A surveillance system and method is provided for detecting and event and then capturing an image of the event under low illumination conditions. A camera captures a current image and a prior reference image under low illumination conditions using a long exposure time and compares the current and reference images to determine whether an event has occurred in the current image. An illumination source is activated upon the detection of an event to provide artificial illumination. The illumination allows an additional event image to be captured using a shorter exposure time.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to surveillance systems, and specifically to event detection using images captured by surveillance systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Surveillance systems commonly employ video cameras to monitor facilities. Historically, these cameras have transmitted analog video images of an area under surveillance to a security monitoring center for inspection and storage. In many facilities, analog video cameras are being replaced with digital cameras that detect and capture still images of events, such as the appearance of an intruder, a malfunction, or a fire within the area under surveillance. Digital cameras provide several advantages over analog video cameras. For example, digital cameras can be radio linked and battery powered to eliminate the need for the costly fixed infrastructure of video cables and power lines, making surveillance systems cheaper and easier to deploy.
However, digital cameras have limited sensitivity, and in areas of low illumination or at night, a source of artificial illumination is required. In commercial applications, lights can be left on at night in order to illuminate the facilities that must be secured. However, in residential applications, lights that are left on at night can be disturbing to both the occupants of a property and their neighbors. In addition, if a illumination source is attached to a battery-powered camera, constant illumination would reduce the life of the battery, necessitating frequent battery replacements. Therefore, what is needed is a surveillance system capable of operating under low illumination conditions.

Imaging surveillance system and method for event detection in low illumination


A redundancy system formed on a semiconductor chip is provided which includes circuits for testing a memory array to locate a faulty element therein, a register for storing an address of the faulty element and electrical fuses blown in response to binary digits of the address stored in the register upon application of an enable signal from a single input to the semiconductor chip. The enable signal passes through logic circuits on the chip such that the fuses cannot be programmed or blown unless the enable signal is present. An address decoder coupled to outputs from the fuses substitutes a redundant element for the faulty element.

Replacement of failed elements or lines in a memory array formed on a chip or substrate by the use of redundant elements or lines provided on the chip or substrate has been known. Redundancy techniques have generally used laser beams to blow fuses formed on a substrate at wafer levels. In this manner redundant elements are used to replace failing elements. Thereafter the wafer is diced into chips and the chips are mounted in a module. After completion of the module burn-in takes place. Any elements that fail burn-in are discarded or undergo disassembly of the module and expensive repairs.
A chip that integrates various kinds of circuits including logic circuits having memory arrays embedded therein poses special problems for circuit designers/testers who desire adequate testability of the embedded arrays since such chips have fewer input/output pins available to the circuit testers than is available in a chip having a stand alone memory.
To lower the cost of making memories by reducing testing expenses and improving memory yields, systems have been disclosed which are self testing and self repairing. One such system, sometimes known as an array built in self test (ABIST) system, is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,694, issued on Jul. 30, 1990, which uses substitute address tables and error correction code (ECC) techniques for correcting errors found in the memory cell. Another ABIST system, disclosed in European Patent No. 0 242 854, published on Oct. 28, 1987, replaces defective memory cells of a semiconductor memory with spare memory cells using an associative memory. U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,791, issued on Aug. 28, 1973, filed by L. M. Arzubi, and IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 8, pp. 3601 and 3602, entitled "Semiconductor Memory Redundancy at Module Level" by B. F. Fitzgerald and D. R. Whittaker, disclose the use of non-volatile cells for storing failing addresses semi-permanently. A further ABIST system is disclosed in U.S. patent application entitled "Built-In Self Test for Integrated Circuits" and having Ser. No. 07/576646, filed on Aug. 30, 1990, by E. L. Hedberg et al., wherein one dimensional failed address registers are used to store word addresses of defective cells of a memory array, i.e., redundant lines are provided which extend in only one direction parallel to the word lines of the array. U.S. patent application entitled "Method and Apparatus for Real Time Two Dimensional Redundancy Allocation" filed on Oct. 16, 1991, by E. L. Hedberg and G. S. Koch, having Ser. No. 07/777,877, discloses an ABIST system wherein two dimensional redundant lines are directly allocated in real time during final manufacturing testing to increase semiconductor chip yields U.S. patent application entitled "Low Voltage Programmable Storage Element", filed on Apr. 30, 1991, having Ser. No. 07/693,463, discloses programmable redundancy wherein resistance decreases in a programmable antifuse circuit are sensed.

International Business Machines Corporation


In accordance with the invention there is provided a test device for testing a circuit including a compact fluorescent light having first and second terminals, an ac-power source including first and second ac-power lines, and a ballast in the ac-power source. The test device has current indicating means for testing presence of electric current in the circuit, and voltage indicating means for indicating presence of voltage between the first and second power lines.

Fluorescent lights of small compact construction have in recent years gained popularity because they can replace conventional incandescent light bulbs, but offer longer life and improved efficiency in regard to power consumption versus light output.
As often used, the compact fluorescent lights are provided with a plug-in base that mates with an adapter for receiving the light and having a threaded base that fits in the conventional incandescent lamp socket. The compact fluorescent light, in the following called "compact light", requires a so-called ballast which limits the amount of current drawn by the compact light. This ballast is conventionally mounted in the adapter so that it need not be replaced whenever the compact light is to be replaced. There are several types of compact lights and corresponding light fixtures. Some types fit directly into the fixture, with the ballast installed in the fixture. The invention is not directed to the particular type of compact light and the fixture adapted to the light, but to an arrangement for testing the compact light and fixture.
The arrangement of a compact light with its ballast, however, presents a problem to the user in that occasionally the ballast fails, either in the open mode or the shorted mode. When it begins to fail in the shorted mode, which is the most frequent failure mode, it also causes the destruction of the compact light since the current flow through the light in this situation rises to a high value that almost instantaneously burns out the compact light. When a service person subsequently replaces the burned-out compact light, not knowing that the ballast has failed in the shorted mode, the replacement compact light will soon or immediately be destroyed, as the current value rises.
On the other hand, if the ballast has failed in the open mode or power is missing, the service person will only note that the replacement compact light does not light up but will not know whether the compact light or the ballast are faulty, or power is missing.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a small, compact test device that can be inserted between the adapter and the compact light here used as a test light, and has two indicator lights and two push-button switches that quickly tells a service person whether a fault is in the ballast or in the compact light.

Test device for testing compact fluorescent lights and ballasts


Particulate cellulosic material such as microcrystalline cellulose, .alpha.-cellulose, and/or cellulose acylated with C.sub.2 to C.sub.24 aliphatic acids to a degree of substitution of about 0.05 or less, and mixtures thereof, are physically coated with an edible hydrophobic polymer to provide low calorie flour/starch replacements for edible compositions. Typical coating polymers include cellulose esters of one or more C.sub.2 to C.sub.24 aliphatic acids; cellulose ethers such as methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, natural waxes such as carnauba wax, candelilla wax, rice bran wax, bees wax, and mixtures of these; petroleum waxes such as polyethylene and paraffin waxes; proteins, preferably hydrophobic, such as zein, glutenin and the like, and mixtures thereof. In preferred embodiments, the low calorie flour replacements are made in a hot melt process with intense mixing in the absence of emulsifiers and gums. Some embodiments of the invention are particularly useful as low calorie flour replacements for baked products such as cookies.

A number of flour replacements, low calorie flours, and flour extenders have been suggested to mimic the appearance, taste, mouthfeel, and other organoleptic qualities of flour in food products containing it, while simultaneously providing the functional characteristics for dough handling, baking, and the like provided by conventional flour.
For example, low calorie flour for yeast-leavened baked products was suggested by Glicksman, et al., in 1972 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,150). The patent suggested that a correct proportion of .alpha.-cellulose, starch, and a hydrophilic gum, particularly a cellulosic gum, could behave like a bread flour when used in a dough, i.e., the composition formed a sponge system that was plastic and exhibited gluten network-like characteristics. The text of the specification disclosed a composition comprising 30% to 70% .alpha.-cellulose and 30% to 70% starch with 1% to 10% gum, but the two examples illustrated narrower ranges of nearly equal .alpha.-cellulose:starch weight percent ratios (41:55 and 47.9:47.4) and gum concentrations of 3% and 4.7%.
A year later Rennhard suggested that polysaccharides, particularly polyglucose or polymaltose, might serve as a non-nutritive substitute for flour, though the compounds were also suggested for other uses, e.g., bulking agents for food products containing artificial sugar and fat replacements (U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,165). In preferred embodiments set out in the disclosure, glucose or maltose were polymerized in an anhydrous melt in the presence of an organic acid catalyst, and the oligosaccharide formed was then ground or mechanically subdivided to produce a flour-like consistency. Though polydextrose produced according to the invention occasionally exhibited acidic or sour off-flavors depending upon the amount of entrained or chemically bound residual catalyst remaining after condensation of the sugar residues, that problem was addressed in subsequent patents, and polydextrose prepared with organic acid catalysis became widely used as a bulking agent. Hendrick and Reimer suggested in a later patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,644) that polydextrose and many other materials (including air and microcrystalline cellulose) might be employed as inner cores to be coated with a fat material for use as a low calorie fat substitute.
In 1977, Torres suggested that a modified polydextrose polymerized in the presence of a polyol in addition to dextrose provided a crosslinked product that could be mixed with .alpha.-cellulose and/or microcrystalline cellulose and flour to provide a farinaceous food composition that could be used in pastas and baked goods. Broadly speaking, his disclosed composition contained 20% to 75% modified polydextrose, 10% to 40% cellulose, and 5% to 20% flour. It was generally prepared by adding cellulose and flour to an aqueous solution of modified polydextrose and then drying the mixture using conventional methods.
Torres went on to disclose another flour substitute three years later in U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,580. This comprised purified plant cellulose such as crystalline .alpha.-cellulose or microcrystalline cellulose and/or non-digestible modified starch such as acid-or enzymatically-hydrolyzed starch combined with xanthan gum, and an emulsifier such as lecithin. Except for the emulsifier and gum choice, the composition resembled that described by Glicksman, et al., summarized above. This Torres flour substitute was prepared by first heating the emulsifier and thoroughly admixing it with the gum. The cellulose and/or starch was then added and the resultant mixture, blended until a homogeneous, free-flowing powder was obtained.
Non-digestible food carbohydrate and/or fat replacements prepared from starch were disclosed by Carrington and Halek the following year (U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,568). These were made by heating starch in the presence of di-or tri-carboxylic acids under reduced pressure. Products that were substantially insoluble were suggested as flour substitutes for baked products and pasta.
Low calorie baked products containing a non-digestible liquid polyol polyester such as sucrose polyester were disclosed by Robbins and Rodriguez in U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,782 in 1984. The starch component comprised from about 25% to about 85% microcrystalline cellulose or a mixture of microcrystalline cellulose and flour in a weight ratio of at least 1:1. An anti-anal leakage agent was added to the food recipes to prevent the objectionable gastrointestinal side effects of the synthetic fat ingredient.
From about 0.1% to about 10% cellulosic fiber, defined as including cellulose as well as modified cellulosic material including man-made fibers, were disclosed as a brownie ingredient in U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,099 to Feeney, et al. (1988). The recipe, which included other more conventional ingredients such as sugar, flour, shortening, and cocoa, was intended to provide superior moisture retention and texture of the brownies, but it also increased bar cookie height, and enhanced chocolate flavor intensity and tolerance to underbaking. To achieve the benefits of the invention, the cellulosic fiber was processed either by prehydration or co-milling with sugar prior to use in the formulation.
In a statutory invention registration in the early 1990's, Sloan disclosed that a dry blend of randomly-bonded polysaccharide and a cold-water-gelling granular starch was useful as a carbohydrate (and/or fat) replacement (H937). Flour, however, was the major component suggested for the bakery products of the invention. Premixes were also discussed.
About the same time, several other patents described even more specialized ingredients as flour substitutes or extenders. For example, Pflaumer, et al., disclosed that cookie recipes containing psyllium in partial replacement of flour were beneficial for gastrointestinal disorders and reduction of blood cholesterol levels (U.S. Pat. No. 4,9569,140). Cellulose hydrolysates of tamarind endosperm polysaccharides were disclosed as producing oligosaccharides that could be used as a substitute for the metabolizable carbohydrate components of processed foods in U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,387 to Whistler.
It would be desirable to have other low calorie flour substitutes, especially with attributes enabling their use in substitution of flour in baked products with relatively low moisture contents such as crackers and cookies suitable for mass distribution.

Physically coated cellulose as low calorie flour replacements


A dynamic predictor usable for rapid and accurate calculation of joint commands of an articulated dynamical mechanism describes the relationship between the joints in the form of a differential equation. The predictor solves this differential equation for predicted joint states by fitting a polynomial equation having free parameters describing the predicted joint states to the differential equations by minimizing the differential equation residuals. This minimization employs a series expansion allowing algorithmic differentiation.

The present invention relates to articulated mechanisms, such as but not limited to walking robots, and more particularly to a dynamic predictor for determining link positions along with displacements of multiple joints achieving those positions, being particularly useful when selected joints have relatively stiff springs such as bushings or other provisions for compliance in their attachment to adjoining links.
Articulated mechanisms such as walking robots or robot arms can be understood as a set of rigid links connected to each other by joints. The joints in these mechanisms may be associated with actuators such as motors to displace the joints directly or to apply forces effecting displacement of the joints, "passive" springs and dampers, along with sensors providing an indication of joint position. Common joints include so-called revolute joints acting like a hinge to provide rotation about an axis line and prismatic joints acting like a slide to provide translation along an axis direction. These types of joints are termed "lower-pairs". The absolute or global position of each link is determined by the sequence of connecting joints in the form of a kinematic chain where one joint is attached to and thus referenced to the "ground", which provides a global reference frame.
The effective control of such mechanisms is aided by an ability to mathematically predict the movement of the mechanism in response to commands sent to the various actuators. This prediction may be used to determine the necessary actuator positions to place one link at a particular location, to evaluate multiple control strategies, or to implement a control system employing a predictive model of a dynamic system within a feedback loop, in a feedforward or "open loop" controller, or other applicable control method. That dynamic system may be that of the physical robot or that of an augmented dynamic system formulated to effect known control algorithms.
The problem of determining the location of the link based on actuation of connecting joints (or the reverse), where that location is geometrically constrained by the joint displacements, is a kinematic problem and is discussed in detail in US patent application 2012/0303318 entitled "Kinematic Predictor For Articulated Mechanisms" assigned to the same assignee as the present application and hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. That application describes a computerized predictor for rapidly determining control parameters for articulated mechanisms on an automatic basis with a high degree of precision.
Generally, the kinematic predictor employs a system of kinematic differential equations modeling the articulated mechanism and whose solutions describe motion of rigid links connected by joints and forming closed kinematic loops. A desired motion of the end link in a robot arm can be represented by a "virtual joint" forming such a closed loop. These equations are solved by direct substitution of the equation variables with multi-term power series expressions. Each closed kinematic loop establishes a linear relationship between power series coefficients of the same order which allows formation of a system of independent, linearly related equations, the latter solvable by well known automatic techniques. Accuracy approaching the limit of precision of the computer may thereby be obtained by extending the number of power series terms treated.
For "dynamical" mechanisms, that is, mechanisms not completely kinematically constrained and where inertial, spring, damping, gravitational, and applied forces play a significant role in their operation, the proper prediction of link location and associated joint displacements requires a model that includes parameters describing moments of inertia associated with links along with spring and damping constants associated with the joints. These additional parameters may be characterized by the differential equations of the model using generally understood techniques.
When the articulated mechanism has "stiff" springs, for example rubber bushings or other sources of compliance with high spring rates, solving the differential equations by term expansions can prove problematic. This is because the magnitude of higher-order expansion terms does not diminish rapidly, requiring treatment of "large" numbers of expansion terms in order to obtain the necessary accuracy, where large can denote a number impractical to compute in the required time or where the required accuracy cannot be achieved owing to limitations of the numerical representation provided by the computer.

Dynamic predictor for articulated mechanisms


Disclosed is a variable capacity scroll compressor including a stationary scroll member on which a stationary spiral wrap is formed, an orbiting scroll member on which an orbiting spiral wrap is formed, the orbiting scroll member rotating while surface-contacting the stationary scroll, a driving motor, a driving shaft for rotating the orbiting scroll member using power transmitted from the driving motor, a control chamber formed on a predetermined portion of the stationary spiral wrap, a pivotal block disposed in the control chamber, and a controller for controlling a pivotal motion of the pivotal block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scroll compressor, and more particularly, to a variable capacity scroll compressor that is designed to vary a compression volume according to an operation mode of a system where it is applied.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a cooling system is applied to an air conditioner or a refrigerator to lower the temperature of an enclosed space by absorbing and discharging heat using refrigerant circulating a cooling cycle.
Such a cooling system is configured to perform a series of cycles of compression, condensation, expansion and vaporization of refrigerant. A scroll compressor is used to perform the compression cycle among the series of cycles.
Since the scroll compressor is disclosed in a plurality of published documents, the detailed description on the general structure and operation will be omitted herein.
The reason why the compression volume of a scroll compressor should be varied will be described hereinafter.
A scroll compressor for a specific use is generally selected by considering the most disadvantageous operation condition when forecasting its use environment, for instance, the greatest compression volume-requested condition (i.e., a heating operation of an air conditioner using heat pump).
However, it is general that the most disadvantageous condition does not nearly occur in an actual operation. In an actual operation of the compressor, a condition needing a small compression volume (ex. cooling operation of air conditioner) not the most disadvantageous condition exists too.
Thus, when the compressor having a large compression volume is selected considering the worst condition, the compressor is operated under the low-load condition during an operation period of the high-compression ratio, thereby deteriorating an overall operation efficiency of the system.
Therefore, in order to improve the overall operating efficiency even under a normal operating condition and to accept the operational condition under the most disadvantageous condition, there is a need for a compressor that has a variable compression volume.
To vary the compression volume of the scroll compressor, a method for electrically controlling an RPM of the compressor has been most widely used.
Such an electrical control method has an advantage of effectively varying the compression volume. However, additional components, for instance, an inverter for accurately controlling the RPM of a motor, are required. Furthermore, when the motor rotates with a relatively high RPM, it is difficult to ensure a reliability of frictional portions.


In some embodiments, reconfigurable tooling is provided having an array of actuator columns affixed to a support base. A programmable controller is configured to position the actuator columns. The reconfigurable tooling has a tooling surface which includes a variable stiffness surface capable of controllable states of stiffness, the variable stiffness surface being capable of being deformed by the actuator columns in a soften state, and rigid in a stiff state. In some embodiments, the variable stiffness surface is configurable multiple times.

A composite structure is fabricated on tooling. Generally, the tooling is made as one piece. Thus, the tooling, form, or mold, is fabricated, and then the composite structure is fabricated on top of the tooling. Tooling is typically one sided, but could be two sided.
Typically, to form a composite structure, the composite material is placed on the tooling, and then pressure/vacuum is applied to hold the composite material during curing of the composite material, i.e. epoxy, thermoset composite, thermoplastic composite etc. Thus, to make a composite structure, the tooling is fabricated first, and then the composite structure. This process can be costly, especially for prototyping where one or two parts is made. What is needed is reconfigurable tooling, that can be easily and precisely configured and reconfigured to suit a particular need.
In one prior approach, reconfigurable modular tooling is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,563 by Hoffman, herein incorporated by reference. A bed of pins is supported by a housing. Each pin is connected to a screw drive that allows the height of the entire array to be adjusted by a single motor that rasters across the unit. The work surface is defined by an array of "spring" heads which are mounted on ball joints and provide some degree of flexibility. A solid surface may be laid across these pins. In another approach, reconfigurable tooling is proposed for forming honeycomb cores in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,380, by Papazian et al., herein incorporated by reference. In this approach, an array of rectangular cross section pins define a three dimensional work surface. The heads of the pins can be made of various types of spring loaded devises. This approach exhibits a degree pixelation of a surface, and thus is used for forming honeycomb cores, rather than the composite panels themselves.
What is needed is reconfigurable tooling that can provide a high stiffness continuous tool surface and still provide a large envelope of potential tool shapes. A continuous tool surface provides a high quality part exterior surface and also allows vacuum processing tools to be used reducing need for additional finish machining and lowering fabrication costs. Moreover, what is needed is a way to better tailor the surface shape of reconfigurable tooling than is possible with conventional tooling. Furthermore, what is needed is a way to control the local stiffness of a reconfigurable tooling surface.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Reconfigurable tooling using variable stiffness material


A steel cord intended for use to reinforce rubber products is produced by drawing, into a steel filament of 0.10 to 0.40 mm in diameter and more than 3,000 N/mm.sup.2 in strength, a wire rod having a carbon content of more than 0.70% by weight, and twisting a plurality of such steel filaments together. Also a pneumatic tire is provided which employs in at least a portion of a reinforcing member thereof the steel cord improved in corrosion resistance and having an R.sub.1 /R.sub.0 ratio .times.100 which is less than 100, where R.sub.0 is the radius of spiral curvature of the spiraled steel filament resulting from untwisting said steel cord and R.sub.1 is the radius of spiral curvature of said steel filament of which the surface layer inside the spiral is removed by dissolving.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tire reinforcing steel cord and a pneumatic tire using the steel cord, and more particularly to a steel cord destined to reinforce the carcass and belt of a pneumatic tire and having a reduced weight and improved durability, and a pneumatic tire using the steel cord.
2. Description of the Prior Art
These days, a best possible gas mileage of the wheeled motor vehicles has been advocated for environmental protection of the earth. To this end, such vehicles are required to be as light as possible and thus the wheel tires should also be lighter. It has been tried in this field of industry to reduce the amount of steel cord used to reinforce the tire without making the sacrifice of the tire strength by improving the strength of the steel cord. Also, however, it is well-known that increase in tensile strength per unit sectional area of steel filaments forming together a steel cord will deteriorate the resistance to fatigue of the steel cord.
To improve the tire's resistance to fatigue, some proposals have so far been made in the field of industry. A typical one of them is disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (Heisei) 5-71084. According to this reference, a steel wire is manufactured by plating high-carbon steel filaments of which the carbon content is more than 0.6%, drawing them and using drawing dies of less than 8 degrees in approach angle at the end of the drawing process to reduce the axial residual tensile stress in the wire surface layer to less than 45 kg/mm.sup.2 as measured by the X-ray diffraction method.
However, this solution is not advantageous for the following reasons. Namely, straight steel filaments being twisted together are plastically deformed, causing a corresponding residual tensile stress in the surface layer inside the axis of the spiraled steel filaments which would result from untwisting of the steel cord, so that the steel cord thus obtained will not have so much improved resistance to corrosion fatigue.
Further, the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (Showa) 57-149578 discloses a metal wire which is said to have an improved mechanical-fatigue resistance attainable by compressing and evenly dispersing the residual stress in the outer surface layer. To improve the resistance to corrosion fatigue, this reference also proposes to use an alloy wire containing, as added thereto, an element which will impart an corrosion resistance to the wire rod for an intended steel cord, or to penetrate rubber into the steel cord in order to inhibit contact of the steel filaments with water.
However, since the steel cord is processed for a residual compressive stress to be imparted mainly to all the outer circumference of the steel cord, so the residual compressive stress will be caused mainly in the surface layer outside the spiral of the steel filaments. Thus the steel cord will not have the corrosion-fatigue resistance improved so much as expected at the depth thereof to which rubber cannot be easily penetrated. This is because no flyer processing of the steel cord is required after spiraling the steel filaments has caused at the outer surface thereof a sufficient residual compressive stress for a corrosion-fatigue resistance.
Penetration of rubber into the steel cord to prevent the steel filaments from getting in contact with water cannot effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the steel cord unless the rubber penetration is sufficient. Even if the rubber could be penetrated in a sufficient amount into the steel cord, a void or voids takes place in the boundary between the steel filaments and rubber unless the rubber is sufficiently adherent to the steel filaments. Such void or voids deteriorate the corrosion resistance of the steel cord.
On the other hand, the addition of the element which imparts a corrosion resistance to the wire rod will lead to increased manufacturing costs of the wire rod and deteriorate the elongation of the wire rod.
Furthermore, the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (Heisei) 3-104821 also discloses a method of producing a highly strong, high-ductility thin steel wire. According to this reference, a wet continuous drawing process is employed in which an increased number of drawing posts each using a die of which the taper angle is reduced to limit heat buildup in the process of drawing. However, this method is not advantageous in the low efficiency of drawing work.
Also the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (Heisei) 4-126605 discloses a method of designing a lighter tire without making the sacrifice of the tire durability, in which a steel cord made of a carbon steel containing carbon in 0.90 to 0.95% by weight and chromium in 0.10 to 0.40% by weight is used to reinforce the tire. A reduction of tire weight may be attained by using a reduced amount of wire rod for the steel rod, but there is a possibility that the tire durability may be correspondingly lower. Such selection of a carbon steel containing special ingredients will add to the manufacturing costs of the steel cord.
The conventional pneumatic tires for use with trucks and buses use as the carcass thereof a steel cord made of steel filaments each of 2,750 to 3,150N/mmn.sup.2 in tensile strength and formed in a two-layer twisted structure (3+9.times.0.23+1) or a three-layer twisted structure (3+9+1.5.times.0.175+1). However, if the steel cord is desired to have a structure of 3+9.times.0.21 in which the thinner steel cord is used to reduce the total weight of the tire, the number of steel cords encased in the carcass ply in the tire has to be increased to maintain the tire strength. As a result, the spacing between the steel cords in the carcass is too narrow, which causes the return end of the carcass ply to be broken more easily.
The tire is likely to be bruised deeply to near the steel cord by any projection on the surface or side wall of the road from time to time. Water may invade through the bruise into the tire and corrode the steel filaments, which will deteriorate the tire durability.
Further, a method also has been proposed in which the number of steel filaments forming the outer layer of a tire is reduced for a deeper penetration of rubber into the steel cord in order to prevent the steel filaments from being corroded. However, this method cannot attain any satisfactory effect unless the rubber is penetrated sufficiently deep into the steel cord. Even if the rubber is penetrated deeply, water the rubber itself contains will spoil the resistance of the steel filaments to corrosion fatigue.

Tire having corrosion resistant steel cord


Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a support for a catalyst of a fuel cell. The method may include preparing an admixture including a carbon material and a cerium precursor into a reactor, providing the admixture in a reactor, raising a temperature of the reactor to a predetermined temperature, and introducing water vapor into the reactor to perform an activation reaction of the carbon material.

Electrodes of a fuel cell include electrode catalysts, antioxidants, and ionomers. The electrode catalyst includes a support and a catalyst metal supported thereon.
The support is generally a carbon-based material, and in order to increase performance and durability of a membrane-electrode assembly, technologies for increasing a specific surface area and a pore size of the carbon-based material, controlling a shape thereof, and doping a heterogeneous element have being developed.
The antioxidant may be added by distributing a powder such as cerium oxide in an electrode slurry. However, when the antioxidant is not uniformly distributed and is added in the form of a powder, a particle size of the antioxidant may not be sufficient for improving chemical durability of a fuel cell.

Manufacturing method of support for catalyst of fuel cell


A network interface terminates communication between a disconnecting party (i.e., requesting a disconnect from the network interface) and a disconnected party in communication with the disconnecting party. The disconnecting and disconnected parties are connected to first and second networks, respectively. When receiving a disconnect request from the disconnecting party, the network interface initiates communication termination for the disconnecting party. If there is no buffered data to be transmitted to the disconnected party, the interface begins communication termination for the disconnected party. Otherwise, the interface transmits the buffered data to the disconnected party and then initiates communication termination for the disconnected party.

The present invention is directed to a network interface for providing complete reception of data by a disconnected party when a disconnecting party requests termination of the communication.
A conventional Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network is described in "The GSM System for Mobile Communications," M. Mouly and M. Pautet, 1992, which is incorporated herein by reference. Briefly, the GSM network operates under GSM data services and supports the connection of GSM data services to data services of other networks, for example Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs) and Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDNs). The GSM standards call for an InterWorking Function (IWF). The IWF provides Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) of the GSM network with protocol translation capabilities to interconnect GSM data services to data services of other networks. This protocol translation permits a data terminal connected to the GSM network to communicate with a data terminal connected to a PSTN or an ISDN, for example.
The data terminal, or terminal equipment, on the PSTN/ISDN side connects to the PSTN/ISDN via a modem or a terminal adaptor. The data terminal on the GSM network side, on the other hand, connects to the GSM network via a terminal adaptation function (TAF), a mobile station (MS), a radio channel between the MS and a base station system (BSS), and an "A-interface" between the BSS and an MSC. The MSC connects to the PSTN/ISDN, and has access to an internal or external IWF.
When establishing a data connection between the data terminals, data received from the PSTN/ISDN by the MSC goes to the IWF. The IWF converts data from the PSTN/ISDN to a form compatible with the A-interface, and sends the converted data back to the MSC for routing over the A-interface to the data terminal on the GSM side. The IWF also converts data received on the A-interface to a format compatible with the PSTN/ISDN data service for transmission to the PSTN/ISDN.
The IWF includes a memory for buffering the data arriving from the PSTN/ISDN to perform format conversion. This can lead to problems, however, when the PSTN/ISDN side initiates dropping the data connection (i.e., disconnection). The MSC normally responds to notification from the PSTN/ISDN that the connection has been dropped by immediately dropping the A-interface connection. This response, although appropriate for voice calls, can interrupt the A-interface while data destined for the data terminal on the GSM network side is still in the IWF memory. When this happens, some of the data destined for the data terminal on the GSM network side is lost.
A similar problem results when the data terminal on the GSM network side initiates dropping of the connection and there is data buffered in the IWF destined for the data terminal in the PSTN/ISDN network.

Network interface and method for providing complete reception of data


A pet food dispenser that includes two containers configured to receive and store pet food and/or water wherein the two containers are movable in a vertical direction. The pet food dispenser includes a housing having an upper portion and a lower portion wherein the upper portion includes an interior volume. Disposed in the interior volume of the upper portion is a drive assembly. The drive assembly includes a shaft, a drive pulley and a second pulley located at an opposing end of the shaft. A motor is operably coupled to the drive pulley and a belt operably couples the drive pulley and the second pulley. Container mounts are operably coupled to the shaft and the belt and are movable in conjunction with the directional movement of the belt. Support ring members are formed with the container mounts and are operable to receive and support the two containers.

Millions of individuals own pets and as a results must engage in the regular care and feeding thereof. Common household pets are dogs and cats and these animals are feed on a routine basis. The feeding of the aforementioned types of pets is often conducted utilizing bowls. Bowls of various types and sizes are utilized to receive and provide access to the contents disposed therein which is most often food and water. It is quite common for a pet owner to be required to consistently refill a water bowl through the day. Additionally, the pet owner will provide food to the pet at least twice a day.
One issue presented during the feeding of the pet is access to the bowl for both the pet and the pet owner. Conventional pet bowls are typically kept on the floor so as to provide access for the pets once contents have been dispose therein. For some pet owners, the physical requirements for accessing a bowl on a floor can be challenging. Many pet owners have physical limitations that make even this simple task difficult. While some pet bowls are available in stands for larger pets to access the ability to retrieve the bowl so as to place contents therein can be a challenge. Additionally, some pets that are taller need to have a bowl provided to them at a level that provides an improved angle for consumption of the contents disposed therein. A taller dog has improved consumption and digestion if a bowl is place at a level that is higher than that of the floor.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pet food bowl that provides the ability for a user to place a food or water bowl at a level that is higher than that of the floor in order to facilitate an improved ability to access for either the pet owner or the pet.


The present disclosure relates to a method of preparing a graphene metal nanoparticle-composite, including: preparing graphene by applying a shearing force to a first solution containing a graphite-based material and thus exfoliating the graphite-based material; preparing metal nanoparticles by applying a shearing force to a second solution containing a metal precursor, a capping agent, and a reducing agent; and physically combining the metal nanoparticles on the graphene by applying a shearing force to a third solution containing the graphene and the metal nanoparticles, and a graphene metal nanoparticle-composite prepared according to the method.

Graphene is a two-dimensional nanostructure of covalently bonded carbon atoms and exhibits excellent mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. A graphene flake includes single or several layers exfoliated from graphite, and has been reconstituted into a bulk structure having a high strength and a modulus exceeding that of flexible graphite.
The graphene can be applied in various forms. For example, the graphene may be combined with various materials such as metal or the like to prepare a graphene hybrid material and thus may be used as a material for sensors and electrodes. Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2010-0006880 discloses a method of preparing a polymer-carbon nanostructure composite, including: mixing carbon nanostructures formed of carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, or a mixture of CNT and graphene with a liquid medium to prepare a masterbatch suspension in which the carbon nanostructures are dispersed; melting a polymer material; and mixing the melted polymer material with the masterbatch suspension to prepare a polymer-carbon nanostructure composite, wherein the liquid medium is a polymeric processing additive including one or more selected from a plasticizer, a heat stabilizer, a UV stabilizer, a flame retardant, a foaming agent, and an impact modifier.
Recently, various attempts to uniformly distribute a material such as metal on graphene in a short time have been made.

GACHON UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION


A method of operating an oil well comprises applying through a variable frequency drive AC electrical energy from a power grid to an AC electric motor to operate a drive mechanism of an oil well pump. The motor speed is regulated in a manner to optimize oil production and maximize the operational life of the drive mechanism, decreasing motor speed by transferring the electrical energy to the power grid and increasing motor speed by transferring the electrical energy from the power grid to the motor. The drive mechanism has a predetermined stroke cycle and, over the course of each stroke cycle, the motor is operated at different regulated speeds initiated when the drive mechanism is at a predetermined position in each stroke cycle.

In the production of oil a pumping unit is driven by an alternating current (AC) electric motor energized by alternating current from an AC electric power grid to pump oil from the oil well. A well manager unit is used to monitor and regulate the operation of the well in response to conditions in the well. For example, well parameters such as the speed of the motor, the amount of fill of the pump, amount of gas in the well, down-hole well pressure, etc. are monitored and controlled as required. The commonly used rod pumps are a long-stroke pumping unit and a beam pumping unit. In both cases, it is necessary to regulate the speed of the electric motor to avoid creating compression of the pumping unit's rod or otherwise damaging equipment. This may require braking to slow the motor speed and then increasing the motor speed, depending on the position of the rod during the course of each stroke cycle. Each stroke cycle includes an upstroke to a predetermined top rod position where the direction of movement of the rod reverses and begins a downstroke until the rod reaches a predetermined bottom rod position. Then the rod's upstroke is again initiated. Normally braking is accomplished by directing excess electrical energy through resistors that dissipate this electrical energy as heat to the surrounding environment. This, however, is a fire hazard. It is also a waste of electrical energy.
This background discussion is not intended to be an admission of prior art.

Pump control device, oil well with device and method


Disclosed are a novel diimmonium-based compound that has low light absorption in visible light region and has superior light absorption efficiency in near infrared region, and has superior durability and weatherability, and a near infrared absorption filter using the same. The diimmonium-based compound is represented by the formula 1 of claim 1.

Energy saving materials are actively developed and applied in all industry area due to the situation of energy source which reached the limit. In general, a near infrared ray absorbing material (pigment) is used in order to prevent electronic devices from malfunctioning by interrupting the near infrared ray generated in the electronic devices. However, when attaching a film containing the material to a window, it can absorb part of sunlight, thereby reducing heat exchange between inside and outside, and thus prevent excessive rise and drop in room temperature. Accordingly, such a near infrared absorbing material can be used as a representative energy saving material, and is actively applied in construction and automobile industry. The near infrared absorbing material used in the film to be attached to a window of an automobile or a construction should have superior performance in absorbing the near infrared ray simultaneously with minimum absorbance at visible light region. That is because when a near infrared absorbing material having high absorbance at visible light region is used in the film to be attached to a window of an automobile or a construction, the automobile driver's view may become blurred or the house may command a bad view, and additional energy for internal light collection may be demanded or its color may be not natural.
Representative near infrared absorbing materials (pigments) include a diimmonium-based material (compound), a phthalocyanine-based material, a cyanine-based material and a metal dithiolene-based material, etc. However, there are little material that can be applied to a window and an electronic devices, etc. of a real automobile or a construction due to their physical or chemical properties in addition to the optical properties. The phthalocyanine-based material, which is the representative near infrared absorbing material, is actively applied for electronic devices including display due to its chemical stability. But the phthalocyanine-based material has a drawback in that it cannot be applied alone for a film, etc. for an automobile window because it has high absorbance in visible light region. The cyanine-based material has a drawback in that it has low chemical stability, and has narrow widths of the near infrared region which it can absorb alone, thus for actual application, the absorbing regions should be widened by mixing several materials. Further, the metal dithiolene-based material absorbs near infrared ray highly, but has a drawback in that it requires dispersion equipments, etc. for applying to a film due to its low solubility and is difficult to apply for a use requiring high transmittance.
However, the diimmonium-based material has characteristics that it absorbs near infrared ray at wide region, and hardly absorbs at the whole region of visible light, and thus even only single material can absorb the whole region of near infrared ray. Further, the diimmonium-based material has been often used conventionally in the window market of an automobile and a house since it has chemical stability and superior solubility to various organic solvent, and thus is easy to apply to a process. The main construction of the diimmonium-based near infrared absorbing material is comprised of cations having diimmonium structure and various anions. Representative anions include a halogen ion such as fluorine, chlorine and bromine, an inorganic-atom-containing ion such as hexafluoroantimonate ion, hyperchlorate ion and tetrafluoroborate ion, and an organic carbonate ion such as acetate ion and lactate ion, and these were initially used. Recently, an anion such as bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ion and bis(pentafluoroethanesulfonyl) imide ion is much used. However, the diimmonium-based compounds which use the halogen ions as anions are difficult to apply to the process which uses them as a near infrared absorbing material, due to solubility problem. The organic carbonate ion is difficult to use actually since its solubility to water is high, thereby rendering yield control difficult in producing the diimmonium-based compound, and causing weatherability problem to a product. Further, anion material which is recently used widely, for example, the fluoroantimonic acid ions can be used as a near infrared absorbing material by their proper properties, but is not proper to use in a place closely related to human residential environment such as a house and an automobile since toxic material such as hydrofluoric acid can be emitted due to the fluorine atom present in the material, and the durability of the product (film, etc.) can be reduced by hydrofluoric acid.

Diimmonium-based component and near infrared absorption filter using same


To provide a consistent, high-speed, high-precision measurement method based on an electron beam simulation by reflecting the apparatus characteristics of a CD-SEM in an electron beam simulation, the present invention discloses a method for measuring a measurement target pattern with a CD-SEM, the method comprising the steps of performing an electron beam simulation on various target pattern shapes, which is reflected apparatus characteristic and image acquisition conditions; creating SEM simulated waveforms; storing a combination of the created SEM simulated waveforms and pattern shape information corresponding to the created SEM simulated waveforms as a library; comparing an acquired actual electron microscope image with the SEM simulated waveforms; selecting the SEM simulated waveform that is most similar to the actual electron microscope image; and estimating the shape of the measurement target pattern from the pattern shape information corresponding to the selected SEM simulated waveform.

The present invention relates to a method and system for evaluating the shape of a circuit pattern, which is formed on a wafer during a semiconductor manufacturing process, by using an electron microscope image of the circuit pattern, which is obtained by an electron microscope, and more particularly to a method for measuring a measurement target pattern with an electron microscope.
In a semiconductor wafer manufacturing process, a multilayer pattern formed on a wafer has been rapidly rendered microscopic. Therefore, process monitoring for checking whether the pattern is formed on the wafer in compliance with design specifications has become increasingly important. The wiring widths of transistor gate wiring patterns and other similar wiring patterns are significantly associated with device performance. Therefore, it is particularly important that a wiring manufacturing process for such wiring patterns be properly monitored.
A critical dimension scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM), which is capable of picking up a wiring image at magnifications of 100000× to 200000×, has been conventionally used as a tool for measuring the wiring width of a microscopic wiring on the order of several tens of nanometers.
An example of a length measurement process performed with a scanning electron microscope is described in Japanese Patent JP-A No. 316115/1999. The process disclosed by Japanese Patent JP-A No. 316115/1999 examines a local region within an image of a measurement target wiring, creates a projection profile by averaging a wiring signal profile in a longitudinal direction of wiring, and calculates a wiring dimension as the distance between right- and left-hand wiring edges detected in the created profile.
However, as disclosed by J. S. Villarrubia, A. E. Vladar, J. R. Lowney, and M. T. Postek, "Scanning electron microscope analog of scatterometry," Proc. SPIE 4689, pp. 304-312 (2002) (hereinafter referred to Proc. SPIE 4689), the SEM signal waveform changes in accordance with a change in the shape of a target pattern to be measured. This causes a measurement error. As semiconductor patterns are becoming increasingly microscopic, the influence of such a measurement error on process monitoring is becoming greater. A method for reducing such a measurement error is disclosed by J. S. Villarrubia, A. E. Vladar, and M. T. Postek, "A simulation study of repeatability and bias in the CD-SEM," Proc. SPIE 5038, pp. 138-149, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as Proc. SPIE 5038). This method performs a simulation in advance to calculate the relationship between a pattern shape and SEM signal waveform and uses the obtained calculation results to make high-precision measurements that are not dependent on a target shape.

Method for measuring a pattern dimension using a scanning electron microscope


An apparatus and system are disclosed for real-time monitoring and control of field assets. A monitoring device may be coupled to a field asset to determine the occurrence of one or more error conditions. Error conditions may be detected either as they occur or by testing the field asset at timed intervals. Upon detection of one or more error conditions, the monitoring device may initiate one or more corrective sequences to resolve the error condition. Alternatively, the monitoring device may notify a network operations center of the detected error condition. Users may access the network operations center via an Internet-enabled remote device. From the Internet-enabled remote device, the user may view status information concerning one or more field assets. The user may also use the Internet-enabled remote device to instruct the network operations center to issue commands to be executed by the monitoring device such that the error conditions on the field asset may be corrected.

Businesses in which the assets responsible for the generation of revenues are dispersed over wide geographic regions have existed for many years. For example, a vending machine operator may have hundreds of vending machines located at schools, office buildings, etc. across a large metropolitan area. Similarly, many oil companies are known to own and operate numerous oil wells located amongst multiple states if not also across multiple continents.
Managing such dispersed field assets generally requires a significant amount of resources. Typically, a technician travels a service route that takes him to each of the vending machines in the vending business operator's network. Such a service method may have the technician returning to a vending machine only once every month. As such, great expenditures of time and money are likely to be incurred in order to effect proper maintenance of each of the field assets.
In addition to the significant resources needed to effectively manage such distributed asset businesses, there also exists a substantial risk for lost revenues. For example, if a field asset becomes disabled shortly after a technician visit, it may be some time before the technician returns to the disabled asset to discover and render the needed repairs. During the down time of the field asset, no revenues can be generated by the disabled asset. Similarly, if a vending machine should deplete its inventory, that vending machine will not be able to generate revenues until a technician returns and restocks the inventory.

Real-time alert mechanism for monitoring and controlling field assets via wireless and internet technologies


An optical information recording/reproducing device is provided with a first light source 20a for emitting recording light 22a, a second light source 20b for emitting reproducing light 22b, an objective lens 6 for focusing the emitted lights from the both light sources 20a, 20b on an information recording medium including a recording region 3 capable of three-dimensional recording and photodetectors 19a, 19b for detecting reflected lights 7a′, 7b′ from the information recording medium, and records information on recording layers 1a to 1e utilizing a nonlinear absorption phenomenon. At the objective lens 6, an average rim intensity of the recording light 7a is lower than that of the reproducing light 7b.

Optical memories using optical discs such as compact discs (CD) and DVDs, optical cards and the like as media are utilized as optical information recording/reproducing device. In order to realize larger capacity for recording information, an optical information recording/reproducing device for recording/reproducing information on/from a multi-layer information recording medium including a plurality of recording layers so as to be capable of three-dimensional recording as shown in FIG. 14 is disclosed in non-patent literature 1.
An optical disc 121 is such an information recording medium that recording layers 101a to 101d using a urethane-urea copolymer material as a photon-mode recording material and intermediate layers 102a to 102c using PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) films and PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) films are alternately formed on a transparent substrate 104 of glass.
Light 122a emitted as parallel light from a recording light source 120a including a Ti sapphire laser and having a wavelength of 790 nm and a large peak power passes through a beam splitter 118a and has the beam diameter thereof expanded by a beam expander 123. Expanded light 108 passes through a beam splitter 118b and is focused (convergent light 107) on the desired recording layer 101c of the multi-layer optical disc 121 by an objective lens 106 to be recorded as a recording pit 105 utilizing a nonlinear phenomenon such as a two-photon absorption process.
Light 122b emitted as parallel light from a reproducing light source 120b including a He—Ne laser and having a wavelength of 0.6328 μm and a small peak power is focused on the recording pit 105 of the desired recording layer 110c by the objective lens 106 in the same manner as above (convergent light 107). The reflected light is bent in an X-axis direction by the beam splitter 118b and focused by a detection lens 111, passes through a pinhole 114 arranged at a focal position of the detection lens 111 and is detected by a photodetector 119, whereby a signal can be reproduced.
However, the Ti sapphire laser is used for the recording light source and the He—Ne laser is used for the reproducing light source in non-patent literature 1, which leads to the enlargement of the device and higher cost. Thus, it is practically desirable to use small-size semiconductor lasers as both recording and reproducing light sources, and the use of the semiconductor lasers enables the miniaturization and cost reduction of the optical information recording/reproducing device. However, if the semiconductor laser light sources are used on conditions similar to those for normal optical disc drives such as DVD drives, light quantity necessary for nonlinear recording cannot be obtained since there is a limit in peak power as compared to the Ti sapphire laser.
In nonlinear recording such as two-photon absorption recording, multiphoton absorption recording and plasma absorption recording, the sensitivity of an information recording medium nonlinearly increases as the peak power of recording light focused on the information recording medium increases since a nonlinear characteristic is utilized. For example, in the two-photon absorption recording, recording sensitivity has a square characteristic (n-th power characteristic in n-photon recording), wherefore recording sensitivity increases to the fourfold of the square if the peak power of recording light doubles. Accordingly, in order to use a semiconductor laser having a limit in the peak power of emitted light as compared to the Ti sapphire laser, it is desirable to introduce a focused spot of the recording light focused on a recording layer to an objective lens as efficiently as possible without deteriorating optical characteristics of the focused spot (without making the effective focused spot size of the recording light too much larger than the focused spot size of reproducing light). However, in order to obtain a light quantity necessary for nonlinear recording, the effective focused spot size of the recording light has to be set larger than the focused spot size of the reproducing light if semiconductor laser light sources are used on conditions similar to those for a normal optical disc drive such as a DVD drive, wherefore the spot diameter of the reproducing light and that of the recording light cannot be balanced.
[Non-Patent Literature 1]
    "Three-Dimensional Optical Memory Using a Femtosecond Laser" by Yoshimasa Kawada, Optronics No. 11, pp. 138-142 (2001).

Optical information recording/reproducing device


A user manages a database or other application through a remote graphical user interface on a server device through a client device. A cross platform database translation module resides on the client device. The client device may also store cross platform authentication, configuration, and report generating modules for validating a user id and presenting database results in a desirable format. The modules on the client device request applications from a server device, may request validation from an authorization server, may configure embedded devices, and may query a database. The database may reside on a server, on the client device, or on another device.

Database processing has changed over time. Years ago, mainframe based database processing was dominant. The display program was stored on the mainframe and sent to the terminal. Database requests were sent from the terminal that then drew a new screen. Database processing was very slow and cumbersome. In the next generation of database processing, the display program resided on the personal computer (PC) (i.e., client or user device). Database requests were sent to a remote or local database server. The program resident on the PC displayed the results. Database processing speed improved, but continued to be slow. The third generation of database processing involved the repetitive transmittal and receipt of an HTML form between a PC and a web server that accesses the database. Again, database processing speed improved, but was slow. The fourth and current generation of database processing is JAVA/.NET. The java JCODE is down loaded to browser Java Machine. This JCODE code contains the database access code. Problems with JAVA/.NET include large memory requirements for the large code size and unsatisfactorily slow processing.
Aside from the less than desired processing speed and large memory requirements, current network based database systems and methods are subject to various problems such as maintenance costs, security violations, and a lack of adaptability. Maintenance costs for updating all copies of an application when an update becomes available. Storing application programs on the user device poses a security risk through hacking. These applications require a certain amount of user device memory to store application programs permanently or as provided by a server device. The updating is a labor intensive process and costly. Furthermore, network devices, such as printers and routers, are cumbersome to configure.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a low maintenance, secure, lightweight, easily configurable, and reusable method and system for accessing a database.

Portable cross platform database accessing method and system


A layered syndicated feed or content is provided having layers defined according to a media type (e.g., text, graphic, audio, or video) wherein each layer has a plurality of levels such that each level provides either inclusive or exclusive content of the layer's media type in varying degrees of detail or depth. Furthermore, a system is provided for requesting and storing user and mobile device profiles indicative of the syndicated content layers and levels that the user is interested in receiving and that the user's mobile device is capable of receiving.

The emergence of content syndication technologies such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and weblogs (a.k.a. blogs) has helped transform the web into an interface platform that competes with traditional news media for timely content publication, aggregation, and delivery. RSS is a web content syndication format and a dialect of XML. All RSS files must conform to the XML 1.0 specification, as published in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) web site.
The creation and user consumption of timely blog updates are done, for the most part, manually, on desktop computers today. Moreover, many valuable information sources are not yet available as or integrated with RSS sources or other blogging tools. Furthermore, mobile users want to be able to fully participate in the web 2.0 phenomena by having the ability to publish and access timely newsworthy updates directly from their mobile devices.
The emergence of using RSS technologies along with weblogs to spread timely and personalized information on the Internet has presented challenges to traditional news and media industries. More and more Internet users are finding that they can acquire information updates from RSS sources and blog sites faster and easier than before, rather than remembering to fetch updates on a daily basis. Bloggers can configure their RSS browser to automatically check for specified news updates. Since the update's format is machine readable, the site can present the results in a summarized format for display to the bloggers. This acquisition and display process (e.g., displaying news headlines with individual items sorted by time) allows a user to completely customize a fetched site and have it automatically updated on an ongoing basis. Presently, a desktop user can easily use an Internet based browser such as Flock (http://www.flock.com), with an imbedded RSS reader, to aggregate several RSS feeds (such as news sources from CNN, CNET News, New York Times, etc.) An aggregator or news aggregator is a type of computer program (such as application software or a web application) that collects syndicated web content, such as RSS information and XML feeds from weblogs or other RSS sources.
As discussed above, RSS is a format for syndicating content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, CNN, Wall Street Journal, and personal weblogs. RSS is not just for news. Just about any content can be divided into discrete items or entries that can be syndicated via RSS. That is, content that can be composed of text media, video media, audio media, and image media can also be published in a RSS content format. When information about an RSS item is placed in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed periodically for desired information updates and react to the desired information by accessing or extracting the information and providing it to a user on, for example, his or her personal computer.
Looking at a brief history of RSS, the name "RSS" is an umbrella term for a format that spans several different versions of at least two different (but parallel) formats. The original RSS, Version 0.90, was designed by Netscape as a format for building portals of headlines to mainstream news sites. This original RSS was deemed overly complex for its goals; a simpler version, 0.91, was proposed at Netscape and subsequently dropped when Netscape lost interest in the portal-making business. But, 0.91 was picked up by another vendor, UserLand Software, which intended to use this version of RSS as a basis of its weblogging products and other web-based writing software.
In the meantime, a third non-commercial group split off and designed a new format of RSS. This new format, which is based on RDF, is called RSS 1.0. Note that, UserLand was not involved in designing this 1.0 format and, as an advocate of simplifying 0.90, UserLand was not happy when RSS 1.0 was announced. Instead of accepting RSS 1.0, UserLand continued to evolve the 0.9x branch of RSS through versions 0.92, 0.93, 0.94 and finally 2.0.
Essentially an RSS feed, regardless of its version, comprises a channel, which has a title, link, description, and (optionally) a language designation, followed by a series of items. Each of the items following the channel comprises at least a title, a link and a description of the content.
Present day RSS content is created mostly for a desktop computer environment. Mobile device users would like to obtain RSS feeds through their mobile devices, but many forms of RSS content are unsuitable for presentation to mobile users on their devices because of the resource constraints of a user's mobile device. Furthermore, a mobile user would like to control the level of content detail according to his or her individual needs or interests. Sometimes a user may want a brief amount of content; however, sometimes the user may want more detailed content. Since present-day RSS content only provides a single level of content detail for each item within an RSS feed, direct RSS content adaptation to mobile device formats does not provide an adequate solution for providing RSS content to mobile devices with the flexibility required by the users and their devices.
Thus, what is needed is a type of syndicated content format that is managed in layers of content, wherein each layer may be formatted for a different type of data content and wherein the layers may also contain levels of varying content-detail so that different content formats of different levels of detail can be provided or generated for a mobile device according to user's preferences and to the mobile device's constraints and limitations.

Method for creating and providing layered syndicated data for multimedia content to users


An estimated fuel consumption may be determined for a route for a vehicle. At least in part based on the estimated fuel consumption, it may be determined that an amount of fuel in the vehicle is insufficient for the vehicle to traverse the route and/or one or more waypoints may be identified within a predetermined distance of the route, e.g., waypoints for refueling the vehicle. The estimated fuel consumption may be determined in a computer system included in the vehicle.

Given a specified starting point, and a specified destination, or end, point, a vehicle navigation system may generate a suggested route for a vehicle. For example, a vehicle navigation system or other route generating system may generate a route to optimize travel time, minimize distance traveled, etc. However, vehicle navigation systems are not configured to take into account certain data obtainable concerning a vehicle's history and present status, and further are not configured to take into account certain factors that may be relevant to an planning a vehicle route. For example, current mechanisms for determining a vehicle's fuel status, and for adjusting a route, selecting waypoints, etc., are lacking.


A support bar for adjustably mounting accessories such a theatrical lamps wherein the bar is preferably formed of extruded aluminum and the bar is hollow with a closed interior electrical raceway for electrical cables extending the length of the bar and is isolated from a quadrilateral opening extending the length of the bar that communicates with the quadrilateral opening and the exterior of the bar. Adjustable mounting means extend from the lamps into the quadrilateral opening to mount the accessory and to allow sliding movement thereof within the bar.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a support bar for adjustably mounted accessories and particularly to an extruded support bar for electric lights such as theatrical lamps and adapted to receive electric wiring therein. Also the support bar may serve as a conduit for wires such as fiber optic wiring without departing from the spirit of the invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior to the present invention theatrical lights for motion picture sound stages and theatrical stages consisted of an elongated hollow tube that was preferably horizontally mounted with a series of holes bored diametrically through the tube. When it was desired to mount a theatrical light or lamp that included a mounting bracket a bolt passed through the diametric bores and a nut held the lamp in place.
The wires running to the lamp passed within the tube and exited a bore near the mounting holes.
The disadvantage of this arrangement has been that there was no true adjustability of the lamp on the bar. If the lamp has to be moved the bolt and nut must be removed and inserted in another of a series of mounting holes.
In other words the positioning of the lamps along the bar were at the control of the locations of the mounting holes. If there were no mounting holes at the location on the bar where the lamp should be mounted the exact desired position could not be achieved.
Further, with the light bar being drilled with a series of diametric mounting holes the structural integrity of the bar was weakened. With a series of lamps suspended from the bar and such weakness occurs the bar could break.
Also with the prior art lighting bars the electrical wires passing through the bar and not being separated or in separate cable compartments or electrical raceways just add to the chances of shorting and other electrical problems.
In addition, in camera mounting bars for vehicles in the motion picture business again diametric holes are provided, but true adjustability of the cameras or lamps on the exterior of the vehicle for interior vehicle shots is limited.
Further, with prior art camera mounting bars the bar can also achieve structural weaknesses causing collapse of the same. This is particularly true with the weight of conventional motion picture cameras.

Support bar for adjustably mounted accessories


A system for channel access in Long Term Evolution (LTE) License-Assisted Access (LAA) is disclosed. The system includes a controller and a plurality of radio points. A level one radio point transmits a first reservation signal in response to a first backoff counter reaching zero. The first reservation signal indicates that the level one radio point will begin a first transmission of a first duration starting in a next subframe. A candidate level two radio point receives the first reservation signal and determines whether the candidate level two radio point received the first reservation signal with a signal to interference noise ratio (SINR) that exceeds a reservation detection threshold for the candidate level two radio point.

The exponential growth in demand for capacity of traditional licensed spectrum cellular network is fueling industrial, academic and standardization efforts to achieve innovative solutions that helps to meet the forecasted requirements for next generation networks. Licensed spectrum under 6 GHz is scarce, while there is a large amount of unlicensed spectrum underutilized in the 5 GHz band. This situation motivated interest in the use of unlicensed spectrum for cellular communications.
Particularly prominent has been the idea of using unlicensed spectrum to assist downlink in licensed Long Term Evolution (LTE) communications. Also known as Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), this technique may exploit the readily available carrier aggregation techniques of LTE to use an LTE license band supporting downlink, uplink, signaling and authentication, combined with one (or more) unlicensed bands to support the user downlink. Thus, LAA may enhance coverage, increase performance, and benefit mobility management. Unlicensed spectrum carrier aggregation allows users to combine licensed and unlicensed spectrum to boost their communications, versus the current scheme, in which users must choose among different technologies to make use of both types of spectrum.
The use of the readily-available and free-to-transmit unlicensed spectrum creates an opportunity for a distributed and technology-oblivious mechanism to share the channel by controlling access. Channel access procedures for LAA are standardized in LTE Release 13, which includes the use of a coexistence mechanism known as Listen Before Talk (LBT) to ensure fair channel access between LTE and other technologies operating in the 5 GHz band, such as Wi-Fi or Zigbee.
Other access mechanisms, such as discontinuous transmissions, are also being developed to be implemented in regions which are not expected to meet LBT requirements, e.g., Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) radio bands 5.15 GHz-5.85 GHz regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and specially propelled by the LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) Forum. This forum is an industrial partnership that generated the technical specifications of 5 GHz supplemental downlink assistance for unlicensed LTE (LTE-U) and exemplifies the outstanding interest of the industry. Although LAA is not widely in use, various commercial networks are performing live tests, and mobile devices are beginning to include LTE-U compatibility.
However, LAA is not designed for use with a base station (more specifically, an LTE Evolved Node B or "eNodeB" or "eNB") that is implemented using a distributed architecture. Typically, such a distributed architecture uses a centralized controller and multiple distributed radio points. This architecture is also referred to as a "cloud" or "centralized" radio access network or "C-RAN." Therefore, there is a need for a Coordinated Listen Before Talk (C-LBT) mechanism for LAA that can utilize the distributed architecture of a C-RAN.

Coordinated listen before talk (C-LBT) for long term evolution (LTE) licensed-assisted access (LAA)


A module for executing SCSI commands. The module includes a computer process, and communicates with a SCSI bus, which carries SCSI commands. Ordinarily, the SCSI commands cause specific actions in SCSI devices: for example, a given SCSI command may cause a SCSI printer to eject a sheet of paper. The module also responds to the SCSI commands, but in a manner determined by its programming, and not necessarily consistent with SCSI conventions. For example, the module may respond to the command just identified by looking up the time-of-day, and presenting the time-of-day to the SCSI bus, for any interested parties to observe.

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic which depicts one mode of operation of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), which is a commercially available communication protocol. Hardware components, including a computer 3, a fixed disc drive 6, a printer 9, and other components 12A-12C, are connected to a SCSI bus 15. As an example of operation, when the computer 3 wishes to retrieve data from the disc drive 6, the computer 3 places the "name" of the disc drive 6 onto the SCSI bus 15, followed by the appropriate commands. All components connected to the SCSI bus 15 "hear" the name, but only the disc drive 6 responds to the commands.
These commands are taken from a pre-defined set of SCSI commands. Some of the hardware components in FIG. 1 are "SCSI devices;" they are specifically designed to recognize, and respond to, SCSI commands. All of the devices in FIG. 1, except the computer 3, are assumed to be SCSI devices.
As shown in FIG. 2, all SCSI devices contain a Low Level Driver, LLD, which runs on a processor (not shown) contained within each device. Each LLD receives the SCSI commands from the SCSI bus 15, and, in response, issues the appropriate internal commands to its respective device.
The computer 3 is not a SCSI target. Although some computers are equipped to interact with each other using a SCSI bus, the generalized computer 3 is not supplied with equipment to do so.
A second reason that the computer 3 does not interact with SCSI devices directly is that the internal busses of different types of computer can be different, even if the computers conform to a common architecture, such as the "Personal Computer" architecture established by IBM Corporation. For example, the bus structure of a Personal Computer running an 8086 processor is different from that of a Personal Computer running a '486 processor.
In addition, these mutually different bus structures are, almost certainly, different from the structure of the SCSI bus 15. Therefore, even if a person wanted to connect the generalized computer 3 directly to the SCSI bus 15, extreme difficulties would be encountered.
To resolve this incompatibility, the computer 3 is equipped with an adapter card 21 in FIG. 2. This adapter 21 allows the computer's internal system bus to communicate with the SCSI bus 15.
The adapter 21 lies between the computer 3 and the SCSI bus 15. The adapter communicates with the SCSI bus 15 using commands taken from the SCSI command set. However, the adapter communicates with the computer 3 using commands taken from a different command set, which is determined by the manufacturer of the adapter. The adapter translates between the two command sets.
The low-level drivers LLD also act as translators, in a sense. That is, the SCSI commands are multi-bit words. However, in many instances, a multi-bit SCSI command is used to execute a simple operation within a component, such as printer 9. A multi-bit SCSI command may cause a switch closure, which a single-bit command can handle. One function of the low-level drivers LLD is to translate the multi-bit SCSI commands into individual single-bit commands, when necessary.
Therefore, this simplified background has illustrated the following:
1. Computer 3 selects a hardware component by placing a name onto the SCSI bus. PA1 2. All components connected to the SCSI bus hear the name, but only the named component responds to commands which follow the name. PA1 3. SCSI commands are transmitted to the named component, along the SCSI bus. PA1 4. Formulation of the SCSI commands, at the computer, generally requires a translation from one command set, into the SCSI set, through an adapter. PA1 5. Another type of translation occurs at the hardware receiving the SCSI commands, to make the commands understandable to the hardware.
The present invention utilizes the framework of the SCSI bus and command set, in order provide additional functionality, in the form of a Target Service Module TSM in FIG. 3. The TSM is a software device which is able to fully exploit the program-handling capability of the processor on which it runs, both in terms of speed and memory.

Virtual device for performing an operation in response to a SCSI command different than the operation of a SCSI device responding to the SCSI command


A game has the potential for multiple levels. Each level comprises a symbol matching event in which a set of base symbols are compared against a set of game symbol for potential matches. If a required minimum number of matches or another event is realized, the game may continue to the next level. The game symbols may be displayed in rows, such as rows of a matrix having m rows by n columns. The base symbols may then be displayed in a row having n positions, where the base symbol in an individual nth position is compared to the corresponding game symbol in the same nth position. The game may be played as a wagering game offering awards for individual symbol matches or matches of patterns of symbols in the matrix. The game may include additional features such as wild symbols, automatic advance features and mystery bonuses.

Wager and amusement gaming continues to grow in popularity. Nonetheless, casinos and other establishments that offer wager based gaming face the challenge of developing new and exciting games in order to maintain player interest. One example of a popular game which is presented in both amusement and wager-based formats is the game of SLINGO (registered trademark of Slingo, Inc.). This game was originally developed well over a decade ago and is the subject of numerous patents. However, in order to not only maintain the interest of existing players of the original game but to draw additional players to the game, the inventors herein have developed a new and exciting version of the game which implements a new game play mechanic and new game play features as compared to the original game.

Gaming machine and game having sequential symbol matching feature


Physical training systems that may promote effective technique and strength training for various sports, as well as general strength and fitness training. Apparatus may require a user to push and lift in a coordinated manner to effectively overcome inertia and rolling resistance. The training apparatus may include a cylindrical core portion and compliant outer portion located on an outer surface of the core portion. In use, the training apparatus may rotate around a center axis of the core portion when a sufficient force, exceeding a resistance level, is received by the training apparatus (e.g., as a result of a user exercising proper technique in applying force to the training apparatus). The resistance level may be a result of a configurable amount of ballast contained within the apparatus.

This disclosure relates generally physical training equipment, and more specifically to exercise and sports training equipment. Various embodiments of the present disclosure are well-suited to strength and technique training, particularly as relating to football.
Various sports, such as football, rugby, wrestling, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and baseball may require an athlete to exert force to move an opposing athlete, or to resist the opposing athlete's movement. For example, a football player may be called upon to block an opposing player, or to resist an opposing player's efforts to block that that particular player. Similarly, a baseball catcher attempting to tag a base runner may be called upon to resist the base runner's efforts to collide with the catcher with sufficient force to dislodge the baseball from the catcher's grasp.
Many similar situations exists throughout various sports. In such situations, an untrained athlete often will push with a horizontal force, without the benefit of lowering his or her center of gravity by bending at the knees. In contrast, a well-trained athlete learns through instruction and repetitive training to bend the knees, roll the hips, and to push and lift in order to more effectively move or stifle the movement of the opposing athlete. Subsequently, when tasked with moving the opposing athlete, the well-trained athlete will continue pushing and lifting while moving forward with knees bent, a lowered center of gravity, and a well-coordinated movement involving the hands, arms, feet, and hips to continue to effectively move the opposing athlete.


The present invention provides a rotating bed for medical care, which includes: a bed frame structure, a bed body structure as well as a pivotal turning structure. The bed frame structure includes a fixed support. The bed body structure includes a connecting support, and the connecting support is located on top of the fixed support. The pivotal turning device includes a rotating axis that is fixed on the connecting support and a starting unit that is in connection with the bed frame structure. Moreover, the rotating axis includes a plurality of pivoted arms. The starting unit includes an extendable element that is able to drive the rotation of the plurality of pivoted arms, whereby when the length of the extendable element of the starting unit is extended or retracted, the plurality of pivoted arms rotate while encircling the core of the rotating axis as a result of the extendable element extending or retracting its length, and this has the effect of driving the rotation of the bed body structure at the same time, so as to enable the bed body structure located in between the deflected position that projects from a side of the bed frame structure and a placement position that does not project from a side of the bed frame structure to rotate back and forth. The present invention is able to assist the patients to get into and out of bed with convenience, by means of the bed body structure being rotated at the deflected position.

Patients who are in a vegetative state and patients who have experienced paralysis, stroke or spinal cord injury are not able to move on their own. These patients often need to rest in bed for a long period of time, and this is due to the restriction on their mobility and activities. During the period that these patients are lying in bed, the health care professionals need to occasionally flip over the body of these patients, so as to change the centre of mass of the body part of the patient that is in direct contact with the bed, and as such also avoiding the formation of bedsores as a result of the deposition of bloodstream of some body parts of the patient.
In addition, the number of the patients with reduced mobility and the number of patients who are bedridden gradually increase every year, however, the number of health care professionals cannot be increased accordingly. In the past, when the health care professionals help patients to get out of bed, the range of movement and the width of movement required by the patient are large during the process when the patient moves on the bed until the patient stands up on the ground. Also, when the patient is getting out of bed, the width as well as the distance that the patient needs to cross from the bed body is relatively large, and this can bring quite a large physical burden to the patient.
In view of the above, there are still inadequacies associated with the use of the conventional medical bed, and there is still a need for the manufacture of a bed structure that is able to assist the patients to get into and out of bed.


Systems and methods prepare ground-based supplemental weather radar information for integration with onboard weather radar information. An exemplary embodiment receives ground-based weather radar information from a ground-based weather radar station, the ground-based weather radar information referenced in a first coordinate system; generates supplemental weather radar information from the received ground-based weather radar information, wherein the supplemental weather radar information is referenced to a second coordinate system based upon at least latitude and longitude; and communicates the supplemental weather radar information, wherein the communicated supplemental weather radar information is integrated with weather radar information of an onboard weather radar system of an installation vehicle.

Weather radars, such as found on aircraft or marine vessels, display hazardous weather information based upon analyzed radar returns. Radar return information corresponding to detected hazardous weather information is presented to the crew of the aircraft or marine vessel on a display, typically using a plan view showing a geographic area over which the aircraft or vessel is traversing.
However, weather radars have a limited effective range. Supplemental weather radar information may be provided to the aircraft from remote sources. For example, ground-based weather radar systems can provide supplemental weather radar information to an aircraft. An exemplary supplemental weather radar information apparatus and method is described in the commonly assigned U.S. utility application to Brian Bunch, et. al., entitled, "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USING NEXRAD INFORMATION TO VERIFY WEATHER RADAR INFORMATION," having Ser. No. 12/476,726, filed on Jun. 2, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Aircraft weather information may be based upon two-dimensional (2-D) databases which are filled with radar return information (using bins, for example, based on range and bearing values with respect to the current location of the aircraft). In other embodiments, the presented weather radar displays may be based upon 3-D databases which are filled with radar return information (using 3-D bins or voxels, for example, based on range, azimuth, and bearing values with respect to the current location of the aircraft). An exemplary embodiment of a 3-D weather radar system is implemented in accordance with the commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,667,710, filed on Feb. 19, 2002, to Cornell et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Although ground-based supplemental weather radar information may extend the effective range of an aircraft's airborne radar system, such ground-based supplemental weather radar information is not available in a format that is readily integrated into an airborne radar weather information database. Accordingly, it is desirable to improve the ground-based supplemental weather radar information for integration into the aircraft's airborne radar weather information database. Similar needs exist in other types of radar systems that may be configured to incorporate supplemental weather radar information into their respective radar information databases.

Systems and methods for preparing ground-based weather radar information for use in an installation vehicle