatic processing techniques because the relative brightness of an object within the image becomes position dependent. The overall intensity range is unnecessarily enlarged by the presence of these slowly varying shading components and hence the dynamic range available to represent diagnostic signal details is reduced.
A typical hand radiograph is shown in FIG. 1. The background at the left side of the image is clearly brighter than at the right side. This phenomenon can be attributed to the so-called Heel effect. Because beam collimator blades substantially attenuate the X-ray beam so as to shield irrelevant body parts, the phenomenon is only visible in the direct exposure and diagnostic areas and not in the collimation area. The Heel effect can be understood from the construction of the X-ray tube as schematically depicted in FIG. 2. Electrons originating from the cathode are attracted by the positively charged anode. For better heat dissipation, the anode rotates and is inclined by a small anode angle θ, which enlarges the area Aactual that is bombarded by electrons while keeping the size of the focal Aeff, from, which rays are projected downward to the object, fairly small. As shown in the diagram of FIG. 3, this design makes the length of the path travelled by the X-rays through the anode larger on the anode side of the field Ta than on the cathode side Tc. Hence the incident X-ray intensity is smaller at the anode side than at the cathode side of the recording device, which explains the inhomogeneity of the background in FIG. 1.
The Heel effect is one possible cause of Intensity inhomogeneities that can be introduced in radiographs. As has already been mentioned higher, other causes of non-uniformities might be envisioned such as non-uniform sensitivity of the recording member, e.g. a photographic film, a photostimulable phosphor screen, a needle phosphor screen a direct radiography detector or the like. Still another cause might be non-uniformities of the read-out system which is used for reading an image that has been stored in a recording member of the kind described above.
Because the image acquisition parameters that affect intensity inhomogeneity vary from image to image (e.g. variable positioning of the recording device relative to the X-ray source) and can not be recovered from the acquired image at read-out, correction methods based on calibration images or flat field exposure such as the one described in EP-A-823 691 are not feasible.
The method disclosed in EP-A-823 691 comprises the steps of (1) exposing an object to radiation emitted by a source of radiation, (2) recording a radiation image of said object, on a radiation-sensitive recording member, (3) reading the image that has been stored in said recording member and converting the read image into a digital image representation, (4) generating a set of correction data and (5) correcting said digital image representation by means of said set of correction data. The set of correction data is deduced from data corresponding with a uniform, flat field exposure of the recording member. The set of correction values represent the deviation of the value that is effectively obtained in a pixel of the recording member and a value that would be expected in the case of flat field exposure. These correction values associated with each recording member are normally determined once and kept fixed during further acquisition cycles.
This type of methods is not applicable for solving problems such as the introduction of inhomogeneities due to the Heel effect.

Retrospective correction of inhomogeneities in radiographs


Embodiments of the present invention are directed to storage systems for milk bags. A storage system for milk bags receives milk bags and management of the stored milk bags. The milk bags are stored in compartments for easy storage and retrieval.

Breast milk can be frozen up to many months before it is used. Breast milk can be stored in milk bags. FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary milk bag 100. A milk bag 100 is similar to a Ziploc® bag, in which it has a fastener 105 to close the milk bag 100 and to separate a tag 110 from the storage or bag area 115. Milk is contained in the storage area 115. Typically, the tag 110 allows for information to be written onto, such as name, date and amount of milk is in the milk bag.
In FIG. 1, the milk bag 100 has dimensions A and B as shown. Typically, the width of the milk bag 100 at the bottom is bigger than the width of the milk bag 100 at the top, so that the milk bag 100 can be positioned vertically in the freezer. One problem with positioning the milk bag 100 vertically is that it takes up too much room in the freezer or has a tendency to fall over. As such, to save space in the freezer, the milk bag 100 can be positioned horizontally. By positioning the milk bag 100 horizontally, the milk bag 100 can therefore be stacked on top of and/or below other milk bags. However, a problem with stacked milk bags is that they can become "stuck" because of frost. Another problem with stacked milk bags is that the top milk bag may slide off a bottom one; the frozen milk bag would have a deformed or awkward shape because of the way the milk bag slid off and landed prior to it being frozen. In addition, a frozen milk bag can have a shape that is off because of grates or other objects in the freezer. As parents, guardians, and caregivers know, frozen milk bags must be handled with care because the edges are delicate and can rupture if not handled with care; when defrosting the milk, the milk will become wasted as it will drip out of the punctured bag. Another problem with stacked milk bags is that it is difficult to retrieve a milk bag with the earliest date since it would be at a bottom of the stack and/or towards the back of the freezer. The desire is to use old milk first to avoid wasting such precious food since it has a suggested expiratory lifetime.
The present invention addresses these limitations in the prior art.


A method and apparatus are provided for making admission decisions in a packet switched network, such as a Differentiated Services (DiffServ) Packet Network. According to one aspect of the present invention, admission control decisions are based upon local information. An average premium service bandwidth utilized on an output link of a network device during a predetermined window of time is calculated. A determination regarding whether to accept or reject a request for a premium service flow involving the output link is made based upon the request, a total premium service bandwidth available on the output link, the average premium service bandwidth, and bandwidth request information associated with one or more flows that have been admitted within a predetermined holding time interval. According to another aspect of the present invention, multicast flows are supported. A measure of utilized premium service bandwidth is calculated for each of the output links of a multicast-capable network device. A request for premium service bandwidth for a multicast session is forwarded onto those of the output links specified by a multicast routing protocol which have sufficient premium service bandwidth available to accommodate the request based upon the total premium service bandwidth available on the output link, the measure of utilized premium service bandwidth on the output link, and the request. For each of the output links associated with the multicast session, a link state is maintained. The link state indicates the current state of a state machine that determines the behavior of the multicast-capable network device for the corresponding output link of the multicast session. Multicast packets that are subsequently received are forwarded according to the link states associated with the output links.

Contained herein is material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent disclosure by any person as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise deserves all rights to the copyright whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of computer networking devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing admission control and network Quality of Service (QoS).
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet and Enterprise networks, such as Intranets and Extranets, are expected to support diverse types of traffic including voice, file transfer data, interactive multimedia, real-time video, and rich graphic images. Additionally, despite exponential growth in the number of Internet users and the corresponding increase in demand for network bandwidth, expectations about the quality and timely presentation of information received from networks are higher than ever.
It has long been recognized that increased network speed and bandwidth alone will not satisfy the high demands of today""s networks. Rather, distinguished qualities of service for various applications need to be provided. The Integrated Services (IntServ) architecture and Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) were developed to foster growth of Quality of Service (QoS) enabled networks. RSVP is an Internet Protocol- (IP) based protocol that allows applications running on end-stations, such as desktop computers, to communicate per-flow requirements by signaling the network.
Referring now to FIG. 1, an RSVP resource reservation setup for a data flow is briefly described. For further information on IntServ and RSVP see Braden, R., Clark, D. and Shenker, S., xe2x80x9cIntegrated Services in the Internet Architecture: an Overviewxe2x80x9d, Internet RFC 1633, June 1994 and Braden, R., Zhang, L., Berson, S., Herzog, S. and Jamin, S., xe2x80x9cResource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) Version 1 Functional Specificationxe2x80x9d, RFC 2205, Proposed Standard, September 1997, respectively. In this example, an IntServ network cloud 100 includes core devices 121-125, an ingress edge device 150, and an egress edge device 160. The source of a data stream, such as sender 130, transmits a Path message downstream toward potential recipients of the data stream. The Path message causes path state information, such as information regarding the reverse path to the sender 130, to be stored in each node along the way. Subsequently, end-stations that are interested in receiving the data stream may request a specific QoS for the data stream. In this example, receiver 140 initiates resource reservation setup by communicating its requirements to an adjacent router, e.g., edge device 160. The receiver""s requirements are communicated by transmitting a reservation request (Resv) message upstream toward sender 130. The receiver""s requirements, e.g., desired QoS and a description of the data flow, are passed back to all intervening routers, e.g., core devices 121, 123, and 124, between the receiver 140 and the sender 130 and finally to the sender 130 itself. The Resv message causes each of the core devices 121, 123, and 124 along the path the data packets to create and maintain reservation state information. In this example, the reservation state information and the path state information are together referred to as flow state information 180. Flow state information 180 is stored in each core device on the path between the sender 130 and the receiver 140. RSVP""s reliance on per-flow state information and per-flow processing raises scalability concerns in large networks. As a result, only a small number of hosts actually generate RSVP signaling.
The scalability concerns raised by the combination of RSVP and IntServ led to the development of the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) Architecture. DiffServ allows distinct levels of network service to be provided to different traffic. However, rather than storing per-flow state information on each intermediate node in the network between the sender and the receiver(s), routers within a DiffServ network handle packets on different traffic flows by applying different per-hop behaviors (PHBs) based upon the setting of bits in the TOS field of each packet""s IP header. In this manner, many traffic flows may be aggregated into one of a small number of predefined PHBs, thereby allowing a reduction in the amount of processing and storage associated with packet classification and forwarding. While solving the scalability issues raised by the RSVP/IntServ combination, DiffServ fails to provide adequate guidance with regard to implementation of an admission control policy.
An allocation method suggested by the DiffServ framework will now briefly be described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B. One approach for performing admission control suggested by the DiffServ framework involves using a centralized bandwidth broker 210. The centralized bandwidth broker 210 has control over the entire domain and centrally handles bandwidth allocation requests. In this example, a DiffServ network cloud 200 includes core devices 221-225, an ingress edge device 250, and an egress edge device 260. A sender 230 wishing to establish a particular level of service for a data flow between it and a receiver 240 transmits an indication of its requirements to the ingress edge device 250. The ingress edge device 250 communicates the requirements to the centralized bandwidth broker 210. The centralized bandwidth broker 210 validates the request against policies, compares the request against the current allocation of bandwidth for accepted traffic, and configures the edge devices 250 and 260 with information needed to mark and shape (or police) incoming packets for the flow. Subsequently, as packets that are part of the established data flow traverse the DiffServ network cloud 200, the intermediate core devices 221-225 apply a PHB that corresponds to the DiffServ service level indicated in the packet header.
While conceptually simple, the implementation of a useful centralized bandwidth broker may be very complex. In addition, the practicality of a centralized bandwidth broker is questionable at best. For example, a centralized bandwidth broker has limited capability to handle bandwidth requests for multicast sessions. Also, one obstacle in implementing a centralized bandwidth broker is supplying complete information to the centralized bandwidth broker regarding the network topology and information regarding current allocation of bandwidth for individual paths traversing the network. In order to avoid the complexity of such a full-topology scheme, the centralized bandwidth broker 210 may conceptually view the DiffServ network cloud 200 as having a logical bottleneck equal to the weakest link 270 in the domain for any ingress/egress edge device pair. For example, because the centralized bandwidth broker 210 may not have knowledge of the network topology, it may simply condense the network topology of its entire domain of authority into a single imaginary logical link 280 that has a capacity equivalent to the weakest link 270 in the domain. A network manager may manually configure the centralized bandwidth broker 210 with this information, for example. As a result of this simplification, the network topology of FIG. 2A will be condensed to the single imaginary logical link 280 shown in FIG. 2B. While this simplification reduces the centralized bandwidth broker""s admission control decision to a comparison of the new request against the current allocation of bandwidth for the imaginary logical link 280, one limitation of this scheme is that it can result in a network that is over provisioned or under utilized.
In light of the foregoing, what is needed is a more intelligent mechanism for implementing admission control policy in a DiffServ network. In particular, it is desirable to increase the bandwidth utilization for premium service beyond that provided by the weakest link.
A method and apparatus are described for making admission decisions in a packet switched network. According to one aspect of the present invention, admission control decisions are based upon local information. An average premium service bandwidth utilized on an output link of a network device during a predetermined window of time is calculated. A determination regarding whether to accept or reject a request for a premium service flow involving the output link is made based upon the request, a total premium service bandwidth available on the output link, the average premium service bandwidth, and bandwidth request information associated with one or more flows that have been admitted within a predetermined holding time interval.
According to another aspect of the present invention, multicast flows are supported. A measure of utilized premium service bandwidth is calculated for each of the output links of a multicast-capable network device. A request for premium service bandwidth for a multicast session is forwarded onto those of the output links specified by a multicast routing protocol which have sufficient premium service bandwidth available to accommodate the request based upon the total premium service bandwidth available on the output link, the measure of utilized premium service bandwidth on the output link, and the request. For each output link associated with the multicast session, a link state is maintained. The link state indicates the current state of a state machine that determines the behavior of the multicast-capable network device for the corresponding output link of the multicast session. Multicast packets that are subsequently received are forwarded according to the link states associated with the output links.
Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.

Providing admission control and network quality of service with a distributed bandwidth broker


The present invention provides a method of driving a gas discharge display apparatus for displaying gray-scale display levels finer than those achieved by the conventional methods, and also to provide a gas discharge display apparatus with a driver capable of performing such a driving method. An opposed discharge between the sustaining electrode and the address electrode in addition to the conventional surface discharge is generated for the light emission from the fluorescent material in light emitting tubes. The method and the apparatus effect improvements in finer gray-scale display levels than those by the conventional methods.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of driving a gas discharge display apparatus and the apparatus. The gas discharge display apparatus comprises a plurality of light-emitting tubes which are aligned and adhered to sheets having electrodes thereon, where each of the tubes forms a discharge space and includes a discharge gas and fluorescent material therein. The invention more particularly relates to the method of driving the apparatus which applies a voltage between a displaying electrode and an address electrode, both of which are orthogonally opposed each other via the discharge space, for making the fluorescent material emit light, and the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display apparatus using gas discharge tubes, as one of the gas discharge display apparatus, is disclosed in the Japanese publication of unexamined application 2003-203603. The gas discharge tube has the structure in which a fluorescent material and a discharge gas are disposed or confined in a grass tube of a small diameter, and then a plurality of the tubes are aligned to form a display panel. Therefore, the large size display with the tubes has characterized in less process for assembling the display, smaller weight, and easiness for assembling for various sizes of screen.
In the display apparatus described above, a triple-electrode surface-discharge structure is adopted. That is, a plurality of the pairs of display electrodes are formed on an inner surface of a front substrate in such a direction as to be orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the gas discharge tube at every scanning line of matrix display, for yielding a discharge in the tube. A plurality of address electrodes are provided on an inner surface of a rear substrate so as to intersect orthogonally to the display electrode pairs.
In the display apparatus described above using the gas discharge tubes, the pair of the display electrodes and the address electrode define the light-emitting region (also referred to as a cell hereinafter) from which light is emitted. Since the intensity of the light is defined the single discharge between the pair of display electrodes (also the discharge between the sustaining electrodes is referred to as sustaining discharge, and the display electrode also is referred to as the sustaining electrode), the intensity of light emitted from the fluorescent materiel in the cell is fixed. Since the intensity of light caused by single discharge is fixed, the method to perform the gray-scale display is explained with FIG. 1 which shows the structure of one field in display. In the case of displaying an image with 256-level gray-scale, for example, a screen (one field) is composed of several fields 600, and the field 600 is divided into eight subfields sf. Each subfield is composed of a reset period, an address period, and a sustaining period. The reset period is a period for erasing the wall charge for exerting the charge state in each of cells to the same state to avoid the effect of lighting in the previous sustaining period. The address period is a period for selecting a cell to be lit by addressing discharge (also referred to as an opposed discharge) between an address electrode and one of the pair of display electrodes corresponding to the cell, then the charge is accumulated at a portion of the tube close to the display electrode served in the opposed discharge. And for a gray-scale display, the ratio of the number of discharges between a pair of display electrodes for lighting during a sustaining period in each subfield is set as 1:2:4:8:16:32:64:128 so as to realize the relative ratio of brightness as 1:2:4:8:16:32:84:128. That is, the each subfield is a period in which an image of a gray-scale level is displayed.
FIG. 2 shows details of the sustaining period shown in FIG. 1. The waveforms of pulses applied to the sustaining electrodes X and Y shown in FIG. 2 are conventionally used during the sustaining period. The waves shows example of waveforms of voltage applied to the address electrode A, the sustaining electrodes X or Y, respectively, where the sustaining electrodes X and Y compose a pair of display electrode. At the timing the pulse 660 being applied to the sustaining electrode X, the positive wall charge has been accumulated on the dielectric member, such as the grace glass of tube, close to the sustaining electrode X, while the negative wall charge has been accumulated on the dielectric member close to the sustaining electrode Y. Then the actual applied voltage on the sustaining electrode X is sum of voltage by the pulse 660 and the wall charge close to the electrode X when the pulse 660 is applied to the sustaining electrode X, while the actual voltage of the sustaining electrode Y is negative because of negative wall charge close to the sustaining electrode Y. Therefore, a voltage higher than the value of the pulse 660 is applied between the sustaining electrodes X and Y, and then the sustaining discharge is initiated between them. After this sustaining discharge, the negative wall charge is accumulated on the portion close to the sustaining electrode X and positive wall charge is accumulated on the portion close to the sustaining electrode Y. And then when the pulse 670 is applied to the sustaining electrode Y, the sustaining discharge is generated between the sustaining electrodes X and Y. Thus at each when time pulses 662, 672, 664, 674, 666, 676 are alternatively applied to the respective sustaining electrodes X or Y, the sustaining discharge is generated. The discharge generates the ultraviolet rays which make the fluorescent material glow in turn. As described above, the gas discharge display apparatus of the triple-electrode surface-discharge type performs a gray scale display with varying the number of sustaining discharges between the pair of display electrodes. However, the brightness to be displayed is limited to integral multiple of a brightness caused by single sustaining discharge. Therefore the conventional gas discharge display apparatus can perform the gray-scale display which is limited within the integral multiple of the gray-scale display level corresponding to the brightness caused by the single sustaining discharge. That is, the realization of a continuously smooth gray-scale display level is difficult for the conventional gas discharge display apparatus.

Gas discharge display method using both surface and opposing discharges separately to emit light in the sustain period


The disclosed technology executes a next operation in a set of associated application windows. A first application window and a second application window are added to the set. A first context is generated from content from the first application window. A selection of the content is detected from first application window. The first context is communicated as input to the second application window, responsive to detecting the selection. The next operation in the second application window is executed using the first context as input to the next operation, responsive to communicating the first context.

Many user workflows involve multiple applications in multiple application windows and communicating content among them, typically using cut-n-paste or drag-and-drop functionality. For example, a user can select and copy content from one application window, switch to another application window, and paste the copied content in the other application window. More recently, share functionality allows a user to select a "share" control in one application window to open another application window based on the first application window's content. For example, a user can open a webpage in a browser window and select a share control to share the webpage with another user via a mail application. The sharing functionality may, for example, add the content of the webpage and/or a link to the webpage to a new mail item in the mail application window. These functionalities, however, remains fairly manual and provides no applied intelligence about the user's current workflow and the semantic elements of the content or related content.


The present disclosure relates to a mounting assembly and a mounting kit comprising such a mounting assembly for a base station antenna, wherein the mounting assembly has first and second connection parts, an effective length therebetween is related to the mechanical tilt of the base station antenna, and the effective length is continuously adjustable. The mounting assembly comprises a connecting rod mechanism having a first pair of connecting rods, a second pair of connecting rods, and a threaded connection device, wherein the threaded connection device connects two relatively movable hinged connection parts, the distance between the two hinged connection parts can be continuously adjusted by screwing the threaded connection device, so that the effective length can be continuously adjusted to realize continuous adjustment of the mechanical tilt of the base station antenna.

In a radio communication system, the transmission and reception of signals can be realized by base station antennas. The position of the base station antenna is important for radio communication network, which will affect the coverage of the base station antenna. Therefore, in the process of installing and using the base station antenna, the position of the base station antenna may need to be adjusted accordingly, so that the coverage area of the base station antenna can meet the requirements. In some cases, it is expected that the position of the base station antenna, such as the mechanical tilt, can be adjusted during use.
Typically, the antenna mounting device can comprise an upper mounting assembly and a lower mounting assembly, wherein the lower mounting assembly can provide a pivot point for the base station antenna, and the upper mounting assembly can have an adjustable effective length, so that the mechanical tilt of the base station antenna can be adjusted by adjusting this effective length. Typically, the effective length of the upper mounting assembly can be discretely adjusted, and thus the base station antenna can have a limited number of selectable mechanical tilts.

Mounting assemblies and mounting kit for base station antennas


A method for configuring an audio mixer in an audio interface for a speech recognition application in a computer system in accordance with an inventive arrangement comprises the steps of: (a) displaying at least one graphical user interface for selecting an audio input and output device from a plurality of audio input and output devices compatible with the speech recognition application, including: a headset with a microphone and an earpiece speaker; a microphone not forming part of a headset; at least one external speaker connected to the computer system; at least one internal speaker connected to the computer system; and, different combinations of the input and output audio devices; (b) selecting and adjusting microphone inputs of the mixer in accordance with an audio input device selected in step (a); and, (c) deselecting audio inputs and outputs of the audio mixer in accordance with the audio input device and an audio output device selected in step (a), whereby unneeded audio inputs and outputs of the mixer can not interfere with microphone operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of configuring microphones and audio systems in computer systems, and in particular, to a method and graphical user interface for configuring one or more microphones, one or more speakers, one or more sound cards and one or more audio mixers for use with a speech recognition application.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of microphones in connection with personal computers has increased in popularity due to the advent of inexpensive multimedia computers and sophisticated applications like collaboration on the Internet, telephony and speech recognition.
Proper microphone connection and audio settings are among the most important elements in achieving required performance from the audio components of a computer, especially for speech recognition. Tools that help unskilled users properly configure and adjust their microphone and audio settings are important differentiators for these types of applications.

Configuring an audio mixer in an audio interface

International Business Machines Corporation


The present disclosure relates to an electronic device and a method for a wireless communication system. The electronic device for a wireless communication system comprises a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to perform terminal device grouping with respect to data transmissions on the basis of terminal device information, a plurality of data flows of terminal devices within a single group multiplexing resources by means of mode domain multiple access. The processing circuit is further configured to perform at least one of terminal device regrouping, intra group resource redistribution, and data detection scheme updating on the basis of detection information of data transmission, the data detection scheme being used for decoding received data on the basis of a serial detection algorithm.

With large-scale application of wireless communication technologies and rapid development of wireless communication services, there exists an increasing requirement for throughput and peak rate of wireless communication systems, in order to meet evolving user demands. In order to improve spectrum efficiency of a wireless communication system and increase a number of terminal devices having access to the wireless communication system, various new types of multiple access methods have been proposed. Among the new multiple access methods, one is Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) technology. In SCMA, data for one or more terminal devices are mapped to constellation and spread in code domain, making binary symbols mapped to codewords in a multi-dimensional sparse codebook, such that the data for the one or more terminal devices can be transmitted in same time-frequency resources; accordingly, data received at a receiving end which are superimposed in the same time-frequency resources are detected by using a detection algorithm, such that data for respective terminal devices are separated. Among the new multiple access methods, one is Pattern Division Multiple Access (PDMA) technology. In PDMA, data for one or more terminal devices are mapped to resource groups through patterns, such that the data for the one or more terminal devices can be transmitted in the same resource group; accordingly, data received at a receiving end which are superimposed in the same resource group are detected by using a detection algorithm, such that data for respective terminal devices are separated.

Electronic device and method for wireless communication system