1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to wireless communication systems and a universal address book that can be utilized to manage a variety of user contact information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks) and a third-generation (3G) high speed data/Internet-capable wireless service. There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including Cellular and Personal Communications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile access (GSM) variation of TDMA, and newer hybrid digital communication systems using both TDMA and CDMA technologies.
The method for providing CDMA mobile communications was standardized in the United States by the Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Association in TIA/EIA/IS-95-A entitled “Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System,” referred to herein as IS-95. Combined AMPS & CDMA systems are described in TIA/EIA Standard IS-98. Other communications systems are described in the IMT-2000/UM, or International Mobile Telecommunications System 2000/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, standards covering what are referred to as wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA2000 (such as CDMA2000 1×EV-DO standards, for example) or TD-SCDMA.
In wireless communication systems, mobile stations, handsets, or access terminals (AT) receive signals from fixed position base stations (also referred to as cell sites or cells) that support communication links or service within particular geographic regions adjacent to or surrounding the base stations. Base stations provide entry points to an access network (AN)/radio access network (RAN), which is generally a packet data network using standard Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) based protocols that support methods for differentiating traffic based on Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. Therefore, the base stations generally interact with ATs through an over the air interface and with the AN through Internet Protocol (IP) network data packets.
In wireless telecommunication systems, Push-to-talk (PTT) capabilities are becoming popular with service sectors and consumers. PTT can support a “dispatch” voice service that operates over standard commercial wireless infrastructures, such as CDMA, FDMA, TDMA, GSM, etc. In a dispatch model, communication between endpoints (ATs) occurs within virtual groups, wherein the voice of one “talker” is transmitted to one or more “listeners.” A single instance of this type of communication is commonly referred to as a dispatch call, or simply a PTT call. A PTT call is an instantiation of a group, which defines the characteristics of a call. A group in essence is defined by a member list and associated information, such as group name or group identification.
Conventionally, data packets within a wireless communication network have been configured to be sent to a single destination or access terminal. A transmission of data to a single destination is referred to as “unicast”. As mobile communications have increased, the ability to transmit given data concurrently to multiple access terminals has become more important. Accordingly, protocols have been adopted to support concurrent data transmissions of the same packet or message to multiple destinations or target access terminals. A “broadcast” refers to a transmission of data packets to all destinations or access terminals that can be commonly associated such as within a given cell, served by a given service provider, and the like, while a “multicast” refers to a transmission of data packets to a given group of destinations or access terminals. In an example, the given group of destinations or “multicast group” may include more than one and less than all of possible destinations or access terminals that otherwise share a common association. However, it is at least possible in certain situations that the multicast group includes only one access terminal, similar to a unicast, or alternatively that the multicast group comprises all access terminals sharing a common association, similar to a broadcast.
In addition to various transmission schemes such as unicast, multicast, broadcast that may be used, a call may generally be classified as a half duplex or a full duplex communication for at least some of the participants. A PTT is a half duplex call that corresponds to a server mediated communication between two or more identified access terminals, regardless of the various configurations used to conduct the PTT calls. Full duplex calls can generally include VoIP calls and other calls that allow simultaneous transmission and reception.
Users of wireless devices have many methods of communicating including traditional Voice, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Email, and Voice over Internet Protocol/Session Initiation Protocol (VoIP/SIP providers. Furthermore, soon each user may also have PTT/PTX options. Further, each user may have multiple accounts with multiple providers, for example, business and personal use which results in an explosion of per-user contact-methods which are difficult to manage in an integrated fashion on a wireless device. Users may need to be able to manage all of these different per-user contact methods in an integrated fashion from their mobile device or from a web-based application, including the ability to sync with local contact management applications.
Personal Information Managers (PIMs) such as, for example, Outlook® by Microsoft Corporation, can synchronize with wireless devices, but often not with a large network provider or global address book. Further, most PIM software does not natively support synching a large number of communication methods to a wireless device in a predictable fashion.
Conventional cellular phones generally have an address book, which can be locally stored or can be stored by the network, such as in the GMS Subscriber Identity Module in a GSM network. The address books of individual cellular phones are typically not synchronized in a useful manner to the address books of other phones. Further, synchronization in the form of a very simple point-to-point provider synchronization exists and can either be synchronized to a network provider such as the address book back up service offered by Verizon Corporation, or to a back-up storage medium. Cross-synchronization amongst users however is not common.
Conventional vCards can be sent from one party to another containing name and address information, phone numbers, URLs, logos, photographs, and even audio clips. vCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards are often attached to e-mail messages, but can be exchanged in other ways, such as on the World Wide Web. However, vCard data can quickly become outdated/inaccurate and it is not easy to update without sending the card.
Thus, a need exists for managing different per-user contact methods in an integrated fashion from a mobile device or from a web-based application, including the ability to synchronize with local contact management applications. Further, a need exists for providing a universal address book (subject to privacy restrictions) that can provide a source of known-good directory information from the wireless carrier or other provider. For example, permission to access a person's contact record may be determined by a users' relationship in a social networking application such as MySpace or Facebook. Furthermore, a universal address book can allow wireless carriers to inter-operate with each other in a seamless way, providing a much “cleaner” and faster user experience.


Imperative programming languages such as C, C++, Java and Python are the workhorses of software engineering, but by default generate code that runs on only a single CPU core. Pure functional languages such as Haskell can be automatically parallelized, but are difficult for the majority of programmers to use productively, as evidenced by the limited adoption of pure functional languages in production environments. This patent covers a new class of languages known as “lattice-based languages” that is a strict superset of the pure functional paradigm and a strict subset of the imperative paradigm, retaining both the automatic parallelization property of pure functional languages and the practical usefulness of imperative languages.
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) facilitate the editing of program code by providing to a programmer facilities that go beyond direct editing of program source, such as mechanisms for understanding the relationship between parts of a program (e.g. cross-linking a symbol with its definition), transforming a program's source code in useful ways (e.g. allowing for all usages of a variable to be renamed in a single operation), and for integrating the debugging of a program at runtime with the same environment used to edit the source code before compiling and/or running the code. IDEs that display a program as text miss an opportunity to display program structure to a programmer in graphical form, however IDEs that use a purely graphical representation for program editing are difficult for programmers to reason about quickly. This patent covers an IDE that augments the text display of a program in a lattice-based language with a graphical display of data dependencies between expressions in the program.
Functional reactive programming has been used in spreadsheets and some programming systems to reduce the amount of computation required to compute a final result by caching or memoizing intermediate values, such that when a part of the spreadsheet or program is changed, only those things that depend upon that changed part (or things that depend on them) need to be recomputed. This patent extends the use of functional reactive programming to lattice-based languages, and covers the use of functional reactive programming in an IDE for lattice-based languages.


Batteries are ubiquitous in modern day technology. Batteries are available in a wide range of types, each specialised for particular applications, from small button cell batteries used in watches, larger Li-ion batteries used in mobile devices, to large industrial scale batteries. There is often a trade-off between the physical size of the battery versus the capacity required for the battery's application, the two of which are directly related.
An important subclass of batteries is rechargeable batteries, which provide the functionality of being able to be used repeatedly. Rechargeable batteries are the power source of choice for most portable applications, from cellphones and tablets, to electric motors for hybrid or electric vehicles. However, their limited capacity means that once their charge is expended they need to be connected to an external power source in order to be recharged. For applications such as hybrid or electric vehicles this puts a limit on the range these vehicles can travel before having to be recharged, which may be less than desirable.
For cellphones, balancing the desire for batteries to be light and portable against the power drain of large LED displays and power hungry processors, leads to batteries that have to be charged almost daily. The charging process for these batteries is time consuming, typically requiring a few hours for a full charge. It is not always desirable to have to recharge these devices this frequently.
In addition, rechargeable battery performance can deteriorate as repeated charge and discharge cycles lead to damage to the battery's electrodes. Causes of such deterioration include sulfation and grid corrosion for lead acid batteries, cell oxidation for Li-ion batteries, and crystalline formations for nickel-based batteries. These result in it becoming harder for the battery to regain its initial charge with the capacity of the battery depleting over time.
There is therefore a need to improve the functionality of batteries in order to increase their capacity whilst being able to keep them portable enough for specific applications. In addition, more efficient charge and discharge cycles are desirable in order to keep up with development in electronics.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to graphics systems and, more particularly, to graphics systems capable of supporting multiple display streams or channels.
2. Description of the Related Art
A computer system typically relies upon its graphics system for producing visual output on the computer screen or display device. Early graphics systems were only responsible for taking what the processor produced as output and displaying it on the screen. In essence, they acted as simple translators or interfaces. Modem graphics systems, however, incorporate graphics processors with a great deal of processing power. They now act more like coprocessors rather than simple translators. This change is due to the recent increase in both the complexity and amount of data being sent to the display device. For example, modern computer displays have many more pixels, greater color depth, and are able to display more complex images with higher refresh rates than earlier models. Similarly, the images displayed are now more complex and may involve advanced techniques such as anti-aliasing and texture mapping.
As a result, without considerable processing power in the graphics system, the CPU would spend a great deal of time performing graphics calculations. This could rob the computer system of the processing power needed for performing other tasks associated with program execution and thereby dramatically reduce overall system performance. With a powerful graphics system, however, when the CPU is instructed to draw a box on the screen, the CPU is freed from having to compute the position and color of each pixel. Instead, the CPU may send a request to the video card stating, “draw a box at these coordinates.” The graphics system then draws the box, freeing the processor to perform other tasks.
Generally, a graphics system in a computer is a type of video adapter that contains its own processor to boost performance levels. These processors are specialized for computing graphical transformations, so they tend to achieve better results than the general-purpose CPU used by the computer system. In addition, they free up the computer's CPU to execute other commands while the graphics system is handling graphics computations. The popularity of graphics applications, and especially multimedia applications, has made high performance graphics systems a common feature in many new computer systems. Most computer manufacturers now bundle a high performance graphics system with their computing systems.
In many applications, it may be useful to have two monitors or displays connected to the same computer system. For example, in some graphical editing applications, it is desirable to use one monitor to show a close-up of an area being edited, while another monitor shows a wider field of view of the object or picture being edited. Alternatively, some users may configure one monitor to display the object being edited and the other monitor to display various palettes or editing options that can be used while editing. Another situation where multiple displays are useful occurs when several users are connected to a single computer. In such a situation, it may be desirable for each user to have their own display. In another situation, it may simply be desirable to have multiple displays that each display a different portion of an image in order to provide a larger display than would otherwise be possible. Another example is stereo goggles, which present different images to their wearer's left and right eyes in order to create a stereo viewing effect. These examples illustrate just a few of the many situations where it is useful to have multiple displays connected to the same computer system.
Given the complexity and expense of many graphics systems, it may be desirable to provide a graphics system that can support two displays without duplicating the entire graphics system. Thus, there is a need to be able to share portions of a graphics system between multiple display channels.


“Cloud computing” services provide shared resources, software, and information to computers and other devices upon request. In cloud computing environments, software can be accessible over the Internet rather than installed locally on in-house computer systems. Cloud computing typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. Technological details can be abstracted from the users, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supports them.
Conventionally, cloud computing services are utilized via computing devices such as desktop computers with internet and web browser capability. Mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets have become popular client devices for accessing and interacting with cloud computing services.


Mobile devices may run applications, commonly known as “apps,” on behalf of their users. These apps may be distributed through one or more app repositories provided by the first-party manufacturer of the device or operating system or through a third party. These apps may engage in network activity on the mobile device, such as through a cellular or Wi-Fi network. Users may install apps, use apps while they are installed, have them installed without using them, and uninstall them.


Invasive cardiac ablation techniques for the treatment of arrhythmias are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,443,489 and 5,480,422, whose disclosures are incorporated herein by reference, describe systems for ablating cardiac tissue by application of radio-frequency (RF) energy to the tissue through a catheter.
In a cardiac ablation procedure, it is important to apply sufficient energy to create a lesion that will block undesired conduction, while minimizing collateral damage to surrounding tissues. Various methods have been proposed for monitoring ablation procedures for this purpose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,743,225, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, proposes to measure electrical activity of the cardiac tissue proximate a lesion site during an ablation treatment, and then to compare the measurements in order to determine whether the lesion is clinically efficacious so as to be able to block myocardial propagation. The electrical activity can include electrical signals corresponding to the local electrogram signal, pacing threshold value, and the like.
As another example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0198007, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes methods and devices for monitoring intracardiac ablation progress in near real time, by evaluating capture of a pacing signal while ablation energy is concurrently directed to a target site. Sufficiency of ablation is indicated by failure of signal capture at a maximum predetermined pacing voltage. An electrode in a cardiac catheter is simultaneously used to test pacing capture and to deliver ablation energy.


The present invention relates to communication antennas, and in particular, antennas which have an emitter element positioned in front of a reflector surface.
Crossed dipole antennas for generating linear or circular polarizations are known. A crossed dipole antenna is known from the article “A wide-band aerial system for circularly polarized waves, suitable for ionospheric research”, G. J. Phillips, IEE Proc., Vol. 98 III, 1951, p. 237-–239. Turnstile antennas are described in various U.S. patents. An example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,086,976 from 1935. The antenna shown includes a mast on which multiple crossed antennas are positioned. There are also numerous textbooks which are concerned with turnstile antennas.
In order to improve the directional efficiency, the antenna elements are frequently positioned in front of a metallic reflector surface. This approach is known and is applied in the following two antennas. A dual polarized dipole antenna may be inferred from U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,809 (which essentially corresponds to German Published Application 198 60 121 A1) of the firm Kathrein. These dipole antennas are distinguished in that they include a number of individual dipole elements which are positioned in front of a reflector. The dipole elements are positioned as a dipole square in a top view and each dipole element is fed individually via a symmetrical line.
A double-polarized multirange dipole antenna may be inferred from U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,720 of the firm Kathrein.
The bandwidth of a dipole antenna may be improved by using thick dipoles or bowtie dipole structures. Such a broadband dipole antenna is described in the article entitled “Broad-band half-wave dipole”, M. C. Bailey, IEEE Trans. Antennas Prop., Vol. 32, 1984, p. 410–412. In addition, a broadband antenna having a thick dipole structure is cited in the Antenna Engineering Handbook, R. C. Johnson and H. Jasik, editors, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill, 1984, on p. 28–11.
It is a problem of the antenna arrangements of the prior art, which are used in the field of communication and particularly mobile wireless communication, that the antennas are costly and heavy. This leads to expensive and complicated group antennas.
What is needed therefore, is a broadband dipole antenna which is simple and cost-effective. Further, what is needed is a dipole antenna which is suitable for installation in a group antenna.


In the past, photographs containing multiple images of the same object in motion have been produced by either repetitively firing strobe lamps or repeatedly activating a shutter as the object advanced in front of the camera. However, this technique has serious limitations which have resulted in the photographs being unpredictable, usually containing overlapping and poorly aligned images which defeat the artistic and informational content of the photographs. Furthermore, creating movement with a still object on photographic material has involved the actual movement of a camera assembly through the use of a motorized tripod. Because of the masses involved these systems have proven slow and cumbersome to use. Further, in order to produce good results these systems have required a high degree of percision. in positioning the camera which has been difficult to achieve.
The present invention overcomes the foregoing limitations by providing a system which can quickly and accurately move an image with respect to a frame of film and expose different parts of the film to different images of the same object without moving the camera or the object itself.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tension rods, and in particular to tension rods for expanding against opposite walls or other support surfaces for holding curtains, hangers or other articles in place on the tension rod.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tension rods incorporating telescoping tubes for being installed between walls having different distances between them are well known in the art. Typical tension rods are known for hanging shower curtains. A number of such rods are known having long coil compression springs which are compressed as the telescoping tubes are pressed together and then released so the spring can expand and press the tubes against the walls. However, those rods show the least amount of tension force when the spring is in its expanded state when advantageously it should have its greatest strength, and show the highest tension force when the spring is in its compressed state. In some cases, threaded inner and outer rods are known. However, such of the rods often require a great number of rotations to get the desired length, and often cannot maintain a tight enough fit over time to maintain the rod in place, essentially under downwardly transverse loads. Such constructions are described in U.S. Pat. No. 704,403 (Thill), U.S. Pat. No. 2,079,267 (Vroom), U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,134 (Zuro) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,521,758 (Guilfoyle, Sr.). In some instances a biasing spring is combined with combinations of threaded rods, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 670,585 (Fowler), U.S. Pat. No. 856,316 (Thurston), U.S. Pat. No. 1,548,053 (Mead), U.S. Pat. No. 2,199,851 (Culver), CH 625601 (Baumann) and JP 2055100 (Wada), but these have not been found effective. Compression spring arrangements in tension rods are very well known, but involve a compromise in being reasonably easy to compress while providing sufficient holding force to keep the tension rod in place between opposing walls while the tension rod is under downward transverse loads. This type of tension rods area disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 468,987 (Lingley et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 519,840 (Edsall), U.S. Pat. No. 536,272 (Edsall), U.S. Pat. No. 645,543 (Birch), U.S. Pat. No. 647,986 (Roberts), U.S. Pat. No. 841,062 (Snyder et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 961,352 (Walters), U.S. Pat. No. 988,200 (Logsdon), U.S. Pat. No. 1,140,570 (Buckley), U.S. Pat. No. 1,178,994 (Crump), U.S. Pat. No. 1,425,247 (Galbreath), U.S. Pat. No. 1,639,551 (Booth), U.S. Pat. No. 2,032,842 (Gould), U.S. Pat. No. 2,519,996 (Blake), U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,870 (Schoos), U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,120 (Hinrichs), U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,877 (Kindl), U.S. Pat. No. 4,6037,726 (Schweers), U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,199 (Cameron), U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,065 (Hoban) and U.S. Publication Nos. 2008/0156952 (Nathan) and 2009/0101609 (Batshon). A flexible threaded rod without a spring is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,601 (Geltz). Rods are also known which are initially put between opposing walls, and later tightened against those walls. This can be difficult to do where there is no easy access between the walls and may not produce a tight fit. Other tension rods exist where the rods tend to “walk” or slip as outward tension force is applied to the tension rods.
None of the foregoing patent disclosures discloses a compression coil spring in a tension rod which maintains nearly constant tension before, during and after the tension rod is installed. No tension rods are known where a compression spring is located in a holding device disposed in one of a pair of telescoping tubes, wherein the tubes are compressed using low manual force, then twisting one of the tubes to tightly lock the compression spring in place, and then releasing the tubes between the walls. The present invention lacks the shortcomings of the prior art, including long compression springs, compression springs whose springs vary from being relatively high when in a compressed state and relatively weak in an expanded state. The present invention in its preferred form is easy for the average person to compress when required for installation, as is not true for the tension rod having a flexible worm gear for providing the tension force rather than a spring. Tension rods according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention do not tend to “walk” or slip along the surface during installation.


The present disclosure relates to an illuminator that emits out illumination light including a laser beam, and a display unit that carries out an image display using such illumination light.
An optical module, which is one of main components of a projector (projection-type display unit), is generally composed of an illuminating optical system (illuminator) including a light source and a projecting optical system (projection optical system) including an optical modulation element. In recent years, in the field of such a projector, a small-sized (palm size) and lightweight portable projector called a microprojector has begun to come into wide use. In the past, for this microprojector, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) has been mainly utilized as a light source for an illuminator.
Meanwhile, a laser has recently drawn attention as a new light source for an illuminator. For example, a projector utilizing a gas laser has been known in the past as a projector using a laser beam of three primary colors including red (R), green (G), and blue (B). As described above, a projector utilizing a laser as a light source is proposed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-301164. Use of a laser as a light source allows to achieve a projector with a wide color reproduction range and a reduced power consumption.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air-compressing, self-ignition or spark-ignition, four-stroke internal combustion engine having direct fuel injection, turbo-charging, and load-dependent internal exhaust gas recirculation. This exhaust gas recirculation is effected, at least in certain operating ranges, by intervention in the gas change system. Within this gas change system, the mixture formation is essentially controlled by means of the high-speed rotary motion of the fresh air charge, which is produced in an intake channel and is maintained in a combustion chamber having the shape of a solid of revolution.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Diesel engines have qualitative governing or control. There is no throttling and, consequently, volume flow is high. Owing to the difficulty of the task of achieving mixture formation immediately before combustion in a minimum of time, provision is made for more air to be drawn into the combustion chambers of the engine than is actually necessary for the combustion of the fuel injected into the combustion chambers. Generally, the greater the proportion of the inducted air, the lower the load of the engine. Moreover, combustion in the low load range is sluggish and takes place at a low temperature level. Therefore, this is the range where the exhaust gases are unfavorable with respect to the unburnt substances; above all, the great amount of oxygen is conducive to the formation of nitric oxides. This is particularly so in the case of direct-injection engines.
In recent years, it has become general practice, in turbo-charged internal combustion engines, to return a portion of the exhaust gases to the intake in order to reduce emission of pollutants (nitric oxides and hydro-carbons).
Exhaust gas recirculation reduces the oxygen content of the air for combustion and, consequently, the effective excess air in the fresh gases. In other words, the reaction kinetics of combustion are interfered with by means of the oxygen concentration of the cylinder charge, whereby the combustion process and the exhaust gas composition are influenced.
Another very important aspect of exhaust gas recirculation is the reduction of the ignition lag, which includes the time from the start of injection of the fuel to the start of combustion. Ignition lag is a consequence of the higher final compression temperature which results from the higher fresh gas inlet temperature. In addition to other advantages, e.g. the reduction of ignition noise, the shortening of the ignition lag results in an improvement in combustion which, in turn, decreases the emission of pollutants.
In an exhaust gas recirculation control system for diesel engines, it is desirable that the amount of air replaced by exhaust gas should be proportional to the amount of surplus air relative to actual air requirements for the combustion of the injected fuel, such that a maximum amount of surplus air is removed from the air flow supplying the engine cylinder without causing unsteady combustion of the fuel in the cylinders. The objective is to achieve maximum efficiency throughout the operating spectrum of the engine with respect to control of nitric oxide emission.
The maximum rate of exhaust gas recirculation is required in the lower part load range because this is where the greatest amount of excess air exists. In the full-load range, however, a high rate of exhaust gas circulation would reduce the output which the engine can attain because there is only a small amount of excess air. For this reason, it is necessary for the rate of exhaust gas recirculation to be controlled so that the proportion of recirculated exhaust gas decreases as the load of the engine increases until no exhaust gas at all is recirculated at full load.
A distinction is made between external and internal exhaust gas recirculation. In the case of external recirculation, the exhaust gases are returned from the exhaust gas ducts via pipes and control devices into the intake channel. In contrast to this, internal exhaust gas recirculation can be implemented in a simpler manner by appropriate intervention in the gas change system. Therefore, internal recirculation offers certain advantages over the external concept; especially, it affords advantages with respect to hydro-carbon emission in the low-load range (due to the hotter exhaust gas). Last but not least, it will also expedite cold starting and warming-up of the engine.
Intervention in the gas change system in the case of internal exhaust gas recirculation can be effected in various ways (cf. German Auslegeschrift No. 12 22 735 and German Pat. No. 12 42 044), the means employed including, inter alia, double-rise cams for controlling the gas change valves (cf. for instance, German Auslegeschrift No. 14 01 228, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 21 25 368, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 26 38 651, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 27 10 189, German Pat. No. 17 51 473).
Of the references mentioned, only the German Pat. No. 12 42 044 covers a turbo-charged internal combustion engine.
The present invention relates to this type of internal combustion engine, which uses internal exhaust gas recirculation in a similar manner to that already described.
An object of the present invention is to improve such an internal combustion engine of the aforementioned general type in such a way that, on the one hand, exhaust gas recirculation does not cause any weakening of the air swirl energy (charge swirl energy) at low loads, which would spoil the desired exhaust gas improvements, and that, on the other hand, assisted cylinder scavenging would be obtained at high loads.


This invention relates to the field of trephine cutting tools of the type used for obtaining samples from humans, animals, and other living or deceased specimens.
In the treatment and study of disease and the therapeutic processes and in biomedical studies such as space medicine bone study, it is desirable to collect small specimens of bone from a vertebrate test subject for microscopic and other laboratory study. A guiding and supporting arrangement for conveniently and safely collecting such samples is, for example, shown in the copending patent application, having one common inventor herewith, Ser. No. 06/751,393, filed Jul. 3, 1985 and issued 31 Mar. 1987 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,509, and deals principally with accurately positioned sample collection from small animal test subjects.
The use of a hollow annular cross-sectioned drill bit having small sawteeth disposed at the working end thereof, i.e., a trephine cutter, for the collection of tissue samples from living test subjects has been known for some time. A frequent problem with the known sample collecting arrangements occurs, however, during the post-sample collection steps wherein the sample is removed from the trephine cutter bit. Heretofore it has been common practice to employ hydraulic pressure or a push rod or some similar forcing apparatus for disengaging the collected sample from the trephine cutter bit. In the course of this disengagement, sufficient pressure is often applied to the collected sample to cause compression damage or sample density alteration as a by-product of the disengagement sequence. For most present-day study purposes, such disturbances of the collected sample are a disabling, sample-destroying consequence. An awareness of such destructive effects occurring during sample collection is, for example, indicated in the article "Closed Vertebral Biopsy" by L. S. Fyfe, A. P. J. Henry, and R. C. Julkolland, published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 65-B, No. 2, Mar. 1983, wherein the collection of tissue specimens of two millimeters diameter or more is suggested for best accuracy. In the case of bone samples, the tendency of sampled tissue to clog or obstruct the sample collecting apparatus has in particular been a problem with the existing trephine arrangements. The periosteum tissue surrounding bone members in a vertebrate specimen has particular affinity for surgical instruments and thereby materially complicates the sample retrieval process using most existing trephine equipment.
The patent art discloses inventive attention to the field of trephine sample collection. This attention is evidenced in the patents of W. Ackerman, U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,692; I. Hallac, U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,721; K. Jamshidi, U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,524; P. W. Hoffsess, U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,445; and L. S. Matthews, U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,570, all of which concern trephine or biopsy sample apparatus providing some arrangement for disengaging the collected sample--arrangements such as a push rod extruder or multiple collecting device diameters. It may be noted, however, that none of these patents is concerned with a trephine sample collecting arrangement wherein the cutter bit can be disassembled to provide convenient access to the sample and also assure the absence of compression disturbances to the sample. The prior art has therefore been unable to provide a fully satisfactory apparatus for collecting high-quality trephine samples conveniently and practically.


Depending on the medical circumstances, reduced pressure may be used for, among other things, reduced-pressure therapy to encourage granulation at a tissue site, draining fluids at a tissue site, closing a wound, reducing edema, promoting perfusion, and fluid management. Common dressings, systems, and methods may be susceptible to leaks and blockage that can cause a reduction in the effectiveness of the therapy or a complete loss of therapy. Such a situation can occur, for example, if the amount of fluid in the dressing or system exceeds the fluid capacity of the dressing or system. Thus, improvements to dressings, systems, and methods that may enhance the management of fluid extracted from a tissue site for increasing the reliability and the useable life of the dressing and system are desirable.


During the drilling of a wellbore, various fluids are typically used in the well for a variety of functions. The fluids may be circulated through a drill pipe and drill bit into the wellbore, and then may subsequently flow upward through wellbore to the surface. During this circulation, the drilling fluid may act to remove drill cuttings from the bottom of the hole to the surface, to suspend cuttings and weighting material when circulation is interrupted, to control subsurface pressures, to maintain the integrity of the wellbore until the well section is cased and cemented, to isolate the fluids from the formation by providing sufficient hydrostatic pressure to prevent the ingress of formation fluids into the wellbore, to cool and lubricate the drill string and bit, and/or to maximize penetration rate.
In most rotary drilling procedures the drilling fluid takes the form of a “mud,” i.e., a liquid having solids suspended therein. The solids function to impart desired rheological properties to the drilling fluid and also to increase the density thereof in order to provide a suitable hydrostatic pressure at the bottom of the well. The drilling mud may be either a water-based or an oil-based mud.
Many wells, especially in oil fields in shale formations (having water sensitivity) and/or deep-water/subsea environments, are drilled with synthetic/oil-based muds or drilling fluids. Because of the extremely high cost of intervention and high production rates, these wells require reliable completion techniques that prevent sand production and maximizes productivity throughout the entire life of the well. One such technique is open-hole gravel packing.
In unconsolidated formations, sand control measures are implemented to stabilize formation sand. Common practice for controlling sand displacement includes placement of a gravel pack to hold formation sand in place. The gravel pack is typically deposited around a screen. The gravel pack filters the sand while still allowing formation fluid to flow through the gravel, the screen and a production pipe.
There are two principal techniques used for gravel packing open holes: (1) the alternate path technique and (2) alpha-beta packing technique. The latter uses low-viscosity fluids, such as completion brines to carry the gravel from the surface and deposit it into the annulus between a sand-control screen and the wellbore. The alternate path technique, on the other hand, utilizes viscous carrier fluids; therefore the packing mechanisms of these two techniques are significantly different. The alternate path technique allows bypassing of any bridges that may form in the annulus, caused by for example high leakoff into the formation due to filtercake erosion, or exceeding the fracturing pressure, or shale-sloughing/shale-swelling or localized formation collapse on the sand control screens.


Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to facilitating financial transactions and more particularly to facilitating such transactions with a mobile device.
Related Art
Mobile devices, such as cell phones, are being used by more and more people world-wide. In addition to using mobile phones for voice calls, consumers can communicate nearly anytime and anywhere to facilitate information access to mobile services and the Internet. Mobile phones have also become multimedia computing platforms with integral digital cameras for taking pictures and video, playing music, recording conversations, and organizing and planning activities and appointments.
More recently, mobile phones have been used in conjunction with on-line payment service providers, such as PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. With the ever-increasing popularity of the Internet and of Internet commerce, both consumers and sellers are using the Internet to facilitate financial transactions between parties, whether they are individuals or companies. In on-line financial transactions, consumers may use an on-line payment provider to transfer money and receive money over electronic networks, such as the Internet. The money transfer may be for payment of goods or services. The payment providers supply an infra-structure, software, and services that enable users to make and receive payments. Mobile phone users may contract with a payment provider to allow the user to make payments over the phone. Typically, this requires the user to open up an application on the phone, such as through a web browser. The user then accesses his or her on-line account by entering requested information, such as a user name, phone number, email, and/or password. Payment information can then be entered and transmitted to the payment provider, who then transfers funds from the user's account to the payee's account. A confirmation may then be sent to the payer and/or the payee.
While this service gives the consumer flexibility in paying for services anywhere using a mobile phone, the procedure can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and may be prone to fraudulent transfers.


This invention relates generally to a powered stapling device and, more specifically, to a powered stapling device for stapling objects that are in difficult to reach places.
Powered staple guns serve a variety of purposes and often the structural configuration and operation of the staple gun is customized for a specific purpose. For example, long handled staple guns are used for stapling material on ceilings. Another type of staple gun typically used in construction includes one that operates as a modular powered tool with an interchangeable handle and magazine units that can drive either nails or staples.
One type of powered staple gun having a long nose for reaching otherwise inaccessible locations is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,602, to Obergfell (the '602 patent). The '602 patent discloses a powered staple gun with a nosepiece or drive track of substantially increased length that does not require an increased stroke for driving the nail or staple. The powered staple gun is capable of being operated by a pneumatic motor. The staple or nail driven by the powered staple gun of the '602 patent is advanced through a drive track in increments by a series of strokes, which provide the energy for driving the staple or nail. The configuration of the powered staple gun is such that the user must hold the gun substantially perpendicular with respect to a substrate onto which an object is to be stapled. For example, if the user is stapling a linear object, such as cable or wire, the user must hold the gun at a 90 degree angle to the substrate, which results in the staples being driven over the linear object such that the body of the staple is substantially perpendicular to the linear object.
It would be desirable to have a powered stapling device that can be used to reach inaccessible or difficult to reach places. In addition, it would be desirable to have a powered stapling device that can drive a staple at a desired angle even though the powered stapling device is aligned with or perpendicular to a linear object that is to be stapled.


Large round bales have become an exceedingly popular package in which to store a variety of crop materials, ranging from alfalfa to corn stalks. The large cylindrical configuration and generally uniform density of the bales enhance their weathering characteristics, allowing the bales to remain in the field until needed. Additionally, the bales concentrate large quantities of crop material in individual packages, reducing the time required to gather and transport a given amount of crop material when needed. Further, other than a tractor operator, no manual labor is required to gather and transport the bales from the field. In sum, the benefits of large round bales are consistent with the continuing trend toward highly mechanized agricultural operations.
Conventional large round balers require discharge of a completed bale before formation of a new bale is started. Such requirement consumes a significant amount of the total baling time.
Several proposed designs exist in the prior art of round balers which appear to be capable of continuous operation. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,035,999 and 4,499,714. However, neither of these proposed designs has achieved commercial acceptance. Apparently, the projected increases in productivity expected to be gained using balers of these designs were outweighed by the complexity, costs, and other unresolved problems associated therewith.


Power converters, such as buck converters, are commonly utilized to convert a high DC voltage to a low DC voltage. A power converter typically includes a high-side switch and a low-side switch connected in a half-bridge configuration. The power converter can include a driver integrated circuit (IC) to control a duty cycle of either or both of the high-side and low-side switches so as to convert a high input voltage to a low output voltage. To improve form factor, performance, and manufacturing cost, it is often desirable to integrate components of a power converter circuit, such as a half-bridge based DC-DC converter or a voltage converter, into a compact power semiconductor package.
In a conventional power semiconductor package, individual semiconductor dies are arranged side by side and coupled to a substrate through their corresponding conductive clips, which can undesirably increase electrical resistance and form factor of the power semiconductor package. Also, package design rules to successfully accommodate multiple leadframes and a conductive clip require a large degree of tolerance (i.e. a large clearance space) for manufacturing. Typically, a conductive clip having a leg portion is used to provide sufficient clearance space for necessary electrical connections. However, it is difficult to manufacture the leg portion of the conductive clip to match the exact height of the semiconductor devices in the conventional power semiconductor package. As a result, the leg portion may cause the conductive clip to tilt either toward or away from the semiconductor device, which in turn can cause unreliable electrical connection between the conductive clip and the semiconductor device, and limiting the current carrying capability of the conductive clip. Additionally, the increased package complexity resulting from the use of multiple conductive clips may negatively affect manufacturing time, cost, and package yields.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide a compact power semiconductor package to with reduced form factor and increased current carrying capability.


The disclosure of the present application relates generally to tissue removal, and more particularly to devices, systems, and methods for percutaneous and mini-invasive valve removal.
For decades, percutaneous interventional therapy has been an option for patients with pulmolic, mitral, and/or aortic valvular disease. The treatment preferred in selected patients with pulmolic or mitral stenosis is percutaneous valvuloplasty. According to the current ACC/American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines in patients with calcific aortic stenosis, balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) has been used as a bridge to aortic valve replacement.
Hospital mortality for BAV varies from 3.5% to 13.5%, while serious complications appear in at least 25% of the patients. The durability of BAV is restricted. Consequently, open aortic valve replacement continues to be the best therapy for aortic stenosis in patients who are viable candidates for surgery. The most frequent heart valve operation is the aortic valve replacement. In the United States, from 2% to 7% of individuals older than 65 years suffer from aortic stenosis (AS). The percentage of people over 65 years with aortic stenosis will continue to increase because people are living increasingly longer lives. Aortic stenosis is frequently associated with comorbid risk factors and previous bypass surgery because it is persistent and progressive and occurs frequently in elderly patients. The surgical therapy for AS patients is useful to improve symptoms and prolong life.
Percutaneous strategies for the treatment of AS began with percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty. Percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty data from the multicenter National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) registry shows only mild progress in early hemodynamics, a significant incidence of peripheral vascular complications, a 30-day mortality rate of 7%, and a high incidence of restenosis within 6 months.
Unsatisfactory results of balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) have led to investigation of percutaneous placement of prosthetic aortic valves. Such devices are being clinically utilized in a small number of cases of high-risk patients. Although percutaneous aortic valve insertion has been performed on extremely high-risk patients, considerable para-valvular leak regurgitation and early mortality have discouraged this approach.
One of the biggest problems with percutaneous or transapical aortic valve replacement is the dilatation of a calcific aortic valve prior to delivery of the stent valve device. The consequences of irregular dilation of the aortic valve area are periprosthetic leak, calcium embolization, difficulties with device insertion and possible migration of the device.
In order to address these issues, present application discloses a device, system, and method for endovascular resection of the calcific aortic valve having the following features: a valve isolation system, a mechanism to cut and destroy a heavily calcified valve, and a technique and device to prevent migration or embolization of calcific debris into visceral organs. This device will set the stage for better delivery and insertion of the stent valve device.


The need to store digital files, documents, pictures, images and other data continues to increase rapidly. In connection with the electronic storage of data, various systems have been devised for the rapid and secure storage of large amounts of data. Such systems may include a number of storage devices that are used in a coordinated fashion. In particular, data can be distributed across multiple storage devices such that data will not be irretrievably lost if one of the storage devices (or in some cases, more than one storage device) fails. An additional advantage that can be achieved by coordinating operation of a number of individual storage devices is improved data access and/or storage times. Examples of systems that can provide such advantages can be found in the various RAID (redundant array of independent disks) levels that have been developed.
Many data storage systems, such as RAID array systems, utilize one or more controllers. Such controllers typically provide a read cache and a write cache to improve the performance of the data storage system with respect to input/output (IO) operations. For example, in connection with write operations, a host can provide data for storage that is initially placed in the write cache of a data system controller. Once the data has been placed in the write cache, the controller indicates to the host that the write operation has been completed, even though the data has not yet been stored on a data storage device or devices. This frees the host to move on to other operations while the controller completes the relatively slow process of storing the data that has been placed in the write cache on the storage device or devices.
In many applications, the availability of data is a key concern. In particular, in many applications, users rely heavily on the data stored in the data storage system. In these types of applications, unavailability of data stored on the data storage system can result in significant loss of revenue and/or customer satisfaction. Employing a data storage system comprising a RAID array can enhance the availability of the stored data, since if a single disk drive fails, data may still be stored and retrieved from the system.
The operation of the data storage system controller (or storage controller) is typically determined through the execution of controller code. In connection with certain storage controllers, multiple copies of controller code can be maintained in storage controller memory. In normal operation, only the code labeled as the primary copy is executed. In order to upgrade code in a typical dual copy storage controller, the primary code that is being replaced is copied from a primary region in memory to a second region in memory. Then, the new, upgraded code is copied to the primary region, thus the new code becomes the primary code. This method of code upgrading works, but it is slow and not robust because it involves a number of time consuming steps and the movement of relatively large amounts of code. In particular, an internal copy of the code from one region to another is required. Because the controller code is typically the size of several megabytes even though the code is compressed, operations copying code from one region and programming it to another region can take many seconds to complete. Furthermore, where there are many pieces of programmable code to copy on the storage controller, it may take many minutes just to complete the copy portion of the upgrade process. The time required becomes even greater in storage controllers that contain more than two sets of controller code. For example, a three copy programmable component, with three regions being labeled as the latest (newest) region, medium region and old region, involves the copy from the medium region to the old region and then from the latest region to the medium region before programming the downloaded code to the latest region. In addition, such methods of code upgrading are error prone because each programmable code component copy operation is an additional step that is subject to failure. The likelihood of such failure increases proportionally with the number of programmable code components the storage controller has and the number of code copies the storage controller maintains. In addition, such methods of code upgrading lack flexibility, as the newly loaded code is always designated as the primary copy or the latest copy designated for execution. Furthermore, the older version of the controller code is always overwritten, leaving the newer copy as the back-up for the downloaded code. This can be undesirable where the newer version of the code has a serious problem. However, storage controllers have been incapable of overwriting any set of code other than the oldest code in connection with downloading upgraded code.


The invention relates to a method and apparatus for searching the synchronization signal of a next frame and thus determining the frame length of the current frame in digital encoded signals. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for utilizing a lookup table to determine a search region and backward-searching the synchronization signal of the next frame in the search region.
Various digital video/audio processing standards are widely used in the industry to encode the video or audio data into digital encoded signals for further transmission or storing operations. For instance, MPEG audio standard (ISO/IEC 11172-3 and ISO/IEC13818-3) is for compressing and decompressing audio signals with different sampling rates and bit rates. MPEG audio standard defines three layers, which are Layer I, Layer II, and Layer III. The digital encoded signals conforming to MPEG audio standard includes a plurality of frames; each frame includes a plurality of fields. FIG. 1 illustrates the format of a frame specified in the three different layers of the MPEG audio standard. Take MPEG audio layer-1 for example, each frame includes header, alloc, scalefactors, samples, and ANC fields. Though MPEG audio layer I, II, and III have different formats of frames, they have the same header formats, as shown in FIG. 2.
PEG audio standard defines compressing and decompressing audio signals with different sampling rates and bit rates. For some specific sampling rate and bit rate, frames with varying lengths are used to achieve average bit rate. Since each frame may have different length, the actual length of each frame has to be obtained when the digital encoded signal is to be decoded. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,992, a method used to calculate the length of a current frame is disclosed, and the following formula is included:
      P    =                  Br        N            ×                        n          S                          F          S                      ,where P represents the number of slots included in the current frame; Br is a bit rate of the digital encoded signal; N is the number of bits included in a slot; nS is the number of samples included in a frame; and FS is the sampling rate of the digital encoded signal.
When a decoder of the related art receives a current frame of the above-mentioned digital encoded signal, the decoder first utilizes the above-mentioned formula to calculate the length of the current frame and then perform the following decoding operations toward the current frame. When P calculated by utilizing the formula is an integer, the current frame includes P slot(s); when the calculated P is not an integer, the current frame possibly includes P′r P′+1 slot(s), wherein P′ is the highest integer whose value is less than P. To correctly decode the digital encoded signals with varying frame lengths, the decoder needs an approach to determine the number of slots (equal to either P′ or P′1) included in the current frame.
In MPEG audio standard, the header includes a padding bit signaling the length of the frame. If the calculated P by utilizing the above-mentioned formula is not an integer, the decoder of the related art checks the padding bit; if the padding bit is 0, the current frame includes P′ slots; if the padding bit is 1, the current frame includes P′+1 slots. In other words, the decoder of the related art utilizes the above-mentioned formula to calculate P and then determine the length of the current frame by checking the padding bit.
In the header of each frame in the digital encoded signal, a synchronization signal is included. The synchronization signal generally owns specific data patterns for easy identification. For digital encoded signals conforming to the MPEG audio standard, the synchronization signal is called ‘syncword’ The data pattern of the syncword is fixed as ‘1111 1111 1111’ in the binary system, which is ‘0xFFF’ in the hexadecimal system. The system of the related art can forward-search the fixed data pattern (‘0xFFF’) from the current frame so as to determine the syncword in a next frame. Afterwards, by calculating the difference of the positions between the syncword of the current frame and the syncword of the next frame, the length of the current frame is obtained.
There have been many MPEG audio encoders accumulated in the market, and some does not encode audio signals in a way strictly conforming to MPEG audio standard. According to MPEG standard, the specific data pattern is exclusively reserved for the syncword and should not appear in any other positions in the frames. However, for some digital encoded signals not strictly conforming to MPEG audio standard, the specific data pattern may appear in other positions in the frames. For instance, in MPEG audio standard, ‘0’ should be utilized as a stuffing bit, so the stuffing sequence is ‘0000 . . . ’ However, some encoders utilize ‘1’ as the stuffing bit, so the stuffing sequence is ‘1111 . . . ’ and may be confused with the syncword (‘1111 1111 1111’). Therefore, the above-mentioned forward-searching method does not work due to the possibility that other data (such as the inappropriate stuffing sequence ‘1111 . . . ’ may be incorrectly interpreted as the syncword, and thus an incorrect frame length of the current frame is obtained.