Abstract: An apparatus and method for continuously casting thin steel strip includes a pair of counter-rotatable casting rolls laterally positioned to form a nip there between through which thin cast strip can be cast, an actuator capable of moving each casting roll independently toward and away from a given reference location as desired, location sensors capable of sensing the location of the casting rolls relative to the given reference location and producing electrical signals indicative of each casting roll position and a control system capable of receiving the electrical signals and causing the actuator to move the casting rolls into desired position. Force sensors may be provided capable of sensing the forces exerted on the strip and producing electrical signals indicative of the sensed forces, and the control system may be capable of receiving the electrical signals indicative of the sensed forces and causing actuators to vary the position of the casting rolls responsive to the electrical signals as desired.

Abstract: A method of continuously casting metal strip for a twin roll caster may include steps of sensing images of a casting pool in the casting area indicative of the casting pool depth, displaying the sensed images to an operator, and controlling a flow of molten metal from a metal supply system into the casting pool responsive to the sensed images indicative of the casting pool depth. The method may include producing separate electrical signals corresponding to the sensed images and controlling the flow of molten metal from the metal supply system into the casting pool responsive to one or more of the electrical signals. The electrical signals may be processed to determine the casting pool depth in each of the plurality of locations and the casting pool depth displayed to the operator. One or a combination of the electrical signals may be selected for providing a determined casting pool depth, and the flow of molten metal may be controlled responsive to the determined casting pool depth.

Abstract: Apparatus and method of controlling strip geometry in casting strip having a rolling mill. A target thickness profile is calculated as a function of the measured entry thickness profile of the strip while satisfying profile and flatness operating requirements. A differential strain feedback from longitudinal strain in the strip is calculated by a control system by comparing the exit thickness profile with the target thickness profile, and a control signal is generated to control a device capable of affecting the geometry of the strip processed by the hot rolling mill. A feed-forward control reference and/or sensitivity vector may also be calculated as a function of the target thickness profile, and used in generating the control signal sent to the control device. The control device may be selected from one or more of the group consisting of a bending controller, gap controller and coolant controller.

Abstract: An in-car video system and method is provided where a wireless microphone is configured to detect the removal of an object and enables audio recording. Such actions would be the removal of a gun from a holster. Thus, the wireless microphone would enable the audio recording in the audio/video recorder without the user's intervention. The wireless microphone would also be connected to a health-monitoring sensor, and have the ability to enable the audio recording in the audio/video recorder in a health emergency. The system and method also describes a radio transmitter that would send alerts to a central dispatcher whenever the audio recording is enabled.

Abstract: Apparatus for continuously casting metal strip includes a pair of counter-rotatable casting rolls laterally positioned to form a nip there between through which thin strip can be cast, a pair of confining side dams adjacent the ends of the casting rolls capable of confining a casting pool of molten metal supported on the casting rolls and formed on the casting surfaces above the nip, a metal delivery system disposed above the nip and capable of discharging molten metal to form the casting pool supported on the casting rolls, side dam actuators each capable of applying cyclical axial force to the side dams without leakage, and a control system capable of actuating at least one side dam actuator to cyclically vary the apply force of the side dam against the ends of the casting rolls during a casting campaign.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for continuously casting thin steel strip includes a pair of counter-rotatable casting rolls laterally positioned to form a nip there between through which thin cast strip can be cast, an actuator capable of moving each casting roll independently toward and away from a given reference location as desired, location sensors capable of sensing the location of the casting rolls relative to the given reference location and producing electrical signals indicative of each casting roll position and a control system capable of receiving the electrical signals and causing the actuator to move the casting rolls into desired position. Force sensors may be provided capable of sensing the forces exerted on the strip and producing electrical signals indicative of the sensed forces, and the control system may be capable of receiving the electrical signals indicative of the sensed forces and causing actuators to vary the position of the casting rolls responsive to the electrical signals as desired.

Abstract: Apparatus and method of controlling strip geometry in casting strip having a rolling mill. A target thickness profile is calculated as a function of the measured entry thickness profile of the strip while satisfying profile and flatness parameters. A differential strain feedback from longitudinal strain in the strip is calculated by a control system by comparing the exit thickness profile with the target thickness profile, and a control signal is generated to control a device capable of affecting the geometry of the strip processed by the hot rolling mill. A feed-forward control reference and/or sensitivity vector may also be calculated as a function of the target thickness profile, and used in generating the control signal sent to the control device. The control device may be selected from one or more of the group consisting of a bending controller, gap controller and coolant controller.

Abstract: A method of continuously casting metal strip for a twin roll caster may include steps of sensing images of a casting pool in the casting area indicative of the casting pool depth, displaying the sensed images to an operator, and controlling a flow of molten metal from a metal supply system into the casting pool responsive to the sensed images indicative of the casting pool depth. The method may include producing separate electrical signals corresponding to the sensed images and controlling the flow of molten metal from the metal supply system into the casting pool responsive to one or more of the electrical signals. The electrical signals may be processed to determine the casting pool depth in each of the plurality of locations and the casting pool depth displayed to the operator. One or a combination of the electrical signals may be selected for providing a determined casting pool depth, and the flow of molten metal may be controlled responsive to the determined casting pool depth.

Abstract: Apparatus and method of controlling strip geometry in casting strip having a rolling mill. A target thickness profile is calculated as a function of the measured entry thickness profile of the strip while satisfying profile and flatness operating requirements. A differential strain feedback from longitudinal strain in the strip is calculated by a control system by comparing the exit thickness profile with the target thickness profile, and a control signal is generated to control a device capable of affecting the geometry of the strip processed by the hot rolling mill. A feed-forward control reference and/or sensitivity vector may also be calculated as a function of the target thickness profile, and used in generating the control signal sent to the control device. The control device may be selected from one or more of the group consisting of a bending controller, gap controller and coolant controller.

Abstract: In some embodiments, images for the video conference may be white balanced and/or exposure controlled. White balancing may include dividing an image's pixels into multiple ranges according to their luminance and chrominance values. In some embodiments, blue and red analog gains may be modified to bring red and blue accumulations closer to green accumulations. In some embodiments, luminance values for an image may be adjusted by increasing or decreasing exposure. The decision whether to increase or decrease the exposure may be made by looking at statistics for luminance values of skin colored regions if there are sufficient skin colored regions on the image. Otherwise, luminance values for the entire image may be analyzed to determine whether to increase or decrease exposure.

Abstract: A distributed processing system including one or more modems connected to a server through a network, such as a cable network or other similar network for transporting data and/or voice. The processing applied to information to be transported to a public network, such as the Internet, is performed by the server rather than the modem. Voice services are provided to telephone equipment connected to a modem by digitizing the voice signals and forwarding the signals as packets to the server. The application of a network stack to the voice packets is performed by the server prior to sending the packets over the public network. Likewise, voice packets received from the public network include network stack formatting. The server removes this formatting prior to sending the voice packets to the modem. This significantly reduces the complexity and cost of the modems.