A system for synchronizing a seismic system having multiple subsystems. A control system transmits a message to selected subsystems and an internal subsystem counter is zeroed to a selected epoch. Depending on the message or on an internal instruction code, each subsystem initiates an event or sequence of events synchronized to the selected epoch. The system is based on the relative occurrence of cyclic events and does not depend on the transmission of an absolute time signal. The system is self rectifying, reduces systemic errors, and reduces the data transmission required for system control and operation. The system permits autonomous, asynchronous operation by a subsystem without continuous control by a central controller as a function of time, and can interactively respond to events without intervention from the central controller.

The present invention relates to the field of seismic data acquisition operations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a unique system for synchronizing seismic subsystems through independent module timing.
Seismic data acquisition requires the coordination of numerous system components. In marine seismic operations, seismic vessels tow air guns through water to generate seismic energy sources. Acoustic waves from the air guns travel downwardly into the water and underlying geologic structures and are reflected by interfaces between the geologic structures. The reflected signal impulses return to the surface and are detected with sensors towed behind the seismic vessel.
Seismic signal processing requires time and position correlation between the seismic energy sources and the reflected signals. The length of time between energy sources and the reflected signals depends on factors such as the water depth, subsurface elevation of the reflective interface, and subsurface geology. Synchronization of the sources and reflected signals are necessary to the accurate evaluation of the data. Synchronization is necessary for the position of the individual components, the shot times, the shot recording times, and sampling times within the seismic data recording system. Additionally, synchronization is relevant to quality control procedures for testing the accuracy in the time domain and for testing event real times as compared with ideal times.
Numerous timing error sources affect the accuracy of the entire seismic survey system. The reduction of error sources is particularly important in three-dimensional seismic collection and in processing systems having data loads and error sources not found in conventional two-dimensional seismic technology. In conventional synchronization systems, these error sources are reduced by timing all events to a single clock which provides an absolute time reference.
In a marine seismic system, synchronization depends on the absolute time, vessel speed and subsystem position data. The seismic vessel navigation system determines the location where the air guns generate acoustic source energy. Each reflected pulse is detected by hydrophone data recording subsystems, and signals are transmitted through hard lines or through radio transmission. In large arrays, a central controller broadcasts an absolute time signal to each of the subsystems, and the acquired data is transmitted back to the central controller. Such continuous data transmission requires significant and generally continuous bandwidth capabilities.
Conventional event synchronization systems manage seismic event times as discrete events referenced to an absolute time scale. All events within the seismic survey system are actuated by trigger pulses from a navigation subsystem initiating pulse, and such operating systems reduce system synchronization errors by broadcasting an absolute time signal to internal clocks in each subsystem. The navigation system predicts the firing position for a source at a selected event time, the reference time is broadcast from a central controller to all survey subsystems before the selected event time, and the individual subsystems generate event pulses based on the pre-programmed times. In this system architecture, each subsystem depends upon the accuracy of the synchronized time standard. Accordingly, systematic errors in the transfer and triggering of the pulses causes delays and inaccuracies throughout the entire system.
Numerous techniques have been developed to address the synchronization and control of a seismic gathering system. U.S. Pat. No. 3,144,651 to Savit et al. (1964) disclosed an apparatus for recording seismic input signals. The recording cycle was commenced by a first event such as the rotation of a time recording drum. A second event corresponding to a defined "fiducial time (T=0)" generated a time break signal for disconnecting the time recording drum. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,444 to Schmit (1972), a program sequencer operated a timing clock, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,019 to Schmitt (1973) disclosed an absolute time clock for coordinating the field collection of seismic signals.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,443 to Thigpen (1977), a clock engaged with a controller synchronized operations of seismic processing components, and the controller provided selected time zones for enabling different sample rates. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,906 to Ezell (1977), seismic data was transmitted in real time from individual slave stations to a master station having an absolute time clock oscillator and interval counter. The shot instant and the range of individual slave stations was transmitted to the master station, and a sequencing circuit was provided by clock pulse inputs from the clock oscillator.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,629 to Siems et al. (1978), a repeater network transmitted a local self clocking phase-encoded data word through a data link to a central station. Subsequently, the repeater network received, regenerated and retransmitted self clocking phase-encoded data words from down-link transceiver units. A multiplexer initiated a scan cycle which was interruptable by resetting the multiplexer after signals from a preselected number of input channels was sampled. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,691 to Ward (1979), a master control and collation system provided a time-zero signal for correlating activation of a source and a time base for data acquisition units, and provided a time-check signal at the end of the acquisition unit recordings. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,474 to Savit (1980), a series of recording signals were initiated at desired intervals, and a predetermined number of recording channels were identified within a selected block. Consecutive recording cycles within a block were assigned unique corresponding addresses.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,285 to Fleurance et al. (1985), data correlations were conducted in real time with a pilot signal. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,100 to Savit (1986), a central station included a master clock for firing a sound source. Remote seismic data recording units each included a separate clock for performing functions such as selectively deactivating the remote unit to conserve power. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,474 to Olsen et al. (1987), system synchronization was provided by a clock within a master computer which triggered local clocks for synchronizing geophysical and positioning data gathering. U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,080 to Siems et al. (1991) performed system synchronization by the continuous transmission of a command signal having a clocking signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,562 to Helgerud et al. (1996) describes a pulse synchronized system having a master controller for anticipating an event time and for generating a pulse or command at the correct time. A receiver obtained signals from a satellite navigation system such as Global Positioning System (GPS) based on an operable time standard such as Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). Such time standard was then supplied to selected subsystems in the seismic survey system, and the subsystems generated an event at the designated clock time. A pulse or command was required for each desired event, and the clock continuously provided signals to the system components.
As described above, conventional synchronization systems require a master clock which provides an absolute time standard for execution of subsystem events. Such systems also require continuous two-way data communication and coordination between the master controller and remote, individual subsystems. This two-way communication requirement consumes available communication links and requires accurate subsystem clocks correlated to the master clock.
The system errors and processing requirements of conventional systems demonstrate a need for an improved seismic synchronization system which can communicate more data within the available communications bandwidth. The system should be reliable and should efficiently transmit seismic event data within acceptable accuracy limits.


An orally administrable immunostimulant product comprises a microencapsulated cytokine and an enteric protection polymer to protect the cytokine, the cytokine is a fish, mollusc or crustacean cytokine, preferably a recombinant cytokine such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) over-expressed in a host microorganism.

Aquaculture seems to be the only possibility to cover the growing demand of aquatic food that cannot be covered by extractive fishing. World aquaculture production has grown during the last fifty years from a production of less than 1 million tonnes in the early 1950s to 59.4 million tonnes by 2004. This level of production had a value of US$70.3 billion. A 69.6 percent of the world wide global production was produced in China, 21.9 in the rest of Asia and the Pacific region, 3.5 in Western European region and 0.4 in Central and Eastern European region. With regard to environment, in 2004 aquaculture production from mariculture (saltwater aquaculture) was 30.2 million tonnes, representing 50.9 percent of the global total. Freshwater aquaculture contributed 25.8 million tonnes (43.4 percent) and the remaining 3.4 million (5.7 percent) tonnes come from production in brackish environments. All the data are from Fisheries Technical Paper 2006, State of World Aquaculture (FAO).
Aquaculture production in Europe is only 3 percent of world production, but is leader in several species production, like atlantic salmon, trout, seabass, gilthead seabream, turbot and mussel. In 2002 production was higher than 1,3 million tonnes with a value of 3280 million. The most important species in Mediterranean countries are gilthead seabream, seabass and turbot. Production of both gilthead seabream and seabass in 2002 was 181000 tonnes and principal producers were Greece, Turkey, Spain, Italy and France. Production of turbot in 2002 was 5320 tonnes from which a 75 percent was produced in Spain. All the data are from FAO.
Fish disease has become a setback to aquaculture growth and is now responsible for the severe impact on economic development in many countries of the world. Diseases cause high mortalities in many cases and it is the origin of important production losses. Aquaculture losses also cause a reduction in food availability, loss of income and employment, with all the associated social consequences. The most usual diseases and their causal agents (bacteria or virus) affecting the above mentioned species are: vibriosis (Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae, Vibrio spp.), pasteurellosis (Photobacterium damselae subp. piscicida), photobacteriosis (Photobacterium damselae subp. pasteurella), flexibacteriosis (Tenacibaculum maritimum), myxobacteriosis (Flexibacter maritimus), furunculosis (Aeromonas salmonicida), streptococcosis (Streptococcus parauberis), winter disease syndrome (Pseudomonas anguilliseptica), viral encephaloretinopathy (Nodavirus), lymphocystis (Iridoviridae), distended gut syndrome (virus-like particle), infective pancreatic necrosis (IPNV), infective haematopoietic necrosis (IHNV) or viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS). All the data are from Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme (FAO). Culture conditions of species in aquatic farmer, i.e. high densities of animals or aquatic environment, are suitable for infectious disease agents transmitted between individuals. Furthermore, the stress produced to the fish during their manipulation in the farmer could suppose a depression of immune system that facilitates infection by pathogens. Therefore, many efforts in research have been dedicated to development of vaccines or immunostimulants products to prevent diseases in fish. Prevention of diseases also reduce environmental impact because avoid massive use of antibiotics in aquaculture. Several products have been used for fish vaccination or immune system stimulation. Actually, there are vaccines available for usual bacterial fish diseases, like vibriosis, photobacteriosis, furunculosis, flexibacteriosis, winter disease syndrome or streptococcosis and also for usual viral fish diseases, like IPNV or IHNV (reviewed by Toranzo et al., 2005 and Sommerset et al., 2005).
There are three common methods of vaccination: immersion, injection and oral administration. Intraperitoneal injection is the most effective route for vaccination because it allows a better control of the dose and permits the use of adjuvant which results in better immune response. But there are disadvantages for injection route due to the fact that fish sedation and manipulation can cause a stress in animals and can origin damage to fish when vaccine is not administered with care. Moreover, small fish can not be vaccinated by this route. Immersion method is frequently used in farmer because is easy and fast but it does not allow a strict dosage control and is stressful for fish with consistent immune system depression. Oral administration of vaccines does not require fish manipulation and it is a suitable method for vaccination of all sizes animals, included juvenile fish that are starting to feed, which is very important because these fish are more susceptible to be infected by pathogens. Several disadvantages of oral route are that does not allow a strict dosage control and a large quantity of antigen is required for immunization. The most important obstacle for oral administration is that antigens are often inactivated in gut by acidic environment or protease activity and it prevent active antigens absorption by intestine. For this reason an effective oral administration requires the antigen protection, i.e: encapsulation, to avoid antigen degradation in gut (Hart et al., 1988; Quentel and Vigneulle, 1997). Different approaches to protect the antigen from degradation have demonstrated some promising results such as entrapping in liposomes or alginate microparticles (Ire et al., 2005; Maurice et al., 2004).

Orally administrable immunostimulant product for aquaculture


A hinge includes a base frame unit and two rotatable axle units. The base frame unit includes abase seat having two guideways and two shaft sliding slots. Each guideway includes an upright segment and an arcuate segment extending arcuately and laterally from an upper end of the upright segment. Each axle unit includes a hinge shaft rotatably extending through the shaft sliding slot, a rotary member fitted to the hinge shaft and having a guide key slidably engaged in the guideway, and a support bracket fitted to the hinge shaft to be connected to a casing part of an electronic device.

A conventional double-axle hinge has two rotatable axle units which are respectively connected with two casing parts of a foldable electronic device and synchronously rotatable to open and close the two casing parts. In design, a clearance between two casing parts exists in an opened state for preventing contact and collision of the casing parts during closing and opening operations. It is needed to improve the excess clearance thereof to prevent adverse influence on usage of the foldable electronic device.

Hinge with double synchronously rotatable axles


A level conversion circuit includes an input section configured to receive a first signal of a first signal level and a correction signal and generates a second signal of a second signal level from the first signal and the correction signal. A level converting section converts the second signal into an output signal of a third signal level, and a duty correcting section generates the correction signal corresponding to a duty ratio of the output signal and outputs the correction signal to the input section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a level conversion circuit, and in particular, relates to duty correction in level conversion of a clock signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Semiconductor integrated circuits are required to respond to a high speed operation and a multi-function. With the advancement of the semiconductor technology, a large number of circuit blocks are formed on a single chip, and optimum circuits are constituted for functions to be provided. For this reason, multiple signal levels are often present in the semiconductor integrated circuit. With the high speed operation, in particular, differential interfaces or unbalance interfaces are used for signal transmission. Since a signal of a single end type is usually used in a logic circuit section, a signal level conversion circuit is required in interface between circuit blocks.
Logic circuits often include synchronous circuits, and a clock signal is especially important as the reference of signal timing. Therefore, duty degradation needs to be controlled. However, the duty degradation is caused by relative variations of process level and characteristics, and has great effect on performance degradation of the synchronous circuits. Particularly, there is a possibility that the duty degradation is greater in a long clock line and so on. Therefore, it is desired to perform duty correction in a last stage and to use a clock signal with the duty ratio close to 50% in the synchronous circuits.
In high-speed circuits that transmission rate exceeds the order of GHz, a CML (Current Mode Logic) signals as small-amplitude differential signals with high noise tolerance, are often used in a long clock line and so on. A CML level clock signal is level-converted into a CMOS logic level signal in the last stage, and is used in synchronous circuits of a CMOS configuration in many cases. Level conversion circuits becomes complex in circuit configuration, and are easy to cause duty degradation because of the influence of the relative variations of the process level and characteristics compared with circuits for the small-amplitude differential signals.
A level conversion circuit for clock signals is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2000-305528A), for example. The conventional level conversion circuit is provided with a level converting section 21 and a cross-point correction section 22, as shown in FIG. 1. The level converting section 21 performs level conversion, converting a clock signal of a first signal level (e.g., the level of a CML signal as a small-amplitude differential signal) into a clock signal of a second signal level (e.g. the CMOS logic level). The clock signal of the second signal level is supplied to the cross-point correcting section 22 for cross-point correction. The cross-point correcting section 22 is provided with inverters 25 to 28, and performs the cross-point correction such that the duty ratio of two-phase clock signals of the second signal level is 50 percent.
FIGS. 2A to 2E show examples of signal waveforms at nodes N1 and N2 to which input signals of the first signal level are applied, at output nodes N7 and N8 of the level converting section 21, and at output nodes N9 and N10 of the cross-point correction section 22. As shown in FIG. 2A, differential signals of sine waveforms are supplied to the input nodes N1 and N2. When the characteristics of the level converting section 21 match with positive phase and reverse phase signals, the output of the level converting section 21 (the nodes N7 and N8) is a clock signal with the duty ratio of 50%, as shown in FIG. 2B. As a result, the clock signal with the duty ratio of 50% is also outputted to the nodes N9 and N10 as well.
When the second signal level is a signal level in which variations are liable to occur in rising and falling characteristics of signals, as in case of the CMOS logic level, signals at the nodes N7 and N8 may have the duty ratio of (50±α)% as shown in FIG. 2C. In this case, the duty ratio is 50% at a voltage where the signals of the nodes N7 and N8 intersect, and the duty correction is then performed by the cross-point correction section 22, and signals with the duty ratio of 50% are supplied to the nodes N9 and N10.
However, when a normal mode offset occurs to input signals as shown in FIG. 2D, signal waveforms at the nodes N7 and N8 do not show the duty ratio of 50% even at cross points in many cases. In these cases, improvement of the duty ratio is not possible even when the cross-point correction is performed by the cross-point correction section 22, where signals at the nodes N9 and N10 show the duty ratios of (50±β)%, as shown in FIG. 2E.
The duty correction is thus possible by utilizing a reverse-phase signal, when the cause of duty degradation affects a common mode in differential signals. However, when a normal mode is affected, namely when the differential signals are imbalanced, the duty correction is not possible even by utilizing the reverse-phase signal.
In conjunction with the above description, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2001-156597A) discloses a technique to adjust a duty ratio of output of a voltage controlled oscillator circuit. A duty correcting circuit inputs a reverse output and a non-reverse output from a voltage controlled oscillator circuit. The duty correcting circuit is provided with an output adjustment section. The output adjustment section outputs output waveform signals in which a low level pulse width for a pulse period of the reverse output and a high level pulse width for a pulse period of the non-reverse output are equal. This output adjustment section is an RS flip-flop to input the reverse output and the non-reverse output of the voltage controlled oscillator circuit.

Level conversion circuit with duty correction


A gear arrangement has two turntables nested or arranged concentrically in one another, and interconnected with one another via a swashplate. The gear arrangement preferably is used for adjusting the angle of rotation of the camshaft relative to the angle of rotation of the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine to affect the control times of the charge-cycle valves of the engine. The swashplate is connected with the first turntable formed as a camshaft gear via at least one pin, and the swashplate is connected with the camshaft via the second turntable by means of a gear ring.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a gear with two turntables arranged into one another, which are interconnected via a swashplate, as it is described for instance in DE 100 38 354 A1.
2. Description of the Related Art
A gear, which as a control device for adjusting the angle of rotation of a first turntable relative to the angle of rotation of a second turntable, which are interconnected via a swashplate, is disclosed by generic DE 100 38 354. Here, the first turntable is formed by a camshaft, and the second turntable is formed by a camshaft gear of an internal combustion engine, which gear is connected with a crankshaft.
Here, gear rings with a different number of teeth are formed at the camshaft gear and at the camshaft, with which gear rings a gear ring arranged at the swashplate is engaging. When rotating the swashplate, the different number of teeth of the gear rings effect shifting of the angle of rotation of the camshaft relative to the camshaft gear. This requires very precise manufacturing of the gear rings with high manufacturing accuracy, what, in fact, causes high costs.

Gearbox comprising two rotatable disks which are arranged inside each other and are connected by means of a swash plate


A method of forming an airfoil includes the steps of depositing material to form an airfoil in a first layer, and then depositing material in a second layer on the first layer. The first and second layers have distinct densities. An airfoil is also disclosed. The method provides powerful design advantages.

This application relates to a method for forming airfoil structures having hollow internal spaces, wherein the airfoil structure is formed in deposited layers.
Airfoils are utilized in any number of applications. In one well known application, a gas turbine engine includes blades associated with a fan section, a compressor section, and a turbine section, each of which have airfoils.
Gas turbine engines typically include the fan delivering air into the compressor. The air is compressed and delivered downstream into a combustion section. The air is mixed with fuel and burned, and products of the combustion pass over the turbine. Turbine rotors are driven to rotate, and in turn drive the compressor and fan rotors.
Typically in the past, a single turbine rotor drove both a low pressure compressor rotor and the fan. However, recently, geared connections have been included between the fan blade and the low pressure compressor rotor. With this advancement, a number of design freedoms have been achieved. One result is the fan blades may become larger in profile.
Larger fan blades may weigh more than the prior art. Thus, it has been proposed to make the fan blades to have internal cavities. One method of forming fan blades now utilizes complex metal which is attached as two layers, and then shaped into an airfoil configuration. Another method uses a main body with cavities, and having a covering sheet.
While these fan blades have desirable functional characteristics, they are also somewhat time consuming and expensive to manufacture.
As the fan blades increase in size, another concern is that their outer profile increases. Fan blades are exposed to ingestion of foreign objects, and result in damage. This potential increases as the size of the fan blade increase.

Hollow airfoil construction utilizing functionally graded materials


A system and method for managing an on board entertainment system is disclosed. The system and method can wirelessly receive music files from a computer and store those music files on an on board unit associated with a motor vehicle. The system and method can also include provisions to associate music information with a received music file and can include provisions to manage the music collection on board a motor vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of motor vehicle audio systems, and more particularly, to a system and method for managing an on-board entertainment system.
2. Related Art
Currently, most cars, trucks and vans provide some kind of audio system. These audio systems range from simple systems that include a radio tuner and a basic loudspeaker, to elaborate systems that include sophisticated audio and video electronics. Some of these elaborate systems are capable of playing audio Compact Disks (CD's), Digital Versatile Disks (DVD's) and MiniDiscs.
Single disk systems generally provide a loading slot or some other mechanism that is accessible to the driver to receive a disk. Single disk systems require users to manually change disks to listen to different songs.
These systems can also include disk changers that store multiple disks. Generally, these disks and the songs stored on the disks can be accessed randomly. Disk changer systems provide access to about six to ten CD's; however, a delay is experienced when changing from one disk to another disk. The only way to add songs or change the collection of music that is available in the motor vehicle, is to add another disk to the changer or replace a disk in the changer with a new disk.
Some mobile audio systems include a hard disk drive that is used to store songs. These systems generally include a removable hard disk drive that mates with a docking device in the motor vehicle. To add songs or otherwise update the music collection stored on the hard disk drive, the hard disk drive must be removed from the motor vehicle and docked into a second docking device connected to a home computer. The home computer is used to add songs and to modify the contents of the removable hard disk drive. After all of the changes have been made, the hard disk drive is removed from the docking device connected to the home computer, and re-inserted into the docking device in the motor vehicle.
While current audio systems can provide access to music collections, there are a number of drawbacks and limitations. First, single disk systems and disk changer systems are limited in terms of the amount of music that is available. Single disk systems provide access to only a single disk before requiring a manual disk change. Disk changer systems provide access to at most about ten CD's of music and also require the manual removal, replacement or addition of disks to update the available music collection.
Hard disk drive based systems provide access to larger music collections, but these systems also require manual intervention to add or modify the available music collection. As discussed above, the hard disk drive must be removed, docked with a home computer, removed from the home computer docking device and re-docked inside the motor vehicle. While these systems are capable of being updated, the process is cumbersome and inconvenient.
Current mobile audio systems also lack the capacity to easily and automatically tag or label music files. Manually entering tag information can be time consuming and inconvenient. Existing systems also do not provide easy management of music collections that are on board motor vehicles.
There is currently a need for a system that provides access to a large music collection and is easy to update and modify. There is also a need for a system that can remotely manage an on board music collection and automatically tag or label music files.

System and method for managing an on-board entertainment system


A public sanitary cell includes a sanitary compartment accessible through an outer door in which a toilet bowl having a drain is disposed. In order to provide sufficient freedom of motion in front of and next to the toilet bowl, in particular for wheelchair users, while maintaining a compact construction, the toilet bowl can be pivoted by a drive device about a substantially vertical axis, wherein an actuating device is disposed outside of the sanitary cell to operate and control the drive device. The drive device is preferentially operable and controllable by the actuating device only when the outer door is closed and/or when the sanitary compartment is empty.

The invention concerns a public sanitary cell consisting essentially of a sanitary compartment accessible by means of an outer door in which a toilet having a waste drain is disposed.
Public toilets are usually provided in large cities in frequently visited locations and are either accommodated in a building provided therefor or are in the form of erected prefabricated sanitary cells. The sanitary cells are accessible through an outer door opened by insertion of a coin and have completely automatic cleaning devices. When a user leaves the sanitary cell, the outer door is closed and the cleaning process begins. After cleaning is completed, the outer door is automatically unlocked so that the sanitary cell is accessible once more following insertion of a coin. Sanitary cells of this kind have direct local connection to the sewage system at their drain side so that they can usually be operated as autonomous sanitary units and without maintenance.
Public sanitary devices and toilet installations should, in cities, occupy as little space as possible so that, in particular, sanitary cells are extremely compact in construction. On the other hand each user should have sufficient freedom of motion within the sanitary cell. Therefore, e.g. for wheelchair users, a sufficient amount of free motion surface must be provided in front of and next to the toilet or bowl. This clearly legitimate requirement is, however, in conflict with the desire for a very compact configuration of the sanitary cell. Furthermore, the components and devices of public sanitary cells must function in a reliable manner and, in particular, must not present any danger to the user. A technical solution must therefore be found having high safety requirements.
It is the underlying purpose of the invention to create a sanitary cell of the above mentioned kind which has a sufficient amount of space, in particular for wheelchair users, despite its compact construction.


A description of the hierarchically-structured document is accessed and converted into an early-bound object having at least some of the same properties as the hierarchically-structured document, and having at least some of the methods that may be performed on the hierarchically-structured document. When a function call is placed to the early-bound object, the early-bound object causes the appropriate corresponding changes to be affected on the hierarchically-structured document while maintaining change tracking information for the document. This reduces the difficulty when drafting source code for a program that interfaces with hierarchically-structured documents that can have varying structures and may be governed by complex change tracking rules.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mechanisms for facilitating software programming; and more specifically, to simplifying the programming process by using managed code that hides much of the complexity of hierarchically-structured data when communicating using the hierarchically-structured data.
2. Related Technology
Computing technology has transformed the way we work and play. Computers consist of hardware components such as for, example, processors and memory capability. However, much of the utility of a typical general-purpose computing system is derived from the capabilities of the software that is available to the computing system, whether that software is locally available, or whether that software is accessed remotely over a network.
Software includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by a processor to thereby cause the processor to control various functions of the computing system. Modern computing systems may perform an extensive variety of complex actions depending on what the computer-executable instructions tell the processor to do. At the lowest physical level of the computing system as viewed from the processor perspective, the computer-executable instructions are essentially a string of one's and zero's that conform to an instruction set that is recognized by the processor. These processor-level instructions are often referred to as "binaries" or "binary instructions".
While binaries are quickly interpretable by processors, they are less intuitive to human beings. Accordingly, software programs are not initially drafted using binary instructions. Instead, software programs are typically first drafted using a more intuitive, human-readable language called "source code." For example, VISUAL BASIC, C++ and DB.NET are all languages used for drafting source code, each containing many words that are adopted from the English language, letters that are taken from the familiar Latin-based alphabet, and mathematical numbers and symbols that are commonly accepted for human expressions of mathematical concepts. While source code is interpretable by human beings, processors (and computer systems) need binary instructions in order to function properly.
Some software, such as compilers and interpreters, convert source code to corresponding binary instructions that perform the same functionality (when executed by a processor) as was represented by the source code. Accordingly, source code allows for human programmers to author programs that would otherwise not be possible. While source code facilitates programming and is typically readable by programmers with sufficient training, source code can still be quite difficult to draft especially for complex programs.
Program complexity is often measured in terms of "lines of code". Many programs number in the thousands of lines of code. Accordingly, even with the most skilled of programmers, there are often initially errors in the source code that prohibit successful compilation. Even when these errors are discovered and corrected resulting in successful compilation, there are often unintended functionality (often referred to as "bugs") that are present in the program. The difficulty in compiling a program, and the probability of introducing unintended functionality into the program, tends to increase the more the lines of code there are in the program. Accordingly, methods have been developed to manage code to thereby simplify the source code needed to accomplish given functionality.
One conventional way of doing this is to organize functional components of the program into segments often referred to as "objects". These objects have corresponding properties and corresponding methods that may be invoked. Objects may communicate using standards called Application Program Interfaces (APIs). Objects may communicate locally or even remotely over a network using APIs.
For example, recently, the use of eXtenstible Markup Language (XML) has become more accepted as a way to communicate between objects. When remotely communicating over a network, sometimes Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is used as a mechanism to transport an XML document between different network sites. According to convention, the XML document may be transmitted as an XML document within the body portion of a SOAP envelope.
XML is useful partly because of its organization as a hierarchically-structured tree of nodes, each node comprising a tag that may contain descriptive attributes. XML is also useful because of its ability to follow extendable patterns that may be dictated by the underlying data being described. For example, a contact may have one pattern or schema, while a calendar entry may have a very different pattern or schema. As the need to describe certain aspects of these items arises, the pattern may be extended to include nodes that describe such aspects of the item. Accordingly, XML is gaining acceptance as a method for communicating data.
Some APIs involve the manipulation of XML documents following a particular schema. Because of the wide variety of items that may be described using XML, there are a wide variety of XML schemas. In can be relatively difficult for many programmers to keep track of the structure of a particular schema when they desire to draft code that manipulates a data item that is described by the XML document. There may also be other intricacies of an API that involves operations on XML documents. For example, perhaps only portions of the XML may be operated on as an atomic entity. Adding to the complexity, perhaps it is necessary not only to track changes to the XML document as a whole, but perhaps to each atomic portion of the XML document that may be separately operated upon. Thus, it can be a difficult task for many programmers to deal directly with the hierarchically-structured XML document.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Managing code when communicating using heirarchically-structured data


A transmission having an input shaft with an input sun gear and a reverse rotation control shaft with a reverse rotation sun gear rotatably secured to the input shaft. A first and a second carrier, terminating in an output shaft, are rotatably secured on the reverse rotation control shaft and input shaft, respectively. Locking pins interconnect the first and second carriers to enable simultaneous rotation of the carriers. Input planetary gears are in mechanical communication with the input sun gear. A reverse rotation planetary gear and an input planetary gear are interconnected and each such interconnected gear is rotatably mounted on a locking pin to enable simultaneous rotation of the interconnected gears about the locking pin. Each reverse rotation planetary gear is in mechanical communication with the reverse rotation sun gear. A low speed ring gear is rotatably secured on the second carrier. A low speed brake applies braking force to the low speed ring gear to initiate rotation of the output shaft and low speed rotation of the output shaft. A reverse rotation brake applies braking force to the reverse rotation control shaft to provide a reverse rotational output of the output shaft. An interlocking mechanism couples the rotational speed of the input shaft and the reverse rotation control shaft to provide medium and high speed rotation of the output shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an automatic transmission, and more particularly, to a continuous automatic transmission constructed in such a way that power input to an input shaft can be converted and output to an output shaft without changing or disengaging gears when changing speed to attain forward motion, and output to the output shaft in a reverse rotational direction to attain a backward motion.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
A transmission changes speed by either automatic or manual selection of a predetermined gear ratio. A clutch is required for use with a manual transmission to disengage or engage the rotational power from the engine so that gears can be changed or disengaged when changing speeds to comply with the load on the output shaft. Also, shifting the gears and the operation of the clutch must be synchronized to properly effect the gear change. Such transmissions systems are large requiring a large installation space and are complicated.
To solve the above described problems U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,823 entitled: Continuously Variable Transmission with Controlling Brakes, issued on Nov. 5, 1991. However, the transmission described in the above patent document requires a separate means for attaining reverse operation, i.e. a backward motion.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a continuous automatic transmission which can solve all the above problems and which can rapidly comply with a change of a load without the need of a clutch or complicated mechanisms when engaging or disengaging a gear.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a transmission which smoothly transmits rotational force to an output shaft.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a transmission which enables smooth reverse driving.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a transmission which is easy to construct and of simple construction.
The preceding objects should be construed as merely presenting the more pertinent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to both the summary of the invention and the detailed description, below, which describe the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Continuously-geared automatic transmission with controlling brakes

Duckyong Villa Ka-204 141-2, Duckjeong-Ri, Hoecheon-Uep, Yangju-Gun


In a preferred embodiment, an apparatus to assist in building stomach muscles by a user performing situps with the apparatus, the apparatus comprising first and second anchoring devices disposed on a horizontal surface, devices to position the first and second anchoring devices spaced apart a selected distance, and attaching devices to releasably attach first and second feet of a user to surfaces of the first and second anchoring devices, respectively, to hold the first and second feet of the user relatively immobile so as to assist the user in performing situps.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exercise equipment generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel exercise device to assist in strengthening the stomach muscles of a user. 2. Background Art
Many people are enthusiastically involved in physical fitness programs, some of which programs simply involve programs of regular walking. At the other end of the spectrum of physical fitness programs are commercial fitness centers which may have very expensive physical training equipment for use by their customers. Many of these fitness centers operate near their capacity to fill the needs of their customers. This situation has led to the popularity of home fitness machines which are convenient to use and which are considerably more accessible than the equipment in commercial fitness centers.
Situps are among the most popular exercises, increasing the mid-body and upper-body strength while burning calories. However, most good exercise machines are prohibitively expensive and, in any case, offer few positions for performing situps.
Some attempts to provide devices to assist in performing situps have been made, as described below:
U.S. Pat. No. 695,538, issued Mar. 18, 1902, to De Clairmont, describes a foldable exercising machine which includes an elongate horizontal bed with a vertical foot board at one end thereof. The footboard includes means to hold the feet of a user thereagainst to assist the user in performing situps. This device permits situps with the user's feet in only one position.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,905,019, issued Apr. 25, 1933, to Turner, describes an exercising apparatus which includes a horizontal base with foot boards rotatably attached to one end thereof, each of the foot boards having an elastic strap attached thereto. A user sits on the base with the user's feet inserted in straps on the foot boards, grasps the distal ends of the elastic straps, and simulates a rowing motion. This device permits some exercising of the stomach muscles, but does not give them the degree of workout achieved with situps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,510, issued Jul. 3, 1984, to Pertshuk, describes an exercising apparatus which includes a panel attached to a vertical wall, the panel having mounted thereon Velcro hook-type patches. A user places on his feet foot-ankle supports having Velcro loop-type patches secured to the soles thereof. The user then lies on the floor near the wall and secures his feet to the panel on the wall by engaging the opposing Velcro patches. The user can now perform "right-angle" situps. This device requires attachment to a wall and permits performing situps only when the user's feet are parallel to the wall surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,180, issued Dec. 16, 1986, to Kaya, describes an exercise device for performing situps which includes a frame having disposed therein foot restraints, calf restraints, thigh restraints, and a seat, with each of the foregoing elements being adjustable in terms of position and inclination within the frame. This device permits a variety of foot positions, but is relatively complicated, and therefore, relatively expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,626, issued Nov. 29, 1988, to Gallagher, describes a situp support device which has a first portion clamped to the lower edge of a door. A second portion of the device is disposed flat on a floor next to the door. A user inserts his feet in straps on the second portion and performs bent knee situps. This device requires attachment to a door and permits performing situps only when the user's feet are parallel to the floor.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a stomach muscle builder which is simple and permits performing situps with the user's feet in either vertical or horizontal positions.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a stomach muscle builder which is self-contained.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such a stomach muscle builder which is economically and simply constructed.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.


A bearing structure for a stepping motor including a stepping motor, a screw shaft integrated with the stepping motor, and a bearing member formed of a molding resin material for supporting a distal end of the screw shaft, wherein a cone-shaped recess is formed in the distal end of the screw shaft, and a dome-shaped projection to be in abutment with the recess is formed on the bearing member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bearing structure for a stepping motor for use in optical disc reproducing apparatuses and magnetic disc recording/reproducing apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
A head transport mechanism which has been conventionally adopted in optical disc reproducing apparatuses and magnetic disc recording/reproducing apparatuses, etc. contains a carriage to which is mounted a head member, such as an optical lens and a magnetic head, and on which is provided an engaging projection, slidably engaged with a helical slot in a screw shaft, by which the carriage is linearly reciprocated by rotating the screw shaft.
According to the conventional head transport mechanism of this type, as shown in FIG. 6, one side 4c of a carriage 4 (for example, an optical pickup) having a head member 4a (for example, an optical lens) is slidably supported by a guide shaft 5, and a pair of loose insertion sections 4d are provided on the other side 4b of the carriage 4. In addition, a mount (not shown), which is a molded article integrated with the loose insertion sections 4d, is projected from the carriage, and an engaging projection (not shown) located between the loose insertion sections 4d and pressed into helical slot 1c of the screw shaft 1b is formed at a distal end of a plate spring member (not shown) which is made of a thin metal plate and fixed on the mount by screws. The engaging projection is pressed into the helical slot 1c so that it comes into linear-contact with the inner wall surface of the helical slot 1c so as to be slidably engaged with the helical slot 1c.
When the screw shaft 1b is rotated in forward and reverse directions by a stepping motor 1, the carriage 4 is linearly reciprocated in the axial direction of the screw shaft 1b.
For this reason, the carriage 4 can be transported in consistent directions through the loose insertion sections 4d.
In addition, in a conventional bearing structure for a stepping motor, as shown in FIG. 7, the distal end of the screw shaft 1b integrated with the motor shaft 1a of the stepping motor 1 is in abutment with a bearing member 2', such as a pivot bearing, having substantially a U-shaped cross section through a steel ball 3, and the screw shaft 1b is pressed in its axial direction by a thrust spring (not shown) of the stepping motor 1.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a conventional bearing member adhered to a chassis. Referring to FIG. 8, the substantially square-shaped bearing member 2' formed of a molding material such as polyacetal has a first circular recess 2a' formed in substantially the center thereof, and a second circular recess 2b' formed inside the first recess 2a'. The steel ball 3 is placed in the second recess 2b'. The bearing member 2' is adhered to a pickup chassis 6' formed of the molding material by outsert molding and screws (not shown), etc.
The screw shaft 1b integrated with the stepping motor 1 is in abutment with the bearing member 2' thus adhered to the pickup chassis 6' through the steel ball 3.
However, according to the conventional bearing structure for the stepping motor, in which the distal end 1d of the screw shaft 1b is in abutment with the bearing member 2' such as the pivot bearing through the steel ball 3, the component of the steel ball 3 is required, so that the number of components increases and the structure becomes expensive. In addition, a step of incorporating the steel ball 3 into the recess 2b' of the bearing 2' is necessary, so that assembly becomes more difficult.
In addition, the adhesion of the bearing member 2' to the pickup chassis 6' by outsert molding or screws encounters problems of a cost increase due to the making of an outsert molding die, an increase in the number of components due to screws, and an increase in the number of steps due to a screwing operation.
Further, when the bearing member 2' is adhered to the pickup chassis 6', and a shock is applied during assembly or transporting such that the pickup chassis 6' is slightly deformed, the mounting position of the bearing member 2' may be slightly shifted due to the deformation of the pickup chassis 6'. The shift of the bearing member 2' causes, for example, deviation from the axis of the screw shaft 1b, and a strong abutment of the screw shaft 1b with the bearing member 2', thereby hindering the rotation of the screw shaft 1b.


A multiple section irrigation sprinkler system incorporating pilot operated, pressure actuated and sequenced valve assemblies incorporates controllable device to increase or decrease the water pressure in the water supply lines at a controllable rate. The system includes a dump valve to relieve the water pressure during the pressure reduction cycle to eliminate or at least greatly reduce water hammer effects. The dump valve has a flow rate substantially less than the flow rate of the device for increasing or decreasing the water pressure in the water supply lines. The dump valve is prevented from transitioning from the open position to the closed position below predetermined pressure levels selected to prevent false sequencing of the pilot operated, pressure actuated and sequenced valve assemblies.

Multiple section irrigation sprinkler systems such as employed for golf courses, highway green belts, and farms require accurate and reliable control of the sequencing and operation of each of the multiple sections to avoid damage to vegetation. Many golf courses, for example, employ a centrally located microprocessor or computer to control electrically actuated valve assemblies for the sequencing and operation of the sprinklers in each section of the multiple section irrigation sprinkler system.
An electrically controlled irrigation sprinkler system can require many miles of underground wire that is frequently damaged by gophers, tree roots, or the like, as well as by lightning strikes during electrical storms. In many geographical areas, the frequency and severity of electrical storms limit the use of electrically controlled irrigation sprinkler systems.
Golf courses in these areas of frequent electrical storms often employ a system of hydraulically actuated valve assemblies wherein each valve assembly is connected by a network of water tubes to a central station. Computer controlled switches control the pressure in the individual water tubes as required by the programmed irrigation cycle to control each hydraulically actuated valve assembly to turn each section of the irrigation sprinkler system on and off selectively. These hydraulically operated systems are relatively immune to the effects of electrical storms, but are particularly susceptible to the damage caused by gophers and tree roots.
In an attempt to overcome such problems, pressure actuated control systems using pressure changes in the main water supply lines to control the sequencing and operation of each section of multiple section irrigation sprinkler system have been proposed, and would overcome most or all of the problems encountered with the aforementioned electric and hydraulic control systems. For example, irrigation sprinkler systems and control techniques and components are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,620, IRRIGATION SPRINKLER SYSTEM CONTROL EMPLOYING PILOT OPERATED, PRESSURE ACTUATED AND SEQUENCED VALVE ASSEMBLIES and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,740, FLUID DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OPERATED BY PRESSURE SIGNAL. The foregoing patents are incorporated herein by reference.
However, such pressure actuated control systems introduce new unique system control problems. Such systems and techniques apparently were previously employed on several golf courses. Such pressure actuated control systems employ pilot operated, pressure actuated valve assemblies similar to the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,620. The pressure actuated valve assemblies included internal rotary cams each having 39 index positions. Additionally, each pressure actuated valve assembly included adjustable devices to select the specific cam index position for activating an associated sprinkler. The pressure actuated valve assembly also included an internal mechanism for causing the rotary cam to rotate one index position each time the water supply pressure was reduced from 60 psi to 40 psi and then was increased back to 60 psi. Thus, a series of controlled changes in the water supply pressure provided the mechanism for the complete control of the sequencing and the operation of a multiple section irrigation sprinkler system to activate and deactivate selectively the sprinklers controlled thereby.
To initiate a series of sequencing and operating cycles in such a pressure controlled irrigation sprinkler system, the central control system first reduced the water supply pressure to 12 psi. The reduced water pressure of 12 psi caused each of the pressure actuated valve assemblies to reset an internal rotary cam to the starting position. The control system next raised the water supply pressure to 90 psi to "initialize" or prepare all of the pressure actuated valve assemblies for the start of the sequencing and operating cycles. After the application of the initial 90 psi pressure, the rotary cam in each pressure actuated valve assembly would index one position each time the water supply pressure was lowered below 40 psi and then increased to over 60 psi. Each time the water supply pressure was increased to over 80 psi after an indexing operation, all of the pressure actuated valve assemblies and associated sprinklers selected by the last selected rotary cam position would turn on, while all of the remaining pressure actuated valve assemblies and associated sprinklers would remain deactivated.
Reduction of the water supply pressure from 90 psi to under 40 psi in a reasonable length of time required the operation of a pressure regulating valve to reduce the applied system pressure and the opening of a "dump valve" to relieve the pressure in the water supply line. Then, the control system operated the pressure regulating valve to increase the applied system pressure and close the dump valve to return the system water supply pressure back to 90 psi to activate the next set of sprinklers.
The opening and closing of the pressure regulating valve and the dump valve did randomly result in the effect known as "water hammer," especially in irrigation sprinkler systems that had been in long-term service. The term water hammer is defined to describe the series of sudden pressure changes caused by abrupt changes in the rate of flow of a large mass of water in a closed hydraulic system.
The water hammer effect did randomly occur when either the pressure regulating valve was operated or the dump valve was opened and closed. The water hammer effect caused the water pressure in the system to rise rapidly and unpredictably above 60 psi and then fall below 40 psi several times during a single cycle programmed to index the rotary cam only one index position in the pressure actuated valve assemblies. Thus, when the water supply pressure was lowered below 40 psi and then increased to over 60 psi, as a result of the water hammer effect, the rotary cams in the pressure actuated valve assemblies were uncontrollably indexed more than the desired single position commanded by the program in the control system. The rotary cams oftentimes were indexed as much as three positions when a change of only one index position was commanded by the control system. As a result, the operation of several sections of the multiple section irrigation sprinkler system were skipped during a regularly scheduled irrigation cycle, resulting in dead or dying grass and costly damage to the golf course.
As a result of the foregoing problems associated with the pressure actuated control system, they are no longer popular, and currently the electrically controlled irrigation systems are preferred.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved pressure activated control system, which can function reliably and accurately, and eliminate undesirable malfunctioning as experienced in prior known pressure activated irrigation control systems.

Pressure actuated control system for sprinkler and irrigation systems


A column for capillary chromatographic separations, for example high performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrochromatography, or supercritical chromatography, includes a column bed of packing material arranged in the inner bore of the column, and a retainer for retaining the column bed in the interior of the column, wherein the retainer includes regions in the interior of the column having radial dimensions which are different from that of the inner bore. Preferably, the column is a fused silica capillary whose protective layer is removed in a detection area so that sample substances separated in the column can be detected by means of a light source which transmits radiation through the column which is detected by a detector.

Capillary chromatographic separation methods are preferably performed in fused silica (FS) tubing with internal diameters ranging from 5-530 .mu.m. Such tubing consists of a silica (SiO.sub.2) glass drawn at high temperature (1300.degree. C.) from a quartz preform provided with a protective outside layer from polyimide or aluminum. Robustness, tensile strength, high pressure resistance and bend stability are favorable mechanical properties of fused silica tubing. High chemical purity and well defined surface of the tubing provides in most cases low interaction with solutes and leads to optimum separation in many applications.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,415 Dandeneau et al. describe the usage of a fused silica capillary, which may have wall coatings on the inside surface to stimulate specific interactions and/or further minimize secondary undesired solute/surface interactions, for open tubular capillary gas chromatography (CGC) and open tubular supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). Jorgenson et al. have demonstrated that such capillaries are also ideally suited for the newer technique of capillary electrophoresis (CE).
It has been demonstrated that FS tubing can also be used for capillary separations performed in a packed bed, such as SFC, micro high performance liquid chromatography, and capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The mechanical properties of fused silica capillaries suffice to withstand the high pressure that occurs either when packing the tubing with small particles using a high pressure filtration technique or when operating the column especially in high performance liquid chromatography mode.
The main problem in packing fused silica or other tubing with small inner diameter is that the packing material in the column bed needs to be retained in the tubing; otherwise hydraulic or electrical forces drive the particles out of the capillary column. In a conventional high performance liquid chromatography column the packed bed is typically kept in place under the high pressure that is applied (up to 400 bar) by terminating plates or sieves, called frits, that are porous to the liquid but too narrow for the particles to move through. Because these frits need to be firmly attached to the packed bed, a fitting is needed which compresses the frit to the bed and at the same time resists the high pressure. In conventional high performance liquid chromatography columns, stainless steel fittings are used that are clamped to the column tube outside.
Due to the narrow outer diameter of the fused silica capillary tubing, typically 0.350 mm, and the small volumes involved in the separation, it is not very well possible to use external fittings even if they are reduced in size accordingly.
Several groups therefore have pursued the principal approach to immobilize part of the packed bed in the capillary by chemical means. E.g. Heman Cortez et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,920 describe the usage of KaSil (potassium silicate) to form a porous ceramic frit in the fused silica tube which will retain the small particles during column packing. Columns with frit terminators made in this way have internal diameters typically in the 180-530 .mu.m range and have been used in SFC preferably.
In micro high performance liquid chromatography and the new field of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) narrower columns--interior diameter <200 .mu.m--are used. In this field, several groups have pursued other approaches to form such a frit. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,577 Fuchs et al. bring fusable glass beads, 1-50 .mu.m diameter into the fused silica capillary tube and melt these together under electrical sparking.
Unmodified silica particles 3-40 .mu.m diameter have been used alternatively. After bringing these into the fused silica capillary tube, particles were glued together by destabilization of a tetraalkoxysilane forming in situ silicic acid binding the particles together.
In recent publications the stationary phase particles have been immobilized directly in the packed bed by application of heat to a zone of the packed fused silica column where the terminating frit needs to be while the column still is at high pressure on the packing apparatus (e.g. Boughtflower et al., Chromatographia 40, 329 (1995), Smith et al., Chromatographia 38, 649 (1994), Rozing et al., LC-GC Magazine, October 1995). It is believed that under these conditions the particles are glued together by the fact that upon heating a small amount of silica dissolves in water forming silicic acid, and that upon cooling the repolymerized silicic acid deposits between the particles. The advantage of this approach is that it does not substantially alter the chemical constitution of the zone that is fritted, that it can be done on the inlet and outlet side without problem, that the length of the fritted zone is well controlled by the dimension of the external heating source used and that the porosity of the bed is unaffected. Photographs e.g. by Boughtflower et al., show that the particle structure is not affected by this treatment and therefore interparticle porosity is maintained.
The main problem with all these approaches is to obtain chemical or physical adhesion of the fritted zone to the inner capillary wall so that the fritted zone has sufficient stability to overcome shrinking and cracking of the bed or fritted zone. It has been observed that after drying out of a packed capillary the frits loose contact to the inner capillary wall and gentle electrical or hydraulic force on the bed suffices to drive out the packing and destroy the column. With all approaches to generate internal frits in a packed capillary column attachment of the fritted zone to the inside wall of the capillary remains a potential problem.

Column for capillary chromatographic separations


A system for performing work in a hot cell includes a support arm having a first end and a second end and a movable arm having an end selectively engageable with the first end to form a rigid connection. Complementary coupling devices are disposed on the first end of the support arm and on the end of the movable arm and mate together when the movable arm is joined to the support arm.

The present invention relates to a system for performing work within a sealed enclosure such as a hot cell. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system that allows an operator located outside of the sealed enclosure to control a remote arm located in the sealed enclosure.
Sealed enclosures, commonly known as "hot cells", are used throughout the nuclear industry to contain radiation around radioactive handling equipment. A typical hot cell includes a ceiling, a floor and walls formed of concrete having a thickness sufficient to prevent radiation and radioactive particles from leaving the hot cell. Holes of limited diameter (for example 10 inches) are provided at various locations in the walls. Each hole allows a manipulator to be inserted into the hot cell to perform work on the equipment. The manipulator includes a movable arm portion that can be inserted through the hole and a straight portion that is supported by the inner wall of the hole. Controls are provided on an end of the straight portion and are connected directly to the movable arm with cables to allow an operator to control movement of the arm. When the operator's work is completed, the operator removes the manipulator from the hot cell by pulling it out back through the hole. Since the manipulator, and in particular the movable arm, must be inserted through the hole, the movable arm can not be any larger than the diameter of the hole. This is a significant disadvantage because it limits the carrying capacity of the manipulator.

System for performing work in a hot cell


An apparatus for detecting an organic compound and an apparatus for manufacturing a display device, the apparatus for detecting an organic compound including an infrared light emitting unit that irradiates infrared rays toward a gas-phase organic compound used as a process gas in an atmospheric pressure equipment; a first window that separates the organic compound from the infrared light emitting unit; an infrared detection unit that measures an infrared absorbance of the organic compound; and a second window that separates the organic compound from the infrared detection unit, wherein infrared absorption regions of the first window and the second window are different from an infrared absorption region of the organic compound.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to an apparatus for detecting an organic compound and an apparatus for manufacturing a display device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a flat panel display, a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display have been widely used. The liquid crystal display and the organic light emitting diode display may include a thin film transistor and a capacitor that configure a pixel circuit, a scan driving unit and a data driving unit that control driving of a pixel, a gate wire and a data wire that connect the pixel circuit to the driving units, and the like.
As a process of manufacturing a display device, there are processes performed within atmospheric pressure equipment and using a gas-phase organic compound as a process gas. For example, in a cleaning or drying process that is performed after a wet process, e.g., dry etching, alcohol-based materials, e.g., isopropyl alcohol, may be used as a solvent.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the described technology and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Apparatus for detecting organic compounds and apparatus for manufacturing display device using the same


Embodiments of the invention include an optical power splitting module apparatus. The module apparatus includes at least one input port, one or more multi-fiber output ports, and an optical fiber-splitter device coupled therebetween. The optical splitter device has a first end configured as at least one single optical fiber, and a second end configured as one or more multi-fiber groups. The first end of the splitter device is coupled to the input port and the second end of the splitter device is coupled to the output ports. The first end of the splitter device is, e.g., an LC connector. The second end of the splitter device is, e.g., one or more Multi-fiber Push On (MPO) connectors. The optical splitter device is, e.g., a 1×N planar lightwave circuit (PLC) splitter, such as a 1×32 PLC splitter with an LC input connector and four 8-fiber MPO output connectors.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to optical fiber power splitting devices. More particularly, the invention relates to modules for splitting optical power.
2. Description of Related Art
One of the most important recent developments in the field of fiber optic communications is the emergence of the feasibility of fiber management and distribution systems, arrangements and devices for delivering optical fiber signals to a particular location or group of locations. Such applications typically are referred to as Fiber To The x (FTTx) applications. One of the more popular FTTx applications is Fiber To The Premises (FTTP) or Fiber To The Home (FTTH), in which optical signal capabilities are routed from a central fiber office or other distribution location to a plurality of homes in that particular location via optical fiber and one or more optical connectors and/or other optical connection devices.
One type of optical fiber connector used in many Premise system configurations is the Multi-fiber Push On (MPO) connector. Also, MPO connectors are housed in modules for providing modular MPO connections and terminating and interconnecting MPO connector arrangements.
Various conventional FTTx products exist, including MPO-based connection devices. For example, such devices include the InstaPATCH™ MPO module and trunk cable design offerings by Systimax Solutions, Plug and Play offerings from Corning Cable Systems, and the fiber optic infrastructure products by Red Hawk CDT. Also, Blue Helix offers MPO modules and module patch panels for FTTx applications.
Conventionally, FTTx applications use planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology in various packaging structures. Typically, these packaging structures include a splitter housing that splits a single optical fiber into a plurality of individual fiber pigtails emanating from the splitter housing. The fiber pigtails, which each typically are approximately 4to 6feet in length, are used to administer various fiber routing assignments within a fiber distribution location and/or between locations (e.g., outside plant administration points).
However, many of these packaging structures have as many as 32 fiber pigtails emanating therefore. With such a relatively large number of individual fiber pigtails, congestion and tangling of the fiber pigtails become concerns. Also, accurate routing of the fiber pigtails and general circuit administration and storage are issues with these types of packaging structures.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have available a fiber connection module or other packaging structure that overcomes the aforementioned problems of conventional packaging structures.

Optical fiber power splitter module apparatus


A cable drum assembly comprises a cable drum for a cable-driven apparatus such as a cable window lifter, in particular of a motor vehicle, which automatically compensates for cable slackness without deforming the window lift system. The cable drum has the advantage that it only removes the so-called genuine cable slackness present when the window lifter is in the relaxed state. The cable drum has a part for compensating the cable slackness which can be moved in relation to the outer cable drum wall and is disposed in a guide inside the cable drum. The part may be connected with one cable end of the cable loop, and that when a load is placed on the cable drum by the cable, the part is arrested on the cable drum. When the cable drum is unloaded, a spring urges the part so as to take up cable slackness. In other embodiments, the part presses against the outer cable drum wall and irreversibly increased its diameter when it is unloaded or rotates with respect to the cable drum and winds in slack cable when the drum is unloaded.

A drive device for a cable window lifter is described in German Patent Publication DE 31 45 277 C2, in which the cable drum comprises a first half for winding up the one cable end and a second half for winding up the other cable end. Ratchet teeth, which are in engagement with each other, are provided on the fronts of the cable drum halves facing each other. A spring presses the cable drum halves together and ensures that they turn in respect to each other but only after a defined difference in the transferable torque has been attained. For this purpose the first drum half is connected and fixed against relative rotation with the shaft of the drive, while the second drum half can be displaced on a cylindrical journal against the spring force in an axially limited manner and can then be turned in a circumferential direction.
The disadvantage of this device lies in that not only the so-called genuine cable slackness of a "relaxed" window lifter is compensated, wherein the drive moves over an appropriate dead angle making the typical ratcheting noise, but that an overload slackness is also removed. Such overload slackness can occur when the window lifter is moved against a stop with great force and the system becomes greatly deformed. Because the deformation is maintained, almost all components of the window lifter are put under heavy loads, which results in accelerated material fatigue and can even lead to system breakdowns.
A further device for compensating the length of the cable is described in Japanese Patent Publication JP 3-72552 B2. In accordance therewith, one of the Bowden tube supports of the window lifter is seated on the base plate supporting the cable drum so it is resilient in the direction of the cable. In this case the Bowden tube end comprises two parts in the area of the support which can be screwed together and through which the cable is guided. Both parts are loaded by a pressure spring which attempts to push the two parts, which can be screwed together, away from each other. The screw thread is embodied in such a way that, if cable slackness occurs, the two parts are unscrewed by the effect of the pressure spring until the cable is taut again. In the opposite direction detent teeth on the one screwable part, which are engaged with the end of the pressure spring embodied as a coil spring, prevent the two parts from entering each other. However, the above-described solution also has the disadvantage that it also removes cable slackness caused by an overload on the window lifter from the drive end, which results in a deformation of the mechanical system. A further disadvantage resides in that the proposed solution is only usable in connection with Bowden window lifters. This solution cannot be used in so-called open cable systems.


Remastering of shared resources among nodes in a cluster, while minimizing the time that such resources are unavailable for access, comprises dividing the shared resources being remastered into multiple “windows” and freezing and remastering one window at a time. The remastering windows are defined over one or more buckets associated with a hash table of resources. In clusters with unequally sized hash tables, an enhancement to the fundamental windowing approach utilizes a functionally specific hashing algorithm and a hash table size constraint to ensure that the set of all resources that hash to a given bucket in a hash table of a given size will hash precisely to the same bucket, plus a set of higher buckets which are well defined, in a node that has a larger hash table.

A "cluster" is the result of "clustering" computing resources together in such a way that they behave like a single resource. Clustering is often used for purposes of parallel processing, load balancing and fault tolerance. One common example of a cluster is a set of computers, or "nodes", that are configured so that they behave like a single computer. Each computer in the cluster has shared access to a set of resources. A resource is, generally, any item that can be shared by the computers in the cluster. A common example of a resource is a block of memory in which information is stored. The block of memory may be part of a node in the cluster or may be external to the cluster, such as a database block.
A cluster comprises multiple nodes that each executes an instance of a server that facilitates access to a shared set of resources on behalf of clients of the cluster. One example of a cluster is a database cluster. A database cluster comprises multiple nodes that each executes an instance of a database server that facilitates access to a shared database. Among other functions of database management, a database server governs and facilitates access to the particular database by processing requests by clients to access data in the database.
Typically, resources are assigned to masters, where each master coordinates the sharing of the resources assigned to it. A single node is the master of a given shared resource. A master has a global view of the state of the shared resources that it masters at any given time and acts as a coordinator for access to the shared resource. For example, a master coordinates and is aware of which node is currently granted a lock or latch on the shared resource (and what type of lock or latch) and which nodes are queued to obtain a lock or latch on the shared resource. Typically, the master's global view of the status of a shared resource is embodied in metadata associated with the resource.
Each shared resource is mapped to a master. Various mechanisms may be used to establish the resource-to-master mapping. Techniques for using hash tables to establish the resource-to-master mapping are described in detail, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,396. The techniques described herein are not limited to any particular mechanism for establishing the resource-to-master mapping.
For efficient management of resources, it is important for each master to quickly locate the information maintained by the master for any of the resources that it masters. To improve access to the resource information, the resources mastered by a given node are often hashed to a table, i.e., a hash table, via a hashing algorithm ("hash function"). Specifically, to locate information maintained for a particular resource, a hash function may be applied to an identifier associated with the resource to produce a hash value. Using the hash value as an index into the hash table, the master locates a hash table entry associated with the resource. From the hash table entry, the master obtains information about the location of the information maintained for the resource.
The hash function effectively sections the hash table into "buckets" to which each resource is mapped. To avoid excessive latch contention while maintaining acceptable and reasonable performance from the cluster, it is desirable to limit the number of resources mapped to a given bucket. Thus, the number of buckets in the resulting hash table is based on (1) a desired per-bucket maximum number of resources, and (2) the number of resources mastered by the node. Thus, to avoid exceeding the desired per-bucket maximum, a node that masters more resources will generally use a hash function that hashes resources to more buckets than the hash function used by a node that masters fewer resources.
FIG. 1 is a diagram that illustrates a set of resources 102a-102n that are mapped into particular buckets, b1-b3, of a hash table 106 through a hash function 104. The hash table 106 is used to access information about the resources being mastered by a master node. In this general example, the hash function takes as input some identifier of the resource being hashed, shown as resource identifier "resid", and depending on the value that is output, the resource is mapped to a particular bucket of the hash table. Resources that map to the same bucket are associated with each other due to their mapping to the given bucket. Typically, providing a latch to a given resource provides the latch to the entire bucket of resources that hash to the same bucket as the given resource.
In a cluster with asymmetric nodes, where the nodes have asymmetric processing and/or memory capabilities, the number of resources that a given node can master often depends on the node's cache size, which typically depends on the node's overall memory size. Because the number of resources hashed to each bucket is relatively fixed, optimally, a node with more memory will master more resources and, consequently, have a larger hash table (a hash table having more buckets) to access the information maintained by the master for those resources.
Mastership of shared resources in a cluster benefits from dynamic adjustments based on emerging affinity patterns (where a particular node is continuously and/or repeatedly accessing a particular resource set) or for pure load balancing reasons, for example. Dynamic remastering of the shared resources requires a certain freeze stage for redistribution of these resources, whereby information about the resources being remastered is transferred from one node to another, during which lock operations on the remastered resources are not allowed. There is room for improvement in minimizing the freeze time associated with dynamic remastering of resources shared among nodes in a cluster.

Techniques for multiple window resource remastering among nodes of a cluster


A smart switch applied to a remote control system in a smart home is connected to a power and at least one electronic device. The smart switch includes a storage, and a communication unit receiving commands from a remote source which include the unique identification code of a target electronic device. A smart gateway, a remote unit, and a processor unit including a converting module and a control module are also included. The converting module converts the remote command to a control signal that can be recognized by the electronic device, and the control module controls the remote unit to send the control signal to the electronic device. A remote control system is also provided.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to smart home technology, and particularly to a smart switch and a smart remote control system employing the smart switch.
2. Description of Related Art
A manual switch may be arranged on a wall or floor of the house for turning on/off the power of electronic devices. Some switches also include sockets and indicator lights configured to indicate power states. However, these functions of the manual switch are the only functions.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Smart switch and remote control system using the same

HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.


The present invention provides an exposure apparatus which exposes each of a plurality of shot regions on a substrate, comprising a substrate stage configured to be movable while holding the substrate, and a control unit, wherein the plurality of shot regions include a first shot region, and a second shot region which is exposed next to the first shot region, and the control unit drives the substrate stage in accordance with drive information of the substrate stage in a period until exposure of the second shot region starts after an end of exposing the first shot region, and when an exposure condition for exposing the second shot region is not satisfied in the period, the control unit drives again the substrate stage in accordance with the drive information and then exposes the second shot region.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus and a method of manufacturing an article.
Description of the Related Art
One of apparatuses used in a manufacturing step (lithography step) for a semiconductor device or the like is an exposure apparatus which transfers the pattern of a mask onto a substrate. The exposure apparatus needs to accurately transfer the pattern of a mask onto a substrate. For this purpose, it is important to make the imaging plane (focus plane) of the projection optical system coincide with the substrate surface in the exposure apparatus. The exposure apparatus therefore performs focus measurement to measure the height of the substrate surface.
However, since a reaction force is generated along with acceleration or deceleration of the substrate stage in the exposure apparatus, the frame structure in the exposure apparatus is deformed and thereby an error in the result of focus measurement may be generated. It may become difficult to accurately transfer the pattern of a mask onto a substrate. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-199386 has proposed a method of measuring in advance the shift amount of an image projected on a substrate in accordance with the acceleration of a substrate stage, and when exposing the substrate, applying the shift amount as a correction value to the result of focus measurement. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-238707 has proposed a method of obtaining in advance, as a correction value, the difference between results of focus measurement during acceleration and constant-speed movement of a substrate stage, and correcting, based on the correction value, the result of focus measurement during acceleration of the substrate stage.
In general, the exposure apparatus exposes a plurality of shot regions on a substrate while correcting the result of focus measurement based on a correction value obtained in advance in accordance with the acceleration of the substrate stage. However, a shot region (unexposed shot region) which has not been exposed because the exposure condition was not satisfied till the start of exposure may be generated among a plurality of shot regions. To increase the yield, even the unexposed shot region needs to be exposed. When exposing the unexposed shot region, a correction value obtained in advance is desirably applied. Therefore, when exposing the unexposed shot region, the substrate stage should be driven in the same way as that when a plurality of shot regions were exposed in order.

Exposure apparatus and method of manufacturing article


A ceramic abradable material is provided for use for clearance control between turbine blade tips and the shroud or casing in gas turbine engines for industrial and/or aerospace applications. The ceramic abradable material includes an yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) that is doped in alumina (Al2O3). The ceramic abradable in accordance with the invention is a soft abradable material that provides for increased erosion resistance as well as the ability of the turbine blade tips to cut into the abradable without causing them damage. These properties allow for optimum tolerances within the gas turbine engine which results in superior efficiency and performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to ceramic clearance control (abradable) materials for high temperature applications, and more particularly to a ceramic abradable material that is doped with alumina, whereby the addition of alumina imparts a significant improvement in erosion resistance to the abradable compared to other commercially available ceramic abradables.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gas turbine engines are used in a variety of applications, including aircraft engines and various other industrial applications where operating temperatures may be in the range of 1000-1200 degrees Celsius and higher. A gas turbine engine is an internal-combustion engine that is typically made up of an air compressor, combustion chamber, and turbine wheel that is turned by the expanding products of combustion. It essentially converts the chemical energy of a liquid fuel into mechanical energy by internal combustion. The operational efficiency of gas turbine engines increases with the rise in operational temperatures which can place components under increased stress as well as subject those components to thermal expansion.
In order to maximize efficiency in the operation of turbine engines, it is desirable to minimize the clearances between the turbine blade tips and the outer casing or shroud. Too large a clearance will result in poor fuel efficiency in order to provide the desired operational speeds, while too small of a clearance risks contact between the turbine blade tips and the outer casing which can result in component failure. To solve this problem, conventional gas turbine engines include an abradable coating or seal that is applied to the surface of the outer casing and/or seal. These abradable coatings or seals can be cut by the rotating turbine blades without damaging the turbine blades. In addition, the abradable coatings or seals must remain resistant to erosion that is caused by small solid particles and high gas flow rates present in the turbine. Erosion refers to wear caused by a stream of small particles and is analogous to abrasive wear.
The abradable coating or seal must also have good abradability, spall resistance, low gas permeability, a smooth surface, good aging properties and long term oxidation resistance.
Conventional gas turbine engines may utilize porous ceramic abradable materials, such as yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) (8 wt. % Y2O3, bal. ZrO2). Although such YSZ materials are suited for use as abradable materials, they are relatively friable and susceptible to erosive wear effects. Thus, there is a continued need for superior abradables with acceptable abradability performance and erosion resistance so that tolerances can be optimized even further to achieve improved efficiency and performance.

Ceramic abradable material with alumina dopant