Methods and apparatus are described for making broadcast content available as an on-demand asset soon after all of the video fragments of the broadcast content have been made available. As the video fragments of the broadcast content are made available, they are requested and archived. When all of the fragments for the duration of the broadcast content are available (e.g., a live event ends), a VOD-style manifest is generated and the archived fragments are made available for downloading or streaming using the VOD-style manifest.

Generally speaking, video content services provide two broad classes of video content; broadcast content and video-on-demand (VOD) content. VOD content refers to preexisting video content (e.g., movies and TV series) that may be downloaded or streamed to client devices at any time. Broadcast content refers to content that is made available for streaming in real time, and may include presentations of live events (e.g., sporting events or concerts), or be made available according to a schedule dictated by the content or service provider (e.g., TV network channels, premium movie channels, etc.).
After a presentation of a live event has been delivered as broadcast content, a video content service may want to make the video of the live event available as a VOD asset. Conventionally, this has involved recording the streams of the video of the live event as static video files, and then re-encoding the videos file as VOD assets. The time required to do this is codec dependent, but typically requires about 10 times the duration of the original video file. For the typical football game, this means that the video of the game won't be available as a VOD asset for 30 to 40 hours after the game is finished.


A retractable sootblower is provided with means for preheating the sootblower lance prior to introduction of blowing medium into the lance to prevent condensation of the blowing medium which would be subsequently discharged from the lance against internal boiler surfaces accelerating surface erosion. The sootblower of the present invention preheats the lance by only providing blowing medium to the lance after at least a portion of the lance has been extended into the boiler and heated by hot boiler gases to thereby prevent condensation of the blowing medium within a cooled lance.

This invention relates to a retracting sootblower for boiler cleaning and in particular to a method and apparatus for preheating the sootblower lance prior to supplying a blowing medium to the lance in the form of vapor, such as steam, to prevent condensation of the blowing medium in a cooled lance.
Sootblowers are used to project a stream of blowing medium such as air or steam against heated surfaces within boilers to cause slag and ash encrustations to be removed. The blowing medium impact produces both mechanical and thermal shock which causes these adhering layers of slag and ash to be removed. One general category of sootblowers is known as the retracting type. These devices have a retractable lance which is periodically extended into and retracted from the boiler such that one or more nozzles at the distal end of the lance project a jet of the blowing medium within the boiler. During extension and retraction, the lance may also be rotated or oscillated about its axis.
During the intervening time between sootblower operating cycles with the lance at rest outside of the boiler, the lance will cool to the ambient temperature of the air surrounding the boiler. During operation of a sootblower, as the lance is extended into the boiler, the flow of the blowing medium is initiated so that along a path traced by the blowing medium, encrustations from the boiler internal surfaces are removed. When the lance reaches its full extension into the boiler, its direction of travel is reversed and the lance is retracted from the boiler.
However, due to the cooling of the lance between operating cycles, when the lance is first extended into the boiler at the beginning of the next cleaning cycle and the blowing medium is supplied to the lance, the colder lance temperature results in partial condensation of the blowing medium vapor. The projection of the liquid condensate against the internal boiler surfaces increases the erosion of these surfaces. Erosion of boiler internal surfaces due to condensate is generally noted on the surfaces impacted by the blowing medium during the first one or two feet of extension of the lance into the boiler. After this initial lance travel, the lance will have been heated by the blowing medium and boiler gases such that condensate is no longer formed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide preheating of the lance prior to introduction of the blowing medium into the lance, thereby avoiding the cooling of the blowing medium by a colder lance to prevent condensation of the blowing medium.
It is a feature of the present invention that the lance is preheated by hot combustion gases within the boiler thus requiring no additional energy expenditure to heat the lance. Preheating is accomplished by delaying supply of blowing medium during lance extension into the boiler. The blowing medium is provided only after the lance has been heated to a predetermined temperature. As a result, when the blowing medium ultimately is provided, no condensation is produced.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method and apparatus of preheating a sootblower lance


An obstacle recognition apparatus is provided which can recognize an obstacle by accurately extracting a floor surface. It includes a distance image generator (222) to produce a distance image using a disparity image and homogeneous transform matrix, a plane detector (223) to detect plane parameters on the basis of the distance image from the distance image generator (222), a coordinate transformer (224) to transform the homogeneous transform matrix into a coordinate of a ground-contact plane of a robot apparatus (1), and a floor surface detector (225) to detect a floor surface using the plane parameters from the plane detector (223) and result of coordinate transformation from the coordinate transformer (224) and supply the plane parameters to an obstacle recognition block (226). The obstacle recognition block (226) selects one of points on the floor surface using the plane parameters of the floor surface detected by the floor surface detector (225) and recognizes an obstacle on the basis of the selected point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an obstacle recognition apparatus and method, and more particularly to an obstacle recognition apparatus, obstacle recognition method and an obstacle recognition program, applied in a mobile robot apparatus to recognize an obstacle on a floor, and a mobile robot apparatus.
This application claims the priority of the Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-073388 filed on Mar. 15, 2002, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Needless to say, it is important for the autonomous robot to be able to recognize its surroundings for programming a route it should take and move along the route. The conventional mobile or locomotive robots include a wheeled type robot, walking type robot (bipedal and quadrupedal), etc. The wheeled type robot provided around it ultrasonic sensors disposed in parallel to the floor surface to detect reflected ultrasound from a wall or the like. Since the ultrasonic sensors are disposed in parallel to the floor surface, they will not detect such return ultrasound from the floor surface and can thus recognize all points having reflected the ultrasound as obstacles. Therefore, it is easy to process the ultrasound information for recognition of such obstacles. Since this method permits to detect only an obstacle having a predetermined height, however, the robot cannot recognize any obstacle such as a small step (lower than the predetermined height) or a hole or concavity in the floor. On the other hand, the walking robot, quadrupedal or bipedal, has such a distance sensor installed on a part thereof that can actively be changed in posture, such as the head, hand end, etc.
The quadrupedal walking robot (entertainment robot) having recently been well known employs a distance sensor installed on the head thereof to derive floor parameter from a posture of the robot and judge, on the basis of the floor surface parameter, whether a ranged point is a floor surface or an obstacle.
However, the method adopted in the quadrupedal walking robot can range only one point (or several points when the distance detection is repeatedly tried with the robot posture being changed) and so can hardly detect the surroundings of the robot satisfactorily. Also, this method can detect one point at each time of distance detection, it is not so highly reliable in terms of the accuracy of distance detection.

Obstacle recognition apparatus and method, obstacle recognition program, and mobile robot apparatus


A system and associated method for distributing signals with efficiency over a microprocessor. A performance monitoring unit (PMU) sends configuration signals to a unit to monitor an event occurring on the unit. The unit is attached to a configuration bus and an event bus that are daisy-chained from PMU to other units in the microprocessor. The configuration bus transmits configuration signals from the PMU to the unit to set the unit to report the event. The unit sends event signals to the PMU through the event bus. The unit is configured upon receiving configuration signals comprising a base address of a bus ramp of the unit. A number of units and a number of events for monitoring is flexibly selected by adjusting a length of bit fields within configuration signals.

Conventional performance measurement methods within a microprocessor require events describing how the microprocessor performs and a monitoring unit that correlates the events, to assess performance and to detect a bottleneck of performance in the microprocessor and/or in a system utilizing the microprocessor. The monitoring unit distributes multiple signals to monitored units of the microprocessor to collect the events describing interactions among the monitored units in the microprocessor. Conventional performance measurement methods utilize a bus dedicated to distribute and to collect each signal from the monitoring unit. In conventional performance measurement methods, the bus carries more events than the monitoring unit needs due to multiplexing of events onto the bus. Due to the number of signals for monitoring purposes and inefficient use of the bus, conventional performance measurement methods have a significant wiring and routing overheads within the microprocessor.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus that overcomes at least one of the preceding disadvantages of current apparatuses of monitoring performance within a microprocessor.

System and method for distributing signal with efficiency over microprocessor

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for controlling two light sources using an input voltage from a mains light dimmer, the light sources comprising a first light source configured to emit light having a second colour temperature, wherein the second colour temperature is higher than the first colour temperature, the apparatus comprising an input connection for receiving the input voltage from the mains light dimmer, a sensor for sensing a value voltage of the input voltage, driving means for driving the light sources, and a controller for controlling the driving means responsive to said sensing.

The present invention relates to improvements in lighting systems, in particular lighting systems having variable colour temperature.
Lighting systems having variable colour temperature are known in the art for improved comfort in office and domestic situations, and typically incandescent bulbs used in the evening have a lower colour temperature than the fluorescent lamps more commonly used during the day. The Solux Lamp (www.soluxtli.com) is a 'cool' light bulb, using a special coating, to emit light having a colour temperature of around 4700K. However, when dimmed this light source appears too blue at low light intensities, and for improved effectiveness of treatment and comfort a multiple light source approach is preferred.
Background prior art may be found in WO 96/28956, JP 05-121176, JP 04-206391, DE 3526590, JP 03-226903, EP 0545474, DE 3916997, U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,978, FR 2151121 and WO 85/01566. However, one problem with systems in the prior art is that they require new control wiring, extra mountings for light sources of different colour temperatures and sometimes special control means such as light sensors mounted on the outside of houses. Typically, prior art systems require at least two separate lighting circuits for controlling light sources of different colour temperatures, making them incompatible with standard domestic lighting installations and increasing the cost of providing artificial illumination with a variable colour temperature.
It would be advantageous to provide a lighting system with variable colour temperature capability which could be used with standard office and domestic lighting circuits, including standard light dimmers. In particular, it would be advantageous to provide a plug-in replacement for existing light bulbs, incorporating a variable colour temperature facility for use with existing light dimmer circuits.


With reference to a preferred embodiment as depicted in FIG. 4, the present invention provides a mousetrap comprising a first part (5) and a second part (10) that together define an enclosure wherein the first part (5) and the second part (10) are operably connected to a first biasing means (60). Within the enclosure is retained a lever (45) having a first end (47), a bridge (49), a pivot means (40), a releasable catch means (57) and a second biasing means (55). The second biasing means (55) biases the lever (45) into a resting position. By virtue of the second biasing means (55), the mousetrap is able to be set when held in any orientation, and is also stabilised (i.e, accidental activation of the mousetrap is avoided, or at least minimised, when the mousetrap is turned in any orientation, for example, on its side or upside down).

Mice, although small, can still cause much damage. They destroy articles such as food, books, furniture and even appliances with their gnawing, urine and faeces. Another undesirable trait associated with mice, particularly in domestic environments, is their association with a variety of human diseases, such as for example, asthma. Mice can also spread a variety of organisms that can cause diseases of humans and pets. These include a variety of food poisoning bacteria like Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia coli (E. coli), and others. While the risk of mouse invasion is able to be somewhat controlled or minimised by preventing food waste such as crumbs accumulating in the home, or ensuring that stored food is isolated from the external environment in, for example, sealed containers, it is not always possible to ensure that no food will be left exposed for a period of time. Also, minimising the risk of mice invasion by sealing of cracks, spaces and openings such as vents, pipes and chimney access points can be an expensive, labour intensive and time consuming exercise and is not always possible.
Traditional methods of dealing with mouse invasion in the home involves the use of poisoned baits (rodenticides) that contain anticoagulants, such as warfarin, pival and chlorophacinone. Such baits, while effective, are nevertheless toxic and are therefore undesirable for use in the home, particularly those in which children and pets reside. In addition, poisoned mice often die in inaccessible locations thereby resulting in an unpleasant odor upon death of the mouse. To circumvent these problems, mousetraps are often employed instead of poisoned baits. Traps are generally preferred as these are less hazardous to use around children and pets. Because mice are caught by the trap, there is less chance of odor from mice dying in wall voids or other inaccessible areas. Mousetraps in the form of wooden-based snap traps are common. While these traps are generally effective, they have the problem of exposing the homeowner, for example, to the highly undesirable task of disposing of the dead mouse once trapped. In addition, once trapped, the exposed dead mouse can pose health problems or cause distress to, for example, children. Furthermore, such traps are also pose a danger to children and pets who may inadvertently activate the trigger and injure themselves. Whilst mousetraps have been developed in which a trap is located within an enclosure in an attempt to isolate the trap from the outside environment and somewhat conceal the dead mouse from view, the enclosure of such mousetraps are not self-sealing after trapping and therefore the home-owner is still exposed to the dead mouse when disposing of the mouse and/or the trap.
While recognising the shortcomings of prior art mousetraps, the present inventors have sought to overcome these deficiencies with a mousetrap that substantially isolates the trap mechanism and a trapped mouse from the external environment. Such traps are desirably simple and cost effective to manufacture and are also able to efficiently trap mice. Such a mousetrap has been described in co-pending application GB 03254463 by the same applicants, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. The present invention provides an alternative to the mousetrap described in GB 03254463.


An articulated vehicle has features that facilitate loading and unloading. The vehicle includes a truck and a trailer. The truck is loaded from the rear, as in the case of a pickup truck with an endgate or tailgate. The trailer is coupled to the truck by a tongue on the undercarriage of the trailer. The trailer includes a bed and a front section. The bed, when released from the tongue pivots toward the ground so that a load can be rolled from the ground onto the bed. The front section is hinged to the bed. When the front section is unlocked from an upright position, it extends over the tongue to be supported in part by the tailgate. A hinged riser on the tongue supports the bed and the section as the load is rolled from the bed into the truck. When unloading, the bed tips toward the ground as the load is rolled off the bed. The articulated vehicle loads and unloads without a separate ramp, dock, or tailgate lift.

As an introduction to the problems solved by the present invention, consider the conventional articulated vehicle consisting of a conventional pickup truck and a conventional flat bed trailer. Loading and unloading such a vehicle ordinarily involves first loading the truck apart from the trailer. Conventional methods of loading the truck include (a) lifting articles onto the truck bed, endgate, or tailgate, (b) outfitting the truck with an endgate lift and using the lift to transfer articles to the truck bed, (c) providing a dock having a height matching the height of the truck bed and rolling articles from the dock to the truck bed, and (d) providing a ramp and rolling articles up the ramp. After the truck bed is loaded, the trailer is coupled to the truck. Although the flat bed trailer is nearer ground level than the truck bed, methods similar to the aforementioned methods of loading the truck bed are then performed to load the trailer.
The above methods are fraught with difficulty and safety hazards, especially when performed by a do-it-yourselfer or laborer for a small business. Few do-it-yourselfers' residences provide a dock for loading, yet heavy articles are so often shipped to and from residences for installation, off-site maintenance, and recreation that many do-it-yourselfers own a pickup truck. Endgate lifts are considered by most to be bulky and prohibitively expensive for occasional and recreational uses. Many small businesses operate from facilities similar to or formerly used as residences. Though strenuous lifting of articles to be loaded can be avoided with ramps, heavy lifting is involved to deploy, position, and stow such ramps. Ramps sufficient to load a pickup truck are often too steep for safe handling of cumbersome equipment including recreational all-terrain vehicles, riding lawn mowers, business machines, major appliances on hand trucks, and the like.
Without safe and convenient means for loading an articulated vehicle, equipment is exposed to the possibility of serious damage; and personnel are exposed to the possibility of serious injury. The expense in labor and special facilities including lifts, docks, and ramps precludes efficient transport of freight, consequently decreasing the enjoyment of modern residential life, and increasing the cost of doing business.
In view of the problems described above and related problems that consequently become apparent to those skilled in the applicable arts, the need remains in freight hauling for an articulated vehicle that is safely and conveniently loaded from the rear.

Trailer operable as ramp for rear loading truck


There is provided an image processing apparatus which comprises an input unit for inputting image data at a first frame rate, and a processing unit for providing a residual image effect to the image data input by the input unit using adjacent image data adjacent to the image data, and in which the processing unit comprises an output unit for outputting the processed image data at a second frame rate.. There is also provided an image processing apparatus which comprises an input unit for inputting image data, a processing unit for providing a residual image effect to the image data input by the input unit using adjacent image data adjacent to the image data, and a display unit for displaying the image data processed by the processing unit, and in which the display frequency of the display unit is lower than the frequency of the image data input by the input unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and, more particularly, to residual image effect processing for input image data.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, an image processing system shown in FIG. 1 is used when image data which is sent from, e.g., a computer at a predetermined transfer rate (frequency) is to be displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal display device which has an upper limit of the frame display frequency lower than the transfer rate.
Referring to FIG. 1, the image processing system comprises a workstation (EWS) or personal computer (PC) 101 (to be referred to as a PC 101 hereinafter), a graphic accelerator 102 compatible with the image output of the PC 101, an image processing unit 103, and a liquid crystal display device 104 (a ferroelectric liquid crystal device (FLCD) in this case).
Since the FLCD has a memory function of holding a displayed image for a predetermined period of time after the image is displayed, it can display an image by rewriting only an updated portion of image data on the display screen.
The image processing unit 103 includes a halftone processing unit 105 for performing halftone processing for image data output from the graphic accelerator 102, a motion detection unit 106 for detecting motions of the image data subjected to the halftone processing, a buffer 107 used in the processing of the halftone processing unit 105 and the motion detection unit 106, and a data flow control unit 108 for outputting an image signal subjected to the halftone processing in accordance with the motion detection information from the motion detection unit in correspondence with the frame display frequency of the display device 104.
The operation of the image processing system with the above-mentioned arrangement will be described below.
Digital image data u(t) input from the PC 101 at time T=t is input to the image processing unit 103 via the graphic accelerator 102.
In the image processing unit 103, the digital image data is subjected to processing for halftone expression in the halftone processing unit 105 using the buffer 107. The processed digital image data is input to both the data flow control unit 108 and the motion detection unit 106. The motion detection unit 106 obtains motion detection information by detecting any motions of an image using image data of the previous frame stored in the buffer 107.
The data flow control unit 108 supplies the input image data to the display device 104 in accordance with the motion detection information. At this time, image data input from the data flow control unit 108 to the display device 104 is only that of a portion, in which the presence of a motion in one frame is detected by the motion detection unit 106.
However, when the frequency (transfer rate) of the input image data is higher than the upper limit of the display frequency of the display device 104, the amount of image data, in which the presence of motions is detected by the motion detection unit 106, and which must be rewritten may exceed the amount of data which can be rewritten by the display device 104 within a predetermined period of time. In this case, the data flow control unit 108 thins out input image data of the subsequent frames until the rewriting operation of the currently rewritten frame is safely completed, thereby avoiding the image displayed on the display device 104 from being destroyed.
However, with the above-mentioned conventional method, when the frequency of image data sent from a computer is higher than the display frequency of the display device, frame data are thinned out at irregular periods. For this reason, when a dynamic image signal is to be displayed on a display device having a display frequency lower than the frequency of input image data, the dynamic image displayed moves frame by frame, resulting in poor smoothness of motions.


To provide a temperature sensor unit and a body core thermometer making it possible to produce in low costs. The temperature sensor unit (1) is used to measure a deep part body temperature Ti as a body core temperature of a testee. The temperature sensor unit (1) comprises at a measurement face side facing a body surface of the testee first-fourth temperature sensors (111-114) for measuring the body surface of the testee. Among the first and the second temperature sensors (111, 112), the first thermal resistor (121) is disposed only at the measurement face side of the first temperature sensor (111). Furthermore, the first temperature sensor (111) and the second temperature sensors (112) are disposed proximally such that a temperature Ti at the measurement face side of the first thermal resistor (121) becomes approximately equal to a temperature T2 measured by the second temperature sensor (112).

As an apparatus for measuring a deep part body temperature a deep part clinical thermometer for measuring the deep body temperature, which uses two heat flux sensors each being attached with a temperature sensor (temperature measuring element) on upper and lower faces of a thermal resistor (thermal insulator material) having a relatively large area, has been known (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1). Now, a description, claims, and the entire drawings of Patent Literature 1 shall be incorporated in the present description as reference.
FIG. 4 (a) is a drawing exemplarily illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional deep part clinical thermometer and FIG. 4 (b) is a drawing exemplarily illustrates a thermal equivalent circuit of a conventional deep part clinical thermometer.
As shown in FIG. 4 (a), when the deep body temperature is measured using the conventional deep part clinical thermometer 200, a first heat flux sensor 201 and a second heat flux sensor 202 are closely attached to a body surface of a patient.
Here, it is assumed that a thermal resistance value of the first thermal resistor device 221 of the first heat flux sensor 201 is R1; a temperature measured by the first temperature sensor 211 on an upper face of the first resistor device 221 is T1 and a temperature measured by the second temperature sensor 212 on a lower face is T2.
Furthermore, it is assumed that a temperature measured by the second thermal resistor device 222 of the second heat flux sensor 202 is R2 (≠R1), a temperature measured by the third temperature sensor 213 on an upper face of the second resistor device 222 is T3, and a temperature measured by the fourth temperature sensor 214 on a lower face is T4. Now, when it is assumed that a thermal resistance value of a subcutaneous tissues 230 of a testee is Rz and a deep body temperature is Ti, a deep part clinical thermometer 200 is represented by a thermal equivalent circuit shown in FIG. 4 (b).
After the temperature T1 of the upper face and the temperature T2 of the lower face of the first thermal resistor device 221 become stable, the heat amount (heat flux) passing the first thermal resistor device 221 per unit time and the heat flux from the subcutaneous tissues 230 of the testee to the lower face of the first resistor device 221 become equal. In addition, after the temperature T3 of the upper face and the temperature T4 of the lower face of the second thermal resistor device 222 become stable, the heat flux of the second thermal resistor device 222 and the heat flux from the subcutaneous tissues 230 of the testee to the lower face of the second resistor device 222 become equal. Thus, the following equation (9) for the first heat flux sensor 201 and the following equation (10) for the second heat flux sensor 202 become established, respectively.(Ti−T2)/Rz=(T2−T1)/R1(Ti−T4)/Rz=(T4−T3)/R2
If the thermal resistance value R1 of the first thermal resistor device 221 and the thermal resistance value R2 of the second thermal resistor device 222 are already known values, unknown values in the above equations (9) and (10) are only the thermal resistance value Rz of the subcutaneous tissues 230 and the deep body temperature Ti. Thus, by solving simultaneous equations of the thermal resistance value Rz of the subcutaneous tissues 230 and the deep body temperature Ti and then by erasing the thermal resistance value Rz of the subcutaneous tissues 230 having differences depending on positions and individual differences, the deep body temperature Ti can be measured (calculated) relatively and accurately.

Temperature sensor unit and body core thermometer


A method for copy propagations of a processor including two clusters, each cluster comprising a first function unit and a second function unit, a first local register file and a second local register file being respectively accessible by the first and second function unit only, and a global register file having a ping-pong structure to access the first and second local register files, the method comprising the steps of: (a) listing possible copy propagation paths between two nodes of a data flow graph; (b) calculating a profit of machine cycles for each of the copy propagation paths according to constraints of the processor; and (c) performing a copy propagation through the copy propagation path if the profit thereof is greater than a threshold value.

(A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for copy propagations for a processor, and more particularly, to a method for copy propagations for a Parallel Architecture Core (PAC) processor.
(B) Description of the Related Art
In compiler theory, copy propagation attempts to replace the occurrences of targets of direct assignments with their values. Many researchers have proposed various algorithms to perform copy propagation under a variety of conditions, e.g., to perform data flow-transformation for arrays, to extend this optimization technique to parallel programs, or to generate profile information to assist this classic code optimization. However, without taking inter/intra communication costs into consideration, those propagation schemes do not properly fit into modem digital signal processor (DSP) architecture, e.g., cluster-based architecture, or irregular register files. DSPs have been found widely used in an increasing number of computationally intensive applications in fields such as mobile systems. As communications applications are moving towards conflicting requirements of higher performance and lower power consumption, DSPs have evolved into a style of large computation resources combined with restricted and/or specialized data paths and register storages. In modem DSPs, computation resources are divided into clusters with dedicated local register files to reduce hardware complexity.
Traditional copy-propagation methods applied to processors with cluster-based architectures and irregular register files tend to exhibit high frequencies of improper copy propagations.

Method for copy propagations for a processor with distributed register file design


Embodiments of the present invention provide a software core controller for facilitating communication between a UAV control system, a UAV, and other peripheral devices used to control or to determine the status of the UAV. Different UAVs, control systems, and peripheral devices may require that data be transmitted and received according to their own particular specifications, such as a particular data rate and a particular format. The software core controller may be configurable to interface with these devices using the devices' interfaces. The interfaces may be specified by the devices' interface control documents (ICDs). The ICDs may be used to configure the software core controller upon initialization. The software core controller may asynchronously receive and provide data at the data rate specified in the various ICDs. The software core controller may support a plurality of different physical interfaces in order to communicate with different control systems, UAVs, and peripheral devices.

There is an increased emphasis on the use of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for performing various activities in both civilian and military situations where the use of manned flight vehicles may not be appropriate. Such missions include surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition, target designation, data acquisition, communications relay, decoy, jamming, harassment, ordinance delivery, or supply.
Several different types of UAVs have been developed in order to perform these various missions. Some of these UAVs have been specially designed to focus on a single mission. Control and communication systems for UAVs may be tailored to a particular type of UAV or to meet specific mission requirements. Additionally, there are several ways to control a UAV, a ground control station (GCS), an automated landing system (ALS), and a pilot box.
Each of the different UAVs, their control and communication systems, and the different ways of controlling a UAV may not be compatible with each other. For example, a pilot box that may be used with a first type of UAV may not be able to communicate with and control a second type of UAV. This presents problems when organizations using a variety of different types of UAVs, such as the armed services, wish to reuse or interchange parts among UAVs. Additionally, as new UAVs are developed, serviceable control and communications equipment from prior UAVs may not be reused with the newly-developed UAVs.
Consequently, there is a desire to control different types of UAVs using a single control system. Further objectives and advantages, as well as the structure and function of exemplary embodiments will become apparent from a consideration of the description, drawings, and examples.

System and method for controlling and communicating with a vehicle


Disclosed herein is a built-in type antenna assembly of a wireless communication terminal. The antenna assembly comprises a board, a case mounted on the board and having at least one disposing part formed through the case such that a portion of an upper surface of the board is exposed through the disposing part, an antenna member mounted on the case to radiate electrical signals from the board to the outside while receiving external signals, and a resilient part disposed within the disposing part to provide resilient force for maintaining contacts between an upper end thereof and the antenna member and between a lower end thereof and the board to electrically connect the board and the antenna member. The antenna assembly has a constant path of electrical signals and electric waves, providing uniform performance, and is reduced in the number of components, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while enhancing assembly efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna assembly embedded in a wireless communication terminal, and, more particularly, to a built-in type antenna assembly for a wireless communication terminal, designed to have a constant path of electrical signals and electric waves so as to exhibit uniform performance, and to reduce the number of components so as to reduce manufacturing costs while enhancing assembly efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, wireless communication terminals are portable communication devices, which can transmit/receive audio, characters and images through wireless communication, such as personal communication service terminals, smart phones, international mobile telecommunication for the 2000s (IMT-2000), wireless local area network (LAN) terminals, and the like.
Such a wireless communication terminal has an antenna, such as a helical antenna or a dipole antenna, both of which are external antennas and formed as protrusions on the communication terminal, serving to enhance transmission and reception sensitivity.
However, although the above external antennas have an advantage of a non-directional radiation characteristic, since these antennas are protruded from the terminal, there are problems in that these antennas are very vulnerable to external force, inconvenient for a user to carry, and difficult to design an aesthetic appearance of the terminal.
In order to solve the problems as mentioned above, as for antennas embedded within the terminal, planar type antennas, such as micro-strip patch antennas, inverted F-type antennas, and the like have been suggested.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a built-in type antenna assembly embedded in a conventional wireless communication terminal. The conventional built-in type antenna assembly 1 comprises: a circuit printed board 10; an antenna body 30 assembled to the board 10 and having a through hole 35 formed through the antenna body 30; a planar antenna member 20 provided on the top surface of the antenna body 30; and a terminal unit 40, which includes upper and lower terminals 41 and 42 for electrically connecting the board 10 and the planar antenna member 20, a spring 43, and a terminal holder 44.
The upper terminal 41 has an upper end contacting the bottom surface of the planar antenna member 20, and the lower terminal 42 has a lower end contacting the top surface of the planar antenna 10. The spring 43 is disposed between the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42 so as to provide resilient force for maintaining contact between the upper terminal 41 and the planar antenna member 20 and contact between the lower terminal 42 and the board 10. The terminal holder 44 fitted into the through hole 35 is constituted by a hollow member such that the spring 43 can be disposed within the through hole 35 together with the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42 while preventing detachment of the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42.
In the conventional built-in type antenna assembly 1 constructed as described above, the electrical signals generated from the circuit of the board 10 must be transmitted to the planar antenna member 20 through the lower terminal 42, the spring 43, and the upper terminal 41.
However, other paths for the electrical signals can be formed such that the electrical signal from the board 10 is transmitted to the planar antenna member 20 through the lower terminal 42, the terminal holder 44, and the upper terminal 41, which is caused by the assembled construction of the terminal unit 40 that the terminal holder 44 contacts the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42.
In this case, if the electrical signals from the board 10 or signals received from the planar antenna member 20 are transmitted through other paths deviated from a predetermined path, the antenna has non-uniform performance varied according to usage environment and assembly method, leading to deteriorated reliability of the wireless communication terminals.
Moreover, the terminal unit 40 comprises a number of components, thereby lowering assembly efficiency on an assembly line while increasing manufacturing costs.

Built-in type antenna assembly of wireless communication terminal


When a first type gear shift line is used as a gear shift line to change the gear ratio, and a predetermined condition including a condition that a state of charge of the power storage device is equal to or lower than a first ratio is satisfied, the control device changes the gear shift line to a second type gear shift line that recommends a lower speed gear ratio than the first type gear shift line.

In a proposed configuration of a hybrid vehicle, a planetary gear has a sun gear connected with a first motor, a carrier connected with an engine, and a ring gear connected with a second motor and with a driveshaft that is linked with an axle, and a battery is connected with the first motor and with the second motor via power lines (as described in, for example, JP 2017-159732A). This hybrid vehicle sets a required driving force that is required for the driveshaft, based on an accelerator position and a vehicle speed, and also sets a gear ratio based on the accelerator position and the vehicle speed. This hybrid vehicle sets a drivability rotation speed of the engine, based on the vehicle speed and the gear ratio. This hybrid vehicle sets an upper limit power of the engine when the engine is operated at the drivability rotation speed. This hybrid vehicle sets an upper limit driving force of the driveshaft when the upper limit power is output from the engine. This hybrid vehicle controls the engine, the first motor and the second motor such that the engine is operated at the drivability rotation speed and the smaller between the required driving force and the upper limit driving force is output to the driveshaft. In this hybrid vehicle, such control causes the rotation speed of the engine to be a rotation speed according to the vehicle speed even when the driver steps on an accelerator pedal. This hybrid vehicle gives the driver the better drive feeling, compared with a configuration abruptly increases the rotation speed of the engine prior to an increase in the vehicle speed. In this hybrid vehicle, the rotation speed of the engine varies with a change in the gear ratio. This hybrid vehicle accordingly gives the driver the feeling of speed change.


A sol-gel process is disclosed for preparing MTiOXO.sub.4 when M is K, Rb, Tl and/or NH.sub.4 and X is P and/or As which involves dissolving suitable compounds of M, Ti and X in stoichiometic amounts in a suitable organic liquid, and then producing crystalline MTiOXO.sub.4 using procedures including hydrolysis, condensation, solidification and pyrolysis. Bulk material and films (e.g., films of KTP on a single crystal silicon substrate) may be produced. Compositions comprising films of said MTiOXO.sub.4 produced by this process are disclosed.

Potassium titanyl phosphate and certain of its analogs are non-linear optical materials, and are being investigated for a number of non-linear optical applications (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,323). Applications range from frequency doubling the 1 .mu.m radiation of Nd lasers to various electro-optic applications, such as modulators and Q switches. The use of these materials for forming waveguides is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,265 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,954. Recently, low loss optical waveguides of KTP have been developed for integrated-optic applications. Most of the above applications are based on the use of single crystal KTP.
Processes for producing optical quality crystals of KTiOP.sub.4 (KTP) and its analogs using aqueous systems are known generally in the art as hydrothermal processes (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,778) and processes for producing such crystals using nonaqueous molten salt systems are known generally in the art as flux processes (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No., 4,231,838). Typically, hydrothermal processes are run at elevated temperature and pressure and involve growing the crystal in a vessel having a growth region where the crystal grows and a nutrient region containing nutrient for growing the crystal, and employ an aqueous mineralization solution. U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,356 describes a hydrothermal process for growing optical-quality single crystals at reduced temperature and pressure conditions.
U S. Pat. No. 5,039,187 discloses a process for the liquid phase epitaxial growth of a thin film of certain KTP analogs on a substrate.
Sol-gel technology is well known in the art for fabricating a wide variety of glasses, fibers and films. The technique generally involves forming a solution of predetermined hydrolyzable components, at least partially hydrolyzing the components by the addition of water, then heat treating the solution to drive off the resulting alcohols, residual solvent and water to form a shaped, substantially homogeneous solid composition. Successful sol-gel processes typically offer the advantage of allowing use of relatively pure precursor materials, and selectively low temperatures, while providing a relatively homogeneous mix of components (see e.g., D. C. Bradley, Chem. Rev., 89, pp. 1317-1322 (1989)). The most common material to which this technology has been successfully applied is silica. Porous silica glass made by sol-gel methods has been further treated with various dopants, prior to hydrolysis and densification to form optical waveguides (Kondo et. al., Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1, Vol. 29, No. 12, pp. 2868-2874 (Dec. 1990)).
The majority of known sol-gel systems involve utilization of only one hydrolyzable components in the starting solution (see, e.g., L. L. Hench et. al., Chem, Rev 90(1), pp. 33-72 (1990)). Such systems allow for relatively predictable chemistry and manipulation of the reaction conditions. Multicomponent sol-gel systems (i.e., those processes using more than one hydrolyzable component in the starting solution) are less common. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,710.) Generally, the difficulty in achieving homogeneous products increases with the number of components.
Sol-gel processes have been developed for producing thin films of certain compositions. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,725.) The preparation of LiNbP.sub.3 films by a sol-gel process is described in D. P. Partlow et. al., J. Mater. Res., 2(5), pp. 595-605 (1987).

Optically useful compositions and a sol-gel process for their production


Systems and methods for delivering active ingredients, such as pharmaceutically active ingredients, to substrates are described herein. The active ingredients are delivered as fluids to a fluid-dispensing device for the creation of one or more drops for deposition onto substrates such as for the creation of microdoses. The invention further includes microdoses made by such processes.

The batch processing mode that the pharmaceutical industry has traditionally used to manufacture pharmaceutical products provides significant challenges, including high production costs, long manufacturing times, scale-up difficulties, and recurring quality issues. The increasing competition and payer pressures are driving the pharmaceutical industry to deliver drug products in shorter time and lower cost. In recent years, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced the quality by design approach and process analytical technology guidance to encourage innovation and efficiency in pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and quality assurance.
With the implementation of FDA initiatives such as Process Analytical Technology and Quality by Design, the pharmaceutical industry is shifting focus to manufacturing processes that can be more closely managed in real time with more advanced process control. These innovative new processes are often small-scale continuous processes, as opposed to the traditional large-scale batch pharmaceutical manufacturing processes that featured very little in terms automation or control. Many advantages are gained by moving from batch operations to continuous operations: efficient processing rates, reduction in waste, improved product quality and increased process reliability.
In addition, the need for personalized medicine has grown in recent years. The justifications for personalizing dose amounts and product forms are numerous: certain drug substances exhibit innately high inter-patient variability, especially some oncology agents, and must be tuned to the patient if they are not to cause adverse effects; certain populations of patients such as pediatric and geriatric populations are underrepresented in standard drug studies, causing uncertainty when prescribing a suitable dosage amount for them; certain factors of patient medical history or genetic factors impose constraints on drug dosage amounts. Research has been done on calculating the best dosage amount of certain drugs for a given patient, based on medical, genetic and clinical factors. A hitherto missing component has been an effective way to make such doses.
Further, some otherwise efficacious drug formulations are not marketed by pharmaceutical manufacturers simply because their shelf life is short, less than 3 months for example. Due to supply chain lead times of many months, there is great reluctance for a pharmaceutical company to make drug products with shelf life shorter than 1 year. Therefore, a small-scale manufacturing technique also eliminates this problem, by manufacturing the exact amount needed when it is needed; therefore shelf-life constraints are made irrelevant, and it opens up many drug formulations that could not be pursued under traditional large-scale approaches. Small-scale processes therefore enable quick product changeover, flexible dosage forms, and personalized combination drug products. However, a suitable small-scale manufacturing technique has been missing from the field until now.

Methods and systems for depositing active ingredients on substrates


A fuel injector for the direct injection of fuel into the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine includes a valve needle situated in a nozzle body, the valve needle being actuable by an actuator and acted upon by a restoring spring in such a manner that a valve-closure member which is in operative connection to the valve needle and faces the combustion chamber is kept in sealing contact with a valve-seat surface in the non-actuated state of the actuator. A first jet-opening angle α1 is assigned to a first lift state of the valve needle and a second jet-opening angle α2 to a second lift state of the valve needle.

German Patent Application No. 195 34 445 refers to an outwardly opening fuel injector which has a conical sealing seat. The valve needle has a central bore which leads into a pressure chamber upstream from the sealing seat. An actuator, embodied as a piezoelectric actuator, is braced against a nozzle body on the one side and against a pressure shoulder, which is connected to the valve needle by force-locking, on the other side. A restoring spring keeps the valve needle in a closing position. In response to the actuator being energized, the valve needle, due to the actuator's longitudinal extension, is opened against the closing force of the restoring spring and fuel is spray-discharged.
One of the disadvantages of the fuel injector referred to in this reference is, in particular, that the fuel jet injected into the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine has a conical shape and a particular opening angle α. An injection at different opening angles α, which takes into account, for example, the various demands on the form of the mixture cloud in the partial load and full load range, is not possible.


A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material having a receiving table for the container handling machines therein.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material having a receiving table or unscrambling table or setup table or prep table for the container handling machines therein.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material. The apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material further comprises an apparatus that is designed to terminate the filling of the beverage bottles upon the liquid beverage filling material reaching the predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement that is designed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes the filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station. Bottles may be labeled in a labeling station, the labeling station having a conveyer arrangement to receive bottles and to output bottles. The closing station and the labeling station may be connected by a corresponding conveyer arrangement.
Container handling machines are regularly used for the production of beverages in the beverage industry. These machines include, among other things, rinsers, fillers, cappers and labeling machines.
These handling machines can be linear machines, but they can also be rotary machines. Because both types of machines are amply described in prior art documents, there is no need to provide a more detailed description at this point. The accompanying figures show only rotary machines, although this is in no way intended to limit the scope of the present application to rotary machines.
The containers to be handled, e.g. bottles, cans or beverage cartons, to and from these container handling machines are generally fed to and removed from these container handling machines by means of single-track conveyors, whereby the containers are transferred between the conveyor and the handling machine or between the handling machine and the conveyor by means of inlet or outlet star wheels of the prior art.
It has been found to be altogether advantageous to combine the inlet and outlet star wheels and the elements for the mechanical connection of these star wheels with at least one of the container handling machines that is present into what is called a receiving table or an unscrambling table or a setup table or a prep table. Thereby additional elements, such as feed worms, housings or control elements of the container handling machines, can also be components of this receiving table.
Because such receiving tables, with all their attendant advantages, represent a significant cost factor on account of the complexity of their design and construction, and the constructions that are disclosed in the prior art had numerous individual surfaces, edges, corners and undercuts that offered starting points for undesirable contamination, multiple attempts have been made in the past to simplify and improve receiving tables with regard to their manufacture, costs and hygiene or cleaning.
Thus, for example, the unexamined German Patent Application DE 195 12 849 presents a variant of a receiving table in which the receiving table comprises essentially a flat, relatively thick metal plate which is oriented three-dimensionally at a specified angle with respect to the horizontal. This prior art also teaches that spraying devices are provided on the higher edge of the metal plate and collecting gutters on the lower edge.
For the cleaning and/or disinfection of this device of the prior art, cleaning fluid is sprayed onto the metal plate by the sprayer devices. As a result of the inclined orientation of the metal plate there is a directed flow of the cleaning agent, by which any dirt or contamination that may adhere to the metal place is supposed to be rinsed off.
One of several disadvantages of a device of this type is that the metal plates used require a large amount of material, and the mechanical processing of this material is complicated, time-consuming and expensive on account of the numerous borings that have to be introduced into these plates at specified angles.
DE 200 02 483 U1 describes another receiving table of the prior art. This prior art patent describes a receiving table that has an essentially rectangular base body, whereby this base body is provided with a superstructure in the shape of a hip roof made of sheet metal.
This hip-roof-shaped superstructure is in turn interrupted in the vertical plane by the mountings or receptacles for inlet or outlet star wheels, cappers etc.
Of course a receiving table of the type described in DE 200 02 483 U1 uses significantly less material compared to other realizations, although the fabrication of the hip-roof superstructure frequently poses technical difficulties.
DE 298 05 957 describes another configuration which reduces the number of components and areas present on receiving tables of the prior art to the bare essentials. For example, receiving tables as described in DE 298 05 957 first comprise a base body which is assembled from elements in the shape of truncated cones, whereby these elements are connected by straight connecting pieces, the upper side of which has a gable-roof shape.
Such receiving tables also comprise conical and/or columnar elements which extend vertically upward starting from the base body and support devices on their upper end, such as transport star wheels, cappers, feed worms etc.
As a result of the extremely advantageous configuration of a receiving table of this type, the manufacturing and cleaning during operation become much simpler, and the associated costs are reduced accordingly. However, improvements can still be made in the amount of material required for the base body.

Beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material having a receiving table for the container handling machines therein


A information bearing device into which several wires or a cable can be disposed, for the display of QR code information pertaining to the wires or cable. The device includes a first indicia bearing engaging portion and a second receiving portion for mounting the device on a wire(s) or cable. QR code or micro QR code indicia may be printed directly onto the surface of the engaging portion, or the indica may be added to the indicia receiving surface by placement of self adhesive QR code containing tabs to be read by QR code readers, cameras and smart phones.

Our computer systems at both home and at the office are getting more complex with more and more components including a multiplicity of printers for the same or plural users, and large numbers of work stations attached to a single or several servers, and multi-office phone systems, the need to follow and identify each component and each user's components becomes more complex. In industry the problems of user and component identification is even greater, with wires and cable everywhere, for work stations, phone systems, facsimiles, and networking, the modern large office and industrial IT setting is a sea of cables of all dimensions and colors, everyone of which needs to be identified now and in the future.
While oft times, all of the cables to be identified are located in one room, just as often, the cables may extend to various floors of a building and even to several buildings. Thus one may not be able to follow to identify a cable coming from down the hall to the IT room, when all cables are either black or brown, and most of the same size.
In a multi-room home theater/sound setup it is next to impossible to determine which are the leads to the living-room speakers, and which go to the master bedroom. This is another of the plethora of instances, where wire and cable tracing is either not practical or is difficult to employ.
Indeed, there are of course other situations that arise in our daily lives outside of the Information Technology world wherein it would be helpful to have indicia notations pertaining to wires and cables for the purpose of giving warnings, limitations on use; directions and other information. For example wiring of differing voltages, such as 110 Volt AC versus 12 Volt DC; power lines versus speaker "cables" among others.
Many IT rooms have racks and racks of component wiring, with stacks and stacks of cables, all of which look alike. But none of which are self-identifying. Thus rack organizers have come to be to segregate cables for future easy identification. Such rack organizers are made by A "N D Cable Products, Inc. among others. While rack organizers are helpful to provide neatness, to render identification easier of any one cable, organizers organize they do not identify cables and wires. That is the job of this invention for use in large industrial and commercial settings as well as in the homes of the affluent. That is because there is a real need for a means to notate specific wires and cables with information as to their location or function.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Coded information bearing identification tags for cables


Systems and methods relating to a Media Collection Aggregation System (MCAS) are provided. In one embodiment, a number of nodes are connected over a Local Area Network (LAN) to provide an ad-hoc MCAS network. At least some of the nodes in the MCAS network share locally stored media collections, or select subsets thereof, with the other nodes in the MCAS network. Each node in the MCAS network selects and aggregates one or more of the shared media collections to provide an aggregate media collection for that node. One of the nodes in the MCAS network is a proxy node that provides a proxy service that enables remote participation in the MCAS network. In one embodiment, the proxy node enables one or more remote nodes to passively and/or actively participate in the MCAS network.

With the advent of portable media players, such as the Apple® iPod® portable media players, digital media has become prolific. However, even though user media collections of many users include hundreds if not thousands of media items, no one user owns every media item. As such, users often desire to share their media collections. For example, the Apple® iTunes® media player allows users to share their media collections with up to five users on the same subnetwork. In the Apple® iTunes® media player, the sharing user must designate what portion of their media collection to share (e.g., the entire media collection, two or more songs, or a playlist). However, users with which the media collection is shared are limited by the fact that the shared media collection is disjoint from their own media collection. Another issue is that sharing is limited to users in the same subnetwork. Thus, there is a need for an improved system and method for sharing media collections.
A Local Area Network (LAN) based media collection aggregation system that addresses these issues is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/211,895, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCED SMART PLAYLISTS WITH AGGREGATED MEDIA COLLECTIONS, which was filed on Sep. 17, 2008 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/251,490, entitled SOURCE INDICATORS FOR ELEMENTS OF AN AGGREGATE MEDIA COLLECTION IN A MEDIA SHARING SYSTEM, which was filed on Oct. 15, 2008, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. However, one issue with the described LAN based media collection aggregation system is that participation is limited to those nodes that are within the LAN. As such, there is a need for a LAN based media collection aggregation system that enables remote participation.

Remote participation in a Local Area Network (LAN) based media aggregation network


Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate monitoring transmitter performance in a wireless communication environment. A metric or metrics associated with one or more pilot symbols can be generated and used to evaluate performance. To generate pilot metrics, a signal analyzer can be used to sample the output of a transmitter and the sampled signal can be propagated to a processor. The processor can generate frequency domain channel estimates for subcarriers. Average channel estimates for the subcarriers can be used with the known pilot symbols to determine noise or error for each subcarrier, which can be used to generate the noise variance for each of the pilot symbols. A pilot modulation error metric can be generated based upon the average channel estimates and noise variance.

I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and, amongst other things, to evaluation of transmitter performance.
II. Background
Wireless networking systems have become a prevalent means by which a majority of people worldwide has come to communicate. Wireless communication devices have become smaller and more powerful in order to meet consumer needs and to improve portability and convenience. Consumers have become dependent upon wireless communication devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like, demanding reliable service and expanded areas of coverage.
A typical wireless communication network (e.g., employing frequency, time, and code division techniques) includes one or more base stations that provide a coverage area and one or more mobile (e.g., wireless) user devices that can transmit and receive data within the coverage area. A typical base station can simultaneously transmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast services, wherein a data stream is a stream of data that can be of independent reception interest to a user device. A user device within the coverage area of that base station can be interested in receiving one, more than one or all the data streams carried by the composite stream. Likewise, a user device can transmit data to the base station or another user device.
Forward Link Only (FLO) technology has been developed by an industry group of wireless communication service providers to utilize the latest advances in system design to achieve the highest-quality performance. FLO technology is intended for a mobile multimedia environment and is suited for use with mobile user devices. FLO technology is designed to achieve high quality reception, both for real-time content streaming and other data services. FLO technology can provide robust mobile performance and high capacity without compromising power consumption. In addition, the technology reduces the network cost of delivering multimedia content by decreasing the number of base station transmitters that are needed to be deployed. Furthermore, FLO technology based multimedia multicasting is complimentary to the wireless operators' cellular network data and voice services, delivering content to the same mobile devices.
Base station transmitter performance is vital to the overall performance of a wireless system. Errors or noise in a signal generated by a transmitter can lead to loss or corruption of data between transmitter and receiver. In particular, in a wireless system utilizing FLO technology, which can utilize fewer transmitters, the performance of each transmitter is critical.

Pilot modulation error ratio for evaluation of transmitter performance


The present invention relates to a seam for use in joining a first end and a second end of a papermakers' fabric. The seam may include a first seaming spiral element attachable to the first end and a second seaming spiral element attachable to the second end. At least one of the first or second spiral seaming elements is transparent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the papermaking arts. More specifically, the present invention relates to seamed fabrics for use with a paper machine. The invention is especially applicable to the production of seams on dryer fabrics, but also may be used for forming fabrics, press fabrics and other industrial fabrics/belts that utilize a spiral seam.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the papermaking process, a cellulosic fibrous web is formed by depositing a fibrous slurry, that is, an aqueous dispersion of cellulose fibers, onto a moving forming fabric in the forming section of a paper machine. A large amount of water is drained from the slurry through the forming fabric, leaving the cellulosic fibrous web on the surface of the forming fabric.
The newly formed cellulosic fibrous web proceeds from the forming section to a press section, which includes a series of press nips. The cellulosic fibrous web passes through the press nips supported by a press fabric, or, as is often the case, between two such press fabrics. In the press nips, the cellulosic fibrous web is subjected to compressive forces which squeeze water therefrom, and which adhere the cellulosic fibers in the web to one another to turn the cellulosic fibrous web into a paper sheet. The water is accepted by the press fabric or fabrics and, ideally, does not return to the paper sheet.
The paper sheet finally proceeds to a dryer section, which includes at least one series of rotatable dryer drums or cylinders, which are internally heated by steam. The newly formed paper sheet is directed in a serpentine path sequentially around each in the series of drums by a dryer fabric, which holds the paper sheet closely against the surfaces of the drums. The heated drums reduce the water content of the paper sheet to a desirable level through evaporation.
It should be appreciated that the forming, press and dryer fabrics all take the form of endless loops on the paper machine and function in the manner of conveyors. It should further be appreciated that paper manufacture is a continuous process which proceeds at considerable speeds. That is to say, the fibrous slurry is continuously deposited onto the forming fabric in the forming section, while a newly manufactured paper sheet is continuously wound onto rolls after it exits from the dryer section.
Woven fabrics take many different forms. For example, they may be woven endless, or flat woven and subsequently rendered into endless form with a seam. Woven fabrics are typically in the form of endless loops, or are seamable into such forms, having a specific length, measured longitudinally therearound, and a specific width, measured transversely thereacross. Because paper machine configurations vary widely, paper machine clothing manufacturers are required to produce fabrics, and other paper machine clothing, to the dimensions required to fit particular positions in the paper machines of their customers. Needless to say, this requirement makes it difficult to streamline the manufacturing process, as each fabric must typically be made to order.
Fabrics in modern papermaking machines may have a width of from 5 to over 33 feet, a length of from 40 to over 400 feet and weigh from approximately 100 to over 3,000 pounds. These fabrics wear out and require replacement. Replacement of fabrics often involves taking the machine out of service, removing the worn fabric, setting up to install a fabric and installing the new fabric. Because of the solid support beams for dryer sections, all dryer fabrics must have a seam. Installation of the fabric includes pulling the fabric body onto a machine and joining the fabric ends to form an endless belt.
The seam region of any workable fabric must behave in use as close to the body of the fabric in order to prevent the periodic marking by the seam region of the paper product being manufactured.
To facilitate seaming, many current fabrics have seaming loops on the crosswise edges of the two ends of the fabric. The seaming loops themselves are formed by the machine-direction (MD) yarns of the fabric. A seam is formed by bringing the two ends of the fabric press together, by interdigitating the seaming loops at the two ends of the fabric, and by directing a so-called pin, or pintle, through the passage defined by the interdigitated seaming loops to lock the two ends of the fabric together.
Alternatively, a monofilament seaming spiral may be attached to the seaming loops at each of the two ends of the papermaker's fabric. The monofilament seaming spirals are connected to the seaming loops by at least one connecting yarn. The coils of the spirals at the two ends of the fabric may again then be interdigitated and joined to one another on the paper machine to form a seam usually referred to as a spiral seam.
In a so-called warp loop seam, the rows of loops are formed of extended edge loops of warp yarns in the fabric structure of the fabric. In a spiral seam, each row of loops is instead formed of a separate, preformed yarn spiral, which is extended along and attached by means of a CD pintle connecting the spiral, intermeshed with the machine direction yarns, such as warp yarns, to the seam edge of the fabric. The coils of the spirals at the two ends of the fabric may again then be interdigitated and joined to one another on the paper machine to form a seam usually referred to as a spiral seam. Alternatively, the spiral can be attached to the clothing by a number of cross-machine direction yarns being raveled a distance from the seam edge, whereupon the loops of the spiral are inserted into the thus formed looser edge portion. Then the edge is folded back over itself and is attached to the clothing, for instance, by using a sewing machine. Independently of how the spiral is attached, the clothing comprises two spirals, one along each seam edge, which, when joining together the fabric, are meshed with each other like a zipper so as to be joined together by means of a pintle wire or the like.
Alternatively, fabrics can be formed completely of spirals as taught by Gauthier, U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,077; which is incorporated herein by reference. In this case, the spirals are connected to each other by at least one connecting pin. In theory, the seam can therefore be at any location in the fabric body where a connecting pin may be removed. The best known advantage of a spiral fabric versus a woven fabric is the seam is geometrically similar to the fabric body.
A seam is generally a critical part of a seamed fabric, since uniform paper quality, low marking and excellent runnability of the fabric are required.
An important aspect of seaming a fabric on a paper machine is the necessity of threading a leader wire, pin or pintle through the fabric loops or spirals on the opposed ends of the fabric. The ends of the fabric must be brought together on the machine, and a flexible leader wire is threaded through the loops or spirals. Preferably, the leader wire can be threaded across in one operation. Frequently, however, only a short section or length is done at a time. Then it is used to pull the pintle through while pulling the leader out of a gap between loops. This is repeated across the width of the machine, which may exceed 400 inches. This process is made difficult because the leader wire or pintle tends to pop out or migrate out of the loops. When this migration occurs the leader wire or pintle must be removed and the threading process restarted, thus increasing the time to seam the fabric. Also, since the seaming spirals are opaque, it is impossible to visually follow the progressing leader wire through the seam.
Therefore, during a seaming operation, a need exists to reduce migration of the leader wire or pintle and to facilitate the insertion thereof. The present invention provides a solution to this problem.


The current document is directed to methods and systems that generate microsegmentation quotients for computational entities and components of a distributed-computer-system. In the described implementation, microsegmentation quotients are generated for each component, subsystem, or computational entity, collectively referred to as “system entities,” of a set of specified system-entity types within the distributed computer system. Microsegmentation quotients are generated for system entities at any of the various hierarchical levels within a distributed computer system, including for the entire distributed computer system. Microsegmentation quotients are generated by an iterative process that refines initial estimates of the microsegmentation quotients for system entities within the distributed computer system. Microsegmentation quotients are displayed, through system-management interfaces, to administration and management personnel and provided to automated administration-and-management-system tools and facilities in order to facilitate analysis and monitoring of distributed-computer-system security as well as to facilitate rapid and accurate detection and amelioration of security-related deficiencies and problems.

During the past seven decades, electronic computing has evolved from primitive, vacuum-tube-based computer systems, initially developed during the 1940s, to modern electronic computing systems in which large numbers of multi-processor servers, work stations, and other individual computing systems are networked together with large-capacity data-storage devices and other electronic devices to produce geographically distributed computer systems with hundreds of thousands, millions, or more components that provide enormous computational bandwidths and data-storage capacities. These large, distributed computer systems are made possible by advances in computer networking, distributed operating systems and applications, data-storage appliances, computer hardware, and software technologies. However, despite all of these advances, the rapid increase in the size and complexity of computing systems has been accompanied by numerous scaling issues and technical challenges, including technical challenges associated with communications overheads encountered in parallelizing computational tasks among multiple processors, component failures, and distributed-system management. As new distributed-computing technologies are developed, and as general hardware and software technologies continue to advance, the current trend towards ever-larger and more complex distributed computer systems appears likely to continue well into the future.
As the complexity of distributed computer systems has increased, the management and administration of distributed computer systems has, in turn, become increasingly complex, involving greater computational overheads and significant inefficiencies and deficiencies. In fact, many desired management-and-administration functionalities are becoming sufficiently complex to render traditional approaches to the design and implementation of automated management-and-administration systems impractical, from a time and cost standpoint, and even from a feasibility standpoint. One example are the many different automated and semi-automated security features and security subsystems incorporated into automated management-and-administration systems to monitor distributed computer systems for insecure configurations and operational behaviors, which are increasingly vulnerable to attack from malicious external entities, viruses-containing communications, improperly functioning components, and other security breaches and threats. Designers and developers of various types of automated management-and-administration facilities incorporated into, or associated with, distributed computer systems are seeking new and improved approaches to securing distributed computer systems.

Methods and systems that generate and use microsegmentation quotients for security monitoring of distributed-computer-system components


An air conditioner equipped with a solar generator is disclosed. The solar generator is capable of converting the DC power generated by a solar cell into the AC power whose voltage and frequency correspond to that of the commercial power source. The electrical power generated by the solar cell and the electrical power consumed by the air conditioner are monitored and may be displayed. The DC power generated by the solar cell is used directly by the air conditioner or used indirectly as the commercial power source by merging the converted AC power to the commercial power source. Further, the converted AC power may be selectively merged to the commercial power source depending on the various states of the air conditioner, and the air conditioning operations may be regulated depending on the electrical power generated by the solar cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner for air conditioning an interior, and in particular, to an air conditioner equipped with a solar battery which generates electric power by using sunlight as an energy source and supplies the generated electric power to a commercial electric power source.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air conditioner which air conditions an interior effects heat exchange with a refrigerant so as to operate in various operation modes such as, for example, "heating mode", "cooling mode", "dry mode", and "automatic operation mode" in which a set temperature and the temperature at the time of the start of operation are compared and one of the heating mode and the cooling mode are automatically selected. In this type of air conditioner, various operation settings such as operate/stop, operation mode setting, operation condition setting and the like can be carried out by remote operation by using a remote control which is an accessory of the air conditioner.
A so-called solar air conditioner which uses solar energy as power has been developed as the above-described type of air conditioner (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,429). In this solar air conditioner, the power generated in accordance with the sunlight absorbed by a solar cell is used as the power of the air conditioner. Further, because the generated power is affected by the weather and the time of day, the solar air conditioner is used together with a commercial power source which is used conventionally. The allocation of the use of power generated from sunlight and the use of power from the commercial power source is controlled in accordance with the amount of power generated from sunlight, so that stable air conditioning operation can be guaranteed.
In the solar air conditioner having the above-described structure, the power generated by sunlight can only be used for the solar air conditioner. Therefore, when the solar air conditioner is not being operated or the like, regardless of the energy generating capability, power from sunlight cannot be used effectively.
As a result, supplying the power generated by the solar air conditioner to a general commercial power source has been proposed. Such a solar air conditioner has a power source supplying system which supplies the power generated from sunlight as commercial power, and uses commercial power together with the power generated from sunlight. In this way, the power generated from sunlight can be used effectively.
However, when the power generated from sunlight is supplied as commercial power, in order to monitor the amount of supplied power, an expensive measuring device is needed. Further, even if the solar generator includes a function for displaying the power generating state, the power generating state cannot be verified easily because the solar generator is located outside (i.e., at the exterior).
Because the conventional solar generator generates a relatively large amount of power, the devices for managing and controlling the generated power are relatively large. As compactness of air conditioners used for ordinary households is aimed for, if the solar generator which is formed integrally with the air conditioner is large, installation will be difficult. In the solar generator, the frequency, voltage and phase of the generated power must accurately match those of the commercial power. Further, in order to prevent overloading of the solar generator, interruption of the commercial power source must be accurately detected. Carrying out these detections and controls individually results in the structure of the solar generator becoming complex and in the solar generator becoming large.
When the solar generator is controlled by using the commercial power source, at times when the commercial power source is interrupted or the like, operation of the solar generator is stopped, and appropriate self-monitoring of the solar generator is not possible.
In a case in which, for example, there is a room which is to always be kept at a predetermined temperature or humidity, the consumed power from the commercial power source may vary due to the weather or the time of day so that electricity costs cannot be estimated and unforeseen expenses may result. Accordingly, a solar air conditioner which can furnish power only by solar energy is desirable. However, in order to realize such a solar air conditioner, a solar cell of an extremely large surface area would be required, which is impractical.

Solar generator for generating direct current power by sunlight and outputting generated power to commercial AC power source