Linear vibratory conveyor including a utility weight and a counterweight that can be vibratingly moved in opposing directions via a drive unit, the utility weight and the counterweight being connected via a non-rigid connector that represents or includes a vibration amplifying means for the vibration produced by the drive unit.

The invention relates to a linear vibratory conveyor including a utility weight and a counterweight that can be vibratingly moved in opposing directions via a drive unit, the drive unit preferably being arranged in a receiving chamber beneath the utility weight.
Such linear vibratory conveyors transport small and very small components for instance to an assembling machine, where the components are either to be processed or installed. The principle on which such a linear vibratory conveyor works is based on a counterweight and a utility weight, part of which is a transport rail along which the components are moved, being caused to vibrate in opposition to one another so that the components move on the transport rail by micro-jumps. The utility weight and counterweight are each vibratingly connected via corresponding spring elements, primarily leaf springs or leaf spring packets, to the base plate, via which the linear vibratory conveyor is connected to a third article, for instance an assembly table. Normally an electromagnet is used for the drive unit, the magnet core generally being connected by the coil surrounding it to the counterweight and the magnet armature to the utility weight. When alternating voltage is applied to the coil, an alternating magnetic field is created as a function of the voltage frequency and it acts on the armature, which moves freely relative to the magnet core and is thus not connected thereto, the opposing vibrational movement of the two weights ultimately resulting.
The functioning principle is such that when the electromagnet is excited, that is, when the coil is supplied with current, the armature is drawn to or toward the magnet core via the magnetic field that builds up. The utility weight and the counterweight are moved somewhat towards one another, and the spring elements are correspondingly bent. Thus the weights actively move. When the electromagnets cease to be excited, the return is effected solely via the relaxing spring elements. The travel of the electromagnets is limited, however, so that a relatively narrow vibrating amplitude results, which then leads to the mean quantity conveyed being low.


In one embodiment, a method includes performing, at a host device on a first side of a single-hop link, packet classification associated with hairpin routing of a first data packet between a first virtual resource and a second virtual resource that are logically defined at the host device. The first virtual resource can be different than the second virtual resource. The also includes transmitting a second data packet to a network device on a second side of the single-hop link so that packet classification associated with hairpin routing of the second data packet between at least two virtual resources logically defined at the host device is performed at the network device.

Embodiments described herein relate generally to virtualized networking, and, in particular, to a network device configured to route data between virtual resources logically defined at a host device.
A host device (e.g., a physical server) associated with a data center network can be configured to host multiple virtual resources (e.g., guest operating systems, virtual machines (VMs)). The virtual resources can be configured to share a single or multiple network links (e.g., physical network links) connecting the host device to networked portions of the data center network. Known host devices often each include a local virtual switch module (also can be referred to as an embedded virtual switch or as a virtual bridge) configured to route data originating from one or more of the virtual resources to another of the virtual resources within the host device. Network devices (e.g., external switches, gateway devices) associated with the data center network but external to the host device may not have information on and/or control over the routing between virtual resources within the host device. Host devices with this type of closed virtualized routing environment may not be configured to scalably integrate with the data center network in a desirable fashion and/or may not provide desirable routing flexibility. In addition, the processing efficiency of known host devices can be undesirably affected by processing overhead related to virtual switch management.
Thus, a need exists for methods and apparatus for a network device, which is external to a host device, configured to route (or trigger routing of) data between virtual resources logically defined at the host device.

Methods and apparatus for routing between virtual resources based on a routing location policy


The present invention may be used for dispensing a liquid soap adjacent a faucet assembly having a vertical opening. A lift rod having a conduit therein may be slidably inserted in the vertical opening. A dispensing rod having a conduit may be attached at an upper end of the lift rod. A pump may be attached at a lower end of the lift rod for fluid communication with an outlet end of the pump. A reservoir tube may be attached to an inlet end of the pump and may be disposed at a second end in a liquid reservoir. The pump may have a flange and a lower portion. The lower portion may be slidably inserted in a support element to allow the flange to abut a top edge of the support element for operation of the plunger when a force may be applied to the lift rod.

This Invention relates to devices and apparatus used to dispense liquid such as liquid soap to a user of a lavatory basin or sink for use for example in washing hands. The new apparatus may have a tubular drain plug lift rod disposed in a faucet assembly with one end of the tubular rod connected to a fluid source such as a liquid soap source for up-down motion of the tubular rod to cause liquid soap to be dispensed from an outlet end at a lavatory.
Various liquid dispensing apparatus for use with lavatory vessels, such as sinks and basins may be known. These apparatus may use a reservoir or container located beneath a sink and mounted on a wall or placed on a horizontal surface. The reservoir may have a pump to force liquid soap through a tube that may have an outlet end disposed in a spigot of a faucet assembly of a sink. The pump may be powered by the up-down motion of an operating linkage for opening and closing a drain plug. Other liquid soap dispensers may be mounted in an aperture wherein the pump is operated separately from any drain plug operating linkage.


Disclosed is an electrical cell comprising a negative electrode, a positive electrode, and a deposition layer separating the positive electrode and a gas phase that supplies at least one reactive gas; wherein the deposition layer and the positive electrode are in communication with each other via electrolyte(s). Also disclosed is a battery comprising the electrical cell described above and a battery comprising: a cell comprising a negative electrode in communication with an anolyte and a positive electrode in communication with a catholyte; and a gas-liquid reactor, which is fed with the catholyte from the cell and a gas. Additionally, also disclosed is a method for improving the performances of a cell or battery comprising a negative electrode, a positive electrode, and a deposition layer separating the positive electrode and a gas phase that supplies at least one reactive gas, wherein the deposition layer and the positive electrode are in communication with each other via electrolyte(s), the method comprising: controlling reaction fronts away from the positive electrode by tuning the flux of compound(s) in the electrolyte(s), which can react with the reactive gas to form a solid, and/or the flux of the reactive gas.

Energy storage system is a critical enabling factor for electric vehicles and deploying unstable and intermittent renewable power sources, such as solar and wind power sources. Energy storage devices including metal-gas batteries and flow batteries have received extraordinary attention owing to their attractive energy density and flexibility in scaling power and energy. However, these battery technologies has been suffering from some challenging technical issues, among which the most critical ones being the limited cycle life, stability and reversibility, which significantly hinder their practical application.
A truly reversible and long-life metal-gas battery such as lithium-oxygen (Li—O2) battery has been proven extremely challenging to realize due to the reactive nature of reduced oxygen species. Applying dual redox mediators mitigates positive electrode instabilities. However, it is insufficient to eliminate positive electrode degradation resulting from electrode and electrolyte decomposition. Metal-gas batteries promise one of the high theoretical energy densities among all electrochemical energy storage chemistries. However, the development of practical metal-gas batteries is strongly limited by its poor cycle life due to positive electrode passivation and degradation by parasitic products. These by-products arise from severe side reactions between electrode/electrolyte and the discharge/charge reaction products. For example, in a lithium-oxygen (Li—O2) battery, singlet oxygen, an excited state of O2 that is generated during both discharge and charge, is highly reactive towards the electrolyte. The discharge intermediates in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), including lithium superoxide and superoxide radical, degrade most of commonly used electrolytes. The charge intermediates in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) attack the carbon electrode and electrolyte extensively. Even the discharge product, Li2O2, reacts with the carbon electrode and electrolyte upon physical contact.
Significant research efforts have been devoted to address this challenging instability issue. Carbon-free electrodes and protected carbon electrodes were proposed to avoid carbon degradation, while new solvents, salts and novel electrolyte systems were actively pursued to alleviate electrolyte decomposition. However, it is still difficult to eliminate by-products due to the high reactivity of the reaction intermediates and products. There have also been attempts to suppress side reactions by shifting ORR and OER reaction pathways to more stable ones using redox mediators, which eventually lead to a dual-mediator battery. The cycle life of the demonstrated dual-mediator Li—O2 battery is still limited, and the limitation may be primarily attributed to positive electrode degradation by Li2CO3 resulting from chemical reactivity between the electrolyte and the reduced oxygen species. In addition, carbon positive electrode corrosion still exists, although it has been much mitigated compared with conventional Li—O2 cells.

Electrical cells and batteries, method for manufacturing the same and method for improving the performances of electrical cells and batteries


The gaming machine is constituted of a main body including a main display on which a game image is displayed and a sub display on which a portion of the game image is displayed in an enlarged manner, an aiming controller being configured to be movable over the main display and indicating an aiming position on the game image displayed on the main display, first display control means performing a display control of the game image on the main display, aiming position detection means detecting the aiming position on the game image indicated by the aiming controller, and second display control means performing an enlarged display control of a portion of the game image on the sub display such that the portion of the game image includes the aiming position detected by the aiming position detection means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine such as a gaming machine for business use, a gaming machine for home use, for example.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, among various gaming machines, there has been known a gaming machine which increases display magnifications of a specific area in a game image displayed on a display and displays the magnified specific area on a portion of the display by manipulating a controller (see Japanese Laid-open patent publication 2001-286678 (patent document 1)). According to the gaming machine described in the patent document 1, a player arbitrarily can point out an area which he/she wants to watch and can increase the display magnifications of the area and hence, the player can reflect his/her will on a displayed content of the game image whereby it is possible to provide vivid effects to the player in a shooting game or the like.
Further, there has been also known a gaming machine which includes binoculars incorporating a display capable of displaying a game image therein and allows a player to advance a game by manipulating buttons or the like mounted on the binoculars while watching the game image (see Japanese Laid-open utility model publication 2000-58 (patent document 2) and Japanese Laid-open patent publication 2000-259854 (patent document 3)). According to the gaming machines disclosed in these patent documents 2, 3, it is possible to provide a unique game in which the player can perform the game while watching the binoculars.

Gaming machine having a main display and a magnified sub display


A bracket for mounting a multi-compartment fuel filter assembly to an internal combustion engine is provided. The bracket includes a base plate, a first plate, a second plate, a third plate, a plurality of mounting members, a first plurality of ribs and a second plurality of ribs. The first plate and the second plate are coupled to the base plate, and are perpendicular to the base plate. The third plate is coupled to the first plate and is parallel to the base plate. The plurality of mounting members is coupled to the first plate and the first plurality of ribs is coupled to the base plate, the first plate and the third plate, and disposed perpendicular to the base plate. The second plurality of ribs is coupled to the base plate, the first plate, and the second plate, and disposed perpendicular to the base plate.

Internal combustion engines generally have a fuel filter connected to a fuel line extending between a fuel tank and a fuel intake. The purpose of the fuel filters is to remove any impurities from the fuel before introducing the fuel into the fuel intake of the internal combustion engine. Typically, the fuel filters are mounted directly onto the internal combustion engine near a fuel pump using a specifically designed support bracket. Typically, the fuel filter is fastened to the support bracket which is in turn fastened to the internal combustion engine.
Large internal combustion engines, such as engines for powering construction and mining machinery, produce vibrations during the operation of the internal combustion engine. As the support bracket is directly mounted on to the internal combustion engine, the support bracket and the fuel filter also vibrate with the internal combustion engine. Continuous vibrations from the internal combustion engine generate high level of stress concentrations around the support bracket, which results into cracking and bending of the support bracket. Additionally, the fuel filters have to be held in upright position to achieve the maximum filter efficiency. However, the vibrations produced by the internal combustion engine causes dislocation of the fuel filters, thereby reducing the filter efficiency. A failure of the support bracket leads to engine downtime and costly repairs. Thus, there is a need of an improved arrangement for mounting fuel filter to the internal combustion engine which does not result in failure of the support bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,862 relates to an oil filter unit mounting adapter. The oil filter unit mounting adapter is connected to an internal combustion engine either directly or via a filter mounting boss. The filter mounting adapter is designed to permit the sealing, releasable attachment of a suitable oil filter unit thereto. The oil filter unit mounting adapter further includes a sandwich adapter having a first face adapted to sealingly contact the filter mounting boss on the internal combustion engine. The sandwich adapter also has a second face adapted to sealingly connect with the oil filter unit. Typically, this type of oil filter unit mounting adapter is suitable for mounting an oil filter and is not designed for mounting fuel filters. Also, the oil filter unit mounting adapter is designed for single compartment oil filter, and is not usable for a multi-compartment fuel filter assembly which is typically present in large internal combustion engines. Thus, there is a need of an improved bracket for mounting the multi-compartment fuel filter assembly, which does not fail during an operation of the engine.


In an optical fiber telecommunications network, an optical network unit is provided in the subscriber neighborhood for terminating the optical fiber transmission line and for providing electrical signals over metallic lines to the subscribers. The unit functions to convert the optical signal to an electrical signal and demultiplex the electrical signal to divide out baseband telephony signals from broadband video channels. The electrical signals are further demultiplexed and distributed to line cards serving each subscriber, while the broadband video channels are demultiplexed and provided to subscribers that have requested specific video channels. The system includes a test unit for performing metallic tests and also a means to gather subscriber channel requests to form a video control channel which is transmitted to a remote terminal via a baseband telephony channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber network that provides both broadband switched video services and narrowband telephony signals over a single fiber using a single optical carrier, and more particularly, to an optical network unit located in subscriber neighborhoods for the purpose of converting optical signals to electrical signals and for providing metallic drops to the various subscribers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The rapid proliferation of optical fiber telecommunications systems has made possible the provision of broadband services to individual subscribers on a relatively universal basis. Such broadband services often include data transmission; however, there is a broader market for the distribution of video signals over the telecommunications network.
The provision of such video services has long been desired; however, the previously proposed systems have all been subject to various deficiencies which have prevented their commercial acceptance. Video signals may be broadcast to all subscribers over optical fibers; however, this severely limits the programming selection and the number of channels that may be available to each subscriber. A switched video architecture allows for the provision of significantly more programming options and control of distribution only to authorized subscribers.
The concept of switched video transmission systems has been proposed in the past; however, most proposals have had undesirable features. Most proposed switched video architectures require the use of a second optical fiber to distribute the broadband services or, as an alternative, the use of a wavelength division multiplexing system. Such systems do not offer a truly integrated architecture, wherein a single fiber distributes both narrowband and broadband signals and the systems are not integrated with respect to both control and cost effective utilization of common electronics.
The use of two fiber systems to distribute the broadband video service is inefficient in that the second fiber must be installed during the initial deployment of the system when there are extremely high equipment expenses. Currently, regulatory agencies do not always permit recovery of costs associated with a second fiber for broadband services. The use of wavelength division multiplexing significantly complicates a system in that it requires the use of a significant number of fiber couplers which are both high cost and large components. Both alternatives typically double the amount of costly optoelectronics required.
In unidirectional (two-channel) wavelength division multiplexing two distinctly different optical sources and detectors are utilized simultaneously. These sources and detectors must be coupled to the single transmission fiber. Separate transmitters and receivers must accompany each source and detector. This multiplicity of fibers and couplers becomes extremely difficult to handle and requires large and cumbersome equipment or delicate optical arrangements. The need for separate transmitters and receivers for each wavelength makes the cost prohibitive, particularly when universal service is rendered to all customer premises.
An article entitled: "A Future Switched Video System" by John R. Gunter, IEEE LCS Magazine, February, 1990, at page 66 and following, describes the desirability of providing video services over the telecommunications network. Another article entitled: "A High-Quality Switched FM Video System" by David E. Robinson and David Grubb, III, IEEE LCS Magazine, also published February, 1990, at page 53 and following describes a proposed system architecture wherein the various video channels are frequency multiplexed onto a carrier; however, the carrier uses wavelength division multiplexing for upstream and downstream transmissions.
Other articles describing the simultaneous transmission of narrowband and broadband signals are as follows: "A Hybrid Lightwave Transmission System for Subcarrier Multiplexed Video and Digital B-ISDN Services in the Local Loop", by Charles N. Lo, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 7, No. 11, November 1989, pp. 1839-1848; and "Fiber Optic Analog-Digital Hybrid Signal Transmission Employing Frequency Modulation", by K. Sato et al, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol COM-33, No. 5, May 1985, pp. 433-441.
The upstream and downstream transmission of control information has consistently been a problem in switched video and video on demand systems. Such upstream transmission has been accomplished using wavelength division multiplexing as previously mentioned in the article of David E. Robinson et al; however, such a system is then subjected to the aforementioned deficiencies associated with the use of wavelength division multiplexing. Other systems have used a separate narrowband telephone connection for keying in control data in the upstream direction using a telephone subset. Such systems are not truly integrated and require the use of the premises telephone subset to transmit control information upstream for selection of the desired video.
The RCV-1G system provided by Alcatel used a dedicated FSK subcarrier electrically multiplexed with the narrowband and video for control purposes.
Thus, the prior art has not provided a commercially acceptable architecture for mass deployment of switched video on a telecommunications network.


The present invention provides a rule set partitioning based packet classification method for Internet. The method comprising: performing Horizontal Cut for the rule set, determining the field for partitioning a rule layer based on a target algorithm and selecting the partition manner of the Horizontal Cut, performing Horizontal Cut according to the selected partition manner of the Horizontal Cut, thereby obtaining more than one rule layers, each rule layer being a Horizontal subset, combining the rule layers to obtain a plurality of Horizontal subsets according to the total number of the pre-designated Horizontal subsets and a predefined principle, wherein the total number of said combined plurality of Horizontal subsets equals to the total number of said pre-designated Horizontal subsets; performing Vertical Cut in each of the Horizontal subsets; then forming a Hash table that can index the Vertical subsets, so that it can be used in a lookup; and realizing rule storage in each Vertical subset respectively according to the target algorithm.

In the field of Internet, the packet classification technology is a critical technology for many applications, such as Access Control List (ACL), Firewall, QoS (Quality of Service) control.
Packet classification can be regarded as a kind of special lookup/search problem. Packet classification needs to perform a search in a predefined rule set based on the information of an IP packet, so as to find the best matching rule and perform discarding, passing or other operation for the IP packet based on the action associated with the rule. In particular, a rule set is composed of multiple rules; generally, a rule comprises the following information: (source network address, destination network address, source port, destination port, protocol) and (priority, action). When classifying a packet, first the information (source address, destination address, source port, destination port, protocol) is extracted from an IP packet, and then a lookup is done in the rule set based on the extracted information to find a rule that matches the extracted information. Since there may be multiple matching rules, the rule with the highest priority will be selected as the best matching rule based on the priority information of the rule. Finally, corresponding operation is performed for the IP packet based on the action associated with the best rule.
In recent years, researchers have proposed a lot of algorithms and solutions to address the packet classification problem. These solutions can be divided into two categories: software based solutions and hardware based solutions. Software based solutions include the following algorithms: Modular, HiCut, HyperCut, EGT-PC, etc. Hardware based solutions mainly include the TCAM (Ternary Content Addressable Memory) based technology. Compared with the software solutions, the cost of the hardware solutions is expensive, flexibility in realization is poor, but lookup speed is very fast.
In [1] J. van Lunteren and T. Engbersen, "Fast and Scalable Packet Classification", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 21, No. 4, May 2003, there is proposed a TCAM-based fast packet classification solution in which respective fields of the rule are encoded. Wherein, the encoding technology uses the Horizontal Cut (H-Cut) method that is similar to the Range Interval Cut.
In [2] K. Zheng, C. C. Hu, H. B. Lu, and B. Liu, "An Ultra High Throughput and Power Efficient TCAM-Based IP Lookup Engine", Proc. IEEE INFOCOM '04, March 2004, there is proposed a fast route lookup solution. This solution is based on the TCAM technology, wherein, an ID Bit cut technology is applied to perform grouping for a route lookup rule base.
In [3] Z. Liang, K. Xu, J. Wu, "A Scalable Parallel Lookup Framework Avoiding Longest Prefix", Lectuer Notes in Computer Science, vol. 3090,2004, pp. 616-625, there is provided a route lookup framework avoiding longest prefix match In the framework, a Prefix Level cut technology is applied to perform grouping for a route lookup rule set to eliminate the overlap between rules.
In [4] F. Baboescu, S. Singh, G. Varghese, "Packet Classification for Core Routers: Is there an alternative to CAMs?", Proc. of IEEE INFOCOM, San Francisco USA, 2003, there is provided a EGT-PC packet classification algorithm. The algorithm is based on a tree lookup structure and can realize the lookup performance that is comparable to the TCAM.
The lookup speed and memory requirement are two important performance parameters to evaluate a packet classification solution. The various software solutions mentioned in the above have drawbacks in these two aspects, either the lookup speed is not fast enough, or the memory requirement is very large.
Presently, the rule set partitioning methods can be divided into two kinds of methods.
Horizontal Cut (H-Cut)
The H-Cut is shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, Key represents a point, which is the relevant heading information of an IP packet. Rule refers to the rule in a rule set. Rule Layer is a set of rules, in which there is no overlap between the inner-Layer rules, but there may be overlap between the inter-Layer rules. Note that the overlap here refers to overlap on one field, such as the source address.
In FIG. 1, H-Cut divides a rule set into two smaller rule sets. Within the two smaller rule sets, the overlap between the rules are reduced, thereby the memory requirement is reduced. But for searching a key, all the smaller rule sets still need to be traversed, which affects the lookup speed in some extent negatively.
H-Cut can reduce the memory requirement, but will affect the lookup speed negatively.
In particular, H-Cut can have the following operation methods.
a) Range Interval Based Partitioning [1]
What is shown in FIG. 1 belongs to this kind of partitioning method. This method is applicable to each field (source network address, destination network address, source port, destination port, protocol field) of the rule. The value range of the field of a rule is represented by a range interval. Then the range interval corresponding to the rule is traversed, and simple increment method (initially, a subset is set as null, and in turn, range interval is added incrementally. If there is overlap between a range interval that will be added and the subset, a new subset is established and this range interval will be added into this new subset) is used to obtain several non-overlapped rule sets (the range intervals corresponding to the rules in the set do not overlap).
b) Prefix Level Based Partitioning [3]
This partitioning method is applicable to the source network address field and destination network address field of the rule. The partitioning method constructs a prefix tree based on the source or destination network address. In a prefix tree, the network address corresponds to different prefix levels, and the network address of different prefix levels do not overlap. Based on the prefix level corresponding to the network address, a rule set is divided into several non-overlapped rule subsets (the rule subsets do not overlap at selected network address field).
Vertical Cut (V-Cut)
In FIG. 2, V-Cut also divides a rule set into two smaller rule sets. For searching a key, it only needs to be done in one smaller rule set, which improves the search performance. But the rule cut by the V-Cut needs to be copied into the two smaller rule sets respectively, which affects the memory requirement negatively.
V-Cut can improve the search performance, but will affect the memory requirement negatively.
In particular, V-Cut can have the following operation methods.
a) Range Interval Based Partitioning
What is shown in FIG. 2 belongs to this partitioning method. This method is applicable to each field of the rule. The value range of the field of a rule is represented by a range interval. A series of thresholds are selected. There is one threshold in FIG. 2 (which will be taken as an example in the following). The threshold and the range interval are compared, and a rule set is divided into two rule subsets. If all the values in the range interval of the rule are greater than the threshold, then this rule will be divided into a "greater than threshold" subset; if all the values in the range interval of the rule are smaller than the threshold, then this rule will be divided into a "smaller than threshold" subset; if the threshold is within the range interval of the rule, this rule needs to be replicated into two copies, one for the "greater than threshold" subset and one for the "smaller than threshold" subset.
b) ID BIT Based Partitioning [2]
This method is also applicable to each field of the rule. The value of the field of a rule is represented by a bit string. The bits in a series of bit strings are selected (Here, take one bit as an example). The value of the field of the rule at this bit is checked to see if it is 1, 0 or wildcard. If the value of the bit is 1, this rule will be divided into the "bit 1" subset; if the value of the bit is 0, this rule will be divided into the "bit 0" subset; and if the value of the bit is wildcard, this rule needs to be replicated into two copies, one for the "bit 0" subset and one for the "bit 1" subset.

Rule set partitioning based packet classification method for internet

International Business Machines Corporation


An image pickup lens includes an optical system that includes a magnification variable lens used for a magnification variation, and a focus lens configured to adjust an in-focus state, a wide attachment lens being configured to change an enlargement ratio of the image pickup lens and attachable to the optical system, and a manipulator manipulated so as to instruct driving of the magnification variable lens. A moving amount of the magnification variable lens per a predetermined manipulated amount of the manipulator when the wide attachment lens is attached is smaller than that when the wide attachment lens is not attached.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup lens, an image pickup apparatus, and a control method of the image pickup apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. ("JP") 2004-233892 discloses an image pickup apparatus configured to drive a magnification variable lens using a variable magnification ring and a zoom key, and to maintain a correlation between a position of the variable magnification ring and a position of the magnification variable lens. JP 07-281072 discloses an image pickup apparatus that includes a wide attachment ("WA") lens attachable to an optical system that includes a magnification variable lens and configured to change a focal length and an enlargement ratio of the optical system (for example, so as to obtain an image having a wider angle of view).
However, for an image pickup apparatus that is made by combining these two references with each other, a cam curve that represents a position used for a focus lens to maintain an in-focus state relative to a position of the magnification variable lens when the WA lens is attached is different from that when the WA lens is not attached. The in-focusing range of the focus lens when the WA lens is attached is narrower than the in-focusing range of the focus lens when the WA lens is not attached.
More specifically, if it is assumed that the magnification variable ring has a rotatable range from 0° to θ°, the magnification variable lens has a maximum moving distance of L, and an in-focusable maximum moving distance of the magnification variable lens when the WA lens is attached is Lw (L>LW), an in-focusable angular range of the magnification variable ring becomes between 0° and (θ×Lw/L)°. Therefore, in a range between (θ×Lw/L)° and θ° on the telephoto side, although the magnification variable ring is manipulated, a good image pickup state cannot be provided because the magnification variable lens cannot be driven or the in-focus cannot be maintained.

Image pickup lens, image pickup apparatus, and control method of the image pickup apparatus


A device and method for operating an in vivo imaging device (10A) wherein the illumination produced by the device may be varied in intensity and/or duration, and/or the gain level or other parameters may be varied, according to, for example, the amount of illumination produced by the device which is reflected back to the device. In addition, a method is provided for detecting problematic pixels in an imaging device. This method may define and exclude non-functional pixels, based on for example an initial short exposure that enables a threshold saturation level to be reached only for problematic pixels. Moreover, a method is described for determining when an in vivo device enters the body, for example by calculating the progress of a dark frame, based on the light saturation threshold of the dark frame.

Devices and methods for performing in-vivo imaging of passages or cavities within a body are known in the art. Such devices may include, inter alia, various endoscopic imaging systems and devices for performing imaging in various internal body cavities.
Reference is now made to FIG. 1 which is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an autonomous in-vivo imaging device. The device 10A typically includes an optical window 21 and an imaging system for obtaining images from inside a body cavity or lumen, such as the GI tract. The imaging system includes an illumination unit 23. The illumination unit 23 may include one or more discrete light sources 23A, or may include only one light source 23A. The one or more light sources 23A may be a white light emitting diode (LED), or any other suitable light source, known in the art. The device 10A includes a CMOS imaging sensor 24, which acquires the images and an optical system 22 which focuses the images onto the CMOS imaging sensor 24. The illumination unit 23 illuminates the inner portions of the body lumen through an optical window 21. Device 10A further includes a transmitter 26 and an antenna 27 for transmitting the video signal of the CMOS imaging sensor 24, and one or more power sources 25. The power source(s) 25 may be any suitable power sources such as but not limited to silver oxide batteries, lithium batteries, or other electrochemical cells having a high energy density, or the like. The power source(s) 25 may provide power to the electrical elements of the device 10A.
Typically, in the gastrointestinal application, as the device 10A is transported through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the imager, such as but not limited to the multi-pixel CMOS sensor 24 of the device 10A acquires images (frames) which are processed and transmitted to an external receiver/recorder (not shown) worn by the patient for recording and storage. The recorded data may then be downloaded from the receiver/recorder to a computer or workstation (not shown) for display and analysis. Other systems and methods may also be suitable.
During the movement of the device 10A through the GI tract, the imager may acquire frames at a fixed or at a variable frame acquisition rate. For example, the imager (such as, but not limited to the CMOS sensor 24 of FIG. 1) may acquire images at a fixed rate of two frames per second (2 Hz). However, other different frame rates may also be used, depending, inter alia, on the type and characteristics of the specific imager or camera or sensor array implementation that is used, and on the available transmission bandwidth of the transmitter 26. The downloaded images may be displayed by the workstation by replaying them at a desired frame rate. According to this implementation, the expert or physician examining the data may be provided with a movie-like video playback, which may enable the physician to review the passage of the device through the GI tract.
One of the limitations of electronic imaging sensors is that they may have a limited dynamic range. The dynamic range of most existing electronic imaging sensors is significantly lower than the dynamic range of the human eye. Thus, when the imaged field of view includes both dark and bright parts or imaged objects, the limited dynamic range of the imaging sensor may result in underexposure of the dark parts of the field of view, or overexposure of the bright parts of the field of view, or both.
Various methods may be used for increasing the dynamic range of an imager. Such methods may include changing the amount of light reaching the imaging sensor, such as for example by changing the diameter of an iris or diaphragm included in the imaging device to increase or decrease the amount of light reaching the imaging sensor, methods for changing the exposure time, methods for changing the gain of the imager or methods for changing the intensity of the illumination. For example, in still cameras, the intensity of the flash unit may be changed during the exposure of the film.
When a series of consecutive frames is imaged such as in video cameras, the intensity of illumination of the imaged field of view within the currently imaged frame may be modified based on the results of measurement of light intensity performed in one or more previous frames. This method is based on the assumption that the illumination conditions do not change abruptly from one frame to the consecutive frame.
However, in an in vivo imaging device, for example, for imaging the GI tract, which may operate at low frame rates and which is moved through a body lumen (e.g., propelled by the peristaltic movements of the intestinal walls), the illumination conditions may vary significantly from one frame to the next frame. Therefore, methods of controlling the illumination based on analysis of data or measurement results of previous frames may not be always feasible, particularly at low frame rates.
Therefore there is a need for an imaging device that provides more accurate illumination, possibly tailored to particular in-vivo illumination requirements or environmental conditions.

Apparatus and method for light control in an in-vivo imaging device


The present invention relates to a resilient foam pad that is integrated into the bottom exterior of a tool bag. More specifically, the invention relates to maximizing the inter-compatibility of a tool bag and a highly portable foam pad. The upper surface of the foam pad is adorned with a nylon loop fastener attracting carpet. Attached to the bottom side of the tool bag is a nylon hook fastener lining. The tool bag is designed to offer storage and detachment of the foam pad without having to open the tool bag compartment. Alternative embodiments of the foam pad would include a rubber sealed version for use in wet conditions.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of tool bags and foam pads.
B. Prior Art
The Spencer Patent Application (U.S. App. No. 2003/0019007) discloses a knee cushion with integrated support depressions.
The Kehoe Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,671) discloses a multi-purpose roofing tool kit that assists a roofer in the covering of a roof surface with shingles or tiles. This kit includes foam rests, and these foam rests remain part of a large assembly of tools that are inside a chest, which in essence fails to provide rapid deployment or storage for knee pads.
The Escobedo Patent (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 447, 850) illustrates an ornamental design for a kneeling pad.
The Ouellette et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,177) discloses an oil resistant portable knee pad designed to magnetically attach to a metal surface when not in use.
The McDowall Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,046) discloses a rigid lightweight knee board for cement finishers
The Ward Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,054) discloses an upwardly arched pair of padded knee boards designed for cement finishers.
The Crain Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,424) discloses an improved kneeling apparatus for cement masons.
The Bidwell et al. Patent (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 376, 481) illustrates an ornamental design for a kneeling pad.

Tool bag with integrated exterior foam pad


A kit preparation that enables drug dose adjustment. The kit preparation includes a bag which contains an infusion solution or pure water and at least one drug enclosing part in which a drug is enclosed and which is provided with a sealing part. The drug enclosing part is connected to the bag via the sealing part; and, when the sealing part is released, the bag is communicated with the drug enclosing part and thus the drug is poured into the bag so that a dispensing work can be carried out.

Medical intravenous drip infusion (hereinafter referred to as intravenous drip) has been known as a method for directly administering drugs to human body in the medical art (e.g., see PTL 1). In the intravenous drip, a drug liquid filled in, for example, a bag is administered to human body via an injection needle inserted into the vein of a patient. In the intravenous drip, a drug liquid, which has been prepared, needs to be filled into the bag.
For example, when the intravenous drip is used for administrating anti-cancer drugs, it has been pointed out that many of medical practitioners are exposed to a risk of developing cancer through exposure to the anti-cancer agents. This is due to the following reasons:
(1) Many of the anti-cancer agents are cytotoxic (carcinogenic);
(2) Routine procedure causes exposure to the anti-cancer agents;
(3) Carcinogenicity can be predicted from the exposure to the anti-cancer agents upon drug preparation (e.g., see NPLs 1, 2, and 3); and
(4) Sufferers from the exposure to the anti-cancer agents are not limited to the people in charge of drug preparation.
With the recent improvement of inspection techniques, it has been revealed that sufficient safety (anti-exposure) is not ensured only with safety cabinets or PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). Mutagens or drug ingredients may be detected even in urine of the people in charge of drug preparation who have used the safety cabinets or people who worked in the same room.
As predicted from the above four facts (circumstantial evidence), it is believed that the medical practitioners are routinely exposed to the anti-cancer agents in preparing and administering the anti-cancer agents and thus exposed to the risk of developing cancer.
In Europe, measures such as substitution with low- or non-toxic products are implemented in order to prevent or reduce the exposure (e.g., see NPL 4). In Directive 2004/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, the order of priority is as follows: 1. substitution with low- or non-toxic products, 2. use of closed systems, 3. integral ventilation for each region, and 4. use of personal protective equipment. However, the anti-cancer agents have been administered based on evidence regarding efficacy and safety. Therefore, the substitution with low- or non-toxic products is difficult if there is no evidence.
Means using the closed systems such as closed system transfer devices and negative pressure vials have also been implemented. Carcinogenicity is known to increase in proportion to exposure levels. Therefore, decreasing the exposure levels as much as possible is the best way and the use of the closed system transfer devices is greatly significant. However, it is difficult to completely prevent the exposure even using the existing closed systems (e.g., see NPL 5). The use of the closed system transfer devices is very effective for decreasing the exposure levels, but operation of the closed system transfer devices is very complicated. Therefore, it is problematic in that they induce the exposure to the anti-cancer agents by mistake and labor efficiency is decreased. Moreover, only a portion of purchasing expenses of the closed systems is paid at the public expense. Therefore, the more the closed systems are used, the higher the cost is, resulting in pressing management of medical facilities. This is problematic. In view of such a background, at present, there is a huge barrier to popularize the measures with the substitution with low- or non-toxic products or the use of the closed systems.
There have been known double bag type products in which a solid drug-containing chamber is isolated from a drug solution-containing chamber by an easily openable sealing portion so as to easily bring them in communication with each other through application of pressure in order to simplify filling operation of drug liquid (e.g., see PTL 2). This bag enables safe drug preparation work by bringing the solid drug-containing chamber and the drug solution-containing chamber into communication with each other by the easily openable sealing portion.

Kit preparation and dose adjustment method


A field effect transistor comprises a diamond substrate which has a p-type ion implanted region coterminous with a surface of the diamond substrate, wherein the ion implanted region has a hole concentration in the range of 1.times.10.sup.15 to 1.times.10.sup.17 holes/cm.sup.2, and a hole mobility equal to or greater than 1 cm.sup.2 /V-sec; spaced apart source and drain electrodes formed over the p-type ion implanted region on the surface of the diamond substrate; an electrically insulating material formed over the p-type ion implanted region on the surface of the diamond substrate between the source and drain electrodes; and a gate electrode formed on the surface of the insulating material.

The present invention relates to the field of transistors, and more specifically to the field of metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistors formed on diamond substrates.
Transistors are solid state devices which amplify electrical signals and, when combined in large numbers close together on a single substrate, make up integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are employed in a wide variety of electronic applications, as for example, in microprocessors and computers.
Transistors are generally manufactured from wafers of single crystal silicon. However, the speed of silicon transistors is limited by the modest speed with which electrons flow within silicon conductive layers, and the lack of a sufficiently insulating form of silicon with which to produce low capacitance interconnections between devices. The speed of a transistor refers to its switching time. The speed limitations of silicon based transistors have been overcome by fabricating transistors from gallium arsenide. However, a gallium arsenide transistor is limited in its ability to operate at temperatures higher than about 450 K.
Diamond is a material with properties which theoretically allow transistor operation not only at higher speeds than gallium arsenide, but also at very high temperatures (perhaps as high as 900 K.). High temperature operation would be extend electronics into extreme thermal environments such as the inside of an operating airplane engine, deep within the earth in an oil drill hole, or in space vehicles operating in outer space without any cooling capability.
The first transistor behavior in diamond was demonstrated by J. F. Prins in 1982 [See J. F. Prins, "Bipolar Transistor Action In Ion Implanted Diamond," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 41, p. 950, 1982.]The transistor developed by Prins was a so-called bipolar transistor which depended for its operation on the creation of adjacent regions in which electrons carried a majority of the current (called n-type regions) and holes carried a majority of the current (called p-type regions). In the Prins transistor, the p-type region was realized by starting with a substrate of naturally occurring diamond, called type IIb, a p-type material. The n-type region was made by directing an ion beam to impinge the surface of IIb diamond crystal to implant positive ions in the substrate in a process called ion implantation. Although the current-voltage characteristics of the Prins diamond transistor were typical of a bipolar transistor, the gain of the device was not significant.
The first diamond transistor with significant gain was a so-called point contact transistor made by M. W. Geis, et al, in 1987 [See M. W. Geis, D. D. Rathman, D. J. Ehrlich, R. A. Murphy, and W. T. Lindley, "High-Temperature Point-Contact Transistors And Schottky Diodes Formed On Synthetic Boron-Doped Diamond," IEEE Electron Device Lett., Vol. EDL-8, p. 341, 1987.]To make this transistor, Geis pressed tungsten points against the surface of a synthetic boron doped diamond crystal, which became a p-type semiconductor. Electron emission and collection regions were formed under each point. An advantage of the Geis transistor is that it provides a small signal current gain, which is defined as the ratio of change in output current to change in input current. At room temperature, the small signal current gain was about 20. The current gain decreased to about 2 at an operating temperature of 783 K. However, a principal disadvantage of the point contact transistor demonstrated by Geis is that it can not easily be reduced in size and combined with similar transistors to make a integrated circuit.
In 1991, reports began to appear in the open literature of planar diamond transistors which operated through the field effect. [See W. Tsai, M. Delfino, D. Hodul, R. Riaziat, L. Y. Ching, G. Reynolds, and C. B. Cooper, III, "Diamond MESFET Using Ultrashallow RTP Boron Doping," IEEE Electron Device Lett., Vol. EDL-2, p. 157, 1991; G. Sh. Gildenblat, S. A. Grot, C. W. Hatfield, and A. R. Badzian, "High-Temperature Thin-Film Diamond Field-Effect Transistor Fabricated Using A Selective Growth Method," IEEE Electron Device Lett., Vol. 12, p. 37, 1991.]Such transistors are called field effect transistors. "A field effect transistor is a transistor in which current carriers (holes or electrons) are injected at one terminal (the source) and pass to another (the drain) through a channel of semiconductor material whose resistivity depends mainly on the extent to which it is penetrated by a depletion region. The depletion region is produced by surrounding the channel with semiconductor material of the opposite conductivity and reverse-biasing the resulting p-n junction from a control terminal (the gate). The depth of the depletion region depends on the magnitude of the reverse bias." [Graf, r.f., Modern Dictionary of Electronics, Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc., p. 272, 1977.]
Field effect transistors are made by creating conducting layer near the surface of a semiconductor single crystal. The conducting layer is called a channel. For highest speed the semiconductor should be semi-insulating, that is, it should have a bulk resistivity of more than 10.sup.6 or 10.sup.7 ohm-cm. For high temperature operation the semiconductor should have a band gap of about 2 electron volts or more.
After creation of the conducting layer, ohmic electrical contact is made to the channel by forming two electrodes on the surface of the conducting layer. One electrode is called the source contact and one electrode is called the drain contact. A third electrode, referred to as a gate electrode, may be formed by depositing a metal directly on the channel, to create a metal-semiconductor field effect transistor. For a variety of reasons, including work function differences between the gate metal and semiconductor substrate, there is generally an electric field underneath the gate extending part way into the channel. The phrase "work function" refers to the amount of energy required to raise an electron from the Fermi level to the vacuum level. The field polarity is chosen in such a way that the flow of charge carriers in the channel is controlled in the region under the gate just as the flow of water is controlled by adjusting a valve in a water circuit. By changing the voltage on the gate electrode, the field in the channel can be changed causing the amount of current flowing inside the channel from source to drain to also be changed. A figure of merit of the transistor 10 of the present invention device is the ratio of the change in channel current to a change in gate voltage, called the transconductance, g.sub.m, of the transistor. The dimensions of transconductance are current/voltage, or Siemens.
By applying appropriate voltage at the source, drain, and gate electrodes, an electrical current may be induced to flow through the channel, entering through the source and leaving through the drain in much the same way water can be made to flow in one end and out the other end of a pipe.
W. Tsai et al. has made an FET on a diamond substrate having a transconductance of 1.6 .mu.S for each mm of gate width in accordance with the method described above. The channel in the Tsai transistor was made by placing a solid disk of boron nitride next to a piece of natural semi-insulating diamond and rapidly raising the temperature of both for time just sufficient for the boron ions to diffuse into the diamond and change, or "dope," the ion implanted region of the diamond into a p-type structure. One problem with Tsai's transistor was that it never achieved what is called current saturation, that is, it was never able to conduct a channel current as large as the channel was capable of handling. Because of this, the transconductance of the Tsai transistor was lower than it might otherwise have been. Saturation is required for low output conductance. Output conductance is the ratio of the change in channel current to the change in channel voltage where these changes are measured while keeping the gate voltage constant. Because the voltage gain of a transistor driving a large impedance load is given by the ratio of transconductance to output conductance, lack of saturation furthermore resulted in low voltage gain from the Tsai transistor.
As an alternative to forming a metal gate electrode directly on the channel, a gate electrode for a field effect transistor may also be manufactured by first depositing or growing an insulator, such as silicon dioxide, over the channel and then placing the gate electrode on top of the insulator. This device is called a metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistor or "MISFET." G. Sh. Gildenblat, et al., describes growing a channel directly on a diamond substrate using the well known technique of homoepitaxy. Channel growth was selective, that is, arrangements were made to grow the channel over certain parts of the substrate rather than over the entire surface of the substrate (which would have been called non-selective growth). The Gildenblat device operated at 573 K. and had a transconductance per unit gate width of 30 .mu.S mm.sup.-1. However, the Gildenblat device did not exhibit strong evidence of saturation in its transistor behavior, nor did it show any evidence of pinch-off, i.e., the ability to significantly reduce the channel current towards zero.

Ion implanted diamond metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistor

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An annular diffuser has its inlet located at the exit of a last row of blades of a gas turbine having initially very slowly increasing cross-sectional area with distance to accommodate the diffusion produced by the decaying wakes in the diffuser so as to prevent flow separation from diffuser walls and as a result to foster the diffusion process and to increase the efficiency of the gas turbine. The rate of increase of cross-sectional area, which is much smaller than that appropriate in diffusers having uniform flow at their inlets, allows wakes which form near the trailing edges of the last turbine blades to dissipate while avoiding flow separation. In the diffuser of this invention, at a distance from inlet of one half of diffuser height at inlet, the cross-sectional area increase is smaller than 6.5% of the inlet cross-sectional area. This is equivalent to the corresponding two-dimensional straight-wall diffuser angle of, approximately 3.7 degrees.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gas turbine units, or gas turbine engines, and more particularly to annular diffusers in gas turbine units. More particularly still, this invention relates to annular diffusers located downstream of gas turbines in gas turbine units.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A gas turbine unit used in power generation usually comprises two shafts: a high pressure shaft of the gas generator portion and a low pressure shaft of the load portion to assure greater application flexibility. The gas generator portion of the gas turbine unit consists of a compressor, which in general is of the axial-flow type, and which is directly coupled to a high pressure turbine having usually one or more axial-flow stages. The load portion of the gas turbine unit has one or more low pressure axial flow turbine stages and is directly coupled to a load, which may be, for example, an electric power generator, a compressor or a fan, or a ship propulsion shaft.
In most gas turbine units air enters the compressor of the gas generator portion from which it flows to one or more combustion chambers. Subsequently, the products of combustion, or combustion gases, flow through the high pressure turbine of the gas generator portion which provides power needed by the compressor, the high pressure turbine being followed by an annular diffuser. From the high pressure turbine the combustion gases flow to the low pressure (or hot end) turbine which is also followed by an annular diffuser.
A diffuser designed for a gas exiting at subsonic speeds from the high-pressure and the low-pressure turbines of a gas turbine unit is a duct whose cross-sectional area increases with distance. A well-designed and well-operating diffuser located after a turbine produces lowering of pressure downstream of the turbine which results in an increase of energy available to the turbine to do work and, therefore, in an increase of the efficiency of the whole gas turbine unit. A diffuser produces lowering of pressure downstream of the turbine by diffusing, or slowing down the flowing gas so that a significant amount of the kinetic energy of the gas is converted into enthalpy with an accompanying increase of pressure.
Almost all tests on the pressure recovery, or performance, of diffusers reported in the literature were run with uniform flow at inlet to the diffusers and under incompressible flow conditions.
The main feature which differentiates the flows in diffusers located at the exit of turbines from the vast majority of diffuser flows is the presence of wakes at diffuser inlets. The wakes develop at the trailing edges of blades as a result of coalescence of low velocity boundary layer flows which form adjacent to blade surfaces. Such wakes can become very thick when flow separation from the blades takes place. The wakes which have the largest effect on diffuser performance come, in general, from the turbine blades located just upstream of the diffuser inlet. Other, weaker, wakes may also enter a diffuser, for example the traces of wakes produced by the stationary nozzles located upstream of the final blades. (A smaller number of wakes can also be produced by the flow straightening vanes sometimes placed ahead or upstream of diffusers not far from the diffuser inlet.) All these wakes enter the diffusers located downstream of the turbines where such wakes decay. The process of decay of wakes involves entrainment of the surrounding fluid into the wakes resulting in a decrease of its velocity, which decrease in velocity is accompanied by a pressure rise in the diffuser, or flow diffusion. Such pressure rise occurs in addition to the flow diffusion and pressure rise caused by the increase of the diffuser cross-sectional area. The decay of wakes thus produces a secondary diffusion in addition to the primary diffusion incident to increase of the diffuser cross-sectional area and is discussed in applicant""s application Ser. No. 09/366,478 for patent filed Aug. 3, 1999 and entitled xe2x80x9cExhaust Flow Diffuser for a Steam Turbine,xe2x80x9d the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in the present application.
Until now, annular diffusers of gas turbines have been designed using results from performance tests on diffusers having uniform flow distribution at the inlet and in general for incompressible fluid flows, with the results corrected for the effect of compressibility of the fluid on the area ratio-pressure rise relationship. The correction for compressibility decreases the allowable rate at which the diffuser cross-sectional area can increase for optimal diffuser performance compared to that of an incompressible flow. (At the optimal performance conditions there is no permanent flow separation from the walls which would cause severe deterioration of diffuser performance.) What has not been recognized until now is the fact that the process of decay of wakes has a large effect on the allowable rate of increase of the diffuser area ratio. Permanent flow separation in a diffuser occurs when the (longitudinal) pressure gradient becomes too large. The decay of wakes produces flow diffusion with accompanying pressure rise, or pressure gradient, independently of the pressure gradient which is produced by the diffuser cross-sectional area increase and this secondary diffusion is additive to the primary diffusion incident to cross-sectional area increase. In order to keep the pressure gradient in a diffuser flow with wakes at the same magnitude that existed or exists in a uniform flow, the rate of increase of cross-sectional area of the diffuser has to be decreased correspondingly. This is true in the initial section of a diffuser in which most of the decay of wakes takes place. After the wakes have become almost completely dissipated, the rate of diffuser cross-sectional area increase should correspond to the optimal rate of increase determined for an incompressible uniform flow corrected for the effect of compressibility of the fluid.
The prime object of this invention is to maximize the amount of work or power delivered by a gas turbine unit operating at design and off-design conditions by lowering the pressure at the exit of the hot end and cold end turbines.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a diffuser which will not induce permanent flow separation from the walls which would increase pressure at the turbine exit and decrease the amount of power produced by the turbine.
It is still a further object of this invention to account for the effect of wakes naturally occurring in gases passing from turbines through diffusers on the diffusion process in the diffuser.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a diffuser having parameters that will account for the compressibility of flowing gases as well as for the effect of wakes.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a diffuser having a limit placed on the rate of increase of its cross-sectional area in the initial portion of the diffuser.
It is a still further object of the invention to limit the increase in the cross-sectional area of a diffuser in the initial portion of the diffuser extending to one half the diffuser inlet height to no more than 6.5 percent of the inlet cross-sectional area corresponding to a two-dimensional straight-wall diffuser angle of 3.7 degrees or less.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become evident from review of the following specifications and appended drawings.
The process of decay of wakes inherent in the exhaust flow diffusers of turbines produces a certain amount of diffusion, and therefore also a pressure gradient, which adds to that which results from the increase of the diffuser cross-sectional area. In order to keep the magnitude of the pressure gradient the same as in the case of a flow having uniform inlet conditions (without wakes) with an optimal amount of diffusion so as to avoid permanent flow separation from diffuser walls, the rate of increase of diffuser cross-sectional area must be correspondingly smaller.
To allow for the presence of wakes at the diffuser inlet, a limit is placed on the initial rate of increase of diffuser cross-sectional area. In the diffuser of this invention the initial increase of the cross-sectional area of the diffuser is limited to less than a predetermined fraction of the inlet cross-sectional area for a certain distance from the inlet. In accordance with this invention the area increase in the diffuser cross-section from the inlet to a distance downstream from the inlet of one half of the diffuser height at inlet, measured along the diffuser mean line, is limited to no more than 6.5 percent of the inlet cross-sectional area. This represents a value of the corresponding angle of a two-dimensional straight-wall diffuser of 3.7 degrees. By limiting the increase in cross-sectional area of the diffuser to such percentage increase in the initial portion of the diffuser as defined, the wakes are allowed to substantially dissipate without producing flow separation from diffuser walls after which the cross-sectional area of the diffuser may be increased at a higher rate consistent with a separation-free flow and corresponding mainly to the optimal rate determined for an incompressible and uniform flow corrected for the effect of compressibility of the fluid.


A method in a relay station includes communicating with a base station, determining if a control signal is included in a subframe, and decoding data in the subframe if the control signal is included in the subframe. The control signal includes a parameter which is related to a quantity of resource blocks.

Relaying is considered for LTE-Advanced as a tool to improve, for example, the coverage of high data rates for User Equipment (UE), group mobility, temporary network deployment, the cell edge throughput and/or to provide coverage in new cell areas. The relay node is wirelessly connected to the radio-access network via a donor cell. The connection can be:                inband, in which case the network-to-relay link shares the same frequency band with direct network-to-UE links within the donor cell. Rel-8 UEs (see 3GPP specifications TS 36.211 V8.6.0, TS 36.212 V8.6.0 and TS 36.213 V8.6.0) should be able to connect to the donor cell in this case.        outband, in which case the network-to-relay link does not operate in the same frequency band as direct network-to-UE links within the donor cell.
A Type 1 relay is an inband relay that controls cells of its own. The relay controls one or several cells and a unique physical-layer cell identity is provided in each of the cells controlled by the relay. The same RRM (Radio Resource Management) mechanisms are available and from a UE perspective there is no difference in accessing cells controlled by a relay and cells controlled by a "normal" eNodeB (LTE base station). The cells controlled by the relay should support also LTE Rel-8 (legacy) UEs.
For inband relaying, the eNodeB-to-relay link operates in the same frequency spectrum as the relay-to-UE link. Due to the relay transmitter causing interference to its own receiver, simultaneous eNodeB-to-relay and relay-to-UE transmissions on the same frequency resource may not be feasible unless sufficient isolation of the outgoing and incoming signals is provided e.g. by means of specific, well separated and well isolated antenna structures. Similarly, at the relay it may not be possible to receive UE transmissions simultaneously with the relay transmitting to the eNodeB.
One possibility to handle the interference problem is to operate the relay such that the relay is not transmitting to UEs when it is supposed to receive data from the donor eNodeB, i.e. to create "gaps" in the relay-to-UE transmission. These "gaps" during which UEs (including Rel-8 UEs) are not supposed to expect any relay transmission can be created by configuring MBSFN (Multimedia Broadcast over a Single Frequency Network) sub-frames. Similarly, Relay-to-eNodeB transmissions can be facilitated by not allowing any UE-to-relay transmissions in some sub-frames. However, the use of the MBSFN sub-frame introduces some design restrictions for the relay control structure as the relay can not read the PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) of the donor cell. Hence a new control channel must be designed solely for relay stations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method generates a combined-replica group-shuffled iterative decoder. First, an error-correcting code and an iterative decoder for an error-correcting code is received. Multiple group-shuffled sub-decoders for the error-correcting code are constructed, based on the iterative decoder. Then, the multiple group-shuffled sub-decoders are combined into a combined-replica group-shuffled iterative decoder.

Error-Correcting Codes
A fundamental problem in the field of data storage and communication is the development of practical decoding methods for error-correcting codes.
One very important class of error-correcting codes is the class of linear block error-correcting codes. Unless specified otherwise, any reference to a "code" in the following description should be understood to refer to a linear block error-correcting code.
The basic idea behind these codes is to encode a block of k information symbols using a block of N symbols, where N>k. The additional N-k bits are used to correct corrupted signals when they are received over a noisy channel or retrieved from faulty storage media.
A block of N symbols that satisfies all the constraints of the code is called a "code-word," and the corresponding block of k information symbols is called an "information block." The symbols are assumed to be drawn from a q-ary alphabet.
An important special case is when q=2. In this case, the code is called a "binary" code. In the examples given in this description, binary codes are assumed, although the generalization of the decoding methods described herein to q-ary codes with q>2 is straightforward. Binary codes are the most important codes used in practice.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional "channel coding" 100 with a linear block error-correcting code. A source 110 produces an information block 101 of k symbols u[a]. The information block is passed to an encoder 120 of the error-correcting code. The encoder produces a code-word x[n] containing N symbols 102.
The code-word 102 is then transmitted through a channel 130, where the code-word is possibly corrupted into a signal y[n] 103. The corrupted signal y[n] 103 is then passed to a decoder 140, which attempts to output a reconstruction 104 z[n] of the code-word x[n] 102.
Code Parameters
A binary linear block code is defined by a set of 2k possible code-words having a block length N. The parameter k is sometimes called the "dimension" of the code. Codes are normally much more effective when N and k are large. However, as the size of the parameters N and k increases, so does the difficulty of decoding corrupted messages.
The Hamming distance between two code-words is defined as the number of symbols that differ in two words. The distance d of a code is defined as the minimum Hamming distance between all pairs of code-words in the code. Codes with a larger value of d have a better error-correcting capability. Codes with parameters N and k are referred to as [N,k] codes. If the distance d is also known, then the codes are referred to as [N,k,d] codes.
Code Parity Check Matrix Representations
A linear code can be represented by a parity check matrix. The parity check matrix representing a binary [N,k] code is a matrix of zeros and ones, with M rows and N columns. The N columns of the parity check matrix correspond to the N symbols of the code. The number of linearly independent rows in the matrix is N-k.
Each row of the parity check matrix represents a parity check constraint. The symbols involved in the constraint represented by a particular row correspond to the columns that have a non-zero symbol in that row. The parity check constraint forces the weighted sum modulo-2 of those symbols to be equal to zero. For example, for a binary code, the parity check matrix
                    H        =                  [                                                    1                                            1                                            1                                            0                                            1                                            0                                            0                                                                    0                                            1                                            1                                            1                                            0                                            1                                            0                                                                    0                                            0                                            1                                            1                                            1                                            0                                            1                                              ]                                    (        4        )            represents the three constraintsx[1]+x[2]+x[3]+x[5]=0  (5)x[2]+x[3]+x[4]+x[6]=0  (6)x[3]+x[4]+x[5]+x[7]=0  (7)where x[n] is the value of the nth bit, and the addition of binary symbols is done using the rules of modulo-2 arithmetic, such that 0+0=1+1=0, and 0+1=1+0=1.
Error-Correcting Code Decoders
The task of a decoder for an error-correcting code is to accept the received signal after the transmitted code-word has been corrupted in a channel, and try to reconstruct the transmitted code-word. The optimal decoder, in terms of minimizing the number of code-word decoding failures, outputs the most likely code-word given the received signal. The optimal decoder is known as a "maximum likelihood" decoder. Even a maximum likelihood decoder will sometimes make a decoding error and output a code-word that is not the transmitted code-word if the noise in the channel is sufficiently great.
Another type of decoder, which is optimal in terms of minimizing the symbol error rate rather than the word error rate, is an "exact-symbol" decoder. This name is actually not conventional, but is used here because there is no universally agreed-upon name for such decoders. The exact-symbol decoder outputs, for each symbol in the code, the exact probability that the symbol takes on its various possible values, e.g., 0 or 1 for a binary code.
Iterative Decoders
In practice, maximum likelihood or exact-symbol decoders can only be constructed for special classes of error-correcting codes. There has been a great deal of interest in non-optimal, approximate decoders based on iterative methods. One of these iterative decoding methods is called "belief propagation" (BP). Although he did not call it by that name, R. Gallager first described a BP decoding method for low-density parity check (LDPC) codes in 1963.
Turbo Codes
In 1993, similar iterative methods were shown to perform very well for a new class of codes known as "turbo-codes." The success of turbo-codes was partially responsible for greatly renewed interest in LDPC codes and iterative decoding methods. There has been a considerable amount of recent work to improve the performance of iterative decoding methods for both turbo-codes and LDPC codes, and other related codes such as "turbo product codes" and "repeat-accumulate codes." For example a special issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine was devoted to this work in August 2003. For an overview, see C. Berrou, "The Ten-Year-Old Turbo Codes are entering into Service," IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 41, pp. 110-117, August 2003 and T. Richardson and R. Urbanke, "The Renaissance of Gallager's Low-Density Parity Check Codes," IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 41, pp. 126-131, August 2003.
Many turbo-codes and LDPC codes are constructed using random constructions. For example, Gallager's original binary LDPC codes are defined in terms of a parity check matrix, which consists only of 0's and 1's, where a small number of 1's are placed randomly within the matrix according to a pre-defined probability distribution. However, iterative decoders have also been successfully applied to codes that are defined by regular constructions, like codes defined by finite geometries, see Y. Kou, S. Lin, and M. Fossorier, "Low Density Parity Check Codes Based on Finite Geometries: A Rediscovery and More," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 47, pp. 2711-2736, November, 2001. In general, iterative decoders work well for codes with a parity check matrix that has a relatively small number of non-zero entries, whether that parity check matrix has a random or regular construction.
FIG. 2 shows a prior art system 200 with a decoder of an LDPC code based on BP. The system processes the received symbols iteratively to improve the reliability of each symbol based on the constraints, as given by the parity check matrix that specifies the code.
In a first iteration, the BP decoder only uses channel evidence 201 as input, and generates soft output messages 202 from each symbol to the parity check constraints involving that symbol. This step of sending messages from the symbols to the constraints is sometimes called the "vertical" step 210. Then, the messages from the symbols are processed at the neighboring constraints to feed back new messages 203 to the symbols. This step is sometimes called the "horizontal" step 220. The decoding iteration process continues to alternate between vertical and horizontal steps until a certain termination condition 204 is satisfied. At that point, hard decisions 205 are made for each symbol based on the output reliability measures for symbols from the last decoding iteration.
The precise form of the message update rules, and the meaning of the messages, varies according to the particular variant of the BP method that is used. Two particularly popular message-update rules are the "sum-product" rules and the "min-sum" rules. These prior-art message update rules are very well known, and approximations to these message update rules also have proven to work well in practice. In some variants of the BP method, the messages represent the log-likelihood that a bit is either a 0 or a 1. For more background material on the BP method and its application to error-correcting codes, see F. R. Kschischang, B. J. Frey, and H.-A. Loeliger, "Factor Graphs and the Sum-Product Algorithm," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol 47, pp. 498-519, February 2001.
It is sometimes useful to think of the messages from symbols to constraints as being the "fundamental" independent messages that are tracked in BP decoding, and the messages from constraints to symbols as being dependent messages that are defined in terms of the messages from symbols to constraints. Alternatively, one can view the messages from constraints to symbols as being the "independent" messages, and the messages from symbols to constraints as being "dependent" messages defined in terms of the messages from constraints to symbols.
Bit-Flipping Decoders
Bit-flipping (BF) decoders are iterative decoders that work similarly to BP decoders. These decoders are somewhat simpler. Bit-flipping decoders for LDPC codes also have a long history, and were also suggested by Gallager in the early 1960's when he introduced LDPC codes. In a bit-flipping decoder, each code-word bit is initially assigned to be a 0 or a 1 based on the channel output. Then, at each iteration, the syndrome for each parity check is computed. The syndrome for a parity check is 0 if the parity check is satisfied, and 1 if it is unsatisfied. Then, for each bit, the syndromes of all the parity checks that contain that bit are checked. If a number of those parity checks greater than a pre-defined threshold are unsatisfied, then the corresponding bit is flipped. The iterations continue until all the parity checks are satisfied or a predetermined maximum number of iterations is reached.
A turbo-code is a concatenation of two smaller codes that can be decoded using exact-symbol decoders, see C. Berrou and A. Glavieux, "Near-Optimum Error-Correcting Coding and Decoding: Turbo-codes," IEEE Transactions in Communications, vol. 44, pp. 1261-1271, October 1996. Convolutional codes are typically used for the smaller codes, and the exact-symbol decoders are usually based on the BCJR decoding method; see L. Bahl, J. Cocke, F. Jelinek, and J. Raviv, "Optimal Decoding of Linear Codes for Minimizing Symbol Error Rate," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, pp. 284-287, March 1974 for a detailed description of the BCJR decoding method. Some of the code-word symbols in a turbo-code have constraints imposed by both codes. These symbols are called "shared symbols." A conventional turbo-code decoder functions by alternately decoding the codes using their exact-symbol decoders, and utilizing the output log-likelihoods for the shared symbols determined by one exact-symbol decoder as inputs for the shared symbols in the other exact-symbol decoder.
The structure of a turbo-code constructed using two systematic convolutional codes 301 and 302 is shown schematically in FIG. 3. In this turbo-code, the shared symbols are the information bits for each of the convolutional codes.
The simplest turbo-decoders operate in a serial mode. In this mode, one of the BCJR decoders receives as input the channel information, and then outputs a set of log-likelihood values for each of the shared information bits. Together with the channel information, these log-likelihood values are used as input for the other BCJR decoder, which sends back its output to the first decoder and then the cycle continues.
Turbo Product Code
A turbo product code (TPC) is a type of product code wherein each constituent code can be decoded using an exact-symbol decoder. Product codes are well-known prior-art codes. To construct a product code from a [N1,k1,d1] code and a [N2,k2,d2] code, one arranges the code-word symbols in a N1 by N2 rectangle. Each symbol belongs to two codes—one a [N1,k1,d1] "vertical" code constructed using the other symbols in the same column, and the other a [N2,k2,d2] "horizontal" code constructed using the other symbols in the same row. The overall product code has parameters [N1N2,k1k2,d1d2].
The TPC is decoded using the exact-symbol decoders of the constituent codes. The horizontal codes and vertical codes are alternately decoded using their exact-symbol decoders, and the output log-likelihoods given by the horizontal codes are used as input log-likelihoods for the vertical codes, and vice-versa. This method of decoding turbo product codes is called "serial-mode decoding."
Other Codes that can be Decoded Iteratively
There are many other codes that can successfully be decoded using iterative decoding methods. Those codes are well-known in the literature and there are too many of them to describe them all in detail. Some of the most notable of those codes are the irregular LDPC codes, see M. A. Shokrollahi, D. A. Spielman, M. G. Luby, and M. Mitzenmacher, "Improved Low-Density Parity Check Codes Using Irregular Graphs," IEEE Trans. Information Theory, vol. 47, pp. 585-598 February 2001; the repeat-accumulate codes, see D. Divsalar, H. Jin, and R. J. McEliece, "Coding Theorems for 'Turbo-like' Codes," Proc. 36th Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, pp. 201-210, September, 1998; the LT codes, see M. Luby, "LT Codes," Proc. Of the 43 Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, pp. 271-282, November 2002; and the Raptor codes, see A. Shokrollahi, "Raptor Codes," Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, p. 36, July 2004.
Methods to Speed Up Iterative Decoders
BP and BF decoders for LDPC codes, decoders for turbo codes, and decoders for turbo product codes are all examples of iterative decoders that have proven useful in practical systems. A very important issue for all those iterative decoders is the speed of convergence of the decoder. It is desired that the number of iterations required before finding a code-word is as small as possible. A smaller number of iterations results in faster decoding, which is a desired feature for error-correction systems.
For turbo-codes, faster convergence can be obtained by operating the turbo-decoder in parallel mode, see D. Divsalar and F. Pollara, "Multiple Turbo Codes for Deep-Space Communications," JPL TDA Progress Report, pp. 71-78, May 1995. In that mode, both BCJR decoders simultaneously receive as input the channel information, and then simultaneously output a set of log-likelihood values for the information bits. The outputs from the first decoder are used as inputs for the second iteration of the second decoder and vice versa.
FIG. 4 shows the difference between operating a turbo-code in serial 401 and parallel 402 modes for one iteration in each of the modes. In serial mode 401, the first decoder 411 operates first, and its output is used by the second decoder 412, and then the output from the second decoder is returned to be used by the first decoder in a next iteration. In parallel mode 402, the two decoders 421-422 operate in parallel, and the output of the first decoder is sent to the second decoder for the next iteration while simultaneously the output of the second decoder is sent to the first decoder.
Similarly to the case for turbo-codes, parallel-mode decoding for turbo product codes is described by C. Argon and S. McLaughlin, "A Parallel Decoder for Low Latency Decoding of Turbo product Codes," IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 6, pp. 70-72, February 2002. In parallel-mode decoding of turbo product codes, the horizontal and vertical codes are decoded concurrently, and in the next iteration, the outputs of the horizontal codes are used as inputs for the vertical codes, and vice versa.
Group Shuffled Decoding
Finally, for BP decoding of LDPC codes, "group shuffled" BP decoding is described by J. Zhang and M. Fossorier, "Shuffled Belief Propagation Decoding," Proceedings of the 36th Annual Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, pp. 8-15, November 2002.
In ordinary BP decoding, as described above, messages from all bits are updated in parallel in a single vertical step. In group-shuffled BP decoding, the bits are partitioned into groups. The messages from a group of bits to their corresponding constraints are updated together, and then, the messages from the next group of bits are updated, and so on, until the messages from all the groups are updated, and then the next iteration begins. The messages from constraints to bits are treated as dependent messages. At each stage, the latest updated messages are used. Group shuffled BP decoding improves the performance and convergence speed of decoders for LDPC codes compared to ordinary BP decoders.
Intuitively, the reason that the parallel-mode decoders for turbo-codes and turbo product codes, and the group-shuffled decoders for LDPC codes speed up convergence is as follows. Whenever a message is updated in an iterative decoder, it becomes more accurate and reliable. Therefore, using the most recent version of a message, rather than older versions, normally increases speed convergence to the correct decoding.
Although the prior-art methods do give some improvement in speed of convergence, it is strongly desired to further improve convergence speed and performance. In many applications, the speed of decoding is of critical importance.

Combined-replica group-shuffled iterative decoding for error-correcting codes

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


A recessed storage well is formed in the rear load floor of an automotive vehicle to provide cargo transport capabilities for wet cargo. The recessed storage well is provided with a drain to permit the flow of liquids collected within the recessed storage well to be discharged externally of the vehicle. The recessed storage well is formed from impervious material to permit the storage of wet articles of cargo without dampening the carpet covering on the rear load floor. The drain is seated in an automotive frame component by a rubber grommet that prevents the transfer of vibrational noise to the recessed storage well. The drain enables the use of a water spray in clean-up operations by allowing the collected water to drain away from the recessed storage well.

Automobiles are provided with a rear load floor on which cargo can be carried. For vehicles commonly referred to as sport utility vehicles (SUV) and vehicles commonly referred to minivans, the load floor is positioned behind the seating area and is accessible through a rear door that is pivotally supported from the frame of the vehicle. In such vehicles, the spare tire is typically supported from the vehicle frame below the chassis so that the spare tire is accessible from the exterior of the vehicle beneath the cargo area.
Typically, the level of the load floor is generally coextensive with the floor of the seating area of the vehicle and is positioned substantially at the level of the rear door opening. Such an arrangement provides opportunity to create hidden cargo storage areas beneath the level of the load floor. These hidden cargo storage areas are usually provided with a covering, which can be hinged to permit the use of a latch and even a lock to provide some security for the contents of the storage area.
An example of a hidden storage area formed in the rear load floor of a vehicle having a rear access door can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,773, issued to Joseph Salani on Nov. 19, 2002, in which a pair of transversely disposed hidden storage areas is formed with hinged lids that can be latched in place. These dual hidden storage areas cover the entire load floor area and can be accessed independently through the individual hinged lids. When the lids are latched into a closed position, the recessed storage wells are hidden from sight with the closed lids forming the rear load floor.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,873, issued to Jason Baldas on Oct. 30, 2001, the storage apparatus is positionable above the load floor and is formed by pivoted panels that define the storage area when oriented in an upright manner. A track supported on the load floor allows the storage apparatus to be moved longitudinally through the opening created by the opened rear door.
Recessed wells have been formed in load floors to store spare tires, as well as to provide cargo storage, as is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,890, issued to Johnny Cooper on Jun. 10, 1997, where the retrofitted storage compartment is fitted with a removable lid to provide a wet trunk capability. Supplemental storage compartments are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,886, issued to John Bleau on Jan. 7, 2003, in which a multi-compartment supplemental storage apparatus is mounted on top of the spare tire recessed well, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,277, issued to David Spykerman on Sep. 18, 2001, in which the supplemental storage compartment is associated with a folding seat apparatus.
Even pick-up trucks can be equipped with a recessed storage trunk positioned below the normal level of the load surface of the pick-up cargo bed, as is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,277, issued on Oct. 29, 2002, to Brian Scensay, et al. The pivotally movable lid of the Scensay patent forms the load surface of the pick-up cargo bed when closed, and provides access to the recessed storage truck when opened. U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,100, issued to Harold K. Sperlich on Jul. 19, 1983, teaches the use of a standard sheet of plywood to form a secondary load floor above the primary load floor surface to define a covered security area between the primary and secondary load floors.
A cargo storage area formed by a recessed well below the normal load floor level can be referred to as a wet trunk as the recessed well can receive wet articles, such as bathing suits, cold drinks, ice, etc., that would otherwise dampen the carpet covering on the rear load floor. None of these cargo storage solutions provide a wet trunk in which a drain has been incorporated to enhance the clean-out capabilities of the wet trunk apparatus. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a wet trunk structure that would facilitate clean-up of the recessed storage area.


An infant changing apparatus configured to be mounted to a counter-top. The infant changing apparatus can be mounted to a top surface or bottom surface of a counter-top, and may extend into a hole or depression provided in the counter-top. A method for producing a surface mounted and recess mounted infant changing apparatus using a single mold is also disclosed. The method includes the steps of forming a surface mounted infant changing apparatus using, for example, a molding process, and then removing a portion thereof to produce a recess mounted diaper changing apparatus.

The present invention relates to an infant changing station. More particularly, it relates to an infant changing station that can be mounted to a counter-top.
Parents of babies and infants not yet toilet trained often face a dilemma when visiting a public establishment, such as a restaurant, retail store, health club, etc. Namely, the child will soil his or her diaper, and require changing. Unfortunately, many rest rooms are not designed to facilitate easy changing of the infant's diaper. Changing of a diaper normally requires a generally flat surface on which to lay the baby or infant, removing the diaper, cleaning the child and placing a new diaper on the child. This is often done on a counter-top within the restroom.
Using a counter-top to change a soiled diaper provides a number of safety and health concerns, some of which are discussed below. First, counter-tops are essentially flat and often have at least one edge that opens to the floor. Thus, an inherent danger exists in that the baby may roll or fall off the open unprotected edges. Second, the opportunity for unintentional contamination or dirtying of the counter-top is quite prevalent. While a restroom operator can periodically clean the counter-top, some subsequent users of the counter-top will likely be exposed to unsanitary conditions. This is particularly true since typically no specific diaper changing area is designated, and thus the subsequent users of the counter-top cannot intentionally avoid the contaminated areas.
These problems have been partially addressed with the advent of wall-mounted infant changing stations. Wall-mounted changing stations are attached to a wall in the facility's rest room. To this end, a standard wall-mounted infant changing station includes a frame to which a bed is pivotably attached. More particularly, the standard wall-mounted changing station further includes a hinge means attaching the bed to the frame in conjunction with a support system. When not in use, the bed folds tightly against the frame, thereby limiting space requirements. To use the station, the user simply pivots the bed away from the frame, providing a flat table for changing diapers. The support system supports and maintains the bed relative to the frame in the open position.
For some applications, however, wall-mounted changing stations may not be economically feasible or otherwise undesirable. This may be particularly true for facilities that already have adequate counter space to accommodate a diaper changing area. For these applications, there is a need for a counter-top mounted infant changing station.

Counter-top mounted infant changing station