1044results about How to "Stable and reliable" patented technology

A method for determining a burst pipe that requires immediate feeding-valve closing using acoustic and / or vibration sensors coupled to the pipe lor detecting signals, a microprocessor for analyzing signals from said sensors in real-time, a memory coupled to said microprocessor for storing data, including digital signatures acoustic and / or vibration signatures, as well as an actuator electrically coupled to said microprocessor and mechanically coupled to said feeding-valve. When the sensor signals match stored leak-signatures or when a persistent sensor signal produces no match, the system of the present invention initiates a valve closing. To improve detection, signals from other sensors, i.e. water sensors, smoke detectors, heat sensors or acoustic / vibration sensors mounted on other pipes are also used. Some of the said systems have IP addresses and can communicate over the Internet or wirelessly with others.

The system and method provides robust and reliable event scoring and reporting, while also optimizing data transmission bandwidth. The system includes onboard vehicular driving event detectors that record data related to detected driving events, selectively store or transfer data related to said detected driving events. If elected, the onboard vehicular system will score a detected driving event, compare the local score to historical values previously stored within the onboard system, and upload selective data or data types to a remote server or user if the system concludes that a serious driving event has occurred. Importantly, the onboard event scoring system, if enabled, will continuously evolve and improve in its reliability by being periodically re-calibrated the ongoing reliability results of manual human review of automated predictive event reports. The system may further respond to independent user requests by transferring select data to said user at a variety of locations and formats.

A Driver Risk Assessment System and Method Having Calibrating Automatic Event Scoring is disclosed. The system and method provide robust and reliable event scoring and reporting, while also optimizing data transmission bandwidth. The system includes onboard vehicular driving event detectors that record data related to detected driving events and selectively store or transfer data related to said detected driving events. If elected, the onboard vehicular system will score a detected driving event, compare the local score to historical values previously stored within the onboard system, and upload selective data or data types to a remote server or user if the system concludes that a serious driving event has occurred. Importantly, the onboard event scoring system, if enabled, will continuously evolve and improve in its reliability by being periodically re-calibrated with the ongoing reliability results of manual human review of automated predictive event reports. The system may further respond to independent user requests by transferring select data to said user at a variety of locations and formats.

Spinal stabilization devices, systems and methods are provided that include a spring junction wherein a structural member is mountable to a spine attachment fastener and a resilient element is affixed to the structural member along an attachment region of the resilient element. The attachment region is disposed physically separately with respect to an active region of the resilient element. The attachment region can include a weld region produced via an E-beam welding process involving temperatures of 1000° F. or greater, wherein a heat-affected zone adjacent the weld region is disposed physically separately with respect to the active region. The resilient element may be a coil spring including bend regions adjacent its outermost (i.e., last) coils wherein the material of the coil spring initially bends away from the last coil, then bends back toward the last coil before terminating near the last coil.

Systems and methods for providing an LGD with a collimated backlight and a non-Lambertian diffuser are described. An LCD system includes: an illumination source for producing light; a collimating waveguide optically connected to the illumination source, the collimating waveguide including a top surface, an incident end and a plurality of substantially parallel optical elements for redirecting light from the incident end to, and through, the top surface by total internal reflection (TR), each of the plurality of substantially parallel optical elements including a first facet that is nonparallel to the top surface and a mirrored second facet that is nonparallel to the top surface; a reflector optically connected to the light source and optically connected to the collimating waveguide, the reflector (1) at least partially surrounding the illumination source, and (2) reflecting light from said illumination source to said incident end by direct reflection; a liquid crystal display optically connected to the collimating waveguide; and a non-Lambertian diffuser optically connected to the liquid crystal display for directing light from said liquid crystal display. The light from the reflector is directly incident upon the incident end. The systems and methods provide advantages in that the light from the LCD is bright and homogenous.

Spinal stabilization devices, systems and methods are provided that include a spring junction wherein a structural member is mountable to a spine attachment fastener and a resilient element is affixed to the structural member along an attachment region of the resilient element. The attachment region is disposed physically separately with respect to an active region of the resilient element. The attachment region can include a weld region produced via an E-beam welding process involving temperatures of 1000° F. or greater, wherein a heat-affected zone adjacent the weld region is disposed physically separately with respect to the active region. The resilient element may be a coil spring including bend regions adjacent its outermost (i.e., last) coils wherein the material of the coil spring initially bends away from the last coil, then bends back toward the last coil before terminating near the last coil.

Systems and methods for providing an LCD backlight are described. An LCD backlight system includes: a beam bending and viewing film including a first side including a surface diffuser and a second side including a plurality of substantially parallel optical elements, each of the plurality of substantially parallel optical elements including a first facet that includes a refractive surface and a second facet that includes a total internal reflection surface. The systems and methods provide advantages in that light from the LCD backlight is bright and homogenous.

A Driver Risk Assessment System and Method Employing Selectively Automatic Event Scoring. The system and method provides robust and reliable event scoring and reporting, while also optimizing data transmission bandwidth. The system includes onboard vehicular driving event detectors that record data related to detected driving events, selectively store or transfer data related to said detected driving events. If elected, the onboard vehicular system will score a detected driving event, compare the local score to historical values previously stored within the onboard system, and upload selective data or data types to a remote server or user if the system concludes that a serious driving event has occurred. The system may further respond to independent user requests by transferring select data to said user at a variety of locations and formats.

A weld cap is configured and dimensioned to interact with a resilient element, e.g., a spring, and a structural member, e.g., an end cap, so as to securely position the spring relative to the end cap. The weld cap functions to distance the welding process and associated welding energy from the spring, thereby avoiding and / or minimizing any potentially undesirable annealing effect associated with securing / welding the spring relative to the end cap. A first weld cap interacts with the spring at a first end region thereof, and a second weld cap interacts with the spring at a second end region thereof, thereby effectively securing the spring with respect to opposed end caps at either end of an elongated spinal stabilization device. Alignment grooves or channels may be provided for orienting or aligning the spring with respect to the end caps and weld caps. The end regions of the spring may also include bend regions that facilitate the assembly process and / or further minimize the freedom of movement of the spring relative to the end cap / weld cap combination. The dynamic stabilization device and associated system provide advantageous clinical results in spinal applications.

The invention discloses a front-tip vertical-type telescopic sand storage tank for an oil field, and the front-tip vertical-type telescopic sand storage tank is characterized by consisting of a cylindrical tank body (1), a telescopic inner tank body (2), a hydraulic oil cylinder (3), a lifting lug (4), a guide boot sleeve (5), a discharging device (6), an electrical device (7), a weighing device (8), an auxiliary supporting leg (9) and a fixing base (10); the telescopic inner tank body (2) slides relativelrelative y to the cylindrical tank body (1) to realize the telescopic function; and when the sand storage tank is transported, the length is greatly shortened compared with the traditional storage tank with the same volume, the transportation condition of a severe road condition can be satisfied, the discharging device (6) is convenient and flexible, a universal sand transporting function can be realized, the weighing device (8) utilizes a pin shaft weighing sensor, so that the sand transporting quantity and the sand storage quantity inside the tank can be directly read, and the tank body is stable and reliable.

Disclosed is an improved algorithm for estimating the 3D shape of a 3-dimensional object, such as a human face, based on information retrieved from a single photograph by recovering parameters of a 3-dimensional model and methods and systems using the same. Beside the pixel intensity, the invention uses various image features in a multi-features fitting algorithm (MFF) that has a wider radius of convergence and a higher level of precision and provides thereby better results.

Rendezvous tracking subsystem uses GPS-enabled cell phones communicating with an application server for tracking the whereabouts of carpool participants and for providing on-time status of participants en-route to designated rendezvous points. Safety subsystem can be used to verify safe arrival of participants at carpool destinations. Participants can configure safety subsystem by defining escalation rules and procedures to follow when safety critical events occur.

Rendezvous tracking subsystem uses GPS-enabled cell phones communicating with an application server for tracking the whereabouts of carpool participants and for providing on-time status of participants en-route to designated rendezvous points. Safety subsystem can be used to verify safe arrival of participants at carpool destinations. Participants can configure safety subsystem by defining escalation rules and procedures to follow when safety critical events occur.

An apparatus and method for improving the communication capabilities of computer systems is disclosed. The most preferred embodiments of the present invention use a series of data buffers and data registers to process an incoming high speed data signal. By using the buffers and registers, the incoming signal can be reformatted and manipulated at a much lower frequency than the original transmission frequency. The deserializer of the present invention also samples a greater portion of the incoming data signal than usual to further increase reliability. These various features of the invention provide for a more stable and reliable communication link and will also provide a less expensive solution for serialization / deserialization. The present invention includes a serializer that receives parallel data input from a computer and serializes the data for transmission over a high-speed serial communication link. On the receiving end, the present invention provides a deserializer that can quickly and efficiently transform the serial data back into parallel form for use within the computer system on the receiving end. By utilizing two related clock signals, one clock signal being an integer multiple of the other, a self-synchronizing serializer / deserializer can be created. In addition, by increasing the size of the data sample on the receiving end, the comparisons necessary to retrieve a parallel signal from a serial transmission can occur at a much lower frequency than the frequency of the serial transmission. In the most preferred embodiment, the invention is provided as a integrated solution manufactured on a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) card, thereby allowing the present invention to be easy installed into existing computer systems.

A weld cap is configured and dimensioned to interact with a resilient element, e.g., a spring, and a structural member, e.g., an end cap, so as to securely position the spring relative to the end cap. The weld cap functions to distance the welding process and associated welding energy from the spring, thereby avoiding and / or minimizing any potentially undesirable annealing effect associated with securing / welding the spring relative to the end cap. A first weld cap interacts with the spring at a first end region thereof, and a second weld cap interacts with the spring at a second end region thereof, thereby effectively securing the spring with respect to opposed end caps at either end of an elongated spinal stabilization device. Alignment grooves or channels may be provided for orienting or aligning the spring with respect to the end caps and weld caps. The end regions of the spring may also include bend regions that facilitate the assembly process and / or further minimize the freedom of movement of the spring relative to the end cap / weld cap combination. The dynamic stabilization device and associated system provide advantageous clinical results in spinal applications.

A method of analysing a nucleic acid is disclosed which involves the use of a mixture of labelled oligonucleotides in solution and an array of immobilized oligonucleotides. The target nucleic acid is incubated with the mixture of labelled oligonucleotides. Those labelled oligonucleotides which hybridize are recovered and incubated with the array of immobilized oligonucleotides. Sequence information is obtained by observing the location of the label on the array. The method is particularly suitable for determining differences between nucleic acids.

In a method for the combustion of a fuel, a fuel or a premixed combustible mixture is introduced into a combustion space as a combustible fluid open jet. The velocity of the open jet is selected in such a way that it is impossible for a stable flame front to form, i.e. is in any event greater than the flame front velocity, and that, on account of a jet pump effect, flue gas is mixed into the combustible fluid jet from the combustion chamber in a jet-induced recirculation internally within the combustion chamber. The admixed flue gas dilutes and heats the combustible fluid. The heating causes the spontaneous ignition temperature to be exceeded, and a low-pollutant volumetric flame is formed in a highly dilute atmosphere.

An improved electrode headset is provided for the acquisition of electroencephalographic (EEG) brain signals detected at the scalp of a human subject. The headset includes an elastic fabric cap having a chinstrap, which cap is fitted closely to the scalp. The cap has openings at those selected locations on the scalp to which removable and disposable electrodes are to be removably connected to the scalp. A positioning unit, of a generally flat and flexible plastic material, is attachable to the cap by corresponding hook-and-loop fasteners on the outer surface of the cap and the inner surface of the positioning unit. The positioning unit has a base portion and two opposite leg portions, each with slits. Flat beams are adjustably connected through the slits to the leg portions and base portion. Each beam carries a screw member which adjustably applies pressure to electrode holders and a flexible electrode extractor strap to which the electrode holder is attached. Each electrode holder is snap fastened to an electrode positioned within a cap opening.

A display substrate, a display device including the display substrate, and a method of fabricating the display substrate are provided. The display substrate includes a gate electrode; a gate-insulating layer disposed on the gate electrode; an oxide semiconductor pattern disposed on the gate-insulating layer; a source electrode disposed on the oxide semiconductor pattern; and a drain electrode disposed on the oxide semiconductor pattern and separated from the source electrode, wherein at least one portion of at least one of the gate-insulating layer or the oxide semiconductor pattern is plasma-processed.

Fabrication of a micro mirror array having a hidden hinge that is useful, for example, in a reflective spatial light modulator. In one embodiment, the micro mirror array is fabricated from a substrate that is a first substrate of a single crystal material. Cavities are formed in a first side of the first substrate. Separately, electrodes and addressing and control circuitry are fabricated on a first side of a second substrate. The first side of the first substrate is bonded to the first side of the second substrate. The sides are aligned so the electrodes on the second substrate are in proper relation with the mirror plates that will be formed on the first substrate and that the electrodes will control. The first substrate is thinned to a pre-determined, desired thickness, a hinge is etched, a sacrificial material is deposited, the upper surface of the first substrate is planarized, a reflective surface is deposited to cover the hinge, a mirror is released by etching and the sacrificial layer around the hinge is removed to release the hinge so the hinge can rotate about an axis in line with the hinge.

Provided is a sealing gasket for a cooking utensil for cooking food under pressure, the utensil includes a vessel and a lid that define a cooking enclosure. The gasket having a heel from which at least a first lip projects that is provided with at least one escape window notch that passes through its thickness, and in that the first lip forms a differential movement member enabling the escape window notch to effect a relative movement relative to the heel when the pressure prevailing inside the cooking enclosure exceeds a predetermined threshold, which relative movement enables said escape window notch to open up a leakage orifice via which the cooking enclosure is put into communication with the outside of the utensil. Cooking utensils for cooking food under pressure such as a pressure cooker are provided.

Disclosed is an improved algorithm for estimating the 3D shape of a 3-dimensional object, such as a human face, based on information retrieved from a single photograph by recovering parameters of a 3-dimensional model and methods and systems using the same. Beside the pixel intensity, the invention uses various image features in a multi-features fitting algorithm (MFF) that has a wider radius of convergence and a higher level of precision and provides thereby better results.

The invention relates to a table which is primarily used as an office or conference table, is longer than 2.5 m, and comprises an upwardly open trough (2) as a substructure which is arranged beneath the leaf (1) of the table and preferably consists of sheet metal which is e.g. 2 mm thick. The leaf of the table (1) is connected in a fixed manner to edges (25) which are bent away from the trough (2), creating a sandwich-type structure with mutual reinforcement of the leaf (1) of the table and the trough (2). Especially advantageously, the trough (2) has a trapezoidal cross-section. A grid of openings (210) in the trough (2) enables the feet (4) of the table to be mounted in any position. Additional appliance openings (211) are used to insert socket units (80), while installation openings (200) in the bottom (20) of the trough (2) as used as cable ducts. A height leveling device is provided in each foot (4). A particular advantage of the invention is the stability achieved with a relatively light structure, even for longer tables.

A bicycle rear derailleur includes a base member, a movable member, a torsion spring, a linkage assembly and a damping member. The base member is configured to be attached to a bicycle frame. The movable member includes a support portion and a chain guide coupled to the support portion. The torsion spring is disposed about a pivot member of at least one of the base member and the movable member. The linkage assembly is coupled between the base member and the support portion to move the chain guide between a retracted position and an extended position. The damping member is at least partially disposed between an adjacent pair of coils of the torsion spring.

An apparatus and a method for controlling a low pressure exhaust gas recirculation system has advantages including minimizing condensate water generation in an intercooler and a low pressure EGR cooler by controlling EGR gas amount through optimally mapping many control variables influencing direct factors instead of controlling the EGR gas amount according to direct factors.