359results about How to "Reduce π-π effect" patented technology

A method has been invented for recovering hydrocarbons from an earth formation containing hydrocarbons, the method including injecting a recovery injectant into the earth formation at a plurality of injection points spaced apart by about 14 to about 208 feet, and producing hydrocarbons from the formation with at least one producer well. In one aspect the method includes injecting steam into an earth formation which contains oil bearing diatomite at a plurality of injection points spaced apart by about 14 to about 208 feet, and producing hydrocarbons from the formation with a one or more producer wells extending into the oil bearing diatomite formation, with a plurality of producer wells spaced apart by a distance ranging between about 14 to about 149 feet, injecting steam into the oil bearing diatomite at an injection rate of between about 10 to about 149 barrels of steam per day per hundred feet thickness of diatomite, and injecting the steam at a pressure between about 10 p.s.i. to about 260 p.s.i. The present invention also discloses a method for treating a hydrocarbon-bearing diatomite formation including applying an artificial overburden over at least a portion of the formation and applying a variable well spacing as needed. A field on an earth formation has been invented for recovering hydrocarbons, the earth formation having an earth surface above it, the field including a plurality of injector well and a plurality of producing wells, the field including at least one injector well per acre of earth surface above the earth formation and at least one producing well per acre. Certain parts of the wells may be in below-grade chambers.

Techniques for processing input signals in accordance with an output configuration are disclosed. According to one aspect of the techniques, a module implemented in a sound reproducing device is configured to determine whether a sound in the input audio source can be reproduced properly through speakers of an output configuration of the device by examining the sound effects in the input audio sound and the output channel in the output configuration, producing synthetically a sound effect if the number of sound channels is greater than the number of sound effects, or reducing synthetically a sound effect if the number of sound channels is less than the number of sound effects.

A clip applier for applying a surgical clip in a patient comprising a disposable cartridge and a reusable actuating mechanism. The cartridge includes an elongate tube having a proximal end and a distal end, a pair of opposing jaw members extending outwardly from the distal end of the elongate tube, and a one-way ratchet mechanism providing a full actuating stroke. The actuating mechanism is coupled to the proximal end of the elongate tube to move the jaw members between an open position and a closed position. The ratchet mechanism may be formed from injection molded plastic. The cartridge further comprises a push member for advancing the clip into the jaw members, a biasing spring for maintaining the push member against the clip, and a drive coupling operatively connected to a sliding ratchet pawl for engaging with mating teeth formed on an inner surface of the elongate tube, wherein the ratchet pawl includes a cantilever arm that engages with the mating teeth, and wherein the drive coupling provides a central connection of the ratchet pawl allowing pivoting and improved seating of the mating teeth. A method of applying a surgical clip to an object in a patient using the clip applier of the invention includes the steps of positioning the clip applier within the patient such that the jaw members are adjacent to the object to be clipped, closing the jaw members and the clip over the object, and removing the clip applier from the patient. The method may further comprise the steps of orienting the clip applier such that the jaw members pass over the object, manipulating the jaw members to move the object to a compressed state within the jaw members, advancing the clip over the object to maintain the object in the compressed state, and retracting a feeder to allow the next clip to be fed into the jaw members.

The present invention utilizes adaptive antenna arrays at a base station to increase the forward link capacity of mobile data systems. One or more simultaneous forward link beams are formed and are switched (or hopped) in a time division manner among subscribers. The beam hopping sequence is randomized by varying the time slot and / or carrier frequency of each subscriber. In space-time hopping, the position within a frame of the time slot for each subscriber is varied in a pseudo random sequence. In space-frequency hopping, the carrier frequency for each frame is varied in a pseudo random sequence. The pseudo random beam hopping sequence provides a gain due to interference diversity in addition to the antenna array gain. Forward link beam forming algorithms use space-time or space-frequency hopping to increase the capacity of mobile data systems.

The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for treating a liquid by providing a santitary type stainless steel hydrocyclone, flowing the liquid through the hydrocyclone, and turning on a plasma torch attached to the hydrocyclone such that a plasma arc irradiates the liquid. The hydrocyclone can be a forward flow hydrocyclone, a reverse flow hydrocyclone, a through flow hydrocyclone, a hydrocyclone pump or a volute.

Sensor circuits for the measurement of small variations in the value of a sensing capacitor. An alternating voltage excites the sensing capacitor a predetermined frequency whereby the voltage on the sensing capacitor reverses polarity. This voltage on the sensing capacitor is sampled each time the voltage reverses polarity. An accumulator accumulates the sampled charges from the sensing capacitor. An output signal that represents the charge in the charge accumulating means indicates the measured capacitance.

An emission control catalyst that exhibits improved CO and HC reduction performance includes a supported platinum-based catalyst, and a supported palladium-gold catalyst. The two catalysts are coated onto different layers, zones, or monoliths of the substrate for the emission control catalyst such that the platinum-based catalyst encounters the exhaust stream before the palladium-gold catalyst. Zeolite may be added to the emission control catalyst as a hydrocarbon absorbing component to boost the oxidation activity of the palladium-gold catalyst.

Disclosed is a disk drive using an accelerometer to sense linear vibration and cancel its effects with an adaptive algorithm during track following. The accelerometer is oriented to detect acceleration associated with torque that tends to cause the actuator to move off-track notwithstanding the efforts of the servo control system. The accelerometer's filtered output is used to modify the control effort. The disk drive uses the position error signal to adaptively filter the accelerometer's output in an effort to mathematically converge on a set of optimal filter coefficients and thereby reduce the effect of vibration that may otherwise impose a torque on the actuator.

A voltage compensation unit reduces the effects of induced voltages upon a device having a single wire line. The single wire line has balanced characteristic impedance. The voltage compensation unit includes a tunable compensation circuit connected to the wire line. The tunable compensation circuit applies supplemental impedance to the wire line. The supplemental impedance causes the characteristic impedance of the wire line to become unbalanced, thereby reducing the effects of induced voltages caused by changing magnetic fields.

A novel and useful apparatus for and method of single antenna interference cancellation (SAIC) in a wireless communications system. A class of algorithms for Downlink Advanced Receiver Performance (DARP) receivers based on a novel metric calculation used during equalization and optionally in other portions of the receiver as well such as soft value generation. A DARP receiver for 8PSK EDGE modulation is presented wherein the interfering signals comprise GMSK modulated signals In accordance with the invention, the modified metric is adapted to take into account the rotation remaining in the noise component of the received signal after de-rotation of the 8PSK signal. Considering the interferer to be a GMSK signal, the I / Q elements of the noise are correlated and this fact is used to modify the decision rule for the received signal thus improving the performance of the equalizer. The model is further extended to take into account temporal error correlation.

A method and system for detecting the presence of an object at a touch pad device, wherein the touch pad device has a designated interaction area for allowing a user to use the object to interact with the touch pad device for inputting one or more functions in an electronic device. One or more groups of optical sensor components, each including an optical receiver and two light emitters positioned at opposite sides of the receiver such that when an object is present at the touch pad device, the changes in the receiver output can be used to determine the location of the object as a function of time. Preferably, the light emitters are operated in a pulsed mode so that the changes in the receiver output contain a frequency component so as to distinguish the changes due to the presence of the object and those of ambient light.

Overhead related to precoding (beamforming weight) information to be notified over a backhaul may be reduced while maintaining an ICI reduction effect by coordinated CoMP among a plurality of nodes. A communication apparatus of the invention includes a reception unit that receives precoding information from user equipment, a selection unit that variably controls an amount of the precoding information, which is to be notified to another communication apparatus via a backhaul, in response to positions of frequency resources, and a transmission unit that transmits the precoding information to the other communication apparatus in accordance with the amount of the precoding information controlled by the selection unit.

Time slice transmission methods transmit data in bursts, thus creating a delay until playback of a service can begin when changing the service and therefore preventing smooth zapping. To solve this problem, a first stream used for burst transmission of packet sets and a second stream for continuously transmitting packets at a speed determined according to the transmission rate required for a particular service are multiplexed and transmitted. The content is reproduced using the continuously transmitted second stream during zapping, and the first stream transmitted in bursts is reproduced after zapping ends.

Variations occur in the characteristics of transistors. The present invention is a signal-line drive circuit comprising first and second current source circuits corresponding to respective plurality of signal lines, a shift register, and n (n is a natural number of one or more) video-signal constant current source s, wherein each of the first and second current source circuits has a capacitance means and a supply means. The capacitance means held in one of the first and second source circuits converts a current including a current supplied from each of the n video-signal constant current source s to voltage in response to a sampling pulse supplied from the shift register and a latch pulse supplied from the exterior; and the supply means held in the other supplies a current responsive to the converted voltage. The values of the currents supplied from the n video-signal constant current source s are set to a proportion of 20:21: . . . :2n.

A radio-frequency (RF) apparatus capable of transmitting RF signals includes transmitter path circuitry. The transmitter path circuitry includes a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that generates an output signal. The frequency of the output signal of the VCO circuitry is adjustable in response to a first control signal and a second control signal. The transmitter path circuitry also includes a first feedback circuitry and a second feedback circuitry that are responsive to the output signal of the VCO circuitry. The first feedback circuitry provides the first control signal to the VCO circuitry. The first control signal coarsely adjusts the frequency of the output signal of the VCO circuitry to a desired frequency. The second feedback circuitry supplies the second control signal to the VCO circuitry. The second control signal fine tunes the frequency of the output signal of the voltage-controlled oscillator circuitry to the desired frequency.

A mammographic method and apparatus are provided for obtaining improved compression of posterior, middle and anterior breast tissue without pushing posterior breast tissue from the imaging volume and with less discomfiture to the patient. An initial compression of the posterior tissue is achieved by vertical, relative displacement of the paddle relative to the bucky assembly to compress the posterior breast tissue therebetween. Less patient discomfiture is achieved by using an inclined compression surface on the paddle or bucky assembly to compress the anterior and middle breast sufficiently for good X-ray imaging without further displacement of the skin adjacent the chest wall. A horizontal force component inclined force will not push the posterior compressed breast tissue from the imaging area. Herein a paddle may have a posterior breast section and have a flexed section which is biased to engage and conform to the breast shape. The flexed section may be releasably held by a lock and then released to apply compression forces to the middle and anterior breast. The flexed section is guided to remain level and to uniformly compress breasts which are not centered thereunder and without binding. The buckey assembly may have a hinged inclined section to compress the middle and anterior portions of the breast. The entire bucky assembly may be hinged to raise the image detector thereon and thereby lessen the heel effect. Alternatively, the bucky cover may be hinged to swing upwardly into an inclined position to compress the middle and anterior breast portions while the image detector is not.

Method and apparatus for providing a fault tolerant display unit for an electronic device such as a glucose meter, including display unit, and a controller unit operatively coupled to the display unit, the controller unit configured to control the display unit to display an information, where when a failure mode of the display unit occurs, the display unit is configured to display a modified information, where the modified information is different from the information for display under the control of the controller unit, is provided.

There is provided a switching power supply device which is capable of reducing an influence of noises and also reducing a consumption current of a control circuit. A pseudo-random number generator circuit (12) generates random number data for determining frequencies of switching signals of MOS transistors (M1) and (M2). A chopping wave oscillation frequency (a frequency of a switching signal) of a chopping wave oscillator (3) randomly changes according to the random number data that is generated by the pseudo-random number generator circuit (12). A current control circuit (1) and a current control circuit (2) control consumption currents that flow in the chopping wave oscillator (3) and an error amplifier (8) according to a change (a change in the frequency of the switching signal) in the random number data that is generated by the pseudo-random number generator circuit (12).

A method of generating low density parity check codes for encoding data includes constructing a parity check matrix H from balanced incomplete block design (BIBD) in which a plurality B-sets which define the matrix have no more than one intersection point. The parity bits are then generated as a function of the constructed parity check matrix H.

A semiconductor structure for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell array that includes a plurality of vertical memory cells built on a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) wafer and a body contact in the buried dielectric layer of the SOI wafer. The body contact electrically couples a semiconductor body with a channel region of the access device of one vertical memory cell and a semiconductor substrate of the SOI wafer. The body contact provides a current leakage path that reduces the impact of floating body effects upon the vertical memory cell. The body contact may be formed by an ion implantation process that modifies the stoichiometry of a region of the buried dielectric layer so that the modified region becomes electrically conductive with a relatively high resistance.

The invention relates to the improvement in the treatment of certain neural disorders / diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and other motor disorders. One aspect of the invention relates to drug compositions and dosage forms comprising said drug composition. Another aspect of the invention relates to methods of manufacturing the drug compositions and dosage forms. Another aspect of the invention relates to methods of treatment, comprising administering the drug composition and dosage form to an individual.

A universally functional biomedical electrode is disclosed, where the electrode has a resistive element that reduces edge effect by a redistribution of current within the electrode and in mammalian tissue contacting the electrode. In one embodiment, the electrode has at its perimeter in one layer the resistive element that provides a cross-sectional area to reduce edge effect regardless of the type of biomedical instrumentation connected thereto. With the construction of other layers suitable for multifunctional electrode usage, this electrode can serve as a single item in inventory at health facilities.

A fuel economy driving assistance apparatus includes advice provision means for providing a driver with driving advice that contributes to improvement of fuel economy of a vehicle; driving tendency estimation means for estimating a driving tendency of the driver in each driving situation; and advice mode changing means for changing a mode of the driving advice, according to the driving tendency of the driver estimated by the driving tendency estimation means.

An image forming apparatus includes an image sensor comprising a plurality of pixels at least part of which form a plurality of focus detection pixel pairs, each receiving light rays passing through different pupil areas of an image forming optical system; a detection unit configured to detect a defocus amount, based on a phase difference between signals output from the focus detection pixel pairs in a focusing area; a judging unit configured to determine if a subject corresponds to a predetermined pattern, based on the signals output from the pixels other than the focus detection pixel pairs around the focus detection pixel pairs in the focusing area; and a focus control unit configured to drive the image forming optical system to be in an in-focus state based on the detected defocus amount. The judging unit changes the defocus control based on the determination result.

A system for controlling a multi-element antenna array comprising a plurality of elements each arranged to receive a signal from a signal source, wherein each of the plurality of elements includes a frequency locking module arranged to lock the frequency of the signal received by each of the elements, and, a phase control module being in communication with each of the frequency locking modules to control the phase of the signal received by each of the elements.

To provide an intra prediction apparatus which can circumvent a hazard problem and improve the time reduction effect. An intra prediction apparatus 11 performs intra predictions of a picture. The intra predictions include: second intra predictions of respective second blocks (blocks) which are obtained by dividing a first pixel block; and a first intra prediction of the first block (macroblock) which constitutes the picture. The intra prediction apparatus 11 includes: an intra prediction unit (a prediction unit 113, an orthogonal transform and quantization unit 115, an inverse orthogonal transform and inverse quantization unit 116, and an adder 117) which performs the intra predictions; and a control unit 119 which controls the intra prediction unit to perform in parallel the intra prediction of the macroblock and the intra predictions of the respective pixel blocks.

Lateral flow test strips, systems, and methods are provided for measuring the presence and levels of analytes in samples in which the analyte may be complexed, for example within an analyte-antibody complex. Test strips are provided that can decomplex the analyte from the analyte-antibody complex during the lateral flow assay, resulting in high quality assays without the need for a decomplexation pre-treatment step. Various systems and methods for improving the performance of lateral flow assays are described, which include minimization of the Prozone effect, improved dynamic range, improving sensitivity by disrupting complexation of target antigens. The resulting lateral flow system has improved sensitivity and improved dynamic range, and may utilize fluorescence. The illumination system utilizes an LED, plastic lenses and plastic and colored glass filters for the excitation and emission light.

Tensioning of a band clamp about an object under electrical control is provided using a control system operably connected to a banding system. The banding system includes a number of mechanical components involved with tightening, cutting and locking the band clamp, as well as removing a tail portion thereof. The control system is operably connected to the assemblies of the banding system to automatically control at least certain operations associated with performing the functions of the apparatus. The banding system includes: a band tightening assembly including a mandrel about which the tail portion can be wrapped during the band tightening operation; a band cutting / locking assembly including a removable cutting device used in forming the lock and severing the tail portion; and a band ejection assembly used in removing the severed tail portion from the apparatus. The control system preferably includes a load cell that outputs an electrical signal related to the actual tension being applied to the band clamp during the tightening operation. The control system also includes an input / output device for receiving and outputting information related to the functions performed by the banding and control systems.

The present invention features a novel therapy for effecting weight loss which involves treating a subject with a sympathomimetic agent (e.g., phentermine or a phentermine-like drug) in combination with an anticonvulsant sulfamate derivative (e.g., topiramate) such that the subject experiences weight loss.The combination methods of the present invention also are effective against symptoms associated with Syndrome X. The invention also features pharmaceutical compositions and kits for use in the practice of these novel therapies.