Fire protection systems and methods provide for the protection of horizontal concealed interstitial spaces of either a solid wood joist, open bar joist or open truss construction system. The systems and methods provide and locate fire protection sprinklers to define localized heat detection areas that are over 1000 sq. ft, at least 2000 sq. ft., over 2000 sq. ft. and/or otherwise unconfined by draft curtains or other barriers.

One example of an interstitial concealed space in need for fire protection is the interstitial space between floors of a building, i.e., a combustible interstitial concealed space. Such concealed spaces can be constructed using truss systems in which parallel truss members are spaced apart from one another at on-center spacing that can range from twelve inches to 24 inches (12-24 in.). The truss members support an upper deck and/or a lower deck, for example an upper floor and ceiling, in a spaced apart relationship with the horizontal interstitial space defined in between. Each truss member can be fabricated from wood or steel and generally includes a top chord, a bottom chord with one or more angled, open web members extending in between the chord member in which the chord members may be parallel or pitched.
Concealed spaces can also be constructed using joist systems in which parallel joist members are spaced apart from one another at the on-center spacing to support the upper and lower decks in the spaced apart relationship. Each support member in the joist construction system generally includes an upper joist member to support the upper deck and a separate lower joist member that is axially spaced from and aligned with the upper joist member to support the lower deck in the spaced apart relationship. There are three types of joist construction systems: (i) solid wood joists: (ii) composite wood joists; and (iii) open bar joists. In solid wood joist construction, each of the supporting members is a solid wood member of rectangular cross-section. Generally, the members are oriented so that the narrowest edge of the members forms a supporting surface for the deck. In composite wood joist construction, each supporting member is a wood beam of I-beam cross-section with an upper flange component, a bottom flange component and a narrower solid wood web element in between to join the upper and bottom flange components. In composite wood joist construction, each I-beam is oriented with the broadest surface of either the upper or lower component of the I-beam supporting the deck surface. In open bar joist construction, supporting joist members consist of steel truss-shaped members. Alternatively, bar joist can be constructed from wood top and bottom chords with open steel tube or bar webs in between. Regardless of the type of concealed space construction, insulation or other blocking material can be installed in the spaces between parallel upper joist members or upper parallel chords to a depth than that is equal to that of the respective upper supporting component.
Interstitial space fire protections systems generally include a piping network that extends in the space between the support members to supply firefighting fluid to a plurality of spaced apart automatic fire protection sprinklers coupled to the piping network. Fire protection installations are generally subject to industry accepted fire code requirements and the approval of the "authority having jurisdiction" (AHJ) to ensure compliance with the applicable codes and requirements. Known commercially available automatic fire protection sprinklers and systems for the protection of concealed interstitial spaces require that the space be divided such that every one thousand square feet (1000 sq. ft.) of area that is protected by such sprinklers and systems is surrounded by a perimeter of heat collection baffles, draft curtains or solid walls that will not allow heat to escape the 1000 square foot area. One exception to the perimeter requirement is where the interstitial space is formed by a solid wood or composite joist construction system having non-combustible solid filled insulation between supporting joist members of the upper deck and the piping network of the fire protection system is of steel piping. The sprinklers and their relative spacing define these localized heat detection spaces in which the sprinklers can individually and collectively detect the heat release from a fire heat and collected by the surrounding baffles. Sprinklers thermally actuated, in response to the heat release, distribute firefighting fluid to address the fire. One known commercially available automatic fire protection sprinkler for the protection of concealed interstitial spaces is shown in Technical Data Sheet Form No. F_081216 Rev. 17.3: COIN Quick Response Upright Sprinkler VK950 (Specific Application) from The Viking Corporation of Hastings, Mich.
For a fire sprinkler system to be approved for concealed space protection it is typically demonstrated to the AHJ that the system and its equipment, including its fire protection sprinklers, are suitable for such performance. To facilitate the AHJ approval process, fire protection equipment can be "listed," which as defined by NFPA 13, means that the equipment is included in a list by an organization that is acceptable to the AHJ and whose list states that the equipment "meets appropriate designated standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose." Listing and approving organization includes, Underwriters Laboratories Inc. ("UL") and FM Approvals LLC. Applicable standards for concealed space sprinklers and fire protections sprinklers generally include: (i) "UL 199: Automatic Sprinklers for Fire-Protection Service" (11 ed.) (Rev. Mar. 14, 2008) ("UL199"): (ii) "UL 199H: Outline of Investigation for Fire Testing of Specific Application Sprinklers for Use In Horizontal Concealed Spaces-Issue No. 1" (Feb. 17, 2014)("UL199H"); and "Approval Standard for Automatic Sprinklers for Fire Protection—Class Number 2000" (February 2018) ("FM 2000") from FM Approvals LLC. The various standards provide the water distribution and fire test requirements to establish that a given sprinkler is suitable for automatic fire protection sprinklers generally and for concealed space fire protection.
The installation, listing and/or approval guidelines and standards require consideration of several characteristics of the sprinkler for application and compliance. Sprinkler characteristics include: the orifice size or nominal K-factor of the sprinkler, the installation orientation (pendent or upright), the thermal sensitivity or response time index (RTI) rating of the sprinkler, the sprinkler deflector details and the sprinkler spacing or coverage. Generally, automatic fire protection sprinklers include a solid metal body connected to a pressurized supply of water, and some type of deflector spaced from the outlet to distribute fluid discharged from the body in a defined spray distribution pattern over the area to be protected. The discharge or flow characteristics from the sprinkler body is defined by the internal geometry of the sprinkler including its internal passageway, inlet and outlet (the orifice). As is known in the art, the K-factor of a sprinkler is defined as K=Q/P1/2, where Q represents the flow rate (in gallons per minute (GPM)) of water from the outlet of the internal passage through the sprinkler body and P represents the pressure (in pounds per square inch (psi)) of water or firefighting fluid fed into the inlet end of the internal passageway though the sprinkler body.
The spray pattern or distribution of a firefighting fluid from a sprinkler defines sprinkler performance. Several factors can influence the water distribution patterns of a sprinkler including, for example, the shape of the sprinkler frame, the sprinkler orifice size or discharge coefficient (K-factor), and the geometry of the deflector. The deflector is typically spaced from the outlet of the body. The deflector geometry is particularly significant since the deflector is the main component of the sprinkler assembly and to a great extent, defines the size, shape, uniformity, and water droplet size of the spray pattern.
To control fluid discharge from the sprinkler body is a fusible or thermally responsive trigger assembly which secures a seal over the central orifice. When the temperature surrounding the sprinkler is elevated to a pre-selected value indicative of a fire, the trigger assembly releases the seal and water flow is initiated through the sprinkler head. The thermal sensitivity of the trigger assembly and sprinkler is measured or characterized by Response Time Index ("RTI"), measured in units of (m-s)1/2. Under the FM 2000 standard, an RTI of 80 (m-s)1/2 to 350 (m-s)1/2 [45-635 (ft.-s)1/2] with a Conductivity factor (C-factor) of 2.0 (ms)1/2 [3.62 (f/s)1/2,] or less defines a "Standard Response Sprinkler; and an RTI equal to or less than 50 (m-s)1/2 [90 (ft.-s)1/2] with a C-factor of 1.0 (m/s)1/2 [1.81 (f/s)1/2] or less defines a "Quick Response Sprinkler."
For large interstitial concealed spaces over 1000 sq. ft. and more particularly for areas up to an over 2000 sq. ft., fire protection installations, depending on the construction, require placement of baffles to divide the interstitial space into 1000 sq. ft. areas localized heat detection areas or installation of appropriate blocking, which can increase the complexity and cost of construction. Accordingly, there is a need for fire protection sprinklers and systems that either expand the localized heat detection area and/or reduce the construction costs.

Systems and methods for fire protection of horizontal interstitial spaces with expanded localized heat detection areas

Minimax Viking Research & Development GmbH


A method for winding a paper web in which the paper web is wound by a winder or equivalent winding apparatus onto a roll and the running speed of the winder is controlled based on the frequency of rotation of the roll so that when the frequency of rotation of the roll approaches a range of oscillation, i.e., a range of frequency of rotation of the roll in which intensive oscillation occurs, the running speed is lowered quickly so that the frequency of rotation of the roll is reduced to a level lower than the lower frequency of the range of oscillation. Thereafter, the running speed of the winder is increased so that the frequency of rotation of the roll remains substantially constant until, e.g., the running speed of the winder prior to the reduction thereof as the frequency of rotation of the roll approached the range of oscillation is reached.

It is known in the prior art that when winding a paper web, for example when the paper web is wound in a slitter-winder, with certain paper grades, for example fine paper or liner papers, intensive oscillation peaks always occur at the same ranges of frequency of rotation of the roll irrespective of the running speed of the slitter-winder. The number of these ranges of oscillation, i.e., ranges of frequency of rotation of the roll, in which intensive oscillation occurs in the slitter-winder, is generally from 1 to 3, depending on the ultimate diameter of the roll being wound. This intensive oscillation produces winding broke, mechanical wear of the equipment, even detaching of the roll from the winding device, and often lowers the winding capacity of the winder because the running speed of the winder must be lowered during winding to avoid these detrimental effects.


Fatty amide compositions and their derivatives are disclosed. The fatty amides comprise a reaction product of a metathesis-derived C10-C17 monounsaturated acid, octadecene-1,18-dioic acid, or their ester derivatives with a primary or secondary amine. Derivatives made by reducing, quaternizing, sulfonating, alkoxylating, sulfating, and sulfitating the fatty amide are also included. The amine reactant can be diethylenetriamine or (2-aminoethyl)ethanolamine, which provide imidazoline amides or esters, respectively. In one aspect, the ester derivative of the C10-C17 monounsaturated acid or octadecene-1,18-dioic acid is a lower alkyl ester. In other aspects, the ester derivative is a modified triglyceride made by self-metathesis of a natural oil or an unsaturated triglyceride made by cross-metathesis of a natural oil with an olefin. The compositions are valuable for cleaners, fabric treatment, hair conditioning, personal care, antimicrobial compositions, agricultural uses, and oil field applications.

Fatty amides are reaction products of fatty acids or esters (including oils and glycerides) and an amine. The amine may be ammonia or a primary or secondary amine (e.g., dimethylamine, ethanolamine, isopropanolamine, or diethanolamine). Another important class of fatty amide product are imidazolines produced by reacting a fatty acid or ester with diethylenetriamine (DETA), (2-aminoethyl)ethanolamine (AEEA), or the like. The imidazolines are particularly interesting because they can be quaternized to enhance water solubility and extend their applicability. Fatty amides, including imidazolines and their quats, have utility in a wide range of end-use applications, including fabric softening (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,304,026 and U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2007/0054835), hair care (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,642,977 and 6,306,805, and U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2006/0128601), detergents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,696,043; 3,759,847; and 6,057,283), handsoaps (U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,422), agricultural adjuvants (U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,911 and U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2011/0124505), and functionalized monomers (U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2009/0143527).
The fatty acids or esters used to make fatty amides are usually made by hydrolysis or transesterification of triglycerides, which are typically animal or vegetable fats. Consequently, the fatty portion of the acid or ester will typically have 6-22 carbons with a mixture of saturated and internally unsaturated chains. Depending on source, the fatty acid or ester often has a preponderance of C16 to C22 component. For instance, methanolysis of soybean oil provides the saturated methyl esters of palmitic (C16) and stearic (C18) acids and the unsaturated methyl esters of oleic (C18 mono-unsaturated), linoleic (C18 di-unsaturated), and α-linolenic (C18 tri-unsaturated) acids. The unsaturation in these acids has either exclusively or predominantly cis-configuration.
Recent improvements in metathesis catalysts (see J. C. Mol, Green Chem. 4 (2002) 5) provide an opportunity to generate reduced chain length, monounsaturated feedstocks, which are valuable for making detergents and surfactants, from C16 to C22-rich natural oils such as soybean oil or palm oil. Soybean oil and palm oil can be more economical than, for example, coconut oil, which is a traditional starting material for making detergents. As Professor Mol explains, metathesis relies on conversion of olefins into new products by rupture and reformation of carbon-carbon double bonds mediated by transition metal carbene complexes. Self-metathesis of an unsaturated fatty ester can provide an equilibrium mixture of starting material, an internally unsaturated hydrocarbon, and an unsaturated diester. For instance, methyl oleate (methyl cis-9-octadecenoate) is partially converted to 9-octadecene and dimethyl 9-octadecene-1,18-dioate, with both products consisting predominantly of the trans-isomer. Metathesis effectively isomerizes the cis-double bond of methyl oleate to give an equilibrium mixture of cis- and trans-isomers in both the "unconverted" starting material and the metathesis products, with the trans-isomers predominating.
Cross-metathesis of unsaturated fatty esters with olefins generates new olefins and new unsaturated esters that can have reduced chain length and that may be difficult to make otherwise. For instance, cross-metathesis of methyl oleate and 3-hexene provides 3-dodecene and methyl 9-dodecenoate (see also U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,941). Terminal olefins are particularly desirable synthetic targets, and Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. recently described an improved way to prepare them by cross-metathesis of an internal olefin and an α-olefin in the presence of a ruthenium alkylidene catalyst (see U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2010/0145086). A variety of cross-metathesis reactions involving an α-olefin and an unsaturated fatty ester (as the internal olefin source) are described. Thus, for example, reaction of soybean oil with propylene followed by hydrolysis gives, among other things, 1-decene, 2-undecenes, 9-decenoic acid, and 9-undecenoic acid. Despite the availability (from cross-metathesis of natural oils and olefins) of unsaturated fatty esters having reduced chain length and/or predominantly trans-configuration of the unsaturation, fatty amides and their derivatives made from these feedstocks appear to be unknown. Moreover, fatty amides and their derivatives have not been made from the C18 unsaturated diesters that can be made readily by self-metathesis of a natural oil.
In sum, traditional sources of fatty acids and esters used for making fatty amides and their derivatives generally have predominantly (or exclusively) cis-isomers and lack relatively short-chain (e.g., C10 or C12) unsaturated fatty portions. Metathesis chemistry provides an opportunity to generate precursors having shorter chains and mostly trans-isomers, which could impart improved performance when the precursors are converted to downstream compositions (e.g., in surfactants). New C18 difunctional fatty amides and derivatives are also potentially available from oil or C10 unsaturated acid or ester self-metathesis. In addition to an expanded variety of precursors, the unsaturation present in the precursors allows for further functionalization, e.g., by sulfonation or sulfitation.

Imidazoline amides and derivitives from natural oil metathesis


The invention relates to a hardening furnace, in particular for sheets of glass (2) and the like. In the furnace, the glass sheets (2) are sustained and transported by a conveyor plane (1) of the roller type above and beneath which plane an upper radiating surface (3) and a lower radiating surface (4) are arranged. The upper radiating surface (3) is composed of a plurality of longitudinal strips (31) arranged side-by-side and parallel to the movement direction of the plane (1), while the lower radiating surface (4) is constituted by a plurality of transversal strips (41) arranged transversally to the said movement direction. Each of the strips (31 and 41) is separated from the contiguous strips and represents the lower and upper walls of chambers (32 and 42) separated one from the other. In each said chamber (32 and 42) there is a device which confers regulatable thermal energy, for example, a radiating tube (15).

The invention relates to a hardening furnace, in particular for sheets of glass and the like.
The prior art embraces hardening furnaces equipped with a conveyor plane, generally having motorized rollers, which plane supports the sheets of glass, transports them and alternates the movement direction.
In such realizations, thermal energy is transferred to the sheets of glass usually by radiation by means such as electric resistance, radiating plates, always electrically powered, arranged above and below the conveyor plane in such a way as to cover the entire surface of both sides of the sheet of glass completely. An appropriate distribution of the means of radiation, combined with regulation of the energy source, permits regulating and dosing the flow of energy which hits, moment by moment, each point or zone of the surface occupied by the said conveyor plane on which the sheets of glass are moved. In particular, this permits dosing the energetic flow hitting the sheets of glass crossing the furnace both in longitudinal and in transverse directions in such a way as to realize uniform heating of the same sheets of glass. The possibility of control of the flow distribution on the conveyor or work plane, which depends essentially on the relative ease of regulation permitted by the electric energy source, permits treating, without drawbacks, loads of glass sheets which differ in size and dimensions both in tranverse and in longitudinal directions.
Such prior art realizations, with electric energy sources, are characterized by high energy costs.

Hardening furnace for sheets of glass and the like


A method for hosting versioned web services includes steps of: receiving a request from a service requester, the request comprising version metadata; parsing the request; extracting the version metadata from the parsing step; and locating a target implementation version using the version metadata. If the target implementation version is located, the method proceeds by dynamically routing the versioned request to the target implementation version.

Web services are increasingly viewed as an important component in building distributed applications. As these services inevitably evolve and change, service version management will increasingly become a key part of the service lifecycle. In this context the lack of an end-to-end versioning model provides challenges to the service provider when trying to manage version transitions, especially in a continuous availability context, especially in the web services model of once published, always published. Versioning of web services is challenging, because it inevitably affects each part of the service lifecycle.
A common scenario is the rollout of a new version which is backward compatible with a previous version. Compatible version transition should ideally be handled in such a way that existing service consumers are insulated from any knowledge of the change. In a continuous availability context, the service provider ideally wants to manage this type of version transition smoothly in such a way that there is no service disruption. Ideally, a new version is appropriately tested in the production environment before committing to the transition. The transition is rolled out gradually (at whatever rate is appropriate) and with a way to smoothly back out or rollback problem versions. In order to support these types of transitions it is necessary to support concurrent deployment of multiple service versions. If two or more compatible versions of a service are deployed concurrently, the problem of how to route service requests to an appropriate version must be explicitly addressed.
The known art in supporting versioning of web services falls into two approaches. One focuses on methods of dealing with and or simplifying the problem of adaptation by the service consumer to service changes, i.e. requiring the active participation of the service consumer to cooperate with service provider changes. For a backward compatible change another approach is to address the version transition aspect with for example, an orchestration scheme to manage the transition as quickly as possible without any service disruption. This insulates the service consumer from any awareness of the change with the constraint being that only one version of the service can be active at a time.
The web services versioning problem is a subset of the second approach, the more general distributed programming model. A distributed programming model service, such as a web service, consists of a service implementation which performs some function (an implementation module), a service specification which describes the function and how the service can be invoked (such as a WSDL file), and service requesters which make service requests of the service provider following the service specification (such as a web service client). We use the more general term service in the following discussion with the understanding that it is applicable to a web services model as well as other distributed service models.
Versioning is an often overloaded term, which can have different meanings depending on the context or the viewpoint. From the service consumer's point of view, a web service "version" would describe and apply to the interface of the service—the operations and parameters, results, etc. of this particular version. A service provider, hosting multiple versions of a service, manages implementation versions which need to be installed, started, stopped, and so on. These two versioning concepts, while inter-related, are not the same.
During a service's lifetime, it will usually go through one or more revisions as requirements or business needs change. When a new version of a service is ready to be deployed, the service provider necessarily needs to plan for the upgrade. In selecting a version transition strategy, the service provider is faced with the task of introducing the new version in such a way so as to provide a smooth, managed transition, with support to back out a problem version, while maintaining continuous availability and minimizing the impact on service consumers.
One strategy which provides a smoother and more flexible (compatible) version transition is to support the side-by-side deployment of two versions. During a phased transition period, both versions can operate simultaneously until such a time as the system administrator is confident and ready to retire the old version. In practice, these transition periods can be arbitrarily long, especially with stateful services or long running business processes which have instantiated data associated with a particular version of the service.
In an unversioned environment, a common approach is usually limited to swapping the old version with a backward compatible new version. Without support for multiple version coexistence, some sort of rollout orchestration is used to handle the changeover as quickly as possible while maintaining continuous availability. This type of in place exchange, while transparent to the service consumer, provides little flexibility to the service provider. To get around the version coexistence limitation, the service provider can deploy a new version with a new name which, while giving more flexibility, has the unattractive quality of requiring the explicit cooperation of service consumers to adjust to the version change.

Method and approach to hosting versioned web services

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of polishing an integrally bladed rotor includes the steps of positioning a mask on an integrally bladed rotor such that a portion of the integrally bladed rotor is unmasked to define an exposed portion and polishing the exposed portion of the integrally bladed rotor.

Gas turbine engines can include an integrally bladed rotor that is utilized in fan and compressor applications. The integrally bladed rotor includes a rotor hub and circumferentially spaced blades extending outwardly from and joined metallurgically to a periphery of the rotor hub.
An integrally bladed rotor can be subject to an abrasive polishing process to improve the efficiency of the integrally bladed rotor. Portions of the integrally bladed rotor can be masked to prevent abrasive media from contacting specific areas of the integrally bladed rotor.

Super polish masking of integrally bladed rotor


A conveyer with an automated sorting system comprises a transport mechanism, a guide mechanism, and a sorting mechanism. A sorting sensor activates electrical spiral tubes which, in turn, actuate left and the right separation pieces to guide pins of the transport mechanism along desired guide rails so as to alter their original moving paths. More particularly, the guide pins are capable of moving along three different directions: left, middle, and right. The article intended to be transported is thus sorted out automatically and is sent to the designated area.

The present invention relates to a conveyor, and more particularly to a conveyor designed with an automated sorting system.
The articles or goods being transported on a conveyer of the conventional type are generally sorted out by manual labor or other means with poor efficiency and less uniformity throughout the sorting process.
A commonly used conveyor capable of doing an automated sorting of articles or goods being transported thereon is generally nothing but a conventional conveyer with a movable stop plate or a movable screen plate attached thereto. Upon having been actuated by a sensor, the stop plate or the screen plate works to push aside the subject article or goods to be transported to a designated area of classification to which it belongs. However, the article or goods sorted by the method described above is generally subject to damage.

Conveyer with an automated sorting system


A disconnect switch assembly includes first and second disconnect switches with each of the first and second disconnect switch including a housing, a fixed main contact in the housing, and a movable main contact in the housing in cooperating alignment with the fixed main contact. Each of the movable main contacts is coupled to a (common) first actuator. A second actuator is coupled to the housing of the first disconnect switch and a third actuator is coupled to the housing of the second disconnect switch. The first actuator is configured to concurrently apply first and second motive forces (in opposing but in-line directions) to the movable contacts of the first and second disconnect switches. The second and third actuators are configured to apply a motive force to the housings that is in a direction opposing a respective motive force applied by the first actuator to the movable main contacts.

Circuit interrupters provide protection for electrical systems from electrical fault conditions such as, for example, current overloads, short circuits and abnormal level voltage conditions. Typically, circuit interrupters include a stored energy type operating mechanism which opens electrical contacts to interrupt the current through the conductors of an electrical system in response to abnormal conditions, although a wide range of driving mechanisms may be employed.
Circuit interrupters can be high voltage or low voltage. Referring to FIG. 1, circuit interrupters, such as, for example, power circuit breakers for systems operating above about 1,000 volts, typically utilize a vacuum interrupter (VI) 15 as the switching device but lower rated devices may also use VIs. The circuit interrupters include separable main contacts 16, 17 disposed within an insulating housing 15h. Generally, one of the contacts 16 is fixed relative to both the housing 15h and to an external electrical conductor which is interconnected with the power circuit associated with the circuit interrupter. The other contact 17 is moveable. In the case of a VI, the moveable contact assembly usually comprises a stem 15s of circular cross-section having the contact 17 at one end enclosed within a vacuum chamber 15c and an actuator driving mechanism coupled at the other end which is external to the vacuum chamber 15c. The actuator driving mechanism provides the motive force to move the moveable contact 17 into or out of engagement with the fixed contact 16. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,952,826 to Leccia et al., the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
VIs are typically used, for instance, to reliably interrupt medium voltage alternating current (AC) currents and, also, high voltage AC currents of several thousands of amperes or more. Conventionally, one VI is provided for each phase of a multi-phase circuit and the VIs for the several phases are actuated simultaneously by a common operating mechanism, or separately by separate operating mechanisms (and separate auxiliary switches).
Conventional interruption times are on the order of about 30 ms to about 85 ms. There remains a need for disconnect switches that can accommodate high voltages while providing fast opening gap(s) for use with power distribution systems.

Disconnect switch assemblies with a shared actuator that concurrently applies motive forces in opposing directions and related circuit breakers and methods


A digitally-controlled oscillator comprises an input for the supply of a digital input word, an adder, a stable local oscillator and a delay circuit, comprising a delay stage with a number of serially-connected coarse delay elements and a fine delay stage with a number of serially-connected fine delay elements. The coarse delay stage and the fine delay stage are embodied such that the maximum total delay and the minimum total delay differ by at most one period of the cycle signal. The delay produced by the number of fine delay elements corresponds to the delay of one coarse delay element. Each coarse delay element and each fine delay element comprise their own controllable selector.

Sending audio and video data in real time requires the data rate at the transmitter and receiver to match in order to avoid impairing the reproduction quality as a result of underflows or overflows in buffer-stores for data (buffers). The receiver accordingly also needs to receive clock information which defines the exact data rate at all times. This clock information may come from the transmitter itself or else from an external clock reference, and in the latter case the transmitter also needs to be synchronized to this external clock reference.
In both cases, clock information needs to be distributed, however. In this context, the transmission is frequently not ideal, i.e. the clock is overlaid with jitter during distribution. For this reason, clock recovery is frequently used, the task of which is to suppress or reduce this jitter by means of filtering (and possibly also to multiply the clock frequency).
Clock recovery with jitter suppression is normally implemented by a phase trimming circuit PLL (phase-locked loop). The clock generator used for the PLL is frequently voltage controlled oscillators VCO. However, such VCOs have, as analog circuits, the drawback that they can be integrated on an application-specific integrated circuit ASIC only in complex fashion.
Digitally controlled oscillators DCO are far superior to an analog VCO not only in respect of their integratability in an ASIC but also in respect of their power and area requirements. Most DCOs are based on a DLL (Delay-Locked Loop) or on a ring oscillator. Although ring oscillators may be used for jitter suppression (jitter filtering), the low frequency resolution and the high susceptibility to natural jitter limit the range of application of ring oscillators. Although conventional DLL-based implementations of DCOs can multiply the frequency of the input signal, they provide no jitter filtering, since there is no genuine frequency synthesis involved.
A PLL with a DLL-based solution for a DCO has already been described in U.S. Pat. No. 2002/0008557. The DCO is clocked by a stable oscillator. In addition, the DCO comprises an adder which generates a desired output frequency. An input word is repeatedly added to a start value for the adder, so that the adder fills or overflows cyclically. Once the adder has filled or overflowed, a rising edge of the output signal is generated upon the next rising edge of the input clock (clock from the stable oscillator). If generation of the rising edge of the output signal produces a "remnant term" on the adder (that is to say if the input word added to the counter reading of the adder was larger than the remaining capacity of the adder), this remnant term (which is that part of the input word which exceeds the capacity of the adder) is written to a register and represents the timing error in the output signal. The remnant term is used to actuate a multistage delay circuit (coarse delay, fine delay). The delay circuit has a plurality of delay stages (coarse delay stage, fine delay stage), each delay stage being provided with individual discrete taps downstream of each delay element. In this case the remnant term controls which of the taps in the delay stage is respectively tapped off so that the output signal (which, of course, has a timing error which is represented by the remnant term) can be delayed such that the timing error in the output signal is compensated for when the correspondingly delayed output signal then has the correct phase again.
To select the respectively suitable tap, the delay stage contains a multiplexer (selector) whose inputs are connected to the individual taps downstream of the respective delay elements (specifically a respective input on the multiplexer is connected to a tap downstream of a delay element), so that the remnant term can actuate the multiplexer such that the corresponding tap is selected for which the output signal is delayed such that the timing error is compensated for.
This is done by virtue of a coarse delay stage taking the coarse delay elements it contains as a basis for first of all coarsely delaying the output signal. The coarse delay stage delays the output signal as closely as possible to the delay which is required in order to compensate for the timing error, as is possible on the basis of the delay by the individual coarse delay elements (at most just as far as the required delay; if this is not exactly possible on the basis of the delay by the individual coarse delay elements, then as far as that coarse delay which is just below the delay which is required for the compensation). The signal delayed by the coarse delay stage is then delayed further in at least one fine delay stage (or else in a plurality of fine delay stages) until the delay which is necessary in order to compensate for the timing error is reached (or as close to this as is actually possible on the basis of the delay by the individual fine delay elements). The fine delay stage is designed such that passing through all of the fine delay elements (maximum delay by the fine delay stage) brings about a delay which corresponds to exactly one coarse delay element.
The difference between the maximum and minimum delays by the entire delay circuit (coarse delay stage and fine delay stages) is exactly one period of the input clock (clock from the stable oscillator).
As already mentioned, the inputs of the multiplexer need to be connected to the many individual taps on a delay stage of this type, which causes significant difficulties for the implementation of such a delay stage in an integrated circuit (e.g. on silicon), because each tap downstream of a delay element needs to be connected to the input of the multiplexer by a connection of equal length (or in better terms: of equal shortness) so that no relevant propagation time differences arise on the path from the taps downstream of the individual delay elements to the inputs of the multiplexer (otherwise the accuracy of the delay would be impaired no less than considerably, if the operability were not actually seriously called into question).
In the case of the coarse delay stage described in U.S. Pat. No. 2002/0008557, these alone are 64 taps which need to be connected to the inputs of the multiplexer. However, beyond the 64 taps which are used, the individual delay stages normally also contain a significantly larger number of delay elements which are not always all used, however, but whose taps still need to be connected to the inputs of the multiplexer, because, depending on the application, it is, of course, not known beforehand how many delay elements are actually needed for a particular application. Hence, taking into account the stipulation that no relevant propagation time differences must arise, the difficulties in implementing a delay stage of this type in silicon become immediately clear upon consideration of the propagation time for the signals between respective taps and the associated inputs of the multiplexer.


An electrical switching device has a housing composed of an electrically conductive material, at least one conductor plate having a region of an electrically conductive material and arranged in the housing, plug connection means extending from the housing in a sealed manner, and an element for electrically conductive connection of the conductor plate with the housing. The element for electrically conductive connection includes a mechanically prestressed spring element. The spring element has one end abutting against the conductor plate in the region of an electrically conductive material and another end fixedly connected with the housing.

The present invention relates to an electrical switching device which is used in practice.
More particularly, it relates to an electrical switching device which has an electrically conductive housing, at least one conductor plate located in the housing and provided with conductor paths and electrical structural elements, and plug connection parts passing from the housing in a sealed manner.
In a known electrical switching device a mass spring is soldered on the lower side of the conductor plate and has an end abutting against the inner wall of the housing. This design is however not sufficiently suitable for an automatic series production. In each individual switching device the mass spring is soldered manually on the conductor plate. Thereby the switching device is very expensive. A mass contact for the conductor plate is also required, for increasing the electromagnetic compatibility and for avoiding disturbances of the radio reception from the control device. In individual cases it is for example possible that the transmitter search of an outer radio in a motor vehicle receives the disturbing radiation extending from the switching device as beams of a radio transmitter. Further, it is prescribed in accordance with law regulations to avoid the disturbing radiations of this type.


Embodiments relate to a method and device for transmitting and receiving sidelink HARQ feedback information. An embodiment relates to a method of receiving, by user equipment, a positioning reference signal (PRS). The user equipment receives configuration information regarding a PRS resource, which is used in reception of a PRS, from a base station, configures the PRS resource for the user equipment in accordance with the configuration information, and receives the PRS from the base station via the PRS resource.

As a greater amount of communication traffic is required along with the development of technology, a next generation 5G communications system, i.e. a broadband wireless communications system improved from an existing long-term evolution (LTE) system, is required. In the next generation 5G system, also referred to as new radio access technology (NR or New RAT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) communications, massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) have been proposed. In order to meet requirements for respective scenarios of use, designing a frame structure more flexible than the LTE system is required.
That is, NR needs to be designed so as to meet not only data transmission rates improved as compared to those of LTE but also a variety of requirements according to specified scenarios of use.
With such demand, in NR, a flexible design is required for a positioning reference signal (PRS) so as to be able to support a variety of scenarios of use regarding the positioning of user equipment.

Method and device for transmitting and receiving reference signal for positioning

IUCF-HYU (INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY COOPERATION FOUNDATION HANYANG UNIVERSITY)


A method a device and a computer readable medium for providing information regarding a virtual reality (VR) image are disclosed. The method includes providing the VR image. The method also includes determining, based on a gaze of a user viewing the VR image, an image that is reproduced in a partial area of the VR image as an image of interest. The method further includes providing information regarding the image of interest.

Recently, apparatuses for providing images to users by using virtual reality (VR) devices have been developed. VR technology allows users to feel a sense of reality via manipulated sense stimuli and may be utilized in many industrial fields such as games, education, medicine, and journalism.
With the development of VR-related technology, users may view a 360-degree image by using various devices. Users viewing a 360-degree image may feel more immersed compared to when they view a planar image.

Method and apparatus for providing information regarding virtual reality image


The present invention relates to compounds of formula (I) that are useful as hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5B polymerase inhibitors, the synthesis of such compounds, and the use of such compounds for inhibiting HCV NS5B polymerase activity, for treating or preventing HCV infections and for inhibiting HCV viral replication and/or viral production in a cell-based system.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major health problem that leads to chronic liver disease, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, in a substantial number of infected individuals. Current treatments for HCV infection include immunotherapy with recombinant interferon-α alone or in combination with the nucleoside analog ribavirin.
Several virally-encoded enzymes are putative targets for therapeutic intervention, including a metalloprotease (NS2-3), a serine protease (NS3, amino acid residues 1-180), a helicase (NS3, full length), an NS3 protease cofactor (NS4A), a membrane protein (NS4B), a zinc metalloprotein (NS5A) and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (NS5B).
HCV NS5B polymerase is described, for example, in Behrens et al., EMBO J. 15(1) 12-22 (1996). Antagonists of NS5B activity are known to be inhibitors of HCV replication. See Carroll et al., J. Biol. Chem. 278(14) 11979-84 (2003).
There is a clear and long-felt need to develop effective therapeutics for treatment of HCV infection. Specifically, there is a need to develop compounds that selectively inhibit HCV viral replication and that would be useful for treating HCV-infected patients.

Heterocyclic-substituted benzofuran derivatives and methods of use thereof for the treatment of viral diseases


A firearm includes a barrel portion, a slide, and a frame. The frame includes a grip, and the grip includes a magazine chamber and a rear surface adjacent the slide. At least one sensor is carried by the grip, and the at least one sensor adapted to sense a state of the magazine detachably received in the magazine chamber corresponding to a number of cartridges of ammunition remaining in the magazine. A display is carried on the rear surface of the grip, and the display includes a plurality of illuminating devices. The display is operatively coupled to the at least one sensor and is operable to visually present the number of cartridges of ammunition remaining in the magazine by illuminating at least one of the plurality of illuminating devices.

Firearms typically do not provide users with information regarding the state of the firearm, although some firearms include electronic components that are intended to improve user experiences. Such electronic components include, for example, locks, safety devices, memories for storing firing parameters, rounds counters, compasses, programmable triggers, keyboards for configuring the firearm, and liquid crystal displays for presenting information to the user. However, firearms including such electronic components are typically difficult to manufacture and/or cumbersome for the user. In some cases, such firearms would also require use of uncommon firing mechanisms.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Firearm including electronic components to enhance user experience


The present invention refers to a support frame (1) for wall-mounting one or more electrical apparatuses, the frame comprising a frame body (2) that can be fixed to a wall and extending around an opening (5) defining a mounting seat suitable for receiving and holding one or more electrical apparatuses. The support frame (1) is characterised in that it also includes: —at least one optical source (7.1, 7.2) suitable for generating an optical signal; —an electrical circuit (20, 10) connected to said optical source (7.1, 7.2) to supply it with an electrical power supply signal, —means (16.1, 16.2, 16.3) for housing said electrical circuit (20, 10) and said source (7.1, 7.2), foreseen in said frame body (2), the frame body (2) allowing the propagation of at least one part of said optical signal towards the outside of said body.

For the purposes of the present description, by electrical apparatus we mean, in general, any means or electrical device generally forming part of electric installations in civil buildings and the like and usually intended to be mounted, for example built in, onto walls of such buildings.
This definition therefore includes, not limitingly, switches, electrical power sockets, sockets for data networks, TV sockets, telephone sockets, buttons, commutators, deviators, electrical adjustment devices in general, connectors, thermostats, timers, fuse-boxes, alarms/buzzers, emergency lights (for example removable), indicator lights (for example guidance lights), displays (for example LCD) and the like.
As known, many of the aforementioned electrical apparatuses are usually installed on a wall using composite mounting structures, or groups of parts, generally including:                a box intended to be built into the wall;        a apparatus-carrying mounting frame (or support frame) that can be fixed to the box and comprising a frame body extending around an opening defining a mounting seat suitable for receiving and holding one or more electrical apparatuses; and        a cover plate that can be fixed to the frame and provided with an opening to allow a user to gain access, visually or manually, to the electrical apparatuses installed on the support frame.
There is a great requirement to make a mounting group that allows a user to easily identify it even in poorly lit locations.

Support frame for electrical apparatuses


A time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy including: a laser light source that outputs a pulse having less than or equal to a femtosecond level pulse width and variable repetition frequency; a pump light pulse generator configured to generate pump light pulse that excites photo-carriers of a sample by converting wavelength of light output from the laser light source; and a probe light pulse generator configured to generate probe light pulse that photo-emits photo-carriers excited by the pump light pulse from the sample by photoelectric effect by converting wavelength of light output from the laser light source. The energy of at least one of the pump light pulse and the probe light pulse is configured to continuously vary in a range not less than 0.1 eV and not more than 8 eV.

A method has already been proposed that observes the behavior of electrons in a metalic material in accordance with the pump/prove method by using a pulse laser whose repetition frequency and wavelength are fixed as an excitation light source of the photoemission electron microscopy (see Non-patent Literature 1). On the other hand, it is strongly desired to develop a device and method which may directly observe the behavior of electrons in a semiconductor material and an insulator having high resistivity, and not in a metalic material. A femtosecond pulse laser having a temporal width of a femtosecond level may be used in order to implement a high time-resolved resolution i.e., femtosecond scale. Since the sample is charged due to the shortage of electrons by irradiating with a femtosecond pulse laser, it is not easy to create an image of carrier dynamics by an observation device, such as an electron microscope and photoemission electron microscopy.
The influence of charging of a sample due to irradiation with a femtosecond pulse laser may be reduced by reducing the photon density of the pulse of the femtosecond pulse laser. However, when the photon density of the pulse of the femtosecond pulse laser is reduced, the measurement time may be longer and, the signal-noise ratio (SN ratio) may be reduced.
In order to solve the above-described problems, the inventors, et al. of the present invention have proposed a time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy combining the pump/probe method and the photoemission electron microscopy, using a repetition frequency variable femtosecond pulse laser as a light source (see Patent Literature 1). Since the photoemission electron microscopy described in Patent Literature 1 may suppress charging of a sample, the carrier dynamics in a semiconductor may be observed with a high temporal resolution and a high spatial resolution.

Time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy and method for imaging carrier dynamics using the technique

INTER-UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE CORPORATION HIGH ENERGY ACCELERATOR RESEARCH ORGANIZATION


A snap ring installation tool includes a finger gripping portion, a middle portion which is generally integral with the finger gripping portion, an arcuate open cylindrical portion, having an interior surface and a predetermined radius of curvature matching that of the snap ring. The snap ring installation tool may be used to install a snap ring of a clothes dryer hose, an attachment ring of a garbage disposal or other application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hand tools, and more particularly to pipe handling and plumbing tools, and still more particularly to a snap ring installation tool.
2. Discussion of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR §§1.97, 1.98
Snap rings are an inexpensive and simple solution for attaching hoses to fittings. Common applications are routinely found on consumer appliances such as clothes dryer vent hoses and garbage disposal attachment rings. Plumbers and other appliance professionals have special snap ring tools, resembling pliers, that spread a snap ring so that it can be slipped over a pipe or fitting and then released to engage the pipe or fitting as a kind clamping device. Many appliance manufactures anticipate that consumers will perform their own installation and therefore include instructions specifying the tools required.
To be consumer friendly, appliance manufactures try to design connections so that the need for special tools is either minimized or entirely obviated to complete the appliance installation.


An optical system for the attenuation of laser light for measurement purposes which includes four logical subassemblies including a first attenuator subassembly for the attenuation of high power laser light, a second attenuator subassembly for lower power attenuation of the laser light, a third lens subassembly for collecting beam size data simultaneously at multiple locations in space, and a fourth logical subassembly including a beam measuring assembly for recording the beam size data received from the lens subassembly for analysis of the beam characteristics. The first attenuator subassembly is provided with a pair of reflecting, opposed facing, fixed wedges. The reflecting wedges are selectively tilted to eliminate interference effects between their inward facing reflecting surfaces. The second attenuator subassembly further includes a pair of opposed facing and movable wedges arranged in series with a fixed filter. The lens subassembly includes a positive optical lens for focusing the beam into a series of beam splitters which redirect the beam data for simultaneous collection on a beam measuring assembly. The beam measuring assembly preferably also includes a fixed filter disposed in front of the light collection surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems for controlling the transmission of light. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for attenuation of laser light without disturbing the relative distribution of light intensities across the beam.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
When making measurements of the width of laser beams, and their propagating parameters, there is a need for large amounts of attenuation of the laser light. This is because lasers concentrate a large amount of light power in small beams so that normal light detecting devices are strongly overloaded by most common laser sources.
The necessary attenuation must be accomplished without disturbing the relative distribution of the light intensities across the beam in order to make meaningful measurements of the laser beam parameters.
Further, in the case of pulse lasers in particular, it is necessary to collect samples of the beam at three (3) or more positions in space simultaneously so that the propagating parameters of a single pulse of laser light can be determined.
An unusual property of laser light, compared to more common and well-known light sources, is called its "long coherence". This means that laser light maintains a very pure wave characteristic over much longer distances than common light sources. That is, the laser light "wavetrain" maintains a uniform frequency and phase over a broad space transverse to the direction of propagation.
These pure waves, if combined together from the various reflections of an optical system, cause what are called "interference" effects. As generally defined, interference of waves is the process whereby two or more waves of the same frequency or wavelength combine to form a wave whose amplitude is the sum of the amplitudes of the interfering waves. This translates into regular increases and decreases of the light intensity across the laser beam. Pure waves in an optical system may travel over different path lengths and may have either the same wave-timing or opposite wave-timing. Thus, for two waves having the same wave-timing, their wave peaks add together and the light intensity increases. For two waves having opposite wave-timing, the peaks of the first wave coincide with the troughs of the second wave and the waves cancel each other and the light intensity decreases.
The commonly available optical attenuators of the prior art were originally developed for use with ordinary or "impure" light. Such light has a very short coherence length, typically only small fractions of a millimeter. The ordinary impure light waves can only cause interference effects over very short distances. Because of this, reflections in ordinary optical systems do not cause perceptible interference effects. Most optical system reflections are separated by much greater distances than a fraction of a millimeter; the reflections cause some reduction of the ordinary light passing through an ordinary light optical system but do not cause local fluctuations of the light.
The need for substantial attentuation of laser beams for measurement purposes requires a number of attenuators in the optical system. Also, these attenuators should be variable in order to accommodate a wide range of laser powers and beam sizes. It is also necessary that none of these attenuators cause interference effects or other distortions of the output beam.
In addition to interference effects, ordinary optical attenuators may be heated by the laser beam itself causing local optical distortion of the beam or even destruction of the attenuator itself.
The prior art recognizes some of the difficulties outlined above but a complete solution has not yet been presented. The costs of some of the partial solutions made available to this time are unnecessarily high or distort the beam in some manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,273 issued to Maisenbacher et al., recognizes the need to avoid interference effects in a single attenuator and does so by tilting the outgoing surface of the attenuator with respect to the incoming surface of the attenuator so that the light reflected at the outgoing surface is reflected away from the optical path of the incoming beam. Maisenbacher also teaches to leave the incoming surface of the attenuator uncoated so that a strong interference occurs between the orthogonal attenuator surface and the output mirror of the laser itself. However, the minimum degree of tilting necessary to achieve a desired result and avoid other undesirable effects is not addressed. Further, Maisenbacher does not address the more important need to control the interference effects between successive attenuators positioned in series.
The strongest interference effects in an optical system which is composed of successive attenuators occur between the outward facing surfaces of adjacent optical parts. The interference effect within a neutral density (N.D.) attenuator is reduced by the internal attenuation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,899, issued to Longhenry discloses a calibrating device for a photometering analyzer for measuring light scattering characteristics of bacterial colony samples. The calibrating devices include a wedged shaped piece of neutral density glass to obtain continuously variable attenuation. The Longhenry patent does not consider that the wedged attenuator introduces a uniform change of attenuation across the beam along the direction where the wedge thickness is changing, thus changing its intensity distribution.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,538,335, issued to Tartanjan discloses the use of a neutral density filter comprising two variable attenuators, oriented in opposed fashion, which are adapted to cancel the change of attenuation across a light beam transmitted therethrough. In a first embodiment, the attenuators are optical discs which vary linearly in optical density with angular displacement. The discs are counter rotated with respect to each other to achieve a neutral density filter. Tartanian also suggest to substitute in place of one of the discs a single neutral density wedge which is fixed in position and varying in neutral density. In a second embodiment, the filter comprises a pair of opposed facing film segments, each of which vary in opacity from one extreme to another and are oriented with respect to each other such that the attenuation is uniform through the filter. Tartanian does not address the need for avoiding interference effects between the successive attenuators of the filter, nor is there any teaching or suggestion for selecting a particular wedge angle to overcome interference effects when a fixed wedge attenuator is proposed. Also the cost advantage of fabricating the variable attenuators from neutral density glass is neither recognized nor addressed in this patent.
When measuring high power lasers the general need to avoid absorption in the first attenuation steps has been recognized by many workers in the field. For example, strongly-wedged single beam-splitter product, Model LBS-100, has been offered by Spiricon Corporation of Logan, Utah, for this application. However, this single splitter changes the direction of the beam substantially. This means that the beam can not be used for its intended purpose while being measured, unless the entire optical train is rearranged. The strong wedge also alters the size of the beam in one axis.
From U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,064,284 and 5,078,491, both issued to Johnson, there is disclosed an apparatus for laser mode "quality" measurement which is suitable for continuous wave lasers. This apparatus is not useful for measuring single laser pulses, since the beam size data is not collected simultaneously at multiple positions in space. There is no mention of the need to avoid interference effects in and between the optical elements.
To solve the various subtle problems and requirements for attenuating laser light for beam measurement purposes, a new and useful system of special optical attenuators, and their appropriate combination, is here proposed.
The system to be described herein provides both a non-distorting wide-range attenuation method and the simultaneous measurement of the beam at multiple positions using a non-distorting attenuation method.

Measuring laser beam parameters using non-distorting attenuation and multiple simultaneous samples


A method for operating an internal combustion engine in which a valve needle of a fuel injector is adjusted from a closing position via an intermediate position to an opening position and back again. The adjustment is carried out with the aid of a piezoelectric actuator to which a trigger signal is applied. To reduce the contamination danger of the fuel injector and to keep wear of the valve needle low, the trigger signal for triggering the piezoelectric actuator has a greater slope steepness during the transition of the valve needle from the closing position to the intermediate position than during the transition of the valve needle from the intermediate position to the opening position.

Conventional operating methods and control devices for such a method may be disadvantageous in that, on the one hand, they may lead to an increased contamination risk of the fuel injector and, on the other hand, they may prevent a controlled closing of the fuel injector.
The increased contamination risk is due to the fact that the fuel injector is in a state of a comparatively low lift of the injection needle, and thus reduced opening of the fuel injector, for a relatively long period of time. The danger that particles get jammed between the valve orifice and the valve needle and clog the valve orifice is especially great in this state.
A greater slope steepness of the trigger signal leads to greater velocity of the valve needle in the transition from the opening to the closing position and vice versa, but, due to the high velocity of the valve needle, so-called needle bouncers occur when the valve needle hits the valve seat, which cause the fuel injector to open in an uncontrolled manner after reaching the closing position. Furthermore, overswingers of the valve needle may occur.

Method for operating an internal combustion engine


A passenger airbag and a passenger airbag device in which when the passenger airbag starts to inflate with an interfering object close to the IP, gas in the airbag is caused to quickly flow out through vent holes to reduce the impact on the interfering object, and a vehicle equipped with this passenger airbag device. In case of front collision of the vehicle, an inflator is activated to generate gas, and the gas flows through a diffuser into an airbag main body. The diffuser inflates, and the diffuser and the airbag main body thereby start to deploy above the IP. In this early stage of deployment, the diffuser is quickly almost fully inflated, and gas discharge openings are located above the IP. The diffuser is provided with a depression, and the depression faces the interfering object M.

Passenger airbags in which a diffuser is installed in an airbag main body to control the flow of gas from an inflator are described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-198750 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-71904. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-198750, the flow direction of gas from an inflator is controlled in the left-right direction by a diffuser. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-71904, gas discharge openings provided in a diffuser (referred to as "inner bag" in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-71904) face not straight toward the rear of the vehicle but obliquely upward and downward or obliquely leftward and rightward so that the airbag inflates softly for a front-seat passenger or a child in front of them. In this specification, "left-right direction" corresponds to the left-right direction of the vehicle body. "Left" and "right" are the left and right from the perspective of a front-seat passenger.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-5505, it is described that the inside of an airbag is divided into two upper and lower parts with a tether, and when the airbag interferes with an interfering object during the inflation of the airbag, gas in the upper part is caused to flow to the lower part through both left and right sides of the tether to reduce the impact on the interfering object.                PTL 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-5505

Passenger airbag, passenger airbag device, and vehicle


System and method for producing fluids from a hydrocarbon reservoir where an injector well segment and parallel underlying producer well segment are both completed with slotted liners. The injector and producer segments are logically partitioned into corresponding sections to define a plurality of injector-producer section pairs. Injection tubing strings supply stimulating fluid (e.g., saturated steam) to associated sections of the injector segment for injection into the hydrocarbon reservoir. Surface-located control devices control the pressure of the stimulating fluid flowing through the respective injection tubing strings. Production tubing strings (with the aid of artificial lift) carry fluids produced from associated sections of the producer segment. A plurality of controllers is provided for the injector-producer section pairs to control at least one process variable (e.g., interwell subcool temperature) associated with respective injector-producer section pairs over time by adjusting control variables that dictate operation of the control devices for the injection tubing strings.

Field
The present application relates broadly to systems and methods of hydrocarbon recovery employing an injection well to inject fluids into a subterranean formation and a production well to produce hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation. More particularly, the present application relates to such systems and methods where the injection well and the production well employ multiple tubing strings.
Description of Related Art
There are many petroleum-bearing formations from which oil cannot be recovered by conventional means because the oil is so viscous that it will not flow from the formation to a conventional oil well. Examples of such formations are the bitumen deposits in Canada and the United States and the heavy oil deposits in Canada, the United States, and Venezuela. In these deposits, the oil is so viscous under the prevailing temperatures and pressures within the formations that it flows very slowly (or not at all) in response to the force of gravity. Heavy oil is an asphaltic, dense (low API gravity) and viscous oil that is chemically characterized by asphaltene content. Most heavy oil is found at the margins of geological basins and is thought to be the residue of formerly light oil that has lost its light molecular weight components through degradation by bacteria, water-washing, and evaporation.
In a steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process, heavy oil is typically recovered by injecting saturated steam into the heavy oil reservoir utilizing one or more horizontal injection wells. The injection process produces a steam chamber within the reservoir. At the edges of the steam chamber, heat transfer is accomplished by the condensation of steam and conductive heat transfer, which reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil in this region and allows it to flow downward by gravity drainage. A horizontal production well is located below the horizontal injection well. The steam is typically injected into the reservoir for a period of time prior to production and continuously during production. Mobilized oil and condensed steam flows to the lower horizontal production well, where it is pumped by artificial lift (e.g., gas lift, progressing cavity pump, electrical submersible pump (ESP)) to the surface.
A necessary condition for efficient recovery of the heavy oil in a SAGD operation is the creation of a uniform steam chamber along the length of the horizontal injection well. If only a fraction of the heavy oil surrounding the injection well is heated, then only a fraction of the surrounding heavy oil will be mobilized. The efficiency of steam utilization can be aided by maintaining a cooler region nearer the production wellbore to discourage escape of steam from the steam chamber. This is often referred to as steam-trap control. In field practice, the continued existence of the liquid pool is monitored by examining the temperature difference between the injected steam and produced fluids, called the interwell subcool or subcool temperature. The 2005 publication by Gates et al. entitled "Steam-Injection Strategy and Energetics of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage," SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97742 presented at the 2005 SPE International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1-3 Nov. 2005, describes maintaining the interwell subcool temperature at a temperature between 15 and 30° C.
The 2009 publication by Gotawala and Gates entitled "SAGD Subcool Control with Smart Injection Wells," SPE 122014, Jun. 8, 2009 evaluated the use of Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) feedback control of inflow control valve (ICV) settings to control steam injection pressures along a set of six intervals of a horizontal injector well to promote subcool temperatures of the six intervals to be within a specified value. In this paper, the ICVs are intelligent completion equipment that are located downhole in the horizontal injection well and distributed over the horizontal injection well to allow for the control of steam injection rates along six intervals of the horizontal injection well. Subcool temperatures over these six intervals of the injection well and corresponding intervals of the lower production well were considered, each with its own steam injection rate dictated by a downhole ICV. The PID feedback control of the downhole ICVs changed the steam injection rate for each interval by modeling each ICV as a separate well and adjusting the steam injection pressure in each well in order to promote a subcool target over the six intervals of the injection well and production well. This enabled more uniform steam chamber growth, resulting in more oil production with reduced steam injection.
SAGD operations with wells incorporating inflow control devices (ICDs) and flow control valves (FCVs) under feedback control, looped multi-segment well topology and pressure/rate control at several points internal to the wellbore have been discussed in Stone et al, "Dynamic and Static Thermal Well Flow Control Simulation," SPE 130499, Jun. 14, 2010, and Stone et al., "Dynamic SAGD Well Flow Control Simulation," SPE 138054, Oct. 19, 2010. The multi-segment well topologies include a dual-tubing configuration for the injection well and the production well as shown in FIG. 1. Such a dual-tubing configuration is described in Handfield et al, "SAGD Gas Lift Completions and Optimization: A Field Case Study at Surmont," SPE 117489, Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Volume 48, No. 11, November 2009.

Hydrocarbon recovery employing an injection well and a production well having multiple tubing strings with active feedback control


A semiconductor memory device and a method of operating the same are provided. The semiconductor memory device may include a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells, and a peripheral circuit configured to perform a program pulse applying operation and a verification operation on the memory cell array. The semiconductor memory device may include a control logic configured to control the peripheral circuit to selectively perform a single sensing operation or a multi sensing operation during the verification operation.

1. Technical Field
Various embodiments generally relate to a semiconductor memory device and a method of operating the same. More particularly, the various embodiments may relate to a semiconductor memory device capable of improving an operation speed thereof and a method of operating the same.
2. Related Art
A semiconductor memory device is a memory device embodied using a semiconductor formed of silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and/or the like. The semiconductor memory device may be classified as either a volatile memory device or a nonvolatile memory device.
When a supply of an electric power is interrupted, data stored in the volatile memory is erased. The volatile memory device may include a static RAM (SRAM), a dynamic RAM (DRAM), a synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), and/or the like. Although the supply of an electric power may be interrupted, the nonvolatile memory device maintains data stored in the nonvolatile memory device. The nonvolatile memory device may include a read only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), a flash memory, a phase-change RAM (PRAM), a magnetic RAM (MRAM), a resistive RAM (RRAM), a ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and/or the like. Flash memory may be classified as either a NOR type or a NAND type of memory.

Semiconductor memory device to selectively perform a single sensing operation or a multi-sensing operation


A method of coating a surface using a plasma arc torch comprises directing a plasma plume externally from a discharge end of the plasma torch toward the surface, positioning a powder injector proximate the plasma plume to introduce ceramic oxide powder particles at a size less than 20 microns diameter into an outer mantle of the plasma plume so that the powder particles are confined in the outer mantle, directing first and second gas jets at the plasma plume downstream of the powder injector position and on opposite sides of the plasma plume to enhance entrainment of the injected powder particles in the outer mantle, circulating the powder particles in the outer mantle of the plasma plume for a residence time to heat the powder particles to melt them without substantial vaporization, and depositing the melted powder on the surface as a dense coating having closed porosity.

Thermal spray (TS) coating technology is one of many methods for applying coatings for the protection of materials in harsh environments. Thermal spray coating technology historically has been associated with the application of thick coatings whose bulk material properties allow the substrate to perform in a manner beyond its capabilities when used in an uncoated condition. The desire to apply coatings with diverse thermophysical properties has resulted in a diverse family of coating processes sharing the same basic elements. In general, a source of heat is used to generate a region of high enthalpy, and a material, originally in powder, wire, or rod form, is introduced into the region to form droplets in either a molten or plastic state. These droplets are accelerated onto a prepared substrate where they bond to form a protective coating. Some of the limitations of the thermal spray process generally are observed to be relatively low coating-to-substrate bond strengths, a high amount of connective porosity within the coating, and high thickness of the coating. TS coatings are generally sprayed to a thickness that overcomes the connective porosity. Fine, closed, dispersed porosity is advantageous for ceramic coatings since such porosity introduces thermal shock resistance and permits a reduced coating thickness.
The structure of thermal sprayed coatings typically is lamellar in nature comprising particles which have been flattened by impingement at high particle temperature onto the substrate. By far the most versatile thermal spray process is the plasma spray process. An outgrowth of research into reentry phenomena for the space program, plasma spraying has resulted in the ability to apply coatings comprising high melting point materials, such as ceramic materials. Such plasma spray processes include DC/AC plasma torches (either transferred or non-transferred arc) and radio frequency (RF) plasma torches.
A DC non-transferred arc plasma torch involves maintaining an electric arc within the torch and not involving the substrate as part of the electric arc-generating circuit. In particular, a stick cathode, generally fabricated of thoriated tungsten, is coaxially aligned with a ring anode/nozzle generally fabricated of OFHC copper or, in some torches, with an additional lining of tungsten. An electrical potential is imposed between the anode and the cathode. Gas to be ionized flows around the cathode and through the anode/nozzle. The gap between the cathode and the anode/nozzle is broken down by applying an overvoltage which ionizes the gas and allows electrical current to flow between the electrodes. Particles to be melted are injected radially into the plasma plume either just prior to the exit end of the anode/nozzle (i.e. particle lip feed) or external of the exit end of the anode/nozzle (particle external feed).
Primary plasma gases are typically argon and nitrogen. Secondary gases are typically hydrogen and/or helium. In some infrequent applications, argon and nitrogen are used as the plasma gases. For diatomic gases, such as nitrogen and hydrogen, the gases are dissociated and then ionized. For monatomic gases, such as argon and helium, the gases are substantially, if not totally, ionized. In the plasma plume, ionized gases return to lower energy levels, and the gases which were initially diatomic (i.e nitrogen and hydrogen) recombine with a resulting release of large quantities of heat over a narrow temperature range, thereby heating the particles.
In the plasma spray devices described hereabove, the electrode material can contaminate the coatings being applied. When high purity coatings are needed, RF (radio frequency) plasma generators are used. The high frequency plasma generator operates without electrodes and thus yields an uncontaminated plasma and resultant coating. The RF plasma generator is a simple device wherein gas flows through a non-electrically conductive tube closed at the top and open at the bottom and surrounded by a high frequency coil. Ionized gas required for starting the plasma is produced by the introduction of a carbon or tungsten rod into the working space of the coil. By coupling to the starter rod, the high frequency generator heats the rod until gas ionization takes place around the rod. With the high frequency generator now coupled to the ionized gas, the starter rod is removed and plasma gas flowed into the plasma.
An object of the present invention is to provide a plasma spray apparatus and method for applying a coating in a manner to improve coating-to-substrate bond strength and improve coating density (substantially reduced interconnected coating porosity and defects) at reduced coating thicknesses.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a capability to control closed porosity in ceramic and cermet coatings applied by plasma spraying.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a highly dense, adherent ceramic, metal, and cermet coating applied on substrates at reduced cost by plasma spraying.

Small particle plasma spray apparatus, method and coated article


According to the present invention, there is provided a data transfer system using mobile IP in which transfer interruption is not caused even if an MH moves between FNs. A MAC bridge connected between FNs includes means responsive to an address registration request issued by an AP, for storing a combination of a MAC address of the MH and a receiving port, in a filtering DB; means for registering a relation of association of an address of a terminal accommodated in an FN with a connection port of an FN in which the terminal is accommodated, in the filtering DB; and means for referring to the filtering DB on the basis of the destination address of a frame input to each port, and transferring the frame to a predetermined port on the basis of a relation of association of the address with a port identifier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transfer system using mobile IP. In particular, the present invention relates to a data transfer system using mobile IP that makes possible efficient seamless data transfer for a mobile terminal moving between foreign networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the Internet, a network address portion of an IP address assigned to a mobile host (MH) becomes an address peculiar to a home network (HN) to which the MH belongs. When the MH has moved to a foreign network(FN), it is necessary to newly acquire an IP address containing an address peculiar to the FN.
On the other hand, as a technique for continuing connection without changing an IP address as if the MH is connected to the HN even in the case where the MH is moved from the HN to the FN, the mobile IP prescribed in RFC (Request For Comments) 2002 has been standardized.
In order to implement the mobile IP, a node called home agent (HA) is disposed in the HN and a node called foreign agent (FA) is disposed in the FN as shown in FIGS. 9 to 12.
Since the MH has already acquired an IP address that can be utilized in the HN, the MH can directly receive IP packets while the MH is connected to the HN. When the MH has moved to an FN, or when the MH has moved between FNs, the MH recognizes the FN to which the MH itself belongs, by receiving an agent advertisement (AA) message publicized periodically by an FA of movement destination. As shown in FIG. 9, the MH places the IP address of the FA of the movement destination on an RRQ (registration request) message, and notifies it to the HA of the HN. In response to the RRQ message, the HA transfers an RRP (registration reply) message to the MH via the FA and completes the location registration.
Thereafter, all IP packets sent from an opposite terminal CN toward the MH are taken over by the HA as shown in FIG. 10. The HA encapsulates (IP-tunnels) IP packets having the IP address of the MH as destination by using IP packets having the IP address of the FA as destination, and transfers resultant IP packets to the FA via the Internet. From the encapsulated IP packets, the FA restores the original IP packets directed to the MH. The FA transfers the restored original IP packets to the MH via an access point AP.
As for data directed from the MH to the CN, the data are transferred to a GWR whose address has been acquired by an AA message transmitted from the FN as shown in FIG. 11. As a result, the data are transferred to the CN according to ordinary IP routing.
If the MH moves from FN1 to FN2 as shown in FIG. 12, then the MH establishes an association with an AP of movement destination, thereafter issues a registration request to the HA, and causes the HA to transfer data directed to the MH.
In the conventional communication using mobile IP, the intervals at which the FA sends AA messages are at least approximately once per second. As a matter of fact, the lifetime of AA messages is defined as at least three (3) seconds. During at least this period, the MH does not send the RRQ message. Therefore, the time required for the HA to recognize movement of the MH becomes long. Until the location registration is completed, all data directed to the MH are transferred from the CN to the FN1, which is the FN before the movement. In other words, transfer interruption is caused until location registration at the movement destination is completed. The MH attempts to transfer data directed to the CN to the GWR of the FN1 preceding the movement. However, the data are not transferred because the GWR of the FN1 is in another network. In this case as well, transfer interruption is caused.


A floor cleaning machine having a speed control and steering member which operates under operator-applied deformation thereof. The invention provides improved consumer convenience at steering and/or speed control.

The present invention relates to floor cleaning machines and in particular to automatic floor cleaning and treating machines which are used for the cleaning of carpets and hard surfaces of large floor areas, such as in hotels, factories, office buildings, shopping centers and the like.
In general such machines comprise a movable body carrying a brushing means, reservoirs for storing fresh and spent cleaning liquid, means for dosing fresh cleaning liquid onto the floor and a squeegee/vacuum pick-up system for recovering spent cleaning liquid from the floor.
These machines are normally power-operated comprising a pair of driving wheels for moving the body, a motor for driving the wheels, and steering and speed control members for operating the driving motor. Steering may either be manual or by way of differentiated control of the individual wheel speeds.
The present invention now in particular relates to a means for controlling speed and/or steering of a floor cleaning machine.

Steering device for floor cleaning machine


The present invention provides an on-screen graphics (OSD) subsystem for overlaying OSD graphic images onto analog or digital video source signals. The OSD system has a video graphics bypass path and graphics bypass switch for directing an analog video channel around the OSD subsystem during time intervals when the OSD subsystem is not required to insert graphics into the source signal.

The present invention relates to cable television (CATV) systems. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for bypassing a digital on-screen display graphics insertion subsystem.
The wide spread use of analog video displays has created a need for displaying graphic images such as alphanumeric characters or other graphics along with analog video data. The graphics are typically laid over a video signal received from a separate remote source such as a broadcast television transmission, a video disk, a video tape or any other video source. Various arrangements are known for overlaying graphic images over a video signal received from such a separate remote video source.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,817 to Takano discloses a system for superimposing color characters on an input video signal. In this system, a first sync separator separates horizontal sync pulses from the input video signal. These horizontal sync pulses are used by a phase lock loop (PLL) circuit to generate a reference clock signal (P1) that is locked to the horizontal sync pulses of the input video signal. A second sync separator, a timing generator, a burst gate, and a second PLL circuit generate an oscillation output signal that is phase locked to a burst signal of the input video signal. The reference clock signal and the oscillation output signal are used to synchronize a generated character signal with the input video signal. A changeover signal generator generates changeover control signals to output only the input video signal, or the input video signal superimposed with color characters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,666 to Zeidler et al. discloses a system for overlaying digital character signals on an analog source signal including a predetermined color sub-carrier which includes a sub-carrier phase locked loop, a digital character generating device, a digital video encoder and a switching device. The subscriber phase locked loop separately generates a color sub-carrier and a system clock signal which are locked to the color sub-carrier of the analog video source system. The digital character generating device detects horizontal and vertical timing of pixel information in the analog video source signal, and generates digital character signals that are to be overlaid in predetermined pixels of the analog video source signal. The digital video encoder is responsive to the color sub-carrier and system clock signals for generating a separate color sub-carrier which is locked to the color sub-carrier of the analog video source signal. The digital video encoder also converts the digital character signals from the digital character generating means into an analog video output signal that includes the color sub-carrier generated in the digital video encoder. The switching means directs the analog video output signal from the digital video encoder or the analog video source signal to an output of this system during times when the digital character is to be overlaid or not overlaid respectively on the analog video source signal.
A problem exists with these techniques in that insertion of digital information into an analog video source may only be required in certain time intervals. The insertion process inherently degrades the video signal. Signal degradation occurs both during time intervals when digital information is inserted and during time intervals when there is no digital information presented for insertion.

Graphics subsystem bypass method and apparatus