An image forming apparatus in which paper fed from a paper feeder is transported to image forming portions. A toner image is formed on the paper, and a pair of paper discharge rollers of a discharge unit are disposed at the rear end of a paper storing unit to discharge the paper into the paper storing unit. Preferably, the paper storing unit is disposed inside of the apparatus, with a lid or panel covering an access opening after the paper discharge operation has been completed, the paper storing unit is withdrawn from the apparatus; and/or feeds a stack of paper outside the apparatus upon opening of the panel. Therefore during the image forming operation, the leakage of noise made in the apparatus is prevented or reduced. Furthermore, since paper is discharged toward the front of the image forming apparatus, the width of the apparatus is minimized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper discharge device and storing unit for an image forming apparatus such as a copier, printer, facsimile transceiver or similar image forming apparatus which forms an image on paper. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an image forming apparatus which includes a paper discharge device for discharging a sheet of paper to a paper storing unit located inside the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1-236155 discloses a paper discharge device in which a sheet of paper is discharged to a paper storing unit located inside the image forming apparatus. The discharge or feed direction of paper into the unit, however, is perpendicular to the pulling direction (direction of removal) of the unit. As a result, the apparatus requires sufficient space to transport and discharge the sheet of paper into the unit perpendicular to the pull-out or removal direction, thus causing the width dimension of the apparatus to be relatively large. Therefore the apparatus is not suitable for a small image forming apparatus such as a table top, or desk side type apparatus.

Paper discharge device and storing unit for image forming apparatus


A delay circuit is provided including: 2n (n is a natural number) unit delay circuits for delaying an input clock signal (with the period of T) in accordance with a delay setting signal and generating and outputting 2n phases of delayed clock signals; a phase locked circuit for locking phases of the input clock signal and an output clock signal of a predetermined one of the unit delay circuits so as to be in phase and for outputting the delay amount setting signal for causing each of the first to the last stages of the unit delay circuits to delay the phase of an output clock signal by T/2n; and a correction circuit to which the input clock signal and the delay amount setting signal are input for generating a corrected clock signal by delaying the input clock signal and outputting it to the delay circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a receiver circuit and a frequency multiplier circuit, and particularly to a receiver circuit part corresponding to a receiver of a Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS) circuit capable of low voltage differential transmission.
2. Background
In recent years, a low voltage differential signal transmission technology using so-called LVDS circuits has become popular for attempting to satisfy demands of high speed data transmission.
The LVDS is a standard of cables for connecting, for example, graphic controllers of personal computers with liquid crystal displays. Since a low voltage and a differential signal are used, it has features of preventing Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) noises from being emitted and of being durable against foreign noises (See for example Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-232490).
The LVDS is mainly used for image data transmission in personal computers, and frequencies of transmission clock (dot clock) signals differ in accordance with image sizes (i.e., panel sizes). The frequencies of the clock signals are typically in a range between 20 MHz and 160 MHz.
The LVDS circuit is provided with data lines for, for example, four channels and a clock line parallel to each other between a driver (also referred to as a transceiver) on the personal computer side and a receiver on the liquid crystal panel side, the clock line transmitting a clock signal CK having a period corresponding to one dot clock (the period of one dot clock corresponds a duration of, for example, seven data bits transmitted through the data lines, namely seven periods thereof) of the liquid crystal panel. The data lines for one channel are composed of a pair of lines each transmitting the data signal having a phase opposite to each other. The pair of transmission lines for transmitting the data signals opposite in phase to each other is referred to as balanced transmission lines.
As described above, the LVDS circuit is configured to transmit one signal with a pair of transmission lines.
The receiver, on a receiving side of the LVDS circuit, is provided with four sampling circuits as data latch circuits, each receiving one of the four channels of serial data respectively transmitted through the four channels of data lines and converting the serial data into parallel data, and a clock generator circuit that receives the clock signal transmitted through one channel of the clock lines and generates sampling clock signals CK1 through CK7 used for data latch for converting by one clock (CK) unit (i.e., seven data clock signals) the serial data respectively input to the four sampling circuits into the parallel data.
As the clock generator circuit, a Delay Locked Loop (DLL) circuit is used. As the sampling circuit, a serial-parallel converter circuit is used that is capable of sampling seven unit data contained in one clock unit forming the serial input data.
The DLL circuit is composed of a phase comparator circuit, a charge pump circuit, a low pass filter (hereinafter referred to as LPF), a DLL bias circuit, a delay circuit including a plurality of unit delay circuits, and a sampling clock generating circuit. In this circuit, the unit delay circuits are connected in series, wherein at least one of the former unit delay circuits are provided as, for example, dummies, the clock signal CK is input to at least one of the unit delay circuits of the former dummies, the input signal of the first unit delay circuit except the dummies is input to one of input terminals of the phase comparator, and the output signal of the last unit delay circuit is fed back to the other of the input terminals of the phase comparator, and clock signals with multiple phases are output from the first through the last unit delay circuits except the dummies.
The amount of delay in each of the unit delay circuits changes in accordance with a control voltage and controlled so that the clock signals CK with multiple phases output form the first unit delay circuit and the last unit delay circuit except the dummies are in phase. As a result, the seven clock signals having phases shifted by a seventh of the period with each other can be generated. Then, the non-overlapping (with no temporal overlapping) sampling clock signals CK1 through CK7 are generated by the sampling clock generator circuit based on the seven clock signals with multiple phases, which can be supplied to the serial-parallel converter circuit, the sampling circuit, as signals for data sampling.
Conventional DLL circuits have a problem that the delays of the output clock signals from the DLL circuits with respect to the input clock signals to the DLL circuits vary in accordance with frequencies of the input clock signals. This causes a further problem that, when sampling the input data by the output clock signals from the DLL circuits, the setup time or the hold time is not sufficient to correctly latch the data.
Accordingly, the present invention addresses the above problem and has an advantage of providing a semiconductor device, a receiver circuit, and a frequency multiplier circuit capable of keeping the delay of the output clock signal from the DLL circuit with respect to the input clock signal to the DLL circuit to stably maintain the setup time and the hold time for the input data.

Semiconductor device, receiver circuit, and frequency multiplier circuit


A microbial adherence inhibitor in the form of fowl egg antibodies is disclosed, along with the method of making it and methods of using it. The inhibitor functions by substantially preventing the attachment or adherence of colony-forming immunogens in the rumen and intestinal tracts of host food animals. The inhibitor is made by inoculating female birds with the immunogen, harvesting the eggs which contain antibodies to the immunogen, harvesting the eggs which contain antibodies to the immunogen, drying the egg contents and adding to the feed or water for the host animals. Dependent upon the particular immunogen with which the female bird is inoculated, the egg antibody is used to promote the growth of food animals by improving feed conversion rates by decreasing the waste of dietary protein caused by the presence of certain colony-forming organisms in the animals, and to substantially reduce or eliminate the incidence of illnesses caused by the presence of certain illness-causing colony-forming immunogens, such as E. coli 0157:H7, in meat from food animals, and in other food stuffs.

Common bacterial immunogens which cause dramatic decreases in an animal's ability to utilize dietary protein include but are not limited to Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, Clostridium aminophilum, and Clostridium sticklandii. According to Russell (USDA-ARS, May 1993) these organisms, and others disclosed therein, have been collectively responsible for wasting up to 25 percent of the protein in cattle diets. This is a loss of as much as $25 billion annually to cattle producers and is especially apparent in "grazing animals which are often deficient in protein, even though their protein intake appears to be adequate." As the host consumes protein in the diet, these deleterious organisms wastefully degrade the protein to ammonia which is converted to urea by the liver and kidneys and thus lost to the host when excreted as urine. These deleterious organisms also compete with beneficial organisms which the host needs for the efficient utilization of ammonia. In addition, they need other beneficial organisms in the rumen for greater ammonia utilization.
The principal objective of the present invention is to substantially prevent the colonization of deleterious organisms such as P. anaerobius, C. sticklandii and C. aminophilum as well as the growth of such organisms in the rumen and the intestinal tracts of food animals resulting in their substantial elimination from the animal by the administration of the fowl egg antibody to the specific organisms.
Common bacterial immunogens which cause food borne illness in humans include E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Campylobacter, all of which produce flu-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and/or fever, and in some cases causes kidney damage or death. In recent years foodstuffs contaminated with these bacteria have caused gastrointestinal distress in tens or hundreds of thousands of people and the recall and destruction of millions of pounds of food. The resulting economic loss has been staggering. Especially daunting as a public health threat has been E. coli 0157:H7, a pathogenic strain of the common gut bacterium, first identified in 1982. The bacteria are carried in the intestinal tracts of food animals and expelled in their feces. From there, the bacteria enter the food supply, not only in the meat of those animals, but foods such as milk, fruit juices, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, radishes and others.
Haptens are partial or incomplete immunogens such as certain toxins, which cannot by themselves cause antibody formation but are capable of combining with specific antibodies. Such haptens may include bacterial toxin, yeast mold toxin, viruses, parasite toxins, algae toxins, etc.
Other colony-forming organisms include Actinomycetes, Streptococcus, Bacteriodes such as B. ruminicola, Crytococcus and yeast molds.
Another principal object of the present invention is to substantially prevent the adherence of immunogens, such as E. coli 0157:H7, or haptens, and the colonization and growth of such immunogens or haptens in the rumen or intestinal tracts of food animals, and substantial elimination of the immunogen or hapten from the feces of the animals, by the administration to the animals of fowl egg antibody to the specific immunogen or hapten.

Immunogen adherence inhibitor and method of making and using same


The invention relates to an illumination device (1) specifically a packaged LED (2), which is embedded in a casing body leaving the bottom side of the LED (2) exposed; on the bottom side, a contacting element (7) is vacuum deposited onto the LED (2), which contacting element protrudes laterally above the LED (2) and allows on a macroscopic level for an electric contacting of the LED (2), namely by connection of flat surfaces, such as welding.

The term "lighting apparatus" within the context of this disclosure relates to a housed optoelectronic component, i.e. a module, which can be fitted together with further modules, for example, on a printed circuit board. The optoelectronic component is a light-emitting component consisting of, for example, a semiconductive material (also abbreviated to "LED" in the context of this disclosure), for example an inorganic or generally also organic light-emitting diode.
In order to house such an LED, it is known from the related art to grip the component with a vacuum tool, for example, and to arrange said component on a conductor track structure which has usually already been encapsulated with molding compound by injection molding in advance (pre-molded leadframe). Once the component has been electrically conductively connected to the leadframe via bonding wires, it is encapsulated by casting with silicone; the silicone in this case fills a cavity which is laterally delimited by the molding compound and in which the component was placed at the start.
The present disclosure is based on the technical problem of specifying a housing for an optoelectronic component which is advantageous in comparison with the related art and a corresponding procedure for housing.

Lighting apparatus including an optoelectronic component


Systems and methods for using image analysis techniques to assess unsafe driving conditions by a vehicle operator are discloses. According to aspects, a computing device may access and analyze image data depicting the vehicle operator. In analyzing the image, the computing device may measure certain visible metrics as depicted in the image data and compare the metrics to corresponding threshold values, and may accordingly determine whether the vehicle operator is exhibiting an unsafe driving condition. The computing device may generate and present alerts that indicate any determined unsafe driving condition.

Individuals frequently operate or otherwise travel in vehicles, where the environments and conditions of the vehicle operation may be varied. Generally, the amount of technologies within vehicles and available to operators has increased, where some of the technologies increase the tendency of vehicle operators to become distracted. For example, user interfaces such as display screens offer more features which may distract the vehicle operators while driving the vehicle. As another example, certain vehicles offer semi-autonomous operation in which the vehicles may be at least partially operated autonomously, which may cause vehicle operators to become less focused and/or drowsy.
However, existing vehicle technologies are limited in detecting when a vehicle operator's condition poses a safety risk, such as if the vehicle operator is distracted or drowsy. Even assuming that operator distraction or drowsiness detection is possible, actually alerting a vehicle operator that he/she is distracted or drowsy is ineffective. Accordingly, risks that occur because of operator distraction or drowsiness are not mitigated.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity for techniques to detect situations of vehicle operator distraction or drowsiness, and efficiently and effectively alert the vehicle operator accordingly.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image analysis technologies for assessing safety of vehicle operation

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company


The present invention relates to positive electrode active substance particles comprising a compound having at least a crystal system belonging to a space group of R-3m and a crystal system belonging to a space group of C2/m, the positive electrode active substance particles having a specific intensity ratio; a content of Mn in the positive electrode active substance particles being controlled such that a molar ratio of Mn/(Ni+Co+Mn) therein is not less than 0.55; and the positive electrode active substance particles comprising an element A (that is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Si, Zr and Y) in an amount of 0.03 to 5% by weight and having a tap density of 0.8 to 2.4 g/cc and a compressed density of 2.0 to 3.1 g/cc. The positive electrode active substance particles can be produced by calcining a mixture of precursor particles comprising the element A, Mn, Ni and/or Co, and a lithium compound.

With the recent rapid development of portable and cordless electronic devices such as audio-visual (AV) devices and personal computers, there is an increasing demand for secondary batteries having a small size, a light weight and a high energy density as a power source for driving these electronic devices. Also, in consideration of global environments, electric cars and hybrid cars have been recently developed and put into practice, so that there is an increasing demand for lithium ion secondary batteries used in large size applications which have excellent storage characteristics. Under these circumstances, the lithium ion secondary batteries having advantages such as large charge/discharge capacities have been noticed.
Hitherto, as positive electrode active substances useful for high energy-type lithium ion secondary batteries exhibiting a 4 v-grade voltage, there are generally known LiMn2O4 having a spinel structure, LiMnO2 having a zigzag layer structure, LiCoO2 and LiNiO2 having a layer rock-salt structure, or the like. Among the secondary batteries using these active substances, lithium ion secondary batteries using LiNiO2 have been noticed because of large charge/discharge capacities thereof. However, in the case where the secondary batteries are used in a movable body requiring a large energy such as electric cars, these materials tend to be still insufficient in discharge capacity, and, therefore, it has been required to further improve properties thereof.
In recent years, it has been found that a positive electrode active substance comprising Li2MnO3 belonging to a space group of C2/m and having a higher capacity exhibits a large discharge capacity (Patent Literature 1).
With respect to the above material, there have also been made various studies on enhancement of a discharge capacity and a rate characteristic thereof. It has been reported that the properties of the material is improved by additives (Patent Literature 2), a heat treatment method (Patent Literature 3), a method of trapping gases generated upon charging (Patent Literature 4), a method of modifying properties of the surface of the particles (Patent Literature 5), etc. However, these conventional methods tend to be still insufficient.

Positive electrode active substance particles and process for producing the same, and non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery


A development apparatus for an image forming apparatus includes

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The electrophotographic image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording medium using an electrophotographic image forming method. Examples of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus include electrophotographic copying machines, electrophotographic printers (for example, laser beam printers and light-emitting diode (LED) printers), and facsimile apparatuses. Further, a process cartridge is formed by integrating an electrophotographic photosensitive drum and process units that act on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, into a cartridge to be attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus main body. Examples of the process units include charging units, development units, and cleaning units that act on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum.
A development apparatus as the development unit included in the process cartridge mainly includes: a frame member accommodating a developer (hereinafter referred to as "toner"); a development roller placed in an opening portion of the frame member; a supply roller that supplies the toner to the development roller; and a developer regulating member that regulates the thickness of the toner on the development roller.
In the development apparatus having such a configuration, to prevent the toner from flowing out of the opening portion of the frame member, end sealing members (sealing members) are generally provided between respective longitudinal end portions of the development roller and the frame member. The end sealing members are supported being attached to supporting portions of the frame member, and seal the toner by abutting the surface of the development roller in the respective longitudinal end portions thereof. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-208689 (p. 21, FIGS. 8A and 8B) discusses a method of mounting a supply roller to a frame member by moving the supply roller in an axis direction of the supply roller. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-208689 (p. 21, FIGS. 8A and 8B), a through hole is formed on a side surface of the frame member, so that the supply roller is inserted through the through hole in the axis direction of the supply roller, thereby mounting the supply roller to the frame member.
The case is considered where, in the configuration where a through hole is provided to allow the insertion of a supply roller into a frame member accommodating a developer as in the above conventional art, a sealing member is provided between an end portion of a development roller and the frame member. If the sealing member and a supporting portion for supporting the sealing member are located between the development roller and the through hole, the supporting portion may be subjected to the pressure from the development roller through the sealing member and may deform. The deformation of the supporting portion reduces the sealing performance of the sealing member.

Development apparatus, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus

Abstract: a first sealing member provided in the supporting portion and configured to seal a gap between a peripheral surface of the development roller and the frame member at one end side of the frame member in the axis direction to prevent the developer from leaking from the frame member; and a second sealing member made of a resin and configured to seal the through hole, and the first sealing member, the supporting portion, and the second sealing member are arranged in this order on the same plane perpendicular to the axis direction.


An inhibitor of the HCV NS3 protease. The inhibitor is a subsequence of a substrate of the NS3 protease or a subsequence of the NS4A cofactor. Another inhibitor of the present invention contains a subsequence of a substrate linked to a subsequences of the NS4A cofactor. In another embodiment the inhibitor is a bivalent inhibitor comprised of a subsequence, a mutated subsequence or a mutated full-length of a substrate of the NS3 protease linked to a subsequence, a mutated subsequence or a mutated full-length suquence of the HCV NS4A cofactor.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is considered to be the major etiological agent of non-A non-B (NANB) hepatitis, chronic liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) around the world. The viral infection accounts for greater than 90% of transfusion-associated hepatitis in U.S. and it is the predominant form of hepatitis in adults over 40 years of age. Almost all of the infections result in chronic hepatitis and nearly 20% develop liver cirrhosis.
The virus particle has not been identified due to the lack of an efficient in vitro replication system and the extremely low amount of HCV particles in infected liver tissues or blood. However, molecular cloning of the viral genome has been accomplished by isolating the messenger RNA (mRNA) from the serum of infected chimpanzees then cloned using recombinant methodologies. [Grakoui A. et al. J. Virol. 67: 1385-1395 (1993)] It is now known that HCV contains a positive strand RNA genome comprising approximately 9400 nucleotides, whose organization is similar to that of flaviviruses and pestiviruses. The genome of HCV, like that of flavi- and pestiviruses, encodes a single large polyprotein of about 3000 amino acids which undergoes proteolysis to form mature viral proteins in infected cells.
Cell-free translation of the viral polyprotein and cell culture expression studies have established that the HCV polyprotein is processed by cellular and viral proteases to produce the putative structural and nonstructural (NS) proteins. At least nine mature viral proteins are produced from the polyprotein by specific proteolysis. The order and nomenclature of the cleavage products are as follows: NH.sub.2 -C-E1-E2-NS2-NS3-NS4A-NS4B-NS5A-NS5B-COOH. The three amino terminal putative structural proteins, C (capsid), E1, and E2 (two envelope glycoproteins), are believed to be cleaved by host signal peptidases of the endoplasmic reticulum(ER). The host enzyme is also responsible for generating the amino terminus of NS2. The proteolytic processing of the nonstructural proteins are carried out by the viral proteases: NS2-3 and NS3, contained within the viral polyprotein. The NS2-3 protease catalyzes the cleavage between NS2 and NS3. It is a metalloprotease and requires both NS2 and the protease domain of NS3. The NS3 protease catalyzes the rest of the cleavages of the substrates in the nonstructural part of the polyprotein. The NS3 protein contains 631 amino acid residues and is comprised of two enzymatic domains: the protease domain contained within amino acid residues 1-181 and a helicase ATPase domain contained within the rest of the protein. It is not known if the 70 kD NS3 protein is cleaved further in infected cells to separate the protease domain from the helicase domain, however, no cleavage has been observed in cell culture expression studies.
The NS3 protease is a member of the serine proteinase class of enzymes. It contains His, Asp, and Ser as the catalytic triad. Mutation of the catalytic triad residues abolishes the cleavages at substrates NS3/4A, NS4A/4B, NS4B/5A, and NS5A/5B. The cleavage between NS3 and NS4A is mediated through an intramolecular enzymatic reaction, whereas the cleavages at NS4A/4B, 4B/5A, 5A/5B sites occur in a trans enzymatic reaction.
Experiments using transient expression of various forms of HCV NS polyproteins in mammalian cells have established that the NS3 serine protease is necessary but not sufficient for efficient processing of all these cleavages. Like flaviviruses, the HCV NS3 protease also requires a cofactor to catalyze some of these cleavage reactions. In addition to the serine protease NS3, the NS4A protein is absolutely required for the cleavage of the substrate at the NS3/4A and 4B/5A sites and increases the efficiency of cleavage of the substrate between 5A/5B, and possibly 4A/4B.
Because the HCV NS3 protease cleaves the non-structural HCV proteins which are necessary for the HCV replication, the NS3 protease can be a target for the development of therapeutic agents against the HCV virus. Thus there is a need for the development of inhibitors of the HCV protease.

Synthetic inhibitors of hepatitis C virus NS3 protease


Silicon carbide films and microcomponents are grown on silicon substrates at surface temperatures between 900 K and 1700 K via C.sub.60 precursors in a hydrogen-free environment. Selective crystalline silicon carbide growth can be achieved on patterned silicon-silicon oxide samples. Patterned SiC films are produced by making use of the high reaction probability of C.sub.60 with silicon at surface temperatures greater than 900 K and the negligible reaction probability for C.sub.60 on silicon dioxide at surface temperatures less than 1250 K.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing silicon carbide films and microcomponents via a C.sub.60 precursor.
2. Description of Related Art
Silicon carbide is a promising material for many semiconducting applications, in particular for integrated circuits operating at extremes of temperature, power, speed, or frequency. Silicon carbide has a wide band gap and excellent physical stability, in addition to high electron mobility, thermal conductivity, and hardness. But silicon carbide is not widely used because of the difficulty in growing large-area single crystals and in etching silicon carbide to form the necessary microstructures.
Chemical vapor deposition techniques are currently available to produce silicon carbide thin films from silane or disilane and hydrocarbon gases (e.g., methane) at high substrate temperatures (>1300 K). However, growth is relatively slow and can incorporate hydrogen into the film from the reactants. The hydrogen from the silane and methane are detrimental to device performance. In addition, the high temperatures make the processing expensive. Dry etching techniques for silicon carbide are also available, but are slow and difficult to control to produce clean, smooth surfaces.
The interaction of C.sub.60 clusters with silicon wafers has been studied by the applicants and others (Hamza and Balooch 1,2!; Sakurai et al. 3!; Weaver et al. 4!; and Creager et al. 5!). These studies have shown that at low temperatures, the C.sub.60 cluster adsorbs strongly, but intact, to the clean silicon surface. Balooch and Hamza 2! documented the reaction of C.sub.60 with silicon and observed the opening of the C.sub.60 cage at temperatures >900 K. Hamza and Balooch have also pointed out that the solubility of carbon in silicon is very small at temperatures below 1600 K.
It has been assumed, then, that the carbon desorbs during annealing at >1150 K, and silicon carbide is not formed. Although some researchers (Sakurai et al. 3!; Chen and Sarid 6!) have claimed to observe SiC island nucleation after heating above 1100 K, the scanning tunneling microscopy results do not have sufficient resolution to show the lattice parameter corresponding to SiC. Thus, their claims of SiC islands are unconfirmed.
A process for forming silicon carbide films and microcomponents at low temperatures in a hydrogen-free environment would be advantageous, particularly in making semiconductor devices. The present invention builds on research conducted by the applicants and provides a method for growing silicon carbide on silicon wafers, producing crystalline thin films and patterns via reaction of silicon with C.sub.60.

Process for forming silicon carbide films and microcomponents


A system and method are presented for sending a message from one telephone to another by transmission of a short code. A set of message units stored within the receiving telephone is assigned to a set of codes which may be transmitted. The receiving telephone is a code-compatible telephone configured to detect an incoming code and forward the corresponding message unit to an output device associated with the code-compatible telephone. A message unit may comprise an entire message, or a portion of a message, such that multiple message units are combined to form a message. The message units may be alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric. An alphanumeric message unit contains multiple alphanumeric characters, while a non-alphanumeric message unit may contain graphical or auditory information. An alphanumeric or graphic message unit is forwarded to a display screen on the code-compatible telephone if the corresponding code is received. An auditory message unit is instead forwarded to the telephone""s loudspeaker. The codes may be transmitted using dual-tone-multi-frequency (DTMF) tones, digital signals, or other signals convertible to a form detectable by the code-compatible telephone. Transmission of codes to a code-compatible telephone may be used in one-way or two-way non-spoken communication by telephone, which may be useful for people with hearing and/or speech impairment, or for people in an environment in which spoken telephone communication is difficult or undesirable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to communication systems, methods and programs, and more particularly to use of a vocabulary formed using telephone keypad symbols to allow non-spoken communication by telephone.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
Communication by telephone has permeated business and social interaction to the point that a telephone is widely considered a necessity. Spoken communication by telephone is generally found to be natural and convenient by users. In some situations, however, spoken communication may be inconvenient or even impossible. For example, hearing-impaired people are generally unable to participate in conventional spoken telephone conversations. Those who have difficulty speaking or are unable to speak (as a result, for example, of congenital problems, illness or injury) have similar problems with telephone usage. Telephone users without hearing or speech impairments may also encounter difficulty with spoken communication in certain circumstances. For example, when a telephone user is located in a very loud environment (such as, e.g., a train station), both participants in the conversation may have difficulty hearing the conversation over the surrounding noise. In other environments, such as during artistic performances, the sound of a person talking on a telephone creates an undesirable distraction for others.
Efforts to enable telephone usage for hearing or speech-impaired persons have long been underway. An older approach which is still relatively common is the use of a teletypewriter, or TTY device. Such a TTY device, also known as a xe2x80x9ctelecommunication device for the deafxe2x80x9d, or TDD, is connected to the telephone of the hearing-impaired person, who communicates by typing onto a keyboard associated with the TDD and reading messages from an associated display. A TDD device must also be used by the person communicating with the hearing-impaired person. If a telephone with a TDD device is not available, a call can be completed by using a TDD relay service. For example, a conventional telephone user may call a TDD relay service, whereupon an operator uses a TDD to contact the TDD of the hearing-impaired person. Use of a human operator in such a relay service is known as xe2x80x9cvoice carry-overxe2x80x9d (VCO). Similarly, a hearing-impaired person may use a TDD to call a telephone number advertised by, for example, a business or government agency to reach a TDD relay service which then contacts the business by conventional telephone.
Use of VCO requires including a third person (the relay operator) in every telephone conversation, thereby compromising the privacy of the conversation. A system which allows TDD communication with an automated interactive menu system (such as may be used by, e.g., financial institutions or airlines in order to supply customer information without employing a human representative) has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,421 to Alheim. This system includes a means for sending the menu prompts used by the interactive menu system to the TDD device of the hearing-impaired person for display, and receiving signals transmitted by the hearing-impaired person in response to the menu prompts, so that a human relay operator is not needed.
TDD devices transmit characters across a telephone line using coded tone signals. One such code is called Baudot, and ASCII coding may also be used. Other approaches to telephone communication for hearing-impaired users involve transmission of the dual-tone-multi-frequency (DTMF) tones used by a xe2x80x9ctouch-tonexe2x80x9d telephone. The set of DTMF signals typically used in telephone communications includes 12 tones, each tone a sum of tones of two frequencies. One of these two frequencies is from a group of four low-frequency tones, having frequencies form 697 Hz to 941 Hz. Each low-frequency tone is associated with one of the four rows of keys within a touch-tone telephone keypad. The other component of each DTMF tone has a frequency from a group of three high-frequency tones, ranging in frequency from 1209 Hz to 1477 Hz. Each high-frequency tone is associated with one of the three columns in the keypad. Pressing a key results in a specific combination of the corresponding row and column frequencies to produce the tone specific to that key.
In an article by Kraft in Circuit Cellar INK(copyright), October 1997, p. 18, a DTMF message decoder and display for use with the telephone of a hearing-impaired person is described. The decoder detects incoming sequences of DTMF tones sent by a standard touch-tone telephone in communication with the telephone of the hearing-impaired person, and displays an alphanumeric character corresponding to each tone sequence on the display so that a message may be read by the hearing-impaired person. Messages are sent to the decoder one letter at a time using a scheme in which multiple key presses are used to distinguish between the different letters associated with each key on the telephone keypad. For example, two presses of the xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d key in rapid succession are interpreted as the letter xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d. Another system for converting DTMF tones to alphanumeric characters in a message display for a hearing-impaired telephone user is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,555 to Underkoffler. In this system, the numerals one through nine are each sent by pressing the corresponding key on the telephone keypad once, while other characters such as letters and punctuation marks are sent using two-key sequences.
The above-described systems which display messages formed from characters sent using DTMF codes each require multiple key presses to be used to form most characters, a requirement which may make communication excessively time-consuming, tedious, and prone to error. A different approach to a DTMF decoding system, described in a paper by Shennib and Kondraske in Frontiers of Engineering and Computing in Health Carexe2x80x941984: Proceedingsxe2x80x94Sixth Annual Conference, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, allows transmission of words using a single keystroke for each letter of a word. A word is entered into the sending telephone by pressing in sequence the keys corresponding to the letters of the word, so that a numeric code is entered. The most likely word corresponding to the particular numeric code entered is then determined using an algorithm which compares portions of the numeric code to stored data including commonly-used syllables and corresponding numeric codes.
Although the system of Shennib and Kondraske allows a character in a message to be transmitted with a single keystroke rather than multiple keystrokes, all of the above-described approaches require sending messages one character at a time, making communication relatively slow. It would therefore be desirable to develop a system and method to allow more rapid non-spoken communication by telephone.
The problems outlined above are in large part addressed by a system and method for assigning a short code to each of a set of message units stored in memory within a code-compatible telephone. The message units may be alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric. An alphanumeric information unit preferably includes multiple alphanumeric characters, and may include a word, phrase, or message. For example, a code may be assigned to a particular written message, which may contain one or more sentences. Circuitry and/or software in the telephone is adapted to detect such an incoming code and display the corresponding message on the telephone""s display screen. Codes corresponding to phrases or words may also be sent sequentially to create messages, so that a message unit may comprise part of a message. A non-alphanumeric message unit may be a unit of graphic information, such as an icon or image. This graphic information is also forwarded to the telephone""s display screen if the corresponding code is received by the telephone. Alternatively, a non-alphanumeric message unit may contain auditory information, or information to be experienced through hearing. If a code corresponding to an auditory message unit is received, the message unit is forwarded to the telephone""s loudspeaker. The alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric message units may be generally referred to herein as xe2x80x9cmessage unitsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmessage informationxe2x80x9d.
After a connection is established between two telephones, the codes corresponding to the message units may be generated by pressing one or more keys on the transmitting telephone""s keypad. For example, the code xe2x80x9c78xe2x80x9d is generated at the transmitting telephone by pressing the xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d keys sequentially within a programmable time interval (if a longer time interval passes between pressing the two keys, they may be interpreted as separate xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d codes). If this code corresponds to an alphanumeric message, a corresponding word, phrase, or message (such as, e.g., xe2x80x9cYesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cCould you repeat that please?xe2x80x9d) is shown on the receiving telephone""s display screen when the code is detected. In a currently preferred embodiment, the transmitting telephone sends DTMF tones when its keypad keys are pressed. The telephone may also send digital signals which are convertible to DTMF tones, however, or other signals capable of being converted to a form detectable by the receiving telephone.
In some embodiments, the transmitting telephone may be configured to store entered codes in a buffer and write them to a display screen on the transmitting telephone, independent of, or without, transmitting a code or codes until instructed to do so by the operator of the transmitting telephone. In such an embodiment, the user of the transmitting telephone may view and/or correct messages before transmission to the receiving telephone. In further embodiments, codes may be entered into the transmitting telephone by selecting a code from a list of codes and corresponding message units which is stored in the telephone.
In one embodiment, the system described herein may be used for non-spoken communication in one direction only. Such an embodiment could be used for communication between a hearing person and a hearing-impaired person who is not speech-impaired. The hearing person enters codes using a telephone keypad, and the corresponding message appears on the display screen of the hearing-impaired person""s telephone. The hearing-impaired person speaks to the hearing person in reply, at which time the hearing person may send an additional code, and the conversation continues in this manner. This one-way non-spoken communication mode may also be useful for situations in which only one of the persons involved in a telephone conversation is in an environment in which speaking into a telephone would distract others. The telephone from which the codes are transmitted in this mode may be a conventional telephone; i.e., this telephone does not need to have a display or be specially configured in order to participate in the communication.
In another mode of using the system, both telephones involved in a conversation are used for non-spoken communication. In this mode, each person inputs codes into a telephone, and views information on a display corresponding to codes sent by the other person. This mode may be useful for communication with a person who is both hearing-impaired and speech-impaired, or for communication between two hearing-impaired people. Two-way non-spoken communication could further be advantageous when at least one of the telephones involved is in a very noisy environment, making spoken speech difficult to distinguish, or when each telephone is in an environment in which speaking would distract others. In the two-way non-spoken communication mode, both telephones preferably include a display and are configured to detect codes sent from the other telephone and transfer the corresponding alphanumeric or graphical information to the display. In some embodiments of either the one-way or two-way non-spoken communication modes, a telephone used to transmit codes may be part of an automated interactive menu system.
As noted above, the system and method described herein allow either one-way or two-way non-spoken communication, which is believed to be advantageous for hearing-and/or speech-impaired telephone users, and for other persons in circumstances for which spoken communication is difficult or undesirable. As compared to the systems described in the xe2x80x9cDescription of the Related Artxe2x80x9d, the system described herein is believed to provide much faster communication, in that an entire message may be represented by a one- or two-digit code. For example, a two-digit code, entered using two keystrokes on a telephone keypad, could correspond to xe2x80x9cI""ll call you again tomorrowxe2x80x9d. When using the systems described in the previous section, on the other hand, this message would take at least 28 keystrokes (the number of characters, including spaces). The system described herein therefore results in much faster message entry. Furthermore, the communications system bandwidth used by a two-digit code representing a message is much smaller than that used by a sequence of codes in which at least one code is needed for each character of the message. Many more conversations can therefore be accommodated by a given communications link.
In an embodiment of the system, some of the codes sent by a transmitting telephone could correspond to auditory signals rather than information intended for visual display. Detection by the receiving telephone of a code corresponding to an auditory signal would result in the auditory signal being sent to the telephone""s speaker, rather than to the telephone""s display. Transmitting codes corresponding to auditory signals could be advantageous, for example, for a situation in which the transmitting telephone is in an environment for which non-spoken communication is preferred, and the receiving phone is being used by a person unable to read (e.g., a young child). In some embodiments for which auditory message units are used, an image or message is simultaneously forwarded to a display screen associated with the receiving telephone. Such a display would alert a person looking at the display that an auditory message was being sent. This may be useful, for example, in lessening confusion in situations in which an auditory message is inadvertently sent to the code-compatible telephone of a hearing-impaired person. The image or message could also be forwarded to the display screen just before the auditory message is forwarded to the speaker. In this way, a hearing person using a code-compatible telephone having a display screen in the handset would be alerted to move the telephone to put the speaker near the ear and listen to the auditory message. Since telephones having the display screen in the handset do not allow simultaneous viewing of the screen and listening to the speaker, loss of information may be avoided by such an alert.
The receiving of codes corresponding to message information may be implemented using a xe2x80x9ccode-compatiblexe2x80x9d telephone including a display, a processor, and memory, in which correspondence data relating codes to message units is stored in the memory, and the processor executes instructions operable to detect incoming codes and forward the corresponding message units to the display (or speaker, in the case of auditory message information). Telephones including a display, processor and memory are currently commercially available and becoming increasingly common, as telephones incorporate increasingly more sophisticated features such as caller identification and directory storage applications. The code-compatible telephone may be configured to communicate over either a cable (also called xe2x80x9cland linexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwirelinexe2x80x9d) or wireless link.
The correspondence data and program instructions described above may be programmed into the telephone at the time of manufacture to form the code-compatible telephone, or downloaded to the telephone using a cable or wireless link. The downloaded data may come from another telephone, or from another device such as a computer. In some embodiments, the correspondence data relating particular codes to message units may be added to or updated by downloading, so that the available message unit options may be customized for particular types of conversation. For example, a different set of message options may be most useful for conversation with a relative than with, for example, a financial institution. In some embodiments, a one-way or two-way transfer of correspondence data may be performed at the beginning of a telephone conversation, to ensure that the most useful messages are available for that conversation. In particular, correspondence data may be transferred from one telephone to a code-compatible telephone independent of, or without (absence of), any action being taken by the operator of the code-compatible telephone. Such a transfer allows very specific messages to be sent to and correctly interpreted by the code-compatible telephone. In another embodiment, a telephone could receive downloaded data from a third party source, as opposed to another telephone to be communicated with. In such an embodiment, a telephone number could be dialed to establish a connection with the third party server (e.g. computer or telephone), and specific data could be downloaded from the server. Such third party servers might offer correspondence data sets for communication regarding specialized topics not generally included in code-compatible telephones as manufactured.
In addition to the code-compatible telephone and methods for its use described above, a method for processing input to a telephone is contemplated herein. A code generated in response to the pressing of one or more keys or selection of a stored code on a transmitting telephone is detected. The message unit corresponding to the detected code is identified, and in the case of verbal or graphical information, is forwarded to the display of the code-compatible telephone. If the message unit is auditory, it is forwarded to the speaker of the telephone. The method may include determining whether input to the telephone constitutes message codes or conventional voice input. The method may also include receiving and/or transmitting correspondence data relating codes to message units.
A computer-usable carrier medium having correspondence data as described above and/or program instructions executable to implement the above-described method for processing input is also contemplated herein. The carrier medium may be a storage medium, such as a magnetic or optical disk, a magnetic tape, or a memory. In addition, the carrier medium may be a wire, cable, or wireless medium along which the program instructions are transmitted, or a signal carrying the program instructions along such a wire, cable or wireless medium. In an embodiment, the carrier medium may contain program instructions executable to implement detection of a code generated in response to pressing one or more telephone keypad keys, identification of the message unit corresponding to the code, and forwarding of the message unit to a display. In some embodiments, the carrier medium further includes instructions executable to forward an auditory message corresponding to a detected code to a speaker. The carrier medium may alternatively contain correspondence data as described above, or may contain both correspondence data and program instructions.

System and method of non-spoken telephone communication


A switch body portion attached to a center console includes a dial switch. The switch body portion is held on the side of the enter console for attachment through engaging of front engagement portions and a rear engagement portion. When an external force having a specified magnitude or greater acts on the dial switch from the rear, the engaging of the front engagement portions is released, so that the switch body portion falls off downward, rotating around the rear engagement portion. Accordingly, an impact which may occur when some object hits against the dial switch projecting upward from an upper face of the center console from the rear can be properly absorbed.

The present invention relates to a falling-off structure of an operational switch for a vehicle.
Some automotive vehicles have been recently equipped with a dial type of operational portion which is provided at a center console to project upward from an upper face of the center console, whereby a display operation, for example, can be conducted through a rotational operation or the like of this dial type of operational portion. In general, the above-described dial type of operational portion is considerably large and also projects upward from the upper face of the center console greatly.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-11744 discloses a structure, in which a switch operational portion which is arranged on a vertical face extending vertically at an instrument panel is configured to move toward the inside of the instrument panel (i.e., forward) when receiving a large load from the rear.
Further, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. H4-60740 discloses a structure, in which a remote-control switch operational portion is arranged on an upper face of a center console portion positioned between a driver's seat and a passenger seat (assistant seat).
Herein, there is a possibility that some object (a baggage or a passenger which are located on a rear seat, for example) may hit against the above-described dial type of operational portion projecting upward from the upper face of the center console from the rear in a vehicle frontal collision or the like, so that it is desired to absorb an impact acting on the object.

Falling-off structure of operational switch for vehicle


A method of providing call admission control which does not require using MIDCOM protocol methods, Packetcable protocols or COPS-RSVP s approaches is described which is simple to implement, cost-effective and which is able to deal with particular situations such as conference calls. Each link in a communications network over which it is required to perform call admissions control is provided with a middlebox connected at each end of that link such that admissions control can be carried out at one end of the link. Call services are provided by Call Servers, each of which has access to a database containing pre-specified information about all middleboxes in that call server's realm. The database also has information about maximum bandwidths for the link associated with each middlebox. The call servers are used to keep a running tally of the amount of VoIP call bandwidth associated with each middlebox on the edge of a low-bandwidth link, and to accept or refuse calls on the basis of the bandwidth information on a per-call basis.

Admissions control is a significant problem in communications networks and especially in connectionless, packet-based, communications networks. For example, consider a particular link in a communications network. If that link becomes congested, the traffic is unable to flow through the link and packets are dropped. This results in deterioration in quality of service for all services provided over that link. In particular situations this has especially severe impact, for example, when the link provides the main access route from a communications network of a particular enterprise or residential customer to a core communications network.
These problems are particularly relevant for voice over internet protocol (VOIP) solutions. If a link is already carrying the maximum number of VOIP calls, or other non-voice traffic, adding additional calls seriously degrades the voice quality of existing calls using that link. The new call added to the link also has poor voice quality. Continuing to add calls to the link degrades the quality of all calls until none of those calls are recognisable.
The term "Voice over Internet Protocol call" is used herein to refer calls involving any suitable type of media over internet protocol. For example, speech calls, fax calls, modem calls or video calls.
FIG. 4 shows a voice over internet protocol (VOIP) communications network in which admissions control is required. A local area network 40 (LAN), or any suitable type as known in the art, is connected via an access link A to a core communications network 42. Any suitable type of access link can be used as is known in the art, for example, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Subscriber, or leased line. However, link A is unable to support calls into the core from all endpoints in the LAN simultaneously. Those endpoints are said to be "concentrated" behind link A. Concentration can be implemented in network designs for example where many of the calls are anticipated to stay on the LAN behind an access link to a core network and/or where not all of the endpoints will need to make calls into the core network at the same time. In this way a customer's LAN may be connected to a core network via a single access link that supports both voice and data at the same time. In such situations there is a need to detect when over utilisation of the access link is likely to occur in order that preventative measures can be taken. However there are currently no suitable methods for detecting link over-utilisation and communicating this to a call server or other management node in order that link over-utilisation can be prevented.
Another example is illustrated in FIG. 5. In this case an enterprise network 50 is connected via a fixed wireless link 51 to a core network 52. The fixed wireless link has limited bandwidth and is unable to support calls from all endpoints in the enterprise network at one time. In addition varying amounts of bandwidth are required for calls, depending on the type of call required (e.g. voice calls can use a multitude of different codecs, each of which have their own bandwidth characteristics, fax call, etc.) and this further increases the complexity of the admissions control problem.
One known form of admissions control for the "access" portion of a network is found in the Packetcable (Trade Mark) standards for dynamic quality of service (DQOS). Packet Cable is a set of protocols developed by Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. The protocols are designed to enable quality of service enhanced communications using packetised data transmission technology to a subscriber's home over the cable network. A network superstructure that overlays the two-way data-ready digital cable television network is used. The Packetcable protocols are thus specifically designed for such cable television networks. Another disadvantage of these protocols from the point of view of admissions control is that all the internet protocol media endpoints (e.g. user terminals and other packet media endpoints) and devices on the edge of low-bandwidth links (i.e. in the Packetcable architecture, the CMTS) are required to fully support the reservation protocol (RSVP). In addition those endpoints and devices are required to support mechanisms to send and receive session identifier information from a call server. Also the call server and the devices at the edge of the low bandwidth link need to support the common open policy service (COPS) protocol. This is problematic because many existing communications networks are formed from equipment made by different manufacturers and where many of the nodes or endpoints do not support RSVP or COPS where needed. In addition, the Packetcable protocols require all layer-3 aware devices in a media path to support RSVP in order that call admission control can be effected. However, this is not the case for many communications networks. For example, FIG. 5 shows a low-bandwidth link 51 where nodes at either end of that link are only layer-2 aware devices. Therefore Packetcable protocol type call admission control mechanisms would not be effective. Other disadvantages of the Packetcable approach to call admission control include that no support for layer 2 flows is provided and the fact that all devices in the network which support RSVP are required to have some policy awareness.
The reservation protocol is defined in the Internet engineering task forces' request for comments (RFC) 2205 whilst COPS is defined in RFC 2748.
The known approach to call admissions control mentioned above which uses the Packetcable standards is now described in more detail. This approach involves the Common Open Policy Service (COPS) with RSVP. An example of a typical architecture for COPS and RSVP admissions control is given in FIG. 6 which shows two access networks connected to a core communications network via Policy Enforcement Points (PEPs). The core network comprises a policy decision point (PDP) and a call server. Using this approach, the originating and terminating parties make an admissions request to the call server using H.248, or any other suitable device control protocol such as media gateway control protocol (MGCP) or NCS where NCS is the Packetcable specific version of MGCP as indicated in FIG. 6. The call server then grants an appropriate service ticket to each of those parties. Next, the originating party or originating PEP spawns a network admission request through the network. A similar request is spawned by the destination party or destination PEP to request a call flow in the opposite direction and so provide a 2-way flow. The PDP receives the admission requests and forwards those to the call server.
The call server verifies the service tickets. The PDP decides whether to accept or refuse the request on the basis of available bandwidth on the low-bandwidth access link and if accepted, opens a reserved path for media for the new call. However, the COPS and RSVP approach is problematic because significant post dial delay occurs as a result of the admission process and also the other problems mentioned above with respect to the Packetcable approach apply; In addition, the means by which the call server and PDP communicate is not yet fully standardized.
More recently the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) have set up a working group to consider ways in which middleboxes can be controlled. The term "middlebox" is used herein to refer to an entity in a communications network which is associated with a low-bandwidth link and which is able to allow or disallow individual traffic flows over that link. For example, the middlebox may be a node connected to one end of a low-bandwidth link. Also, the middlebox may be part of a node which is not directly connected to one end of a low-bandwidth link but which is able to allow or disallow individual traffic flows over that link. The IETF working group is referred to as the MIDCOM (middlebox communications) working group. In the future it may be possible to use protocols developed by the MIDCOM working group to control such middleboxes in order that they themselves perform admissions control. However, these MIDCOM protocols are not yet developed and ratified. Indeed, we understand that the MIDCOM working group is currently working on the control of middleboxes for network address translation and firewall purposes, but not for admissions control purposes. It will be some time before this is the case and those protocols are deployed on all the required nodes in existing communications networks. In addition such MIDCOM methods would require a means by which a call server is automatically able to identify which middleboxes are relevant for a particular call. However, "middlebox discovery" mechanisms like this are not currently known.
Thus a means of providing call admission control which does not require using MIDCOM protocol methods, Packetcable protocols or COPS-RSVP approaches is required which is simple to implement, cost-effective and which is able to deal with particular situations such as conference calls, lawful intercept (known in North America as CALEA), and other potential call service situations is required.
The invention seeks to provide an improved method and apparatus for performing admissions control which solves or at least mitigates one or more of the problems mentioned above.
Further benefits and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and show preferred embodiments of the invention.

Admissions control in a connectionless communications network


Antioxidants for industrial, automotive, and aviation lubricants and methods of making the same are provided. A process using alkylated diphenylamines; alkylated phenyl-α-naphthyl amines; and a metal catalyst to form oxidates is provided. The metal catalyst is a combination of a cation and an organic anion, for example, a metal acetylacetone. The reaction takes place in the presence of oxygen to form an antioxidant comprising oligomers of the alkylated diphenylamine and the alkylated phenyl-α-naphthyl amine, and a metal component of the catalyst.

Antioxidants formed from polymerizing alkylated diphenylamines and alkylated phenyl-α-naphthyl amines are widely used in many industrial, automotive, and aviation lubricants, greases, and fluids to improve their oxidative stability. The polymerization reaction is based on oxidizing alkylated diphenylamines and alkylated phenyl-α-naphthyl amines to form a mixture of homo- and cross-oligomers of these compounds. In some prior art processes, the polymerization occurs in the presence of air or oxygen at high temperature (e.g., 150° C. to 300° C. (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,214).
In other processes, chemical oxidizing agents such as organic peroxides, potassium permanganate, and the like can be used to promote the oxidizing reaction (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,509,214 and 6,426,324). There are certain safety issues, however, associated with storing and handling organic peroxides.
There is a continuing need, therefore, to provide improved processes and antioxidants.

Antioxidants and methods of making antioxidants


A method of etching a surface of a metal clutch part for bonding of friction includes etching, by a laser, a plurality of craters into a specified etching area of the surface of the metal clutch part. The specified etching area is defined by an outer circumference and an inner circumference. The craters define an etch pattern on the surface. The laser follows a predefined path during the etching to generate the etch pattern. The path is one of a plurality of radially aligned and circumferentially overlapping figure eights, each of the figure eights extending from the outer circumference of the specified etching area to the inner circumference of the specified etching area; a plurality of rows of circumferentially aligned and radially overlapping figure eights extending from the outer circumference of the specified etching area to the inner circumference of the specified etching area; or a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially extending lines extending from the outer circumference of the specified etching area to the inner circumference of the specified etching area. The method also includes bonding the friction material to the metal clutch part on the etch pattern.

The friction material in wet-type friction clutches generally operates in an oil submerged environment and is often paper-based material used to form friction material rings.
U.S. Pub. 2015/0276034 discloses a method of laser etching a metal clutch part for adhesion of wet friction material. The method of laser etching in U.S. Pub. 2015/0276034 is hereby incorporated by reference herein. U.S. Pub. 2015/0276034 discloses one possible etch pattern.

Laser etching of patterns on a surface for friction material adhesion


The invention comprises a method for producing electric sheets, in particular grain-oriented electric sheets, with an evenly well-adhering glass film and with improved magnetic properties, in which the hot rolled strip which is produced at first and is optionally annealed is cold-rolled up to an end thickness in one or several steps, thereafter an annealing separator is applied to the strip which is rolled up to the end thickness, and is dried, and therafter the cold strip thus coated is subjected to high-temperature annealing, with an important component of the annealing separator being a hydrous magnesium oxide (MgO) dispersion and the annealing separator being additionally provided with at least one additive. The characterizing feature of the invention is that a finely dispersed water-soluble sodium phosphate compound is used as at least one additive.

In the past a number of additives to the MgO powder were introduced which were to improve the formation of the insulating layer and the magnetic properties of the finished product. These include titanium oxide (TiO.sub.2), boron compounds such as boron oxide (B.sub.2 O.sub.3) or sodium tetraborate (Na.sub.2 B.sub.4 O.sub.7) as well as antimony compounds such as antimony sulphate (Sb.sub.2 (SO.sub.4).sub.3) in combination with a chloride, preferably antimony chloride SbCl.sub.3. The additives used frequently also showed disadvantages in addition to the positive influences on the respective target values, which reduced the product quality. In summary, the processing of such additives is complicated because they partly have to be dissolved in previously heated water. Particularly in the salts of sodium tetraborate and in particular antimony sulphate, which are difficult to dissolve in water, undissolved coarse particles will lead to inhomogeneities in the antisticking layer and thereafter to local defective places in the glass film. With respect to antimony sulphate it has to be taken into account in addition that the compound is expensive and graded within the category of "low-poisonous" substance. An inhomogenous distribution of titanium oxide in the antisticking layer will lead to defective places in the glass film.

Method for producing electric sheets with a glass coating

EBG Gesellschaft fur Elektromagnetische Werkstoffe mbH


A single compartment, non-wedged shaped reagent cartridge for use in an automated clinical chemistry analyzer. The cartridge comprises a hollow relatively narrow reagent compartment formed by an axially elongated, bottom, an axially elongated top, a front end portion and a rear end portion extending vertically between the bottom and top and connecting to opposing right and left sidewalls for completing the reagent compartment. A shoulder engaging flange extends from the top for supporting the cartridge on a shoulder in a cartridge receiving carousel of an automated clinical analyzer including transfer probes for insertion into at least one opening in the top of the cartridge for fluid transfer into the clinical analyzer.

It is common in diagnostic laboratories to utilize automated clinical analyzers for simultaneously or serially analyzing body fluid samples. It is common for such analyzers to include rotatable carrousels for receiving a plurality of reagent cartridges from which different reagents are aspirated and dispensed during the operation of such clinical analyzers.
Representative of such reagent cartridges is the reagent cartridge described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,970,053 and 5,075,082, which are incorporated herein by reference.
The reagent cartridge described and illustrated in the foregoing patents is wedged shape and includes a plurality of storage compartments. The cartridge includes wall members and connecting members formed integrally with the storage compartments for holding the storage compartments in a fixed relationship with respect to each other while separating the wall members from each other to prevent reagent migration between adjacent reagent compartments. Each reagent storage compartment includes an access opening with a neck formed about the opening and including a collar adapted to accommodate an automatically controlled reagent transfer probe. The reagent cartridge is adapted to be inserted into slots formed in a rotatable carousel of the automated analyzer, the slots together with the collars forming a positioning and detent mechanism for removeably securing the cartridge in the slot of the carousel.
Such reagent cartridges are relatively complex and expensive in structure and manufacture. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved reagent cartridge which does not incorporate the complex and structurally expensive wedge shaped multi-compartment features of the prior reagent cartridge. The present invention satisfies such a need.


To provide a non-aqueous secondary battery having a capacity as high as that of a conventional battery using a conventional resin separator and achieving excellent overcharge characteristics and excellent resistance to external short-circuit, a combined electrode plate for a spirally-wound electrode group for a non-aqueous secondary battery including a current collector, an active material layer carried on the current collector and a multi-layer porous membrane carried on the active material layer is used. The multi-layer porous membrane includes a first porous membrane and a second porous membrane. The first porous membrane contains metal oxide particles and a first binder. The second porous membrane contains resin particles and a second binder. The thickness of the multi-layer porous membrane is preferably 15 to 25 μm.

As the power sources for portable electronic equipment, non-aqueous secondary batteries that have a high capacity and are light in weight, namely, lithium ion secondary batteries, are widely used in recent years. A non-aqueous secondary battery has a porous separator made of resin for electrically insulating positive and negative electrodes from each other and for retaining a non-aqueous electrolyte. The resin separator melts when the battery temperature is too high, and clog the micropores thereof. This prevents the migration of ions through the electrolyte, and hence the safety of the battery is maintained. Such function of the separator is called shut-down function. A resin separator is usually made of a resin susceptible to thermal deformation such as polyolefin resin.
When a battery is charged to have more than its nominal capacity, in other words, when overcharge is performed, the battery temperature might be very high. In such case, the separator's shut-down function is expected to work. However, when a current during overcharge is relatively large, the battery temperature might increase suddenly and the separator sometimes shrinks to smaller than the positive and negative electrodes in width. This allows the positive and negative electrodes whose reactivity has been increased to contact with each other, which might accelerate overheating.
In an attempt to overcome the above problem while the conventional shut-down function is maintained, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-266828 (Patent Document 1) proposes a separator comprising an inorganic porous membrane containing inorganic powders and having high thermal resistance and an organic porous membrane made of a polyolefin resin alternately laminated. The organic porous membrane is produced by mixing a polyolefin resin, inorganic powders and an appropriate amount of an organic plasticizer, which is kneaded with heating and formed into a sheet, from which the inorganic powders and the organic plasticizer are extracted. In this production method, the organic porous membrane will have a large micropore volume ratio (porosity), and therefore it becomes brittle in structure. As such, considering the battery producing process, particularly the ease of handling during the step of spirally winding the positive and negative electrodes with the separator interposed therebetween, the separator including the inorganic porous membrane and the organic porous membrane is required to have a very large thickness, namely, not less than 40 μm. Accordingly, it is difficult to achieve a battery having a capacity as high as that of a battery using a conventional separator with a thickness of about 15 to 30 μm. In the case of Patent Document 1, the capacity ratio of high rate discharge to low rate discharge will also be low.
As a means to enhance safety during an abnormal increase of battery temperature due to overcharge while maintaining a high capacity, there is a method in which a slurry containing a metal oxide filler and a resin binder is applied onto the surface of an electrode plate by an ordinary printing method, followed by drying with hot air to form a porous membrane, for example. This method has the advantage of low material cost and low production cost. Moreover, even if the battery is short-circuited due to the penetration of a nail or the like, because the metal oxide filler has high thermal resistance, the extension of the short-circuited area will be prevented. Accordingly, the above-described method ensures a high level of safety. When using only a conventional separator, the short-circuited area is extended along with heat generation, which might contribute to further heat generation.
In the case of the porous membrane containing a metal oxide filler and a resin binder, however, because the metal oxide filler contributes to maintain porosity of the membrane even during an abnormal increase of the battery temperature, although the resin binder melts, the migration of ions through the electrolyte cannot be prevented, which means the shut-down function might not work properly.

Spirally-wound non-aqueous secondary battery and electrode plate used therefor


Disclosed is a method and related apparatus for increasing the extraction efficiency of honey from honeycomb. Capped honeycomb is placed in a vessel and heated air is flowed past the honeycomb and in contact with the honeycomb. Heat is transferred from the flowing air to the honeycomb by forced convection. The honeycomb is removed from the vessel after the honeycomb reaches a desired end temperature. The heated honeycomb is then removed from the vessel, uncapped, and honey is extracted from the uncapped honeycomb. Heating the honeycomb by forced convection heats the capped honeycomb quickly to reduce the viscosity of the honey in the honeycomb for faster extraction, and enables recovery of honey from honeycombs having crystallized honey.

Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth disclosed in his US Patent 9300 the movable frame beehive that includes a generally rectangular box or boxes (the box being referred to today as a "super") in which are hung a number of spaced-apart vertical frames. Each super has four sides enclosing the interior of the super and no top or bottom sides (although top and bottom sides may close the ends of the super while the super is in the beehive).
Langstroth-style frames in modern beekeeping are typically inches wide and 1 1/16 inch thick. Frame heights are typically provided as deep, 9⅛ inches tall, medium, 6¼ inches tall, and shallow, 5⅜ inches tall. A super typically contains eight or ten frames. FIG. 10 illustrates in simplified form a medium super S containing ten frames F.
Bees store processed nectar forming the honey in honeycomb built on the frames. FIG. 10 illustrates a portion of honeycomb H covering one side of a frame F, the opposite side also covered by honeycomb. When the honeycomb is full the bees reduce the moisture content of the honey and cap the honeycomb with beeswax.
When it comes time to harvest the honey, supers containing frames with capped honeycomb are removed from the hive. Before extracting the honey from the frames, the frames are removed from the super and each frame is uncapped, that is, the beeswax cap is removed so that liquid honey can flow out from the honeycomb. The uncapped frames are placed in a centrifuge extractor whereby the frames spin and centrifugal force flows the honey from the frames. Examples of centrifugal extractors are disclosed in Swaney U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,507, Miramonetes US Patent Application Publication 2019034089, and Oliveira Jr US Patent Application Publication 20100003893, each of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The efficiency of centrifugal extraction of honey is highly dependent on the physical state of the honey in the frames. More viscous (thicker) honey takes longer to flow from the frames than does less viscous (thinner) honey.
Furthermore, honey in a crystallized state within a frame is nearly impossible to extract. Crystallized honey can be thought of as "solid honey" that will not flow out of the frame. The solid honey can cause the centrifugal extractor to become unbalanced, leading to frame damage and even damage to the centrifugal extractor.
Attempts to return solid honey to liquid form within frames have proven unsuccessful. Heating the frames in an oven to heat the honeycomb and "melt" the solid honey is thwarted by the inability to evenly heat the frames in a timely and cost-effective manner. Solid honey is therefore fed to the bees rather than being extracted as commercially valuable liquid honey.
Thus there is a need for a more efficient method for extracting honey from honeycomb that includes more viscous honey or crystallized honey.

Method and apparatus for increasing honey harvest efficiency


In one aspect, a light device is provided having an elongate body that has a high strength construction. The high-strength light device is especially well-suited for use as a work light. The work light includes a high-strength body that has a handle and an elongate light-transmissive portion extending from the handle. Preferably, the light-transmissive portion includes a one-piece tubular wall that is tapered and which is molded from a high-strength material. In another aspect, the light device includes anti-rolling surfaces axially between the handle and light transmission portion along the elongate body. The anti-rolling surfaces preferably have a flat configuration so that the flat surfaces keep the elongate body from rolling when placed on a support surface.

Work lights or shop lights are useful lighting devices having wide applications for providing illumination in rugged environments such as workshops, garages, campsites, and many other places. Given the rugged environment in which the lights are used in, it is generally required that the work light have a robust construction such that the light source is not damaged or broken during use.
Common work lights use a variety of different lighting sources to provide illumination. For instance, incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs are common lighting sources used in the work light. While such bulbs are capable of providing sufficient illumination, they have the shortcoming of being fragile and, therefore, requiring relatively large or bulky housings to protect the bulbs from breakage. For instance, incandescent light bulbs, such as a 60-watt light bulb, are often used in work lights, but require bulky, cage structures surrounding the bulb for protection. While the cage may provide limited protection to the bulb, it still does not prevent the bulb from breaking if the work light is dropped. Moreover, the bulky cage structure limits the areas the work light can be used in because its large size prevents the incandescent work light from being used in tight or other confined spaces. Similarly, the fluorescent light bulb, such as the gas-filled, tube light, may be more compact in size than the incandescent bulb, but such bulbs are still very fragile and, therefore, also require extensive protection. In many cases, the protection surrounding the fluorescent light bulb is much larger in terms of its diameter as compared to the diameter of the fluorescent tube itself. As a result, the fluorescent work light also has a limited use in confined spaces. Therefore, while the fluorescent bulb may be narrow, the combination of the bulb or bulbs and required particular housing is quite large, particularly, in the radial direction transverse to the axis of the fluorescent tube.
Other attempts at work lights use LEDs as the light source. The LED or light emitting diode is a very compact and an efficient, solid state light source that is less fragile than incandescent or fluorescent glass lights, but still provides sufficient illumination, especially when several LEDs are grouped together. As a result, work lights using LEDs may be smaller than incandescent or fluorescent work lights, and also generally require smaller housings encasing the LEDs therein. Current work lights that use LEDs as the light source generally seek to take advantage of the sturdier construction of the LED itself and incorporate less robust housings or casings for the lighting device. In that regard, many housings for LED work lights are fabricated from multiple components, which may compromise the integrity and strength of the housing. For instance, in practice it is believed a typical LED work light housing will include a cylindrical casing assembly that surrounds the LEDs via two elongate semi-cylindrical casing parts that are attached at two part lines 180° spaced from each other about the cylindrical casing assembly. Further, a separate end cap is utilized to enclose the free end of the cylindrical casing assembly. By having a three-piece casing assembly, the semi-cylindrical and end cap housing parts can be more readily formed of high strength material; nevertheless, such a configuration can create areas of weakness at the joints or interfaces between the semi-cylindrical casing parts and the end cap attached thereto that compromises the overall strength of the work light. Moreover, such multiple casing components also require more complicated supply chains, the fabrication of more parts, and the additional assembly step of combining all the parts.
When not being held, it is common for the work light to be set down on the floor or a flat, work or support surface like on a table. Prior cylindrically configured work lights can roll when placed down on a flat support surface. Often, in addition to the curved light casing, the work lights also have curved handle surfaces, which may provide a comfortable grip, but also permit the light to easily roll upon a support surface. It can be aggravating to have the work light roll beyond one's reach and potentially damaging to the work light should it be placed on a raised table work surface and then roll thereon to where the work light falls off the table.
Therefore, it is desired to obtain a simplified LED work light having a compact and robust construction. In addition, a work light having a generally cylindrical configuration that does not roll along work surfaces would be desirable.


An air bag device for a knee of an occupant, includes an air bag to be extended in front of a seat of a vehicle and in a zone at a height of the seat. The air bag device is arranged at a widthwise center portion of the vehicle. The air bag includes a first air bag to be extended in a zone in front of the righthand seat of the vehicle, and a second air bag to be extended in a zone in front of the lefthand seat of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for protecting an occupant of a vehicle and, more particularly, to an air bag device for a knee of an occupant as called a "knee bag device".
2. Description of the Related Art
An occupant protecting device having an air bag (or a knee bag) to be extended in front of a knee of the occupant of a vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 24110/1972 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 28050/1991. This knee bag can be extended to protect the lower half of the occupant by preventing the submarine motion of the occupant (i.e., the motion of the occupant's body into a spare adjacent the front lower portion of the seat).
The occupant protecting devices, as known in the above-specified individual publications, have their air bag device arranged in front of the center of the seat. As a result, the air bag device is positioned near the knees of the occupant to raise a problem of deteriorating the comfortableness of the vehicle cabin.
In order to protect the occupants on both driver's and passenger's seats, two air bag devices have to be disposed at both the driver's and passenger's seats in accordance with the prior art so that component cost is raised and that the mounting of the air bag devices consumes long time.

Air bag device for a knee of an occupant


An IEEE 488 interface couples a microprocessor to one or more devices that are connected to an IEEE 488 bus. Message transmission speed is improved by overlapping a portion of the T1 bus settling time with the microprocessor's write pulse, when it is known that the data on the microprocessor's bus is valid for a predefined period of time before the write pulse's trailing edge. Improved handshake synchronization is achieved by generating an interrupt signal to notify the microprocessor that the last byte of an incoming message has been received. The terminal count signal generated by the microprocessor's DMA controller is used to detect the end of multiple byte messages sent by the microprocessor. The interface automatically generates an EOI signal on the IEEE 488 bus when the last byte of the message is asserted on the IEEE 488 bus data lines. This greatly simplifies the transmission of multiple byte messages by the microprocessor compared with the protocol used by prior art interfaces. The DMA controller's terminal count signal is also used to prevent the loss of data being sent by a device on the IEEE 488 bus to the microprocessor, which typically happens when the microprocessor has to service another device in the midst of receiving a long message from the first device. The loss of data is prevented by detecting a break point in the message transmission, i.e., when the DMA terminal count signal becomes active, and then holding off the first device from asserting "data valid".

Microprocessors are used today f or performing the internal operations of modern instruments. Additionally, computers and microprocessors are used to control test and measurement systems. The primary method used for interconnecting and communicating between instruments and control computers (controllers) is the IEEE 488 bus.
The IEEE 488 bus is essentially an electrical signal transmission bus with a predefined set of lines. A set of predefined protocols govern the methodology for transferring information over the bus from a controller to specified devices, and vice versa. By using an industry standard bus, the manufacturers of a wide variety of instruments can ensure that standard software packages and interface circuits can be used to connect their instruments to microprocessor based controllers. That is,, purchasers of these instruments do not need to buy a different customized controller for each instrument, because all such instruments use the same set of signal lines and the same set of communication protocols.
Integrated circuits (chips) are used to interface the computer or microprocessor to the IEEE 488 bus. The IEEE 488 interface integrated circuits (IEEE 488 chips) that exist today were designed and developed prior to the publication of the latest instrumentation standards: ANSI/IEEE 488.1-1987 and ANSI/IEEE 488.2-1987, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. These chips, for the most part, conform to an earlier standard: IEEE Std 488 -1978, also hereby incorporated by reference.

IEEE 488 interface for message handling method