A vehicle step includes an appearance surface; a pair of step surfaces; a lock for securing the step within a bumper; and a pivoting mechanism for rotating the step. The appearance face forms an external bumper surface when the step is stowed. The pivoting mechanism alternately deploys and stows the step manually or using a motor. A vehicle access method includes configuring a bumper with an affixable portion and connecting thereto a rotatable portion having an appearance surface and two step surfaces. The rotatable portion has a step surface formed on opposite surfaces of a first member, and an appearance surface formed on a surface of an intersecting second member. One step surface and the appearance surface are exposed when the rotatable portion rotates to one position, and the other step surface is exposed when the rotatable portion rotates to another position.

Modern vehicles such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) provide greater utility for some purposes in relation to smaller passenger cars, due in part to their substantially greater size and weight. This increases the amount, size, and weight of the various types of cargo that may be transported or towed by the vehicle. In particular, pickup trucks and SUVs may be better equipped to carry substantially larger and heavier loads such as machinery, equipment, construction materials, and recreational vehicles within a rear cargo area, or to transport groceries, occupants, and various personal effects within a separate passenger cabin, for example during family trips. Therefore, to accommodate the loading and unloading of such a variety of cargo, as well as to assist vehicle occupants in entering and exiting the elevated rear cargo area or truck bed, such vehicles often utilize one or more entry-assist mechanisms.
To facilitate access to the rear cargo area or bed, pickup trucks and SUVs may be equipped with drop-style tailgates that may be deployed as a platform, or with removable access ramps that connect to the bed to enable cargo and/or a recreational vehicle to roll up the ramp and into the rear cargo area. Alternately, and particularly for personal access to the rear cargo area, steps, door handles, and/or hand holds may be rigidly attached to the vehicle frame and/or molded into the vehicle body, and are usually trimmed or finished to add a desired look and aesthetic appeal. However, such exposed access devices may be less than optimal due to their relative weight and/or aerodynamic impact, or in the case of permanently mounted platforms, steps, or handles, their impact on the overall styling and aesthetic appeal of the vehicle. Therefore, certain hinged platforms are used to provide a convenient step for accessing a rear cargo area. However, such devices may be less than optimal for facilitating access to the rear cargo area from a variety of positions.

Deployable vehicle rear access step apparatus and method


An apparatus, method, and medium for detecting an impact sound and an apparatus, method, and medium for discriminating the impact sound using the same. The impact sound detecting apparatus includes: an onset detector separating an input signal of a frame unit into a low frequency signal and a high frequency signal, measuring powers of the separated signals, and detecting onsets by detecting changes in the measured powers; an event buffer buffering the powers measured by the onset detector and spectral data of the input signal; and an impact sound verifier determining whether each of the detected onsets is an impulse onset, and if each of the detected onsets is the impulse onset, detecting events starting from the impulse onsets by checking the powers stored in the event buffer and determining each of the detected events to be an impulse event if each of the detected onsets satisfies a predetermined condition.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus, method, and medium for detecting an impact sound and an apparatus, method, and medium for discriminating the impact sound using the same, and more particularly, to an apparatus, method, and medium for detecting an impact sound among various sounds generated from the surrounding environments and an impact sound discriminating apparatus, method, and medium for discriminating whether the detected impact sound is a target impact sound.
2. Description of the Related Art
An impact sound or an impulsive acoustical event generated by a mechanical interaction between objects has a short duration and relatively high intensity. This characteristic of the impact sound is called impulsiveness. According to signal processing theories, the impulsiveness can be modeled as a zero-state impulse response of a linear system.
The impact sound, for example, includes a simplex sound, such as a sound generated when a pane of glass is hit by a solid stick, and a complex sound such as an explosion sound and a sound generated when a coin drops a floor.
The impact sound is discriminated by detecting and discriminating the existence and characteristics of an impulsive acoustical event from a consecutive sound stream.

Apparatus, method, and medium for detecting and discriminating impact sound


A polyolefin composition comprising:                A) from 65 wt % to 85 wt %, of a propylene/ethylene/1-butene terpolymer wherein:        i) the content of ethylene derived units ranges from 0.6 wt % to 2.5 wt;        ii) the content of 1-butene derived units ranges from 6 wt % to 12 wt %;        iii) the fraction soluble in xylene at 25° C. ranges from 3.5 wt % to 20 wt %;        B) from 15 wt % to 35 wt % of a propylene/ethylene copolymer having a content of ethylene derived units ranging from 10 wt % to 40 wt %; the copolymer optionally can contains 1-butene derived units in an amount less than 1 wt %; the sum A)+B) being 100.

Traditionally, polymers in which low modulus, as well as good impact at low temperatures are desired properties, have been prepared from soft poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). However, because PVC products cause environmental problems due to emissions of chlorinated organic compounds during combustion there is currently a trend towards replacing PVC with other polymers. As an alternative to PVC polymers polypropylene polymers have been employed since such polymers are known to have suitable resistance to heat and chemicals as well as attractive mechanical properties.
WO 98/59002 relates to a heterophasic polypropylene copolymer having a tensile modulus of 420 MPa or less comprising:
i) a semi-crystalline propylene: ethylene and optionally other a-olefin copolymer matrix comprising 0.5 to 10 wt % of ethylene and optionally 5 to 12 wt % of the other alpha-olefin; and
ii) an elastomeric propylene-ethylene and optionally other alpha-olefin copolymer
The amount of component i) ranges from 20 wt % to 90 wt % preferably from 60 wt % to 90 wt % and the xylene soluble fraction ranges from 3 wt % to 30 wt %.
The applicant found that when component i) is a terpolymer a better balancement of tensile modulus and impact properties can be obtained by fine tuning the above composition. In particular an higher tensile modulus can be obtained in addition at higher izod impact properties while maintaining good values of optical properties.


A method of sex sorting sperm is disclosed. The sperm may be stained with a DNA selective fluorescent dye, which fluoresces when excited, a dead quenching dye, which selectively quenches fluorescence emitted by the DNA selective fluorescent dye within the membrane of compromised sperm, and a split enhancing dye. The stained sperm may then sorted into one or more gender enriched subpopulations of viable sperm.

Effective pre-selection of sex has been accomplished in many species following the development of reliable methods for separating sperm into enriched X-chromosome and/or Y-chromosome bearing subpopulations. Traditional sperm sorting methods often rely on FACS for the detection of quantifiable differences in DNA content of X-chromosome bearing sperm and Y-chromosome bearing sperm, such as through flow cytometry. A typical step in these methods includes staining a sperm population with a DNA selective fluorescent dye that uniformly stains nuclear DNA. Hoechst 33342, sometimes referred to as Hoechst bisbenzimide 33342, is the most widely utilized stain for this purpose because it can be used in a sufficient quantity to differentiate small variations in nuclear DNA without exhibiting the toxicity of other fluorescent stains.
Sorted sperm quality and purities improved with the introduction of a dead quenching dye for differentiating membrane compromised sperm from the population or populations of interest. Membrane compromised sperm can include dead and dying sperm, which may have fragmented and disintegrating nuclear DNA that obscures the already narrow differences in X-chromosome bearing sperm and Y-chromosome bearing sperm. Initially, propidium iodine was used for this purpose, but has been shown to be toxic to sperm. Later, FD&C red food dye No. 40, 6-hydroxy-5-[(2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo]-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid (hereafter "red food dye No. 40" or "red 40"), was added to the sperm staining process as the dead quenching dye for quenching membrane compromised sperm and removing membrane compromised sperm from the sort analysis.
When sex sorting sperm, ultimately a small variation in DNA content is quantified differentiating X-chromosome bearing sperm from Y-chromosome bearing sperm. In bovine, for example, Holsteins have about a 3.8% difference in DNA content, while Jersey bulls have about a 4.1% difference. Due to the inexact nature of stoichiometric DNA staining, these small differences can be difficult to differentiate. This difficulty may be exacerbated by noise in the DNA staining complex, which can vary randomly in both X-chromosome bearing sperm and Y-chromosome bearing sperm.
One previously unrealized problem that may exist in current dead quenching staining regiments may be an over quenching of some desired signal. This may occur with the presence of a dead quenching dye in a sperm sample which does not associate with membrane compromised sperm, but instead remains in the sample quenching signals produced by membrane compromised sperm and non-membrane compromised sperm alike. It may also be that some dead quenching dye associates with healthy sperm cells. For these reasons, quenching in the sample may slightly quench the overall signal. While this may be happening to a far extent as compared to the quenching of membrane compromised sperm, it can be relevant when attempting to differentiate small differences in nuclear DNA content.
The sperm sorting process is damaging to cells which are non-regenerative time critical cells. The staining step can be the especially harmful. While Hoechst 33342 can be used in non-toxic concentrations, sperm must be incubated at elevated temperatures and elevated pHs for sufficient Hoechst 33342 penetration with sufficient uniformity for analysis or sorting. Each of elevating sperm temperature and elevating sperm pH may contribute to sperm damage. Therefore, a need exists for improvements to the staining process which reduce stain times or reduce incubation temperatures and/or pHs. Additionally, many chemicals added during sperm processing negatively impact sperm viability. This can be particularly true in sperm staining and sorting procedures.


A power cord for use by electricians to supply power to the construction area while normal electrical power has been disconnected. The present invention allows the electrician to draw power from severed power lines without the necessity of removing the insulation from the severed power lines. The power cord provides un-metered power to ground fault current interrupter and circuit breaker protected outlets.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to power supply cord to be used by electricians preforming domestic or commercial electric service change or upgrade and more particularly to connection means for temporarily supplying power to circuit breaker and ground fault current interrupter protected circuits.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is generally accepted as common practice to disconnect power from the electrical service that is to be changed or upgraded. This is accomplished by cutting the supply conductors between the street utility pole and the Watt meter in domestic applications. After power has been disconnected there is need for electrical power to operate temporary lights and construction tools such as drills, saws and compressors in the construction area. In order to supply power to these tools it is necessary to connect an extension cord to the supply cable at the point at which it was cut. To accomplish this connection it has been necessary to strip the insulation from the ends of live power lines and mechanically connect the un-insulated ends of the power cable and the extension cord. In most cases this connection is made at a point that is exposed to the elements, in some instances in rain or snow, increasing the hazard to the person making the connection. The tools to be powered usually have a maximum load of 12 amps at 120 volts. The incoming power to most homes is 100 amps minimum at 120 volts on each of two power legs. It is necessary therefore to limit the current delivered by the extension cord to prevent incineration of the tools or the extension cord in the case of a short circuit. Due to the relatively unsafe conditions in most construction areas it has been found advisable to use a ground fault current interrupter to protect workers and equipment from undesired ground fault currents.
Electric plugs with built in fuse devices have been developed as a way to protect appliance cords from overheating due to excessive current flow. U.S. Pat. No. 2,636,096 describes a plug in receptacle. A conventional tubular glass bodied fuse is incorporated into the circuitry. U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,617 and 4,275,374 utilize a similar arrangement with the same type of fuse in an insertion and injection channel, making removal and replacement of the fuse relatively simple. U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,316 provides an extension cord with multiple outlet receptacle receiving power from a conductor connected to a standard electrical plug and fitted with a circuit breaker for protection from over heating due to excessive current flow. The design objectives of each of the above devices is convenience and simplicity of use, however, none of the above designs provide for ground fault current protection for operators or equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,456 provides a ground fault current interrupter protected extension cord fitted with a standard male electrical plug, but offers no protection from over heating due to excessive current flow.


Coordination of measurement subsystems of a flow meter. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are flow meters comprising a spool piece that defines a central passage, a first plurality of transducer pairs mechanically coupled to the spool piece, a first control electronics electrically coupled to the first plurality of transducer pairs (the first control electronics configured to selectively activate each transducer pair of the first plurality of transducer pairs), a second plurality of transducer pairs mechanically coupled to the spool piece, a second control electronics different than the first control electronics (the second control electronics electrically coupled to the second plurality of transducer pairs, the second control electronics configured to selectively activate each transducer pair of the second plurality of transducer pairs). The first and second control electronics communicatively coupled and configured to coordinate activation of their respective transducer pairs.

After hydrocarbons have been removed from the ground, the fluid stream (e.g., crude oil, natural gas) is transported from place-to-place via pipelines. It is desirable to know with accuracy the amount of fluid flowing in the stream, and particular accuracy is demanded when the fluid is changing hands, or "custody transfer." Ultrasonic flow meters may be used to measure the amount of fluid flowing in a pipeline, and ultrasonic flow meters have sufficient accuracy to be used in custody transfer.
The value of gas "changing hands" at the point of custody transfer in a high volume natural gas pipeline may amount to a million dollars or more in a single day. Thus, in some custody transfer situations a single meter body houses two independent ultrasonic flow meters. Two meters enable redundancy in case one meter fails, and in situations where both flow meters are operational, the accuracy of recorded flow volumes may be verified by comparing the two independent measurements. However, having two independent ultrasonic flow meters on the same meter body may create difficulties in operation and/or measurement by the meters.

Method and system of coordination of measurement subsystems of a flow meter


In an electromagnetic contactor, an arc generated when a movable contact separates from fixed contacts can be easily extinguished. The movable contact is disposed so as to be connectable to and detachable from the pair of fixed contacts disposed to maintain a predetermined interval inside a contact housing case having insulating properties, and an arc extinguishing chamber is formed in a position in which the movable contact and the pair of fixed contacts contact. At least the inner wall surface side of the arc extinguishing chamber contacting an arc is formed of a high thermal conductivity material having thermal conductivity higher than that of a synthetic resin molded material.

The electromagnetic contactor described in, for example, PTL 1 is known as an electromagnetic contactor that carries out opening and closing of a current path. In this electromagnetic contactor, a pair of fixed contacts disposed maintaining a predetermined distance and a movable contact disposed so as to be connectable to and detachable from the pair of fixed contacts are disposed inside a contact housing case. Further, an insulating cylinder is disposed on the inner side of the contact housing case so as to enclose the pair of fixed contacts and movable contact. An arc extinguishing permanent magnet that extinguishes an arc generated between the pair of fixed contacts and movable contact is positioned and held in a magnet housing portion in the insulating cylinder, and an arc extinguishing space is formed on the outer sides of the magnet housing portion in the longitudinal direction of the movable contact.

FUJI ELECTRIC FA COMPONENTS & SYSTEMS CO., LTD.


The present invention is a modular exercise system made up of two handles, a segmented track, and two or more sliding carriages. The invention allows a user to safely and incrementally practice front and side split exercises by providing specific and adjustable stability and support. The invention can be extended to accommodate taller users and can also be fully disassembled and packed into a compact travelling configuration.

In athletics and fitness, a split, or the splits, is an activity in which a person assumes a physical position with their legs extended straight, in opposite directions and in-line with other, such that the angle formed between the legs is approximately 180 degrees. This exercise demonstrates and requires significant flexibility, in particular involving large muscles in the thigh. It is useful as a stretching exercise. There are generally two forms of splits: side splits in which the legs are extended laterally with respect to the torso, and front splits in which the legs are extended forward and rearward with respect to the torso. Splits require a level of flexibility not found in the general population and which generally require training to properly execute.
Modular equipment refers to an apparatus or a system of apparatuses which comprises multiple parts and which can be assembled or rearranged in order to provide additional utility or to expand existing utility, such as a set of weights which can be used to adjust a total weight being lifted, or a machine which, through reconfiguration, allows for the training of different muscle groups. Modular equipment can also refer to equipment which can be extended via modular components to accommodate users of different physical dimensions.
No specialized equipment exists which aids a user in practicing front and side splits safely and incrementally. What is desired is such a training aid for performing both front and side splits which is modular and transportable.


A wind powered variable area exit aperture electric generating system having configurable, adjustable duct side walls by which means the ratio between the intake cross-sectional aperture area and the exhaust cross-sectional aperture area may be varied for maximum air molecule flow through the duct, leading to ideal maximum electrical output for any given air mass input. The planar characteristic and angular dispersion of the mutually leading edge coupled extended flaps, and the regular square interior housing result in complementary internal vortices developed at the trailing edge of the planar architectural surfaces.

For several thousand years wind turbines have been used as prime power movers in raising water or powering mills grinding grains. Just after the turn of the 19th Century into the 20th Century, before the First World War, perhaps a million open fan wind turbines were in use within the US alone, pumping water in farms and ranches all over America.
In the late 20th Century, and the beginning 21st Century, rising fuel costs, and increased concern for global pollution and warming have raised wind power generally to the fastest growing renewable energy source on the planet. A recent Stanford University study shows that North America has more sites suitable for locating modern open fan wind turbines than any other continent in the world today. However, modern large open fan wind turbines have certain characteristics and problems in the process of becoming more apparent as the installation base of such turbines increases,
In the Altamont, in California, as an example, the open fan wind turbines there kill over one thousand hawks and eagles each year, from collisions between the fan blades and the birds. From an economic point of view, large open fan wind turbine installations are best sited in areas of high wind, which often have a low human population because of the wind; areas in the Dakotas, Kansas, and Texas are a good example. Thus the wind turbine installations must be accompanied by expensive, complete electrical utility infrastructures, and the generated electrical power expensively shipped via high tension lines to the eventual power consumers.
In European countries, such as England, having high quality wind resources, and a large installed large open fan wind turbine base, the location of very visible open fan wind turbines is interfering with aesthetic sight line values concerning tourists. The sightlines to Wordsworth's cottage in Grasmere, in the Lake Country, as an example, are best not obscured and blocked by large open fan wind turbines, from a tourist point of view.
The following patents reflect the state of the art of which the applicant is aware, and are included herewith to discharge applicant's duty to disclose relevant prior art. The stipulation follows, however, that none of the cited patents teach singly, or in combination, nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination, the central ideas, or nexus of the present, instant invention, as disclosed in greater detail hereinafter, and as particularly claimed.
PATENT NUMBERINVENTORISSUE DATE969,587W. A WilliamsSep. 6, 19103,706,430Floyd FoglemanDec. 19, 1972Richard Kline4,046,338Floyd FoglemanSep. 6, 1977Richard Kline4,075,500Richard A. OmanFeb. 21, 1978Kenneth M. Foreman4,084,918Vladimir H. PavlecaApr. 18, 19784,143,992Charles W. CrookMar. 13, 19794,174,923Glen A. WilliamsonNov. 20, 19794,191,505John W. KaufmanMar. 4, 19804,238,171Bernard Van MechelenDec. 9, 19804,279,569Gary J. HarloffJul. 21, 19815,009,569Francis N. HectorApr. 23, 1991Junior and SeniorU.S. Pat. No. 6,638,005 B2John W. HolterOct. 28, 2003Eric G. HolterU.S. 2004/0156710 A1Christopher Norman GaskelAug. 12, 2004patent applicationPublication
Each one of these cited patents can be characterized as providing some form of enclosure for an otherwise open fan, and as providing some form of augmentation to the intake air mass, or as providing the suppression of fan blade vortices, which a shroud normally provides in conjunction with an open fan.

Variable aperture velocity augmented ducted fan wind turbine


Systems for nerve modulation and methods for making and using the same are disclosed. An example system for nerve modulation may include a first elongate element having a distal end and a proximal end and having a helical guide having a proximal end and a distal end. The system may also include a second elongate element having a distal end and a proximal end and having a nerve modulation element proximate the distal end. A sheath may be disposed about both the first and second elongate elements. Pulling proximally on the proximal end of the first elongate element may cause simultaneous radial and longitudinal displacement of the nerve modulation element.

Certain treatments require the temporary or permanent interruption or modification of select nerve function. One example treatment is renal nerve ablation which is sometimes used to treat conditions related to congestive heart failure. The kidneys produce a sympathetic response to congestive heart failure, which, among other effects, increases the undesired retention of water and/or sodium. Ablating some of the nerves running to the kidneys reduces or eliminates this sympathetic function, which provides a corresponding reduction in the associated undesired symptoms.
Many nerves (and nervous tissue such as brain tissue), including renal nerves, run along the walls of or in close proximity to blood vessels and thus can be accessed intravascularly through the walls of the blood vessels. It is therefore desirable to provide for systems and methods for intravascular nerve modulation.

Nerve modulation system having helical guide


A modular tower assembly for use with blown film extrusion processes, where modular tower sections each having identical columns/foot prints can be stacked on top of one another. Each module can have rectangular type platforms with walk decks about a central rectangular void middle. Staircases can be built into the side of all decks modules up to the top deck. Each of the four vertical legs of the deck modules has flat plate bottoms to stack on the deck surface of the module beneath, and side cross bracing. Side extension platform deck wings with legs can be used when the central rectangular void is enlarged. The modules can be pre-formed and brought onsite to be erected in a rapid assembly manner by fasteners such as bolts, and be removable as compared to permanent type welded towers. The modular towers can include adjustable bracing components for further stiffening the modular towers to have reduced swaying, twisting and vibrations over time.

The blown film extrusion process is a vertically oriented extrusion process that requires a structure, commonly called a "blown film tower" to host equipment at different elevations and provide physical space to enhance film cooling. The blown film process is a well known type of thermoplastic extrusion process where raw materials such as pellets of solid polyethylene are placed into and gravity fed through a hopper. A feed screw and electric type heater component inside a barrel beneath the hopper further mushes and melts the pellets. A resulting uniform homogenous melted material (having the consistency of a jello type material) is then fed through a coloring dye into the bottom of a blown film tower, where a compressed air supply injects air into a holder forming a film bubble. The resulting bubble rises upward through the middle of the tower to a shaping device such as a hollow funnel adjacent to the top of the tower having a narrow upper opening where a conventional nip and roll assembly on top of the tower allows for resulting film to be pulled out.
Conventional blown film towers are usually custom made for each worksite to specific heights and dimensions. These towers include many raw steel type materials and extensive labor installation time for assembly. Generally, the components of these conventional towers are permanently welded in place. Installing these towers can take up to 45 days or more to assemble and cost up to and over some $400,000 to complete. U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,418 to Schott, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,363 to Mulcahy; U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,966 to Sweeney et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,656 to Schott, Jr., each show blown film processing systems that use conventional type towers having the types of problems previously described.
Other Patents exist on scaffolding type systems and stair case units that also fail to overcome problems described above. These patents include U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,262 to Helms; U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,016 to Townsend et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,120 to Viandon; U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,347 to Spencer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,274 to Langer; U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,077 to Shalders and U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,939 to Wang.


A 3D-printed aluminum fuel fitting solution demonstrates higher performance at a potentially lower cost and shorter lead time. The resulting geometry also produced 30% weight savings leaving all interfaces intact.

Existing systems and methods of manufacture for fluid elbow fittings typically require an aluminum, titanium, stainless steel, or the like structure with many casting complexities, extensive machining steps, and long lead times. Additionally, for some geometries castings are too complex for a metal part. For example, current fittings have as many as 70 intersecting and complex drilling passages, include excess material waste, and have a less than ideal 90° deflection angle. These and other drawbacks and inconveniences can increase part costs, require long lead times and result in a heavier part. Other drawbacks, inconveniences, and issues also exist.

Enhanced fluid deflection angle structures and methods for manufacturing


A method for forming a medium is provided. In accordance with the method a base layer is provided. A material layer is formed on the base layer. The material layer has void. A transponder having a memory is positioned in the void. A medium is also provided. The medium has a base layer and a material layer having a void. A transponder having a memory is positioned in the void.

Thin mediums of material such as paper, film and fabric have many useful applications. Often images and information are recorded on such mediums. Where information regarding characteristics of the medium is known in advance of the recording process, the recording process can be adjusted to improve the quality of the recording. Once a recording has been made on a medium it can be useful to associate electronic information in a memory that is associated with the medium. Such electronic information can include information that describes the chain of custody of the medium, the use of the medium, and who has accessed the medium. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags typically comprise three principal elements, an antenna and transponder that cooperate to send and receive electromagnetic fields containing information and a memory that stores information. Other useful information can also be associated with the medium such as electronic information that depicts information recorded on the medium. See for example, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/161,514, entitled Virtual Annotation of a Recording on an Archival Media, filed by Kerr et al. on Jun. 3, 2002.
It is known to use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to provide the electronic memory and communication capabilities that allow electronic information to be associated with a medium.
The RFID tag is adapted to exchange information with a co-designed reading/writing device. Information that is stored in an RFID tag that is joined to an item can later be used to track, identify and process the item. The RFID tag can also store other information that is to be associated with the item. A commercially available "TAG-IT INLAY"™ RFID tag available from Texas Instruments, Incorporated, Dallas, Tex., U.S.A., can be used to provide identifying information about an item to which it is attached. This relatively thin, flexible type of RFID tag can be used in applications that previously required a label or bar code. The RFID tags of the prior art are typically used for identification purposes, such as for employee badges, inventory control, and credit card account identification. The advantage of such RFID tags is that they are small in size, easy to communicate with and unlike a bar coded item, do not require the item to be aligned to the reader or scanner.
RFID tags have been proposed for use in applications with passports and credit cards, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,222 filed by Moskowitz et al. These devices are useful for tracking the location, characteristics and usage of documents, books and packages. For example, such tags can be used to track the location of documents and track the chain of custody of such documents within a document management system.
RFID tags are typically formed into a package such as an inlay, a plastic glass or ceramic housing. The RFID package is then joined to an item such as a document or book after the item has been fully assembled. Typically the RFID tag has an adhesive surface that is used to form a bond between the RFID tag and the item to which it is being joined. It is also known to use other ways of mechanically joining an RFID tag to an item. For example, an RFID tag can be joined to an item using a staple or other mechanical fastener.
There is room for improvement in this arrangement. For example, a poor bond or poor mechanical joint between the RFID tag and the item can result in separation of the RFID tag from the item. This can defeat the purpose of joining the RFID tag to the item. Further, joining an RFID tag to an item increases the cost of the combined RFID tag and item because the RFID tag must include the cost of both the base and the fastener and the cost of labor associated with joining the RFID tag to the item. These costs can become significant where RFID tags are to be joined to a multiplicity of individual items, for example, individual sheets of medium such as film or paper.
Additionally, such RFID tags typically take the form of a patterned antenna located on a base having a transponder unit applied to the top of the antenna. Accordingly, such RFID tags have a non-uniform cross-sectional area. The non-uniform cross-section of the tag can make the tag vulnerable to incidental damage to contact during manufacturing, printing, use, storage and distribution. Further, such RFID tags can interfere with the appearance and the use of the item.
One approach for solving these problems is to incorporate RFID tags inside an item such as an identification badge. In one example, this is done by providing a clam shell type outer casing into which the RFID and antenna electronics are deposited. An example of such an identification badge is the ProxCard II proximity access card sold by HID Corporation, Irvine, Calif., U.S.A. Thinner cards are made by sandwiching the RFID and antenna electronics between sheets of laminate material. An example of such a badge is the ISO ThinCard sold by HID Corporation, Irvine, Calif., U.S.A. While this method of forming a card produces a card that is thinner than the clam shell type card, the card has an uneven cross-section with increased thickness in the area of the RFID electronics.
These techniques, however, are not feasibly applied to the task of forming a thin medium such as paper, film and fabric. Such thin mediums are typically fabricated in high volumes using coating, extrusion and rolling techniques to convert pulp, gelatin or other material into thin sheets of material that are then processed into useful forms. The addition of clam shell type structures known in the art is not practically or economically feasible in this type of production. The alternative lamination approach of the prior art is also not preferred because the increased thickness and uneven cross section caused by the presence of RFID electronics and antenna sandwiched between laminations, can interfere with subsequent fabrication processes causing damage to fabrication equipment and the RFID electronics and or to the medium itself. Further this uneven cross section can interfere with imaging equipment and medium when the laminated medium having an RFID unit is passed through equipment such as a printer that uses a medium after formation. This interference can damage the RFID tag, the medium and the equipment that uses the medium. The uneven cross section also creates a less than desirable appearance for the medium and images that are subsequently recorded thereon.
Thus a need exists for a medium that has the ability to store and electronically exchange data with the medium being compatible with conventional web fabrication processes and post fabrication uses of the medium.

Medium having data storage and communication capabilities and method for forming same


A wall block, wall block system and method of making a wall block. The wall block including at least one core extending from the top surface to the bottom surface, the at least one core having opposed front and rear surfaces and first and second side surfaces the wall block also including at least one pin hole opening onto the top surface of the block and extending at least a portion of the distance from the top surface to the bottom surface. The at least one pin hole may open onto at least a portion of at least one surface of the at least one core. The block may be provided with channels; the pin hole, channels and core may all be formed in a mold box by a single forming member.

Retaining walls are used in various landscaping projects and are available in a wide variety of styles. Numerous methods and materials exist for the construction of retaining walls. Such methods include the use of natural stone, poured concrete, precast panels, masonry, and landscape timbers or railroad ties.
In recent years, segmental concrete retaining wall units, which are dry stacked (i.e., built without the use of mortar), have become widely accepted in the construction of retaining walls. Such retaining wall units have gained popularity because they are mass produced and, consequently, relatively inexpensive. They are structurally sound, easy and relatively inexpensive to install, and couple the durability of concrete with the attractiveness of various architectural finishes.
The shape of the block is also an important feature during installation of a retaining wall. Many commercially available blocks are symmetrical about a plane bisecting the front and back surfaces. Typically such blocks have planes rather than axes of symmetry, as there are differences between the top and bottom surfaces of such blocks. Clearly, blocks that are substantially square or rectangular (i.e., each surface being joined to another at an orthogonal angle) exhibit a great deal of symmetry. There are advantages to having non-parallel surfaces on these blocks when constructing a retaining wall. The angles formed by these side surfaces permits construction of curvilinear walls, and moreover, permit the amount of curvature to vary according to the terrain and desired appearance of the retaining wall.
In the manufacture of retaining wall blocks and other kinds of blocks made from concrete, it is common to use a mold that forms a block module which is then split to form two or more blocks. When a block module is split, the split surface has an irregular appearance, which is desirable if the desired look is one of natural stone. In forming block modules of such blocks, it is often standard practice to split a block module on a plane coincident with the front faces of two blocks, thus giving the front faces of two opposing blocks an irregular (i.e., roughened) appearance.
Additionally during the manufacture of the block, separate core support bridges (similar to core bars) help support interior void forming elements such as open cores, pin holes and the like, which span the cavity of the mold during production and allow the concrete to flow around and under these support bridges. Regular over the top of mold core bars may leave undesired troughs or blemishes on the surface of the block where the core bars pass over the face or surface area of the block. Numerous core bars in a mold may result in inconsistent material distribution inside the mold cavity and can create problems in achieving good compression results in the concrete material.
Another important feature of retaining wall blocks and blocks used in free standing walls is the appearance of the block. Creating a uniform and consistent look is very appealing for walls. Additionally, the look of weathered natural stone is very appealing for walls. There are several methods in the art to produce concrete wall blocks having an appearance that to varying degrees mimics the look of natural stone. One well known method is to split the block during the manufacturing process so that the front face of the block has a fractured concrete surface that looks like a natural split rock. This is done by forming a single large unit in the mold cavity and providing one or more splitting grooves in the single unit to function as one or more splitting planes. The single unit is then split apart to form two or more blocks. Another method is wherein blocks are individually formed in a mold and the surfaces are textured by removal of the mold. Another known method of creating a block having an irregular or textured surface is to form the block in a mold box that has been provided with a sidewall liner shaped to impart the irregular or textured surface on the block during the block molding process.
Wall block systems are also generally provided with some means to connect blocks in adjacent courses of the wall, such as a pinning system. The pinning system generally connects adjacent courses in a wall together thereby strengthening the wall and increasing stability of the structure. The pinning system can also align the courses of adjacent blocks to produce a set-back or a near vertical wall.
It would be desirable to provide a wall block having full depth cores which lighten the block weight for use in constructing a wall, retaining wall, fence or the like.
It would be desirable to provide a wall block having a chamfer on the sides and top of the front face of the block, to reduce the probability of sustaining damage to the block edges during manufacture, plant-handling, transportation and site installation handling. It would further be desirable that the sides and top of the front face of the wall block have an angled chamfer which creates block edges that are greater than 90° from a vertical plane formed from the sides and front of the block. The greater than 90° edges are harder to chip off or wear away during manufacture, plant-handling, transportation and site installation handling, and thereby minimize any damage to block edges.
It would be desirable to provide a system of blocks for constructing a wall that combines the ease of installation of modern segmental wall blocks with the attractive appearance of an aesthetic design. It would also be desirable to provide a retaining wall system that allows an aesthetically pleasing uniform appearance.
It would further be highly desirable to have a wall block system which can be used to build a retaining wall using a pin connection between courses, depending on the requirements of the project. Such a unit would also be desirable from a production and distribution view point, because the same block design could be used in multiple wall applications, thus reducing the need to produce specialty units.
It would be further desirable to provide a wall block system for the construction of a wall, retaining wall and the like having a pin connection system whereby the courses of the wall being constructed are aligned by a core of the block when the inserted pin of the pinning system engages a wall of the core of the block. This method of supporting the pin core is also a benefit in that it eliminates the need for additional core bars or supporting bridges.
It would be further desirable to provide a wall block system for the construction of a wall, retaining wall and the like having a pin connection system that may allow setback of the structure being constructed. It would be further desirable to provide a wall block system for the construction of a wall, retaining wall and the like having a pin connection system that may allow near vertical construction of the structure.
It would further be desirable to provide a mold box utilizing a recessed forming member to produce a core rather than a standard core bar as known in the art. It would further be desirable to provide a mold box utilizing a recessed forming member that can produce a core and a pin hole. It would further be desirable to provide a mold box utilizing a recessed forming member that can produce a core, pin hole and receiving channel.


An engine and cabin thermal management system for use with a vehicle having an engine, a cabin heating system configured to thermally heat a cabin of the vehicle, a coolant system operably coupled to the engine and to the cabin heating system to thermally manage a temperature of the engine and a temperature of the cabin. The coolant system having one or more coolant thermal storage units fluidly coupled with a radiator and heater core of the coolant system forming a coolant loop. The system further having a control system configured to monitor and maintain at least a predetermined coolant temperature at the cabin heating system even during a coolant temperature decrease at the engine stops.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
During cold weather, combustion engine coolant temperature plays an important role in the engine, after-treatment, and cabin climate control systems. For hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), the engine is often the main source for cabin heating. This means that during vehicle long stops at the intersections, while there is no need for traction power (for driving) and the engine is preferred to be off to save fuel, in order to provide the heat for the cabin climate control system, the engine has to be turned on. As a result, the vehicle fuel economy (mile per gallon) can decrease significantly during congested city driving scenarios, compared to the case where there is no need for heating the cabin.
According to the principles of the present teachings, a modified/additional coolant tank system, as an actively controlled coolant tank, is provided that acts as a thermal storage and stores the hot coolant during the high engine speed operations when abundant engine heat is available, and releases the hot coolant into the coolant main loop when engine heat is not available, such as during the vehicle stops. According to preliminary results, by actively controlling the coolant's temperature, flow, and volume inside the tank with respect to traffic conditions, the engine-on time can be reduced by more than 11%, resulting in a reduction in vehicle energy consumption by 4%.
Conventionally, the closest known product/technology is a passively controlled coolant heat storage by Toyota. The details of this technology can be found in "Development of New Generation Hybrid System (THS II)—Development of Toyota Coolant Heat Storage System". The current "Toyota Coolant Heat Storage System" saves the hot coolant at the end of a drive to be re-used in the next drive in up to three days. This means that the coolant tank is mainly being used to improve the vehicle fuel economy during the so-called cold-start period, during which the saved hot coolant in the tank, from the previous cycle, is used to warm up the engine in cold weather. With the current "Toyota Coolant Heat Storage System" technology, the coolant is not been actively controlled during the normal driving according to traffic preview information.
Conversely, the present teachings provide an actively controlled coolant tank that can operate separate from or in concert with the current Toyota technology to not only improve the fuel economy and reduce the emissions during the cold-start, but also optimize the engine operation and fuel economy during general drive according to traffic preview information while satisfying the cabin heating requirements.
In some embodiments, these traffic preview information includes vehicle speed prediction and optimization based on vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication for connected and automated vehicles. In some embodiments, the present teachings can benefit from known future vehicle speed based on real-time traffic flow data or trip information from GPS, and thus capitalize on this knowledge to improve the vehicle fuel economy by actively controlling the coolant tank in real-time.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Actively controlled coolant tank to increase thermal storage capacity of hybrid electric vehicles

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN


Methods and systems provide simulation or medical diagnostic imaging with a graphics processing unit. Data to be processed by a graphics processing unit is transferred from a source to the graphics processing unit without copying by the central processing unit. For example, the central processing unit does not copy data to the cache. Instead, the source of data transfers the data directly to the graphics processing unit or directly to a graphics aperture region of a memory for transfer to the video memory of the GPU. The GPU is then used to generate a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image. The GPU is used to perform a medical imaging process, such as an ultrasound imaging process. The processed data is transferred to a different processor. Since the GPU provides various parallel processors, the GPU may more efficiently perform image processes different from rendering a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image.

The present invention relates to a graphics processing unit. Loading and processing data with the graphics processing unit (GPU) is controlled.
GPUs are provided as videocards on personal computers. Using the AGP specification, a central processing unit (CPU) coordinates the transfer of data from a random access memory to the GPU for video rendering. A memory control hub is connected by various buses to each of a source, a RAM, the CPU and the GPU. For example, an AGP chip set is used as a memory control hub. The memory control hub controls the data transfers between any of the various interconnected devices. The data is obtained from the source, such as a CD, diskette, or hard drive. The data from the source is routed to a random access memory (RAM). The CPU then copies the data from the random access memory into the CPU cache memory. For use of the GPU, the CPU copies the data to a graphics aperture region of the RAM controlled pursuant to a graphics aperture resource table (GART). Prior to copying the data to the graphics aperture region, the CPU may also reformat the data. This is because the GPU expects the data to be in a particular format in order to deliver maximum throughput. The data from the graphics aperture region is then transferred through an accelerated graphics port (AGP) to the video memory of the GPU. The GPU then performs various rendering or video processing and outputs a resulting image to a display. Pursuant to an application programming interface (API), the CPU controls operation of the GPU.
Since the CPU copies the data from the RAM to the graphics aperture region of the RAM, the data is copied multiple times. Any loading on the CPU for other processing may delay the transfer of data to the GPU. Since the CPU operations may be interrupted, the transfer of data to the GPU is inconsistent or non-deterministic.
The AGP hardware discussed above may be used in a medical diagnostic ultrasound system, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,204, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The memory control hub connects a CPU to a memory. The two other ports of the memory control hub are connected to two different buses, one a system bus and another an ultrasound data bus. The ultrasound data bus connects to a source of ultrasound data as well as outputs of ultrasound data, such a scan converter connected with the display.

Graphics processing unit for simulation or medical diagnostic imaging


Disclosed is an information query method and apparatus. The method includes: obtaining a query word input by a user through a terminal, identifying a target entity in the query word and determining a globally unique identifier (GUID) of the target entity for a knowledge map; determining a target entity type corresponding to the target entity according to a corresponding relationship between an entity and the entity type. The target entity type is used to indicate the target attribute and/or target entity relationship to be queried of the target entity; according to the GUID and an identifier of the target attribute and/or an identifier of the target entity relationship, querying an attribute value and/or a related entity corresponding to the identity of the target attribute and/or an identifier of the target entity relationship in the knowledge map; returning a search result to the terminal.

With the rapid development of information technology, today's society has entered an era of information explosion. More and more people are using the Internet to find the information they need.
At present, the use of search engines for information retrieval has become an important approach. For an existing search engine, after it receives a user's key words for search, feed back to the user the web page content, web page links, and so on related to the searched key words. However, the current search result page classification is not clear, and the recommended content is disordered, incomplete or inaccurate, so that a user cannot quickly obtain the useful information.


An instruction cache for a superscalar processor having a variable byte-length instruction format, such as the X86 format, is organized as a 16K byte 4-way set-associative cache. An instruction store array is organized as 1024 blocks of 16 predecoded instruction bytes. The instruction bytes are prefetched and predecoded to facilitate the subsequent parallel decoding and mapping of up to four instructions into a sequence of one or more internal RISC-like operations (ROPs), and the parallel dispatch of up to 4 ROPs by an instruction decoder. Predecode bits are assigned to each instruction byte and are stored with the corresponding instruction byte in the instruction store array. The predecode bits include bits for identifying the starting, ending, and opcode bytes, and for specifying the number of ROPs that an instruction maps into. An address tag array is dual-ported and contains 1024 entries, each composed of a 20-bit address tag, a single valid bit for the entire block, and 16 individual byte-valid bits, one for each of the 16 corresponding instruction bytes within the instruction store array. A successor array is dual-ported and contains 1024 entries, each composed of a 14-bit successor index, a successor valid bit which indicates that the successor index stored in the successor array should be used to access the instruction store array or that no branch is predicted taken within the instruction block, and a block branch index which indicates the byte location within the current instruction block of the last instruction byte predicted to be executed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to super-scalar processors as would typically be implemented on a single integrated circuit, and more specifically relates to instruction cache arrangements for super-scalar processors incorporating a variable byte-length instruction format.
2. Description of Related Art
The term superscalar describes a computer implementation that improves performance by a concurrent execution of scalar instructions--the type of instructions typically found in general-purpose microprocessors. Because the majority of existing microprocessor applications are targeted toward scalar computation, superscalar microprocessors are the next logical step in the evolution of microprocessors. Using today's semiconductor processing technology, a single processor chip can incorporate high performance techniques that were once applicable only to large-scale scientific processors. However, many of the techniques applied to large scale processors are either inappropriate for scalar computation or too expensive to be applied to microprocessors.
Microprocessors by definition must be implemented on one or a very small number of semiconductor chips. Semiconductor technology provides ever increasing circuit densities and speeds for implementing a microprocessor, but the interconnection with the microprocessor's memory is quite constrained by packaging technology. Though on-chip interconnections are extremely cheap, off-chip connections are very expensive; often the processor's package and pins are more expensive than the processor chip itself. Any technique intended to improve microprocessor performance must take advantage of increasing circuit densities and speeds while remaining within the constraints of packaging, technology and the physical separation between the processor and its memory. At the same time, though increasing circuit densities provide a path to ever more complex designs, the operation of the microprocessor must remain simple and clear enough that users can understand how to use it.
An application program comprises a group of instructions. The processor fetches and executes instructions in some sequence. There are several steps involved in the execution of a single instruction, including fetching the instruction, decoding it, assembling its operands, performing the operations specified by the instruction, and writing the results of the instruction to storage. The execution of instructions is controlled by a periodic clock signal. The period of the clock signal is the processor cycle time.
The time taken by a processor to complete a program is determined by three factors: (1) the number of instructions required to execute the program; (2) the average number of processor cycles required to execute an instruction; and (3) the processor cycle time. Processor performance is improved by reducing the time taken, which dictates reducing one or more of these factors.
An obvious way to increase performance is by overlapping the steps of different instructions, using a technique called pipelining. To pipeline instructions, the various steps of instruction execution are performed by independent units called pipeline stages. Pipeline stages are separated by clocked registers (or latches). The steps of different instructions are executed independently in different pipeline stages. The result of each pipeline stage is communicated to the next pipeline stage via the register between the stages. Pipelining reduces the average number of cycles required to execute an instruction, though not the total amount of time required to execute an instruction, by permitting the processor to handle more than one instruction at a time. This is done without increasing the processor cycle time appreciably. Pipelining typically reduces the average number of cycles per instruction by as much as a factor of three. However, when executing a branch instruction, the pipeline may sometimes stall until the result of the branch operation is known and the correct instruction is fetched for execution. This delay is known as the branch-delay penalty. Increasing the number of pipeline stages also typically increases the branch-delay penalty relative to the average number of cycles per instruction.
During the development of early microprocessors, instructions took a long time to fetch compared to the execution time. This motivated the development of complex instruction, or CISC, processors. (The acronym CISC stands for "Complex Instruction Set Computer") CISC processors were based on the observation that given the available technology the number of cycles per instruction was determined mostly by the number of cycles taken to fetch the instruction. To improve performance, the two principal goals of the CISC architecture were to reduce the number of instructions needed for a given task and to encode these instructions densely. It was acceptable to accomplish these goals by increasing the average number of cycles taken to decode and execute an instruction because using pipelining, the decode and execution cycles could be mostly overlapped with a relatively lengthy instruction fetch. With this set of assumptions, CISC processors evolved densely encoded instructions at the expense of decode and execution time inside the processor. Multiple-cycle instructions reduced the overall number of instructions and thus reduced the overall execution time because they reduced the instruction fetch time.
But in the late 1970's and early 1980's, memory and packaging technology changed rapidly. High pin count packages made possible the design of advanced memory interfaces that no longer had quite the same fetch limitations as applied when CISC processors evolved. Memory densities and speeds increased to the point where high speed local memories called caches could be implemented near the processor. When instructions are fetched more quickly using caches, the performance is limited by the decode and execution time that was previously hidden within the instruction fetch time. The number of instructions does not affect performance as much as the average number of cycles taken to execute an instruction.
The improvement in memory and packaging technology, to the point where instruction fetching did not take much longer than instruction execution, motivated the development of reduced instruction, or RISC, processors. (The acronym RISC stands for "Reduced Instruction Set Computer") To improve performance, the principal goal of a RISC architecture is to reduce the number of cycles taken to execute an instruction, allowing some increase in the total number of instructions. The trade-off between cycles per instruction and the number of instructions is not one to one. Compared to CISC processors, RISC processors typically reduce the number of cycles per instruction by factors of roughly three to five, while they typically increase the number of instructions by thirty to fifty percent.
RISC processors have been characterized by some as a return to the basic rudimentary architectures that were developed very early in the evolution of computers. However, early processors were simple because technology was relatively primitive. RISC processors are simple because simplicity yields better performance. Relative to CISC processors, RISC processors depend heavily on advanced memory technology, advanced packaging technology and advanced compiler technology. Furthermore, RISC processors typically rely very much on auxiliary features such as a large number of general purpose registers, instruction and data caches, and others, that help the compiler reduce the overall instruction count or that reduce the number of cycles per instruction.
A typical RISC processor executes one instruction on every processor cycle and, at first glance, no more improvement seems possible. A superscalar processor reduces the average number of cycles per instruction beyond what is possible in a pipelined scalar RISC processor by allowing concurrent execution of instructions in the same pipeline stage as well as concurrent execution of instructions in different pipeline stages. The term superscalar emphasizes multiple concurrent operations on scalar quantities as distinguished from multiple concurrent operations on vectors or arrays as is common in scientific computing.
Superscalar processors are conceptually simple but there is much more to achieving performance than widening a processor's pipeline. Widening the pipeline makes it possible to execute more than one instruction per cycle but there is no guarantee that any given sequence of instructions can take advantage of this capability. Instructions are not independent of one another but are interrelated; these interrelationships prevent some instructions from occupying the same pipeline stage. Furthermore, the processor's mechanisms for decoding and executing instructions can make a big difference in its ability to discover instructions that can be executed at the same time.
Superscalar techniques largely concern the processor organization independent of the instruction set and other architectural features. Thus, one of the attractions of superscalar techniques is the possibility of developing a processor that is code compatible with an existing architecture. Many superscalar techniques apply equally well to either RISC or CISC architectures. However, because of the regularity of many of the RISC architectures, superscalar techniques have initially been applied to RISC processor designs.
The attributes of the instruction set of a RISC processor that lend themselves to single cycle decoding also lend themselves well to decoding multiple RISC instructions in the same clock cycle. These include a general three operand load/store architecture, instructions having only a few instruction lengths, instructions utilizing only a few addressing modes, instructions which operate on fixed-width registers, and register identifiers in only a few places within the instruction format. Techniques for designing a superscalar RISC processor are described in Superscalar Microprocessor Design, by William Michael Johnson, .COPYRGT.1991 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. (a division of Simon & Schuster), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
In contrast to RISC architectures, CISC architectures were defined at a time when the principal implementation technique was microcode interpretation of the instruction set and when pipelining was considered to be an exotic technique. Design goals were oriented more toward deciding which operations should be combined into instructions than designing operations so that they could be overlapped. Because of microcode interpretation, almost anything could be done with the definition of the instruction set--and generally just about everything was done. It is difficult to implement a pipelined version of such an architecture, and extremely difficult to implement a superscalar version.
Most CISC processors use a large number of different instruction formats. As an example, several of the various instruction formats of the X86 architecture are shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. This architecture, first introduced in the i386.TM. microprocessor, is also the basic architecture of both the i486.TM. microprocessor and the Pentium.TM. microprocessor, all available from the Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. There are many instruction format variations, and individual instructions vary from 1 to 15 bytes long.
Referring to FIG. 1A, the minimum instruction of the X86 architecture consists of a single byte, which usually contains an 8-bit opcode (for example, field 2). For certain instructions, the opcode field can be up to 16 bits long, while for other instructions, the byte containing the opcode field (the "opcode" byte) also contains a register field (see format (b) in FIG. 1A). Operations can be register-to-register, register-to-memory, or memory-to-register (but not memory-to-memory). An optional MODRM field (for example, field 3 in instruction format (d)), which follows the opcode field, contains the register specifier and indicates how the memory addressing should be performed. In some instructions, the MODRM field is also used (in a slightly different format) to select condition flags. Finally, an instruction optionally contains up to a four-byte immediate data field (for example, field 4 in instruction format (h)).
As illustrated in FIG. 1B, the MODRM field itself has a variety of possible formats. The first byte of the MODRM field always contains a ModR/M field (for example, field 5) that specifies which register and addressing mode to use. In the more complex memory-addressing modes, an 8-bit S-I-B field (for example, field 6) specifies how address computation is to be done. Finally, the MODRM field contains an optional displacement or offset field (for example, field 7), for address computation.
The length of the displacement and immediate fields depends on the data-width mode of the instruction, because an instruction can operate on 8-bit, 16-bit, or 32-bit data. The data width is determined primarily by a segment descriptor in the memory management architecture, but the default for the segment can be overridden by a bit in the instruction (the w-bit) or by a prefix byte which toggles the effect of the w-bit.
Prefix bytes can appear before any instruction. A prefix byte changes the interpretation of the instruction: it can, for example, change the memory address or operand size of the instruction, change the default segment used in memory addressing, or indicate that the instruction should be executed with the external bus locked. More than one prefix may be included before an instruction, as each type of prefix byte is independent of the others, which gives rise to the maximum instruction length of 15 bytes (that is, for non-redundant prefixes).
During execution, a processor executing the X86 instruction set must deal with instructions that can be from 8 to 120 bits long. The actual length of the instruction is a complex function of the opcode and other instruction fields, because many fields specify whether or not other fields are present. For example, the ModR/M and S-I-B fields both indicate the presence and length of the displacement (DISP) field, and this can be further modified by a prefix byte which can change the address size. A similar situation exists for the length of the immediate (IMMED) field.
It is hard to see how an X86 processor might be able to quickly locate more than one instruction per cycle. At a minimum, it would seem that an additional pipeline stage would be required to locate these instructions before any decoding could be done, adding to the branch-delay penalty because this extra stage must be flushed on a branch. Marking the instruction bytes to aid in subsequent decoding is not itself a solution to reduce this difficulty because, for example, the processor executing X86 instructions must be able to execute self-modifying code. Furthermore, the same X86 instruction byte stream can be executed with different alignments. For example, a programmer could write a sequence of instructions that branches to a given instruction opcode at certain times, and branches to a prefix byte immediately ahead of the opcode byte of the given instruction at other times. The beginning byte of an instruction is not necessarily fixed, depending on the execution flow.
It has been observed that, in the 8086 processor, many commercial programs execute a limited subset of available 8086 instructions. It is also likely that an X86 processor executes a relatively small portion of its instruction repertoire most of the time. This is the very realization that motivated RISC architectures in the first place. This phenomenon should hold true in the future, even as new applications are developed, because new applications probably are going to be written in high-level languages. Compilers typically generate instructions in a stylized fashion, using a subset of the instructions available in a CISC architecture, because code generators often cannot recognize cases where complex instructions can be used.
The vast majority of X86 instructions that are typically utilized are very simple, such as move, jump, add, and shift. Others are almost inordinately complex. It has been suggested that a superscalar X86 processor would probably have two modes of execution: a slow, serial mode for the very complex instructions and a faster, superscalar mode for the simpler instructions. The slow, serial mode would likely take advantage of some form of microcode, while the faster mode would likely execute in hardware.
The Pentium.TM. processor achieves some degree of superscalar operation by utilizing two fairly traditional integer pipelines, called the U pipeline and the V pipeline, to support execution of up to two simultaneous instructions. The processor decodes in hardware as many of the most frequently occurring instructions as possible. If two such instructions have no resource conflicts, one instruction may execute within the U pipeline under hardwired control while the other executes within the V pipeline, again under hardwired control. More complex instructions require a microcode routine, which controls both pipelines in attempt to optimize the execution of the complex instruction. Since microcoded routines take over all the execution resources, it is not possible for the Pentium processor to pair microinstructions with regular, X86 instructions. Instruction fetching and dispatch are stalled during the execution of a complex, microcoded instruction. In general, the U and V pipelines simultaneously execute separate instructions only if the instructions they contain are independent. Otherwise, the instruction execution is serialized. Additionally, if the U pipeline contains any kind of branch instruction, the V pipeline is idle.
The Pentium.TM. processor utilizes separate instruction and data caches. The instruction cache (I-cache) is an 8K two-way set-associative cache using a 32-byte line size. A dedicated ITLB (Instruction Table-Lookaside-Buffer) allows the instruction cache to be physically tagged. The array containing these physical tags are triple-ported: one port is for bus snooping (for supporting cache coherency between multiple processors) while the other two are used for a split fetch capability, which gives the processor the ability to fetch a contiguous block of instruction bytes when the block straddles the boundary between two half-cache lines. Instruction bytes read from the cache are stored within one of four 32-byte prefetch buffers.
Alternatively, it has also been suggested that a superscalar X86 processor would have a faster, RISC-like superscalar mode for the simpler instructions and would likely execute in hardware which follows recent advances in RISC processor design. This technique is based on defining a "RISC core" of instructions that are able to take advantage of even more powerful superscalar techniques, such as register renaming, wider superscalar dispatch, out-of-order instruction issue, and out-of-order instruction completion.
However, fetching and decoding instructions is still a critical bottleneck. It is hard enough to find the instruction boundary of a single X86 instruction and to decode its various fields, but it is all the more difficult to do so for up to four X86 instructions, all within a single clock cycle.

Pre-decoded instruction cache and method therefor particularly suitable for variable byte-length instructions


The invention is a system for monitoring a plurality of cold cases located in a retail food establishment. The system employs a wireless mesh network, which uses monitoring computers in communication with the cold cases for sending temperature data to a master control computer located in a retail establishment, by the most efficient route, even if the most efficient route is first through a second monitoring computer and secondly to the main computer. The invention also employs an inventive microprocessor-controlled temperature monitoring and display device which mounts on each cold case and which emits various colored lights to serve as a visible indicator of the temperature condition of a cold case. The emitted, colored, light is visible from both the front and side of the display device, which allows untrained store personnel to readily determine the temperature condition of a cold case by referring to a color coding chart.

Refrigeration systems or "cold cases" are a necessary part of modem food retailing. These systems function to both keep fresh food cold or else to freeze food, depending on the temperature at which the system is set. Depending on the demand for certain types of foods, food retailing establishments regularly change the temperature settings of their systems to accommodate these changing demands. Typically, supermarkets contain, on average, about 75 refrigerated cases per store. A system for monitoring such a large number of cases is essential in order to maintain proper temperature, and therefore optimal food quality, for as long as possible. Additionally, refrigeration monitoring systems are necessary to reduce food spoilage loss resulting from malfunctioning refrigeration cases.
Basic thermometers installed in each refrigeration case represent the most rudimentary monitoring solution employed in the food industry. These thermometers can be of the common dial or digital type. However, typically thermometers must be mounted inside of the refrigeration case for proper functioning, which makes them difficult to find, and more often than not they become hidden behind food merchandise. Also, thermometers require trained personnel to monitor them constantly and to be able to interpret the temperature readings. Additionally, power outages or technical malfunctions may cause a cold case to enter a defrost mode. Thermometers are often insufficient tools for alerting store personnel to the impact upon food merchandise caused by these defrost cycles. Also, thermometers often cease to function properly; a fact that often goes unnoticed when thermometers are hidden behind food merchandise Health inspections commonly result in citations issued to replace damaged or broken thermometers, which result in follow up inspections that are costly for the retailer.
Due to the deficiencies inherent with thermometers, a majority of large food retailers have employed thermistors to sense temperature, which are remotely monitored by a computer, that is often located hundreds of feet away in a store's mechanical room. An example of such a system is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,315 issued to Gelber et al. The thermistors communicate to the computer via analog means, wherein the analog signal is transmitted by individual "point to point" single pair wire runs from the remote computer to each thermistor located in the cases. However, such systems are expensive to install due to the high labor costs involved in installing enough temperature sensors, as well as installing the large amount of wire required to accommodate the sensors. Furthermore, analog technology is susceptible to interference from fluorescent lighting which increases the greater the distance which the analog signal needs to travel. In an indoor retail establishment fluorescent lighting creates substantial interference with analog signals being transmitted over long wire lengths. In some large warehouse stores, the distance between the sensors and a practical location for a monitoring computer can be up to 1500 feet, in which case an analog system experiences many sensor faults and inaccuracies.
Current wireless offerings, such as that seen in the '315 Gelber patent have not been popular because of the cost and lack of reliability associated with these systems. These systems require that the temperature sensor located in a single case to be a standalone wireless device that communicates to the remote controller through a single transmitter to a repeater (recommended every 150′) and finally to a master receiver which communicates this information to the controller. These sensor transmitters are battery powered and must have a line of site to the receiver or repeater in order to maintain communication. In a retail environment it is impossible to ensure that all 70+ transmitter sensors have a proper line of site upon installation. Also ongoing merchandising changes involving placing displays, hanging plants, or moving merchandise often places objects in the path of the line of site transmission, thereby blocking communication between the cold case sensors and the remote controller.
Furthermore, large refrigeration cases can be 12 feet in length, lending to the existence of separate cold zones having different temperatures. The same food merchandise placed in one optimal cold zone may experience deterioration in an adjacent cold zone having a temperature that is less than optimal. With health department standards becoming stricter, it is believed that monitoring separate cold zones present in the same refrigeration case will increasingly become an issue.
Therefore, a need exists for a refrigeration monitoring system which is capable of re-routing wirelessly transmitted signals around objects until a clear line of site can be achieved. A need also exists for a refrigeration monitoring system which allows the reliable monitoring of cold cases by untrained personnel and which is not susceptible to electrical interference problems inherent with analog systems. Furthermore, a system having the ability to monitor multiple cold zones located in the same refrigeration case would be desirable. In addition to these improvements, it would also be desirable to have a system which be installed with a minimal amount of wiring, thereby reducing system cost.
The foregoing reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor, which may be pertinent to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing discussion does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.

Refrigeration temperature monitoring system and associated temperature display


Apparatus for chemically etching a workpiece includes a chamber for receiving a process gas and having a pumping port for extracting exhaust gases, and a workpiece support located in the chamber upstream of the pumping port. The chamber further includes a sub-chamber located upstream of the pumping port and downstream of the workpiece support, and the sub-chamber includes a window and an excitation source, adjacent the window, for creating a plasma in a sample of the exhaust gases to create an optical emission which can be monitored through the window.

This invention relates to apparatus and methods for chemically etching a workpiece using a process gas.
It has been known for many decades that when plasma etching a workpiece, it is possible to detect the point at which an etch has cut through a first layer and reached the underlying layer by the change in the optical emission resulting from the change in the exhaust or reaction products being generated and then being ionized by the plasma. Endpoints can also be detected by changes in consumption of etch gas, which can also be detected optically. Initially these emissions were monitored by skilled technicians. Subsequently the process was automated using optical end point detectors.
Endpoint processes based on the first part approach can only work where there is a plasma being generated and the exhaust and reaction products enter the plasma. There have been, accordingly, a number of proposals, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,136, in which the exhaust products from the turbo pump are ionized and the resultant optical emissions monitored. Experience has shown that arrangements of this sort can have a sluggish response and repeatedly is difficult to achieve due to limitations in local conditions.


To delete undesired ink-receptive areas on a wet lithographic printing construction, an oleophobic material is applied to the hydrophilic surface of the plate that has suffered contamination and/or scratching, and allowed to cure. So long as the hydrophilic surface is capable of permanently bonding the oleophobic deletion agent, the areas to which that agent has been applied will not accept ink.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital printing apparatus and methods, and more particularly to repair or alteration of lithographic printing plate constructions that may be imaged on- or off-press using digitally controlled laser output.
2. Description of the Related Art
In offset lithography, an image to be transferred to a recording medium is represented on a plate, mat or other printing member as a pattern of ink-accepting (oleophilic) and ink-repellent (oleophobic) surface areas. In a dry offset printing system, the member is simply inked and the image transferred onto a recording material; the member first makes contact with a compliant intermediate surface called a blanket cylinder which, in turn, applies the image to the paper or other recording medium. In typical sheet-fed press systems, the recording medium is brought into contact with the blanket cylinder by an impression cylinder.
In a wet lithographic system, the non-image areas are hydrophilic, and the necessary ink-repellency is provided by an initial application of a dampening (or "fountain") solution to the printing member prior to or in conjunction with inking. The ink-rejecting fountain solution prevents ink from adhering to the non-image areas, but does not affect the oleophilic character of the image areas.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,339,737 and 5,379,698 disclose a variety of, inter alia, dry lithographic plate configurations for use with imaging apparatus that operate by laser discharge. These plates may be imaged on a stand-alone platemaker or directly on-press, and feature silicone or fluoropolymer surface layers of sufficiently low surface energy to repel ink. Accordingly, ink may be applied to these plates directly, without the use of fountain solution as an abhesive agent. More traditionally, silicone-surfaced plates have been prepared for imaging by photoexposure. The silicone surface layer is typically a photopolymerizable polyorganosiloxane, selective exposure of which to actinic (usually ultraviolet) radiation cures the material in an imagewise pattern; unexposed portions are removed by a photographic development process. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,019,904 and 4,853,313.
The acceptability of the ultimate printed image, of course, depends on more than accurate imaging; the printing member must be free of surface and structural imperfections that themselves mar the imagewise pattern. Particularly in the case of traditional, planar constructions that are individually taken from storage and mounted to plate cylinders, printing members are vulnerable to damage at numerous handling stages.
One type of plate damage results from deposition of contaminants that alter the affinity characteristics of the affected area. For example, oily contaminants deposited onto the hydrophilic area of a wet plate, or onto the oleophobic area of a dry plate, will attract ink and cause its application to areas of the recording medium that should remain blank. Such contaminants can originate with a variety of sources--even from fingerprints left by the press operator in the course of handling and mounting the plate. Surface scratching can produce a similar reversal of affinity. For example, damage to the oleophobic surface of a dry plate exposes the underlying oleophilic layer, thereby causing inappropriate application of ink to the recording medium.
Deletion fluids have been developed for gross correction of such damage. In a wet-plate system, such fluids typically etch away chemically the ink-receptive contaminant, re-exposing the underlying hydrophilic layer. For dry plates, silicones in liquid form are applied to plate areas rendered improperly ink-receptive, thereby re-establishing oleophobicity. It is also possible to create, rather than delete, ink-receptivity in selected plate areas to ameliorate imaging errors or other forms of damage. Obviously, fluids used to alter plate affinity are most easily applied to relatively large non-image areas.
Although digital imaging avoids the most cumbersome aspects of traditional platemaking, plates imaged off-press still must be manually (and sequentially) loaded onto the platemaker, imaged, inspected, then transferred to the press and mounted to their respective plate cylinders. Even plates that are imaged on-press must be withdrawn individually from their packaging and transferred to the press. Any of these handling operations can result in affinity-altering contamination.

Method for selectively deleting undesired ink-receptive areas on wet lithographic printing constructions incorporating metallic inorganic layers


A method of manufacturing dextrose grained confections is provided. The confections are prepared from a high solids syrup comprised of dextrose and fructose, said syrup being supersaturated with respect to dextrose. The method comprises seeding said syrup with dextrose seed crystals and allowing dextrose to crystallize from said syrup onto said dextrose seed crystals to produce a dispersion of dextrose microcrystals dispersed in the liquid phase of said syrup. The resulting dispersion of microcrystals is incorporated into a comestible article in which moisture transfer from the dispersion to the surrounding environment is limited. The comestible article is stable upon storage because the amount of fructose in said syrup is insufficient to prohibit the formation of said microcrystals of dextrose, but is sufficient to maintain the stability of said liquid phase during said storing.

Processes and recipes for various confections, including fondants, cremes and the like, are disclosed and discussed by B. W. Minifie, Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery: Science and Technology, pp. 390-402, 424-425, and 481-483 (AVI Publ. Co., Westport Conn., 1980, 2d ed.). The use of sucrose along with dextrose (e.g. corn syrup) in making fondant and in remelting fondant in the making of a creme is disclosed. Specific recipes disclose the use of corn syrup having sucrose dissolved therein which are concentrated to supersaturate with respect to sucrose. The supersaturated syrup is then beaten to induce crystallization of the sucrose. It is also disclosed that glucose is included in the frappes that are usually incorporated in the fondant to form a creme. The use of high fructose corn syrup or fructose in sugar confectionery in general is also disclosed by Minifie at pp. 481-482.
British Patent No. 1,236,895 (Rostagno) discloses the preparation of fondants containing dextrose in which a hot aqueous solution of dextrose and at least one sugar other than dextrose is cooled to crystallize dextrose therefrom. The patent discloses that crystallization may be induced by adding hydrated dextrose crystals.

Method for manufacturing dextrose grained confections


A surgical guide assembly for performing a knee osteotomy procedure, the assembly comprising: a body for securing to a patient's tibia bone; and a plurality of guide modules removably attachable to the body, each guide module being adapted to receive a corresponding surgical tool and to guide the corresponding surgical tool along a predetermined path during the knee osteotomy procedure.

Knee osteotomies are orthopedic procedures which aim to correct the alignment of knee joints to adjust pressure distribution. A high tibial osteotomy is a type of knee osteotomy which involves correcting the alignment of a knee joint by reconfiguring the mechanical axis of the tibia. Depending on the required correction angle, the high tibial osteotomy can be an open wedge osteotomy or a closed wedge osteotomy. In an open wedge osteotomy, a planar cut is made in the tibia below the knee, and the tibia bone is opened along the planar cut to form a wedge-shaped opening with a specified angle. In a closed wedge osteotomy, a wedge of bone having a specified angle is removed from the tibia bone below the knee, and the tibia bone is closed along the wedge. After the bone is opened or closed, it is retained in place by installing a fixation plate. The opening or closing effectively adjusts the angle of the tibia relative to the femur, thereby reconfiguring how pressure between the tibia and the femur is distributed in the knee.
Existing tools and procedures are limited in the accuracy and precision with which the alignment of the knee can be corrected. There is therefore much room for improvement.

Surgical guide assembly for performing a knee osteotomy procedure


A digital filtering system is fed by input signal and produces an output signal from either a relatively low bandwidth filter or a relatively wide bandwidth filter selectively in accordance with the time rate of change in the input signal. The output signal is produced by the relatively low bandwidth filter when the input signal is slowly varying and the output signal is produced by the relatively wide bandwidth filter when the input signal changes rapidly, after which the output is produced from the relatively low bandwidth filter when the input signal reverts to its more slowly varying characteristics.

This invention relates generally to digital filtering systems and more particularly to digital filtering systems having a bandwidth which varies as a function of the time rate of change in an input signal fed to the digital filtering system.
As is known in the art, a certain class of filter design is a trade-off between the desire to remove noise accompanying an input signal and to produce an output signal which replicates the input signal itself. Thus, while a reduction in the bandwidth of the filtering system reduces noise, it also increases the response time of the filter to changes in the input signal. For example, in applications where there is a step change in the input signal, while a low pass filter will reduce any accompanying noise, as the bandwidth of the low pass filter is reduced, the filter will also increase or dampen the rise time of the output signal. One technique suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,750 to remove high frequency noise is with a filtering system which operates in one of two different modes. With such system, either the input signal is coupled through a low bandwidth filter, as when the input is slowly varying, or the low, or narrow, bandwidth filter is in effect by-passed, as when the input changes rapidly (i.e., when the input has the characteristics or a square wave or step).
As is also known in the art, digital filters are typically either Finite Impulse Response Filters (FIRs) or Infinite Impulse Response Filters (IIRs). FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a typical FIR digital filter. The Z.sup.-1 boxes represent delay, or storage elements, with the dots at the outputs of these boxes representing the stored value (state variable). The input is shown to pass through R delay elements. The outputs of these delay blocks and the current input are then multiplied by coefficients, B.sub.0 -B.sub.R, before being summed at the output. Some of these coefficients may be zero. The output y(n) is given by EQU Y(n)=B.sub.0 .multidot.u(n)+B.sub.1 .multidot.u(n-1)+B.sub.2 u(n-2)+ . . . +B.sub.R .multidot.U(n-R)
Another type of filter is an IIR filter where the current output depends also on previous outputs. This is illustrated in FIG. 10. It is not necessary for the number of delay elements storing y(n) to equal the number of delay elements storing u(n). The output y(n) for the IIR is given by ##EQU1##
The following discussion is based around FIR filters, however it is easily extended to cover IIR filters. The overall frequency and transient response of the filter is set by the values of the coefficients and the number of delay elements present. To design a filter, the passband frequency, stopband frequency, passband ripple and stopband attenuation need to be specified. Using these specifications the number of coefficients in the filter and the values of the coefficients can then be obtained. It is typically necessary to increase the number of storage elements (R) in order to meet demanding constraints on the filter response. One such constraint that needs to be met in many applications is a desire for low bandwidth. This may be due to the need to reduce the effects of noise, since the noise outside the bandwidth of interest will be attenuated. In order to meet a low bandwidth requirement while having other characteristics such as a sharp roll-off, and little ripple in the passband or stopband, the number of coefficients needs to be increased.
Once the number of coefficients exceeds 1, there is an inherent delay in the response time of the filter to changes at its input. The old value of the input, (or a value directly related to it), is retained in the storage elements along the filter chain. When the input changes to a new value, the contents of the storage elements will initially be unaffected by the new input, so only the first component of the output summation will contain information about the new input value. The sum is therefore performed with R terms that are based on the old value of the input, and 1 term that takes into account the new input value. The next output will be based on R-1 old inputs and 2 new inputs. The output therefore only slowly tracks changes in the input, because for several outputs the output sum is more heavily weighted towards the old input value. For a symmetrical FIR filter, such as that illustrated in FIG. 9, with B.sub.0 =B.sub.R, B.sub.1 =B.sub.R-1, . . . , then after (R+1)/2 inputs at the new level the output will only be midway between the old and new values. The output will not be fully settled until R+1 inputs have occurred at the new level.
If a large number of coefficients are present, then a change in the input will take a long time to propagate to the output. This is undesirable in many circumstances because changes at the input may need to be detected as rapidly as possible. A filter with a wider bandwidth would improve the time required to respond to changes at the input, however this filter would typically have a worse noise performance due to the wider bandwidth, and would therefore be unsuitable for that particular application.