A picture signal record/playback apparatus and method thereof for a time lapse VCR which makes it possible to operate with enhanced stability and greater accuracy in providing picture signals. The apparatus includes a memory unit for storing therein by a per frame unit a plurality of frame picture signals respectively having an inter-frame input time interval, a memory control unit for consecutively reading the picture signals for the plurality of frames from the memory unit so as not to have a time interval therebetween, and a recording unit for recording on a magnetic tape media the plurality of frame picture signals being consecutively read.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a time lapse videocassette tape recorder (VCR) used for security and/or surveillance, and more particularly to an improved picture signal record/playback apparatus and method thereof for a time lapse VCR which makes it possible to operate with an enhanced stability and greater accuracy in providing picture signals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a time lapse VCR is adopted in sites such as banks, museums and the like to prevent undesirable trespassing.
Here, a time lapse VCR plays a watchdog role while recording or playing-back, and in case there are installed several video cameras, there accordingly should be provided as many time lapse VCRs, so that an input picture signal can be converted and recorded in a VCR via a buffer memory in the VCR.
A time lapse VCR used for a watchdog and observation purpose over a long time base does not record all the frames during a real running time period of a picture signal, and instead selects a certain interval among real running time periods and records corresponding frames one by one, whereby stationary pictures can be repeatedly recorded at a certain time intervals while running a tape at a constant rate.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional multi-picture signal recording apparatus includes: a microprocessor 10 for carrying out a general control in accordance with a time-sharing signal CVS; a switch SW1 for selecting input picture signals VS1-VS4 in accordance with a control signal CS0 from microprocessor 10; an A/D converter 11 for converting a picture signal selected by switch SW1 into a digital signal; four field memories 12A-12D for respectively storing therein a corresponding output value of A/D converter 11 in accordance with control signals CS1-CS4 outputted from microprocessor 10; a switch SW2 for selecting output values of the four field memories 12A-12D in accordance with control signal CS0 from microprocessor 10; a D/A converter 13 for converting an output value selected by switch SW2 into an analog signal; a luminance signal record processing unit 14 and a color signal record processing unit 15 for respectively separating and recording a luminance signal and a color signal from the analog picture signal outputted from the D/A converter 13; an adder 16 for adding output signals of luminance signal record processing unit 14 and color signal record processing unit 15; a record amplifier 17 for amplifying and applying to a video head VHD a picture signal outputted from the adder 16; a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 18 for oscillating a frequency in accordance with control signal CS0 outputted from microprocessor 10; and a control signal record processing unit 19 for processing and applying to a control head CDH an output signal of VCO 18.
The operation of the thusly constituted conventional multi-picture signal recording apparatus will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, as shown in FIGS. 2A-2F, when time-sharing signal CVS is applied, the microprocessor 10 outputs control signal CS0 as shown in FIG. 2B, and control signals CS1-CS4 as shown in FIGS. 2C-2F.
The switch SW1 connects an operating terminal all sequentially to fixed terminals b11-b14 in accordance with the control signal CS0 and outputs picture signals VS1-VS4. The selected picture signals are converted to digital signals in A/D converter 11 and applied sequentially to the four field memories 12A-12D which sequentially store therein the applied digitized field picture signals VS1-VS4 in accordance with control signals CS1-CS4, and the switch SW2 connects an operating terminal a21 sequentially to the fixed terminals b21-b24 in accordance with control signal CS0, whereby the picture signals VS1-VS4 outputted from the field memories 12A-12D are sequentially converted to analog signals in D/A converter 13.
As a result, analog picture signals outputted from the D/A converter 12 are separated into luminance signals and color signals via the luminance record processing unit 14 and the color record processing unit 15 and added in the adder 16. The added picture signals are amplified in the record amplifier 17, applied to video head VHD, and recorded on the video tape.
The VCO 18 outputs a separation control signal in accordance with control signal CS0 outputted from microcomputer 10. The control signal record processing unit 19 processes and applies the separation control signal to control head CDH thus to be recorded on the video tape.
As shown in FIG. 3, picture signals VS1-VS4 are sequentially and circulatedly recorded on slant tracks of the video tape, and separate control signals F1-F4 are synchronized in accordance with picture signals VS1-VS4 and recorded on a linear track on a lower portion of a video tape.
Namely, the multi-picture signal recording apparatus selects a certain interval during real time in accordance with time-sharing signal CVS and records a picture signal frame by frame.
As shown in FIG. 4, a conventional multi-picture signal playback apparatus includes: a pre-amplifier 20 for amplifying separation control signals F1-F4 played back from a video tape by a control head CDH; a waveform shaper 21 for shaping a pulse wave outputted from the pre-amplifier 20 into a sine wave; a frequency discriminator 22 for discriminating a frequency of an output signal of the waveform shaper 20; a microprocessor 23 for outputting control signals CS11-CS14 in accordance with a discrimination signal from the frequency discriminator 22; a picture signal pre-amplifier 24 for amplifying multi-picture signals VS1-VS4 played back from the video tape by video head VHD; a luminance signal demodulator 25 and a color signal demodulator 26 for respectively demodulating a luminance signal and a color signal amplified in the picture signal pre-amplifier 24; an adder 27 for adding the luminance signal and the color signal demodulated by the luminance signal demodulator 25 and the color signal demodulator 26, respectively; an A/D converter 28 for converting an output signal of adder 27 into a digital signal; four field memories 29A-29D for storing a digital picture signal outputted from the A/D converter 28 in accordance with control signals CS11-CS14 outputted from microprocessor 23; a picture signal processing unit 30 for processing picture signals outputted from the four field memories 29A-29D to thereby appear on the same picture; and a D/A converter 31 for converting a digital picture signal outputted from the picture signal processing unit 30 into an analog signal.
The operation of the thusly constituted conventional multi-picture signal playback apparatus will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, separation control signals F1-F4 played back by control head CDH from a linear track of the video tape are amplified in the pre-amplifier 20, and demodulated in the waveform shaper 21. The frequency discriminator 22 receives demodulated and control signals F1-F4 and discriminates their frequencies, thereby outputting a discrimination signal indicating the separation of multi-picture signals VS1-VS4.
The picture signals VS1-VS4 played back by video head VDH from slant tracks of the video tape are amplified in the picture signal pre-amplifier 24, and the amplified picture signals are demodulated into a luminance signal and a color signal via luminance signal demodulator 25 and color signal demodulator 26. The demodulated luminance signal and color signal are added in the adder 27 and converted into a digital signal in the A/D converter 28.
As a result, microprocessor 23 controls the operation of field memories 29A-29D in accordance with the discrimination signal outputted from the frequency discriminator 22, and the field memories 29A-29D store therein and output a digital picture signal outputted from the A/D converter 28 in accordance with control signals CS11-CS14, thereby separating the played-back multi-picture signals VS1-VS4.
The multi-picture signals VS1-VS4 outputted from the field memories 29A-29D are added in picture signal processing unit 30 so as to be displayed on the same picture, wherein the picture signal processing unit 30 processes the picture signals by using a PIP (picture in picture) method and outputs the applied multi-picture signals VS1-VS4, whereby a plurality of picture signals can be separately displayed on a single picture.
As described above, the conventional multi-picture signal record/playback apparatus selects a certain interval during real time in accordance with a time-sharing signal CVS and records a picture signal, and the recorded picture signal is played back and displayed in the form of a plurality of picture signals.
However, a tape-recording time has limitation with regard to a multi-picture recording, and when repeating a stop mode recording and a two-track running there are required a variety of controls for frequently and precisely moving an instrumental driving apparatus except for a tape running system and accordingly it is complicated and high priced. Also, in a state in which a tape is loaded for a long time, if a recording and playback operation are repeatedly carried out many times, damage to the VCR or the tape may be incurred thereby.
Further, in case of a VHS tape having a track pitch of 58 m.mu.m, the design of the mechanism incurs higher cost and lower productivity, and the conventional multi-picture signal record/playback apparatus does not provide a long time recording function and a tape recorded by time lapse recording can not be accurately played back via a general VCR.

Picture signal record/playback apparatus and method thereof for time lapse VCR


A process is presented for recycling a toner cartridge, including a used magnetic roller and a used doctor blade. The process requires: (1) removal of the doctor blade and magnetic roller from the cartridge; (2) treatment of the doctor blade to restore the shape of said doctor blade; (3) coating of the doctor blade and magnetic roller with an antistatic and anti abrasive coating; and (4) placement of the doctor blade and magnetic roller back into the cartridge. Additional processes involving reuse of other toner cartridge components are also described.

In the recycling technology of toner cartridges of copiers, facsimile machines and laser printers, it has been proposed to provide the photosensitive drum or the magnetic roller or primary charging roller with a coating. For these purposes, devices have been proposed for facilitating the coating step. The said devices use a swab impregnated with the coating composition (a liquid composition). In the known devices, the swab contact the drum or roller while driven in rotation, and the swab is moved horizontally and parallel to the axis of rotation of the drum or roller. Therefore, the amount of composition released from the swab when beginning the coating is higher than the amount of composition released from the swab at the end of the coating step. Problems of such a coating are:
not uniform coating,
risk of lack of coating composition for the last coated part of the drum or roller, whereby a part of the roller or drum to be coated can remain uncoated, due to a lack of composition in the swab.
The present invention has for subject matter a device whereby a substantially uniform coating can be obtained on elements such as drums, rollers, blades can be obtained.
The invention relates to a device for coating at least a part of an element by means of a swab impregnated with a coating composition, said device comprising:
a support provided with a guiding path and with a means for bearing the element to be coated;
a mobile carriage with means for bearing the swab, said carriage being movable along the guiding path;
a means for ensuring a movement of the mobile carriage along the guiding path with respect to the element to be coated;
a means for pushing the swab towards the element to be coated so that a quantity of the composition released from the swab coats the element, and
a means for varying the quantity of released composition per unit of length of movement of the mobile carriage along at least a path of the guiding path, so that the coating of the said part is substantially uniform.
Advantageously, the device further comprises a room in which at least the support and the mobile carriage are located, said room being provided with an inlet connected to an air cleaning system. Preferably, the said inlet is adapted for ensuring a substantially laminate flow at least in the neighborhood of the support and the mobile carriage. Such an air inlet is advantageous for preventing dust or other solid particles to enter into the applied and/or to be applied on the coating before its complete hardening or its tack free.
According to an embodiment, the device further comprises a table, a vertical supporting element, and fixing means, whereby the support is movable between a first position in which the support is fixed to the table and a second position in which the support is fixed on the vertical supporting element. Preferably, the vertical supporting element is mounted pivotable around a vertical axis. Preferably, especially when the element to be coated is a drum or a roller, the device further comprises a driving means for driving into rotation the element to be coated.
A preferred device of the invention comprises:
a support provided with guiding path and with a means for beating the element to be coated;
a mobile carriage with means for bearing the swab, said carriage being movable along the guiding path;
a means for ensuring a movement of the mobile carriage along the guiding path with respect to the element to be coated;
a means for pushing the swab towards the element to be coated so that a quantity of the composition released from the swab coats the element, and
a means for varying the quantity of released composition per unit of length of movement of the mobile carriage along at least a part of the guiding path, so that the coating of the said part is substantially uniform, whereby the said means for varying the quantity of released composition per unit of length of movement of the mobile carriage along at least a part of the guiding path is a means pushing of the swab towards the element to be coated during a movement of the mobile carriage along at least a part of the guiding path.
Advantageously, the means for varying the pushing of the swab towards the element to be coated varies the said pushing of the swab towards at least a part of the element during the movement of the carriage corresponding to the coating of the said part of the element by the swab, the said pushing varying substantially continuously from a first pushing force and a second pushing force so that the coating of the said part is substantially uniform. For example, in case of a vertical pushing of the swab towards the element to be coated, the said pushing varying substantially continuously from a first pushing force and a second pushing force higher than the first pushing force so that the coating of the said part is substantially uniform, while for a horizontal pushing of the swab towards the element, the said pissing varying substantially continuously from a first pushing force and a second pushing force lower than the first pushing force so that the coating of the said part is substantially uniform.
According to an advantageous embodiment, the mobile carriage has a body movable along the guiding path, said body being provided with a pivoting piece bearing the swab. The pivoting piece is preferably pivoting around an axis with respect to the body, said axis being advantageously parallel to the axis of the guiding path.
According to an embodiment, the means for ensuring a movement of the mobile carriage along the guiding path with respect to the element to be coated moves the said mobile carriage according to a back-and-forth motion. At least during a part of the forth motion, the swab contacts the element to be coated. Preferably, the device further comprises a means for moving the swab at tile element to be coated a side during the back motion to the carriage.
The device comprises advantageously a means for moving the swab and the element aside before the coating of the element and/or after the coating of the element, for example just alter the end of the coating step. This is advantageous in order to ensure that during a first relative movement of the carriage, the swab is progressively movement towards the element, while kit the end of the coating, during a relative movement of the carriage, the swab is progressively removed from the element. Thus the swab when in relative movement with respect to the element to be coated is moved from a position aside the element to a contact position with the element before starting the coating operation, and from a position in contact with the element to a position aside after ending the coating.
According to an advantageous embodiment, the device further comprises a means for holding the swab and the element aside when the carriage is adjacent to a first position of the guiding path, and a means for displacing at least a part of the carriage when the carriage is moved away from the said first position, so that the swab contacts the element. This movement of the swab is advantageously realized by a roller working with a nock.
According to a specific embodiment, the means for bearing the element to be coated comprises two bearing elements between which the element to be coated is placed, said bearing elements being aligned along a first axis, said axis being preferably the axis of rotation of the element to be coated. The mobile carriage is movable along an axis parallel to the guiding path of the carriage, said axis being distant from the said first axis and being not particle to the said first axis. The second axis forms advantageously an angle with a line parallel to the said first axis and crossing the said second axis, said angle being preferably comprised between 0.1xc2x0 and 15xc2x0, for example between 0.1xc2x0 and 5xc2x0, especially between 0.2 and 2xc2x0.
The invention relates also to a process for coating an element with a coating composition, in which a swab impregnated with the coating composition is contacted with the element to be coated and is in relative longitudinal movement with respect to the element to be coated so as to release a quantity of composition for coating a part of the element, and in which the quantity of composition released by the swab per unit of length of relative movement of the swab with respect to the element is controlled so that the coating of the said part of the element with the composition is substantially uniform.
Advantageously, the swab contacts the element in an air clean environment, for example, an air clean environment containing substantially no particles with a size greater than 5 xcexcm, preferably containing substantially no particles with a size greater than 1 xcexcm. This is advantageous for preventing the presence of undesired large particles (dusts, etc.) in the coating or on the coating.
Preferably, the swab contacts the element in an air environment with a temperature comprised between 15 and 30xc2x0 C. or with a controlled temperature and/or with a relative humidity of less than 50% (preferably of less than 40% or in a substantially dry air). Advantageously, the swab contacts the element in a substantially laminar clean airflow. The air environment can be controlled so as to adapt the temperature and/or the humidity and/or the speed of the air flow for obtaining the required coating, for example for controlling the evaporation of the solvent used in the composition, and/or for controlling the reaction speed and/or for ensuring a good application of the composition on the element to be coated.
Advantageously, the element is driven in rotation, and the swab contacts the element while rotating.
In the process of the invention, the swab is advantageously pressed with a controlled pressure on the element for obtaining an uniform coating. For example, the swab is pushed with a pushing force on the element to be coated, the said pushing force being controlled during the relative movement of the swab with respect to the element so as to obtain an uniform coating of the element.
When the swab is pushed with a vertical pushing force on the element to be coated, the said vertical pushing force is advantageously controlled during the relative movement of the swab with respect to the element so as that said vertical pushing force varies continuously front a first pushing force to a second pushing force, said second pushing force being greater than the first pushing force.
When the swab is pushed with a horizontal pushing force on the element to be coated and in which the said horizontal pushing force is controlled during the relative movement of the swab with respect to the element so as that said horizontal pushing force varies continuously from a first pushing force to a second pushing force, said second pushing force being lower than the first pushing force.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the process of the invention, the swab is moved with a back-and-forth motion with respect to the element to be coated, in which the swab contacts the element during at least a part of the forth motion, and in which the swab and the element are aside during the back motion of the swab.
Preferably, the coating composition is a composition for obtaining an antistatic and anti abrasive coating. Most preferably, the coating composition is a composition for obtaining an anti static, anti fog, anti stick, heat resistant, chemical resistant and anti abrasive coating.
The invention further relates to a process for recycling a toner cartridge comprising at least a magnetic roller and a doctor blade, in which the said doctor blade and magnetic roller are removed from the cartridge, in which the removed doctor blade anal magnetic roller are coated with an antistatic and anti abrasive coating, and in which, after coating, the said doctor blade and magnetic roller are placed back in the cartridge. Before the coating operation, the doctor blade and magnetic roller are preferably cleaned. If required, the doctor blade is submitted to a treatment for substantially restoring the initial shape of the blade, for example by a heat treatment and by application of a pressure on the blade.
The invention relates also to:
a process for recycling a toner cartridge comprising at least a magnetic roller, a doctor blade, a photosensitive drum, a wiper blade, a fists roller and a primary charge roller, in which the photosensitive drum and the wiper blade are removed from the cartridge, in which the removed photosensitive drum and wiper blade are coated with an antistatic and anti abrasive coating, and in which, after coating, the said photosensitive drum and the wiper blade are placed back in the cartridge;
a process for recycling a toner cartridge comprising at least a magnetic roller, a doctor blade, a photosensitive drum, a wiper blade, a fuser roller and a primary charge roller, in which at least three elements selected among the group consisting of magnetic roller, doctor blade, photosensitive drum, wiper blade, fuser roller and primary charge roller are removed from the cartridge, in which the said removed elements are coated with an anti abrasive coating, and in which, after coating, the said elements are placed back in the cartridge. The coating of the fuser roller is preferably an anti stick and anti abrasive roller, while the coating of the other elements of the toner cartridge to be coated is an anti static and anti abrasive coating.


Disclosed are an improved electrode assembly which may allow an electrode plate to be more easily impregnated with an electrolyte and also ensure gas to be easily discharged, and a secondary battery having the electrode assembly. The electrode assembly includes at least one cathode plate formed by coating an electrode current collector with a cathode active material, at least one anode plate formed by coating an electrode current collector with an anode active material, and a separator interposed between the cathode plate and the anode plate and having at least one vent formed therein.

Generally, a secondary battery refers to a rechargeable battery, while a general battery refers to a non-rechargeable battery. Secondary batteries are widely used for electronic devices such as cellular phones, notebook computers, video cameras, electric vehicles or the like. In particular, a lithium secondary battery has about three times the capacity of a nickel-cadmium battery or a nickel hydrogen battery generally used as power sources of electronic devices, and due to its high energy density per unit weight, the lithium secondary battery is utilized more and more.
A lithium secondary battery generally uses lithium oxide and carbonaceous material as a cathode active material and anode active material, respectively. The lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a cathode plate and an anode plate respectively coated with the cathode active material and the anode active material are disposed with a separator being interposed between them, and a battery case which seals and accommodates the electrode assembly together with an electrolyte.
Meanwhile, a lithium secondary battery may be classified into a can type secondary battery where the electrode assembly is included in a metal can and a pouch type battery where the electrode assembly is included in a pouch of an aluminum laminate sheet, depending on the shape of the battery case. Generally, the can type secondary battery is accommodated in a battery can in a state where the cathode plate and the anode plate, namely electrode plates, are rolled, and the pouch type secondary battery is accommodated in a battery can in a state where the electrode plates are stacked or rolled.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a general electrode assembly for a secondary battery in which electrode plates are stacked by folding a separator 10.
Referring to FIG. 1, the general electrode assembly for a secondary battery is configured so that a plurality of cathode plates 20 and a plurality of anode plates 30 face each other with the separator 10 being interposed between them. In addition, a cathode tab 21 is attached to the cathode plate 20, and an anode tab 31 is attached to the anode plate 30. At this time, when being interposed between the cathode plate 20 and the anode plate 30, the separator 10 may be separately provided to each layer. However, for the sake of convenience and structural stability, a single long separator 10 may be provided so as to be folded at the sides of the cathode plate 20 and the anode plate 30, as widely used in the art.
In addition, the electrode assembly configured as above is accommodated in a battery case and used for manufacturing a secondary battery through an electrolyte injecting process, an activating process, a degasing process or the like.
However, if the electrode assembly adopts the folded separator 10 as shown in FIG. 1, an electrolyte may not penetrate and gas may not be discharged through the folded portion of the separator 10.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the electrode assembly of FIG. 1 from above.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the general electrode assembly in which the separator 10 is folded, penetration of an electrolyte into the electrode plate and discharge of gas therefrom are inevitably restricted. In other words, in the general electrode assembly, an electrolyte or gas should be injected or discharged at a front portion of the drawing, where an electrode tab is located, which is not blocked by the separator 10, or a portion opposite thereto, as depicted by arrows a and b. In addition, since a side of the electrode plate which is located at the right or left portion of the drawing is blocked by the separator 10, it is impossible for an electrolyte located outside of the electrode assembly to penetrate or gas in the electrode assembly to discharge through
Therefore, in this configuration, it is not easy to impregnate the electrode plate with an electrolyte, and the degasing process cannot perform smoothly. Therefore, the time and costs for producing a secondary battery surely increases, and the performance and life span of the secondary battery are also badly affected.

Electrode assembly and secondary battery using the same


Logic function generator using an optical transposition in a distributed feedback laser diode. It comprises sources (LD1, LD2) of synchronous digital optical signals having the same rate, an optical coupler (10) receiving said signals and supplying an optical signal, a distributed feedback laser diode (LD3) into which is injected said optical signal, means (24) for the electrical polarization of said laser diode enabling the latter to supply a signal, whose optical frequency varies as a function of the optical power of the injected signal, an optical filter (12) which receives said signal and which is frequency tunable and control means (28) for the said filter. The latter supplies a signal which is a logic function of the signals of the sources. Application to optical calculation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical logic function generator.
It more particularly applies to the production of optical switching devices and optical calculating devices.
2. Discussion of the Background
A device making it possible to perform the logic EXCLUSIVE-OR operation in optical form is known from document (1) Optical EXCLUSIVE-OR Operation Using Tunable Wavelength Conversion Laser Diode, H. NOBUHARA, K. KONDO and S. YAMAKOSHI, Electronics Letters, Oct. 26,1989, vol. 25, no. 22, pp. 1485/6. This known device suffers from the disadvantages of using a laser diode, which has a very complicated construction (said laser diode having four control electrodes and a saturable absorbent) and it is only able to carry out one logic operation (EXCLUSIVE-OR).

France Telecom Etablissement Autonome de Droit Public


A headlamp for vehicle use is provided with: a light source bulb having a light source from which light is emergent; a reflector for reflecting light emergent from the light source; a sub-reflector for reflecting light, which has been reflected on the reflector, to the front side; and a projection lens for directly projecting light of the light source to the front side. These components are arranged in a light chamber composed of a lamp body and a lens cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle headlamp. More particularly, the present invention relates to a vehicle headlamp characterized in that: the efficiency of utilizing light emitted by a light source is high; the size of the vehicle headlamp is small; and the headlamp is capable of emitting a large quantity of light.
2. Related Art
Disclosed in JP-A-05-159603 a projector type lighting device unit that projects light to a front side of a vehicle.
The projector type lighting device unit irradiates the front side of the lighting device unit with light as follows. Light emitted by a light source, which is arranged in a vicinity on an optical axis extending in the longitudinal direction of a vehicle, is condensed and reflected by a reflector to the front side being concentrated upon the optical axis. The reflected light is irradiated to the front side of the lighting device unit via a projection lens provided in a front portion of the reflector. In the case where a light distribution pattern having a cutoff line in an upper end portion is formed by the lighting device unit, a shade is arranged in a vicinity of a rear side focus of the projection lens. A portion of the reflected light sent from the reflector is shaded by the shade so that the cutoff line is formed.
However, in the vehicle headlamp of JP-A-05-159603, the light emitted by the light source is once reflected by the reflector before the light is incident upon the projection lens, and the reflected light is condensed and incident upon the projection lens. Therefore, when the light is reflected on the reflector, a luminous intensity of the light is attenuated and a quantity of light is reduced. In addition, in the vehicle headlamp of JP-A-05-159603, the light, which is emergent from the light source and reflected on a lower half portion of the reflector, is shaded by the shade for forming the cutoff line. Therefore, only a substantial half of the quantity of the light incident upon the reflector is projected by the projection lens at the most. Accordingly, the efficiency of utilizing light emitted by the light source is low in the vehicle headlamp. It can be said that the light emitted by the light source is not effectively utilized.


The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for cleaning surfaces, in particular sensitive surfaces contaminated and attacked by environmental influences, by means of a jet of fine grain blast material and air. A blast material is used which contains crystals and/or particles of at least one cleaning agent crystallized by cooling.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for cleaning surfaces, in particular sensitive surfaces, which are contaminated by environmental influences. The method described here is a further development of the cleaning method for surfaces according to European patent no. 0 171 448.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the aforementioned patent specification several substances are mentioned as suitable blast material, that is in particular sharp-edged blast material such as sand (a silicon compound), quartz, corundum, or flue ash. These blast materials are united in the form of a blast material/air jet in a mixing head with an air/water jet to form a total jet disposed in inherent rotation. The atomized total jet emerging from the mixing head is directed onto the surface to be cleaned, said total jet rotating about its centre axis and being similar to a cone diverging in the jet propagation direction.
Since, in particular with highly sensitive surfaces the aforementioned sharp-edged blast materials can lead to removal of surface layers and thus to damaging of the surfaces, it is proposed in European patent application no. 88 121 432.4 to employ blast materials of low hardness, i.e. a hardness which as a rule is less than the hardness of the materials to be cleaned, so that although the dirt or contaminating layers are satisfactorily removed the material surface to be cleaned cannot be destroyed. In the method described in this publication mineral blast materials are used which have a hardness (Mohs' hardness) of at the most 4, as is the case with dolomite, which is specified as preferred rock-forming mineral. However, in many cases this method makes a subsequent washing of the cleaned surfaces necessary and also presents the problem that the mineral blast material, for example dolomite dust, can get into waste water and cause considerable problems there.

Method for cleaning surfaces, in particular sensitive surfaces


A command is decoded in a unit to provide bus-output-control information concerning the common bus busy state, and the existence of the command or the data. When the common bus is not available to the unit, the decoded bus out-control information, command and data are stored in the bus output stack. Immediately after the common bus becomes available to the unit, the decoded bus-output-control information is outputted to a control bus and the command and data which are stored in the bus output stack are outputted to the common bus. When the common bus is available to the unit, the bus-output-control information is outputted to the control bus, and the command and data are outputted to the common bus without going through the bus output stack.

The present invention relates to a system for transmitting and receiving information between units through a common bus and more particularly to a stack system for transmitting and receiving information between units connected to the common bus.
A system for communicating information between units (units U1 to U6) having processors conducted through a common bus (CBUS), as shown in FIG. 1, has been developed in order to increase data transmission speed and data processing speed. In such a system, units U1 to U6 comprise a CPU, a channel unit, a memory control unit, and so on. When units U1 to U6 obtain the right to use the common bus, the output of data from the common bus is controlled by the internal condition of the unit.
Even if data is communicated from one unit to another in such a common bus system, sometimes the common bus cannot be used instantly when it is being used by the other unit or when its right of use for transmission of data has been obtained by the other unit.
When the common bus can not be used instantly as described above, the unit has to wait for the other unit to finish using the common bus. When a request is made to use the common bus to transmit the result obtained by the process of the unit, the next process proceeds after the transmission from the unit is completed or after the transmission using the common bus is ended. However, when it proceeds to the next process after transmission of the data obtained by the process of the unit is completed, as stated above, then the whole process becomes slow. There has been developed a prior art system in which the processes up to the formation of the next transmission data are conducted in parallel in a plurality of units, and a plurality of transmission data are stored.
In such a system, in order to temporarily maintain the transmission data until the right of use of the common bus can be obtained, a stack is formed by a register or random access memory.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the prior art system. Data register (DTR) 10 is a register for storing data to be transmitted, which are created by processes which will be explained later. Where the common bus 6 is being used by the other unit, the present unit has to wait until the use of the common bus is ended. Therefore, data is stored in data stack (DSTK) 11 during the period of use of common bus 6. Similarly, where the command is added to command register (CMDR) 12 through common bus input circuit 4 and command executing control circuit 5 and then the common bus is being used in by the other unit as is similar to the above case, the content of command register 12 is stored in the command stack (CSTK) 13. It may be noted that the command exists by itself or is paired with data.
If common bus 6 is not being used, the content of data register 10 and the command of command register 12 is added to bus out register (BOR) 23. The selector circuit (SEL) 9 selects a part of the command of command register 12 and bus out control (BUS-OUT-CONTROL) 14 controls the bus output by using the part of the command. For example, the selector circuit 9 selects a plurality of upper bits of the command and the selected bits forming a portion of the command are decoded by decoder (DECODER) 15. Bus sequence control (BUS SEQUENCE CONTROL) 16 produces a control signal based on the decoded result. Based on the control signal, register 17 comprising a CBSY flip-flop and TAG flip-flops produce sequence signals which are temporarily stored in the interface out register (IFOR) 19, thereby controlling control bus 7 through bus buffers 21 and 22. During the period of control by control bus 7, portions of output from data register 10 and command register 12 are added to bus out register (BOR) 23 and the content of bus out register 23 is outputted on a common bus 6 through buffer 24.
On the other hand, where the common bus 6 is used by another unit, the data is stored in data stack 11 and the command is stored in command stack 13. Command read register (CRAR) 26 and command write register (CWAR) 25 are connected to command stack 13, which changes their addresses by one, every time an access of read or write is conducted. The read or write addresses of command stack register 13 are determined according to the value designated by command write register 25 and command read register 26. For example, where the common bus 6 is used by the other unit as described above, the command input to command register 12 is stored in command stack 13 in the address designated by command write register 25. Command stack 13 naturally stores a plurality of commands. When a process of the other unit is completed, the command stored in command stack 13 is read out by the address value of command read register 26 corresponding to command write register 25. Selector 9 selects a portion of the output of command stack 13. A portion of the command stored in command stack 13 is decoded in a similar manner to the state where the common bus 6 is not used and bus sequence control 16 controls the sequence. The output is applied to control bus 7 by interface output register 19 through register 17. Therefore, control bus 7 is controlled. The content of data stack 11 and the command is outputted to common bus 6 through bus out register 23 and buffer 24. Outputs of command write register 25 and command read register 26 are added to comparator (COMP) 8 in addition to the address terminal of command stack 13. Comparator 8 always compares the read and write addresses and if they are not coincident the command is stored in command stack 13. In order to transmit the command stored in command stack 13 until the read address accords with the write address, the selector circuit selects the output of command stack 13. The output of command stack 13 is thereby transmitted to bus output control 14. When they are coincident, the selector 9 is selected so that the output from command register 12 is transmitted directly to common bus 6 through bus out register 23.
Circuits similar to command write register 25 and command read register 26 are also connected to the address of data stack 11, although they are not shown in FIG. 2. They increment in accordance with the read or write operation, thereby enabling the data to be temporarily stored in, and the data to be read out from, data stack 11. A single command does not always correspond to a single item of data. When one command is stored in command stack 13, a plurality of data corresponding to the command is stored in data stack 11. The reading operation is conducted in a similar manner to the storing operation. Every time one command is read out, a plurality of data corresponding to the command is read out and outputted to common bus 6 through bus out register 23 and buffer 24.
When common bus 6 is being used by the other unit in the above system, the data and command produced in the unit are stored in command stack 13 and data stack 11, and when use of the common bus 6 by the other unit is completed, namely, when the common bus 6 becomes empty, a portion of the command is analyzed by bus out control 14 after it is outputted from command stack 13 and then transmitted to the common bus 6. When a plurality of commands are stored in command stack 13 in the above system, respective commands are analyzed by bus out control 14, namely, common bus control output circuit, and such analysis should be applied to each respective command. Although it is not shown in FIG. 2, a priority circuit is provided to limit the use of common bus 6 and control bus 7. Thus, even if the right of use of the common bus is obtained through the priority circuit, analysis of the command as recited above is necessary in the bus out control circuit 14 after the command is outputted from command stack 13. Therefore, the command or data cannot be transmitted immediately to the common bus 6. Even if the common bus 6 becomes vacant, the command and data cannot be outputted to it immediately, but they can be outputted to it only after a predetermined sequence passes in bus out control 14. Therefore, even if use of the common bus 6 is completed, a portion of the command in command stack 13 should be analyzed to output the command and data from the unit which is next to be used, thereby resulting in a waste of time.
As command stack 13 is provided separately from data stack 11, it is necessary that an address of the command stack 13 is previously made to correspond to the addresses for the maximum length of data in the data stack 11 as shown in FIG. 3. Therefore, the capacity of the data stack becomes extremely big, as shown in FIG. 3. For example, supposing the number of data accompanied by one command is a maximum of 4, and the number of loads in command stack 13 is n, the number of words in data stack 11 is 4n, making the data stack extremely large.
According to the system in which data is stored sequentially in data stack 11 and the address of the command in command stack 13 is not previously made to correspond to the addresses of the data in data stack 11, the difference between the write and read addresses of the data is always monitored with regard to both data stack 11 and command stack 13. Namely, it is necessary to consider, by monitoring both data stack 11 and command stack 13, how many data are required after the command is executed, thereby complicating a command start control. Where the command is executed continuously, as in a pipeline method, it is necessary, by monitoring both data stack 11 and command stack 13, to judge the start of the next command based on the difference between the sum of the data accompanied by the command which is being executed and the number of the vacancy in the data stack, thereby further complicating the system. If the above control is not employed, the capability of the apparatus is low.


A mechanism for permitting selective adjustment of the angular position of a head-mounted night vision device is provided. The mechanism comprises a housing positioned adjacent the night vision device. A shaft defining a longitudinal axis is at least partially positioned within or adjacent the housing. The shaft is rotatively coupled to the night vision device, wherein rotation of the shaft induces rotation of the night vision device. A moveable lever is coupled to the shaft for rotating the shaft. Means for selectively limiting rotation of the shaft are provided, wherein the means are moveable between a first position and a second position. In the first position the means permit rotation of the shaft and the optical device, and in the second position the means limit rotation of the shaft and the optical device.

A binocular night vision device uses a pair of monocular night vision scopes which are mounted and associated with one another in such a way as to provide the user of the device with binocular vision, thereby allowing the user to have a night-time view with depth perception. Users typically operate the night vision device in a variety of positions, such as standing erect, lying flat on the ground, sitting in a cockpit of an airplane, hiding behind protective cover, and so forth. Given the wide variety of positions a user may operate a night vision device, many night vision devices include provisions for adjustably tilting (i.e., rotating) the night vision device with respect to the eye of the user to adapt the night vision device to the body orientation of the user. Furthermore, field helmet mounted optical devices may include provisions for locking the rotational position of the night vision device once the night vision device is rotated to a desired position.
In practice, night vision devices are often subject to violent external movements or environmental changes, such as temperature adjustments. For example, helmet mounted night vision devices used for aviation experience high and low frequency vibration, mechanical shock and multi-axis elevated G loads. Under those conditions, many conventional devices for retaining the night vision device in a fixed position are often inadequate for preventing the night vision device from drifting from its original setting with respect to the field helmet, thereby requiring constant readjustment of the night vision device.
In view of the foregoing, there is a continuing need to further develop and refine devices for selectively locking a helmet mounted night vision device in a fixed position, in the interests of performance, safety and convenience.

Tilt adjustment locking mechanism for a head-mounted night vision device


A charging inlet for an electric vehicle (EV) includes a body defining an opening having a conductive terminal arranged therein. A sealing cover is pivotally attached to the body and is moveable between an open position exposing the opening and conductive terminal, and a closed position sealing the opening and the conductive terminal with respect to an external environment. A sealing element of the cover defines a sealing plug including an angled sealing rib defined about an outer periphery thereof. The sealing plug and sealing rib are configured to engage with the opening of inlet body for sealing the opening with the cover in the closed position.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are increasing in popularity as their practicality and usability improves. In order to fulfill consumer performance demands for both personal and commercial applications, these still-early systems must to continuously optimized to extract maximum performance, usability and convenience. One critical aspect of EV usability includes the ability to consistently charge the batteries of an EV as quickly as possible over the life of the vehicle. In this way, it is desired to minimize any degradations in charging performance. Charging performance can be affected by any number of factors, including moisture, dirt and other debris contaminating and/or degrading the electrical terminals or contacts of the charger plug or the socket/receptacle of the EV. Accordingly, it is desired to shield these sensitive surfaces from the outside environment whenever possible.
This desire has resulted in, for example, the implementation of covers arranged over the charging socket(s) of the inlet, which may be removed during charging operations to expose the socket and permit plug engagement therewith. These covers, however, have proven ineffective against the long-term buildup of contaminants on the receptacles, and moreover, are unnecessarily bulky, complex and/or expensive to manufacture. By way of further example, many of today's EVs are fitted with combined charging systems (CCSs), or systems which permit both traditional AC-based charging, as well as DC-based "fast" charging. However, each of these charging systems necessitates the use of its own plug configuration, for example, a Type 1 or Type 2 connection for AC charging, and a second two-pin DC connector for fast charging operations. Accordingly, modern interface standards include so-called combination configurations which include a Type 1 connector or a Type 2 connector, as well as a two-pin DC connector, arranged together on a single inlet. In use, however, depending on the type of charging plug being used, a vehicle being charged with its AC charging system, and thus its Type 1 or Type 2 connector fitted with a corresponding plug, may leave the two-pin DC connectors exposed, or vise-versa, during the charging operation. During charging, the unused portion of the socket is exposed to dirt, dust, moisture (e.g., rain) and other unwanted debris. Likewise, vehicles may be subject to severe use, including prolonged exposure to significant moisture such as when crossing a waterway during off-road use, or when subject to flooding conditions. Such exposures can negatively affect charging performance as contaminants are built up over the life of the vehicle, or may more immediately impact the reliability of the vehicle in the case of submersion. As set forth above, prior art covers have proven inadequate in preventing the build-up of debris and/or sealing these types of connectors under all conditions.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods for sealing the charging inlet.

Hinged flap cover with angled seal for electric vehicle charging inlet


A method for obtaining improved fertility restorer lines for male sterile crop plants and a DNA construct for use in said method are disclosed. The invention relates to the simultaneous use of two different gene sequences encoding the same protein product, one being the naturally occurring wild type sequence and the other sequence being generated by modification of the wild type sequence for expression in crop plants by using codon degeneracy to avoid homology between the two sequences at the DNA and mRNA levels, each of the said sequences being placed under independent transcriptional control of different overlapping plant tissue-specific regulatory elements in the same DNA construct.

Genetic transformation of crop plants with heterologous genes is widely recognized as an effective strategy for the introduction of desirable traits such as male sterility/restoration for hybrid seed production, insect resistance, nutritional enhancement, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, etc. in crop plants. Expression levels of the transgene(s) are critical for achieving the desired phenotype in transgenic plants. Transgene expression levels can be substantially enhanced by modifications at the transcriptional level (by the use of strong promoters/enhancers) or at the translational level (by modulating parameters viz., codon usage, mRNA stability, etc. associated with coding regions of transgenes). However, the existence of various regulatory mechanisms in plants renders the introduced transgene(s) susceptible to down-regulation which, in many instances, also leads to transgene silencing. Homology based gene silencing (HBGS) has been reported to occur extensively in transgenic plants (Meyer and Saedler 1996, Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 47:23-48; Vaucheret and Fagard 2001, Trends Genet. 17:29-35) and can occur at the transcriptional (transcriptional gene silencing, TGS) as well as at the post transcriptional levels (post transcriptional gene silencing, PTGS). Such situations can arise when (i) multiple copies of a gene cassette integrate into plants during transformation (van der Krol et al. 1990, Plant Cell 2:291-299), (ii) introduced transgenes are transcribed using homologous promoters (Mol et al. 1989, Plant Mol. Biol. 13:287-294) or (iii) an introduced gene has homology with an endogenous gene in the coding region (Napoli et al. 1990, Plant Cell 2:279-289). Several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the phenomena of HBGS (Matzke and Matzke 1995, Plant Physiol. 107:679-685; Meyer and Saedler 1996, Ann Rev. Plant Physiol Plant Mol. Biol. 47:23-48; Fire 1999, Trends Genet. 15:358-363; Hamilton and Baulcombe 1999, Science 286:950-952; Steimer et al. 2000, Plant Cell 12:1165-1178), the common denominator being that the homology triggers cellular recognition mechanisms that result in silencing of the repeated genes. The present invention relates to a method for enhancing expression levels of transgene(s) while reducing its susceptibility to homology based post transcriptional gene silencing. The strategy of the present invention has been tested by enhancing expression of a restorer gene (barstar) to facilitate effective restoration of male fertility in barnase-containing male sterile transgenic plants for hybrid seed production in crop plants.
The contributions of hybrids towards enhancing crop productivity are well recognized. Increase in crop productivity is due to the phenomenon of heterosis or hybrid vigor in which F1 hybrid plants generated by crosses between two genetically diverse parents exhibit an improved yield than either of the two parents (Banga 1992, In Breeding Oilseed Brassicas Eds. Labana K S, Banga S S and Banga S K, Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi; Pradhan et al 1993, Euphytica 69:219-229). Cross pollination is essential for the production of hybrids. In normally self-pollinating crop plants (for example, Brassica sp., rice and wheat), one of the parents needs to be male sterile to facilitate cross pollination. In crop plants wherein seeds are the desired economic products, availability of a suitable restorer system in the male parent is essential in order to achieve seed set in the F1 hybrids.
One of the approaches for generation of male sterile/restorer lines for hybrid seed production is the use of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS)/restorer systems. CMS is a maternally inherited phenomenon, the genetic determinants of which are located in genomes of the cytoplasmic organelles, the mitochondria. Such plants are severely impaired in their ability to produce functional pollen grains. Restorer genes for CMS systems are dominant nuclear genes that suppress male sterile effects of the cytoplasm (i.e., mitochondria). On being incorporated into the male parent, they can be used as restorers of male fertility in F1 hybrids. CMS systems have been widely used in the production of hybrids in sorghum, sunflower, pearl millet and sugar beet. However, their use has been limited in corn, wheat and oilseed Brassicas due to linkage of undesirable traits such as increased disease susceptibility, chlorosis, distortion of petals, poor nectary function, etc. with CMS in these systems (McVetty et al 1989, Can J. Plant Sci. 69:915-918; Burns et al 1991, Can. J. Plant Sci. 71:655-661; Williams 1995, Trends Biotech. 13:344-349).
With the advent of recombinant DNA and plant transformation technologies, genetic engineering of male sterility and its restoration have emerged as tangible options for the development of male sterile and restorer lines for hybrid seed production. Male sterility can be artificially induced in plants by introducing a male sterility gene comprising a DNA sequence coding, for example, a cytotoxic product. The cytotoxic product may be a lethal gene under transcriptional control of a promoter which is predominantly active in selective tissue(s) of male reproductive organs in plants. Tapetum, which forms the innermost layers of the anther wall, is one of the most important tissues associated with pollen development. Disruption of tapetal cells by the expression of toxic proteins would therefore impair pollen development leading to male sterile plants. Male sterility was successfully induced in transgenic tobacco and oilseed rape (Brassica napus) by targeted expression of a ribonuclease [barnase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (Hartley 1989, Trends Biochem. Sciences 14:450-454) or Rnase T1 from Aspergillus oryzae] in the tapetal tissues using a tapetum-specific promoter (TA29) from tobacco (Mariani et al 1990, Nature 347:737-741).
Presence of a selectable marker gene in male sterility inducing constructs is also essential to facilitate in vitro selection of transformants and for field selection of plants containing the male sterility gene. For example, the bar gene from Streptomyces hygroscopicus, conferring resistance to the herbicide, Basta can be used as an in vitro as well as field selectable marker. Use of a strong constitutive promoter to express the marker gene is important for efficient selection of transformants. However, in a study on development of male sterile barnase lines in Brassica juncea (Indian mustard) (Jagannath et al 2001, Mol. Breeding 8:11-23), it was found that tissue-specific expression of the barnase gene was deregulated in the presence of a strong constitutive promoter (CaMV35S) that was used to express the herbicide resistance-conferring selectable marker gene (bar) in barnase constructs. Deregulated expression of the cytotoxic barnase gene not only reduced the recovery of transgenic shoots in transformation experiments, but also affected agronomically important traits viz., vegetative morphology, female fertility, seed germination frequencies and inheritance of male sterility in barnase lines rendering them unsuitable for agronomic applications. To circumvent this problem, the above study described a method of using a Spacer DNA fragment to protect tissue-specific expression of the barnase gene which substantially enhanced the recovery of agronomically viable male sterile lines in Brassica juncea. Further, all male sterile lines developed in this study were found to be stable over several generations under field conditions in contrast to those developed earlier (Mariani et al 1990, Nature 347:737-741) in which several barnase lines showed breakdown of the male sterile phenotype even under controlled growth conditions (Denis et al 1993, Plant Physiol. 101:1295-1304).
Barnase activity in B. amyloliquefaciens is inhibited by a specific inhibitor, barstar, which negates the lethal effects of the ribonuclease by forming a one-to-one complex with the same in the cytoplasm (Hartley and Smeaton 1973, J. Biochem. 248:5624-5626). Expression of the barstar gene under the TA29 tapetum-specific promoter (which is also used for expression of the baniase gene to develop male sterile plants) was shown to restore fertility in barnase lines of Brassica napus (Mariani et al 1992, Nature 357:384-387). In the above study, four transgenic barstar lines containing a single copy of the T-DNA insert were crossed to four single-copy male sterile barnase lines in different combinations and resulting F1 hybrids were analyzed for restoration of male fertility in the same. It was found that six of nine crosses performed between barnase and barstar lines produced male fertile progeny while two crosses failed to restore fertility. In one case, partial restoration of fertility was also seen. Inability of some barstar lines to restore fertility was attributed to insufficient levels of the inhibitor protein due to its poor expression. However, the above study was found to be lacking in the analysis of pollen viability in restored plants. Hence, it is not possible to ascertain the extent of fertility restoration in male fertile progeny. This is of particular significance in case of oilseed crops such as Brassicas wherein seed set is of paramount importance in achieving full yield potential of the crop.
Plant Genetic Systems have described, in EP 0412911 A1, use of the barstar gene for restoration of fertility in male sterile barnase lines. The above patent describes development of restorer lines in tobacco and oilseed rape using a DNA construct containing three chimeric sequences (i) the barstar gene under transcriptional control of the TA29 tapetum-specific promoter (ii) a selectable marker gene (neo, conferring kanamycin resistance) expressed using a suitable constitutive promoter (pNos) for in vitro selection of transformants and (iii) another selectable marker gene (sfr) expressed using the constitutive Rubisco ssu promoter from Arabidopsis. The above patent also describes various breeding strategies which can be used for hybrid seed production using the barnase/barstar system of male sterility and restoration. However, no experimental evidence has been provided for any of these strategies and therefore, the efficacy of the same cannot be conclusively established.
Another strategy for the generation of male sterile and restorer lines using the barnase/barstar system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,307 wherein the FLP/FRT recombinase system of yeast is used to regulate expression of the barnase and barstar genes. According to one of the embodiments of this invention, a male fertile transgenic plant can be generated by transformation using a vector containing a cytotoxic gene (barnase) and a restorer gene (barstar) wherein the restorer gene is flanked by site-specific (first) recombination sites which are recognized by a specific (first) recombinase. The male sterility and restorer genes are under independent transcriptional control of an anther-specific promoter. Further, the entire functional element composed of the above two genes and their respective promoters is flanked by another set of (second) site-specific recombination sites which are recognized by a specific (second) recombinase. A male sterile plant can be produced by crossing the above male fertile plant with a transgenic plant containing the first site-specific recombinase expressed under a constitutive promoter. Alternatively, the DNA construct used to generate the male fertile plant may also contain the first recombinase expressed under an inducible promoter, in which case, male sterility can be achieved by inducing expression of the first recombinase. Restoration of fertility can be achieved in either case by crossing the male sterile plant with a transgenic plant containing a gene encoding the second recombinase. The invention also describes several other alternative embodiments based on the use of site-specific recombinase systems to generate male sterile lines and for restoration of fertility in the same. However, data presented in the above study only establishes functionality of the yeast FLP/FRT system in maize cells and transformed Arabidopsis thaliana plants using various reporter genes. No experimental evidence is presented in support of functionality of the system in induction of male sterility and its restoration based on various strategies described in the same.
Novartis Finance Corporation has described, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,147,282, another strategy for controlling plant fertility based on chemical control of gene expression in plants. According to this strategy, chemical ligands can be used to activate receptor polypeptides (for example, the Ecdysone and USP receptors containing ligand-binding and DNA-binding domains) which, in turn, induce expression of a target gene (barnase or boustar) expressed using a promoter containing suitable receptor binding elements. According to the patent, the above strategy could be used for induction of male sterility as well as its restoration. Male sterile transgenic plants can be generated using a DNA construct containing: (i) the barnase gene expressed under suitable anther-specific promoters (for example, TA29) (ii) the receptor expression cassettes (encoding the Ecdysone and USP receptor polypeptides) under regulatory control of the same anther specific promoter or from constitutive promoters (for example, maize ubiquitin, 35S or rice actin) and (iii) a target expression cassette having a 5′ regulatory element (containing the appropriate response element sequence and core promoter elements) linked to the barstar gene. In order to restore fertility, a suitable chemical ligand (for example, RH5992) can be sprayed on the male sterile transgenic plants. This would induce heterodimerization of the USP and Ecdysone receptor polypeptides resulting in the activation of the 5′ regulatory sequence of the target (barstar) expression cassette and production of barstar protein which would inhibit barnase and restore male fertility. The functionality of the above strategy was demonstrated using the luciferase reporter gene as the target polypeptide. Expression of luciferase protein was reported to increase approximately 2-4 folds upon induction over that observed in the absence of the chemical ligand. However, in the absence of corresponding data on expression of barstar protein for restoration of male fertility and in light of published literature on problems associated with development of male sterile lines due to deregulated expression of cytotoxic gene(s) (see above), efficiency of the above strategy in achieving the desired fertility status in crop plants needs to be established. Moreover, this strategy requires exogenous application of chemicals to induce the desired fertility status. For crop plants grown on a large acreage, this might not only be economically unsound, but the duration, time and amount of the desired ligand to be sprayed on standing crops would also be highly variable leading to inconsistency in production parameters.
Transgene expression levels can be enhanced by modification of the coding sequence to introduce preferentially used codons (for improved mRNA translation) and to ensure removal of potential deleterious signals which might inhibit transgene expression. Modified genes have been shown to improve transgene expression levels in heterologous systems including bacteria, plants and animal cell lines (Wosnick et al 1989, Gene 76:153-160; Adams et al 1988, Nucl. Acids Res. 16:4287-4298; Perlak et al 1991, PNAS-USA 88:3324-3328; Koziel et al 1993, BioTechnology 11:194-200; Pang et al 1996, Plant Physiol. 105:473-482). Common factors which have been taken into consideration for designing modified genes for improved expression in plant systems include codon usage, mRNA instability sequences (for example, polyadenylation signals), GC-content and plant intron consensus sequences. The cry genes of Bacillus thuringiensis, encoding the insecticidal-δ-endotoxins, are some of the best representative examples of bacterial genes modified for enhanced expression in transgenic plants (Perlak et al 1991, PNAS-USA 88:3324-3328; Adang et al 1993, Plant Mol. Biol. 21:1131-1145; Fujimoto et al 1993, BioTechnology 11:1151-1155; Strizhov et al 1996, PNAS-USA 93:15012-15017; Iannaocone et al 1997, Plant Mol. Biol. 34:485-496). However, in a study by Rouwendal et al (1997) on the wild type and modified versions of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) gene, no enhancement in expression levels could be achieved using modified transgenes in comparison to that obtained using the wild type sequence (Rouwendal et al 1997, Plant Mol. Biol. 33:989-999). In another study on the luciferase gene, it was reported that while the modified gene sequence may enhance expression of the transgene in one plant system, it may not do so in others (Lonsdale et al 1998, Plant Cell Rep. 17:396-399).
Plant Genetic Systems, in WO9810081, has described modification of the barstar gene sequence for enhanced expression in plant cells. According to the invention, the modified barstar DNA could be used for the development of efficient restorer lines which are capable of restoring fertility to a variety of male sterile lines (with varying levels of barnase expression) and are particularly useful for producing restorer lines in cereals, especially in corn, rice and wheat. The improved barstar gene sequence described in this invention encodes a barstar protein with an altered N-terminal amino acid sequence that starts with Methionine followed by "X" amino acid wherein "X" is either Alanine, Valine, Glycine, Aspartic acid or Glutamic acid, preferably Alanine encoded by a GCC codon. The preference for these amino acids is because, all available codons of these amino acids begin with a G nucleotide and being the second amino acid in the modified barstar gene sequence, it would provide an optimal translation initiation context at position +4. The modified barstar gene of the invention has an amino acid sequence which is "Met-Ala-Lys" while the wild type protein begins with "Met-Lys" at the N-terminal end. Other criteria used for designing the modified barstar gene sequence (also referred to as "synthetic barstar DNA") of the above invention and incorporated therein were:    (a) Codon usage: The modified sequence has a codon usage that is optimized for oilseed rape, cotton, maize, rice and wheat, preferably for oilseed rape (Brassica napus), maize and rice. For the purpose of this invention, the overall codon frequencies for various plant species described by Ikemura were used (Ikemura 1993, In "Plant Molecular Biology Labfax", Croy ed., Bios Scientific Publishers Ltd., pp. 37-48). According to this invention, the preferred codon selected for incorporation in the modified barstar sequence is one, which, in each of more than N/2 plant species (N=No. of plant species for which codon usage patterns are taken into account for design of the modified sequence) has an overall frequency that is at least twice the overall frequency of the least used codon and/or more than half of the overall frequency of the most used codon    (b) AT-content: A and T nucleotides constitute less than 40% of the sequence composition. This was primarily done to reduce the probability of introducing polyadenylation signals and intron recognition sequences which are known to destabilize transgene expression and can occur with a greater probability in AT-rich sequences. The synthetic barstar sequence of the invention has an AT-content of 38.4% while the wild type sequence is characterized by an AT-content of 51.6%.    (c) CG and CNG sequences: CG and CNG sequences have been shown to be associated with DNA methylation and gene silencing in plants. The modified sequence should not contain more than 7% CG dinucleotides and/or no more than 9.5% of CNG trinucleotides. The synthetic barstar DNA of the above invention contains 16 CG dinucleotides and 24 CNG trinucleotides while the wild type sequence has 14 CGs and 22 CNGs.    (d) The modified sequence is further characterized by having no more than 7, preferably no more than 5, particularly no more than 3 tetranucleotides consisting of only one kind of nucleotide and having no more than 2, preferably no more than 1 pentanucleotide consisting of only one kind of nucleotide. The synthetic barstar DNA of the invention contains one CCCCC and one GGGG stretch.
The improved barstar gene was deployed for the development of restorer lines in rice, corn and oilseed rape. In transgenic rice plants generated using the wild type and synthetic barstar genes under regulatory control of appropriate male tissue-specific promoters, it was found that the synthetic gene produced more barstar protein with the amount of barstar protein being proportional to the amount of barstar mRNA present. Crosses between male sterile barnase lines and restorer barstar plants showed that restoration capabilities were directly comparable with the amount of barstar protein produced. Plants producing 50 ng or more barstar/mg of extracted protein functioned as efficient restorer lines while plants producing between 4-10 ng barstar/mg of extracted protein could only induce partial restoration of male fertility. While plants with barstar expression levels >50 ng/mg of total protein could be obtained with the synthetic barstar gene, none of the plants generated using the wild type gene gave comparable expression levels. Similar studies were performed on transgenic corn plants. One male sterile line (designated MS3), which, according to the inventors, was a considerably difficult line to restore (data not shown), was selected for testing restoration capabilities of restorer lines generated using the wild type and synthetic barstar genes. Crosses between the male sterile MS3 line and seven wild type barstar restorer lines did not identify any suitable restorer, with maximally 75% of anthers producing viable pollen. On testing the MS3 line with restorer lines generated using the synthetic barstar sequence, it was found that four out of six lines tested were able to achieve complete restoration of male fertility thereby demonstrating that restorer lines generated using the synthetic barstar gene have a significantly better restoration capacity. The inventors further report that the amount of barstar protein in two restorer plants developed using the synthetic barstar DNA was much higher (210 and 100 ng barstar/mg total protein) than that observed in one wild type barstar plant (20 ng barstar/mg total protein). Transgenic plants were also generated in oilseed rape using the wild type and synthetic barstar genes. Analysis of activity of the wild type and synthetic barstar proteins revealed that activity of the improved barstar protein was at least equivalent to that of its wild type counterpart. However, no data were reported on restoration capabilities of these barstar lines. It is also important to note here that the above studies are lacking in data on copy numbers of the integrated transgene for the experimental lines used. Therefore, it is probable that position effects and varying copy numbers of the barstar gene may be influencing barstar expression levels in independent transgenic plants. Moreover, in the absence of data on pollen viability in restored plants, extent of restoration cannot be determined accurately.
Several strategies have been developed for generation of restorer lines for hybrid seed production. One of these studies has also addressed the issue of expression level of the restorer gene product and has prescribed the design and use of synthetic DNA sequences for enhanced expression in heterologous systems to facilitate effective restoration. However, none of the described strategies highlight the extent of restoration with reference to pollen viability which is a critical parameter for determining the efficacy of any restoration strategy. Additionally, most strategies rely on the use of several superfluous genes, promoters and other DNA sequences, the presence of which is highly undesirable in transgenic crop systems.
The present invention describes a method for enhancing expression levels of transgene(s) while reducing its susceptibility to homology based post transcriptional gene silencing. It further describes a method for achieving stable, enhanced and extended temporal expression of a restorer gene product based on the simultaneous use of two different restorer gene sequences encoding the same protein product in the same DNA construct. One of the said sequences is modified for expression in dicotyledonous crop plants using codon degeneracy to avoid homology between the two sequences at the DNA and mRNA levels and the other is the naturally occurring wild type sequence, each of which is placed under independent transcriptional control of regulatory elements with overlapping expression patterns in male reproductive tissues. In addition to enhancing restorer gene expression, simultaneous use of two different DNA sequences (which would transcribe two different RNA molecules) in the same DNA construct confers the added advantage of avoiding homology based post transcriptional gene silencing. The method described in the present invention can also be applied with suitable modifications to other molecular methods based on the expression of a cytotoxic gene and its corresponding inhibitor for the development of male sterile and restorer lines, respectively.

Method for obtaining improved fertility restorer lines for transgenic male sterile crop plants and a DNA construct for use in said method

Dhara Vegetable Oil and Foods Company Limited


A system includes a pressure sensor that measures a transmission fluid pressure at a first fluid cavity of a transmission. A transmission control module receives the transmission fluid pressure, determines a transmission fluid temperature in the first fluid cavity based on the transmission fluid pressure, and controls the transmission fluid pressure based on the transmission fluid temperature.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
A transmission may have various fluid paths that carry transmission oil. For example, a pressure control device may control a source of pressurized fluid to a brake or clutch within the transmission in order to change gears or drive modes. A transmission may include a transmission control module that may control the operation of the transmission components and diagnose faults within the transmission.
The operation of the transmission control module may be optimized by receiving accurate feedback regarding the operation of the transmission. Measurement of transmission oil characteristics may provide useful regarding transmission status and faults. Pressure and temperature measurements from the transmission fluid may provide information indicative of transmission status or faults based on the source of the measurements.

Transmission oil measurement system and method


The provides are a method and device for handover statistics, and the method includes: a base station receives a measurement job issued by a management system, wherein, the measurement job is used for indicating to collect statistics on one or more performance measurements of an inter-base station handover of a UE, and at least one of the following performance measurements for MRN: one or more performance measurements of an inter-base station handover of the MRN and one or more performance measurements of an intra-base station handover of the MRN. The base station collects statistics on one or more performance measurements indicated in the measurement job. It is solved the problem that the statistics on the inter-base station handover or intra-base station handover of the user is inaccurate, and achieves implementing the handover statistics of the MRN and increasing the accuration for collecting statistics on the handover of the UE.

In the existing mobile networks, a handover method is usually used to guarantee uninterruptible user services, so as to provide a better experience for users. In order to accurately know whether the user experience is good or bad, a user handover flow in a mobile network is required to be measured, and a handover success rate is counted according to the measurement result; the higher the success rate is, the better the user experience is, and the lower the success rate is, the worse the user experience is; and specific performance measurements may include the number of attempt times for preparing the inter-base station handover of a User Equipment (UE), the number of attempt times for executing the inter-base station handover of the UE, the number of success times for executing the inter-base handover of the UE, etc.
In a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) system, in order to provide high-quality services for passengers on moving public transport means, such as trains and buses, a Mobile Relay Node (MRN) cooperation transmission method is used. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a MRN on a high-speed train in the related art; as shown in FIG. 1, a UE on the train is connected to the MRN, and the MRN accesses a nearby base station, wherein the base station supporting the MRN is also called a Donor eNB (DeNB). In the running process of the train, in order to provide uninterruptible connection services for the users, the MRN itself needs to perform inter-DeNB or intra-DeNB handover nearby the way along the track; and the UE accessed the MRN is unaware of the handover process of the MRN, and in fact, the handover of the MRN is a handover process of all the UE groups on the train accessing the MRN. If the inter-base station or intra-base station handover of the MRN fails, all the UEs connected to the MRN would be out-of-service, which will directly influence the experience of these users, and the purpose of providing high-quality services for the user groups in the manner of the MRN is not achieved. Therefore, it needs to collect statistics on the success rate of the inter-base station and intra-base station handover of the MRN, so as to evaluate the performance of the MRN system and the good or bad user perception of the UEs connected to the MRN; however, there is no performance measurement used for to collect statistics on the inter-base station or intra-base station handover of the MRN right now.
At the same time, since the handover flow of the MRN will re-use the existing handover flow of the UE, when the base station is a donor eNB, that is, when the base station supports that the MRN and the UE can access simultaneously, due to the fact that the existing method for collecting statistics on the performance measurements of the inter-base station handover of the UE does not distinguish whether each handover is the inter-base station handover of the UE or the inter-base station handover of the MRN in an actual statistical process, the statistical value is inaccurate, thus resulting the error of the calculated success rate of the inter-base station handover of the UE.
Therefore, the problems that no statistics is collected on the handover of the MRN, and the statistics of the inter-base station or intra-base station handover of the UE is inaccurate, thus rendering the error evaluation of the user experience in the related art.

Method and device for handover statistics


A cutting insert having a main lip, a rake face and at least one coolant duct, which is formed on the top side of the cutting insert, is disclosed. The at least one coolant duct runs at least partially in the rake face towards the main lip and the width increases towards the main lip.

During the cutting-off and turning of workpieces, friction and forming lead to a strong evolution of heat, as a result of which the workpiece, but also the cutting tool used, is greatly heated. However, the high temperatures of the cutting tool lead to increased wear, resulting in costs. For this reason, the cutting insert is cooled with the aid of a coolant during the machining of the workpiece. To date, it has been conventional for a stream of coolant to be guided to the cutting insert, in particular to the main lip of the cutting insert, through nozzles or ducts in or on the tool holder in which the cutting insert is mounted. This has the problem that the stream of coolant is directed to a strong extent, and therefore merely the portion of the cutting insert which is directly impacted by the stream of coolant is cooled.


A golf putter head includes two portions, a front striking plate portion and a rear plate portion to which the shaft is secured. The front plate is secured to the back plate only at the opposite ends or poles of the two portions of the putter head. For a one piece head, machining of the head provides the polar configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to golf club apparatus and, more particularly to golf club apparatus in which the shaft is secured to a back plate, and the back plate is secured to a front plate at only two locations, namely the opposite ends or poles of the front at plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,214 (Tucker Sr.) discloses a golf putter head which includes an elastomeric sticking face. The golf putter head includes several different pieces. The elastomeric front face is softer than the hardness of a golf ball. Weights may be added in various combinations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,218 (Schmidt et al) discloses another golf putter head in which there is a recess behind the front face. The recess provides a front plate of a is reduced thickness. Several recesses are defined within the head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,219 (Pehoski et al) discloses a symmetrical golf putter head, and recesses are found in the head. The striking face flexes to cradle and guide the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,445 (Levocz et al) discloses a golf putter head in which the shaft is adjustable and recesses are found within the head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,738 (Pehoski et al) discloses another golf putter head in which there are recesses and the striking surface is flexible, similar to the above disclosed '219 patent.