A network system includes: a plurality of base stations, each with which a mobile station communicates; a core network to include the plurality of base stations; and a plurality of offload devices, each being arranged between the base station and a node device included in the core network, each to serve as the node device of an anchor point at which traffic to be offloaded is transmitted/received to/from an offload network, and each to serve as the node device of a relay point at which the traffic to be offloaded is relayed between the anchor point and one of the plurality of base stations with which the mobile station is communicating.

LTE/EPC (Long term Evolution/Evolved Packet Core) has been standardized with 3GPP as a mobile communication system according to the next generation of the third generation cellular phone network (3G mobile system). LTE/EPC includes an LTE network (wireless access network conforming to LTE: referred to as eUTRAN), and an EPC network (also referred to as SAE (System Architecture Evolution) serving as a core network (mobile transmission network)). The EPC network is connected to an IP (Internet Protocol) network (packet network) via an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network. Examples of the IP network includes an ISP (Internet Service Provider) network (the Internet) and an intranet.
A mobile station (User Equipment: UE) may be connected to the EPC network via the LTE network, and is connected to the IP network via the EPC network and IMS network. The UE may receive various packet communication services (e.g., Web service, VoIP (Voice over IP)) by accessing various servers and terminal devices connected to the IP network.
The EPC network includes multiple nodes such as MME (Mobility Management Entity), S-GW (Serving Gateway), P-GW (Packet Data Network Gateway), and PCRF (Policy and Charging rule Function). The UE is connected to the IMS network via an S-GW and a P-GW, whereby the UE can access the IP network.
Incidentally, there has been traffic offload technology with traffic reduction in the EPC network as one target. With the traffic offload technology, there is provided an offload device on the EPC network so that traffic from User Equipment accesses the ISP network without passing through an S-GW and a P-GW. The offload device may serve as an anchor point (point to execute handover, i.e., switching of a path) as to traffic from User equipment (wireless access network). The offload device transfers (offloads) the traffic from User Equipment to a network for offload (offload network: e.g., IP network, MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) network) different from the EPC network. The offloaded traffic arrives at (is connected to) the target IP network through the offload network.
Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application Nos. 2004-523148 and 2010-541312 are examples of the related art of the present technology.

Network system, offload device, and offload traffic control method


The present invention provides an exhaust gas treatment method including oxidation treatment for converting metallic mercury contained in combustion exhaust gas into mercury chloride; and mercury removal treatment for removing mercury from the combustion exhaust gas by dissolving the mercury chloride in water, wherein a plurality of oxidation catalysts for performing the oxidation treatment are provided, and during the time when the oxidation treatment is performed, at least one of the oxidation catalysts performs catalyst performance restoration treatment without performing oxidation treatment. According to the present invention, the deterioration in mercury removal performance can be restrained even in continuous operation on condition that mercury is oxidized in a low temperature region not higher than 300° C.

A conventional exhaust gas treatment system will be described with reference to FIG. 12.
Combustion exhaust gas sent from a boiler 111 is introduced into a denitrification apparatus 114. In a flow path to the denitrification apparatus 114, an ammonia injection apparatus 112 is provided to inject NH3, which is supplied from an ammonia tank 113, into the exhaust gas. For the exhaust gas into which NH3 is injected, NOx is converted into nitrogen in the denitrification apparatus 114 by selective reduction reactions expressed in Equations (1) and (2), by which denitrification is accomplished.4NO+4NH3+O2→4N2+6H2O  (1)NO+NO2+2NH3→2N2+3H2O  (2)
The desulfurized exhaust gas passes through an air heater 116 and a heat exchanger 117, and flows into an electrical dust collector 118, where soot and dust are removed. Thereafter, SO2 is removed in a wet type desulfurization apparatus 119. The coal or heavy oil burning exhaust gas contains hazardous trace substances such as mercury. Among these substances, mercury is generally difficult to remove. It is thought that mercury exists in exhaust gas mainly as metallic mercury (Hg) or mercury chloride (Hg2Cl2 or HgCl2). In the case where mercury exists in a form of Hg2Cl2 or HgCl2 in this treating process, mercury is removed by the wet type desulfurization apparatus 119 because Hg2Cl2 or HgCl2 in the exhaust gas is dissolved in water by gas-liquid contact in the desulfurization apparatus 119. However, in the case where mercury exists in a form of metallic mercury, the removal rate of mercury is low, and mercury is discharged from a stack 121 through a heat exchanger 120 without being removed because metallic mercury is difficult to dissolve in water. In the heat exchanger 120, the combustion exhaust gas whose temperature has been decreased is heated by thermal energy recovered by the heat exchanger 117 at the preceding stage of the wet type desulfurization apparatus 119.
To solve the above problem, the inventors of the present invention found that metallic mercury in exhaust gas can be converted into HgCl2 on a denitrification catalyst by a reaction expressed by Equation (3) in the presence of HCl. As the result, in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 10-230137 (No. 230137/1998), the applicant has proposed a method in which on the upstream side of the denitrification apparatus 114, metallic mercury is converted into a chlorine compound having high water solubility on a denitrification catalyst by adding a mercury chlorinating agent such as HCl to exhaust gas containing mercury, by which mercury is removed with high efficiency by the wet type desulfurization apparatus 119 provided on the downstream side of the denitrification apparatus 114.Hg+HCl+½O2→HgCl2+H2O  (3)
In this method, however, since the service temperature of the denitrification apparatus 114 is limited to 300 to 450° C., for a fuel having a low Cl content, it is necessary to add excess chlorinating agent (HCl etc.) suso that mercury chloride is stabilized. However, the addition of chlorinating agent more than needed causes corrosion of gas flues and downstream-side apparatuses in the system, and finally may shorten the life of the plant facility.
Thereupon, the applicant of the present invention has proposed, in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2003-53142, an exhaust gas treatment method and an exhaust gas treatment system, in which after metallic mercury is oxidized into mercury chloride at a reaction temperature not higher than 300° C. by a solid catalyst, mercury is removed by an alkali absorbing solution, by which even for a fuel having a low Cl content, metallic mercury can be oxidized stably into mercury chloride without the addition of a chlorinating agent (HCl etc.).
FIG. 13 shows a configuration of an exhaust gas treatment system disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2003-53142.
In the exhaust gas treatment system shown in FIG. 13, on the downstream side of a boiler 231, a denitrification apparatus 232, an air heater 233, a dust collector 234, a heat exchanger 235 for recovering thermal energy, a catalytic oxidation apparatus 236, a wet type desulfurization apparatus 237, a reheater 238, and a stack 239 are arranged in succession. Also, this exhaust gas treatment system has a temperature controller 240 to which a gas temperature at an inlet a of the catalytic oxidation apparatus 236 and a Hg concentration at an outlet b thereof are sent as signals, and a heat medium flow rate regulating valve 241 to which a flow rate regulation signal is sent from the temperature controller 240.
The exhaust gas treatment system shown in FIG. 13 is configured so that the gas temperature of the catalytic oxidation apparatus 236 is controlled so as to be an optimum temperature by regulating the quantity of a heat medium supplied to the heat exchanger 235 provided on the upstream side by means of the gas temperature at the inlet a of the catalytic oxidation apparatus 236 and/or the concentration of metallic mercury or mercury chloride at the outlet b thereof. When the gas temperature is detected and controlled, the gas temperature at the inlet a of the catalytic oxidation apparatus 236 is detected, the detected temperature is compared with a reference temperature preset according to the type of fuel in the temperature controller 140, and a flow rate regulation signal is sent to the heat medium flow rate regulating valve 241 according to the change amount. By the regulation of the heat medium flow rate regulating valve 241, the quantity of heat medium supplied to the heat exchanger 235 is changed, and the gas temperature at the outlet of the heat exchanger 235 is controlled so as to be a proper temperature.
Thus, the exhaust gas treatment system shown in FIG. 13 has the catalytic oxidation apparatus 236 which oxidizes metallic mercury in combustion exhaust gas containing SOx and mercury into mercury chloride at a reaction temperature not higher than 300° C. by a solid catalyst, the wet type desulfurization apparatus 237 which removes mercury by means of an alkali absorbing solution, the temperature controller 240 which controls the reaction temperature when metallic mercury is oxidized into mercury chloride, and the like. Therefore, the gas temperature at the outlet of the heat exchanger 235 can be controlled so as to be a proper temperature, so that even for a fuel having a low Cl content, and without the addition of a chlorinating agent (HCl etc.), metallic mercury can be oxidized stably into mercury chloride, by which metallic mercury in exhaust gas can be removed effectively.

Exhaust gas treatment method, exhaust gas treatment system, and catalytic oxidation apparatus


A wind turbine may include a discoidal chassis and at least one vane disposed on the discoidal chassis. The discoidal chassis can rotate about a central axis. The discoidal chassis has a first outermost surface with a pitch angle between the central axis and another axis orthogonal to the central axis. The vane is disposed on the first outermost surface. The vane has a concave surface to assist in rotation of the discoidal chassis about the central axis by harnessing wind energy.

Alternative energy sources are rapidly gaining popularity. Wind energy, in particular, is an abundant source of clean energy with a positive net effect on the environment. The primary way to harness energy from the wind is a wind turbine.
A wind turbine is a system that converts kinetic energy harnessed from the wind into electrical energy. Streams of wind can strike the blades of a wind turbine, and the energy from the wind rotates the blades. The rotation of the blades generates kinetic energy that is delivered to a drivetrain, and the drivetrain can transfer this kinetic energy into electrical energy. Once generated, the electrical energy from the wind turbine can be used to power an external power source, such as a power grid, batteries, etc.
Wind turbines rotate about a rotation axis that is either horizontal or vertical. Horizontal axis wind turbines (or "HAWTs") are configured to rotate about a horizontal axis parallel with the ground. HAWTs generally include large blades that are configured to face the wind and rotate when the wind strikes the blades.
Vertical-axis wind turbines (or "VAWTs") are configured to rotate about a vertical axis that is perpendicular to the ground. Many VAWTs include a relatively lower rotational speed than HAWTs, and consequentially, VAWTs can generate greater torque.


A tube-shaped stub (5) of an end piece (2) is inserted into ribbon tube core (1). The stub (5) has, adjacent to its free end, hook-like projections (11). This achieves secure anchoring of the end piece (2) in the core (1), even under changing climatic conditions.

The present invention relates to the art of printing devices. It finds particular application in conjunction with printing ribbon holders. It is to be appreciated, however, that the present invention will have applications to other spool-type devices.
Wide color ribbons, for example, for telex machines, are usually wound on cardboard tube cores. In order to support, put into motion, or brake these cores in a printer, end pieces which have a tube-shaped stub are inserted at both extremities. These are made of plastic. It has been demonstrated that specifically under changing climatic conditions, these end pieces do not maintain a secure connection to the core.
The present invention provides a new and improved printer ribbon tube which overcomes the above problems and others. This objective is solved by the combined features of the claims.

Printer ribbon spool having a connection of an end piece with a cardboard tube core


A process of producing magnetite with a high purity of greater than 90% magnetite, more typically greater than 98% magnetite, by reducing powdered hematite into magnetite under maximum temperatures of about 700 to 1300° C. against a counter-current of or concurrent with methane or natural gas in a heating device. The amount of methane used to reduce the hematite may be about 0.18 and 1.8 standard cubic feet of methane per pound of hematite. A product of high purity methane produced from the process is also provided, where the magnetite is below 1 μM in diameter and has a magnetic saturation greater than 90.0 emu/g. Corresponding apparatus using an improved feeder system for powdered hematite is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a process for producing high purity magnetite from hematite, and a high purity magnetite product formed from the process thereof. Specifically, the invention relates to a process of reducing powdered hematite into magnetite with methane or natural gas, wherein the hematite is reduced in a heating device by a counter-current or concurrent flow of the methane or natural gas, while holding the solids for a specific time at a temperature to effect the reduction to magnetite. The invention further relates to a heating device for performing the method of the invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been known for many years to convert hematite, composition Fe2O3, into magnetite, composition Fe3O4. Synthetic hematite is a basic reddish brown iron mineral frequently obtained as a byproduct during hydrochloric acid regeneration in operations using this acid to clean or pickle steel products prior to subsequent processing. Synthetic magnetite is utilized for its magnetic and pigmentation properties.
Conversion of hematite into magnetite is known to occur in the presence of hydrogen or carbon monoxide gas or a liquid, wherein the liquid may be petroleum. The hydrogen or carbon monoxide gas or liquid product acts as a reduction agent and reduces the hematite, allowing magnetite to form.
It has been known to spray roast ferrous chloride to produce hematite, pelletize the hematite, and reduce the hematite to magnetite in a heating device at temperatures of about 900° C. to 1000° C. The reduction is performed with carbon monoxide and hydrogen with the flow of reducing gases countercurrent to the flow of hematite pellets which are fed into the reactor opposite a burner flame, and which are heated to greater temperatures as the pellets move through the reactor chamber, attaining maximum temperature near the product discharge. Reducing conditions are preferably maintained throughout the reactor, such as by injection of additional reducing gas into the reactor near the product discharge zone. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,348,160 and 5,794,791. No guidance, however, is given as to operating conditions such as gas to solid ratio, flow rates or purity levels
It has also been known to reduce hematite with a reducing gas in the presence of a nonferrous inorganic compound powder at temperatures of about 200 to 700° C., stopping reduction of the powder at about midstream of the reduction to yield a partially reduced powder, and oxidizing a surface of the partially reduced powder with an oxygen-containing gas to yield a composite powder comprising magnetite and iron. The reducing gas can be hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane or ethane. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,757. The purity for such a process is about 83%.
It has also been known to reduce hematite with organic liquid or low temperature aqueous slurries. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,302,952, 5,512,195, 4,376,714 and 3,928,709.
It has also been known in the distant art to reduce hematite with other substances, such as petroleum residue, alcohols and steam, typically at temperatures below 700° C. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,311,684, 2,693,409 and 672,192.
In the use of known prior art systems, which require low temperatures, reduction agents that are not methane or natural gas, and which lack guidance as to the amounts of reduction agent to use in relation to the amount of hematite, a purity yield of magnetite from the reduction of hematite is typically in the 80% region, at best. In addition, such processes may require numerous additional steps to perform the reduction properly, which make production on a commercial scale difficult.
There remains, therefore, a very real and substantial need for an improved process to create a high purity magnetite that also presents a process with definite guidelines that are simple, effective and efficient to use, and can further be readily scaled to a commercial scale.

High purity magnetite formation process and apparatus, and product thereof


A method for preparing a polyolefine--vinyl polymer composite, wherein about 10-200 parts by weight of vinyl monomer and about 0.01-4.0 parts by weight of a free radical polymerization initiator, based on 100 parts by weight of vinyl monomer, are impregnated in 100 parts of weight of polyolefine particles by slowly mixing these at a temperature of about 20.degree.-130.degree. C. while maintaining the particle structure of the polyolefine. After 50-99% of the amount of the monomer has been absorbed into the polyolefine particles, a water suspension is prepared by adding to the above-mentioned mixture about 80-1000 parts by weight water, based on 100 parts of weight of polyolefine+vinyl monomer, as well as a stabilizing agent. The temperature of the water suspension is then increased for polymerizing the vinyl monomer.

The invention relates to a method for preparing a vinyl polymer-polyolefine composite, in which from about 10 to about 200 parts of weight of vinyl monomer and from about 0.01 to about 4.0 parts of weight of a free radical polymerization initiator, based on 100 parts of weight of vinyl monomer, are impregnated in 100 parts of weight of polyolefine particles by slowly blending these at a temperature from about 20.degree. to about 130.degree. C. without water by maintaining the particle structure of the polyolefine. In this method, from about 80 to about 1000 parts of weight of suspension water are added, based on 100 parts of the combined weight of polyolefine and vinyl monomer, as well as a stabilizing agent. Thereafter, before the temperature of the aqueous suspension is increased in order to polymerize the vinyl monomer.
The present invention further relates to a new way of preparing a polyolefine composite, which can be applied to be used as such and processed into various articles, e.g., as foamed plastic, as compatibilizer, or as a component in semiconducting layers on electric cables. The composite is comprised of a polyolefine and a vinyl polymer, and the invention relates in part to the preparation of this composite by polymerizing the vinyl monomer inside the polyolefine particles.
For improving rigidity, dimensional stability, adhesion properties against other polymers and materials, printability and the like of polyolefines, which are to be worked into various articles or which are to be foamed into foamed plastic, attempts have been made to blend the polyolefine with some vinyl polymer. Because different polymers often are incompatible with each other, it has however appeared to be difficult to achieve homogeneous blends with an attractive appearance and good physical properties.
In order to avoid these problems, attempts have been made to polymerize the vinyl monomer inside the polyolefine particles. Basically two different methods of polymerizing the vinyl monomer in situ in the polyolefine particles have been suggested, and both methods are based on the fact that the vinyl monomer is allowed to diffuse into the polyolefine particles, after which the polymerization of the vinyl monomer occurs. The greatest difference between the two methods is the way in which the vinyl monomer is allowed to diffuse into the polyolefine particles.
West German patent DE 29 08 662 describes the polymerization of styrene in situ in several different polyolefines. In this method, styrene is added slowly into a water suspension containing polyolefine particles at an elevated temperature. Impregnation and polymerization of the styrene occur simultaneously with the result that the polymerization tends to occur more in the surface regions of the polyolefine particles, which results in that the polystyrene is concentrated on the surface layer of the polyolefine particles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,938 describes the polymerization of styrene in situ in an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. In this method, all of the styrene is added at a time into a water suspension containing ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer particles. The styrene is added at so low a temperature that no polymerization occurs. Only after all styrene or most of the styrene has diffused into the ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer particles, the temperature is increased and the polymerization starts. A disadvantage of this method is that it is time-consuming because it takes several hours until the styrene has diffused into the ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer particles.

Method for preparing a vinyl polymer-polyolefine composite


Example embodiments provide a device that includes a rigid block body with a reservoir with two angled walls, a channel dug into a center axis of a bottom of the two angled walls, a stop wall at one end of the channel and an open end at a second end of the channel, a hole at a bottom portion of the stop wall, and a cut-out funnel shaped area on an opposite side of the stop wall from the channel, and the cut-out funnel shaped area funnels into the hole.

Fiber optics are delicate, small and require careful handling to avoid injury, damage to the fiber, etc. One common practice with fiber is to engage the fiber into a splice protector sleeve and, such efforts may be burdensome and often require numerous engagements at a particular time. A device that assists with such a burdensome task could alleviate the splice engagement effort.

Guiding device for fiber to engage a mechanical splice protector


A worm comprises enveloping worm teeth having relieved ends. The worm is machined in three steps comprising machining a threaded section, machining a first end section, and machining a second end section. The threaded section is machined utilizing a rack-form tool having a rack-form thickness. The first end section and the second end section are machined utilizing a larger rack-form thickness, thereby, providing relieved ends. The teeth of the worm having such relieved ends mesh with the teeth of a mating gear at full depth throughout preventing partial teeth engagement.

Conventional enveloping worm tooth mesh with the mating gear which has an inherent partial tooth engagement at the beginning of the mesh cycle where the worm thread starts to mesh with the gear teeth. This is undesirable because the mesh progression of the worm is from no tooth at all to full depth of tooth mesh. This is due to the shape of the composite worm tooth form being throated or enveloping (narrow at its center, larger at the ends) such that it wraps around the mating gear. The Worm thread shape is superimposed onto a cylindrical blank (see FIG. 1B, section view). The tooth slot where the thread begins arcing through the blank begins with no tooth (blank outside diameter) to full tooth depth of the design. When mated to the gear, the conjugate mesh begins at the first contact of the partial tooth and progresses to full tooth depth. Since all gear teeth deflect under loading, this phenomenon causes degradation and wear of the mating part of lesser material hardness as the worm tooth tends to "shave" the mating gear tooth.
The present method of machining the worm describes a means of relieving the portion of worm mesh that has partial tooth engagement. The net effect of this worm tooth relief modification is to prevent tooth mesh contact between the worm and gear until full depth of mesh is realized preventing partial engagement.


Under the present invention, when a SQL statement having a full select portion that references a view containing a join operation (e.g., a LOJ operation) is received, the reference to the view will be moved out of the full select portion. Once moved, the view and its join operation will be resolved separately from the SQL statement. The results of this resolution will be placed in a temporary table. A reference to the temporary table is then inserted in the full select portion, and the SQL statement is thereafter performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to SQL statements. Specifically, the present invention relates to rewriting view statements in SQL statements to provide increased performance and speed.
2. Related Art
Structured query language (SQL) is a standard interactive and programming language for getting information to and from a database. Although SQL is both an ANSI and an ISO standard, many database products support SQL with proprietary extensions to the standard language. Queries take the form of a command language that allows a user to select, insert, update and find the location of data.
For example, a simple SQL query may request the rows of a table where a customer purchase order column entry is "123" and an order number is "456." The problem, however, is as follows. Some types of SQL statements contain "full select" statements that reference one or more "views." A "full select" statement includes the "where" (i.e., predicate) part of the query, where the criteria for the search are defined. A "view" is a resultant table that results from an operation(s) performed on other tables specified in the definition of the view. Thus, the "view" specifies the operation and the tables upon which the operation is performed. For example, one table may list all customer purchase order entries whenever ordered, whereas the "view" may specify only those customer purchase order entries from this table made after the year 2000. As such, the view is a subset of the table that lists only those rows from the table where the customer purchase order entries were made after the year 2000.
In some instances, a "view" can be more complicated, such as by containing a Left Outer Join (LOJ) operation. For example, assume that there is a customer ID table and an order table. A LOJ of these two tables will yield a third table with a row for each customer with an order, and a row for each customer without an order. It has been found that when the "full select" portion of the SQL statement includes a reference to a view with an LOJ operation, the search takes a long period of time to complete. Heretofore, no existing solution has been proposed for addressing such latency.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method, system and program product for rewriting view statements in SQL statements. Specifically, a need exists for a system that can modify a SQL statement such that the "full select" portion will not contain any reference to view containing a LOJ operation.

Method, system and program product for rewriting view statements in structured query language (SQL) statements

International Business Machines Corporation


Compounds of general Formula I in which the substituents of R.sub.1 -R.sub.7 are hydrogen, hydroxy group, C.sub.1-6 alkyl group, C.sub.1-6 alkoxy group, or epoxypropoxy, but at the most, six of the substituents can simultaneously be hydrogen, methoxy group, or hydroxy group, or epoxypropoxy group for activity against hepatoma. There are also described processes for the preparation of the novel compounds and useful intermediates. Substitute benzophenones are described.

Based on the fact that the human body is susceptible to cancer, several methods to decrease or eliminate the painful illness, or to discover cytotoxic substances have been proposed.
Although many chemotherapeutic agents are clinically useful for the treatment of several forms of cancer such as acute leukemia, Burkitt's lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Ewing's sarcoma, testicular carcinoma, choriocarcinoma, Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, or mycosis fungoides, they are inactive against human hepatoma.
Some natural .gamma.-pyrone compounds, Psorospermin (1) and related compounds, 3',4'-deoxy-psorospermin, 3',4'=deoxypsorospermin-3',4'-diol, 3',4'-deoxy-4'-chloropsorspermin-3'-ol, O.sup.5 -methyl-3',4'-deoxypsorospermin-3'-ol exhibit strong cytotoxic effects against leukemia cells (Habib, A. M. et al., 1987, J. Org. Chem. 52, 412-18). Recently Cushman, M. et al., reported the cytotoxicities of .gamma.-pyrone compounds, flavonoid analogues (J. Nat. Prod., 54, 1656-60, 1991). The inventors have also discovered more potent and selective antitumor agents, which are .gamma.-pyrone compound, cyclomorusin (2), cycloartomunin (3), dihydrocyclo-artomunin (4), artomunoxanth-otrione epoxide (7), dihydroisocycloartomunin (5), artomunoxanthone (6), cyclocommunol (8), cyclo-mulberrin (9), cyclocommunin (10) which were isolated and identified from the root bark of Formosan tripterospermum plants (Lin, C. N. et al., 1991, Phytochemistry, 30, 1669-1671; ibid, 1992, 31, 364-67, 2563-64, 2922-24), and have exhibited cytotoxic effects against human hepatoma PLC/PRF/5 and KB cells in vitro.
The name PLC/PRF/5 designates human primary liver cancer cells; the symbol KB designates epidermoid carcinoma cells.


A robot drive has operating and configuration parameters at an installation location stored in an easily removable storage device on the drive, or nearby, so that special data, such as that associated with arm design and system layout, including taught stations, can remain associated with the drive and installation whereby the drive system can be installed or replaced in minimal time since the storage device does not need reprogramming. This removable storage device, in the form of a static memory or Master Key, e.g., a Dallas Key or E Prom or the like, may be affixed to the robot body or off board nearby, and may store arm design parameters, programmed while on the robot body or off-line, and becomes a unique part structured for manufacturing with respect to the arm set design. Further, nominal system layout parameters can be prestored in the Key, and when this Key is affixed to the robot drive, the robot automatically has the information regarding both arm design and system layout, which will help avoid collisions and provide a starting point for the fine teaching of the transfer stations. Additionally, the fine location parameters for each transfer station may be stored in the Key when the robot is installed. Thus, the Key will contain all the information needed to make a robot unique to a unique system, and when a robot drive is replaced, by affixing the original Key to the new robot or nearby, it will assume all of the parameters of the initial robot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the control of robots and robot tools and, more particularly, to a method and means for facilitating the replacement or repair of a robot tool by packaging the controlling electronics such that the operating and configuration parameters are retained in a manner that obviates the need for re-teaching the drive unit upon the re-installing of the robot tool at a transfer station.
2. Prior Art
In many robotic applications, there are basic features of the drive mechanics and controlling electronics of the robot tool that are of standard construction. However, certain of the elements of the tool have different configurations, such as the arms, end effectors, and system layout (e.g., in a cluster tool) which require that specific information be stored by the robot electronics and firmware regarding their peculiar parameters.
There are at least two ways that robot drive controls can be designed. One way involves having the controlling electronics and software affixed to the drive (i.e., on board); the other is to locate the electronics away from the basic mechanics of the robot, typically in rack space (i.e., off board). Although there are various advantages in having on-board electronics, one clear disadvantage is that, when a robot drive must be replaced due to failure, the parameters associated with the specific arm configuration, tool setup, etc., stay with that robot and therefore the new robot drive must be re-taught before it is placed into service. Even in the case of off-board electronics, should the electronics become damaged, when they are replaced, the drive unit must also be re-taught. Further, when dealing with a number of different robots, it is usually necessary to have a master computer containing software with the versatility to provide the capability of programming each of the robot drives for operation at the particular location at which it is installed.
3. Problem to be Solved
It is therefore a problem in the art, when a robot drive is to be replaced or repaired, to maintain the electronics such that the operating and configuration parameters are retained in a manner that obviates the need for re-teaching the drive unit upon the re-installing of the robot.
4. Objects
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a method and means for storing operating and configuration parameters of a robot drive in such a manner that the drive system can be installed or replaced in minimal time.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and means for storing operating and configuration parameters of a robot drive in such a manner that the drive system can be installed or replaced without the need for re-teaching the drive unit controls.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method and means for use with robots by which certain data associated with arm design and system layout, including taught stations, are stored on an easily removable storage device.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a method and means for use with robots involving the utilizing of a Master Key, in the form of a Dallas Key, an E Prom, or the like, which stores certain data associated with arm design and system layout, including taught stations, and which may be mounted on and easily removable from the robot device or disposed in close proximity thereto.

Removable memory device to store robotic application and configuration data


This application relates to a method, includes: determining, by a terminal, a first initial transmit power and a second initial transmit power; receiving minimum guaranteed power information that is of channels carried by the first carrier and that is sent by an access network device; and obtaining an available transmit power for channels that are transmitted in N first subframes and that are carried by the first carrier and an available transmit power of a channel that is transmitted in a second subframe and that is carried by a second carrier.

A Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) system is an evolved and enhanced system of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. In the LTE-A system, to meet requirements of the International Telecommunication Union on a peak data rate of a 4th generation communications technology, a carrier aggregation (CA) technology, also referred to as a spectrum aggregation technology or a bandwidth extension technology, is introduced. In carrier aggregation, spectrums of two or more component carriers are aggregated to obtain a larger transmission bandwidth.
In a carrier aggregation scenario, uplink subframes on different carriers overlap with each other. This phenomenon occurs mainly in the following two cases (two carriers are used as an example in all the following descriptions, and a plurality of carriers may be included actually).
Case 1: There is a relatively large difference between a length of an uplink subframe on a first carrier and a length of an uplink subframe on a second carrier, so that one uplink subframe on the second carrier is corresponding to a plurality of uplink subframes on the first carrier. Specifically, in a 5G high-frequency scenario, minimum transmission time granularities (in other words, minimum time units of data transmission) are different on different carriers. For example, a length of a subframe at a high frequency of 28 GHz is 0.3 ms, a length of a subframe at a low frequency of 2 GHz may be set to 1 ms, and therefore one low-frequency subframe is corresponding to a plurality of high-frequency subframes.
Case 2: An uplink subframe on a first carrier and an uplink subframe on a second carrier have approximate lengths or identical lengths. However, start time of the uplink subframe on the first carrier and start time of the uplink subframe on the second carrier are different, and therefore there is a location offset between the uplink subframe on the first carrier and the uplink subframe on the second carrier. Consequently, one uplink subframe on the second carrier overlaps two uplink subframes on the first carrier. Specifically, the two carriers belong to two timing advance groups (TAG), and uplink transmit channels on the two carriers have different timing advances. Consequently, uplink subframes on the two carriers have different start time and overlap with each other.
Before transmitting uplink data in the uplink subframes on the two carriers, a terminal needs to allocate a power to a channel of a corresponding uplink subframe. Usually, in a power allocation method, a channel transmit power required by each uplink subframe (in other words, a transmit power of a channel transmitted in the uplink subframe) is determined based on downlink control information (DCI), and then a transmit power of each channel in an overlapping uplink subframe on the two carriers is determined based on priorities of the channels in the overlapping uplink subframe on the two carriers. Specifically, before power allocation, the terminal may obtain two pieces of DCI corresponding to the two carriers respectively. For the second carrier, information including power allocation information and the like about a to-be-transmitted channel, in an uplink subframe, to which a power needs to be allocated can be determined based on DCI corresponding to the second carrier. For the first carrier, when the DCI corresponding to the second carrier is obtained, only information about channels in first several (or one) uplink subframes, on the first carrier, that overlap the uplink subframe on the second carrier can be obtained, but information about channels in last several (or one) uplink subframes on the first carrier is not included. Consequently, when powers are allocated based on the priorities of the channels in an overlapping uplink subframe on the two carriers, a channel transmit power required by the first carrier in the last several (or one) uplink subframes that overlap on the two carriers cannot be considered.
Because of the foregoing reason, the power allocated according to the foregoing solution may not meet a transmit power requirement of the channels in the last several (or one) uplink subframes on the first carrier.
In addition, in a scenario in which one uplink subframe (a long subframe) on the second carrier overlaps a plurality of uplink subframes (short subframes) on the first carrier, one of the short subframes probably requires a relatively large power, and consequently a power allocation requirement of the entire long subframe cannot be effectively met.

Power allocation method, power adjustment method, terminal, and access network device


An improved incinerating commode for the disposal of human waste through injection of a combustible fluid into the chamber where the waste is incinerated, separation of the urine component from the fecal component of human waste, and use of the urine component mixed with a cleaning fluid to steam clean and cool the chamber that incinerates the waste.

The invention relates to an apparatus for use in disposing of human waste and is more particularly concerned with a commode capable of incinerating waste.
In the field of human waste disposal, a number of methods have been employed for disposing of the solid and liquid waste. Commonly, sewage treatment plants are provided which are connected via sewage pipelines to domestic and commercial facilities. As population has increased, the capabilities of the sewage treatment plants have been severely strained. In remote areas where sewage treatment facilities are not available, septic tank means are often employed to dispose of the human waste. A septic tank utilizes bacterial action in the tank to dispose of solid waste and utilizes a subterranean drainage field for disposing of the liquid waste. However, in certain areas where the soil conditions are not satisfactory, utilization of septic tanks creates unhealthy conditions in their use. A number of municipalities have adopted strict codes to regulate the use of septic tanks.
In remote areas where a sewage treatment facility is not available and wherein septic tanks are not feasible, oxidation ponds are employed to dispose of human waste. In utilizing oxidation ponds, a fungus is utilized to dispose of the solid waste with the liquid waste being disposed of through evaporation or surface drainage means. The use of oxidation ponds requires a large ground area and is unattractive in appearance.
A number of attempts have been made to devise chemical and incinerating. commode facilities for use in disposing of human waste. However, the prior art chemical and incinerating human waste disposal apparatuses are extremely complex in construction and operation, uneconomical to manufacture and unreliable in performance. A primary disadvantage of prior art incinerating commodes is the cyclic time required to complete an incinerating operation and cool the commode for use.
The inventor has personally worked over twenty years in devising improvements in incinerating commodes. The inventor has received U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,816,857; 3,885,254; 3,855,645; and 3,911,506 each encompassing improvements in incinerating commode technology. However, while these prior commodes worked for their intended purpose, the cycle time, heat of combustion, and cleaning of the commode bowl all could be improved. The inventor has worked diligently in producing an economical and operational feasible incinerating commode.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an incinerating commode which has an improved cycle time for the incineration of the waste.
Another object of this invention is to provide an incineration commode that uses a combustible fluid to improve the efficiency of the incineration of human waste.
Another object of this invention is to provide an incineration commode that separates the urine component from the fecal component of human waste to cause the fecal component to burn more efficiently.
Another object of this invention is to provide an incineration commode that uses the separated urine component mixed with a cleaning fluid to cool and steam clean the chamber in which the fecal component is incinerated.
Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to regulate the burn of the fecal matter to ensure a quick and even burn, hence decreasing the burn cycle time.


An electric spindle motor has a base assembly (19) and a hollow notatable hub (16) housing a motor. The hub (16) is mounted for rotation about an axis and a stator (12) is mounted on the base assembly (19) inside the hub (16). A liquid filled journal bearing (11,21) acts between the base assembly (19) and the hub (16) to provide radial support of the hub (16). A gas filled thrust bearing (26, 27, 35) also acts between the hub (16) and base assembly (19) to provide at least axial support of the hub (16).

Disk drives are a commonly used data storage device which utilise magnetic medium. It is required that the disk drive spindles have a low magnitude of random vibration in both the axial and radial directions. In addition, the basic requirements for practical magnetic recording devices are: high stiffness, especially in the radial direction, high shock resistance, and being capable of operating normally despite the orientation of the spindle axis. As consumer demands for the computer products, in particular personal computers, continuously push the advances of the magnetic recording technology toward miniaturisation, high storage capacity, and fast data transfer rate, the shortcomings of the conventional ball bearing supported spindle assembly becomes more and more acute. Major problems with the usage of a ball bearing spindle assembly are its high level of non-repeatable-runout (NRR), and wear rate. Because of the non-uniformity and geometric imperfectness of bearing balls, inner and outer races, unpredictable runout can occur during operation. This represents the main constrains for the data storage track width which has to accommodate the magnitude of the irregular vibration in the radial and the axial directions. As a result, the maximum achievable track density is limited primarily by the level of NRR. In practice, pre-loading of the ball bearing system of the spindle is used to reduce the NRR. However, excessive pre-loading force causes further increase in the wear rate and frictional losses, whilst any further miniaturisation of the disk drives necessitates lower power losses since heat dissipation becomes more difficult.
Another shortcoming of ball bearing spindle motors is that a seal mechanism is required to prevent any wear debris, dust, foreign bodies and evaporated substances from exhaling out of the bearings and contaminating the magnetic data storage media. The performance of this seal mechanism tends to degrade with increased wear and it is therefore not suitable for high speed applications. A further limitation arises with prior art ball bearing systems because scalable reduction of the size of the ball bearing structures is subject to unavoidable limitations and cannot always fit in the progressively miniaturised disk drives.
Fluid film bearings (FFB) appear to be a promising alternative to satisfy the demands for high precision spindles suitable for high capacity magnetic recording systems. In a self-acting FFB system, the bearing surfaces are kept separated by a lubricant film. That is, there is no metal to metal rubbing during operation, and therefore a comparatively low wear rate. The most outstanding feature of this bearing structure, however, is that is provides extremely low NRR spinning, as compared with the ball bearing spindle. The spindle motor structure described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,344 to Binns is one of the earliest inventions which makes use of the FFB technology. Like many others, for example, that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,545 to Kakuta, it operates unidirectional, which limits the commercial applications as modern disk drives are required to operate regardless the shaft orientation.
One particular problem with the application of the cylindrical FFB journal bearing system is that it may lose its stability during operation. This is because the radial stiffness of the FFB journal bearing is low when the radial load is small, for example, when the spindle axis is vertically oriented. A particular consequence is instability due to sub-rotating-frequency whirl. As an economic and effective approach to achieve an enhanced bearing stability, tapered or conical bearings can be used. U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,606 to Hajec discloses electric motor constructions with tapered FFB lubricated by ferrofluid. Tapered air-lubricated FFB spindles for magnetic recording devices are described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,491 to Jabbar. leakage of lubricant into the space receiving the data storage disks causes contamination of the recording media and thus malfunction of the disk drives. Leakage of the lubricant can also cause degradation of the bearing performance, resulting in failure of the disk read and write processes of disk drive systems. The seal may also cause excess frictional loss, for example, if a contact seal is used. The seal must additionally be designed to withstand a high level of shock. Other design options using sophisticated sealing mechanisms may only be realised at a high manufacturing cost. An example of such a hard drive spindle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,294 to Pan.
Gas (including air) lubricated bearing spindles which avoid the necessity to seal the lubricant are attractive. In another spindle unit described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,744 to White et al., a part of the stationary shaft is fitted with a rotationary ceramic sleeve to form the journal bearing, whilst two-disc-shaped ceramic thrust bearings are disposed at both ends of the bearing sleeve. A bearing structure of this kind, that is, two thrust bearings disposed at two ends of a journal bearing, occupies a significant portion of the space in the spindle hub. It may be suitable for use in the "underslung" topology for the spindle motor, in which the motor components are placed below the spindle hub.
In practice, gas lubricated bearing spindles suffer from the major weakness of difficulty in achieving sufficient stiffness. In this respect, the stiffness of the journal bearing is of far more concern since the required radial stiffness is not only critical but also, taking the magnetic disk drives by way of an example, must be higher than the required axial stiffness in many cases. Measures to enhance the rigidity of the air bearing system, for example, to reduce the bearing clearance, will inevitably increase the manufacturing cost. Furthermore, practical disk drives must be designed to withstand a high level of shock. When the rotating mass is large, for instance for high capacity disk drives which have a large number of disks, the stiffness constraint becomes more stringent. As a result, the utilisation of the self-acting FFB system lubricated fully by gas has been limited to cases where the passive load is relatively light, for example, the spindle of the polygon mirror scanners.


The present invention provides a titanium oxide photocatalytic thin film having a surface layer containing silicon oxide and titanium oxide and a production method for producing a titanium oxide photocatalytic thin film having a surface layer containing silicon oxide and titanium oxide and comprising a step of radiating excimer beam to the titanium oxide thin film while heating substrate on which the titanium oxide thin film is disposed in vacuum or gas atmosphere in the presence of a silicon-including compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a titanium oxide photocatalyst thin film having photocatalytic activities such as antibacterial action, anti-pollution, air purification, ultra high hydrophilicity and the like on a substrate and its production method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a photocatalyst or a photosemiconductor having the photocatalytic function or the photovoltaic function has been drawing attention. There are many application methods have been proposed, for example, titanium oxide, which is a photocatalyst (photosemiconductor), is said to oxidize and decompose organic stains adhering to surface, nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur oxide (SOx), air pollutants such as malodorous substances, bacteria, and the like owing to the oxidation reaction based on the photocatalytic reaction and as an practical application example, a method for removing air pollutants under sunray (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 6-315614) by attaching a titanium oxide photocatalyst to walls of buildings, a method for disinfecting bacteria (JP-A No. 7-102678) by attaching a titanium oxide catalyst to walls, handrails and the like in a hospital, a method for decomposing pollutants in water (JP-A No. 5-92192) by dispersing a titanium oxide catalyst powder in wastewater and radiating light of a ultraviolet lamp, a method for lessening the cleaning and maintenance work of a fluorescent lamp or luminaire (JP-A No. 9-129012) owing to self-cleaning reaction, and the like.
Further, based on its photoreaction, a photocatalytic thin film is known to have surface made highly hydrophilic and a variety of applications for anticlouding of mirrors (of bathrooms, automobiles), lens, glass windows and the like are supposed to be possible.
Further, when the photocatalytic thin film is disposed on the surfaces of building outer walls, automotive glass, and window glass, based on the hydrophilicity of the film surfaces, besides that hydrophobic stains are hard to adhere to, even if stains adhere, they are decomposed and owing to the hydrophilicity of the forgoing photocatalytic thin film, the stains or their decomposed substances are known to have self-cleaning function that they are easily washed out by rain or washing with water.
With respect to the foregoing photocatalytic thin film, the following methods are generally well known: a titanium compound such as a titanium alkoxide, a titanium acetate and the like are hydrolyzed and then applied to the surface of a substrate and dried and after that, sintered at 500° C. or higher to obtain an anatase type titanium oxide film; after an amorphous titanium oxide layer is formed by a deposition method, the obtained amorphous titanium oxide layer is annealed at 400° C. or higher to form an anatase type titanium oxide-containing layer; the surface of metal titanium is oxidized at 500° C. or higher to crystallized the surface; while a substrate being heated at 250° C. or higher, an anatase type titanium oxide film is obtained by RF sputtering method.
The foregoing photocatalytic thin film is provided with its hydrophilicity upon receiving ultraviolet rays. However, the hydrophilicity has a characteristic in that the hydrophilicity is weakened if it is kept in a dark place for about a weak. In order to improve the defects, JP-A No. 2001-98187 discloses a photocatalytic hydrophilic member bearing on the substrate surface, a surface layer including a photocatalytic titanium oxide coated with an alkali silicate and an inorganic acid particle (silica or the like) with an isoelectric point of pH 5 or lower and when an alkali silicate other than the photocatalyst is contained in the surface layer, the surface is provided with hydrophilicity as high degree as 20° or lower water wettability angle and the hydrophilicity retention property in the case of storage in a dark place is improved. Further, JP-A No. 9-57912 discloses a composite material having good water hydrophilicity retention property for a long duration even in the case of storage in the dark by forming a hydrophilicity layer such as silica or silicone resin (containing hydroxy group) on a photocatalytic semiconductor thin film.
All these methods are either a titanium oxide particle or a titanium oxide thin film coated with silica or the like on the surface and owing to the surface coating film existence, they have a problem that the photocatalytic capability such as an organic decomposition activity by the titanium oxide particle or the titanium oxide thin film is deteriorated. Further, in order to increase the photocatalytic activity, a method for solving the problem is that the photocatalytic film is thickened, however the method has a disadvantage that interference coloration occurs since titanium oxide has a high refractive index and therefore, the thickness cannot be thickened so much.

Titanium oxide photocatalyst thin film and production method of titanium oxide photocatalyst thin film


Apparatus is presented herein for controlling a stud welding gun for welding a stud to a workpiece. The stud welding gun has a gun body and a gun shaft mounted to the body in such a manner to permit reciprocal movement of the shaft relative to the body. The shaft has a distal end having means for carrying a stud to be welded to the workpiece. A linear motor is carried by the gun for directly driving the shaft in forward and reverse directions between fully extended and fully retracted positions relative to the gun body. A floating point detector provides a control signal when the stud engages the workpiece as the shaft is being driven in a forward direction to establish a reference position of the gun body relative to the workpiece. A control responds to the floating point signal for controlling the motor for driving the shaft in the reverse direction to a retracted lift position away from the workpiece and in the forward plunging direction to a plunge position causing the stud to engage the workpiece to achieve welding.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to the art of welding a stud to a workpiece and, more particularly, to improvements in a stud welding gun.
2. Prior Art
A typical stud welding system includes a power supply, control circuitry and a stud welding gun. Such a welding gun includes a gun body and a gun shaft. The shaft is mounted to the gun body for reciprocal movement with respect thereto between fully extended and fully retracted positions. The gun shaft has a distal end having means, such as a chuck, for carrying a stud to be welded to a workpiece. Typically, the gun is a hand held device and includes a member known as a foot which is fixed to and extends forwardly of the gun body and is placed up against a workpiece to which a stud is to be welded. Thereafter, the operator actuates a trigger which energizes an electric solenoid which causes the shaft to be retracted to a lift position while appropriate circuitry supplies welding current to the shaft and the stud. After an arc has been established, the control circuitry deactuates the solenoid and the shaft is driven by a spring so as to plunge toward and cause the stud to engage the workpiece, at which time welding therebetween takes place. An apparatus for accomplishing the foregoing is disclosed in the U.S. patent to P. A. Glorioso U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,815.
In my previous U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,226 there is disclosed a stud welding gun similar to that as described above but which does not employ a solenoid for lifting the gun shaft and a spring for, upon de-energization of the solenoid, causing the shaft to plunge toward the workpiece. Instead, that patent discloses a gun employing a rotary stepper motor interconnected between the gun body and the gun shaft. The motor has an associated rotary to linear converter which serves to drive the gun shaft relative to the gun body in forward and reverse directions. Thus, the shaft may be driven in a reverse direction to a lift position and thereafter driven in a forward or plunge direction to cause a stud to engage a workpiece to achieve a weld therebetween.
The prior art typically employs a foot on a hand held welding gun to assist in initially positioning the gun relative to a workpiece prior to commencing a welding cycle. If such a foot is not employed, as in an automatic welding machine system, difficulties may arise in initializing the system prior to a welding cycle. That is, a starting or reference position of the welding gun relative to the workpiece may be needed.
Moreover, the prior art described above does not provide for a linear motor for directly driving the gun shaft in forward and reverse directions. Instead, the welding gun disclosed in my aforesaid patent discloses a rotary to linear converter in conjunction with a rotary stepper motor for driving the shaft in forward and reverse directions.

Apparatus for welding a stud to a workpiece


A first fastener member has hook fastener material (B) for securement to a second fastener member having opposed loop fastener material (D). A transverse hinge (E) fixes the first fastener member in position opposite the second fastener for securement of the respective hook and loop fastener materials. By pulling the first hinged fastener member outwardly with the second fastener member, release of the securement of the respective fastener materials may be facilitated.

This invention relates to improved fasteners such as Velcro fasteners having a locking capability, and to a method of securing and unsecuring contact fasteners. Contact fasteners such as those making use of hook and loop fastener materials as in Velcro fasteners possess the disadvantage of becoming loosened should an inadvertent pull occur upon an elements carrying fastener material.
Attempts have been made to increase the versatility of Velcro fasteners which have included the use of hinged members. The following prior U.S. Pat. Nos. illustrate the state of the art: 3,543,977; 3,827,107; 3,947,927; 4,862,563; and 4,893,381.
The locking fastener and method hereof may be utilized as a fastening device and method in the device of my copending United States patent application entitled RESTRAINING AND PROTECTIVE DEVICE AND METHOD, filed Apr. 10, 1992, and bearing Ser. No. 07/866,973.
Accordingly, an important object of this invention is to provide an improved fastener such as a Velcro fastener and the like, with a locking feature and a method for applying and releasing the locking action.
Another important object of this invention is to provide a Velcro fastener and the like having at least one hinged locking fastener member which is free except for fixation at the hinge while a second movable fastener member having opposed fastener material is carried opposite the hinged members.
The invention contemplates the provision of a Velcro fastener having a hinged member carried in fixed relation to a movable member each member having opposed respective fastener material so that when an attempt is made to pull outwardly on the second member, the hinged member is pulled outwardly against the hinge so as to avoid action tending to release the second strap member except by peeling away the hinged member releasing same.
By utilizing the method of the present invention, the free strap member may be pulled outwardly carried with a free end of the hinge member which facilitates the peeling away of the hinge member with release of the Velcro fastener.


A method and apparatus for controlling a candle flame. A candle flame may be provided in a controllable environment, e.g., an enclosed area formed at least in part by an air-tight cover. Air may be forced into the enclosed area by an air movement device (e.g., a fan) to keep the flame burning. The flame may be extinguished by reducing (e.g., stopping) air flow into the enclosed area.

This invention relates to controlling a burning flame, e.g., controlling the burning of a candle.
Safety is a typical concern when candles are burned in a house or otherwise where people or flammable objects are present. The open flame of a candle is capable of catching curtains, clothing or other objects on fire, or burning a person through even inadvertent contact.
Another consideration when burning candles is the tendency of high wind or other air movement to blow the flame out. As is known in the art, various devices, such as lanterns, shades, etc., have been developed to help prevent a candle flame from being extinguished by wind.

Method and apparatus for controlling a burning flame


The present invention relates to the field of Internet of Things (IoT), and provides a gas leakage detection method based on a compound IoT and an IoT system. According to the gas leakage detection method based on the compound IoT and the IoT system provided by the present invention, whether a gas pipeline of a user has gas leakage or not is judged via a user participation manner, the judgment manner is intelligent, the judgment result is accurate and thus the gas safety of the user is guaranteed.

In home safety, the safe use of the gas is a top priority. Nowadays, there are many gas leakage safety accidents almost every year in the world, which results in that the safety for lives and properties of people cannot be guaranteed. In order to take an effective measure after gas leakage, many manners are adopted by the people to detect and judge the gas leakage. At present, the detection of the gas leakage mainly relies on an alarm to detect a concentration of a combustible gas around a gas pipeline, thereby judging whether the gas is leaked or not. With such a manner, the false judgment (misled by other combustible gases) and the omitted judgment (the distance between an installation position of the alarm and a gas leakage position is far) often happen, and as a result, the accuracy of the leakage detection is poor, the potential safety hazard is caused, and the use experience feeling of a user is poor.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Gas leakage detection method based on compound internet of things (IoT) and IoT system

CHENGDU QINCHUAN IOT TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A mobile communications device having an LTE radio technology and at least one other technology (for example, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) determines whether transmissions using the other radio technology causes, or is likely to cause interference in reception of LTE signals. If such interference exists or is likely, then a signal indicating interference is sent to the LTE base station, which can take action to try to mitigate or prevent such interference. The mobile communications device can have a timer so that the interference indicating signal is only sent periodically, either at regular intervals, or whenever the interference is determined to exist after the timer period has expired. In some cases, a signal indicating that the interference level has reduced can be sent, again either at regular intervals, to whenever the interference level changes.

Mobile communications devices or User Equipment (UE) often contain a number of different radio technologies that enable the UE to connect or communicate with various other devices or base stations using different formats, which may or may not use other frequencies. Thus, for example, a UE may include Bluetooth connectivity, Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS connectivity, as well as LTE connectivity. Often, some or all of these radio technologies will be operative at the same time, so that the UE is connected to several of these systems at once (sometimes known as in-device coexistence). Depending on the frequencies, it will be appreciated that UE transmissions on one radio technology may cause interference to the receivers of the others. This problem may be particularly acute in certain LTE frequency bands, some of which lie adjacent the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency band, where the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth channels are located.
This problem of in-device coexistence interference, has been considered in, for example Technical Report 3GPP TR 36.816 v1.0.0 entitled "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Networks; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Study on signalling and procedure for interference avoidance for in-device coexistence; (Release 10)" available at http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/specs/archive/36 series/36.816/36816-100.zip. The objective of this report is to investigate suitable mechanisms for interference avoidance from the signalling and procedural point of view to facilitate the coexistence scenario that LTE and GPS/ISM radio within the same device working in adjacent frequencies or sub-harmonic frequencies. The work under this study evaluates whether existing Radio Resource Management (RRM) mechanisms could be utilized to effectively solve the coexistence problems that arise with such scenarios and provide the required Quality of Service (QoS) in LTE with proper GPS/ISM operation, and also, if legacy signaling and procedure are not sufficient to ensure required performance in the particular coexistence scenario, whether enhanced mechanisms would better avoid interference and mitigate the impact caused by ISM radio.
In the report, three modes of operation in which in-device coexistence interference may occur were considered. In the first, uncoordinated, mode, different technologies in the UE operate independently, without any internal coordination between each other. In the second mode, different radio technologies within a UE are coordinated to the extent that one radio technology is aware of what another one is doing so that, if there is co-existence interference, the UE may be able to adjust operation to remove or at least minimise the effects of such interference. The third mode is where there is coordination not just within the UE, but also between the UE and the network, which allows the network to take action to try to minimise any coexistence interference that the UE has informed it about. Some solutions that are discussed in the report are UE controlled and include moving the LTE signal away from the ISM band or moving the ISM signal away from the LTE band. In another solution, the UE tries to Time Division Multiplex (TDM) the signals so that interference is avoided. Other solutions are LTE-network controlled with the assistance of the UE. In the latter solutions, the UE informs the network base station of interference problems and the base station may then apply mitigation techniques to try to reduce or avoid the interference. The mitigation may be either Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) or TDM to change the signal frequencies or times, or may increase power on the downlink to try to reduce or avoid the interference. The UE therefore sends a signal to the network that there is an interference problem, for example when there is on-going interference on the serving frequency. This may be considered as a reactive indication. However, the problem with the LTE-network controlled UE assisted solutions is that they rely on the indication signal from the UE. More particularly, the solutions require that the indication signal be triggered within the UE based on a measurement of the interference, and such measurement can be unreliable, and can cause unnecessary indication signals to be sent to the network too frequently, thereby unnecessarily burdening the network.


There is provided herein a multivalent binding molecule and uses thereof. The molecule is useful in binding a target under certain conditions and releasing it under other conditions. The molecule has the general formula (1) of BM1-L-(BM2)n (1) wherein, BM1 is a binding moiety 1 having an affinity for site 1 on the target, BM2 is a binding moiety 2 having an affinity for a site other than site 1 on the target, n is 1 or greater, and L is a linker joining BM1 and BM2, said linker being adapted to respond to a change in its environment with a change in conformation and/or flexibility, wherein BM1 and BM2 may be the same or different and are selected such that in use each of the BM1 and BM2 existing separately has a lower binding affinity then the complex of BM1 and BM2 does when they are linked to form the molecule. BM2 may have a single binding region or multiple binding regions with affinity for the target. The binding affinity of BM1 or BM2 to the target alone is no more than ½ the binding affinity of the molecule of formula (1). The molecule of formula (1) can be constructed using an oligomeric or polymeric linker, such as a polypeptide sequence. Such molecules can be useful in the delayed release of drugs, in screening assays, for stabilizing enzymes such as proteases, and for controlling reactions such as blood clotting.

Strategies of linking weak-binding molecular fragments together to produce a significantly stronger ligand molecule have been implemented in drug discovery. Tweezer-like molecules have also been designed recently in the area of host-guest chemistry to control the specific complexation of artificial receptors (hosts) with small molecules (guests). In these applications, the linking bridge is normally optimized and often rigidified to achieve maximal affinity of the bivalent molecule. Bivalent and polyvalent ligands have been reported that incorporate multiple copies of a single binding moeity on a polymer backbone.
It is an object of the invention to provide multivalent binding molecules containing linkers through which binding can be modulated.

Bivalent thrombin binding molecules comprising linkers


A coated-core cleaner blade has a core comprising a first material and a coating surrounding the core. The coating comprises a second material that is different than the first material. Further, the core (first material) is rigid compared to the coating (second material). Therefore, the first material has a first flexibility that is much less than a second flexibility of the second material.

Embodiments herein generally relate to print cartridge cleaning blades, and more particularly concerns a print cartridge cleaning blade having a stiff core and a flexible covering.
Modern printing devices use inks and toners that are applied to drums and belts. Paper particles, excess toner, ink, and other foreign matter can accumulate on the various drums, rollers, belts, and augers unless such foreign matter is regularly removed. One device for removing such items from belts and drums is a flexible cleaning blade. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,284, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a common print cartridge cleaning blade.
In order to reduce the cost and increase the performance of print cartridge cleaning blades, the embodiments herein provide a printer or printing device (or print cartridge that is insertable into the printing device) that uses or includes a coated-core cleaner blade. The cleaner blade contacts the drum or belt (photoreceptor) to clean excess toner and foreign matter. The cleaner blade can be mounted on the same casing/frame that supports the drum or belt using a mounting bracket connected to the cleaner blade.
The coated-core cleaner blade according to embodiments herein has a core comprising a first material and a coating surrounding the core. The coating comprises a second material that is different than the first material. Further, the core (first material) is rigid relative to the coating (second material). Therefore, the first material has a first flexibility that is much less than a second flexibility of the second material. For example, the core can comprise a plastic, a ceramic, a metal, and/or an alloy, etc. Similarly, the coating can comprise a plastic, a rubber, and/or a polymer, etc.
The coating has blade edges that contact the surfaces of the belt or drum being cleaned. The core has a rectangular shape and has a length, a height perpendicular to the length, and a thickness perpendicular to the length and the height. Because it is an elongated rectangle, the length is greater in size than the thickness and the height; and the height is also greater in size than the thickness. Thus, the rectangular shape has a top, a bottom, sides, and ends. The top and bottom are rectangular planes defined by the thickness and the length. The sides are rectangular planes defined by the height and the length. The ends are rectangular planes defined by the height and the thickness.
The square corners of the core below the blade edges are located where the sides of the rectangular shape meet the top and the bottom, and the square corners run from one end to the opposite end. This shape allows the cleaner blade to have four blade edges, which permits the cleaner blade to be flipped and/or rotated to utilize a new blade edge, rather than being replaced. Therefore, this shape allows much greater service life when compared to cleaner blades with a single edge.
Further, the blade edges of the coated-core cleaner blade have a very precise edge because the outer covering follows the core to have very square corners. More specifically, because the core is formed of very rigid materials, such as metals, the core can have very square corners below the blade edges. This can result in the outer covering having blade edges that have corners with a radius that can be controlled through the manufacturing process to provide optimal cleaning performance and/or durability. The radius of the cleaner blade edges may be less than 15 microns. This allows the cleaner blade to provide increased cleaning performance and/or durability when compared to conventional cleaner blades. Further, the rigid core prevents the cleaner blade from acquiring a set or permanent bend. Therefore, the coated-core cleaner blade will perform more consistently than conventional cleaning blades that can relax the force applied against the photoreceptor over time.
These and other features are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description.


A nanotube transistor, such as a carbon nanotube transistor, may be formed with a top gate electrode and a spaced source and drain. Conduction along the transistor from source to drain is controlled by the gate electrode. Underlying the gate electrode are at least two nanotubes. In some embodiments, the substrate may act as a back gate.

This invention relates generally to field effect transistors and, particularly, to such transistors using nanotubes, such as carbon nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes are graphene cylinders whose ends are closed by caps, including pentagonal rings. The nanotube is a hexagonal network of carbon atoms forming a seamless cylinder. These cylinders can be as little as a nanometer in diameter with lengths of tens of microns, in some cases. Depending on how they are made, the tubes can be multiple walled or single walled.
The drive current that is possible with a carbon nanotube transistor is insufficient for conventional logic applications. There are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that the drive current is too small for most logic circuit applications. While the drive current per unit width for carbon nanotube transistors may be high, due to the nano scale diameter of carbon nanotubes, the absolute current level is still not large enough for most logic applications.
Thus, there is a need for better ways to make carbon nanotube and other nanotube transistors.

Forming field effect transistors from conductors


A joining device for joining substrates with an intermolecular force includes a first holding unit configured to hold a first substrate on a lower surface thereof, a second holding unit installed below the first holding unit and configured to hold a second substrate on an upper surface thereof, and a temperature adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a temperature of the first substrate before the first substrate is held in the first holding unit and a temperature of the second substrate before the second substrate is held in the second holding unit to a predetermined temperature.

In recent years, high integration of a semiconductor device is in progress. If a plurality of highly-integrated semiconductor devices is disposed within a horizontal plane and if the semiconductor devices are formed into a final product by connecting them with wiring lines, the length of the wiring lines becomes longer. Thus, there is a fear that the resistance of the wiring lines grows larger and the wiring delay becomes severe.
Under the circumstances, there has been proposed the use of a three-dimensional integration technology that three-dimensionally stacks semiconductor devices. In this three-dimensional integration technology, two semiconductor wafers (hereinafter referred to as "wafers") are joined through the use of, e.g., a joining system. For example, the joining system includes a surface modification device (a surface activation device) configured to modify the surfaces of the wafers to be joined, a surface hydrophilization device configured to hydrophilize the surfaces of the wafers modified by the surface modification device, and a joining device configured to join the wafers whose surfaces are hydrophilized by the surface hydrophilization device. In this joining system, the surface hydrophilization device supplies pure water to the surfaces of the wafers to thereby hydrophilize the surfaces of the wafers. Thereafter, the joining device joins the wafers with a Van der Waals force and a hydrogen bond (an intermolecular force).
In the joining device, one wafer (hereinafter referred to as an "upper wafer") is held by an upper chuck and another wafer (hereinafter referred to as a "lower wafer") is held by a lower chuck installed below the upper chuck. In this state, the upper wafer and the lower wafer are joined together. In order to increase the Van der Waals force and to promote the hydrogen bond at this time, it has been proposed to install cooling mechanisms in the upper chuck and the lower chuck and to join the upper wafer and the lower wafer while cooling them.
However, this joining device fails to control and manage the temperature of the upper wafer not yet held in the upper chuck and the temperature of the lower wafer not yet held in the lower chuck. For that reason, there is a fear that, prior to the upper wafer and the lower wafer being held in the upper chuck and the lower chuck, variations in the temperatures of the upper wafer and the lower wafer may occur due to various external causes. In particular, the upper wafer and the lower wafer are independently transferred to the upper chuck and the lower chuck. Therefore, the standby time is not consistent and variations in the standby time easily occur.
In the meantime, it is known that, if the temperatures of the upper wafer and the lower wafer are changed, the shapes thereof are also changed. In the case of, e.g., a silicon wafer, if the temperature thereof increases 1 degree C., the diameter thereof increases several micrometers due to thermal expansion.
When joining the upper wafer and the lower wafer, it is required that the joining position of the upper wafer and the lower wafer be controlled at a micrometer level. If variations exist in the temperatures of the upper wafer and the lower wafer as mentioned above and if the variations caused by the temperature variations exist in the dimensions and shapes of the upper wafer and the lower wafer, it is impossible to accurately control the joining position. Consequently, there is a fear that, when joining the upper wafer and the lower wafer, they may be joined in a misaligned state.
As an example, it is conceivable to individually adjust the temperatures of the upper wafer and the lower wafer through the use of cooling mechanisms for the upper chuck and the lower chuck. However, in this case, the temperature adjustment is performed after the upper wafer and the lower wafer are held in the upper chuck and the lower chuck. Thus, time is required in the temperature adjustment. For that reason, the timing of starting the adjustment of the positions of the upper wafer and the lower wafer are delayed. This makes it impossible to rapidly perform the position adjustment.
As pointed out above, there is room for improvement in the wafer joining process of the related art.

Joining device, joining system and joining method


A tiltable seating frame (10) for selectively positioning seating in a wheelchair, in which a seat platform (12) has opposing sides (18) that each extend to an arcuate distal edge (20) and each side defines an arcuate slot (22) parallel to the distal edge. A base (14) has opposing sides (70) that receive pairs of front and rear rollers (72, 74) on which the distal edges (20) travel. Each side (70) also receives a guide roller (76) attached intermediate and vertically spaced relative to the front and rear rollers (72, 74). The guide rollers (76) extend through the respective arcuate slot (22) of the seat platform (12), to guide the movement of the seat platform (12) relative to the base (14).

Wheelchairs and other mobility devices provide disabled persons with equipment to be mobile and to increase opportunities for these persons to participate more fully in daily activities. Typical wheelchairs provide a chassis with wheels and include a cushioned seat and back seating system. The wheelchairs may be powered or self-propelled by pushing on the wheels.
Persons requiring this equipment often are seated in wheelchairs for long periods of time. Extended seating in a single position however leads to muscle fatigue. To provide relief from seating pressures of the body on the seating cushions, the positioning of the individual in the seat is changed to provide pressure relief and reduce fatigue. A fatigued person in a wheelchair tends to slump. This leads to bad posture. Fatigue and bad posture can lead to physical problems such as poor blood circulation, skeletal difficulties, and pressure sores.
To address this problem, mobility devices were provided with seating systems that could be tilted or re-positioned relative to the mobility base in order to change the position of the body relative to the seat. This re-positioning changes the contact area of the body to the seating surface and tends to reduce the pressure problems and fatigue problems noted above.
Traditional wheelchairs with adjustable tilt of seating required a long wheel base. This is because the mobility devices had to accommodate a rear fulcrum against which the seat would rotate. The long wheel base prevents the chair from tipping. While such wheelchairs provide tilting of seating relative to the chair, there are drawbacks to the use. In particular, the chair tends to be significantly heavier than a wheelchair which does not have seating which is tiltable. The wheelchair is typically larger. This makes the wheelchair more difficult to transport. The longer wheel base increases the turning radius which complicates maneuvering the wheelchair inside buildings.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved seating system for wheelchairs providing tilting of the seating relative to the wheelchair while maintaining the center of gravity and positioning relative to the seating. It is to such that the present invention is directed.

Tiltable seating apparatus for wheelchair


A power distribution apparatus includes a housing holding a plurality of electrical outlets, a plurality of independent electrical circuits within the housing, and a plurality of cord sets serving the plurality of independent electrical circuits and extending from the housing.

Electricity does us little good if we cannot get it to where it is needed. Electrical distribution systems do just that—move newly-formed electricity from a central point of generation, such as in a power plant, and out to various users of the electricity, such as homes and businesses. After the electricity is initially stepped up in voltage (so that more energy can be carried on main power lines), the voltage is gradually stepped down as the electricity gets closer to its point of use.
Electrical distribution inside a facility involves getting the electricity from an entry point to one or more electrical loads in the building. When there are multiple loads, the electrical supply needs to be split up. Such is the case with a data center, such as a server farm, that contains hundreds or thousands of computers. Each computer includes electrical loads, and power coming into the data center needs to be distributed properly to each of the computers.


A circuit for transferring a n-bit phase value between circuits includes a system clock input, a n-bit phase value generator coupled to the system clock input generating a phase value output, and an edge output indicating the phase output value is valid, a latching clock delay circuit having an input coupled to the system clock input, an input coupled to the edge output, a variable phase delay circuit coupled to the phase value output, a delay adder having a first input coupled to the phase value output, a second input coupled to a delay offset signal, and an output coupled to the control input of the variable phase delay circuit, and a phase flip-flop having a data input coupled to the output of the variable phase delay circuit, a clock input coupled to a latching clock output of the variable output clock delay circuit and a Phase Out output.

The present invention relates to data transfer between circuits. More particularly, the present invention relates to a circuit used to transfer a data value reliably between circuits that are clocked by non-synchronous clock signals.
The output of the binary phase accumulator circuit can be configured to provide an integer portion representing the number of complete clock cycles of the input clock between binary phase accumulator circuit overflows as well as the fractional portion that is stored in the register at overflow. A clock edge of the fractionally divided clock signal can be generated by delaying the input clock signal that caused the overflow by the fractional portion that is stored in the register at overflow.
There sometimes exists a need for one or more circuits that are not synchronous to the system clock signal, i.e. not synchronous to the input clock signal of the fractional frequency divider circuit, to capture and use the n-bit phase value produced by the binary phase accumulator circuit or other circuit of the fractional frequency divider circuit for various purposes. One example is counters for each phase, or group of phases, which increment or decrement at each edge of a target output clock signal generated by a frequency synthesizer employing a binary phase accumulator circuit where the target output clock signal is non-synchronous to the system clock signal. The n-bit phase value to be captured and used must adhere to proper setup and hold requirements at each clock edge presented to logic elements such as flip-flops in the other circuits clocked by a clock signal other than the system clock signal.

Circuit and methods for transferring a phase value between circuits clocked by non-synchronous clock signals


Provided is an image pickup apparatus, including: a lens portion including a focus lens unit and a magnification-varying lens unit; an image pickup element movable in an optical axis direction; a moving unit for moving the image pickup element in the optical axis direction; a memory unit for storing, as a reference position, a position of the image pickup element serving as a reference in the optical axis direction, the position corresponding to a zoom position; an operation unit for operating a defocus amount; and a controller for controlling the moving unit to move the image pickup element based on the reference position and the defocus amount operated by the operation unit.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, and more particularly, to an image pickup apparatus including a mechanism to move an image pickup element in an optical axis direction.
Description of the Related Art
As a structure to move the image pickup element in the image pickup apparatus, there is known a structure of moving the image pickup element in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis for image stabilization or dust removal. On the other hand, there is known an optical system in which the image pickup element is moved along the optical axis in order to downsize the entire image pickup apparatus or to improve optical performance. For instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-208703 discloses a technology to realize high-precision focus adjustment by moving a focus lens unit in the optical axis direction and afterwards moving the image pickup element in the optical axis direction to a position where a contrast evaluation value reaches a peak.
As one of methods of using the image pickup apparatus by professional users, there is a defocus photography method that does not generate a variation in angle of view by the operation of the optical system.
In this photography method, there is performed an operation of setting a large defocus state and then gradually restoring an in-focus state without changing a composition at focus and zoom positions fixed by a photographer. In particular, in order to avoid an influence of the variation in angle of view due to the operation of the focus lens unit, an optical system for close-up photography is used in many cases.
However, in the conventional technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-208703, such a defocus operation with a small variation in angle of view can be performed in the image pickup apparatus of the rear focus type, but there is a problem that a sufficient defocus amount (a distance between an imaging position and an image pickup plane) cannot be secured due to a structural limitation, particularly in the telephoto end side of the intermediate zoom region. Therefore, photography of restoring from the large defocus state to the in-focus state can be performed in a vicinity of a wide zoom region, but a defocus state satisfying the photographer cannot be generated in the telephoto end side of the intermediate zoom region so that photography with an image effect intended by the photographer cannot be performed.
In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to physically expand a movement range of the focus lens unit so as to secure the large defocus state in the telephoto end side of the intermediate zoom region, and hence a size of the image pickup apparatus is increased.

Image pickup apparatus, lens apparatus, and camera apparatus


A rare earth magnet block is cutoff machined into pieces by rotating cutoff abrasive blades. Improvements are made by setting the blades on one side of the magnet block, rotating the blades, starting machining operation to form cutting grooves in the magnet block from one side, interrupting the machining operation, moving the blades to the other side of the magnet block, and restarting the machining operation to form cutting grooves in the magnet block from the other side, until the cutting grooves formed from the one and other sides merge with each other.

Systems for manufacturing commercial products of sintered magnet include a single part system wherein a part of substantially the same shape as the product is produced at the stage of press forming, and a multiple part system wherein once a large block is formed, it is divided into a multiplicity of parts by machining. When it is desired to manufacture parts of small size or parts having a reduced thickness in magnetization direction, the sequence of press forming and sintering is difficult to form sintered parts of normal shape. Thus the multiple part system is the mainstream of sintered magnet manufacture.
As the tool for cutting rare earth sintered magnet blocks, a grinding wheel outer-diameter (OD) blade having diamond abrasive grains bonded to the outer periphery of a thin disk as a core is mainly used from the aspect of productivity. In the case of OD blades, multiple cutting is possible. A multiple blade assembly comprising a plurality of cutoff abrasive blades coaxially mounted on a rotating shaft alternately with spacers, for example, is capable of multiple cutoff machining, that is, to machine a block into a multiplicity of parts at a time.
The current desire for more efficient manufacture of rare earth sintered magnet entails a propensity to enlarge the size of magnet blocks to be cutoff machined, indicating an increased depth of cut. When a magnet block has an increased height, the effective diameter of the cutoff abrasive blade, that is, the distance from the rotating shaft or spacer to the outer periphery of the blade (corresponding to the maximum height of the cutoff abrasive blade available for cutting) must be increased. Such larger diameter cutoff abrasive blades are more liable to deformation, especially to deflect on axial direction. As a result, a rare earth magnet block is cut into pieces of degraded shape and dimensional accuracy. The prior art uses thicker cutoff abrasive blades to avoid the deformation. Thicker cutoff abrasive blades, however, are inconvenient in that more material is removed by cutting. Then the number of magnet pieces cut out of a magnet block of the same size is reduced as compared with thin cutoff abrasive blades. Under the economy where the price of rare earth metals increases, a reduction in the number of magnet pieces is reflected by the manufacture cost of rare earth magnet products.
While there is a desire for the method for cutoff machining a magnet block having an increased depth of cut without increasing the effective diameter of cutoff abrasive blades, a method involving sawing an upper half of a magnet block, turning the block upside down, and sawing a lower half (upper half after the upside-down turning) of the magnet block is known. This method is successful in reducing the effective diameter of cutoff abrasive blades to about one half, as compared with the method of sawing a magnet block in one direction, and thus overcomes the above-discussed problems of dimensional accuracy and the width to be sawn associated with thick blades, but needs strict alignment of the cutting position before and after the upside-down turning. The step of alignment of the cutting position takes a time. If the cutting position is misaligned even slightly, a step is formed between upper and lower cutoff surfaces. If so, the step must be eliminated or smoothened by surface grinding after the cutoff machining. When cutoff machining is continuously performed as is often the case in commercial manufacture, it is impossible in a substantial sense to cutoff machine all magnet blocks without leaving a step between upper and lower cutoff surfaces. Thus a magnet block is typically sawn into slightly thicker pieces, with an allowance for surface grinding being taken into account. The number of magnet pieces cut out of a magnet block of the same size is reduced in this case too.

Method for multiple cutoff machining of rare earth sintered magnet