A fluid circulation system in accordance with the invention includes a first fluid utilizing device (12) requiring a minimum fluid flow having an input (14) for receiving the minimum flow and an output (16) for discharging fluid received from the input; a second fluid utilizing device (24) having an input (26) for receiving fluid and an output (31) for outputting fluid; and a valve (80) having a first input (32) for receiving the fluid flow flowing from the output of the second device, a first output (36) for supplying the minimum fluid flow to the first device, a second input (34) for receiving the fluid flow flowing from the output of the first device and a second output (38) for supplying the fluid flow to the second device wherein any deficiency in fluid flow below the first fluid flow flowing from the first input to the first output is supplied with additional fluid flow (102) from the second input to the first output with any remaining fluid flow (104) from the second input flowing from the second output.

The Assignee of the present invention manufactures electrical power generating systems for airframes which convert a variable speed shaft output from a propulsion engine into a constant speed output drive which drives a three phase alternator to produce 400 Hz. electrical power. These systems are known as integrated drive generators. Integrated drive generators require a minimum fluid flow of oil for proper operation. Operation of an integrated drive generator with a supply of oil below the minimum flow for a significant time interval can cause catastrophic failure or serious damage.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art diagram showing the oil circulation circuit of an integrated drive generator of the type manufactured by the Assignee, such as used in the Assignee's model 75EGS01I integrated drive generator. The oil circulation system 10 includes an integrated drive generator 12 having an oil input 14 and an oil output 16. The construction and operation of integrated drive generators are well known and described in numerous patents of the Assignee as is not part of the present invention. The output oil from output 16 of the integrated drive generator 12 flows to scavenge pump 18 through input 20. The oil flow 62 from output 22 of the scavenge pump 18 flows to a recirculation valve 23. Additionally, an aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 receives oil flowing from the recirculation valve 23 at an input 26. The aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 supplies shaft power to the integrated drive generator 12 in a well-known manner. A supply pump 28 is located within an oil reservoir 30 of the aircraft mounted accessory drive for pumping oil flow 60 to the recirculation valve 23.
The recirculation valve 23 is comprised of a first input 32 and a second input 34 which respectively receive oil pumped from the supply pump 28 and the scavenge pump 18. The recirculation valve 23 also has a first output 36 through which the minimum critical supply of oil flows to the integrated drive generator 12. As stated above, the oil flow from the first output 36 must always be above a minimum oil flow rate in order to avoid serious damage or catastrophic failure of the integrated drive generator 12. The recirculation valve 23 also has a second output 38 which applies oil to the input 26 of the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24. Flow path 40 indicates the operation of the recirculation valve to recirculate oil under normal operation from the output 22 of the scavenge pump 18 through the second output 38 to the input 26 of the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24. In this circumstance, all of the oil outputted from the aircraft mounted accessory drive is pumped by the head produced by supply pump 28 through the input 32 of the recirculation valve 23 and to the first output 36 of the recirculation valve to the input 14 of the integrated drive generator 12 to satisfy the minimum oil flow requirement. As will be described in more detail below, assuming that the quantity of oil provided by the flow from the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 through the input 32 is interrupted, oil is shunted from the input 34 of the recirculation valve 23 under the head produced by scavenge pump 18 to the first output 36 of the recirculation valve 23 to the input 14 which, in all instances, is desirable and if not accomplished can cause undue wear or damage. The foregoing operational modes are described in more detail in FIGS. 2-4 which illustrate specific operational modes of the oil circulation system 10 of FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 illustrates a normal mode of operation of the recirculation valve 23 when all of the minimum oil flow requirement of the integrated drive generator 12 is satisfied from oil flowing from the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 through the first input 32 to the first output 36. The recirculation valve 23 has a valve stem 50 which moves within valve body 52 between a first position and a second position with the second position being illustrated in FIG. 2. The valve body is biased by a spring 54 to the first position as illustrated in FIG. 3. The pressure of the pumped oil produced by the supply pump 28 is applied to a first face 56 of the valve stem and the pressure of the oil pumped by the scavenge pump 18 is applied to a second face 58 and a third face 58'. As is apparent, the relative surface areas of the third face 58' and the second face 58 are such that they apply no net force to the valve stem 50. The valve stem position is unaffected by pressure produced from the scavenge pump 18 and is determined by the bias spring 54 and the pressure produced by the supply pump 28. The oil flow paths 60 and 62, respectively illustrate the flow of oil between the first input 32 and the first output 36 and the second input 34 and the second output 38.
The recirculation valve 23 has a first port 62' in fluid communication with the first input 32 for receiving oil from the first input 32. Oil flows through the first port 62 into a first chamber 64 and out through a second port 66 in fluid communication with the first output 36. Oil flows from the second input 34 through a first port 68 in fluid communication with a second chamber 70 out through a second port 72 in fluid communication with the second output 38.
FIG. 3 illustrates the second mode of operation in which the minimum oil flow to the input 14 of the integrated drive generator 12 is satisfied totally from oil flowing from the output 22 of the scavenge pump 18 through the second input 34 out through port 100 to the first output 36 to the input 14 of the integrated drive generator 12. In this particular mode of operation, the force exerted by the spring 54 biases the valve stem 50 to the first position in which the face 56 of the valve stem is seated against the first port 62 to block the flow of oil 60 from the input 32 to the output 36. In this particular mode of operation, the pressure of the oil flow 60 outputted from the supply pump 28 drops sufficiently below the pressure required to overcome the force exerted on the valve stem 50 by the bias spring 54.
The first mode of operation, as illustrated in FIG. 2, is the ideal mode of operation in which the required minimum oil supply is from the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 where it is cooled, filtered and routed to the inlet 14 of the integrated drive generator 12 through the first output 36 of the recirculation valve 23. FIG. 3 illustrates the alternative methodology for supplying the minimum flow to the inlet 14 of the integrated drive generator 12 in the absence of an oil supply from the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 which is made up by the oil flow 62 outputted by the scavenge pump 18 pumping oil from the integrated drive generator 12. The modes of operation depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 do not pose a problem of operation.
FIG. 4 illustrates an operational mode of transition between the fully open position of FIG. 2 in which all oil of the minimum oil flow to the input 14 of the integrated drive generator 12 from the first output 36 of the recirculation valve 23 is satisfied by oil pumped from the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 through the input 32 and the closed position of FIG. 3, in which all oil of the minimum flow pumped to the input 14 of the integrated drive generator 12 from the first output 36 of the recirculation valve 23 is satisfied by oil pumped from the scavenge pump 22 through the input 34. In the transition mode, the position of the valve stem 50 between the first position as illustrated in FIG. 3 and the second position as illustrated in FIG. 2, respectively, is controlled solely by the pressure of the oil flow 60 at the first input 32 and is insensitive to the output pressure of the oil flow 62 from the scavenge pump 18. When the recirculation valve 23 is operating in the fully open position as illustrated in FIG. 2, and the pressure of the oil flow 60 drops below that required to exert sufficient force on the face 56 of the valve stem 50 to overcome the force exerted by the spring 54 at the fully open position, the valve stem moves to the left as illustrated in FIG. 4. This creates an additional drop in the oil pressure at the inlet 14 of the integrated drive generator 12 because the flow path through the valve 23 from the inlet 34 and the inlet 32 through the outlet 38 to the reservoir 30 of the aircraft mounted accessory drive experiences substantially less flow resistance to the reservoir 30 than the flow resistance to enter the integrated drive generator 12 through outlet 36. This produces a distinct drop in the net flow to the integrated drive generator 12 through the input 14 through the first output 36 thereby partially starving the integrated drive generator of the requisite oil supply below the required minimum flow rate. The valve stem 50 dwells in the intermediate position until either the force from the oil flow 60 applied to the face 56 drops below the force exerted by the spring 54 at the valve closed position of FIG. 3 or, where the flow to the reservoir 30, a combination of flow from the scavenge pump 18 and the flow from the aircraft mounted accessory drive 24 is large enough to generate a back pressure to the supply 28 sufficient to raise the pressure applied to the face 56 to compress the spring 54 to restore it to the fully open position as illustrated in FIG. 2. It takes a relatively small change (increase or decrease) in the oil flow 60 through the inlet 32 to move the valve stem 50 into the transition range, but a substantially larger change in flow 60 to achieve transition to either the fully closed position or the fully open position.
In actual practice, operation of an integrated drive generator can occur below a rated pressure, such as 100 psi minimum, but above a pressure which is indicative of an oil interruption mode of operation. This mode of operation corresponds to that illustrated in FIG. 4 in which the overall flow and pressure of oil to the input 14 is representative of a starvation condition below the minimum required flow rate. It is necessary to avoid damage to integrated drive generators to prevent the operational mode of the transitional nature, as illustrated in FIG. 4, because of a significant possibility of increased wear or failure resultant from starvation of the integrated drive generator parts from the condition below the minimum oil pressure flow, such as the minimum 100 psi pressure, required on some integrated drive generators manufactured by the Assignee of the present invention.

Integrated drive generator recirculation valve with feedback control


The present invention provides a passive RFID chip with on-chip charge pumps for generating electrical power for the chip from radio frequencies. The passive RFID chip comprises an analog portion and a digital portion. The analog portion primarily comprises a voltage sensor and an AM data detector. The digital portion comprises a state machine digital logic controller. Incoming RF signals enter the chip via external antennas. The RF signals are converted into regulated DC signals by RF-DC converters with the voltage sensor. The RF-DC converters provide power for all the on-chip components and hence the chip does not require external power supply. The incoming RF signals are demodulated by demodulators and enter the AM data detector where the envelope transitions are detected. A voltage alarm is provided to ensure the voltage level does not drop below an operational level of the chip. The logic signals and programming data are controlled by the state machine digital logic controller and the timing signals are provided by an on-chip oscillator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, and more particularly, to an RFID chip using CMOS technology.
2. Description of Related Arts
In goods-related or services-related industries, it is necessary to inventory the item stock every while. Conventionally, manual labors have been employed to count the items located on the shelf, and those are otherwise located in the store or warehouse for a long time. For the purpose of easing off such time-consuming and labor-intensive jobs, a technology known as radio frequency identification (RFID) is provided to have the ability to monitor the items that are located within a particular range.
Based upon the RFID technology, RFID chips are affixed to each item to be monitored. The presence of the RFID chip, and therefore the item to which the chip is affixed, may be checked and monitored by devices known as RF readers. The RF reader may monitor the existence and location of the items having chips affixed thereto through wireless interrogations. Typically, each chip has a unique identification number that the RF reader uses to identify the particular chip and item. To efficiently avoid collisions between signals transmitted by the RFID chips, the interrogation protocol, such as the binary traversal protocol, may be employed to exchange the signals between the RF readers and the RFID chips. Examples of such binary traversal protocol is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 20020167405A1, 20020152044A1, 20020149483A1, 20020149482A1, 20020149481A1, 20020149480A1, and 20020149416A1, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Because a great many items may need to be monitored, many chips may be required to track the items. Hence, the cost of each RFID chip needs to be minimized. However, current available RFID chips configured with external batteries are expensive. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for passive RFID chips with implementation without external batteries, which are inexpensive and small while the read range thereof is satisfactory.


A solar energy collection system comprises hollow radiation absorber(s) in an enclosure, each absorber for filling with working fluid, to absorb radiation impinging thereon and transform its energy into heat to thereby heat the fluid. The system comprises an inlet non-return valve upstream of each absorber, for allowing a flow of the fluid thereto; and an outlet valve downstream of each absorber for allowing a flow of the fluid out. The system comprises a measuring device for determining parameter(s) of the fluid within each absorber, which depends on the heat absorbed thereby; and a controller that controls operation of at least the outflow valve between its open state in which the fluid can flow freely out of the associated absorber, and its closed state in which the fluid filling the associated absorber is held therein for a period of time depending on a desired change of the parameter.

This present disclosure concerns the field of thermal solar collectors. In particular, it pertains to closed-circle fluid collectors incorporating several sub-assemblies for absorbing heat within one enclosure, and such closed-circle fluid collectors exhibiting possibilities of flow control.
Such collectors have been described, for example, in DE 29912457 U1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,955.


A fiberoptic based sensor for patient care use. The sensor includes a catheter placed transcutaneously into a blood vessel which is connected to an external measuring head. A sensing tip of the catheter includes a pressure sensing element and an oxygen saturation measuring element. Features of the invention include novel tip designs, measuring head features, and approaches for enhancing measurement though correlation of the saturation and pressure readings.

This invention is related to a system for patient care and particularly to a sensor incorporating a catheter which can be inserted transcutaneously within a blood vessel for measuring blood pressure and oxygen saturation.
In a variety of critical care situations it is desirable to continuously monitor blood pressure and oxygen saturation at remote sites within the body, for example in cardiac arteries. The present applicant, FiberOptic Sensor Technologies, Inc. (FST) has been in the forefront of development of fiberoptic based invasive pressure sensing devices. Such devices are described in a number of U.S. Patents previously issued to FST, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,711,246 and 4,924,870 and pending U S. patent application Ser. No. 748,082, filed on Aug. 21, 1991, which are hereby incorporated by reference. Briefly, the systems described in the above referenced documents employ a catheter having a deformable diaphragm positioned near the distal end of an optical fiber. Deformation of the diaphragm in response to fluid pressure applied to its outside surface by the blood changes its shape and proximity to the end of the optical fiber. A light signal injected into the proximal end of the optical fiber exits the distal end of the fiber and is reflected to return along the fiber by the deformable diaphragm. The shape and spacing of the diaphragm from the fiber end affects the intensity of returned light which is calibrated to provide a pressure measurement.
Fiberoptic pressure sensor of the type described in FST's previously issued patents and pending application posses a number of fundamental advantages over the previously used approach of invasive blood pressure measurement which comprises the use of a catheter lumen communicating with a remote site within the body which is connected to an external fluid column type pressure measuring device. These systems posses inherent disadvantages that arise from mechanically coupling a blood pressure wave through a fluid column embedded within a catheter, to an external transducer. Both the mechanical compliance and the damping losses of the fluid column, the catheter material, and the transducer membrane result in broad resonance artifacts, typically occurring at frequencies in the vicinity of 10 to 20 Hertz, and limit high frequency response. Moreover, any extensions of the catheter link used, for example, for a bed ridden patient, often result in impedance mismatching between tubing and connectors which can create additional resonance peaks. Since significant blood pressure wave spectral components lie near the resonance frequencies of column sensors, some frequencies will be amplified relative to others, producing a distorted waveform. Waveform distortion is also produced by bubbles trapped in the fluid column. In addition, these types of pressure sensors suffer the disadvantage that distortions are caused by patient or catheter movement. Motion produces a shift in fluid column position which adds baseline or low frequency artifacts to the pressure waveform. It is for these reasons that direct pressure sensing at the tip of a catheter is becoming a preferred approach in clinical settings for pressure measurement and is gaining wider acceptance in such applications.
In addition to blood pressure monitoring, clinicians are often interested in evaluating other blood parameters. Most significant in many patient care settings is the monitoring of blood oxygen saturation which is defined as the fraction of oxygen bound to all available hemoglobin as compared to total oxygen binding capacity. Various approaches toward blood oxygen saturation evaluation are presently available. One type of clinical laboratory measuring device requires that blood samples be withdrawn from the body, and then transferred into the device. Such devices typically employ gas chromatography or use other methods such as optical spectroscopy. In the latter approach, a blood absorption spectrum is obtained over a continuous range of optical wavelengths. The extinction coefficients at the various wavelength can be used to determine the concentration of various blood species of clinical interest. Although continuous spectrum measurement produces the greatest amount of information, its unsuitability for use in clinical settings for real time analysis limits it applicability. Moreover, the cost of light sources and associated electronics required for such analysis are of concern.
As a compromise compared to continuous spectrum evaluation, there are presently available a number of fiberoptic based oxygen saturation sensors which are based on evaluating absorption extinction coefficients at a number of discrete wavelengths; for example, three wavelengths. The absorption extinction coefficients at these wavelengths are used to determine the concentration of oxyhemoglobin, which is the state of hemoglobin bound with oxygen. Absorption extinction coefficients are highly affected by hematocrit (the concentration of erythrocytes in the blood). Therefore, another wavelength source is used to measure hematocrit which is considered in deriving an oxygen saturation value. Although such devices using a limited number of discrete wavelengths are not capable of resolving many significant blood component species, they do provide clinically useful information.
Despite the existence of technology concerning fiberoptic pressure sensing and fiberoptic oxygen saturation measurement, such systems have heretofore not been combined in a single commercially viable sensor. The prior art teachings do, however, disclose the use of a fiberoptic based oxygen saturation measuring system employed in a catheter which also provides a lumen for fluid column pressure measurement. However, such a sensor posses the disadvantages previously discussed related to fluid column type pressure measurement. In addition to those shortcomings, such a combined sensor according to the prior art does not provide the ability to synchronize the measurement of oxygen saturation with the pressure reading. Other systems according to the prior art attempt to provide pressure measurement along with other measurements, such as blood gases or oxygen saturation using optical fibers. However, these systems have disadvantages of cost, reliability and limited accuracy. Simultaneous accurate measurement at the tip of a catheter of both oxygen saturation and pressure would offer unique physiological information not available today with existing instrumentation. In view of these factors, there is a current need in medicine to provide a sensing system providing such simultaneous measurement.
Presently available invasive fiberoptic oxygen saturation sensors are often subject to erroneous readings when the sensing tip is positioned o abut the walls of a blood vessel. To avoid misinterpreting readings taken in this condition, special data reduction algorithms must be applied or special procedures must be followed, complicating measurement. Even when the catheter is correctly placed, some catheters are affected by the movement of blood vessels, especially arteries in response to the blood pressure wave. It is therefore desirable to provide a sensor which is inherently not subject to such vessel wall effects.
In the design of catheter type sensing system for blood vessel access, a number of design considerations must be addressed. Most significantly, the catheter must have a small diameter so as to permit access to small caliper blood vessels and further to prevent occlusion of blood flow through the vessel where measurements are being taken. Cost of the catheter of the system is another important consideration, particularly where catheters are designed for single use application to prevent the spread of infection between patients or to medical personnel. Also significant is the cost associated with the sensing head of the sensor to which the catheter is connected which is designed for long term use. In that regard, is preferable to reduce the number of individual light sources and photodetectors used in the sensing head to inject light signals into the catheter and receive reflected back signals. An underlying consideration of paramount significance is the accuracy and reliability of the sensors which must be assured in that the devices are employed in critical patient care settings.
This invention relates to a novel fiberoptic sensor for simultaneous measurement of blood pressure and oxygen saturation. The sensor of this invention uses optical fibers exclusively for measurement. The sensor of this invention further provides an efficient and cost effective measuring system through the use of light sources which provide outputs which are shared between the pressure and oxygen saturation measuring fibers. By reducing the number of light emitters, the stability of optical signals is enhanced and a smaller sized and less complex sensing head is possible as compared with systems utilizing a greater number of independent elements.
The sensor of this invention also permits synchronizing outputs of the oxygen saturation fiber with that of the pressure measuring fiber, or visa versa. Such synchronous detection may be used to enhance measurement accuracy to provide additional information of clinical use. This invention further encompasses a sensor for oxygen saturation measurement based on the evanescent effect, which is believed to be relatively insensitive to hematocrit. And finally, this invention relates to sensors having sensing tips which are designed to inherently reduce the susceptibility to vessel wall effects.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fiberoptic blood pressure and oxygenation sensor


In a nozzle, in a cross section including an axis of a nozzle body, a side surface and a seat surface are both smoothly connected to an arc of a circle inscribing both the side surface and the seat surface. A part of a needle which is adjacent to a tip end side of a seat portion is a cone having a diameter reduced toward a tip end side of the cone in the axial direction. Thus, no corner is on the seat surface or the side surface, and the two surfaces form one curved surface. Since a cavitation generated in a sack chamber can be reduced, even when an injection quantity is significantly small such that an injection port does not throttle an injection flow, a flow coefficient of the injection flow is improved and a penetration of a spray of the fuel can be maintained.

Conventionally, a fuel injector supplying and injecting a fuel to an internal combustion engine includes a nozzle which injects the fuel and an actuator which drives to open or close the nozzle. The nozzle (fuel injection nozzle) used in the fuel injector includes a nozzle body which is a cylindrical shape and a needle which is received in the nozzle body and is slidable relative to an inner periphery of the nozzle body. In the nozzle, the inner periphery of the nozzle body includes a seat surface, and an injection port is placed at a tip end side of the seat surface in an axial direction of the nozzle body. The needle includes a seat portion which is removed from or seated on the seat surface to start or stop a fuel injection using the injection port.
However, in a fuel injector in which a fuel with high pressure is directly injected into a cylinder of a diesel engine, a request of an emission reduction is high. Therefore, as an aspect of the emission reduction, it is considered that a penetration of a spray of the fuel is maintained to reduce a smoke generation even though a lifting amount of the needle is small and an injection quantity is significantly small.
According to JP-H08-144895A, since a center diameter of a needle is greater than an inner diameter of a sack portion, a spray can be properly generated and a non-combustion gas can be reduced. However, when a lifting amount is small before a throttle portion of a flow of a fuel becomes an injection port in a nozzle, a flow-passage area is sharply enlarged toward downstream from a position where a diameter of the needle is the center diameter. Therefore, when the lifting amount is small, a cavitation is generated in the sack chamber such that a flow coefficient is deteriorated, and the penetration of the spray is decreased such that a smoke is readily generated.


A vehicle behavior detection apparatus can accurately detect an unstable state of a vehicle without making an incorrect determination even if a travel environment of the vehicle is abnormal. The apparatus includes a road surface reaction torque detecting unit that detects a road surface reaction torque which a tire of the vehicle receives from a road surface, a steering angle detecting unit that detects a steering angle of the vehicle, a vehicle speed detecting unit that detects a speed of the vehicle, a standard road surface reaction torque calculating unit that calculates a standard road surface reaction torque from the steering angle and the vehicle speed, a vehicle behavior state detecting unit that detects the unstable state of the vehicle, and a vehicle behavior detection inhibiting unit that invalidates the vehicle behavior state detecting unit based on the road surface reaction torque and the standard road surface reaction torque.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vehicle behavior detection apparatus for detecting a state of unstable behavior such as understeer, etc., of a vehicle during traveling (hereinafter simply referred as an "unstable state").
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a vehicle state detection apparatus as a vehicle behavior detection apparatus that detects an unstable state (an understeer state, etc.) of a vehicle during the time when the vehicle is traveling (see, for example, a first patent document: Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2003-341538).
A vehicle state detection apparatus described in the first patent document includes a standard alignment torque calculating unit that calculates a standard alignment torque corresponding to a standard road surface reaction torque, an alignment torque measuring unit that detects an actual alignment torque corresponding to a road surface reaction torque which a vehicle traveling on a road receives from the surface of the road, an alignment torque deviation calculating unit that calculates an absolute value of a deviation between the actual alignment torque and the standard alignment torque as an alignment torque deviation, and a vehicle behavior stability determining unit that compares the alignment torque deviation with a predetermined amount, and determines that the behavior of the vehicle is unstable when the alignment torque deviation is equal to or larger than the predetermined amount, wherein an unstable state of the vehicle during traveling is determined by using the absolute value of the deviation between the standard alignment torque and the actual alignment torque.
In addition, the vehicle state detection apparatus described in the aforementioned first patent document further includes a torque/steering angle calculating unit that calculates the rates of change of the actual alignment torque and the steering angle from the time rate of change of the actual steering wheel operation angle and the time rate of change of the actual alignment torque, wherein the unstable state of the vehicle during traveling is determined by using the rates of change of the actual alignment torque and the steering angle.
In the conventional vehicle behavior detection apparatus, the absolute value of the deviation between the standard alignment torque and the actual alignment torque or the rates of change of the actual alignment torque and the standard alignment torque is used to determine the unstable state of the vehicle during traveling, but no consideration has been given to bad travel environments in which the vehicle is traveling on a bad road such as a cant road (i.e., a sloped surface road), a unpaved road, or the like, so there has been a problem that an incorrect determination on the unstable state of the vehicle might be made depending upon the travel environment of the vehicle.


The invention features a method, system, and computer program product. A source bitmap image, a destination bitmap image, a source image feature outline surrounding a source region of the source bitmap image, and a destination image feature outline surrounding a destination region of the destination bitmap image are received. A point-to-point correspondence between the source image feature outline and the destination image feature outline is generated, such that the point-to-point correspondence defines a reshaping of the source image feature outline. An interpolation surface is calculated interpolating an area of the source bitmap image that includes the source region. The interpolation surface is reshaped using the point-to-point correspondence.

The present invention relates to digital imaging.
Single point image warping techniques are currently available for image deformation. For instance, Adobe® Photoshop® provides the liquefy feature, where a user can select an arbitrary pixel and specify its displacement. Neighboring pixels are displaced so as to create a smooth displacement field that dissipates slowly as one moves further away from the selected pixel. In order to perform image feature embedding by using the liquefy feature, the user has to figure out the appropriate scale factor for size alignment and then click and drag hundreds of points to achieve the shape alignment. This procedure is extremely tedious and error prone.
Mesh warping techniques are also available where the spatial relationship between image pixels is altered based on specified input displacements at a scattered subset of these pixels. This is typically done in two steps. First, a discrete displacement field, specifying the displacement for each pixel in the input image bitmap, is estimated based on the given input displacements at the scattered set of pixels. This displacement field is created to be as smooth as possible. Typically, this is done by fitting a smooth and continuous (local or global) function to the given set of input displacements. This function is then sampled at image bitmap positions to obtain the discrete displacement field. This process is known as coordinate resampling.
Coordinate resampling provides the displacement for pixels. Next, the pixels in the output bitmap must be painted. This is known as intensity resampling. In general, the displacement field does not map input pixels to output pixels with integer coordinates. Further, the displacement field is not invertible in most cases (i.e., output pixels cannot be mapped back to input pixels using closed form equations). An output accumulator can be used to address this problem. In this approach, the system walks over the input pixels, accumulating their contributions to each output pixel. The final color at each output pixel is a distance-weighted sum of the colors of input pixels that map to the neighborhood of that output pixel.
Another option is to compute the inverse mapping (i.e., output pixel to input pixel) in the coordinate resampling stage. In this manner, the computed displacement field maps the output to input. During intensity resampling, each output pixel is mapped to some location on the input image plane. In general, this would not be a pixel position in the input bitmap. Hence, some local interpolation scheme is generally used to obtain the color for the output pixel.
However, these typical methods of mesh warping suffer from a number of drawbacks. Chief among them is that they do not enforce any global smoothness measure on the generated output color field. It is desirable to have the ability to automatically modify the shape of one or more features in the image so as to match other specified shapes, with the variation in the color field caused by the warping conforming to some global smoothness norm. Without it, the result will be less visually pleasing and discontinuities may appear at certain locations within the image, causing the image to look torn.


An optical transmission module and method are capable of suppressing the occurrence of multiplexed reflection light, thereby making it possible to easily carry out an optical coupling operation at low cost. A loss generator having an attenuation factor determined based on an extinction ratio of a modulation signal is provided to attenuate reflection light in a transmission path, thereby making it possible to provide a low-cost optical transmission module, which ensures a practically satisfactory efficiency, without providing an optical isolator component. Also, in the optical transmission module, the intensity of light is adjusted by the loss generator. Thus, it is possible to realize the optical transmission module using an optical mounting technique with such accuracy as employed for an ordinary module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmission module and method which directly intensity-modulate a semiconductor laser to carry out optical transmission, and more particularly to an optical transmission module connected to a transmission path, which includes a reflection point having a predetermined reflection coefficient, and an optical transmission method for setting a reflectivity condition of the optical module for carrying out optical transmission.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, through the rapid spread of the Internet, the transmission capacity of data communication networks has been increased. While the transmission capacity has been increased, middle- and long-distance systems, typified by metro networks, have become bottlenecks of the communication networks, increasing the need for techniques and optical devices which economically realize faster middle- and long-distance systems. As for short-distance data transmission, through standardization activities of 10-Gigabit-Ethernet, etc., reduction in size and cost of optical devices is actively sought.
As a light emitting device, which is a key device for determining an optical transmission efficiency, a distributed feedback semiconductor laser is widely used. Semiconductor lasers, which are light emitting devices for use in middle- and long-distance transmission through single mode fibers, achieve a satisfactory transmission quality and broadband characteristics because of their narrow spectrum characteristics. In the case of using an ordinary semiconductor laser together with a transmission path which includes a reflection point, it is necessary to provide the semiconductor laser with an optical isolator component for the purpose of achieving a satisfactory system efficiency, while reducing interference noise. For example, the optical isolator component is composed of a combination of a Faraday element having a magneto-optic effect and a polarizer. Even if the semiconductor laser is not provided with the optical isolator component, it is possible to reduce interference noise in a multiplexed electrical signal. However, in the case of ordinary middle- or long-distance high-speed baseband optical transmission, where a narrow spectrum width is required, an interference noise level is increased, and therefore the usefulness of such a semiconductor laser is low.
Hereinbelow, a conventional optical transmission/reception system including an optical isolator component is described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of the optical transmission/reception system, and FIG. 7 is a diagram used for explaining how an optical signal propagates through the optical transmission/reception system shown in FIG. 6.
In FIG. 6, the conventional optical transmission/reception system includes a drive unit 101, a semiconductor laser 102, an aspherical lens 103, an optical isolator 104, a transmission path 105, and an optical receiver 106. If an input signal Si is inputted to the drive unit 101, the drive unit 101 converts the inputted signal into a modulation signal Sm having a predetermined extinction ratio to directly intensity-modulate the semiconductor laser 102. The semiconductor laser 102 performs electrical/optical conversion on the modulation signal Sm to generate signal light Ls1. The signal light Ls1 is outputted from the semiconductor laser 102 and collected by, for example, the aspherical lens 103 to be coupled through the optical isolator 104 to an input end of the transmission path 105. After propagating through the transmission path 105, the signal light Ls1 is outputted as signal light Ls2 from an output end of the transmission path 105, and received by the optical receiver 106.
Here, a reflection point X having a predetermined reflection coefficient is formed on the transmission path 105 due to influences of connection portions with optical connectors, etc. As shown in FIG. 7, the signal light Ls1 having been inputted to the transmission path 105 propagates on the transmission path 105, and is partially reflected at the reflection point X. A portion of the signal light Ls1 that has not been reflected at the reflection point X is inputted as direct light Ld into the optical receiver 106. On the other hand, reflection light Lr, which has been reflected at the reflection point X on the transmission path 105 to propagate in a direction opposite to that of the signal light Ls1, is re-reflected by an output end surface, a laser active region, etc., of the semiconductor laser 102. Thereafter, the re-reflected reflection light (multiplexed reflection light) Lr is outputted as the signal light Ls2 together with the direct light Ld from the output end of the transmission path 105 to the optical receiver 106.
However, the reflection light Lr, which has been reflected at the reflection point X on the transmission path 105 to propagate in the direction opposite to that of the signal light Ls1, is weakened by the optical isolator 104, making it possible to prevent the reflection light Lr from being re-reflected by the output end surface, the laser active region, etc., of the semiconductor laser 102. That is, it is possible to prevent the multiplexed reflection light Lr from occurring and being outputted to the optical receiver 106. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent interference noise from occurring in the optical receiver 106 due to detection of the direct light Ld and the multiplexed reflection light Lr from the signal light Ls2.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-47069 discloses a semiconductor laser module in which an output end surface of a semiconductor laser makes an angle with optical fibers. In the semiconductor module, the angle between the output end surface of the semiconductor laser and the optical fibers prevents the reflection light from being re-reflected by the output end surface, a laser active region, etc., of the semiconductor laser.
Regarding the optical transmission/reception system including the optical isolator 104, the cost of the optical isolator 104 is high, and therefore it is difficult to reduce the cost of the optical transmission module including the optical isolator 104.
As for the semiconductor laser module disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-47069, high accuracy is required for adjusting optical coupling conditions with the angled optical fibers. That is, there is a difficulty in optically coupling the semiconductor laser with the optical fibers, resulting in an increase in cost of the optical transmission module.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Rotary tools configured to sand components and accommodate complex geometries thereof are provided. The rotary tools may include a rotary head and a shaft. Bristles and an abrasive material may be coupled to the abrasive material. The rotary tools may additionally include outlets configured to receive a flow of coolant to cool the rotary tool. A system configured to convert a flood coolant system to a through spindle coolant system is also provided. The system may include a hollow shaft with inlets and a redirector therein. A flow receptor may include scoops that receive coolant sprayed from a flood coolant system and direct the coolant through the inlets in the hollow shaft. Thereby, the coolant may contact the redirector and be directed downward through the hollow shaft to a rotary tool, such as the rotary tool described above.

Components employed to form various devices such as computing devices often undergo numerous manufacturing operations during the production thereof. Additive manufacturing processes add material to form a component. By way of example, injection molding may be employed to form a component. Conversely, subtractive manufacturing processes remove material from a workpiece or substrate to form a component. For example, material may be machined from a substrate to form the component. In some embodiments additive and subtractive processes may both be employed to form a component, depending on the particular desired final configuration of the component.
Computer numerical control (CNC) machining is one example of a type of subtractive manufacturing process commonly employed to form components. CNC machining typically employs a robotic assembly and a controller. The robotic assembly may include a rotating spindle to which a milling cutter, or alternate embodiment of cutter, is coupled. The milling cutter includes cutting edges that remove material from a substrate to form a component defining a desired shape and dimensions. In this regard, the controller directs the robotic assembly to move the milling cutter along a machining path that forms the component.
However, CNC machining may not provide a desired surface finish. In this regard, various finishing operations, such as sanding followed by annodization, may thereafter be employed. However, sanding may be time consuming, may be difficult to implement on components defining complex geometries, and may in some instances cause defects to the component. Accordingly, improved component finishing operations and tools therefor may be desirable.

Flood coolant to through spindle coolant conversion


Embodiments disclosed pertain to Optical Character Recognition using Multiple Hypothesis Testing based techniques on images occurring in a variety of settings, including images captured by mobile stations. In some embodiments, a set of bifurcation points for a character cluster in an image may be determined. The character cluster may comprise non-uniformly spaced text or closely spaced text. A plurality of hypotheses may be determined for the character cluster, where each hypothesis is based on a subset of the bifurcation points and comprises a set of words generated from the character cluster. A plurality of scores corresponding to the plurality of hypotheses may be determined, where each score corresponds to a hypothesis, and a hypothesis may be selected from among the plurality of hypotheses based on a score associated with the selected hypothesis.

The presence of closely-spaced and/or non-uniformly spaced words in captured images may detrimentally affect the reliability of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques applied to the images. In many OCR approaches, text is recognized in an image by localizing each word and/or character in the image, which is followed by classification and recognition of the word and/or character. When multiple words are printed close to each other, and/or the words are non-uniformly spaced conventional OCR techniques may produce an increased number of errors because characters or character sequences that make up words may be incorrectly clustered. Consequently, an increased error rate may result in the output of the OCR process.
Therefore, there is a need for systems, apparatus and methods that facilitate robust and accurate recovery of closely-spaced and/or non-uniformly spaced words and/or characters reliably.

Multiple hypothesis testing for word detection


A method of writing a pattern on a substrate by a deflectable electron beam, in particular a pattern containing very fine features such as nanostructures, is carried out by dividing the pattern into at least two fields of differing size (15, 17) which are arranged one inside the other and have a common center (18) arranged at the central axis of the beam at which the beam has an undeflected setting, with the finer or finest pattern features contained in the inner field (15). The pattern is written by keeping the substrate stationary and writing the two fields in succession with a change in writing resolution of the beam on transition from one field to the next such that a finer step size is used for an inner field than for an outer field.

The invention relates to a method of writing a pattern on a substrate by means of an electron beam.
It is common practice in electron beam lithography to write patterns on wafers, masks, reticles and other substrates by fracturing the patterns, i.e. breaking down each pattern into sub-patterns and by exposing the sub-patterns in sequence to build up a composite image. The pattern is conventionally divided into a grid format of square main fields and each main field is further divided into a grid format of square sub-fields. Each subfield is written by beam deflection to scan the subfield area, usually by vectoring of the beam to individual pattern shapes within the area by the most economic sequence of travel and by boustrophedon scanning of each shape. At the conclusion of each sub-field scanning the beam is moved on to the next sub-field and the process is repeated. When the pattern features of all sub-fields have been written, the substrate itself is displaced to position a succeeding main field centrally of the beam axis, so that its sub-fields can in turn be written.
The main field sizes in such fractured patterns are typically in the order of 0.1 to 4.0 millimeters square and in excess of 1,000 sub-fields are generally present on each field. The sub-field size principally depends on the fineness of the pattern features; features with a 1.0 micron dimension may be written by, for example, a resolution represented by 0.1 micron steps in the beam deflection, resulting in a sub-field size of about 100 microns square. To minimize or avoid distortion of pattern features which cross sub-field and main field boundaries or misalignment of features interconnected at these boundaries, it is necessary to apply corrections to the beam deflection system on each transition between sub-fields and main fields. These corrections compensate for, for example, deflection distortion, magnetic effects and time-related drift effects.
The afore-described lithographic techniques are in general use in the industry and are summarised in, for example, Jones and Dix: Electron Beam Lithography in Telecommunications Device Fabrication, Part 1, British Telecom Technology Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1.
Whilst such techniques are successful in microlithography, difficulties arise if they are applied to nanolithography. Nanolithography patterns are typically characterised by extremely fine features grouped centrally and coarser features graduating out towards the edges of the pattern. Writing the pattern requires the sub-fields to be only a few microns square, which results in correspondingly small main fields and sub-fields. This in turn significantly increases scanning time for the entire pattern. In addition, alignment of features at sub-field and main field boundaries is more difficult, particularly at transitions of pattern fineness.

Method of writing a pattern by an electron beam


A training system using haptically enhanced simulations of dental procedures to provide the sensorimotor involvement needed for dental training. To provide touch feedback in combination with a realistic visual experience, the system integrates a haptic stylus interface for simulating the movement and feel of the tool-tip with a three-dimensional, stereoscopic display. The haptic stylus enables the dental student to orient and operate simulated dental tools. Working on a virtual model viewed in a stereo display, dental students can use a simulated pick to probe a tooth, or a simulated drill to prepare a tooth for cavity repair. The touch feedback is simulated by representing these dental instruments as force-to-a-point tools which map to haptic simulation procedures executed on a computer workstation that also provides the visual display.

For the past 80 years, dental students have used artificial ("Dentoform") teeth and jaws, along with real dental instruments, to develop expertise in cavity preparation and other procedures. There are at least the following shortcomings with this approach:                1. These Dentoform models lack the level of detail and material properties needed to exactly mirror real life teeth and procedures.        2. These Dentoform models do not allow the student's work to be quantified or graded accurately, hence standards are difficult to instill or maintain.        3. Real life experiences such as bleeding or tooth extraction cannot be simulated with Dentoform training models.Due to these and other deficiencies, current training procedures require that dental students gain a portion of their required experience while practicing on patients. This is obviously less than optimal.
Computer simulation has promised to make medical education, including dentistry, quantifiable and scientific, and to make it possible for students to master procedures without the use of cadavers or the need to practice on live patients. However, computer simulation has not been effective for many types of medical training, including dentistry, because of the lack of true touch interaction. Utilizing classical, visual-only, computer simulations are not acceptable because a significant part of a dentist's learning is sensorimotor in nature. A dentist strongly depends on touch feedback from the tool tip for diagnosis and positional guidance during procedures.
Haptically enhanced simulations can provide the sensorimotor involvement needed for dental training. Moreover, if the simulation can provide a level of haptic realism equal to or better than the artificial-tooth-and-jaw-approach, it promises to be superior to the current physical Dentoform approach in simulating other aspects of procedures such as bleeding. In addition, virtual reality (VR) simulation offers "super-reality" training benefits that are not possible with either Dentoform models or live patients. For example, the student can repeat and playback procedures many times, precisely measure and quantify their results and even zoom in or work in x-ray mode to see their work in detail.

Methods and apparatus for simulating dental procedures and for training dental students

President and Fellows of Harvard College


The invention relates to a braking mechanism and tape cartridge for a tape measure. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the tape measure includes a housing, a fixed cylindrical surface located in the housing, a reel supported in the housing for rotation, and at least one braking mechanism located on the reel. The braking mechanism includes a flyweight, a spring, and a rail. The spring and rail allow the flyweight to move between a first position, in which the flyweight is not in contact with the fixed cylindrical surface, and a second position, in which the flyweight is in contact with the fixed cylindrical surface. In another aspect, a tape cartridge is provided that includes two sidewalls and a cylindrical wall, which define a container. The tape cartridge is adapted to support a tape assembly therein, and may be mounted in the tape measure housing.

Tape measures often employ spring-loaded means for returning an extended measuring tape to a coiled position within the housing of the tape measure. Such tape measures generally include a spring connected to a reel on one end and to a stationary pin on the other end. The stationary pin is rigidly connected to a non-rotating housing, which contains the reel. One end of the tape is connected to the hub of the reel and the rest of the tape is coiled around the reel. When the tape is pulled out of the tape measure housing, the reel is force to rotate against the force of the spring. As the tape is pulled out of the housing and the reel is rotated, the force of the spring increases so that when the hook end of the tape is released, the tape will rapidly retract back into its fully coiled position.
Current spring-loaded type tape measures present a number of drawbacks. First, the speed of the retracting tape can be quite high, especially when the tape is allowed to retract from a fully extended position. The rapidly coiling tape can buckle within the tape measure housing. In addition, the hook end of the tape may impact the housing inlet with a force that causes damage to tape measure components, including the housing, the reel, the hook end of the tape, and the tape itself. The rapidly coiling tape can also be dangerous to operator's fingers.
A second drawback of current spring-loaded type tape measures is that as a component, such as the reel, tape, or spring, is damaged or worn over time, it must be replaced. However, replacement of a component can be cumbersome. For example, replacement of a damaged tape requires opening the housing, removing the reel, unwinding the old tape, attaching a new tape, carefully coiling the new tape, and replacing the reel in the tape housing.
Accordingly, what is needed is an automatic braking mechanism for slowing the retraction of a reel within a tape measure without interfering with the extension of the tape. Additionally, it would be desirable to provide a tape measure in which damaged or worn components may be easily replaced.

Braking mechanism and tape cartridge for tape measure


A system for preventing objects from entering the intake of a jet engine including a deflector mounted to the turbine shaft and including a de-icing device to minimize collection of ice on the deflector. The deflector includes a sensor in one embodiment for measuring object strikes so that comprehensive impact data may be obtained to generate an impact report so that measures can be taken to minimize object impacts.

Commercial and military aircraft have used jet engines as propulsion means for many decades. Jet engines are typically mounted on the either the wings and/or the fuselage of the aircraft.
A jet engine typically includes a metal housing (usually cylindrical in shape) having an opening at a front end in which air enters the engine and a narrowed rear portion relative to the front opening, from which the air exits the engine. A turbine is typically provided inside of the housing that rotates on a shaft so as to pull air into the air intake. The pulling of air into the intake and expulsion of the air from the rear portion of the jet engine creates thrust for propelling the airplane forward.
Maintaining thrust is critical for a pilot to maintain control of the jet aircraft. If thrust is lost due to, for example, engine failure, the pilot will have great difficulty in maintaining the aircraft aloft indefinitely. While many jet aircraft comprise multiple jet engines, even the failure of a single engine can pose a very serious safety hazard to the aircraft, individuals on the aircraft and to individuals and property on the ground if the aircraft is forced to make an emergency landing due to the failure of the jet engine.
As jet engine failure may have such dire consequences, companies and organizations that run them typically go to great lengths to maintain the engines in top operating condition. However, there are a number of problems that cannot be avoided by simple maintenance. For example, as jet engines have an air intake at a front end of the housing, objects (e.g., large hailstones, birds, etc.) may inadvertently be drawn into the air intake. If the objects are of sufficient size, it is possible that the object could damage the turbine, reducing the efficiency of the engine or even cause catastrophic failure of the engine altogether.
Measures have been taken to limit these problems. For example, direction is given to pilots relating to severe weather so as to allow aircraft to avoid flying through areas where large hailstones could be falling or preventing aircraft from landing or taking off in areas of severe weather. Likewise, measures have been taken to limit the number of birds that may be in and around airports. However, while these measures have no doubt reduced the number of strikes against jet engines, they can do nothing to protect a jet engine from a strike in the event the plane finds itself in a severe storm or in the vicinity of a flock of birds.
Systems have attempted to deal with the problem with limited success. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,871,455 entitled "Jet Engine Protection System" discloses that a screen may be positioned over the opening of the jet engine intake or alternatively, an inflatable bag may be inflated in front of the air intake to deflect incoming objects. However, some problems this system faces is that, the screen may become cluttered with objects (e.g., multiple bird strikes) thereby limiting air intake or if an object strikes the bag, the bag is no longer useful. Additionally, neither the bag nor the screen may be de-iced, which could cause the problem of large amounts of ice building up on the structure in front of the intake that could detach and potentially enter the intake.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a system and method that prevents or minimizes the ability of objects (e.g., hailstones, birds, etc.) from entering the air intake of a jet engine.
It would also be advantageous to provide a system and method that would provide for de-icing of the structure that would prevent or minimize the ability of objects from entering the air intake of a jet engine.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for preventing objects from entering the intake of a jet engine


A grinding tool has radially projecting grinding elements separated by spacers. The grinding elements are provided with radially extending slots. Some of the slots are open-ended. Axially spaced slots alternate in different radial positions.

This invention relates to a grinding tool with a drive shaft and radial grinding elements.
There exist numerous grinding tools for machine-operated abrasive surface finishing. Examples of such traditional machines include rotary grinders employing a grinding medium in the form of a grinding sheet with an abrasive surface on a fabric, cellulose-based or plastic backing, radially extending from a motor-driven cylindrical base unit. The rotating tool is passed across the surface to be finished as the free ends of the grinding medium successively strike the surface and are moved across it. The tool may be part of an automatic system or it may be manually operated.
This conventional design is particularly useful when configured with a small tool diameter for finishing hard workpieces, for instance metal objects. When grinding workpieces of a soft material such as wood, there is always the danger of producing an uneven surface since the individual grinding elements attack the material at different force levels. This problem takes on increasingly significant proportions after the break-in period of the tool when due to usage the grinding elements have differently shaped ends. For finishing larger workpieces it becomes necessary to apply the grinder in machine-controlled fashion or to manually go over the entire surface repeatedly to cover the whole area, a process which is time-consuming and once again tends to pose a problem in achieving a homogeneous finish.
For larger workpieces the dimensions of the tool should be larger as well, especially with respect to its operating width. For conventional grinding tools, however, that would create major problems in terms of grinding performance since they would necessarily be quite stiff and inflexible over their width, making the grinding of non-planar, curved surfaces of a soft material virtually impossible.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,833 describes a grinding tool with a drive shaft from which grinding elements, mounted on a carrier band, project radially outward. Each grinding element is attached to a retaining pin that is positioned at a distance from and parallel to the drive shaft. The retaining pins are spaced from one another and attached, along a circular path around the drive shaft, to a base unit.
It is the objective of this invention to introduce a grinding tool which is capable of also finishing workpieces of a soft material such as wood and having a curved surface.
According to the invention, this capability is provided by a grinding tool with the features per claim 1.
Other preferred design versions are characterized by the features described in the subordinated claims 2 to 11.
By virtue of the design of the grinding tool according to this invention, a tool is provided which, even when it is large or has a large working width, is capable of following curved contours as a well and indeed lends itself particularly well to the surfacing of workpieces of a soft material such as wood. It is an advantage of this design that it permits the tool to be relatively wide, i.e. with a large effective operating width, thus permitting even large, curved workpieces to be surface-finished in just a few steps. It is especially the surfaces of three-dimensionally cambered objects that can be finished quickly and in optimal fashion even when the workpiece consists of a soft material such as wood.
As an added benefit, the tool according to this invention is highly durable and is relatively easy to maintain.
While the tool according to this invention is particularly suitable for the finishing of soft workpieces, it is also well suited to the grinding of workpieces with a hard and/or straight surface.


A novel mooring line device is described and illustrated. The mooring line device is designed to engage a mooring line, the mooring line having a free end for attachment to a watercraft and a looped end for attachment to the mooring line device. The inventive mooring line device comprises two tubes, secured adjacent to one another, through which the mooring line is threaded. Once the mooring line is wrapped about a piling, the looped end of the mooring line may be engaged within a locking component of the mooring line device, and the mooring line subsequently tightened about the piling and secured thereto via the inventive mooring line device.

The present invention is directed to a device and method for mooring a watercraft to dock pilings. The device is configured to engage a portion of a mooring line, such as a rope, which can then be readily cast toward a piling. The rope can be wrapped around the piling, and a looped end of the rope can be hooked into the locking component of the device. The free end of the rope may be tied to a cleat on the outside of the boat, for example.
In certain aspects, the present invention is directed to a mooring line device comprising: (a) an elongated first tube having an inner channel for housing a portion of the mooring line, the tube having an open top end, an open bottom end, and a longitudinal length; (b) a second tube having an inner channel for housing a second portion of the mooring line, the second tube having an open top end, an open bottom end, and a longitudinal length. The second tube is connected adjacent to the first tube and is positioned with respect to the first tube such that the inner channels of the tubes run substantially parallel to one another. The mooring line device further includes a locking component integral with the first tube, the locking component configured to secure a looped end of the mooring line thereto.
One embodiment of the locking component of the present invention comprises an elongated finger having one end integral with the first tube and a free end extending downward. The locking component of this embodiment further includes a boss integral with the first tube and positioned near the bottom end of the first tube adjacent the free end of the finger, thereby providing a space sufficiently large to allow the looped end of the mooring line to slide between the boss and finger for engagement therein.
Other embodiments of the present invention include a kit comprising a mooring line and the mooring line device described and illustrated herein, as well as a method of using the mooring line device to secure to a watercraft to a piling.

Device and method for mooring a watercraft


A conduit cleaning jetting pig is provided, the pig having a central axis that can be aligned with a central axis of a conduit to be cleaned, the pig including: a seal means having an upstream side and a downstream side, the seal means effective to prevent a significant flow of fluids from the upstream side of the pig to the downstream side of the pig between the pig and the inside of the conduit when a differential pressure exists between the upstream side and the downstream side of the pig; a rotating element rotatably connected to the downstream side of the seal means; a plurality of nozzles connected to the rotating element each nozzle defining a flowpath through the nozzle for fluids to pass through each of the nozzles, and the flowpath in communication with a channel from the upstream side of the seal means to the flowpath with the flowpath through the nozzle aligned in part tangential to a cylinder around the central axis of the pig and aligned in part toward the inside wall of the conduit; and a friction creating element capable of being urged against an inside surface of a conduit, the friction creating element allowing a limited and controlled rate of movement down the pipe when fluid is provided on the upstream side of the pig wherein the friction created decreases with increasing fluid flow through the flowpaths defined by the nozzles. This pig is useful for removing solids such as wax from the inside of pipes.

Insides of long conduits such as pipelines can be difficult to clean, and yet many fluids that are advantageously transported by pipelines have a tendency to deposit solids that eventually would plug the conduit. For example, crude oils contain paraffins that may precipitate as wax and adhere to the pipe wall if the crude oil cools as it flows down a pipeline.
Mechanical cleaning devices, commonly called pigs, are often used to clean such pipelines. Pigs are generally plugs that can slide through the pipeline by the force of fluids behind the pig, removing undesirable materials by pushing these materials in front of the pig. In long pipelines, stations to launch and catch these pigs are typically provided in the pipeline. Typical pigs are not particularly effective in removing scum deposits such as wax from crude oil pipelines because solids that are removed tend to accumulate in front of the pig. These long accumulations are heavy and viscous and eventually prevent the pig from progressing further down the pipeline thus plugging the pipe. With wax deposits within a pipeline, other methods to remove the wax solids are sometimes employed. For example, the pipeline can be flushed with a solvent that dissolves the wax. This is typically very expensive because time is required for the solvent to "soak" loose the wax, the solvent is generally expensive, large volumes of solvent are often required, and the contaminated solvent is generally of considerably less value than the clean solvent.
A pipe cleaning device is suggested by Judy J. Werlink and David E. Rowell of the Kennedy Space Center that overcomes some of the disadvantages of other pipe cleaning pigs. This pipe cleaning device includes a rotating brush that is rotated by fluids passing through the pipe at a velocity greater than the velocity of the pipe cleaning device. The brush is attached to a turbine wheel, the turbine wheel effective to translate energy from the flowing fluid to rotation energy. The device must be anchored by a cable to provide that the device moves through the pipeline at a velocity sufficiently different from the fluids to result in rotation of the brush. The necessity of the cable restricts the length of pipeline that can be cleaned because of the weight of an extended length of cable. For example, a pipeline having a length of greater than about a mile would be very difficult to clean with this device. Further, a tensioner and a seal must be provided around the cable where the cable enters the pipeline. This seal provides an opportunity for pipeline contents to escape resulting in unwanted emissions.
It is desirable to have a method and apparatus that can be used to remove solids from the inside of conduits wherein extended lengths of conduit can be cleaned and wherein solids will be flushed and thus removed down the pipeline as they are removed from the wall of the conduit.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus to remove adhered solids from the inside of a conduit wherein a cleaning device does not require a cable anchor, and wherein flow through the pig is provided to remove loose solids ahead of the movement of the pig. It is a further object to provide such an apparatus and method wherein extended lengths of conduit can be cleaned.


Respective divided segments of a collet are moved radially outward by moving an arbor axially. The respective divided segments thereby press an inner circumferential surface of a stator core of a stator from radially inside such that the stator is held coaxially by the collet. Next, shaping rollers are lowered so as to press an outer circumferential surface of the stator core. The stator is rotated by rotating the collet in that state. Thus, the inner circumferential surface of the stator core is compressed and plastically deformed so as to conform to the collet and the outer circumferential surface of the stator core is compressed and plastically deformed by the shaping rollers, correcting the inner circumferential surface and the outer circumferential surface of the stator core so as to be coaxial and so as to have a high degree of roundness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dynamoelectric machine such as an automotive alternator, etc., and a stator manufacturing method therefor, and particularly relates to a stator core construction and manufacturing method that improves circularity of an outer circumferential surface of a stator core that is fitted together with and supported by a case.
2. Description of the Related Art
A first conventional stator core that can be used in a dynamoelectric machine is prepared so as to have a cylindrical shape by curving and coiling up a band of steel plate in which a large number of slots and teeth have been formed along a first side and a large number of notches have been formed along a second side so as to be separated by a predetermined pitch from each other, and integrating it by welding (see a first patent document, for example). It has been claimed that superior roundness can be achieved in the stator core by forming the large number of notches along the second side of the band of steel plate so as to be separated by the predetermined pitch, and that circularity can be much improved particularly by forming the notches on surfaces behind the teeth.
A second conventional stator core is prepared so as to have a cylindrical shape by preparing a strip-shaped body bundle by laminating to a predetermined thickness strip-shaped bodies in which a large number of slots and teeth have been formed along a first side and integrating them by welding, bending the strip-shaped body bundle into a cylindrical shape, abutting end surfaces of the bent strip-shaped body bundle with each other, and integrating them by welding the abutted portions (see a second patent document, for example).
In the manufacturing method for this second conventional stator core, when the strip-shaped body bundle is bent into a cylindrical shape, bending in a vicinity of two end portions of the strip-shaped body bundle is less than in other portions, making abutted surfaces between the end surfaces of the bent strip-shaped body bundle misalign. If the abutted surfaces between the end surfaces of the bent strip-shaped body bundle are aligned forcibly and welded, roundness of the stator core deteriorates.
In order to solve the problems in the second conventional stator core that is described above, a third conventional stator core has been proposed in which the two end portions of the strip-shaped body bundle are bent so as to have a curvature that is approximately equal to a final curvature of the stator core before a step of bending the whole strip-shaped body bundle into a cylindrical shape (see a third patent document, for example). It has been claimed that because the two end portions of the strip-shaped body bundle are bent so as to have a curvature that is approximately equal to the final curvature of the stator core, the abutted surfaces between the end surfaces of the strip-shaped body bundle that has been bent into a cylindrical shape align when the strip-shaped body bundle is bent into a cylindrical shape, enabling roundness of the stator core to be improved.    First patent document: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 10-225027 (Gazette)    Second patent document: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. SHO 52-34301 (Gazette)    Third patent document: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-298885 (Gazette)
In the first conventional stator core, because the large number of notches are formed along the second side of the band of steel plate, when the band of steel plate is curved and coiled up, notched portions become bend points, and an outer circumferential surface of the bent stator core becomes multangular. Consequently, it is necessary to adjust curving resistance (tensile resistance) of the band of steel plate while coiling it up so that the outer circumferential surface shape does not become multangular, making the manufacturing process for the stator core complicated. Because the band of steel plate that has been coiled up into a cylindrical shape is integrated by welding it at the notched portions, even if the band of steel plate has been coiled up so as to have good roundness, the band of steel plate may deform locally due to heat during welding, reducing its roundness.
In the third conventional stator core, the two end portions of the strip-shaped body bundle are bent so as to have a predetermined curvature before the step of bending the whole strip-shaped body into a cylindrical shape, but satisfactory roundness has not been achieved.
In addition, in the first through third conventional stator cores, tension continues to act on the steel plates that constitute the stator cores after they have been prepared. When a dynamoelectric machine that incorporates such a stator core is mounted to a vehicle, the stator core is subjected to vehicle vibration, and there has therefore been a danger that cracking or other damage may arise at positions on the steel plates where such tension is acting.

Dynamoelectric machine and manufacturing method for stator used therein


A liquid crystal display device for displaying an image by changing orientation of a liquid crystal layer sealed between two substrates includes a lower substrate having a microstructure which outputs light incident on a side surface of the lower substrate to an upper surface of the lower substrate, a light source emitting light to the side surface of the lower substrate, a selective reflection panel provided on the upper surface of the lower substrate to reflect light having a predetermined incident angle or more and transmit the remaining light, and a reflection panel provided under the lower substrate.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-2381 filed on Jan. 14, 2003 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and, more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device having a backlight apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a conventional liquid crystal display device. Referring to FIG. 1, a liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel 10 and a backlight apparatus 30. The liquid crystal panel 10 is manufactured by sequentially depositing a lower substrate 1, a lower electrode 2, a liquid crystal layer 3, an upper electrode 4, and an upper substrate 5. Polarization panels 6 and 7 are further provided at a lower surface of the lower substrate 1 and an upper surface of the upper substrate 5, respectively. The liquid crystal panel 10 displays a desired image by changing orientation of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 3 according to an electric signal applied to the lower and upper electrodes 2 and 4 so as to transmit or block light input from the backlight apparatus 30.
The backlight apparatus 30 is an illumination apparatus for supplying light to the liquid crystal panel 10. The backlight apparatus 30 includes a light guide panel 12, a dispersion pattern 18, a reflection panel 11, and a light source 13. An optical film layer 20 is deposited on an upper surface of the light guide panel 12. The light emitted from the light source 13 is incident on a side surface of the light guide panel 12. The light guide panel 12 is a transmissive body having a refractive index of about 1.5, in which a critical angle is about 42°. Thus, of the light incident on the light guide panel 12, the light having an incident angle less than a critical angle with respect to the upper surface of the light guide panel 12 is exhausted through the upper surface of the light guide panel 12 and the remaining light is totally reflected and spreads in the entire area of the light guide panel 12. The dispersion pattern 18 is provided on a lower surface of the light guide panel 12. The dispersion pattern 18 disperses light and, as shown in FIG. 1, some of the dispersed light proceeds toward the upper surface of the light guide panel 12 and the light passing through the dispersion pattern 18 is reflected by the reflection panel 11 to proceed upward. Of the light proceeding upward, the light having an incident angle with respect to the upper surface of the light guide panel 12 that is less than a critical angle is transmitted, while the remaining light is totally reflected again and spreads inside the light guide panel 12. By repeating transmission, total reflection, and dispersion, the backlight 30 functions as a surface light source for supplying light to the liquid crystal panel 10.
The light passing through the upper surface of the light guide panel 12 is incident on the liquid crystal panel 10 via the optical film layer 20. The optical film layer 20 can include a diffusion panel 14, prism sheets 15 and 16, and a protector 17. The diffusion panel 14 makes the strength of the light exhausted from the upper surface of the light guide panel 12 uniform by diffusing the light. The prism sheets 15 and 16 improve brightness in a normal direction.
In the above-described liquid crystal display device, loss of light is generated as the light emitted from the light source is absorbed by a plurality of optical media such as the light guide panel and the optical film while the light passes through the respective media and arrives at the liquid crystal panel. Thus, a high power light source is needed to obtain a desired brightness from the liquid crystal panel. However, the high power light source normally has a large size and a great power consumption. Furthermore, since the thickness of the light guide panel is about 2–3 mm, there is a limit to making a thin liquid crystal display panel with a backlight apparatus using the light guide panel.


A data processing system includes an interconnect fabric, a protected resource having a plurality of banks each associated with a respective one of a plurality of address sets, a snooper that controls access to the resource, one or more masters that initiate requests, and interconnect logic coupled to the one or more masters and to the interconnect fabric. The interconnect logic regulates a rate of delivery to the snooper via the interconnect fabric of requests that target any one the plurality of banks of the protected resource.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to data processing systems and, in particular, to an improved interconnect fabric for data processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) computer system, such as a server computer system, includes multiple processing units all coupled to a system interconnect, which typically comprises one or more address, data and control buses. Coupled to the system interconnect is a system memory, which represents the lowest level of volatile memory in the multiprocessor computer system and which generally is accessible for read and write access by all processing units. In order to reduce access latency to instructions and data residing in the system memory, each processing unit is typically further supported by a respective multi-level cache hierarchy, the lower level(s) of which may be shared by one or more processor cores.

Data processing system, method and interconnect fabric having an address-based launch governor

International Business Machines Corporation


A display device including a display screen having an optical film provided thereon. The optical film is a porous thin film made of fine magnesium fluoride particles and a binder containing a condensate of a silane compound having a fluoroalkyl group, a co-condensate of the silane compound and silicon, or a co-condensate of the silane compound and a metal oxide compound. The combination of the specific binder and fine magnesium fluoride particles permits forming a porous optical film having a surprisingly high mechanical strength, excellent resistance to humidity and reduced external light reflection from the display plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device for a cathode ray tube or for a liquid crystal display device including an anti-reflection film formed on the display plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the display screen of a cathode ray tube or a liquid crystal display device comprises a smooth glass substrate forming the outer surface of the display screen. As a result, a primary reflection of the external light takes place on the outer surface so as to obscure the picture image displayed on the display screen.
A cathode ray tube is constructed as shown in, for example, FIG. 1. It is seen that a phosphor screen 2 positioned within a vacuum envelope is formed inside a faceplate 1 made of a smooth glass plate. Also disposed within the vacuum envelope are an electron gun 3, which emits an electron beam 4, and a deflection yoke 5 serving to magnetically deflect the electron beam 4 so as to scan the electron beam in the horizontal and vertical directions on the phosphor screen 2. A picture image is displayed on the phosphor screen as a result of the horizontal and vertical scanning of the electron beam noted above. What should be noted is that the outer surface of the faceplate is made of a smooth glass, with the result that a primary reflection of an external light taking place on the outer surface of the faceplate 1 overlaps with the picture image displayed on the phosphor screen. Naturally, the overlapping noted above obstructs a clear viewing of the picture image displayed on the phosphor screen.
A means for overcoming the above-noted difficulty is proposed in, for example, Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 61-29051. It is proposed that fine concavities are formed on the outer surface of the faceplate so as to scatter the external light. In this method, however, the entire screen is rendered whitish, with the result that the contrast is seemingly deteriorated. Also, resolution of the picture image is deteriorated.
It is also known to the art that an optical film of a single layer structure or a multilayer structure is formed on the outer surface of the faceplate so as to prevent the reflection of the external light. This technique certainly permits effectively preventing the primary reflection an external light so as to prevent deterioration in contrast and resolution.
Where the optical film noted above is of a single layer structure, the optical film is formed of a material having a refractive index smaller than that of the glass forming the ordinary faceplate. It should be noted that the condition for eliminating reflection in this case is represented by: n.sub.1.sup.2 =n.sub.0 .multidot.n.sub.2.sup.2, where n.sub.1 denotes the refractive index of the film, n.sub.0 denotes the refractive index of the air, and n.sub.2 is the refractive index of the substrate in the display section.
In the case of a cathode ray tube, the substrate in the display section is formed of glass, i.e., n.sub.2.sup.2 =1.52. On the other hand, the refractive index of the air is: n.sub.0 =1.00. It follows that the refractive index of the optical film is: n.sub.1 =1.23.
In general, the optical film of the single layer structure is formed by means of vacuum vapor deposition of magnesium fluoride (MgF.sub.2). However, magnesium fluoride itself has a refractive index of 1.38, which is greater than 1.23 given above. It follows that the optical film formed by means of the vacuum vapor deposition fails to produce a sufficient effect of preventing the external light reflection. It is also known to the art to use fine magnesium fluoride particles for forming an optical film of a single layer structure. In this case, the magnesium fluoride particles are bonded to each other by silicon dioxide obtained by hydrolyzing and dehydrating-condensing for example, a silicon alkoxide.
FIG. 2 schematically shows an optical film utilizing fine magnesium fluoride particles. As apparent from the drawing, the film is porous such that clearances 7 are formed between adjacent fine particles 6 of magnesium fluoride. It is possible to prepare a porous optical film having a refractive index smaller than 1.38, i.e., smaller than the refractive index of magnesium fluoride itself. For forming a porous magnesium fluoride film having a sufficiently high mechanical strength, however, it is necessary to use a large amount of a binder relative to the amount of magnesium fluoride, with the result that the refractive index of the porous film is increased so as to suppress the effect of preventing light reflection. What should also be considered is the surface structure of the optical film. Specifically, FIG. 3 schematically shows the surface structure noted above. As seen from the drawing, silicon dioxide and uncondensed Si--O--H structure are present on the surface of the fine magnesium fluoride particle 6. The optical film of this surface structure readily adsorbs water. The adsorbed water permeats into the clearance within the porous film so as to bring about a change in the refractive index. In other words, the refractive index of the porous film is changed with time in accordance with increase in the amount of water adsorbed by the film.
Where the optical film is of a two layer structure, the condition for eliminating an external light reflection can be represented by: n.sub.2 .multidot.n.sub.4.sup.2 =n.sub.0 .multidot.n.sub.3.sup.2, where n.sub.2 denotes the refractive index of the glass substrate in the display section, n3 denotes the refractive index of the lower of the film, n.sub.4 denotes the refractive index of the upper layer of the film, and n.sub.0 denotes the refractive index of the air. Where n.sub.2 =1.52 and n.sub.0 =1.00, the ratio n.sub.3 /n.sub.4 is 1.23. It follows that is possible to prepare to desired optical film of a multilayer structure by suitably selecting the materials of the lower and upper layers of the film such that the refractive index ratio n.sub.3 /n.sub.4 is 1.23. In practice, an optical film having a desired refractive index can be readily prepared by using a material having a relatively large refractive index for forming the lower layer.
An optical film of a two layer structure, which permits eliminating an external light reflection, is disclosed in, for example, Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 61-10043. It is taught that the lower layer is formed of an oxide-series compound of titanium or zirconium, e.g., a co-condensate between an alkoxide of titanium or zirconium and a silicon dioxide series compound such as a silicon alkoxide. On the other hand, the upper layer is formed of a fluorine-containing silicone compound which can be obtained from an alkoxy silane or chlorosilane having a polyfluoroalkyl group. In the optical film of this type, however, the lower layer has a high refractive index. If some portion of the lower layer is not covered with the upper layer because of, for example, an uneven coating of the upper layer, a surface reflection takes place in the optical film in the portion where the lower layer is not covered with the upper layer, leading to a high reflectance. Suppose the lower layer has a refractive index of, for example, 1.7, the lower layer exhibits a reflectance of 10%, which is more than twice the reflectance 4.3% of the substrate formed of the ordinary glass. It follows that only a slight defect of the laminate structure attracts attentions. Naturally, the optical film of a two layer structure is lower in yield than the film of a single layer structure. Also, the film of a two layer structure requires a complex manufacturing process, leading to a high manufacturing cost, compared with the film of a single layer structure.
As described above, the conventional optical film for preventing an external light reflection in a display device leaves room for further improvements in reflectance, mechanical strength, humidity resistance and menufacturing cost.

Display device with an anti-reflection film on the display plane


A dry food dispensing device for controlling the portion size of the dispensed food, comprising a storage receptacle for containing dry foods, wherein the receptacle is seated over a base providing a housing for a dispensing mechanism, the dispensing mechanism comprising:                a turnable free flow valve having wings, capable of rotation to an opening angle defined by a position limiter; and        a depressible handle for controlling the free flow valve via the position limiter,        wherein the dispensing mechanism releases a portion of the dry food, with the portion being determined by a user as a function of time the turnable free flow valve is held at the opening angle.

Dry food dispensers are widely used for various types of food and in many establishments. Dispensers are popularly used for breakfast cereals in hotels, but not limited to them only.
Food dispensers are used for various sizes of food. Often when large pieces of food are being dispensed, they get crushed by the dispensing mechanism.
Another problem that occurs when using a dispenser is food leakage, so that the user ends up with a larger quantity of food than planned, or a piece of food becomes wedged between the dispensing mechanism and the spout, thus compromising the freshness of the food.
Yet another problem with food dispensers is the gap between the desirable amount and the dispensed amount, i.e. the difficulty in controlling the dispensed amount.
There is a need for a dispenser which eliminates the above difficulties.

Free flow control dispenser device and method