A control system includes an energy management system and an isolation control system. The energy management system generates a trip plan that designates operational settings of a vehicle system having powered units that generate tractive effort to propel the vehicle system. The energy management system determines a tractive effort capability of the vehicle system and a demanded tractive effort of a trip. The energy management system identifies a tractive effort difference between the tractive effort capability of the vehicle system and the demanded tractive effort of the trip and selects at least one of the powered units based on the tractive effort difference. The isolation module remotely turns the selected powered unit to an OFF mode such that the vehicle system is propelled along the route during the trip by the powered units other than the selected powered unit.

The presently described inventive subject matter relates to a powered system, such as a train, an off-highway vehicle, a marine, a transport vehicle, an agriculture vehicle, and/or a stationary powered system and, more particularly to a method and computer software code for powering the powered system where throttle commands are decoupled from predefined settings.
Some powered systems such as, but not limited to, off-highway vehicles, marine diesel powered propulsion plants, stationary diesel powered systems, and transport vehicles, such as transport buses, agricultural vehicles, and rail vehicle systems (e.g., trains), are typically powered by one or more diesel power units, diesel-fueled power generating units, and/or electric engines. With respect to rail vehicle systems, a diesel power unit is usually a part of at least one locomotive that is powered by at least one diesel internal combustion engine. The rail vehicle system further includes a plurality of rail cars, such as freight cars. Usually more than one locomotive is provided. A plurality of locomotives coupled together is considered a locomotive consist. Locomotives are complex systems with numerous subsystems, with each subsystem being interdependent on other subsystems.
An operator is usually aboard a locomotive to insure the proper operation of the locomotive, and when there is a locomotive consist, the operator is usually aboard a lead locomotive. A locomotive consist is a group of locomotives that operate together in operating a train. In addition to ensuring proper operations of the locomotive, or locomotive consist, the operator also is responsible for determining operating speeds of the train and forces within the train that the locomotives are part of. To perform this function, the operator may generally have extensive experience with operating the locomotive and various trains over the specified terrain. This knowledge may be needed to comply with prescribed operating parameters, such as speeds, emissions and the like that may vary with the train location along the track.
Moreover, the operator also can be responsible for assuring in-train forces remain within designated limits. The operator applies tractive and braking effort to control the speed of the locomotive and a load of railcars to assure proper operation and timely arrival at a desired destination. For example, some known locomotives have several throttle levels, where each level is referred to as a notch. Tractive effort is applied by entering a notch, which is an electrical signal corresponds to throttle position. Speed control may also be exercised to maintain in-train forces within designated limits, thereby avoiding excessive coupler forces and the possibility of a train break. To perform this function and comply with designated operating speeds that may vary with the train's location on the track, the operator generally may have extensive experience operating the locomotive over the specified terrain with different railcar consists so that the operator knows which notch to set.
In marine applications, an operator is usually aboard a marine vehicle to insure the proper operation of the vessel, and when there is a vessel consist, the lead operator is usually aboard a lead vessel. As with the locomotive example cited above, a vessel consist is a group of vessels that operate together in operating a combined mission. In addition to ensuring proper operations of the vessel, or vessel consist, the lead operator is responsible for determining operating speeds of the consist and forces within the consist that the vessels are part of. To perform this function, the operator may have extensive experience with operating the vessel and various consists over the specified waterway or mission. This knowledge is needed to comply with designated operating speeds and other mission parameters that may vary with the vessel location along the mission. Moreover, the operator is also responsible for controlling mission forces and location remain within designated limits.
In the case of multiple diesel powered systems, which by way of example and not limitation, may reside on a single vessel, power plant or vehicle or power plant sets, an operator is usually in command of the overall system to insure the proper operation of the system, and when there is a system consist, the operator is usually aboard a lead system. Defined generally, a system consist is a group of powered systems that operate together in meeting a mission. In addition to ensuring proper operations of the single system, or system consist, the operator also is responsible for determining operating parameters of the system set and forces within the set that the system is part of. To perform this function, the operator generally has extensive experience with operating the system and various sets over the specified space and mission. This knowledge may be needed to comply with prescribed operating parameters and speeds that may vary with the system set location along the route. Moreover, the operator also may be responsible for assuring in-set forces remain within designated limits.
When operating a train, operators typically designate or assign the same notch setting for all locomotives, which in turn may lead to a large variation in fuel consumption and/or emission output, such as, but not limited to, NOx, CO2, etc., depending on a number of locomotives powering the train. Thus, the operator may not be able to operate the locomotives so that the fuel consumption is minimized or significantly reduced and the emission output is minimized or significantly reduced for each trip because the size and loading of trains vary and different locomotives of a train may have different power availabilities.
With respect to a locomotive, even with knowledge to assure safe operation, the operator may not be capable of operating the locomotive so that the fuel consumption and emissions is minimized or significantly reduced for each trip. For example, other factors that may be considered include emission output, the operator's environmental conditions like noise/vibration, a weighted combination of fuel consumption and emissions output, etc. This is difficult to do since, as an example, the size and loading of trains vary, locomotives and their fuel/emissions characteristics are different, and weather and traffic conditions vary.
Control of the powered system, such as a train, can be exercised by an automatic control system that may determine various system and mission parameters (e.g., the timing and magnitude of tractive and braking applications) to control the powered system. Alternatively, the train control system may advise the operator of preferred control actions, with the operator exercising control of the powered system in accordance with the advised actions or in accordance with the operator's independent train control assessments.
The automatic control system generally uses a mission plan (or trip plan) that may be automatically developed or modified to provide an optimized plan that improves (e.g., reduces) certain parameters, such as, but not limited to, emissions, fuel used, etc., while meeting mission objectives, such as, but not limited to, mission completion time, interactions with other powered systems, etc. When planning a mission that may be performed autonomously, which includes little to no input from the operator when the mission is being performed, an operator may verify the mission being planned. Likewise, while the mission plan is being used in controlling a powered vehicle, operator input may be required to monitor operations and/or take control of the powered vehicle.
Because such powered systems as trains and/or locomotives have notch settings, a developed mission plan using the predefined notch settings may not result in an optimum mission. Owners and/or operators of rail vehicles, off-highway vehicles, marine powered propulsion plants, transportation vehicles, agricultural vehicles, and/or stationary diesel powered systems would appreciate the financial benefits realized when these diesel powered systems improve fuel efficiency, emission output, fleet efficiency, and mission parameter performance.
Some known powered rail vehicle systems include one or more powered units and, in certain cases, one or more non-powered units. The powered units supply tractive force to propel the powered units and non-powered units. The non-powered units hold or store goods and/or passengers. "Non-powered" unit generally encompasses any vehicle without an on-board source of motive power, and also may be referred to as a non-propulsion-generating vehicle while a powered unit has an on-board source of motive power and may be referred to as a propulsion-generating vehicle.
Some known powered rail vehicle systems include a rail vehicle system (e.g., train) having powered locomotives and non-powered cars for conveying goods and/or passengers along a track. The powered vehicle systems may include several powered units. For example, the systems may include a lead powered unit, such as a lead locomotive, and one or more remote or trailing powered units, such as trailing locomotives, that are located behind and (directly or indirectly) coupled with the lead powered unit. The lead and remote powered units supply tractive force to propel the vehicle system along a route, such as a track.
The tractive force required to convey the powered units and non-powered units along the route may vary during a trip. For example, due to various parameters that change during a trip, the tractive force that is necessary to move the vehicle system along the route may vary. These changing parameters may include the curvature and/or grade of the route, speed limits and/or requirements of the vehicle system, and the like. As these parameters change during a trip, the total tractive effort, or force, that is required to propel the vehicle system along the track also changes.
While the required tractive effort may change during a trip, the operators of these powered rail vehicle systems do not have the ability to remotely turn the electrical power systems of remote powered units on or off during the trip. For example, an operator in a lead locomotive does not have the ability to remotely turn one or more of the trailing locomotives' electrical power on or off, if the tractive effort required to propel the train changes during a segment of the trip while the rail vehicle system is moving. Instead, the operator may only have the ability to locally turn on or off the remote powered units by manually boarding each such unit of the rail vehicle system.
Some known powered rail vehicle systems provide an operator in a lead locomotive with the ability to change the throttle of trailing locomotives (referred to as distributed power operations). But, these known systems do not provide the operator with the ability to turn the trailing locomotives off. Instead, the operator must turn down the throttle of the trailing locomotives that he or she wants to turn off and wait for an auto engine start/stop (AESS) device in the trailing locomotives to turn the locomotives off. Some known AESS devices do not turn the trailing locomotives off until one or more engine- or motor-related parameters are within a predetermined range. For example, some known AESS devices may not shut off the engine of a trailing locomotive until the temperature of the engine decreases to a predetermined threshold. If the time period between the operator turning down the throttle of the trailing locomotives and the temperature of the engines decreasing to the predetermined threshold is significant, then the amount of fuel that is unnecessarily consumed by the trailing locomotives can be significant. Known powered vehicle systems may include one or more powered units (e.g., locomotives) and one or more non-powered units (e.g., freight cars or other rail cars). The powered units supply tractive force to propel the powered units and non-powered units. The non-powered units hold or store goods and/or passengers, and are not capable of self-propulsion. For example, some known powered vehicle systems have locomotives and rail cars for conveying goods and/or passengers along a track. Some known powered rail vehicle systems include several powered units. For example, the systems may include a lead powered unit, such as a lead locomotive, and one or more remote powered units, such as trailing locomotives, that are located behind and coupled with the lead powered unit. The lead and remote powered units supply tractive force to propel the system along the track.
The remote powered units may be organized in motive power groups referred to as consists. (Generally, a consist is a group of vehicles that are mechanically linked together to travel along a route. As part of a train or other larger consist, a motive power group of remote powered units would be considered a sub-consist or remote consist.) The lead powered unit can control the tractive efforts of the remote powered units in consist. The remote powered units in consist can consume fuel during a trip of the vehicle system. To reduce the amount of fuel consumed by the remote vehicles, one or more operational modes of the consist may be changed during operation.
However, changing operational modes of the consist may result in fluctuations of various components or systems of the consist. For example, changing operational modes may cause voltage fluctuations in electrical circuits of the consist, fluctuations in hydraulic pressures of the consist, or the like. These fluctuations may be incompatible with certain on-board control and/or communication systems of the consist. As a result, the on-board systems may be unable to operate due to the fluctuations.
Additionally, some known rail vehicle systems may include more horsepower that is necessary to enable the vehicle systems to travel over a route to a destination location. For example, the operators that combine several locomotives into a consist of a train may add more locomotives to the train than is necessary. The total horsepower provided by the locomotives may exceed what is needed to allow the train to travel to a destination. The additional locomotives cause additional consumption of fuel and/or generation of additional emissions, which is generally undesirable.
It may be desirable to have a vehicle control system and method that differs in function from those systems that are currently available.

Control system and method for remotely isolating powered units in a vehicle system


GPS assistance message and data issue identifiers for transmission to GPS enabled mobile stations in cellular communications networks and methods therefore. The GPS data issue identifiers indicate whether GPS data, for example corresponding ephemeris and almanac data, stored at the mobile station requires updating. In the exemplary 3rd generation (W-CDMA/UMTS) architecture, the GPS assistance message is a System Information Block (SIB), and the GPS ephemeris data identifier and corresponding satellite identifier is encoded in a value tag included in a Master Information Block (MIB).

In Assisted GPS mobile station positioning schemes, one or more ground based referenced station nodes coupled to a cellular communication network receive GPS satellites data and re-transmit the data in the form of assistance messages at higher data rate over the cellular air interface to mobile stations for use in position determination.
There are several types of GPS assistance messages. Ephemeris assistance messages include GPS ephemeris and clock correction data. Almanac assistance messages include almanac and other data, which includes generally truncated ephemeris, ionospheric delay elements, universal time coordinate (UTS) offset, and other data. Differential GPS (DGPS) assistance messages include differential correction data.
In some cellular communications architectures, for example the 3rd generation (W-CDMA/UMTS) architecture, one or more a value tags are included in a header, or Master Information Block (MIB) transmitted separately from the assistance message by the network. In the W-CDMA/UMTS architecture, the assistance message is referred to as a System Information Block (SIB). The MIB and SIB are generally transmitted according to different schedules.
The value tags of the MIB generally provide scheduling information and inform the cellular mobile stations whether the content of the corresponding assistance message has been updated. Currently, a multi-bit cell value tag is used for Global Positioning System (GPS) assistance messages in the W-CDMA/UMTS specification. The GPS value tag is updated whenever any data, for example the GPS time stamp ("Transmission TOW" in the W-CDMA/UMTS specification), of the assistance message (SIB in W-CDMA/UMTS) is updated or changed.
Each assistance message, or SIB, is valid generally for a specific geographic area, for example for a particular cell or for a particular Public Mobile Land Network (PLMN). When a new MIB is read by the mobile station, its value tag for the corresponding SIB in the local cell or PLMN is compared to the value tag of the corresponding SIB stored previously in the mobile station. Presently, the mobile station ("User Equipment" in the W-CDMA/UMTS specification) updates the SIB any time the value tag of the corresponding MIB has been updated. Reading the SIB however consumes substantial power, which is a limited resource in battery powered mobile stations.

GPS assistance messages in cellular communications networks and methods therefor


A drop away arrow rest includes programmable or coded magnets that selectively move an arrow support arm to predetermined positions, such as a support position to hold an arrow, or a rest position to move out of the way of an arrow as it is launched from an archery bow.

The present invention relates to arrow rests, and more particularly to magnetically actuated arrow rests and related methods of operation.
Most archery bows are equipped with an arrow rest that holds an arrow before it is shot from the bow. One common arrow rest is referred to as a "drop away" arrow rest. This rest precisely and accurately positions the arrow when the bow (and thus, the bowstring) is at full draw, but drops rapidly away from the arrow upon release of the bowstring. Accordingly, as the arrow is shot from the bow, the rest does not contact the arrow for its full length or the arrow's fletching, which would otherwise divert the arrow from its intended trajectory.
A variety of drop away arrow rests exist. One type of rest is a forward falling rest. This type of rest includes an arrow support that rotates forward and downward, moving from a loaded or cocked position to a relaxed position. Another type of a drop-away arrow rest is a C-axis rest. An example of this is the C-Max arrow rest offered by G5 Outdoors, LLC of Memphis, Mich. This type of rest includes an arrow support that rotates in a plane orthogonal to an axis of an arrow supported by the arrow support. Another type of drop-away rest is a falling block rest that moves linearly downward when the arrow is launched to provide vane clearance for the arrow.
Conventional arrow rests are actuated via the interaction of mechanical structures, such as spring-systems and cords that are attached to cables of the bow. While this provides generally consistent operation, sometimes the mechanical parts, particularly the springs, can fail due to excessive wear and/or friction. Further, the parts of the various mechanisms can become worn so that tolerances are no longer acceptable and the rests do not consistently fall, or do not consistently return to a loaded state.
Some drop-away arrow rests have been constructed using conventional magnets. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,297 to Clague. In this construction, the fall-away arrow rest is constructed like a teeter totter. One magnet attracts a first metal tab to hold the arrow rest in an up position. When the forward moving arrow slides on the shaft support, it exerts a mechanical force that overcomes the magnetic force holding the arrow support in an upward position, in which case the arrow support teeter totters forward, out of the way of the arrow which exits the bow. While this arrow rest assists in moving the rest, it is rather large and bulky, and the magnets forward and rearward of the support arms of the teeter totter structure can require fine tuning to consistently drop the arrow rest.
Although there are a number of drop-away arrow rests on the market, there remains room for improvement to provide consistently operating, wear resistant, uncomplicated mechanisms to launch arrows from an archery bow.


Disclosed are methods of 6-O-sulfating glucosaminyl N-acetylglucosamine residues (GlcNAc) in a polysaccharide preparation and methods of converting anticoagulant-inactive heparan sulfate to anticoagulant-active heparan sulfate and substantially pure polysaccharide preparations may by such methods. Also disclosed is a mutant CHO cell which hyper-produces anticoagulant-active heparan sulfate. Methods for elucidating the sequence of activity of enzymes in a biosynthetic pathway are provided.

Heparin/heparan sulfate (HS) is a linear polymer covalently attached to the protein cores of proteoglycans, which are abundant and ubiquitously expressed in almost all animal cells. HS is assembled by the action of a large family of enzymes that catalyze the following series of reactions: chain polymerization comprising the alternating addition of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and glucuronic acid (GlcUA) residues; GlcNAc N-deacetylation and N-sulfation; glucuronic acid epimerization to L-iduronic acid (IdoUA); 2-O-sulfation of uronic acid residues; and 3-O- and 6-O-sulfation of glucosaminyl residues.
The interaction between HS and various proteins occur in highly sulfated regions of the HS. Furthermore, the specificity of any HS-protein interaction is largely dictated by arrangement of sulfates along the HS chain. For example, the pentasaccharide sequence, GlcNAc/NS6S-GlcUA-GlcNS3S±6S-IdoUA2S-GlcNS6S, represents the minimum sequence required for antithrombin (AT) binding, where the 3S (3-O-sulfate) and 6S (6-O-sulfate) groups constitute the most critical elements involved in the binding (12-16). The AT-HS complex has potent anticoagulant properties. Several enzymes involved in anticoagulant heparan sulfate (HSact) biosynthesis have been purified and cloned. For example, glucosaminyl 3-O sulfotransferase (3-OST) and glucosaminyl 6-O-sulfotransferase (6-OST) proteins have been purified and cloned (17,18). Multiple isoforms of 6-OST and 3-OST proteins have been isolated and shown to have tissue-specific expression patterns and distinct substrate specificities.
Two different sulfated domains are present in HS, namely, the NS domain and NAc/NS domain (40,41). The NS domains consist of contiguous iduronosyl N-sulfoglucosamine units, while the NAc/NS domain consists of alternating N-acetylated and N-sulfated disaccharides. Acceptor specifcities of 6-OST-1, 6-OST-2, and 6-OST-3 using N-sulfated heparosan and desulfated re-N-sulfated heparin as substrate, indicated that the sulfation of position 6 of the N-sulfoglucosamine residues in the NS domain is catalyzed by 6-OST-1, 2A, 2B, and 3 and the sulfation of position 6 of the N-sulfoglucosamine residues in the NA/NS domain are catalyzed by 6-OST-2 and 6-OST-3 (2).
Tissue-specific and developmentally regulated expression of the HS biosynthetic enzymes and enzyme isoforms produce HS chains with specific sequences (1-3). This microheterogeneity enables HS to interact with a broad array of protein ligands that modulate a wide range of biological functions in development, differentiation, homeostasis, and bacterial/viral entry (reviewed in refs (4-11)). Synthetic polysaccharides which possess such specific sequences may be used to modulate such biological functions.
Heparin preparations, particularly preparations comprising HSact, have been used clinically as anticoagulant therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of thrombotic disease. HSact preparations have also been used to maintain blood fluidity in extracoporeal or corporeal medical devices such as dialysis devices and stents, respectively.

6-O sulfated polysaccharides and methods of preparation thereof


A diversity receiver having at least two receive branches, and only one equalizer. Each receive branch includes a matched filter and circuits for forming an autocorrelation function for each estimated impulse response of the individual receive branches. A first adder circuit adds the output signals, weighted with weighting factors of the matched filters to form a first sum. A second adder circuit add the autocorrelation functions weighted with weighting factors to form a second sum. The weight factors are approximately inversely proportional to the instaneous noise power in each receive a branch. An equalizer evaluates the two sums.

The invention relates to a receiver comprising at least two receive branches and including a combining arrangement for combining the receive branches.
Receivers comprising at least two receive branches, in which either one of the two receive branches receives signals with the same signal content, are denoted diversity receivers and can be used, for example, in mobile radio systems. In so-called space-diversity systems the aerials of the individual receive branches are spatially arranged several wavelengths apart. In so-called frequency-diversity systems the signals are transmitted and received at various frequencies. Due to the different transmission characteristics for each transmit path or each frequency, the signals are received with different qualities in the individual receive branches. By accordingly processing the signals received in the individual receive branches it is possible to obtain an input signal which, for example with respect to the signal-to-noise ratio, has better properties than the individual received signals.
German Patent Application P 40 18 044.1 (date of filing Jun. 6, 1990) describes a receiver with at least two receive branches for receiving a transmitted data sequence. Each receive branch comprises an equalizer. The equalizers are arranged in such a way that they not only detect the received data but also produce a reliability information signal for each detected data symbol. The equalizers are based on the so-called Viterbi method. The equalization is effected separately in each branch so that this requires relatively high manufacturing costs.

Receiver comprising at least two receive branches


A bending angle adjustment mechanism includes a rod member that is disposed along a traveling path of a long member that is connected to a bending portion that is bendable and has a threaded portion formed thereon, an adjustment piece that is disposed in a predetermined position of the rod member by being engaged with the threaded portion, and restricts movement of the long member, a head portion that is provided at an end portion of the rod member to rotate the rod member, a support member that is provided at both ends of the rod member and rotatably supports the rod member, and a convex portion that protrudes to be higher than a lower edge position of an outer circumferential edge portion of the head portion while keeping the head portion of the rod member which is supported by the support member, in a rotatable state.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a structure of a bending angle adjustment mechanism that is a mechanism for setting a maximum bending angle of the endoscope, and is for adjusting a moving amount, and a moving range of bending operation wires and chains, in a bending operation mechanism for performing a bending operation of a bending portion of the endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional flexible endoscope has been normally configured by an elongated insertion portion, and an operation portion that is connected to a proximal end portion of the insertion portion. The insertion portion is configured by an elongated flexible tube portion having flexibility, a bending portion and a distal end configuring portion being connected in sequence from a proximal end side. At the operation portion, a bending operation knob for performing a bending operation of the bending portion is placed. The bending operation knob is connected to a bending operation mechanism that is placed inside the operation portion. That is, a rotating shaft is integrally attached to the bending operation knob, and a rotating wheel (a sprocket) is integrally formed at the rotating shaft. A long member such as a chain is wound on the rotating wheel, and bending operation wires are further connected to both ends of the long member (chain or the like) via connecting members. The bending operation wire is inserted through and disposed inside the insertion portion, and is provided connectively between the bending operation mechanism and the bending portion. By a configuration as above, when the bending operation knob is rotationally operated normally and reversely, the chain and the operation wires are pulled and driven reciprocally via the bending operation mechanism, and a bending operation of the bending portion is realized.
Further, in the conventional flexible endoscope, setting of a bending angle differs according to each model depending on a use purpose, and therefore, the bending operation mechanism which is provided inside the operation portion of the endoscope is provided with a bending angle adjustment mechanism for restricting a maximum bending angle of the bending portion by adjusting a moving amount and a moving range of the long member for each model.
The bending angle adjustment mechanism is configured by having a stopper member that restricts movement of the bending operation wire and the connecting member, a screw member that performs positional adjustment by moving a position of the stopper member along a moving direction of the operation wire, a support member that is fixed to the fixing portion of the operation portion to support the stopper position adjusting screw member rotatably, and respective component members such as a partition wall that guides movement of the connecting member.
By the configuration as above, the maximum bending angle of the bending portion is restricted by movement of the connecting member being restricted by the stopper member, and the stopper member is moved in the moving direction of the operation wire to be positioned by the screw member, whereby setting of the bending angle of the bending portion is enabled.
Concerning the bending angle adjustment mechanism of this type in the conventional bending operation mechanism for an endoscope, bending angle adjustment mechanisms with various configurations have been conventionally disclosed by, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-051146, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-054452, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 09-238895, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-051148, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 10-276966 and the like, and have been variously put into practical use.

Bending angle adjustment mechanism for endoscope


A marine outboard drive having an outboard drive unit that includes a bevel gear forward, reverse transmission having hydraulicly operated clutches. A hydraulic pump for actuating the clutches and for lubricating the transmission is driven off the rear end of the input shaft and control valve means selectively communicates the fluid from the hydraulic pump with the hydraulic clutches. The valve means is a rotary plug type valve but is constructed so as to minimize axial and radial forces acting that would tend to bind its movement. The construction of the outboard drive unit is such that the bevel gear transmission and hydraulically operated clutches can conveniently be inserted through like diameter oppositely facing openings formed in the upper end of the housing assembly of the outboard drive unit.

This invention relates to a power transmission system for an inboard/outboard motor and more particularly to an improved transmission and clutch system for the outboard portion of an inboard/outboard drive.
A well known type of inboard/outboard drive includes a outboard drive that is mounted on the rear of the transom of the watercraft for steering movement about a vertically extending axis and tilt and trim movement about a horizontally extending axis. A universal joint couples an output shaft of a hull mounted internal combustion engine to an input shaft of this outboard drive unit. Conventionally the outboard drive unit employs a bevel gear forward, neutral, reverse transmission mounted on the input shaft and which drives the drive shaft in selected forward or reverse directions. Some form of clutch mechanism is incorporated for coupling the driving bevel gears to the input shaft so as to drive the drive shaft in the selected direction.
In connection with such transmissions, there are certain advantages in employing hydraulic actuators for the clutch mechanism. Such hydraulic actuators permit ease of application and permit high power outputs to be transmitted through the transmission- However, when a hydraulicly operated clutch or clutches are employed, it is necessary to provide a pump for pumping the hydraulic fluid and a selector valve for selectively pressurizing the clutches.
If the pump and valve are mounted in the outboard drive unit, as is desireable, their actual positioning can present some problems. It is desirable, if not essential, to drive the pump off of the input shaft so that it will be continuously operated. However, if the pump and valve are positioned forwardly of the bevel gear transmission, then the drive shaft is moved a considerable distance from the stern and this adversely effects the steering of the watercraft and also makes the forward portion of the outboard unit extremely heavy and gives rise to problems for servicing. That is, if it is desired to remove the entire outboard drive portion from the hull, the heavy forward weight of the universal joint and hydraulic system comprised of the pump and valve make manipulation difficult due to the nose heavy construction. On the other hand, if the pump and valve are positioned in axially alignment with the forward neutral reverse transmission, then the pump and valve must be positioned above the transmission and this give rise to considerable height of the unit which has undesirable effects.
It is, therefore, a principal object to the invention to provide a hydraulic actuating system for an outboard transmission that will provide good balance, compact construction and ease of handling.
It is a further object to this invention to provide an improved arrangement for driving and controlling a hydraulic pump for an outboard drive that will achieve these results.
In connection with outboard drives of the type described, it is generally the practice to provide some mechanism for lubricating not only the gears of the transmission but also the gears or transmission which drives the propulsion unit from the drive shaft. Various types of pumping arrangements have been employed for this purpose. However, when such separate pumps are employed then the system becomes quite complicated and expensive.
It is, therefore, a still further object to this invention to provide an improved outboard drive for a marine propulsion unit wherein a single pump not only circulates lubricants through the system but also provides the motive power for actuating the transmission.
In connection with the construction of marine outboard drives and particularly those having bevel gear transmissions and clutches, it is desirable to provide a housing assembly for the outboard drive that will have a minimum number of parts and yet permit ease of assembly of the components. In addition, the arrangement must by such so as to permit adequate clutch discs to be employed so as to be capable of transmitting high driving forces. Furthermore, the use of bevel gear transmissions gives rise to axial thrust on the gears during their driving operation. These axial thrusts act in either the same or opposite directions to the operation of the associated clutches. Therefore, it is desirable to insure that the axial thrust on the bevel gears of the transmission will not adversely effect the operation of the clutches.
It is, therefore, a still further object to this invention to provide an improved outboard drive that will permit a compact construct, a simple housing assembly and ease of assembly.
It is a further object to this invention to provide an improved bevel gear type of transmission for a marine outboard drive and yet the use of clutches having large effective areas to transmit large degrees of power.

Power transmission system for an inboard/outboard motor


A portable device 12 is capable of communicating with a host device 10 remotely, via a communications network 22 which may be prone to interception, and directly (e.g. via an I.R. Link 24, 40), when the devices are in close physical proximity and when the risk of interception is minimal. The host device 10 and the portable device 12 update a shared security key or the like when they communicate directly and this key is used to authenticate the portable device 12 and/or encrypt the communication when the portable device 12 attempts to communicate remotely.

There are many situations where it is desirable to be able to authenticate the identity of a remote device before allowing communications between the remote device and the host device, so that only authorized users may gain access to or manipulate data stored on the host device or transfer data between the host and portable devices. Often, the authentication of the identity of the user may be of equal or greater importance than protecting communications against electronic eavesdropping.
The increasing use of portable computing appliances means that a user may store and work on data files on a fixed desktop base appliance at his workstation on site, and take a personal computing appliance such as a portable or palm top computer with him for use off-site. Data may be transferred between the desktop appliance and the personal computer appliance either by a close range infrared (I.R.) or other optical link, or a cable when the two are in close proximity, or via a modem link when the user has the personal computing appliance with him off site. Although allowing remote access provides greater flexibility, an unauthorized user may gain access by emulating an authorized user. The use of passwords provides a basic level of security, but this is not adequate for many situations as they may be intercepted or reverse-engineered (especially since they tend to be only a few characters long and changed infrequently).
There are two common forms of encryption methods. In a public key system, a user has a "public" key which he makes available to those who wish to send him encrypted messages, and a unique "private" key which he keeps secret and uses to decrypt messages encrypted using the public key. An important feature of this method is that it can be used where the sender and receiver never meet, but the method does require a trusted third party repository to produce the public/private key pair, securely to transfer the key pair to the user, and to oversee the system. Thus the system would be cumbersome and expensive for widespread general use.
In a secret key system there is just one key involved in encrypting and decrypting a communication, which is held by both the sender and the receiver. This avoids the need for a third party repository, but it still means that elaborate precautions must usually be taken when supplying the secret key to the sender and receiver, for example a trusted intermediary travelling between the two, and again this is cumbersome and impractical for general widespread use.
Accordingly we have identified a need for a security system for a host device and a portable device which provides enhanced security when the two communicate via a non-secure communication network which is suited for widespread use and which does not require elaborate arrangements or trusted intermediaries for distributing or exchanging keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,922 discloses an encryption scheme for cashless transactions between a "smart" card, which is read by a remote point of sale terminal, and the host computer of the financial institution. The scheme is designed for remote communication only and does not envisage periodic direct communication between the smart card and the host computer. At the beginning of each session, both the smart card and the host computer have the same security key which remains the same for several sessions. For every session, two session keys are generated at separate stages by the host computer and used to encrypt communications and update the financial data on the "smart" card and the host computer in accordance with the financial transaction entered at the point of sale terminal.
We have also identified many other situations where the portable device and the host device are in close proximity from time to time but often communicate remotely via a nonsecure communication network and where the authentication of the identity of a user and/or the security of communications are important. For example, a business or domestic telephone user may have a fixed normal phone and a cellular phone, and the user may wish to encrypt or scramble communications to prevent electronic eavesdropping.

Communication system for portable appliances


An electrostatic chuck (“chuck”) is provided for controlling a radial temperature profile across a substrate when exposed to a plasma. The chuck includes a number of independently controllable gas volumes that are each defined in a radial configuration relative to a top surface of the chuck upon which the substrate is to be supported. The chuck includes a support member and a base plate. The base plate positioned beneath and in a spaced apart relationship from the support member. The gas volumes are defined between the base plate and the support member, with separation provided by annularly-shaped thermally insulating dividers. Each gas volume can include a heat generation source. A gas pressure and heat generation within each gas volume can be controlled to influence thermal conduction through the chuck such that a prescribed radial temperature profile is achieved across the substrate.

Semiconductor wafer ("wafer") fabrication often includes exposing a wafer to a plasma to allow the reactive constituents of the plasma to modify the surface of the wafer, e.g., remove material from unprotected areas of the wafer surface. The wafer characteristics resulting from the plasma fabrication process are dependent on the process conditions, including the plasma characteristics and wafer temperature. For example, in some plasma processes a critical dimension, i.e., feature width, on the wafer surface can vary by about one nanometer per degree Celsius of wafer temperature. It should be appreciated that differences in wafer temperature between otherwise identical wafer fabrication processes will result in different wafer surface characteristics. Thus, a drift in process results between different wafers can be caused by variations in wafer temperature during plasma processing. Additionally, center-to-edge wafer temperature variations can adversely effect a die yield per wafer.
A general objective in wafer fabrication is to optimize a die yield per wafer and fabricate each wafer of a common type in as identical a manner as possible. To meet these objectives, it is necessary to control fabrication parameters that influence the plasma processing characteristics across an individual wafer and among various wafers of a common type. Because plasma constituent reactivity is proportional to temperature, wafer temperature can have an strong influence on plasma processing results across the wafer and among various wafers. Therefore, a continuing need exists for improvements in wafer temperature control during plasma fabrication processes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrostatic chuck having radial temperature control capability


Method for determining the concentration of atomic species in gases and solids. Measurement of at least two emission intensities from a species in a plasma containing the species after a sufficient time period has elapsed after the generation of the plasma and during a second time period, permits an instantaneous temperature to be established within the sample. The concentration of the atomic species to be determined is then derived from the known emission intensity of a predetermined concentration of that species in the sample at the measured temperature, a quantity which is measured prior to the determination of the unknown concentration, and the actual measured emission from the unknown species, or by this latter emission and the emission intensity of a species having known concentration within the sample.

The laser spark has been used as an excitation source for the in situ analysis of gases, solids, aerosols, and liquids by atomic emission spectroscopy. A powerful laser pulse is focused onto or into the material to be analyzed, thereby vaporizing the material and forming a plasma having high temperature and electron density. By spectrally analyzing light emitted from electronically excited species, one can identify these species.
One problem with this method is that the spark volume and density, and the ultimate temperature of the plasma may vary as a result of sample and laser conditions making quantitative analysis unreliable. Sample conditions that can affect the spark volume and density, and the plasma temperature include the presence of easily ionizable elements such as sodium, the amount of water content, atmospheric pressure, the size and density of microscopic particles and condensed water droplets in gas samples, and the granule size of solid samples, most of which can vary between laser pulses. In addition, the laser pulse energy can vary, which affects the spark size and temperature between pulses.
Another problem with this technique when used for quantitative analysis is a change in the detector efficiency. This can result from drifting optical alignment causing the laser focus to move outside the detector field-of-view, or from deteriorating collection optics causing less light to reach the detector. Both a pulse-to-pulse variation in spark volume and a drift in detector efficiency will cause the intensity of the entire emission spectrum to change, but on different time scales.
Yet another problem with using LIBS for quantitative analysis that has not been considered is that changes in plasma temperature with constant species concentration will cause the laser spark emission intensity and the distribution of intensity among atomic emission lines to change because of changes in the population of higher energy atomic levels. The relationship between spark temperature and the degree of excitation was noticed by Joseph R. Wachter and David A. Cremers in "Determination of Uranium in Solution Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy," Applied Spectroscopy 41, 1041 (1987). Therein, the authors noted that the temperature and electron density of a laser spark in water were found to be 8000 K and 9.times.10.sup.17 cm.sup.-3, respectively, 1 .mu.s after plasma formation, whereas the same quantities for a spark in air were found to be 17,000 K and 2.times.10.sup.17 cm.sup.-3 , and speculated that the spark temperature is likely to be lower in liquids because a large fraction of the laser pulse energy goes into vaporization of the liquid, leaving a smaller fraction for plasma formation, when compared with that for the spark in air. Similar problems exist for the application of other plasma sources to the analysis of gas and solid samples with varying characteristics. For example, a pulsed, electrical discharge spark will have problems of changing plasma temperature and spark volume as sample characteristics change. For continuous plasma sources, such as Inductively-Coupled Plasmas (ICPs) and Microwave-induced Plasmas (MIPs), the steady-state plasma temperature will vary as conditions change, rather than changing between pulses.
The above-described problems may be compensated for in part by introducing known standards into the plasma to calibrate the system. See, e.g., "Detector For Trace Element Analysis Of Solid Environmental Samples By Laser Plasma Spectroscopy, by Richard Wisbrun et al., Anal. Chem. 66, 2964 (1994), where different classes of soil samples containing known amounts of metals were used as calibration standards, and "Metal-Pollution Monitor Passes Field Test," Laser Focus, February 1995, page 16, where it was proposed to introduce certain metals of interest into the waste stream of a smokestack at known levels and monitor the LIBS signals. However, such introduction is generally difficult and unreliable for flowing gases, and sample conditions often change after a calibration is performed both for solids and gases. For quantitative analysis in the laboratory, where gas or other sample characteristics are tightly controlled, calibration does not change and, consequently, the method of using standards in the plasma to calibrate the system works well. Such is not true when attempting quantitative analysis in the field.
Mention has been made of the determination of the temperature for a plasma in thermodynamic equilibrium using the two-line Boltzman method in "Detection of Cadmium, Lead and Zinc in Aerosols by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometry," by Marcelino Essien, Leon J. Radziemski and Joseph Sneddon, J. Anal. Atomic Spectrometry 3, 985 (1988). Therein, it was stated that there is evidence that the laser-induced plasma is in local equilibrium about 1 .mu.s after the onset of plasma formation. Small changes in the laser output and optical alignment were compensated for by the authors by expressing the signal as a ratio of the intensity of the analyte line to the adjacent background. No suggestion or discussion is to be found therein for using the plasma temperature concentration measurements for changing conditions. See also, "Temperature Measurement From First-Negative N.sub.2+ Spectra Produced By Laser-Induced Multiphoton Ionization And Optical Breakdown Of Nitrogen," by Christian Parigger et al., Applied Optics 18, 3331 (1995), and "Electron Number Density And Temperature Measurement In A Laser-Induced Hydrogen Plasma," by Christian Parigger et al., J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 53, 249 (1995), for temperature measurements in plasmas. No suggestion or discussion is to be found therein for correcting measurements of line intensities of other species in the plasmas for the plasma temperature during the measurement or for measuring absolute concentrations. For microwave induced plasmas, it is well known that the electron temperature is different from the statistical temperature of the atomic and ionic energy levels. However, this statistical temperature can still be used, since it is that which affects the atomic and ionic emission intensity from specific energy levels. Additionally, a recently published discussion of the "excitation temperature," that is, the electron temperature versus the equilibrium temperature may result in errors in some cases, but not in all cases. See, "Determination Of The Excitation Temperature In A Nonthermodynamic-Equilibrium High-Pressure Helium Microwave Plasma Torch," by M. C. Quintero et al., Appl. Spectro. 51, 778 (1997).
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for quantitatively determining the concentration of atomic species in gases or solids using a plasma without the uncertainties introduced by variations in temperature and other plasma characteristics.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


In one embodiment, a combustion system for an engine is disclosed. The system includes a cylinder block that defines a cylinder bore and opposing pre-chambers located along a circumference of the cylinder bore. The system also includes a fuel injector located equidistant from the circumference of the cylinder bore that injects fuel in a direction perpendicular to a diameter of the cylinder bore. The system further includes a piston located within the cylinder bore that has a substantially conically shaped crown having fuel direction grooves that direct the fuel from the fuel injector towards the opposing pre-chambers.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to a dual pre-chamber combustion system. In particular, a piston bowl system is disclosed that directs fuel towards the pre-chambers.
(b) Background Art
One byproduct of internal combustion within an engine is the formation of nitrogen oxide (NOx) gasses. These types of gasses are formed when nitrogen (N2) combines with oxygen (O2) under the high temperatures associated with the combustion process, thereby forming NOx gasses such as nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). These gasses can have a number of adverse environmental effects when released into the atmosphere. For example, acid rain, smog, ozone layer depletion, and other adverse environmental effects have been attributed to the release of NOx gasses into the atmosphere.
One way to reduce NOx gas production in a combustion engine is by using a sufficiently lean air-fuel mixture. In particular, the increased amount of air in a lean air-fuel mixture has the effect of decreasing the internal combustion temperatures of the engine, thereby lowering the formation of NOx gasses. However, the use of a lean air-fuel mixture is not without challenges. For example, running an overly lean air-fuel mixture in a traditional combustion engine can cause engine damage and "knocking," among other issues.
Some attempts have been made to support the use of lean and ultra-lean air-fuel mixtures in a combustion engine by making certain modifications to the engine. One such approach has been to use a stratified charge in a gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine. For example, a GDI wall guided design typically uses specialized contours on a piston to direct fuel injected from a side injector towards a centrally located spark plug. In other cases, indirect injection designs have been used in which a fuel injector and spark plug are both located within a pre-chamber, allowing combustion to begin in the pre-chamber and spread to the primary combustion chamber. However, such approaches require complex designs and may have only marginal effects on fuel economy.
In order to solve the problems in the related art, there is a demand for the development of a simplified combustion system that both reduces NOx gas emissions and improves fuel economy.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A multimedia system includes a processor coupled to a memory, a three-dimensional (3D) graphics engine to generate 3D graphics content, and a display controller to process and transport pixel data for transmission to a display via a display interface. Each of the processor, the 3D graphics engine, and the display controller accesses pixel data stored in the memory using a common decompression scheme. Additionally, each of the processor, the 3D graphics engine, and the display controller stores pixel data in the memory using a common compression scheme.

Modern computer user interfaces make use of multiple application layers in order to present to the user a richer content. These application layers used during screen composition are generated by the active applications. One application may create one or more layers. For example, user interface designers may prefer certain windows or portions of windows to be semi-transparent for both aesthetic and functional reasons. An example of an aesthetic benefit is enabling a user to view at least some of a background layer through a portion of a foreground layer, which enhances the look and feel of the user interface. An example of a functional benefit is enabling a user to view information from a background layer through a portion of a foreground layer, which would otherwise be obstructed by the foreground layer.
In these cases, certain pixels (e.g., those that appear semi-transparent) of the user interface composition include pixel data from more than one application. The amount of pixel data that is required to be read from and written to memory by various system components increases with the number of applications that contribute to a particular user interface composition. Additionally, the desire for increasingly-high refresh rates and screen resolutions place a further burden on the amount of pixel data that is read from and written to memory. Power consumption is a function of the amount of pixel data required to be read from and written to memory and, as a result, power consumption increases and memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor.

First de-compressing first compressing schemes for pixels from/to bus interface


Embodiments herein relate to optoelectronic interfaces for multimode analyte sensors for use with implantable medical devices. In an embodiment, an implantable medical device is included. The implantable medical device can include a first chemical sensor including an optical excitation assembly comprising a first visible spectrum emitter, a second visible spectrum emitter, and at least one of a near-infrared (NIR) emitter and an ultraviolet emitter. The first chemical sensor can also include an optical detection assembly including a colorimetric response detector, and a photoluminescent response detector. The first chemical sensor can also include a multimode sensing element including a colorimetric response element specific for a first chemical analyte, a photoluminescent response element specific for a second chemical analyte. Other embodiments are also included herein.

In the context of diagnosis and monitoring of patients, clinicians frequently evaluate many different pieces of data about their patients including physical observations, descriptions of symptoms, test results, and the like. One aspect that testing can reveal is the physiological concentration of chemical analytes such as electrolytes for the patient. Chemical analyte concentrations can be important to know because of their effect on various organs and bodily functions. In many cases, chemical analyte concentrations are assessed by drawing a fluid sample (or other sample) from the patient followed by an in vitro assay.

Multimodal analyte sensor optoelectronic interface


The heat exchanger comprises a core of tubes engaged into header plates with a groove and an upstanding wall about the periphery. The upstanding wall has spaced of set tabs or dogs in openings which engage a shoulder along the rim of the tank. Also included is a tool to bias the dog for tank removal.

Prior art of possible revealing includes the following U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,324,290 issued Apr. 13, 1982 to Moranne; U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,321 issued May 25, 1982 to hesse; U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,321 issued May 15, 1984 to Hanlet; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,815 issued Mar. 24, 1987 to Logic et al.
Efforts of the automotive industry to boost the horsepower and efficiency while reducing the gas emissions and vehicle weight have also caused higher operating temperatures. Because, of these new higher temperatures levels, the loss of coolant liquids can quickly result in major engine damage. Heat exchangers, more commonly termed radiators, are used conduct the heat away from the liquid coolant. While core construction employing metals continue to be used because of their thermal conductivity over other materials the header tank construction has given way to become a one piece plastic part.
Most typically, these tanks were brazed or soldered to the core header plates which define the ends of the core pile tubes. Because of the properties of plastic, bonding or fusing technology can no longer be employed. In lieu therefore, to effect the necessary seal, a gasket is disposed between the tank and the header plate. Any of a variety of mechanical means are employed to hold the components in assembled relation while the gasket is in compression, to assure a seal, at the operating pressure for which the heat exchanger was designed.
All previous connections make use of the core metals as a spring clamp, however, all of these materials have poor spring qualities and major deforming should be avoided except when in the dead soft condition. Cracking or breaking is likely when in the annealed condition if more than a slight deflection. An assembled radiator could not be annealed because the high temperature required are much higher than plastics can withstand.
Some prior art connections require drastic bending of the header tank to provide clearance for either a flange or lug to disconnect the tank whereby recantation is impractical. It is also noted that these connection are, likewise, held by bending stresses. Another prior art connection shows hooked lugs formed on the tank wall poking thru apertures. This arrangement, as with the flange is a highly stressed area and the applied forces are cantilevered from the wall. There are no plastic tank type automotive radiator parts available; only complete radiators ar sold to replace a leaking or otherwise damaged radiator. The failed radiator has little scrap value because of the labor required salvage the metal core from the plastic tank.
It is, of course, necessary that the means employed to effect the connection be strong and long lived to prevent leakage. At the same time, it is desirable that the means be such that assembly of the component parts can be effected for servicing. It is also desirable that the means utilized lend themselves to use in mass production to minimize cost.

Connection of tank to core for heat exchanger


An arrow rest for an archery bow having a central bow riser, comprising a bracket adapted for attachment to one lateral side of the bow riser and where the bracket supports a pair of adjustably spaced apart disks that are disposed in a single plane that is perpendicular to the plane of the riser. An arrow shaft is supported by the thin circumferential edges of the disks. The bracket includes a guard shield that is elevated above the level of the disks and is spaced outwardly from the disks and the riser to protect the hand of the archer from the sharp edges of an arrow head that may be dislodged from the arrow rest and to limit the fall of the arrow.

When placed in position to be shot by a bow, the shaft of the arrow is preferably vertically supported and horizontally steadied, as the arrow is drawn with the pull on the bow-string. That same support is desired following release of the bow string by the archer to stabilize the arrow as it leaves the bow on its flight. The supporting device is usually referred to as the arrow rest. The prior art has seen many variations of arrow rests, which go from a simple lip or notch formed in one side of the handle, or central portion, of the bow to the more elegant rests of the modern compound bows. The currently fashionable design for an arrow rest comprises a pair of opposed, spaced apart pointed tongs mounted on a rotatable and laterally slidable shaft. The shaft of the arrow rests on the two distal ends of the tongs. One of the three feathers on the end of the arrow passes between the tongs when the arrow is launched. The position of the opposing tong points can be moderately changed by adjusting the position of the mounting shaft. While it offers little resistance to the arrow by way of friction on the arrow shaft, the primary problem with an arrow rest of this design is its inability to maintain the arrow in position except when the bow is held vertically and not bumped or jarred. When the bow is tipped sideways or bumped there is nothing to hold the arrow shaft on the two prongs of the arrow rest. The arrow falls from its support and shots are missed.
Another type of arrow support is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,375 to George D. Brougham. This earlier Brougham arrow rest appears to provide better support for the arrow than do those being currently sold and used, however, Brougham's device still suffers from the disadvantage of having the arrow fall off of the rest. It would also appear to create more resistance to the flight of the arrow through the friction produced by the greater area of contact between the parts of the arrow rest and the shaft of the arrow.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a stabilized platform for an arrow that will not allow the arrow shaft to easily fall off of the support and that will provide minimum surface contact between the support and the arrow shaft to reduce friction.
A further object of the invention is to provide an arrow rest wherein the rest will accommodate arrow shafts of different diameters with only a minimum adjustment of the structure.
Another object of the invention is to combine the working structure of the arrow support with a guard to protect the hand of the archer from being injured by the razor sharp edges of a broadhead fitted arrow.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description of a preferred form of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A point-to-multipoint traffic routing method that routes a multicast traffic through a determined tree on an MPLS network. A node on an MPLS network conducting a point-to-multipoint traffic routing method receives a message with an object including topology information on a determined tree, determines whether itself is a copy node or not based on the topology information, and copies, if determined to be a copy node, the received message to transmit to at least two nodes specified as next by the topology information. The present routing method ensures smooth operations of a copy and a merge node as well as an overall network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching)-based multicast routing protocol, more particularly, to a point-to-multipoint traffic routing method that routes a multicast traffic through a determined tree on an MPLS network.
2. Description of the Related Art
An MPLS ensures quality of service (QoS) for a traffic transported through an IP (Internet Protocol) network and efficient use of network resources. Therefore, it is spotlighted in traffic engineering field.
The MPLS traffic engineering determines an LSP (Label Switched Path) in various ways to appropriately accept a variety of QoS demands for users' IP packets. The LSP is a point-to-point (PTP) path connecting from an ingress to an egress edge router.
By the way, due to rapid growth of an IP base network, various multimedia services such as VoIP, VOD, AOD, on-line movie, and video conference are being demanded. Many of those multi-media services require a point-to-multipoint (PTM) tree. If a PTM multimedia service is provided through PTP LSPs, use efficiency of network resources becomes worse and/or management of QoS becomes not easy. This is because multicast traffic is routed through a unicast way.
In the Internet proposal room of the IETF committee, many ways to distribute MPLS label are being listed up. Those many ways use PIM-SM or PIM-DM which is conventional multicast IP protocol. Besides the proposed many ways, MPLS multicasting way is being standardized in the IETF.
However, since tree determining methods of existing multicast protocols proposed until now are all receiver-based, it is not easy to reflect intentions of a service provider or users appropriately. As a result, network resources can not be used efficiently, which results in deterioration of service quality.
To resolve such problems, new traffic path determining methods, which determine traffic paths at an originating node on an MPLS network, have been proposed by this applicant. They have been filed at Korean Intellectual Property Office in Patent Application No. 2001-65798, No. 2001-65799, and No. 2001-65800, respectively on Oct. 24, 2001 altogether.

Method of routing point-to-multipoint traffic on an MPLS network


Methods and apparatus for providing a user interface for an electronic device are described. Described embodiments include methods and apparatus for generating a user interface element, expanding a user interface element, transitioning subject information in a user interface element, and removing a user interface element.

Electronic devices such as tablets, laptop computers, desktop computers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable interne devices, portable music players, portable navigation devices, and handheld gaming devices typically include a visual display for rendering images.
Touch screen displays are becoming increasing popular for such electronic devices. Touch screen displays are electronic displays with the ability to detect a selection of the display, or an area thereof, based on physical contact, such as contact on the display by a user's finger(s) or a stylus or other device. Several touch screen technologies are known in the art, including resistive, capacitive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave (SAW) touch screen displays.
A touch screen display typically includes an electronic display and a substantially transparent touch screen that is laid over the electronic display. The electronic display is configured to present graphical and/or textual information. In general, the touch screen is configured to recognize physical contact and its position on the display screen, and the electronic device interprets the contact and thereafter performs an action based on the contact. This allows the display to be used as an input device, providing for interaction with a displayed graphical user interface (GUI), and for minimizing or omitting other input devices from the electronic device, such as a keyboard and/or mouse. An electronic device may include one or more integrated touch screen displays, or have one or more attached touch screen displays.
A touch screen display may render onto the display a user interface, such as a GUI, that allows a user to interact with the functions of the electronic device. For example, an operating system of the electronic device or a program executed by the electronic device may cause one or more graphical or textual images to be rendered on the electronic display, at least some of which can be selected by the user or are otherwise capable of some level of interaction. While conventional user interfaces, such as graphical user interfaces for touch screen displays, permit the selection of displayed elements through a user selection, they typically do not permit the manipulation of the displayed element, such as the manipulation of its size, shape, and orientation on the screen. To the extent that such manipulation is provided, it is limited to preset and lateral expansion and retraction that lacks an intuitive nature that is engaging and aesthetically pleasing to a user.
In addition, elements displayed on a user interface may include items of subject information, such as subject information received from programs running on the electronic device or from communication channels such as the internet or digital connection. While conventional user interfaces, such as graphical user interfaces for touch screen displays, may be configured to display one or more items of subject information in an element, the state of the subject information (i.e., the particular item of subject information and the number of displayed items of subject information) displayed in the element is generally not configured for manipulation by the user.
Accordingly, there is a need and desire for an electronic device including an intuitive and user-friendly user interface that provides these and other features, and a method of providing a user interface that includes these features.


This disclosure relates to a pixel defining structure, a display panel, a method of manufacturing the same, and a display device. The pixel defining structure includes: a first pixel defining layer with a first opening, located on a substrate, wherein the first pixel defining layer includes a first portion formed by a first hydrophilic-hydrophobic material and a second portion formed by a second hydrophilic-hydrophobic material, projections of the first portion and the second portion on a surface of the substrate are substantially not overlapped, a side surface of the first pixel defining layer facing the first opening includes a first side surface formed by the first hydrophilic-hydrophobic material and a second side surface formed by the second hydrophilic-hydrophobic material, and the first hydrophilic-hydrophobic material has a different hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity from that of the second hydrophilic-hydrophobic material.

With the rapid development of display technologies, people have higher and higher requirements on performance of display products. Display panel, as an important component of display products, has received extensive attentions.
In a process of manufacturing the display panel, particularly in a process of manufacturing a functional layer thin film by using a wet process such as inkjet printing, it is necessary to remove excess solvent by a drying process. The drying process will result in uneven thickness of the formed thin film, thereby affecting the lifetime and display effect of a display device.
Related wet manufacturing processes employ a two-layer Pixel Defining Layer (PDL) structure to reduce unevenness of the thickness of the thin film caused by the drying process.

Pixel defining structure, display panel, method of manufacturing the same and display device


A method for forming a bottle shaped trench 20 in a semiconductor substrate 10 includes reactive ion etching a trench having a tapered top portion 25 in the semiconductor device and continuing to reactive ion etch while increasing the temperature of the semiconductor device to impart a reentrant profile 22 to the trench.

1. Technical Field
A method for forming a bottle shaped trench in a semiconductor substrate is described herein. The term "bottle shaped trench" as used herein refers to a trench having an upper part defined by a positively sloped periphery and a lower part defined by a negatively sloped periphery so as to define a smaller diameter neck portion between the upper and lower parts of the trench. More particularly, a bottle shaped trench is formed in a semiconductor substrate using a single etch process by varying the etch conditions.
2. Background of Related Art
Methods for etching a deep trench to provide storage capacitance in a semiconductor device are known. An example of such a method is reactive ion etching. Generally, reactive ion etching is a method which first creates a plasma gas composition in a reaction chamber by a radio frequency (RF) energy field. The plasma gas composition will usually contain neutrals, radicals and ions. The latter can be accelerated by the electric field toward the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Radicals reach the semiconductor surface by diffusion. Upon colliding with the surface of the semiconductor device, the accelerated ions together with the radicals remove material from the exposed surface of the semiconductor device. The ions together with the radicals react with atoms or molecules in the material to be etched to produce intermediate products or volatile by-products which can be removed from the reaction chamber. A sidewall passivating film normally forms from the reaction between the intermediate products or volatile by-products with species from the mask material or the process gases. This film tends to inhibit etching, shrink the physical size of the mask opening and thereby affect trench shape.
To further increase the storage capacitance in a semiconductor device, a bottle shaped trench has been developed. Ozaki et al., 0.228 .mu.m.sup.2 Trench Cell Technologies with Bottle-Shaped Capacitor for 1 Gbit DRAMs, Technical Digest; Vol. 27.3.1, p. 661 (1995), discloses a multi-step method for forming a bottle shaped trench. The Ozaki et al. method forms a bottle shaped trench by (1) forming a trench by conventional DT silicon reactive ion etching; (2) forming a collar oxide at the upper portion of the trench by selective oxidation; (3) depositing into the trench in-situ phosphorous doped polysilicon; (4) annealing phosphorous dope into the trench sidewall at the bottom portion of the trench; and (5) removing the polysilicon by chemical dry etching to enlarge the diameter of the bottom portion of the trench.
It would be desirable to provide a more expedient and simplified method for forming a bottle shaped trench in a semiconductor device to increase the storage capacitance thereof. The method of this invention allows to form bottle shaped trenches during the deep trench etch process without any additional processing steps.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention described herein generally pertains to a welding device that deposits a material onto a workpiece, the welding device having with an electrode head and a contact assembly coupled thereto. The contact assembly can include a rectangular-shaped first contact bar and a rectangular-shaped second contact bar that can be affixed to one another with an assembly connective means in order to encase a plurality of electrodes therebetween. The second contact bar can include a set of grooves in which each groove can correspond to an electrode to provide guidance during a welding procedure.

Metal parts frequently fail their intended use, due not only to fracturing but also to wear and abrasion, including mechanical wear (abrasion and pressure), chemical corrosion, and/or heat. Wear changes a metal part dimensionally and as such functionally. Processes are known for repairing worn metal parts where a durable material is adhered to the degraded surface. Similarly, a durable material may be adhered to a not previously worn surface which may be expected to experience wear. For metal components, this is commonly known as cladding or hard-facing, which can be defined as the application of building up wear-resistant material onto a parts surface by means of welding or joining. The cost of cladding is considerably less expensive than replacement costs and since cladding can be applied to a variety of base metals like: steel, stainless steel, nickel-based alloys, and copper-based alloys, it is widely used throughout the industry today.
A multi-wire SAW is a welding device that can perform cladding. The multi-wire SAW can include an electrode head that is adapted to receive a plurality of electrode contact tips. Each of the contacts tips may be associated with one of the electrodes. The contact tips can be releasably secured to the electrode head. For instance, conventional multi-wire SAW welding devices include an electrode head with apertures adapted to securely receive each of the contact tips respectively. Most conventional techniques include threads within the apertures as well as include corresponding threads on the contact tips for insertion into and removal from the electrode head as needed. Other techniques include set screws that, when tightened, prevent the contact tips from unintentionally dislodging.
Contact tips can wear in a short duration of time during cladding welding operations. When the contact tips wear out or deteriorate, new contact tips can be used for replacement tips. Replacing or repairing individual contact tips can be a cumbersome and timely maintenance procedure based on a location within or on the electrode head as well as the type of attachment to the electrode head (e.g., individual threads on contact tips, among others). Often, a contact tip holder can be used to hold a plurality of contact tips in place (rather than each tip using a releasably secure mechanism). However, each time a contact tip is replaced, the nozzle of the welding device is lifted to gain access to the contact tips. Such procedure often increases downtime and decreases operational productivity for a welding device that performs cladding operations.
Techniques and mechanisms for changing contact tips in an electrode head for a welding device can be time-consuming due to the location of the contact tips or the type of attachment to the electrode head. Moreover, replacement of contact tips can often require movement of the nozzle of the welding device which can be time-consuming and decrease the accuracy of the cladding operation. What is needed is a time efficient and non-evasive technique or mechanism that facilitates replacement of contact tips used by a welding device.

Head assembly for multi-wire submerged arc welding (SAW)


An electronic component mounting apparatus for determining whether or not a nozzle replacement operation is successfully performed. A horizontal array of nozzles are accommodated in the holder in a nozzle stocker, and a light emitting device and a light receiving device are arranged so that the light path between both runs above the nozzles. The nozzle stocker is arranged in a travel path of a feeding head. The nozzle mount of the feeding head returns a used nozzle into the holder or mounts a new nozzle thereon. When any nozzle remains lifted from the holder intercepting the light path, a returning operation of the used nozzle is determined to be a failure. When a nozzle replacement is performed, its success or failure is reliably determined by detecting a intercepting height of light and release height of light by the nozzle and nozzle mount, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component mounting apparatus for picking and placing electronic components to a circuit board and a method of replacing a nozzle in the electronic component mounting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic component mounting apparatuses pick up electronic components stored in a component feeder with their head nozzle vacuum-sucking electronic components and bring and mount them on a circuit board that is positioned at a predetermined place. The component feeder holds electronic components of a variety of types in a wide range of size, and its feeding head automatically changes its nozzle in accordance with the type of the electronic component to be picked up. The electronic component mounting apparatus is therefore provided with a nozzle stocker which stocks a diversity of nozzles. The feeding head moves above the nozzle stocker and is then vertically lowered and raised to replace automatically its nozzle.
To replace the head, the feeding head is shifted over the nozzle stocker, and is lowered and then raised while the nozzle used is removed from a nozzle mount to be returned back into the nozzle stocker, and a new nozzle is taken by mounting it on the nozzle mount. There are times when the head fails to return its used nozzle in a correct alignment into the nozzle stocker with the nozzle left elevated from the nozzle stocker.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2-132897 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 4-188742 disclose units that detect such an error in the returning action of nozzle. In these disclosures, a holder that houses nozzles is equipped with a number of light emitting devices and light receiving devices facing nozzles. Light emitted by the light emitting devices is received by the light receiving devices and an error, if any, in the nozzle returning action is then detected.
In the prior art, however, light emitting devices and light receiving devices are required for the respective nozzles, increasing the count of the devices, making the wiring of the devices complicated and thereby pushing up the cost of the unit.

Electronic component mounting apparatus and nozzle replacement method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


According to the present invention, there is provided a process for making an oligonucleotide or a phosphorothioate oligonucleotide. The process has the following steps: (a) providing an amount of a blocked nucleotide; (b) deblocking the blocked nucleotide to form an unblocked nucleotide; (c) activating the deblocked nucleotide; (d) coupling the deblocked nucleotide with a phosphoramidite to form a phosphite oligomer; (e) capping any uncoupled deblocked nucleotide via reaction with an amount of acetic anhydride and an amount of N-methylimidazole that is substantially free of 1,3,5-trimethylhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine; (f) oxidizing the phosphite oligomer to form the oligonucleotide or sulfurizing the phosphite oligomer to form a phosphorothioate oligonucleotide; and (g) optionally repeating steps (b) through (f). There is also a process for capping a nucleotide.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a process for synthesizing oligonucleotides or phosphorothioate oligonucleotides while using a capping agent of N-methylimidazole substantially free of 1,3,5-trimethylhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oligonucleotides and phosphorothioate oligonucleotides are synthesized via coupling of nucleotides. The synthesis generally has the following steps: (a) deblocking, (b) activation/coupling, (c) capping, and (d) oxidation (in the case of oligonucleotides) or sulfurization (in the case of phosphorothioate oligonucleotides). The cycle may be repeated sequentially depending on the number of bases to be coupled.
The capping step is commonly carried out in the presence of a combination of N-methylimidazole and acetic anhydride. In some oligonucleotide syntheses employing N-methylimidazole, it has been observed that some oligonucleotides having unwanted adducts may form. The adducts have been observed to add 85 daltons to the molecular weight of the oligonucleotides.
It would be desirable to have a method for synthesizing oligonucleotides or phosphorothioate oligonucleotides in which the end product is substantially free of unwanted adducts.

Synthesis of oligonucleotides or phosphorothioate oligonucleotide with a capping agent of N-methylimidazole free of 1,3,5-trimethylhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine


A denitrification system for denitrified wastewater or nitrified water treatment using a detergent or detergent-like compound comprising available carbon. The system comprises a plurality of interconnected tanks including a mixing tank which feeds detention tanks which in combination provide a detention time period for the effluent. A controller determines the amount of detergent dispensed into the mixing tank in accordance with the measured volume of effluent to be treated. The mixing tank comprises a heater for maintaining the nitrified effluent temperature above 50 degrees F. An optional line filter can be added to the output of the system for further reducing organic nitrogen concentration. An alternate embodiment comprises passing the final denitrified effluent through a pump chamber for pumping of the effluent to a sand filter capable of reducing bacterial populations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wastewater treatment systems and in particular to an apparatus and method for denitrification of nitrified wastewater or nitrified water with detergent or detergent-like compounds comprising available carbon.
2. Description of Related Art
Excessive concentrations of nitrogen in the form of nitrite and nitrate in water in the environment or in water discharged to the environment has both health risks to human beings and potential adverse consequences to aquatic environments. Nitrate is in the form of NO3 and Nitrite is in the form of NO2. Water with nitrate or nitrite concentrations is sometimes called nitrified water. Both are oxidized compounds of nitrogen. These compounds are considered inorganic forms of nitrogen.
According to Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Drinking Water standards, the Maximum Contaminant Level is 10 milligrams per liter of nitrate nitrogen or NO3 for safe drinking water. For estuarine environments, concentrations above 0.32 milligrams per liter of nitrate nitrogen or NO3 can cause adverse impacts from excessive algae growth. Concentrations above 0.5 milligrams per liter of NO3 have been found to accelerate eutrophication of coastal waters. Significant efforts are being made to remove and reduce the concentrations of nitrates and nitrites in water.
A denitrification process can be used for any nitrified water. Typical nitrified water is treated wastewater, ground water, process waters and some runoffs. Denitrification in nature occurs when water with concentrations of nitrite and nitrate are introduced into an anaerobic environment with a carbon source available. The carbon material is an electron donor. Denitrification in man-made processes traditionally involve a variety of carbon sources.
The prior art involving denitrification of treated wastewater use methanols and similar organic compounds. Such compounds are carcinogenic and explosive. These compounds require special handling, special construction and pose a threat to the environment from accidental release. Denitrification systems using methanol and similar compounds require venting to release an excessive mass of methanol. The use of methanol and similar compounds in treating wastewater may require the addition of a base substance to bring the effluent pH to near neutral values.
Various types of carbon sources have been investigated by many parties. U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,522, issued Aug. 30, 1994 to Eric H. Maraman et al., discloses a method for the treatment of sewage effluent comprising a step of denitrification using a carbon source such as the addition of methanol or internally generated fatty acids, for example, acidified surplus sludge. The carbon source must be well matched to the nitrate content of the effluent in order to prevent nitrate passing into the effluent. However, the use of methanol involves handling and storage of a poisonous, hazardous and explosive liquid. The use of internally generated fatty acids involves a physical effort to obtain the carbon source from the process and is complicated requiring a very skilled practitioner. The denitrification system in the Maraman patent requires that the fluid in the denitrification vessel be stirred by a paddle. Such paddles involve the use of energy and involve inevitable maintenance effort in a hazardous environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,777 issued Dec. 31, 1996 to Rein Laak discloses a wastewater treatment system that uses soaps for denitrification purposes in two different designs of wastewater systems. However, soaps are a processed animal fat, and certain soaps comprise significant concentrations of total nitrogen. This patent describes a dosing of soap as a carbon source in a rock layer in the bottom of a stratified filter. The Applicant, Michael B. McGrath, built a similar physical environment for denitrification in 1985 whereby, in constructing a Residential RUCK TM system, a mixing tank in which soap (from separated plumbing) was added to nitrified water which fluid then drained to a chamber filled with rock. Denitrification occurred in the mixing tank and in the rock filled chamber. Within a year, the voids in the rock chamber completely filled with a bacterial growth and completely clogged. The Laak patent relies on a similar situation where denitrification would occur in voids in a stone layer. The Laak design is such that if clogging does occur, there is no physical access to observe if that clogging is taking place and no access to clean the clogging should it occur.
In another system referred to as the Lunenburg RUCK CFT system, dishwashing liquid soap was used as a carbon source and it was unsuccessful as a carbon source. The denitrification portion of the system did not effectively denitrify. The Total Nitrogen concentration of that soap exceeded 129 milligrams per liter. The soap added nitrogen to a system designed to reduce nitrogen. A test was made of various laundry detergents by adding the manufacturers suggested amount of detergent to a standard wash in a washing machine and the measured concentrations of Total Nitrogen were in the range of 1 to 2 parts per million or milligrams per liter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,080, issued Feb. 9, 1993 to Gregory Boyle discloses a system to denitrify wastewater by introducing bacteria and a source of carbon such as from milk or milk by-products into a detention treatment chamber and maintaining the temperature above about 48–50 degrees Fahrenheit. Boyle describes a pelletized form of carbon introduced daily. In the Boyle patent, the nitrate concentration is described as being more or less constant, the temperature of household effluent is described as always at about 48–50 degrees, denitrification is complete in four hours and the government must be a co-permittee in the operation and maintenance of an on site denitrification system. The carbon form in a pelletized form allows no flexibility in the mass of nitrogen removed during denitrification. The mass of nitrogen cannot be adjusted. The fixed mass of the pelletized detergent provides no ability for the denitrification portion of the treatment system to respond to variations in the daily flow of the treatment system.
Nitrate concentrations in residential wastewater are not constant. The concentration of nitrogen in wastewater has increased due to changes in the materials in household chemicals and the change in volume caused by low flow plumbing fixtures. Various parties promoting alternative innovative on site systems in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have measured total nitrogen in household wastewater in reports to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. In several reports, the average influent total nitrogen concentration in household RUCK systems exceeded approximately 70 parts per million. The description of the Boyle system does not provide a system capable of treating higher concentrations of nitrate in the nitrified water.
Further, the Boyle patent ('080) states that residential wastewater is always in a certain temperature range, namely 48 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Normally, that is true. However, there can be places where local conditions could cause the effluent to be lower in temperature than what is stated in the Boyle patent. In Lunenburg, Mass., at the Woodlands Condominiums, a series of sewer pipes and pump stations move wastewater to a central treatment facility called a Commercial Ruck system. The temperature of the effluent entering the treatment system can reach 48 degrees Fahrenheit. An aeration stage drops the temperature to 44 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, denitrification will not take place. At that temperature, denitrification will not start when the system is initially started. These temperatures are lower than the temperature described in the Boyle patent.
The Boyle patent further discloses that denitrification takes only four hours and relates to the system described in that patent and to the quantity of the concentration of nitrate in the effluent. In actual field performance, the time for complete denitrification can take up to forty hours with nitrified water at 50 degrees Fahrenheit and with detergent as a carbon. The short detention time in the Boyle patent for denitrification will result in incomplete denitrification.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,438, issued Aug. 2, 1977 to Donald R. Anderson discloses a process for the anaerobic biological denitrification of water comprising contacting water containing nitrate and organic material with cellulosic substrate sufficient to support biological denitrification and maintaining the water at a temperature from 50 degrees Fahrenheit to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit for a period of time from a few minutes to about 24 hours to effect the denitrification. However, the process in Anderson's patent relies on the upwelling of nitrified water through a quantity of cellulosic substrate. The carbon source in the cellulosic substrate will be exhausted and is difficult to replace in traditional mixing chambers and detention tanks. Typical manholes used in traditional wastewater treatment structures are 24 to 30 inches in diameter. Pump chambers have rectangular openings called hatches, which typically are 48 by 48 inches. Such hatches can be installed in detention and mixing tanks. These openings are too small for the replenishment of the cellulosic material in relation to the volume of the nitrified water to be treated. Since the description of denitrification is by upwelling, a special tank or container must be constructed. Such special tanks will be expensive.

Denitrification system for nitrified wastewater or nitrified water


An inductive component includes a closed magnetic core and a first conductor that runs at least twice through the interior of magnetic core. The first conductor is a solid conductor that includes several U-shaped pre-bent parts that are tightly connected to one another. The U-shaped pre-bent parts may be each be flat conductors. Flat sections of the flat conductors may run in planes oriented transversely to one another.

A prior art inductive component is described in publications DE 2850657 C2 and CH 290733.
Typically, an inductive component that is suitable for high currents has a conductor with a large cross section. The conductor can be formed as a flexible stranded wire or a difficult-to-bend solid conductor (e.g., busbar).

Inductive component for high currents and method for the production thereof