A method for contaminant and water removal from crude oil. The method involves recirculating at least a portion of the dewatered crude into a dehydrator. The dehydrator contains a heated dehydrated crude oil and the surface or adjacent thereto is maintained at a temperature sufficient to vaporize any water contacting the surface from crude oil to be treated in the dehydrator. It has been found important to maintain a substantially uniform temperature at or below the vaporizing surface in order to effectively treat crude oil for dewatering purposes. Significant temperature fluctuations are typically realized by dehydrators since heat enthalpy is removed in order to vaporize the water in the crude oil. Such fluctuations lead to process complications and upset and are therefore undesirable. The instant invention recognizes this limitation and substantially reduces foaming and provides for a smoothly running and efficient dehydration process.

Throughout many regions of the world, heavy oil, a hydrocarbon material having much higher viscosity or lower API gravity (less than 20° API, typically 7° to 12° API) than conventional petroleum crude, is being economically recovered for commercial sale. During the recovery process and prior to the transport to refineries for upgrading, the heavy oil receives preliminary treatment for water and solids removal to generally achieve basic sediment and water (BS & W) content less than 0.5% by volume and chloride content less than 30 ppm (wt), more recently, the chloride content has been decreased to less than 10 ppm. Water content of the treated heavy oil typically is required to be 0.3% by volume or less.
Conventional crude oil treatment methods were proven to be ineffective with respect to heavy oil until the advent of the technology set forth in U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 33,999, Clare et al., reissued Jul. 21, 1992 and Canadian Patent 1,302,937, Clare et al., reissued on Jun. 9, 1992. These patents describe a simple apparatus which can be located in remote oil producing areas for dehydrating heavy oil with low risk of foaming and unstable operating, while continuously achieving dry oil which exceeds requisite specifications. These dehydrators were found to be restricted to feed oil water content of less than 5% water cuts and susceptible to foaming and process instability during high water feed rates. Throughout the operation of several of these dehydrators known from practicing the technology in Pat. Re No. 33,999 and U.S. Pat. No. 1,302,937, areas for improvement were discovered to overcome the limitations of feed oil water content and unstable operation caused by pretreatment upsets.
Further refinements in the crude oil processing were developed by Kresnyak and Shaw in U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,123, issued Apr. 16, 2002.
In the dehydration of crude, significant fluctuations in the temperature in the dehydrator can be experienced since heat enthalpy is continuously removed in order to vaporize the water in the crude oil. Kresnyak and Shaw recognized that this heat enthalpy needed to be restored in order to stabilize the temperature within the dehydrator and more particularly, the temperature of the heated dehydrated crude oil within the dehydrator. By recirculating at least a portion of the dehydrated crude and contacting this with the source of crude oil immediately below the vaporizing surface in the dehydrator, a substantially uniform temperature of the vaporizing surface in the dehydrator was realized. Accompanying advantages were immediately realized in terms of reduced foaming within the dehydrator and less process impediments.
Further, additional problems have been experienced in dehydration techniques in that although dehydrated heavy oil is achieved, high concentrations of suspended solids, such as clay and silica and dissolved compounds such as chlorides remain in the treated oil. These undesirable compounds continue to create many problems in pipeline transportation systems and refinery facilities to the extent that they depreciate the commercial valve of heavy oil.
It has been found in field applications that mineral salts, silica, clay inter alia that remain in the dehydrated crude promote corrosion cracking in stainless steel components and induce scale accretion and/or fouling of surfaces critical to efficient and consistent operation of the apparatus in the refiner and pipeline systems. Generally speaking, the salt crystals mix with the oil and coalescence results to form larger crystals which can pass through the refinery desalination equipment.
In view of the fact that the dehydration process is a water removal system for the crude oil, it then follows that mineral concentration is a distinct drawback. Advances have been made in respect of this limitation and in particular, dehydrators have been modified to include a demineralization/solid removal unit operation to avoid any concentration of the latter within the treatment circuit.
Having set forth the background of the dehydration technology, one of the remaining process limitations that was discovered relates to the use of diluent in the system. Unfortunately, within the processes and particularly the first generation dehydration technology, a significant amount of diluent was required. Typically, 20% to 50% by volume diluent was required in order to effect the first generation processes. Clearly, this has significant impact on the available volume within the pipeline and as a natural consequence, pipelines either had to be 50% larger in order to have the same efficiency in the absence of the diluent or, the process was inherently 20% to 50% less efficient. Although a detriment, first generation systems had inherent advantages such as good separation and operated at significantly cooler temperatures.
In flash treatment systems subsequently developed, the process produced dry oil, did not involve the extensive use of many pieces of equipment to handle different unit operations and therefore was more affordable and more importantly, did not require any diluent. Despite the significant advantages, flash treatment systems were not equipped to handle chloride problems as indicated above.
It would be advantageous if methodology could be developed which unifies all of the positive attributes of first generation processes with flash treatment process without the disadvantages and in particular, without the requirement for a diluent make up. The present invention is directed to a union of all of the positive attributes of existing systems and conveniently provides for high diluent recycle.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide advances to overcome the limitations encountered by the previous art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of removing water and contaminants from crude oil containing same


A production equipment monitoring device comprises a display panel providing a touch switch function, a touch switch display controller displaying on the display panel a touch switch corresponding to a general segmentary operating process, an operating status display controller distinguishably displaying thereon an operating status of the touch switch corresponding to the general segmentary operating process presently executed, a detail process information memory memorizing a name of a detail operating process and an address of the programmable logic controller to be referred thereto when judging an actual status of the detail operating process, and a detail information display controller displaying thereon, when the touch switch is pressed, the name of the detail operating process included in the general segmentary operating process corresponding to the pressed touch switch, and the actual status of the detail operating process obtained by the address of the programmable logic controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device for displaying operating status of an industry machine used as production equipment, preferably, a machine tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a machine tool, a display control panel is used therein to display an operator operating status data representing operating status of the machine tool by reading out from a PLC for controlling the machine tool. The display control panel is provided with a display device.
In the display device of the above-mentioned control panel, there is used a CRT display or a LCD panel generally on which clear touch panel is superimposingly therewith arranged so as to be operable of touch input from an operator. A displayed screen is changed by this touch operation of the operator, and operating command to a control device can be performed. Contents of the operating status data are represented by displayed status of plural touch switches displayed on a predetermined section of the display device. Generally, contents of the operating status data representing execution status of operating process and operating status of the machine are displayed as touch switched. An example of thus control panel is described in Japanese Patent Application No. H8(1996)-107631.
Besides, the operating status data in this specification represents input data from various sensors installed in the production equipment, output data to actuators for operating the production equipment, input/output data with other control device controlling the machine tool, or data that is memorized into an internal memory of the PLC and is executed by sequence program based upon the aforementioned data.
Thus control panel is used as a operating monitor of the machine tool and is also used for searching causation of abnormal data when generated. In the causation that the machine tool does not operate normally, one is a device error that the device does not work with a breakdown. The other is a silent abnormal stop that the operating process is stopped when the condition for advancing the operating processes is not satisfied. In the silent abnormal stop, the causation is of that it is not recognized by an operating error of a limit switch whether a workpiece is transferred in from the production equipment in former process, and is of that a clamping operation is not completed formally at a clamping position of a workpiece by positioning error of the workpiece.
In a case of the device error, generated portion and causation of the operating error can be directly judged by such an error code, an LED representing an error status, and an error message displayed on the displayed screen of the control panel, etc. On the other hand, the operating error in the silent abnormal stop is noticed to the operator when a monitoring device of the production line detects a long-time stop of the machine. However, it is difficult to directly obtain error information for specifying causation of the operating error differently from the device error. In this situation, the operator presumes the causation of the operating error from the displayed status of the touch switch on the control panel. Further, the causation of the operating error is surveyed by an auxiliary device having compiling and monitoring function of the sequence program, if necessary.
However, problems described hereinbelow occurs when a surveillance of the causation in the silent abnormal stop is carried out by the method described above. Namely, it can be facilitated to judge which operating process in the production equipment is stopped due to the displayed status of the touch switch. Reversely, it cannot be judge how that operating process with the silent abnormal stop stops from the displayed status of the touch switch. If the operating process of the machine tool stops in a case that the displayed status of the touch switch represents "FIXTURE CLAMP" of the present operating process, it can be understood that the operating error occurs in "FIXTURE CLAMP" of the operating process, for example. There are however plural conditions for occurring the operating stop in "FIXTURE CLAMP" of the operating process, so that it cannot recognized which condition causes the operating error.
In this situation, it may be required to use the auxiliary device having the compiling and monitoring function of the sequence program. But, it is requested to bring the auxiliary device to the side of the production equipment (i.e., the control panel) for connecting the same therewith, and to supply the electric power thereto by wiring. It is further requested to wire the auxiliary device with the PLC for communication in order to transfer the sequence program stored therein to the auxiliary device. In such a situation, a sequence circuit block is searched to analyze the problematic operating process, and the present value of the related input/output signal is monitored by using the online monitoring function. As a result, the causation of the operating error can be specified. Thus, such a problem occurs that it is excessively time-spent to specify the operating error.


A method of optimally positioning an imaging device comprising the steps of storing a reference image; continuously obtaining an acquired view with the imaging device; determining whether the imaging device is in an optimal position by periodically comparing the acquired image with the reference image; and adjusting the position of the imaging device if the imaging device is not in an optimal position.

Echocardiography is the use of ultrasound in the investigation of the heart and great vessels and diagnosis of cardiovascular lesions, and in transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), the ultrasonic record is obtained from a miniaturized transducer swallowed by a patient to predetermined distances in the esophagus and stomach.
TEE is a popular diagnostic procedure which is being used at ever-increasing numbers of medical centers worldwide. The quality of the image obtained during this procedure is a critical factor in obtaining accurate diagnoses, and the most important factor in obtaining quality images continuously is the positioning of the ultrasound sensor or transducer.
The transducer is typically mounted at the tip of the endoscope which is inserted through the mouth of the patient into the esophagus. This transducer is connected to imaging electronics, which then displays internal images of the patient on a screen.
Positioning systems for endoscope ultrasound probes are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,514 to Solomon et al. discloses a motorized positioning system which provides for automated control of an ultrasound transducer device. In this device, a switch mechanism is manipulated to provide power to actuate a motor which is mechanically coupled to the device. The device may be rotated to any angular position to provide a variety of scan planes for obtaining a plurality of corresponding two-dimensional cross-sectional images.
Methods for guiding medical equipment within the body are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,144 to Wodicka et al. discloses an apparatus and method for acoustically guiding a distal end of a tube within a body. The method utilizes sound pulses reflected from within the body to guide insertion of the tube within the body.
To obtain a desired internal view with the transducer, the technician or clinician adjusts the endoscope while watching the screen. The technician may adjust the endoscope either by altering the depth of its insertion, rotating it, or tilting it until the desired view appears on the screen. The position of the patient is occasionally changed during the course of procedure such as TEE. As a result, the position of the endoscope changes, and this requires the technician to constantly adjust the endoscope to maintain an optimal view of the procedure. Therefore, the technician must constantly monitor the image on the screen in addition to performing other duties in the operating room or in the clinic.
A need therefore exists in the art for a system which will automate or simplify the task of obtaining a desired internal view of the patient and maintaining this view during positional changes of the patient.

Method and system for probe positioning in transesophageal echocardiography


A method for scheduling transmissions to a plurality of users in a communication network determines a satisfaction metric and a dissatisfaction metric for each user in a given timeslot that is to be used for a next scheduled transmission to one of the users. Each user is assigned a weight based on a value of at least one of the user's satisfaction metric, the user's dissatisfaction metric and a rate requested by the user. The use having the highest weight is selected to be served the next scheduled transmission in the given timeslot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to scheduling transmissions in communication systems.
2. Description of Related Art
New technical challenges emerge as telecommunication systems evolve from a second generation system offering pure voice services to a third generation system providing mixed voice and data services. In meeting data service demands, new performance metrics and algorithms need to be defined in order to optimize data performance.
The CDMA 3G-1x Evolution Data Only system (1x-EV-DO, also known as a High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) system) is an evolution system of cdma2000 3G-1x system, and is a pure data system to provide data services to mobile users. In 1x-EV-DO, a scheduler or scheduling function is provided in a base station controller in order to provide fast scheduling or management of system resources based on channel quality feedback from one or more mobiles. In general, a scheduler selects a mobile for transmission at a given time instant, and adaptive modulation and coding allows selection of the appropriate transport format (modulation and coding) for the current channel conditions seen by the mobile.
In second generation wireless communications systems such as those of the IS-95 standard, applications typically employ voice-based communication schemes, in which a connection between the base station and the mobile is a dedicated connection. Since these are essentially fixed connections, there is no need for prioritizing the order of transmission to the active users served by the system (an active user is a user with data to transmit at a current time instant). However, with the emergence of third generation wireless data communications systems, such as CDMA-2000 standard systems and 1x-EV-DO, management of system resources is paramount. This is because properties of data differ significantly from properties of voice. For example, a data transmission, unlike a voice transmission, is not necessarily continuous and may be embodied as a burst transmission or an intermittent-type transmission between a base station and a mobile, for example. Accordingly, a base station in a third-generation system will attempt to manage a large pool of data users by assigning radio resources to each user for transmission. Typically this is done utilizing a prioritization scheme controlled by a scheduler in the base station controller. In a conventional prioritization scheme, idle mobile's are assigned a lower priority than mobile with data to transmit.
Accordingly, the scheduler must be able to manage these large numbers of users without wasting radio resources of the communication system. This management function becomes even more important as a base station attempts to meet QoS (Quality of Service) requirements. QoS is a general term that may represent a number of different requirements. As a basic tenant, QoS is indicative of providing guaranteed performance (e.g., such as a minimum/maximum data network throughput, a minimum delay requirement, a packet loss rate, and a packet download time, etc.) in a wireless communication system.
Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation in wireless data networks allows network operators to generate more revenue than is possible with best-effort scheduling policies. The promise of additional revenue is based on the willingness of end users (subscribers) to pay more for perceptible improvements in service (e.g., lower latency, higher throughput, or more predictable performance). QoS differentiation also enables deployment of new services (e.g., streaming audio/video, packet voice etc.) that cannot be provided with acceptable quality over best-effort scheduling policies or algorithms such as highest rate user first (HRUF)) scheduling, maximum carrier to interference ratio scheduling (Max C/I) and proportional fair (PF) scheduling, etc.
There has been efforts to develop scheduling algorithms for the scheduler in the base station controller to achieve QoS guarantees in wired and wireless networks. Prior efforts have resulted in scheduling techniques such as pure peak picking scheduling (i.e., the aforementioned HRUF or Max C/I)) and proportional fair (PF) scheduling, for example. HRUF maximizes system throughput at the expense of being unfair to users in poor channel conditions. For example, in HRUF scheduling, a user at a significant distance from a serving base station, such as a user that may be located at the edge of a cell, for example, would have significantly lower priority, on average, than a user in close proximity to the base station within the cell. When the variation of the channel is small, this can potentially result in the user at the edge of cell getting almost no service. Similarly, Max C/I assigns priority to users based on the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the user.
The PF algorithm attempts to exploit multi-user diversity while ensuring a certain degree of fairness. In Proportional Fair scheduling, the scheduler keeps track of two values, in particular, for each user: DRC and R. On the downlink of a wireless network, for example, each user will estimate its signal to noise ratio (SNR) for the next timeslot, and on that basis will select a rate for transmission of downlink data from the base station. The selection will typically be the highest available rate consistent with a specified frame error rate, or other such error rate. The transmission rate requested by a given user in a given timeslot is DRC.
The second value, R, is the rate at which a given mobile station (user) has received data from the base station, or other hub, as averaged by an appropriate procedure such as exponentially weighted averaging using a desired time constant. In each timeslot n, the Proportional Fair scheduler will serve that user for which the ratio DRC/R is greatest. Thus, each user tends to receive service in those timeslots where its requested rate is highest—not in an absolute sense, but, rather, highest relative to the average rate (average user throughput) at which that particular user has been receiving data in the recent past. Because that average user throughput rate will be small for underserved users, even a user with a poor channel will eventually be served. That is, the average rates are dynamic quantities, and they will converge toward a condition in which each user is served reasonably often.
Since none of the above algorithms explicitly attempt to satisfy minimum user throughput requirements, use of these algorithms may lead to a high degree of dissatisfaction among users. For example, certain minimum throughputs are required in order to provide certain services such as audio or video streaming; thus scheduling algorithms which do not meet these minimum throughput requirements may not be able to offer such services. Further, the above algorithms do not focus on ways of enforcing maximum user throughput to exploit peaks in channel quality being experienced by users in the network or system. In order to constrain the maximum throughput achieved by a user in a network, most scheduling algorithms, including the HRUF and PF algorithms described above, simply disallow a user from being scheduled once the user reaches a target maximum throughput constraint.

Method for scheduling transmissions in communication systems


A non-geared linear tuning and anchoring system for strings of a stringed musical instrument employing plug-ended strings inserted into the shaft of a string retainer and tensioned by retracting the slidable string retainer within a channel aligned with the strings.

Field of Invention
The subject matter of this disclosure relates to tuning control systems and string anchoring mechanisms for stringed musical instruments. More particularly, the subject matter of this disclosure relates to gearless tuners for easy string installation and tuning of stringed musical instruments.
Description of Related Art
Musical instruments produce sounds. Sound is typically a mechanical wave traveling through a compressible medium at a frequency within the range of human hearing. A hearing-frequency vibrating wave may be produced in air via vibrating a surface. Accordingly, musical instruments have employed vibrating surfaces as a means for producing sound.
Stringed musical instruments produce sound via vibrating the surface of tautly suspended and plucked strings. The quality of the sound produced by a vibrating string depends on the tautness of the string. As a result, strings are usually tautly suspended over a stringed instrument by fixedly mounting a first end of the string to the instrument and adjustably mounting the other end to the instrument so that the tautness and corresponding sound quality of the string may be adjusted. In other words, strings of a string instrument are tuned by tautening or slacking the string via manipulating the adjustable end.
Many systems exist for adjusting the tautness (i.e., tuning) of strings in a stringed instrument. A well-known system involves fixedly securing one end of a string to an anchor while adjustably attaching the other end to a winding mechanism. Usually, the winding mechanism is a peg wherein the peg is rotated to wind the string until the desired tension is imparted across the string against the anchor.
Winding mechanisms, such as a rotatable peg, utilize gear arrangements. Tuning systems with winding means can become less accurate as the gears wear down with use. Additionally, attaching the string to these types of tuning mechanisms can sometimes be tedious and difficult.
In view of the foregoing, gearless tuners have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5.277,095 to Steinberger discloses a tuner for stringed musical instruments wherein one end of a string is anchored to the neck of the instrument while the other end is attached to the tip of a screw that is positioned into a stationary nut receptacle on the soundboard, which soundboard amplifies the vibration of a plucked string. In Steinberger's tuner, unscrewing the screw tautens the string to the proper tension. One disadvantage associated with this gearless tuning mechanism is that the sound produced by the guitar is inhibited due to dampening of the soundboard vibrations via the string being mechanically secured to the soundboard.

Non-geared linear tuning hardware for acoustic guitars and related methods


Choice of what portions of a dialed number are important and what weight they carry in deciding how to route or otherwise treat a call is customized and made contextually dependent via a call-processing arrangement (200) that uses stored definitions of syntax (320, 350) and grammar (400, 410) of the network numbering plan. The syntax definitions are reprogrammable definitions (312) of individual symbol strings and include the string's associated virtual nodepoint index (VNI 334) which indicates the string's influence on call treatment, an indicator (335) of whether digit collection is to continue, an indicator (339) of whether the VNI is to be combined with a VNI resulting from any preceding symbol strings in the dialed number, and an indicator (338) of whether the VNI resulting from this symbol string is to be combined with a VNI of any succeeding symbol strings in the dialed number. The dialed number is parsed (340) to identify therein all included symbol strings, and the definitions of the included symbol strings are used to selectively combine (341) their VNIs to form a resulting VNI that specifies the route or other treatment for the call.

Telephony call-processing arrangements of conventional telephony switching systems implement a fixed hierarchical call-routing structure wherein the initial digits of a dialed (called) number determine selection of a route (e.g., a trunk group) or a set of routes for the call, and where subsequent digits are at best determinative of a route within the initially-selected set of routes.
As an example, consider the telephone number "538-4154". A central office switching system receiving this dialed number from a caller will normally route the call based on the first three digits "538"--over an inter-office trunk group corresponding to the office code "538" if the receiving switching system is not office 538, or over local telephone lines if the receiving office is office 538. In the former case, the receiving office will ignore the extension "4154" in its route selection; in the latter case, the receiving office will use the extension to select one of the local telephone lines. Now prepend a remote area code to that number, say 303, to produce the dialed number "303-538-4154". The receiving office will now typically route the call based on the first six digits "303-538" over an inter-office trunk group corresponding to the number "303-538" if it has such a direct inter-office trunk group available, and will route the call on the first three digits "303" over a tandem-office trunk group otherwise. In the former case, the receiving office will ignore the 4-digit extension "4154" in its route selection; in the latter case, it will ignore the 7-digit number "538-4154". Now prepend an inter-exchange carrier I.D. code to that number, say "10288", to produce the dialed number "10288-303-538-4154". The receiving office will now generally route the call based on the first five digits "10288" over a trunk group leading to the identified inter-exchange carrier, and will ignore the 10-digit number 303-538 -4154 in its route selection.
This hierarchical call-routing structure is designed into conventional call-processing arrangements of known telephony switching systems and is immutable, with few exceptions. For example, it is often possible on a conventional switching system to block all of a caller's calls to numbers having "900" as the area-code digits by routing all such calls to an intercept announcement, irrespective of what other digits, if any, may have been dialed prior to the area code. However, such exceptions are few and are limited in their scope and selectivity.
But what if, for example, it is desired that all toll calls having an inter-exchange carrier I.D. code of 10288 should route via routing pattern preference (a trunk-group specifier) 17; however, all calls to area code 303 should route via routing pattern preference 18, unless the carrier I.D. code 10333 preceded that area code, in which case the call should route via routing pattern preference 19; however, if the dialed number has 303-555-1212 as its last 10 digits then the call should always be routed to the local operator? For clarity, the requirements of this hypothetical are summarized in the following Table A.
TABLE A ______________________________________ ROUTING DIALED NUMBER PATTERN PREFERENCE ______________________________________ 10288-XXX-XXX-XXXX 17 XXXXX-303-XXX-XXXX 18 10333-303-XXX-XXXX 19 XXXXX-303-555-1212 99 ______________________________________ NOTE: X means any digit, but for the defined exceptions
Known switching systems' call-processing arrangements are not able to accommodate such a call-routing structure.
Many switching-system owners (e.g., private-party owners of PBXs, public-network owners of central office switches) find this limitation unsatisfactory. They often desire to be able to choose what is important in a dialed number in deciding how to route the call. But, with the few exceptions alluded-to above, present-day call-processing arrangements do not allow them such choice. At best, such owners are able to fund custom developments, where switching system manufacturers develop for them new call-processing arrangements that have designed into them the individual customer's present route-selection criteria. But such arrangements must be developed separately for each customer's individual criteria, and are generally no more flexible in being able to accommodate future changes to these criteria than are the standard call-processing arrangements.


A manure removal and drying system is used in an agricultural setting. The system includes a static pressure control system for regulating an amount of static pressure in a high pressure area of the agricultural setting, a variable speed loading system for varying a speed of operation of the system based on an amount of manure being removed and dried in the agricultural setting, a moisture sensing control system for detecting moisture from the manure in order to activate or deactivate the system, a selective capacity control system for selectively scaling a distance the manure in the agricultural setting is moved, and a friction reduction system for reducing the buildup of friction within the system caused by the movement of belts.

Operators of poultry or livestock houses, for obvious reasons, have a need to remove manure from the poultry or livestock houses. As a part of that removal, operators have also found it to be very beneficial to dry the manure as it is being removed for a number of reasons, including but not necessarily limited to, ease of handling, ease of storage, reduction in weight which make the dried manure more cost effective in shipping, disease/fly control, ease of field application/blend consistency, and very little nutrient content is lost by drying, such that it creates a more nutrient dense product relative to weight.
Current systems for the removal and drying of manure from poultry or livestock houses present many problems for the animal husbandry industry. For example, in a typical poultry house 22, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a manure removal and drying machine 21 along with a permanently placed wall 28 separate a high pressure area or room 29 from a low pressure area or room 27. The manure removal and drying machine 21 has a plurality of levels of perforated belts or conveyors 24 along which the manure travels as it is dried and removed from the poultry house 22. Air flow (depicted by arrows facing to the left in FIG. 1) into the high pressure room 29 caused by fans (not shown) running within the poultry house 22 causes static pressure to buildup in the high pressure room 29. The manure removal and drying machine 21 of the prior art allows the air flow, forced by the static pressure within the high pressure room 29, to flow into and across the manure removal and drying machine 21, typically at every other level of perforated belt 24. This air flow, however, is then forced to divert either upwardly or downwardly (FIG. 1 illustrates air flow both upwardly and downwardly, although some prior art manure removal and drying machines only allow air flow either upwardly or downwardly), through the perforations in the perforated belts 24, and out of the manure removal and drying machine 21 and into the low pressure room 27.
Such a configuration, however, does not allow for efficient operation of the entire manure removal and drying system as there is an excessive buildup of static pressure in the poultry house 22. The manure removal and drying machine 21 is only designed to allow for a small amount of air and static pressure to move therethrough from the high pressure room 29 to the low pressure room 27, i.e., for minimum ventilation of the poultry house 22. When more fans are running within the poultry house 22, extra static pressure is generated and builds up in the high pressure room 29, but this is static pressure that the manure removal and drying machine 21 does not need, thus resulting in possible inefficient operation of the manure removal and drying machine 21.
Also, typical manure removal and drying systems use a manual stop and start control (full speed or nothing), which requires constant attention from an operator, and causes inconsistent loading of the dryer system.
Further, typical manure removal and drying systems have a plurality of manure belts which are staggered relative to one another in a vertical arrangement. More specifically, material or manure traveling along a first manure belt in a first direction will be dropped onto a second manure belt traveling in a second direction. The manure is then dropped onto a third manure belt traveling in the same direction as the first belt, and then the manure is dropped onto a fourth belt traveling in the same direction as the second belt, and so on and so forth for as many manure belts are provided in the manure removal and drying system. Such a configuration wastes time and energy, however, as the entire operating capacity of the manure and removal drying system is not needed when the amount of manure is minimal. Furthermore, when maintenance is required on one or more of the conveyor belts, the entire system must be shut down in order to perform the maintenance.
Also, the belts 24 of the manure removal and drying machine and system are typically supported by a fixed member, such as a support tube or any other structural and/or functional equivalent thereof. Because these members are fixed, a large amount of friction is generated by the belts 24 moving over the fixed members, thus limiting the length at which the belts 24 can operate. Currently, it is believed that most belts 24 in manure removal and drying machines/systems are limited to a length of approximately 260 feet. It would be desirable to increase the length of the belts 24 for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to, the possible removal of levels of belts 24 in the manure removal and drying machine 21 and the ability to lengthen the drying time of the manure within the manure removal and drying machine 21.
These and other drawbacks are solved by the present invention.


The invention relates to a sensor device for monitoring accelerations to which an object is subjected. In order to detect whether a value has exceeded or is below a threshold for the acceleration to which objects have been subjected in the past, i.e. without having visual contact with the sensor, the inventive sensor device includes an acceleration sensor, which is permanently linked to the object to be monitored, so that a relative movement between the acceleration sensor and the object is prevented, and an RFID transceiver for non-contact coupling of electrical energy into the acceleration sensor and for sending out radio signals as a function of the physical state of the acceleration sensor.

When goods are dispatched and transported it can be necessary, if these goods are fragile, for them to be protected from shocks. They must therefore be given a special protection during transport and it is important to be able to check at the destination or at particular times whether they have been subjected to too high an acceleration since the beginning of the transport process. Thus freight forwarders must be in a position to check the status of the goods when handing them over or to be able to document this status so that a seamless monitoring of transport is ensured. For this reason it should be possible to check the state of the objects at as many points in the logistics chain as possible without any great effort.
In the prior art simple visual indicators are used for this purpose which remain on the transport object and on which balls visible from outside lie within an indentation. During a sharp acceleration these balls roll out of the indentations and thus document the shock to which the transport objects have been subjected. Alternately glass bodies are used which are attached to the goods for transport. These are irreversibly destroyed if a correspondingly heavy impact has occurred.
The disadvantage of the devices according to the prior art however is that they make a visual check necessary, which causes difficulties especially with goods for transport which are transported within more comprehensive packaging or in a container.


A casting ladle for improving the technique in the pour process of metallurgical molding. The casting ladle includes a bowl portion that has a bottom wall and a peripheral wall. The peripheral wall extends upwardly from a perimeter edge of the bottom wall such that the peripheral wall and the bottom wall define an interior space. The present invention has an open top such that the interior space is adapted for receiving molten metal. A spout outwardly extends from the peripheral wall such that the spout is adapted for controlling pouring of the molten metal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to casting ladles and more particularly pertains to a new casting ladle for improving the technique in the pour process of metallurgical molding.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of casting ladles is known in the prior art. More specifically, casting ladles heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,324,392; 5,011,120; 5,758,714; 4,112,998; 2,650,255; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 280,627.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new casting ladle. The inventive device includes a bowl portion that has a bottom wall and a peripheral wall. The peripheral wall extends upwardly from a perimeter edge of the bottom wall such that the peripheral wall and the bottom wall define an interior space. The present invention has an open top such that the interior space is adapted for receiving molten metal. A spout outwardly extends from the peripheral wall such that the spout is adapted for controlling pouring of the molten metal.
In these respects, the casting ladle according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of improving the technique in the pour process of metallurgical molding.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of casting ladles now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new casting ladle construction wherein the same can be utilized for improving the technique in the pour process of metallurgical molding.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new casting ladle apparatus and method which has many of the advantages of the casting ladles mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new casting ladle which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art casting ladles, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a bowl portion that has a bottom wall and a peripheral wall. The peripheral wall extends upwardly from a perimeter edge of the bottom wall such that the peripheral wall and the bottom wall define an interior space. The present invention has an open top such that the interior space is adapted for receiving molten metal. A spout outwardly extends from the peripheral wall such that the spout is adapted for controlling pouring of the molten metal.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new casting ladle apparatus and method which has many of the advantages of the casting ladles mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new casting ladle which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art casting ladles, either alone or in any combination thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new casting ladle, which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new casting ladle, which is of a durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new casting ladle which is susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such casting ladle economically available to the buying public.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new casting ladle which provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new casting ladle for improving the technique in the pour process of metallurgical molding.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new casting ladle which includes a bowl portion that has a bottom wall and a peripheral wall. The peripheral wall extends upwardly from a perimeter edge of the bottom wall such that the peripheral wall and the bottom wall define an interior space. The present invention has an open top such that the interior space is adapted for receiving molten metal. A spout outwardly extends from the peripheral wall such that the spout is adapted for controlling pouring of the molten metal.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new casting ladle that improves safety for the user in that the present invention eliminates the need for a foundry to fabricate and fit its one handle. The present invention also minimizes the risk of splashes and spills through its unique design.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new casting ladle that reduces the precision with which a ladle is required to be held to achieve slow-fast-slow flow rates. The present invention prevents air entrapment within the mold as well as allowing for optimal flow rate, maintaining porosity and grain size.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.


A semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein A method of manufacturing a semiconductor chip the carrier substrate A semiconductor device includes; a carrier substrate in which a semiconductor chip is mounted; a first land that is mounted on the carrier substrate and placed on a region which is differ from a region for mounting the semiconductor chip, and a basis metal of an junction surface of the first land is exposed; and a second land that is mounted on the carrier substrate and placed on a region which is differ from a region for mounting the semiconductor chip, and a plating layer is deposited on a junction surface of the second land.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-258740, filed Sep. 6, 2004. The entire disclosure of the prior application is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
1. Technical Field
The present invention related to a semiconductor and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor, more particularly to a method for a chip size package (CSP) and a ball grid array (BGA.)
2. Related Arts
Conventionally, a method for using CSP or BGA has been used for downsizing a semiconductor package. In these methods such as CSP and BGA, a semiconductor package is formed by using a carrier substrate on which a semiconductor chip is mounted. Here, a carrier substrate is jointed to a mother-board by using a solder ball or a lead ball, when a carrier substrate, on which a semiconductor chip is mounted, is placed on a mother-board. Then, a land is formed in a carrier substrate and a mother-board, in order to joint a solder ball or a lead ball to a carrier board and a mother-board.
Here, copper is generally used as a material for a land on the substrate 21. Then a basis metal of a land is plated with nickel and gold in order to insure the strength of a ball shear and tolerance to temperature cycle. In recent years, a semiconductor package using CSP and BGA has been mounted on a mobile phone in response to a downsized and sophisticated mobile phone device. Under the situation, in order to improve tolerance to shock when falling a device, a solder ball or a lead ball is directly jointed to a basis metal of copper without nickel- or gold-plating a land.
Further, the Japanese unexamined patent publication 10-340972 discloses a method for forming an tapered end at the opening of a solder resist layer in order to avoid a crack to a solder ball when temperature cycling.
However, when a solder ball or a lead ball is directly jointed to a base of copper, there is problem of deteriorating the shearing strength (horizontal strength), the strength of a ball shear and tolerance to temperature cycle, even if tolerance to shock is improved when falling a device. On the other hand, when gold-plating a land, there is the other problem of deteriorating tolerance to shock when falling a device because of weakness toward peeling off direction of (Cu, Ni)6 Sn5 even if assuring the shearing strength, the strength of a ball shear and tolerance to temperature cycle.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A mechanical quantity measuring device (semiconductor strain sensor) has a semiconductor chip including a plurality of piezoresistive elements formed on a front surface of a semiconductor substrate, a lead wire unit electrically connected to a plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip, and a plate member joined to a rear surface of the semiconductor chip. Further, the plate member includes a first region facing the rear surface of the semiconductor chip and a second region provided adjacent to the first region, and a thickness of the plate member in the first region is made larger than a thickness in the second region.

JP-A-2001-272287 (PTL 1) has disclosed a strain detection sensor in which a sensor chip (strain detection element) is joined to a glass base using low-melting-point glass.
Further, JP-A-2006-266818 (PTL 2) has disclosed, as a pressure sensor device that measures pressure of a fluid such as oil, a pressure sensor device having a structure in which a pressure sensor chip is mounted on a convex part of a metal member with through holes formed therein via a glass base.


A semiconductor chip is sealed by resin without covering an outer terminal of a semiconductor device having a power transistor. A semiconductor chip having a power transistor is housed within a recess of a metal cap while a drain electrode on a first surface of the semiconductor chip is bonded to a bottom of the recess via a connection material. A gate electrode and a source electrode are formed on a second surface opposite to the first surface of the semiconductor chip, and the gate electrode and the source electrode are bonded with metal plate terminals 6G, 6S via connection materials 5b, 5c. In addition, the semiconductor chip is sealed by a resin sealing body with mounting-surfaces of the metal plate terminals 6G, 6S being exposed. Mounting surfaces of the metal plate terminals 6G, 6S and a third part of the metal cap are bonded to electrodes on a mounting board 10 via connection materials 5e, 5f and 5g.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the device, particularly relates to a packaging technique of a semiconductor device having a power transistor.
2. Description of Related Art
A high-power semiconductor device includes a semiconductor device having a semiconductor chip in which a power transistor such as power MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistor), IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor), and bipolar power transistor is formed.
The semiconductor device having such a power transistor is described in, for example, International Patent Application No. W2001/075961 (patent literature 1) which discloses a structure of a semiconductor device having the power MOS FET. The paragraph 0024 and FIG. 21 of the patent literature 1 disclose a configuration in which a drain electrode of a die (semiconductor chip) is connected to a surface of an inner web in a clip by epoxy containing silver, and optimally epoxy having low stress and high adhesive force is coated around an edge of a die in a ring pattern to seal a package and add structural strength to the package.
Moreover, for example, JP-A-2003-51513 (patent literature 2) discloses a configuration in which an electrode of a semiconductor chip having a power MOS FET is connected with a metal strip. The paragraph 0041 and FIG. 5 of the patent literature 2 disclose a configuration in which the metal strip is directly bonded onto an electrode pad of a semiconductor device (semiconductor chip) using ultrasonic energy, and furthermore periphery of the bonded portion between the electrode pad and the metal strip is sealed by moisture-resistant resin having flexibility, moisture resistance and heat resistance.
[Patent literature 1] International Patent Application No. W 2001-075961 (paragraph 0024 and FIG. 20).
[Patent literature 2] JP-A-2003-51513 (paragraph 0012, 0041, FIG. 5 and the like).

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A magnetic resonance device with a cavity and with a basic field magnet and a gradient coil system, with the basic field magnet having a cavity that is bounded by an electrically conductive boundary surface of the basic field magnet and in which the gradient coil system is arranged, containing the following features:                the gradient coil system has at least two structurally separate units with a clearance between them, with each of the units being enclosed by the high-frequency shield;        the high-frequency shield has a short clearance from the boundary surface such that, because of the capacitive coupling between the high-frequency shield and the boundary surface, the high-frequency shield has a high-frequency short circuit to the boundary surface, so that the boundary surface is a surface that is always available for the high-frequency return flow.

Magnetic resonance technology is a known technology used mainly to obtain pictures of the inside of a body of an object under investigation. To do this, rapidly switched gradient fields that are generated by a gradient coil system are superimposed on a static basic magnetic field generated by a basic field magnet, in a magnetic resonance device. Furthermore, the magnetic resonance device has a high-frequency antenna that radiates high-frequency signals into the object under investigation to trigger magnetic resonance signals and records the triggered magnetic resonance signals, on the basis of which the magnetic resonance pictures are created.

Magnetic resonance device with a high frequency shield having a high frequency short circuit to the circuits boundary surface of the basic field magnet


A towable hay rake is capable of being completely disassembled into parts having relatively homogenous dimensions, thus allowing the hay rake to be easily stored and shipped. In particular the hay rake of the present invention has the advantage that the entire rake can be packed into one rectangular crate of minimum encumbrance. This allows maximum possible practicality and efficiency in shipping and storage of the rake.

Towable hay rakes having a "V" shape are known in the art. These rakes are usually referred to as pull-type "V" rakes and are comprised of a main frame and two hinged movable arms which carry a plurality of rotatable rake wheels. An example of such a pull-type "V" rake can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,135 (assigned to SITREX, s.r.l.), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Typically these rakes cannot be transported or stored in fully assembled form because of their considerable dimensions. They therefore must be disassembled into smaller sections prior to storage or shipping in order to obtain components of reasonable dimensions, which are then reassembled after shipment or storage. Towable hay rake caddies are also known in the art. Such caddies generally consist of a towable wheeled frame on which hay rake arms carrying rake wheels may be mounted. Typically, caddies are shipped and/or sold separately from the rake arms. An example of such a caddy can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,216 to Kelderman, which is incorporated herein, in its entirety, by reference.
Because shipping and transportation costs can contribute greatly to the cost of agricultural machinery, such as hay rakes and the like, it is desirable to have a product that stores and ships in a compact and efficient way. Although many of the known hay rakes and caddies may be partially disassembled, they are less than satisfactory in this respect. Furthermore they are not easily disassembled and assembled., The disassembly of the known hay rakes and caddies typically results in the creation of a host of cumbersome and non-homogenous parts whose variety of differing shapes and sizes is not conducive to producing a practical, compact or efficient storage or shipping arrangement. This is in good part because the numerous awkward and non-homogenous shapes of the components cannot be compactly packed together and therefore produce large amounts of non-utilizable empty or "dead" space within the package. Thus, in order to lower shipping costs, manufacturers have in certain cases resorted to packaging two or more hay rakes together so as to intermesh the awkward shapes, in an effort to minimize the amount of empty or "dead air" space in the shipping crate. Since hay rakes or caddies are not usually sold in pairs, it is advantageous to be able to pack them singly into containers having minimized volume and a regular geometric shape that would allow them to be efficiently packed in a shipping vehicle or warehouse. It is especially advantageous to be able to efficiently store and ship an entire hay rake in one package of minimum dimensions. It is also especially advantageous to be able to quickly and conveniently disassemble and reassemble the hay rake.


An example information processing device calculates a specified position Ps2 in a three-dimensional virtual space displayed on a screen of a display device. The information processing device calculates a two-dimensional input position Pi2 on the screen based on an input of a user. The specified position Ps2 is calculated based on the input position Pi2. The information processing device calculates, as the specified position Ps2, a three-dimensional position that satisfies a distance condition and also satisfies a range condition. The distance condition is a condition regarding the distance from a predetermined reference position in the virtual space. The range condition is a condition that an on-screen position corresponding to the three-dimensional position be within a range determined by the on-screen position corresponding to the reference position and the input position Pi2.

There are conventional techniques for moving a cursor (pointer) on the screen using an input device such as a stick, and specifying, with the cursor, a position in the virtual space displayed on the screen.
There are cases where only by simply moving the cursor in a direction specified with the input device, the user cannot comfortably perform the operation of moving the specified position (the position of the cursor).
Thus, the present specification discloses a storage medium storing an information processing program, an information processing device, an information processing system, and a method for calculating a specified position capable of improving the controllability in the operation of specifying a specified position.
(1)
An example storage medium is a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing an information processing program to be executed by a computer of an information processing device for calculating a specified position in a three-dimensional virtual space displayed on a screen of a display device. The information processing program causes the computer to execute: calculating an input position; and calculating the specified position.
The computer calculates a two-dimensional input position on the screen based on an input of a user.
The computer calculates, as the specified position, based on the input position, a three-dimensional position satisfying a distance condition regarding a distance from a predetermined reference position in the virtual space, wherein the three-dimensional position satisfies a range condition that an on-screen position corresponding to the three-dimensional position be within a range determined by an on-screen position corresponding to the reference position and the input position.
The term "on-screen position" as used herein refers to a position on the two-dimensional display screen, as opposed to the term "virtual-space position", which as used herein refers to a position in a three-dimensional virtual space.
With configuration (1) above, since the specified position is calculated so that the distance condition is satisfied, it is possible to limit the range on the screen in which the specified position can be assumed. Thus, it is possible to improve the controllability in the operation of specifying the specified position. Since the specified position is calculated so that the range condition is satisfied, the specified position can be determined reflecting the input position of the user. This also improves the controllability in the operation of specifying the specified position.
(2)
The computer may calculate the specified position using, as the range condition, a condition that an on-screen position corresponding to the specified position be within a predetermined range between the on-screen position corresponding to the reference position and the input position.
With configuration (2) above, since the specified position is within the range between the reference position and the input position on the screen, the direction of the input position is generally equal to the direction of the specified position as seen from the reference position. Therefore, the user is unlikely to feel awkward even if the input position and the specified position are not the same position on the screen, and it is thus possible to provide a control method with a good controllability.
(3)
The specified position may calculate the specified position using, as the range condition, a condition that the on-screen position corresponding to the specified position be located on a line segment connecting between the on-screen position corresponding to the reference position and the input position.
With configuration (3) above, it is possible to easily calculate the specified position from the line segment. Moreover, the direction of the input position and the direction of the specified position as seen from the reference position can be made equal to each other, and it is thus possible to provide a control method with a good controllability.
(4)
The computer may calculate the specified position using, as the distance condition, a condition that the specified position be within a predetermined distance from the reference position in the virtual space.
With configuration (4) above, the range in which the specified position can be assumed can be easily limited to a range within a predetermined distance from the reference position.
(5)
The computer may calculate the specified position using, as the distance condition, a condition that a distance of the specified position regarding a predetermined plane in the virtual space be within a predetermined distance from the reference position.
With configuration (5) above, the specified position can be a position of which the distance is short with respect to a predetermined plane and is long with respect to a direction perpendicular to the predetermined plane, for example. Thus, with configuration (5) above, the range in which the specified position can be assumed can be set to an appropriate range for the application of the specified position by appropriately setting the predetermined plane.
(6)
The computer may calculate the specified position so that an on-screen position corresponding to the specified position is within a predetermined limit area on the screen.
With configuration (6) above, the range in which the specified position can be assumed can be limited by a method different from the method using the distance condition. Therefore, circumstances are less likely to occur where the specified position needs to be moved significantly, and it is thus possible to better improve the controllability in the operation of specifying the specified position.
(7)
The information processing device may obtain input information from a direction input device. The computer may calculate a new input position based on the input information so that the input position is obtained by moving a position of a lastly-calculated specified position on the screen in a direction represented by the input information. The computer may calculate a new specified position based on the new input position.
With configuration (7) above, the new input position is a position obtained by moving the previous specified position in an input direction specified by the user. Thus, it is possible to calculate the input position such that the position is easy to understand for the user.
(8)
The computer calculates one or more positions satisfying the range condition on the screen are calculated as candidate positions based on the input position. The computer determines a virtual-space position corresponding to one of the candidate positions satisfying the distance condition as the specified position.
With configuration (8) above, by calculating candidate positions and determining the range condition and the distance condition for the candidate positions, it is possible to easily calculate the specified position satisfying the range condition and the distance condition.
(9)
The computer may determine a virtual-space position corresponding to one of the candidate positions satisfying the distance condition that is farthest away from the reference position as the specified position.
With configuration (9) above, the specified position is one of the candidate positions that is closest to the input position. Then, since the difference between the direction specified by the user and the direction in which the specified position moves can be kept small, it is possible to provide a control method with a good controllability, with which the user is unlikely to feel awkward.
(10)
The computer may repeatedly calculate candidate positions until a predetermined condition is satisfied by using a binary search method on the reference position and the input position on the screen. Then, it may be determined whether the distance condition is satisfied each time a candidate position is calculated, and the specified position may be determined from the candidate positions satisfying the distance condition.
With configuration (10) above, by calculating the candidate positions using a binary search method, it is possible to efficiently determine candidate positions, and it is possible to efficiently perform the specified position calculation process.
(11)
The computer may determine, as the specified position, one of the three-dimensional positions satisfying the range condition that satisfies the distance condition and is in the vicinity of a position farthest away from the reference position in terms of a distance on the screen.
With configuration (11) above, the specified position is one of the positions satisfying the range condition and the distance condition that is closest to the input position on the screen. Then, since the difference between the direction specified by the user and the direction in which the specified position moves can be kept small, it is possible to provide a control method with a good controllability, with which the user is unlikely to feel awkward.
(12)
The computer may calculate the specified position by using, as the distance condition, a condition that an on-screen position corresponding to the specified position be within a predetermined area set with respect to the on-screen position corresponding to the reference position or that the specified position be within a predetermined distance from the reference position in the virtual space.
With configuration (12) above, for the range within the predetermined area, any position can be specified as the specified position, irrespective of the distance in the virtual space. Thus, it is possible to further improve the controllability in the operation of moving the specified position.
(13)
The computer may determine, as the specified position, one of positions in the virtual space that is displayed on the screen.
With configuration (13) above, the specified position is a position at which a straight line extending from the position of the viewpoint hits an object in the virtual space. Then, the specified position is a position displayed on the screen, and it is possible to display the specified position in an easy-to-understand manner for the user without the specified position being hidden by the object arranged in the virtual space.
Note that the present specification also discloses a information processing device and an information processing system for performing various processes equivalent to those realized by executing the information processing program in the configurations (1) to (13) above, and the present specification also discloses a method for calculating a specified position to be carried out in (1) to (13) above.
With the storage medium storing an information processing program, the information processing device, the information processing system and the method for calculating a specified position, the specified position is calculated so that the distance condition and the range condition are satisfied, thereby improving the controllability in the operation of specifying the specified position.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Storage medium storing information processing program, information processing device, information processing system, and method for calculating specified position


A printhead assembly for an inkjet printer has a ink filter tower portion that contains filtered ink and includes multiple, substantially parallel extending elements. Settling of ink in an ink filter tower could clog the printhead nozzles and lessen the print quality. Therefore, in order to prevent the settling of the ink in the ink filter tower of the present design, a free-floating weighted slider is installed within the ink filter tower. The weighted slider has a top bridging member and downward-pointing shafts that are movable within trenches formed between the extending elements. During a reciprocating motion of the printhead assembly, the slider moves in a direction opposite to the direction of the printhead assembly and thereby agitates the ink within the tower. In addition to sliding from side to side of the printhead assembly, the slider may also be designed to pivot about an upper axis as it moves to further agitate the ink.

An ink jet printer typically includes a printhead and a carrier. The ink jet printhead can comprise a printhead body, nozzles, and corresponding ink ejection actuators, such as heaters on a printhead chip. The actuators cause ink to be ejected from the nozzles onto a print medium at selected ink dot locations within an image area. The carrier moves the printhead relative to the medium, while the ink dots are jetted onto selected pixel locations, such as by heating the ink at the nozzles.
In some such systems, the ink reservoir comprises a removable or separable tank, such that the tank can be separated from the printhead, and replaced or refilled, when the ink is low. The printhead components can then be re-used. In such ink tank systems, a separable fluid connection between the tank and the printhead body is needed, in contrast to systems where the printhead body is integral with the ink reservoir. The connection permits ink to flow to the nozzles from the tank, but is separable such that the ink tank can be removed when empty.
The printhead assembly may also include a filter within an ink passageway leading from the ink reservoir to the nozzles, for isolating any contaminants or debris from the ejectors and nozzles. A chamber located between the filter and the nozzle is referred to as the ink filter tower as it contains ink after it is filtered.
The inks that are typically used for ink jet printing include dye inks and pigment inks. A significant problem associated with the use of pigment inks has been the settling of particles in the bottom of the main ink reservoir(s) of a printhead when a printhead sits idle for a while. This problem is especially pronounced with pigment inks that are designed to set quickly onto a printed surface. The settling of the ink can cause nozzles on the printhead to become clogged and malfunction and may produce lighter coloration on a printed document.
Various approaches have been considered to mitigate the settling problem within the main ink reservoir of the cartridge before the filter. One approach involves installing floating balls or rods in the ink reservoir that can roll around within the reservoir to stir the ink when the printhead moves. A simpler approach is to remove the printhead from the printer and shake it.
However, none of these approaches adequately address the settling of ink within a printhead that has an ink filter tower. The filter towers currently have no moving parts that can agitate the ink. Shaking the printhead is not particularly effective for this purpose. Moreover, the ink filter tower is of a very compact size compared to the size of the ink reservoir. It is therefore challenging to provide a suitable element for agitating the ink in an ink filter tower that would be effective and yet not get stuck and/or block the passageways through which the filtered ink flows to the nozzle.


A chemoselective and reactive Mn(CF3-PDP) catalyst system that enables for the first time the strategic advantages of late-stage aliphatic C—H hydroxylation to be leveraged in aromatic compounds. This discovery will benefit small molecule therapeutics by enabling the rapid diversification of aromatic drugs and natural products and identification of their metabolites.

The majority of small molecule therapeutics are comprised of functionalized hydrocarbon scaffolds containing a mixture of C(sp2)-H bonds and increasingly more C(sp3)-H bonds. Reactions that effect the direct atomistic exchange of hydrogen with oxygen remote from such aromatic groups would avoid lengthy de novo synthesis for generating analogues and identifying metabolites; however, because of the challenges of hydroxylating an inert C—H bond in the presence of oxidatively more labile π-functionality, such transformations have not been fully realized in the laboratory. Iron enzymes are the only known catalysts capable of hydroxylation of strong aliphatic C—H bonds in the presence of π-functionality by means of restricted substrate access to the oxidant (FIG. 1), however, these enzymes are challenging to use on preparative scales (vide infra) and this supramolecular approach for achieving chemoselectivity has not been successful with small molecule catalysts.
Despite recent advances in small molecule catalysts for site-selective aliphatic C—H hydroxylations, none of these catalysts can effect strong aliphatic methylene C—H bond oxidation (BDE=98 kcal/mol) in the presence of a range of aromatic groups. Whereas C—H aminations, alkylations and halogenation reactions tolerate aromatic functionality, the only aromatic groups tolerated in higher energy methylene C—H hydroxylations have been electronically deactivated with strong electron withdrawing groups (that is nitro, trifluoromethyl, triflate with >0.5 σp values). Ruthenium and manganese catalysts and stoichiometric oxidant TFDO are tolerant of benzoate (σp=0.45) and in a few cases phenyl functionality however only in the hydroxylation of weaker benzylic C—H (BDE=85 kcal/mol) or tertiary C(sp3)-H bonds (BDE=96 kcal/mol).
To divert oxidation of labile aromatic functionalities, a catalyst's capacity for aliphatic hydroxylations may need to be reduced. Accordingly, there is a need for a catalyst system that enables the strategic advantages of late-stage aliphatic C—H hydroxylation to be leveraged in aromatic and other useful compounds.

Chemoselective methylene hydroxylation in aromatic molecules

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


It is a first aspect of the present disclosure to provide a computer implemented method of enabling, by a mobile device, a peripheral device connected to a network that includes establishing a connection with the peripheral device when the peripheral device fails to communicate with the network; querying the peripheral device for a document; receiving a document from the peripheral device; processing the document; and sending the processed document to the peripheral device.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a method for enabling processes of a device and, more specifically, enabling processes of a device during a network downtime condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many environments that rely on electronic and paper-based processes, there is a reliance on a network infrastructure to effectively and efficiently perform process-oriented work tasks. If the network infrastructure becomes unavailable (i.e., a network downtime condition occurs) through planned or unplanned network outages, the access to critical process elements and steps may also become unavailable. Examples of network-based process elements or steps include, but are not limited to, accessing centrally located documents and forms (such as on a server or in a remote storage location), processing workflow steps (such as scanning documents to an electronic file share) and completing field entries in forms utilizing electronically stored data.
In many cases, once the network becomes unavailable, workers shift from electronic process entry to a more manual process, such as paper-based processing. The manual processing of forms and documents may lead to a higher potential for error and a less efficient processing of documents. Additional labor may also be needed once the network is back up or running in order to process the data that was manually captured on paper during the network downtime condition.
Thus, there is a need for a solution that will enable a device to continue utilizing network-based processes during network downtime (i.e., where communication with a network is unavailable). There is also a need for a solution that will maintain efficient and accurate processing of documents with minimal procedural or process changes when a network infrastructure is unavailable.

Process enablement in network downtime condition


An in-vehicle display apparatus in a vehicle includes a region recognition circuit and an image output circuit. The region recognition circuit recognizes a target plane region in scenery ahead of the vehicle; the target plane region corresponds to a continuous region having (i) a flatness equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value and (ii) an area size equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. The image output circuit displays a driving information picture as a virtual image using a liquid crystal panel such that a driver of the vehicle views the virtual image in the target plane region within a displayable region through a windshield of the vehicle.

Patent Literature 1: JP 2012-063524 A
Patent Literature 2: JP-2008-501956 A (WO 2005421707 A2)
Patent Literature 1 describes a head-up display (HUD), which projects light on a windshield or combiner in a vehicle and displays a variety of pictures to permit a driver to view them through a windshield. Further, Patent Literature 2 uses a HUD, which displays a guidance picture at a position corresponding to a road ahead of the vehicle as a virtual image that indicates the heading direction (route guide information) indicated by a route guidance of a navigation system.
A conventional technology displays a guidance picture that appears in the scenery in a forward direction of a vehicle as extending from a sky into a road in the heading direction of the vehicle. For example, a displayed picture may overlap with a light portion of a traffic signal that is at a position over a road in the heading direction of the vehicle. Such a case may not permit the driver to promptly recognize the state of the traffic signal.
In addition, a conventional technology displays a guidance picture at a time corresponding to a route guidance of a navigation system. In some cases, a displayed picture may appear to be viewed in close proximity to road signs or road information boards as well as traffic signals in the vehicle forward direction. Such a case may decrease the visibility of the displayed picture or cause the information necessary for driving to be difficult for understanding.

In-vehicle display apparatus and program product


An apparatus for forming an image of a document on a photoreceptor includes a charging device for charging the photoreceptor so as to form an image region, an eliminating device for eliminating a charge on the photoreceptor to form a non-image region, and a scanner for moving from a stop position to scan a document with an exposure light so that a latent image, corresponding to an image of the document, is formed on the image region of the photoreceptor. The scanner also moves backward and stops at the stop position. A position signal corresponding to a predetermined position of the scanner is generated by a signal device. A timer starts counting a time responsive to the position signal. The timer produces a first and second timing signal after the scanner stops at the stop position. The scanner is controlled to move from the stop position to form a next latent image on the photoreceptor in response to the first timing signal, and the eliminating device is controlled to stop eliminating a charge on the photoreceptor so as to provide an image region on the photoreceptor for a next latent image in response to the second timing signal. The eliminating device provides a non-image region on the photoreceptor at a portion of the photoreceptor in a vicinity of an edge portion of the document.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying apparatus or the like, and especially to an image forming apparatus such as a front loading type apparatus in which small size, low cost and high performance are pursued.
Generally, when copying is conducted by a copying apparatus, a margin is intentionally provided on the leading edge portion of a transfer paper. This is because a transfer paper is wound around a portion of a fixing section of the apparatus when an image exists on the leading edge portion, and there is a high probability that jamming occurs.
In the small and low cost copying apparatus described above, there is an apparatus in which a white plate is provided in the position corresponding to the leading edge of a document, under a document tray so that a margin can be made. There is another technique in which the movement of an optical system after its scanning operation has been started, is detected by a sensor, which triggers an LED for erasing, and the margin is made by erasing a charge on the surface of a photoreceptor.
In the technique in which the aforementioned white plate is provided, there are problems in which an erased amount is changed depending on a copying magnification, or a mechanical shadow occurs.
In the technique in which the margin is made by using the LED for erasing, there is a problem in which confirmation of a position of an optical system is difficult, and therefore, stabilization of an operation to erase a leading edge of an image is difficult, in small sized apparatus. That is, in the small sized apparatus, it is required to limit a width to a minimum in order to reduce installation space, or to speed up starting of an optical scanning operation in order to obtain high performance. In the case where an operation timing of the LED for erasing is determined after the sensor has detected the position of the optical system, the timing of the erasing operation is too late, because a sliding distance of the optical system from the start of its scanning operation to its arrival at a leading edge of a document is short. Further, even when the operation timing can be obtained, there is a case where a stable margin can not be made since the position of the optical system at the time is fluctuated by the influence of undershooting or overshooting at the time of start-up.
In the case described above, it is considered that the operation of the optical system can be precisely controlled by using many ICs, and thereby fluctuation can be prevented. However, this results in the apparatus becoming complicated and of high cost.

Image forming apparatus with optical system control means


A method of rewriting a Structured Query Language (SQL) statement in order to prevent processing of a join between a master table and a detail table in a database is disclosed. The method includes determining in the SQL statement a unique identifier to a row of the master table. The unique identifier is then equated to an identifier to related rows of the detail table using the join condition. A revised SQL statement may then be produced that only refers to the detail table using the identifier to the rows of the detail table. Subsequently, the revised SQL statement is processed.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of preventing unnecessary joins between tables in a database from being executed and, in particular, to a method for automatically rewriting SQL statements to achieve this.
(2) Description of Related Art
The concept of a join between tables in a database is well known. A simple example will be described here with reference to FIG. 1. This shows two tables with the names EMP and DEPT. The first table EMP lists the names of the employees of a company under the column ENAME and the number of the department for which they work under the column DEPTNO. The table DEPT has a similar column named DEPTNO in which each department number is only listed once and adjacent to this is a column entitled DNAME giving the names of the respective departments. It can be seen that a many to one relationship exists between the tables EMP and DEPT via their respective DEPTNO columns. That is to say that each value appears only once under the DEPTNO column of DEPT but can appear many times under the corresponding column of EMP. In this context, table EMP is referred to as the detail table and table DEPT is referred to as the master table.
In the table DEPT, the column DEPTNO has values that are unique in each row and this column is referred to as the primary key of the table. This primary key is typically indexed allowing fast access to each row. In table EMP, the column DEPTNO is referred to as the foreign key. This is not necessarily an indexed column although typically it is.
If it were desired to extract the names of the employees and their respective department names, then typically, a view would be defined as follows: SELECT ENAME, DNAME FROM EMP, DEPT
WHERE EMP.DEPTNO=DEPT.DEPTNO
This view may be known as EMPDEPT. Then, an SQL statement may refer to this view EMPDEPT such as:
SELECT ENAME, DNAME FROM EMPDEPT
This statement requires the join to be executed in order to extract the required data from both tables. However, there are instances in which it is not necessary to execute the join in order to extract the required data but nevertheless, the database still executes the join. Clearly, it is desirable to provide a method in which this unnecessary execution of joins can be prevented.


A driving method for liquid crystal display (LCD) panel includes the following steps: A. sending feedback signals to a monitoring module before timing control modules (T-CONs) sends driving signals to drive display of the LCD panel; B. generating control signals when the monitoring module receives the feedback signal of each of the T-CONs, and then simultaneously sending the control signals to each of the T-CONs; C. sending a driving signal to drive display of the LCD panel when each of the T-CONs receives the control signal.

As shown in FIG. 1, for an ordinary liquid crystal display (LCD) panel having a low resolution (suppose the panel resolution is 1366×768), an input signal is sent to a timing control module (T-CON) 2 by an input signal connector 1 of a printed circuit board (PCB) 3, and the T-CON provides a distinguishable data signal to a source driver 4, and provides a timing control signal to the source driver 4 and a gate driver 5. For a high-level display device having a high resolution (the resolution of the display panel is 4K×2K or higher), because of a large number of data, a data transmission speed of the source driver and the T-CON is limited, usually more than twice the number of the source drivers, the gate drivers and the T-CONs (compared with the number of the source drivers, the gate drivers and the T-CONs shown in FIG. 1) are needed. When the number of the T-CONs is more than one, usually one field programmable gate array (FPGA) is needed to comprehensively arrange the data and control signals of a plurality of T-CONs. Suppose the LCD panel is divided into four areas to control the panel (as shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B), four T-CONs are needed to control the data and the control signals of the four areas of the LCD panel (as shown in FIG. 3), respectively. When the LCD panel is controlled by a plurality of the areas, there is a certain delay in the data and control signals transmitted from different T-CONs to all of the areas of the LCD panel, which makes an asynchronous of display images of different areas and abnormal power-on display.

LCD panel driving method, driver circuit and LCD device


A computer system records and recreates an interface navigation process performed by a user with a host system. The computer system observes the user's interactions with the various UI elements during an interface navigation process by using a browser extension for the browser application in which the user is performing the interface navigation process. The browser extension then stores information about the interactions the user is performing and the UI elements that they are being performed on. The browser extension sends the stored interactions to the computer system, which processes the interactions to generate steps of the interface navigation recording. In some embodiments, the computer system also identifies one or more UI elements present in the final UI state of the interface navigation process as “verifiers” that can be used to determine whether the recreation of the interface navigation process is successful.

This disclosure relates generally to navigating user interfaces, and more specifically to automatically recording and recreating interface navigation processes performed by a user.
Users navigate user interfaces (UIs) to communicate with computer systems. By interacting with elements of the a UI, a user can perform particular tasks with the computer system. Some tasks may require that the user interact with multiple UIs or UI "states," which feature a different arrangement of UI elements. The user's navigation through these multiple UI states can be described as an interface navigation process. A computer system may need to replicate a user's interface navigation process to perform services requested by the user. For example, a computer system replicates a user's authentication process when scanning a user's web application for security vulnerabilities.
Collecting the information needed for the computer system to replicate an interface navigation process can be a tedious process that requires significant user involvement. Typically, this information is collected via explicit user designation of actions to transition from states, which is a large burden on the user and has a high risk of user error. Some methods may use network traffic to identify interactions between a device and the host system, but do not effectively capture a user's interactions with a specific UI state.

Recording and recreating interface navigation processes based on a whitelist generated by a machine-learned model