A power zoom lens having a zooming lens unit which is movable in an optical axis direction to vary a focal length thereof and which is detachably mounted to a camera body. The power zoom lens includes a drive mechanism for driving the zooming lens unit, a detecting device for detecting a focal length of the power zoom lens, a memory device for storing the focal length detected by the detecting device, and a control device for controlling the drive mechanism until the focal length stored in the memory device is obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a power zoom lens, and a camera system having such a power zoom lens.
This application is related to commonly assigned applications U.S. Ser. Nos. 07/410,880, 07/652,038, 07/407,424, 07/414,477, 07/414,478, 07/670,733, 07/406,523, and 07/414,476, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
2. Description of Related Art
A power zoom lens and a camera system having an automatic focusing device and a power zoom device are known.
However, a power zoom type single lens reflex camera which has an interchangeable lens has not been marketed, since the provision of a zoom motor and a battery in the camera body makes the single lens reflex camera heavy and complicated, in comparison with a camera having a lens integral with the camera body. In a single lens reflex camera to which a zoom lens is mounted, the length of the zoom lens should be made as short as possible, when not in an operational state, for example, when the camera is transported by a photographer. To shorten the zoom lens, a photographer must actuate a zoom ring to move a lens barrel to its most retracted position. Namely, it is necessary for the photographer to effect the zooming operation to thereby move the lens barrel.
Furthermore, in a conventional power zoom lens, a photographer actuates a zoom switch to effect the power zooming operation in a telephoto direction or wide angle direction. However, if a photographer wants to adjust the focal lens to a frequently used focal length, then he or she must manually zoom the lens to locate the focal length which is frequently used.


There is provided parts for assembly to produce a flow diverter configured for disposition within a wellbore. The parts include an insert-receiving part including a passageway, and a flow diverter-effecting insert configured for insertion within the passageway. The flow diverter-effecting insert is co-operatively configured with the insert-receiving part such that a flow diverter is defined while the flow diverter-effecting insert is disposed within the passageway. The flow diverter is configured for: receiving and conducting a reservoir fluid flow; discharging the received reservoir fluid flow into the wellbore such that gaseous material is separated from the discharged reservoir fluid flow within the wellbore, in response to at least buoyancy forces, such that a gas-depleted reservoir fluid flow is obtained; and receiving and conducting the obtained gas-depleted reservoir fluid flow.

Gas interference is a problem encountered while producing wells, especially wells with horizontal sections. Gas interference results in downhole pumps becoming gas locked and/or low pump efficiencies. Gas interference reduces the operating life of the pump. Downhole packer-type gas anchors or separators are provided to remedy gas lock. However, existing packer-type gas anchors occupy relatively significant amounts of space within a wellbore, rendering efficient separations difficult or expensive. Existing downhole separators also perform poorly in slug flow conditions. Existing downhole separators often have tortuous flow paths which can generate foamy fluid conditions that reduce downhole pump performance.
Production of solids is a problem encountered while producing wells. Solids can damage downhole pumps and cause other production problems.
Artificial lift systems often have to be transitioned to different forms as production declines from a well. These transitions are often costly. During early stages of production, a well can naturally flow to surface. Eventually the adjacent reservoir to the wellbore becomes depleted to the point it can no longer sustain natural flow.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and apparatuses for separating wellbore fluids and solids during production


A dual band antenna assembly includes a radiating metal strip fabricated on a baseboard. The radiating metal strip includes a winding strip section having a heading end and a tail end, a connected strip section having one connecting end coupled integrally to the tail end of the winding strip section and the other connecting end, a lump-like strip section having a first terminal end serving as a feeding pin and a second terminal end coupled integrally to the other connecting end of the connected strip section. A first signal-working band is defined when a current path flows through the feeding pin and the second terminal end of the lump-like strip section to generate a first resonance. A second signal-working band is defined when a current path flows through the lump-like strip section, the connected strip section and the winding strip section to generate a second resonance.

A network card (WLAN card) is used in a computer for mass transmission of data within a network (such as standard LAN protocol) so as to eradicate the problem of forming complicated wired cables (line connection) for coupling pluralities of computers together in the network. In fact, in a WLAN, antenna devices replace the wired cables with the assistance of the network card for conducting data transmission. A monopole antenna assembly has a compact size and can be formed on a printed circuit board by screen-printing technology. Due to its compact size and lightness in weight, the monopole antenna assembly is employed in a wireless communication product (such a cellular phone) for signal transmission.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional monopole antenna assembly to include a baseboard 10, a grounding metal layer 12, and a radiating metal strip 14. The radiating metal strip 14 is mounted on the upper surface of the baseboard 10 by the screen printing technology, and includes a feeding strip section 16 with a feeding pin 18 for coupling to a matching circuit (not shown). The grounding metal layer 14 is mounted on the lower surface of the baseboard 10, and is spaced apart from the feeding pin 18 by a quarter wavelength of the intended transmission frequency band.
It is noted that the dimension of the radiating metal strip 14 cannot be reduced further since it is generally limited to be within the range of the quarter wavelength of the transmission frequency band. However, the passivation components on the integrated circuit are in the trend to reduce the size, limitation of the monopole antenna assembly within the quarter wavelength blocks the research for reducing the dimension of the conventional antenna assembly.
In addition, the aforesaid monopole antenna assembly is only compatible with a single channel, such as a wireless local area network. The operating band is ISM 2.4 GHz, which is presently assigned to Industrial Scientific Medical band. Since the use of wireless technology (like Bluetooth) is more and more common day-by-day, the telecommunication apparatuses may suffer co-channel interference or next-channel interference. Moreover, the high frequency bandwidth ranging 8-9 GHz is not compatible with the presently available protocols and is not allowed for commercial use today. The larger the size of the radiating metal strip, relative to the operating wavelength, the greater antennas gain, i.e. large, flatter conductors have less resistive lose due to their large area surface. However, it is absolutely impossible to design large antenna assembly within the telecommunication apparatuses.

Dual band antenna assembly and method for designing the same


Disclosed is a drug infusion system comprising a drug infusion device having a reservoir, a window for viewing the contents of the reservoir, a cannula arranged to be deployed beneath the skin of a patient, and an actuator configured to be manually actuated to drive a medicament from the reservoir to the cannula. The system also has a cannula cover and a needle handle that holds a needle for insertion into the patient. The cannula cover and needle handle are detachably attached to the drug infusion device, and each is attachable to the other. The device further comprises a septum and a septum pincher to seal the device. The device also comprises a pumping mechanism, part of which are a last-dose lock-out mechanism and an occlusion detection mechanism, both of which operate on the same actuator.

Administration of insulin has traditionally been accomplished using a syringe. Recently, needle carrying pen-like devices have also been employed for this purpose. Both forms of insulin administration require the patients to stick themselves each time they inject insulin, often many times a day. Thus, these traditional forms of insulin administration have been a rather pervasive intrusion in the lives and routines of the patients who have had to adopt and employ them.
More recently, insulin pumps attached by tubing to an infusion set mounted on the patient's skin have been developed as an alternative form of insulin administration. Such pumps may be controlled by a programmable remote electronic system employing short range radio communication between a control device and electronics that control the pump. While such devices may involve fewer needle sticks, they are expensive to manufacture. They are also complex to operate and cumbersome and awkward to wear. Further, the cost of such devices can be many times the daily expense of using a traditional injection means such as a syringe or an insulin pen.
Devices of the type mentioned above also require a significant amount of training to control and thus use. Great care in programming the devices is required because the pumps generally carry sufficient insulin to last a few days. Improper programming or general operation of the pumps can result in delivery of an excessive amount of insulin which can be very dangerous and even fatal.
Many patients are also reluctant to wear a pump device because they can be socially awkward. The devices are generally quite noticeable and can be as large as a pager. Adding to their awkwardness is their attachment to the outside of the patient's clothes and the need for a catheter like tubing set running from the device to an infusion set located on the patient's body. Besides being obvious and perhaps embarrassing, wearing such a device can also be a serious impediment to many activities such as swimming, bathing, athletic activities, and many activities such as sun bathing where portions of the patient's body are necessarily uncovered.
In view of the above, a more cost effective and simple device has been proposed whereby an injection system is discreetly attached directly to the skin of the patient. The device may be attached to the patient under the patient's clothing to deliver insulin into the patient by the manual pumping of small doses of insulin out the distal end of a temporarily in-dwelling cannula that is made a part of the pump device. The cannula may be made a part of the drug delivery device before, during or after the attachment of the drug delivery device to the skin of the patient. The device may be made quite small and, when worn under the clothes, entirely unnoticeable in most social situations. It may still carry sufficient insulin to provide the patient the necessary dose for several days. It can be colored to blend naturally with the patient's skin color so as not to be noticeable when the patient's skin is exposed. As a result, insulin for several days may be carried by the patient discreetly, and conveniently applied in small dosages after only a single needle stick. For a more complete description of devices of this type, reference is made to co-pending application Ser. No. 11/906,130, filed on Sep. 28, 2007 with the title DISPOSABLE INFUSION DEVICE WITH DUAL VALVE SYSTEM, which application is owned by the assignee of this application and hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention provides further improvement to the devices disclosed in the above referenced co-pending application. More particularly, the devices disclosed herein provide for improved patient safety and/or convenience. For example, embodiments of the invention described here provide, improved sealing of the medicament, more convenient cannula deployment, device misuse prevention, easier priming methods, and fluid path occlusion detection. These and other advantages are addressed herein.


Provided is a shoe sole member partially or entirely made of a resin composite in which a plurality of resin foam particles, and one or a plurality of non-foamed elastic bodies having an initial elastic modulus at 23° C. being smaller than that of the resin foam particles are integrated together. Also provided is a shoe including the shoe sole member.

Shoe sole members are required to have excellent cushioning properties. Generally, a foam product is used as a material for the shoe sole members that satisfy such requirements. For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose shoe sole members composed of a foam product formed by welding a plurality of foam particles.
In the shoe sole member using the foam product, the cushioning properties of the shoe sole member can be effectively enhanced by increasing the expansion ratio of the foam product. Further, due to the low initial stiffness of the foam product of high expansion ratio, shoes including such a foam product as the shoe sole member have soft and comfortable wearing feeling when the foot fits in the shoe.
A material having a low stiffness (being soft) and high cushioning properties is usually deformed greatly when subjected to a load. Therefore, shoes that include a foam product of a high expansion ratio as the shoe sole member as described above may be excessively deformed when subjected to a high load. In this case, there are problems that the deformation greatly impairs agility and increases the risk of injury to the wearer. Especially, sports shoes such as basketball shoes and running shoes, of which the shoe soles are liable to be subjected to a high load, are required to include a shoe sole member having a relatively small amount of strain (amount of deformation) when subjected to a high load.
When the expansion ratio of the foam product in the shoe sole member is made low, the amount of strain of the shoe sole member becomes relatively small, but there is a problem that the cushioning properties of the shoe sole member are also lowered in normal use when the shoe sole member is not subjected to a high load. Further, since the stiffness of the foam product is high, the shoe including the shoe sole member has a problem of causing hard wearing feeling when the foot fits into the shoe.


Disclosed are a method for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid by reacting a solution containing silver ions and a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid, in which the reaction is performed in sealed mixing means and which comprises steps of supplying the solution containing silver ions into a reaction field solution before introduced into the sealed mixing means, and supplying the solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid into the reaction field solution or sealed mixing means to which the solution containing silver ions has been supplied, etc. According to the present invention, high quality grains of silver salt of an organic acid can be efficiently produced at low cost.

The present invention relates to methods for efficiently preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid by reacting a solution containing silver ions and a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid. The present invention also relates to apparatuses for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid that require low facility cost and show high productivity. The present invention further relates to a method for producing a thermally processed image recording material that utilizes the methods for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid.
In recent years, reduction of amount of waste processing solutions is strongly desired in the field of medical diagnosis from the standpoints of environmental protection and space savings. Therefore, techniques relating to photothermographic materials for use in photographic-art processes and medical diagnosis are required which enables efficient exposure by a laser image setter or laser imager and formation of a clear black image having high resolution and sharpness. Such photothermographic material scan provide users with a simple and non-polluting heat development processing system that eliminates the use of solution-type processing chemicals.
The same is demanded in the field of ordinary image-forming materials. However, photo-images for medical use, in particular, require high image quality excellent in sharpness and graininess as they need very fine images. In addition, for easy diagnosis, cold monochromatic images are preferred. At present, various types of hard copy systems using pigment and dye, for example, ink jet printers and electrophotographic systems are available as ordinary imaging systems. However, no satisfactory image-forming system is available for medical use.
Meanwhile, methods for forming an image by heat development are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,152,904 and 3,457,075 and D. Klosterboer, xe2x80x9cThermally Processed Silver Systemsxe2x80x9d, Imaging Processes and Materials, Neblette, 8th ed., compiled by J. Sturge, V. Walworth and A. Shepp, Chapter 9, p.279, (1989). Among these, the photothermographic material generally contains a photocatalyst (e.g., silver halide) in a catalytically active amount, a reducing agent, a reducible silver salt (e.g., organic acid silver salt), and optionally a toning agent for controlling silver color tone, which are usually dispersed in an organic binder matrix. In this photothermographic material when the material is heated at a high temperature (e.g., 80xc2x0 C. or higher) after light exposure, black silver images are produced through an oxidation-reduction reaction between the silver halide or reducible silver salt (which functions as an oxidizing agent) and the reducing agent. The oxidation-reduction reaction is accelerated by catalytic action of a latent image of the silver halide generated upon exposure. Therefore, the monochromatic silver images are formed in exposed areas of the materials (U.S. Pat. No. 2,910,377, Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku, hereinafter referred to as JP-B) 43-4924 etc.). These thermal image-forming systems utilizing silver salts of organic acids can achieve image quality and color tone required for images for medical use.
The silver source used in these systems is generally a silver salt of an organic acid, and various methods for producing it have been known. For example, there can be mentioned the method of preparing a silver salt of an organic acid under coexistence of water and a hardly water-soluble solvent as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Kokai, hereinafter referred to as JP-A) 49-93310, JP-A-49-94619 and JP-A-53-68702, the method of preparing a silver salt of an organic acid in an aqueous solution as disclosed in JP-A-53-31611, JP-A-54-4117 and JP-A-54-46709, the method of preparing a silver salt of an organic acid in an organic solvent as disclosed in JP-A-57-186745, JP-A-47-9432 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,458 and so forth. Basically, the preparation is carried out by heating an organic acid to a temperature higher than its melting point to melt it in water, adding sodium hydroxide or an alkali metal salt with vigorous stirring, and then adding a solution containing silver ions in order to convert the alkali soap into silver soap.
Such alkali soap forms micelles in an aqueous solution, and gives a solution of whitely turbid appearance. The reaction from such a micelle state to the silver soap often suffers from problems concerning production stability. Therefore, as a method for obtaining the alkali soap as a uniform solution, a method of using a mixed solution of water and alcohol as the solvent is disclosed in JP-A-55-40607.
Further, since alkali soap presents alkalinity, the silver soap will be prepared under a high pH condition in the above case. However, addition of a solution containing silver ions into an alkaline solution produces silver oxide as a by-product. Further, it also generates unintended silver nuclei produced by a trace amount of reducing contaminants, which are unavoidable in view of production process and exhibit high reducing property due to the high pH. Such by-products are extremely disadvantageous from the viewpoint that they degrade performance of photothermographic materials, in particular, they cause undesired fog. In this respect, the aforementioned problems are not solved even in the method disclosed in JP-A-55-40607, which aims at obtaining a uniform solution in order to suppress the generation of the by-products.
Further, JP-A-9-127643 discloses a method for producing a silver salt by simultaneous addition of measured amounts of an alkali metal salt solution and a silver nitrate solution, and refers to simultaneous addition of a solution of sodium behenate in a mixture of water and isopropyl alcohol and a solution of silver nitrate. This method can at least shift the pH of the reaction from the high pH region to a neutral region, and thus it is a preferred method for reducing the generation amount of silver oxide. However, isopropyl alcohol shows weak reducing property, and this makes the method insufficient as a method for completely solving the problem of fog.
Further, JP-A-9-127643 discloses a method for producing a silver salt by simultaneous addition of measured amounts of an alkali metal salt solution and a silver nitrate solution, and refers to simultaneous addition of a solution of sodium behenate in a mixture of water and isopropyl alcohol and a solution of silver nitrate. This method can at least shift the pH of the reaction from the high pH region to a neutral region, and thus it is a preferred method for reducing the generation amount of silver oxide. However, isopropyl alcohol shows weak reducing property, and this makes the method insufficient as a method for completely solving the problem of fog.
Moreover, the silver behenate grains formed by this method are two-dimensionally and anisotropically grown acicular grains having a size of 0.04 xcexcm to 0.05 xcexcm, and no description is found concerning control of the grain size or grain morphology.
JP-A-11-349325 disclose a method for forming scaly grains, which show morphology different from that of the conventional acicular grains, by using a low temperature in a reaction field for the simultaneous addition of measured amounts of alkali metal salt solution and solution containing silver ions. In this method, scaly grains can be obtained in a low temperature region, and acicular grains can be obtained in a high temperature region by controlling the temperature of the reaction field. However, this method still cannot provide such high degree of freedom that the grain morphology and grain size can be independently controlled.
In order to obtain a uniform dispersion practically usable as a coating solution containing a silver salt of an organic acid, it is necessary to obtain a state that the silver salt of an organic acid is finely dispersed in a solvent without aggregation. For this reason, it is necessary to develop a method for dispersing the silver salt of an organic acid as fine grains. Usually used is a method comprising separating the formed hydrophobic grains of silver salt of an organic acid as solid by filtration, mixing a dispersing agent with the solid, and dispersing the mixture again, as described in Imaging Processes and Materials, supra.
As the method for dispersing a silver salt of an organic acid as fine grains, the method of mechanically dispersing it in the presence of a dispersing aid by means of known pulverization mean (e.g., high-speedmixer, homogenizer, high-speed impactmill, Banbarymixer, homomixer, kneader, ballmill, vibratingballmill, planetaryballmill, attriter, sandmill, beadmill, colloidmill, jet mill, roller mill, trone mill and high-speed stone mill). However, this method not only produces only a coating solution containing a lot of aggregated particles, i . e., a coating solution that gives bad coated surface quality, but also suffers from a problem that, because the method highly possibly grinds primary grains of a silver salt of an organic salt originally crystallized as a hardly wafer-soluble salt without any selectivity, silver nuclei are formed at crystal cleavage surfaces and causes increase of fog.
Then, several methods have been proposed, wherein the primary grains obtained during the reaction of a solution of alkali metal salt and a solution containing silver ions are utilized as they are, not separating the silver salt of an organic acid as solid and finely dispersing it.
For example, JP-A-8-234358 discloses a method of adding silver nitrate to an aqueous dispersion in which fine grains of an alkali salt of an organic acid are dispersed, and desalting the obtained dispersion of a silver salt of an organic acid by ultrafiltration. The above reference further refers to enhancement of the dispersion stability by carrying out the ultrafiltration for a dispersion preliminarily containing water-soluble protective colloids such as polyvinyl alcohol and gelatin.
However, the shape of the silver salt of an organic acid obtained by this method is limited to an acicular shape, and in addition, it is difficult to control the grain size in this method. Therefore, it is still insufficient for stably obtaining performance of low fog, high blackening concentration and low haze, which are desired for photothermographic materials.
Further, JP-A-9-127643 discloses a method of directly desalting a dispersion of a silver salt of an organic acid obtained by simultaneous addition of measured amounts of a solution of an alkali metal salt and a silver nitrate solution by means of dialysis or ultrafiltration. By this method, at least the primary grains obtained during the crystallization of the silver salt of an organic acid can be introduced into a photosensitive layer as they are without degrading the grains. However, problems concerning aggregation of grains under a high salt concentration circumstance, increase of viscosity upon concentration of the dispersion and so forth are not solved, and thus this method is still insufficient as practical means for obtaining a uniform dispersion.
Furthermore, JP-A-9-127643 discloses a method using a dispersing agent together, like JP-A-8-234358, but it does not refer to the kind of preferred dispersing agents. This method is not a method providing superior dispersion stability, in which the grain morphology and the grain size are controlled at a high salt concentration during the generation of grains of silver salt of an organic acid in the presence of an organic solvent such as isopropyl alcohol.
In order to obtain monodispersed grains of a silver salt of an organic acid as fine grains, vigorous stirring is required during the addition of an alkali metal salt solution and a solution containing silver ions. In particular, the solution of an organic acid alkali metal salt dissolved at a high temperature suffers from temperature decrease and shows precipitation upon addition thereof, and therefore large grains may grow if dilution rate or fluidization is slow or weak. However, when they are added to a tank in which a gas/liquid interface is present, and the stirring speed is increased, entrainment of air is caused. The grains of silver salt of organic acid are highly hydrophobic, and therefore not only the grains are adsorbed on the surfaces of the entrained bubbles to stabilize the bubbles and prevent breakage of them, but also the adjacent grains on the bubbles cause aggregation. The liquid containing air entrained in such a manner becomes a highly viscous whipped cream-like liquid, and disturbs uniform reaction.
Further, when such a liquid containing bubbles and aggregated grains is subjected to ultrafiltration operation, it suffers from problems of reduction of filtration speed due to adhesion to a membrane surface, increase of filtration pressure due to increased viscosity and so forth. Furthermore, when a hollow-fiber type membrane filter is used, it suffers from problems of blocking of pipelines due to progress of aggregation of grains and so forth. These problems constitute obstacles to the application of the methods to practical production facilities.
As described above, any method that enables independent control of the grain size and the grain morphology and stably produces monodispersed silver salt of an organic acid providing low fog has not been found yet. That is, any method has not been found yet, in which organic acid silver salt grains are formed by adding and vigorously stirring a solution containing organic acid alkali metal salt and a solution containing silver ions without causing entrainment of air or aggregation of grains, and the obtained primary grains are utilized as they are without preliminarily separating the produced organic acid silver salt as solid content.
In view of these problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide an efficient method for producing grains of silver salt of an organic acid, which enables purification of the organic acid silver salt grains produced by mixing an alkali metal salt solution and a solution containing silver ions without separating the organic acid silver salt grains as a solid content. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid that require low facility cost and small facility space and show high productivity.
These objects were achieved by the present invention providing the followings.
The present invention provides a method for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid by reacting a solution containing silver ions and a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid, which comprises steps of mixing the solution containing silver ions and the solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid to conduct a reaction in sealed mixing means and removing by-product salts contained in the reaction mixture by filtration through an ultrafiltration membrane during or after the reaction (first preparation method). Preferred embodiments of this preparation method include embodiments in which at least a part of a mixture obtained after the reaction of the solution containing silver ions and the solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid mixed in the sealed mixing means is circulated and added to the sealed mixing means; at least one kind of dispersing agent is added before starting the reaction or before finishing the purification utilizing an ultrafiltration membrane; at least a nonionic macromolecular dispersing agent having a molecular weight 5-50 times larger than a fractional molecular weight of the ultrafiltration membrane is used as the dispersing agent; the nonionic macromolecular dispersing agent is used at a concentration of 0.1-30 weight % of the solid content of the silver salt of an organic acid; at least one of polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, hydroxyethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl cellulose is used as the dispersing agent; and the by-product salts are removed by ultrafiltration in which 2-to 20-fold constant volume dilution is attained, and then the dispersion is concentrated to a concentration of 10-50 weight %.
The present invention also provides a method for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid by reacting a solution containing silver ions and a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid, in which the reaction is performed in sealed mixing means and which comprises steps of supplying the solution containing silver ions into a reaction field solution before introduced into the sealed mixing means, and supplying the solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid into the reaction field solution or sealed mixing means to which the solution containing silver ions has been supplied (second preparation method) The Reynolds number of the solution containing silver ions is preferably in the range of 500-20000 when the solution containing silver ions is supplied to the reaction field solution.
The present invention further provides a method for preparing an aqueous dispersion of grains of silver salt of an organic acid, wherein grains of silver salt of an organic acid are prepared by reacting a solution containing silver ions and a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid, then dispersion operation is performed by a high pressure homogenizer or high speed rotary homomixer in the presence of a dispersing agent, and by-product salts are removed by ultrafiltration after or during the dispersion operation (third preparation method). Preferred embodiments of this preparation method include embodiments in which the dispersing agent is used at a concentration of 1-30 weight % of dispersoid; concentration of the silver salt of an organic acid is 1-10 weight % immediately after the reaction; after the by-product salts are removed by the ultrafiltration, concentration operation is performed by the ultrafiltration; and after electric conductivity reached a value not less than 20 xcexcS/cm but less than 300 xcexcS/cm as a result of the removal of the by-product salts by the ultrafiltration, the dispersion is concentrated to a concentration of 10-70 weight % by the ultrafiltration.
The present invention also provides an apparatus for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid, which comprises first supplying means for supplying a solution containing silver ions to sealed mixing means; second supplying means for supplying a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid to the sealed mixing means; third supplying means for supplying a reaction field solution to the sealed mixing means; the sealed mixing means for mixing materials supplied from the first, second and third supplying means to form a dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid; storage means for the formed dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid from the sealed mixing means; fourth supplying means for supplying the dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid in the storage means from the storage means to an ultrafiltration process; and purification means for removing by-product salts form the dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid by ultrafiltration (first preparation apparatus).
The present invention also provides an apparatus for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid, which comprises first supplying means for supplying a solution containing silver ions to sealed mixing means; second supplying means for supplying a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid to the sealed mixing means; the sealed mixing means for mixing materials supplied from the first and second supplying means and third supplying means mentioned below to form a dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid; storage means for the formed dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid from the sealed mixing means; third supplying means for supplying at least a part of the formed dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid to the sealed mixing means again; fourth supplying means for supplying the dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid in the storage means from the storage means to an ultrafiltration process; and purification means for removing by-product salts form the dispersion containing grains of silver salt of an organic acid by ultrafiltration (second preparation apparatus).
The present invention also provides an apparatus for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid, which comprises a pipeline for supplying a solution containing silver ions, a pipeline for supplying a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid, sealed mixing means and a pipeline for supplying a reaction field solution to the sealed mixing means, wherein the pipeline for supplying a solution containing silver ions is connected to the pipeline for supplying a reaction field solution, and the pipeline for supplying a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid is connected to the sealed mixing means or the pipeline for supplying a reaction field solution at a position between a position at which the pipeline for supplying a solution containing silver ions is connected and the sealed mixing means (third preparation apparatus).
The present invention also provides an apparatus for preparing grains of silver salt of an organic acid, which comprises a pipeline for supplying a solution containing silver ions, a pipeline for supplying a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid, first sealed mixing means, second sealed mixing means, a pipeline for connecting the first sealed mixing means and the second sealed mixing means and a pipeline for supplying a reaction field solution to the first sealed mixing means, wherein the pipeline for supplying a solution containing silver ions is connected to the pipeline for supplying a reaction field solution to the first sealed mixing means or the first sealed mixing means, and the pipeline for supplying a solution containing an alkali metal salt of an organic acid is connected to the pipeline for connecting the first sealed mixing means and second sealed mixing means or the second sealed mixing means (fourth preparation apparatus).
The present invention further provides a method for producing a thermally processed image recording material comprising a silver salt of an organic acid, a reducing agent for silver ions and a binder on at least one surface of a support, which comprises a step of applying a coating solution for image-forming layer containing an aqueous dispersion of grains of silver salt of an organic acid prepared by any one of the aforementioned preparation methods. The coating solution for image-forming layer preferably contains a photosensitive silver halide and a polymer showing an equilibrated moisture content of 2 weight % or less at 25xc2x0 C. and relative humidity of 60% in the form of latex as the binder, and 30 weight % or more of the solvent of the coating solution preferably consists of water.

Method and apparatus for preparing grains of silver salt of organic acid and method for producing thermally processed image recording material


A grommet is mounted on a panel of an automobile. The grommet includes a tubular body, a fitting portion, a flange portion, projected portions, and a lip. A wire harness is passed through the grommet body. The fitting portion is formed at an end of the grommet body, and is fitted in a hole in the panel. The flange portion includes a pair of straight portions, and a pair of arcuate portions. The pair of straight portions are spaced from each other in parallel. The pair of arcuate portions interconnect the pair of straight portions. The projected portions project outwardly from the straight portions, respectively. The lip is formed at an outer peripheral edge portion of the flange portion, and when the fitting portion is fitted in the hole, the lip is held in contact with the panel.

The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-131914, which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a grommet for mounting on a panel, forming a vehicle body of a vehicle such as an automobile, a wire harness being passed through the inside of this grommet.
2. Related Art
A wire harness is passed through a hole 103 (shown in FIG. 12) formed through a panel 102 (shown in FIGS. 11 and 12), forming a vehicle body of a vehicle such as an automobile, and for example, a grommet 101, shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, is used for the purpose of preventing moisture, such as water, from depositing on the wire harness. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the hole 103 is an elongate hole of a generally oval or elliptical shape.
The grommet 101, shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, is formed into a tubular shape, and is mounted on the panel 102, and the wire harness is passed through this grommet. From the viewpoint of the quality, the grommet 101 of this kind is required to be able to be easily fitted into the hole 103 and also to have a reliable sealing performance.
The grommet 101, shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, includes a grommet body 104 of a tubular shape, a fitting portion 105, a flange portion 106, and a lip 107. The fitting portion 105 is formed at an end of the grommet body 104, and is fitted in the hole 103. The flange portion 106 is formed at the end of the grommet body 104 at which the fitting portion 105 is formed.
The flange portion 106 extends generally radially outwardly from the grommet body 104 (and hence from the grommet 101). The flange portion 106 is formed on the grommet body 104 over the entire periphery thereof. The flange portion 106 includes a pair of straight portions 108, spaced from each other, and a pair of arcuate portions 109 which are spaced from each other, and interconnect the pair of straight portions 108.
The lip 107 is formed at an outer peripheral edge portion of the flange portion 106 over the entire periphery thereof. When the fitting portion 105 is fitted in the hole 103, the lip 107 is held in contact with the panel 102 as shown in FIG. 12. The lip 107 cooperates with the panel 102 to form a liquid-tight seal therebetween, thereby preventing a liquid, such as water, from intruding into the grommet body 104 through a gap between the lip 107 and the panel 102.
In order to ensure the waterproof property, the grommet 101 is molded of elastically-deformable rubber or the like. Therefore, particularly, the fitting portion 105 of the grommet 101 is formed into a size slightly larger than that of the hole 103.
Therefore, when the fitting portion 105 is fitted in the hole 103, and is mounted on the panel 102 as shown in FIG. 12, the flange portion 106 is, in some cases, elastically deformed in such a manner that central portions of the pair of straight portions 108 are displaced toward the inside of the grommet body 104, as shown in FIG. 11. Thus, there was a fear that the conventional grommet 101 might detract from the appearance as a result of elastic deformation of the straight portions 108. And, this may cause the user of the automobile or others to have a double about the sealing performance of the grommet 101 although the lip 107 is held in intimate contact with the panel 102 to form a liquid-tight seal therebetween.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a grommet which will not detract from the appearance when the grommet is mounted on a vehicle body of a vehicle.
(1) In order to solve the above problem to achieve the object, the invention provides a grommet including a pair of straight portions, spaced from each other, and a pair of arcuate portions which are spaced from each other, and interconnect the pair of straight portions, the pair of straight portions and the pair of arcuate portions defining a space through which a wire harness is adapted to be passed; wherein the grommet includes a fitting portion of a tubular shape for fitting in a hole, formed in a panel forming a vehicle body of a vehicle, and the interior of the fitting portion is in communication with the space; characterized in that the grommet includes a lip which is formed at outer edge portions of the pair of straight portions and the pair of arcuate portions over an entire periphery thereof, and is adapted to be held in contact with the panel upon fitting of the fitting portion in the hole, thereby forming a liquid-tight seal between the lip and the panel; and a projected portion projecting outwardly from one of the pair of straight portions.
(2) The grommet of the invention, depending from (1), is characterized in that the projected portion is formed at a central portion of one of the pair of straight portions, and extends along a direction of spacing of the pair of arcuate portions from each other, and an amount of projecting of the projected portion from the associated straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each arcuate portion.
(3) According to the invention, there is provided a grommet including a pair of first straight portions, spaced from each other, and a pair of second straight portions which are spaced from each other, and interconnect the pair of first straight portions, the pair of first straight portions and the pair of second straight portions defining a space through which a wire harness is adapted to be passed; wherein the grommet includes a fitting portion of a tubular shape for fitting in a hole, formed in a panel forming a vehicle body of a vehicle, and the interior of the fitting portion is in communication with the space; characterized in that the grommet includes a lip which is formed at outer edge portions of the pair of first straight portions and the pair of second straight portions over an entire periphery thereof, and is adapted to be held in contact with the panel upon fitting of the fitting portion in the hole, thereby forming a liquid-tight seal between the lip and the panel; and a first projected portion projecting outwardly from one the pair of first straight portions.
(4) The grommet of the invention, depending from (3), is characterized in that the first projected portion is formed at a central portion of one of the pair of first straight portions, and extends along a direction of spacing of the pair of second straight portions from each other, and an amount of projecting of the first projected portion from the associated first straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each second straight portion.
(5) According to the invention, there is provided a grommet including a pair of first straight portions, spaced from each other, and a pair of second straight portions which are spaced from each other, and interconnect the pair of first straight portions, the pair of first straight portions and the pair of second straight portions defining a space through which a wire harness is adapted to be passed; wherein the grommet includes a fitting portion of a tubular shape for fitting in a hole, formed in a panel forming a vehicle body of a vehicle, and the interior of the fitting portion is in communication with the space; characterized in that the grommet includes a lip which is formed at outer edge portions of the pair of first straight portions and the pair of second straight portions over an entire periphery thereof, and is adapted to be held in contact with the panel upon fitting of the fitting portion in the hole, thereby forming a liquid-tight seal between the lip and the panel; and second projected portions projecting outwardly from the pair of second straight portions, respectively.
(6) The grommet of the invention, depending from according to (5), characterized in that the second projected portions are formed respectively at central portions of the pair of second straight portions, and extend along a direction of spacing of the pair of first straight portions from each other, and the amount of projecting of each second projected portion from the associated second straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each first straight portion.
(7) According to the invention, there is provided a grommet including a pair of first straight portions, spaced from each other, and a pair of second straight portions which are spaced from each other, and interconnect the pair of first straight portions, the pair of first straight portions and the pair of second straight portions defining a space through which a wire harness is adapted to be passed; wherein the grommet includes a fitting portion of a tubular shape for fitting in a hole, formed in a panel forming a vehicle body of a vehicle, and the interior of the fitting portion is in communication with the space; characterized in that the grommet includes a lip which is formed at outer edge portions of the pair of first straight portions and the pair of second straight portions over an entire periphery thereof, and is adapted to be held in contact with the panel upon fitting of the fitting portion in the hole, thereby forming a liquid-tight seal between the lip and the panel; first projected portions projecting outwardly from the pair of first straight portions, respectively; and second projected portions projecting outwardly from the pair of second straight portions, respectively.
(8) The grommet of the invention, depending from (7), is characterized in that the first projected portions are formed respectively at central portions of the pair of first straight portions, and extend along a direction of spacing of the pair of second straight portions from each other, and the amount of projecting of each first projected portion from the associated first straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each second straight portion; and the second projected portions are formed respectively at central portions of the pair of second straight portions, and extend along a direction of spacing of the pair of first straight portions from each other, and the amount of projecting of each second projected portion from the associated second straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each first straight portion.
In the grommet of the above (1), the projected portions project outwardly from the straight portions, respectively. Therefore, strain, developing when the grommet is mounted on the panel, is supported by the projected portions. The combined thickness of each projected portion and associated straight portion is the increased thickness, and therefore the straight portion is less liable to be elastically deformed.
The projected portions project outwardly from the straight portions, respectively, and therefore the projected portions will not adversely affect the deformability of the lip at all.
In the grommet of (2), the amount of projecting of each projected portion from the associated straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each arcuate portion. The projected portion is provided at the central portion of the straight portion. Therefore, the combined thickness of the projected portion and straight portion is the largest at the central portion of the straight portion. Therefore, when the grommet is mounted on the panel, the straight portions are less liable to be elastically deformed.
In the grommet of (3), the first projected portions project outwardly from the first straight portions, respectively. Therefore, strain, developing when the grommet is mounted on the panel, is supported by the first projected portions. The combined thickness of each first projected portion and associated first straight portion is the increased thickness, and therefore the first straight portion is less liable to be elastically deformed when the grommet is mounted on the panel.
The first projected portions project outwardly from the first straight portions, respectively, and therefore the first projected portions will not adversely affect the deformability of the lip at all.
In the grommet of (4), the amount of projecting of each first projected portion from the associated first straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each second straight portion. The first projected portion is provided at the central portion of the first straight portion. Therefore, the combined thickness of the first projected portion and first straight portion is the largest at the central portion of the first straight portion. Therefore, when the grommet is mounted on the panel, the first straight portions are less liable to be elastically deformed.
In the grommet of (5), the second projected portions project outwardly from the second straight portions, respectively. Therefore, strain, developing when the grommet is mounted on the panel, is supported by the second projected portions. The combined thickness of each second projected portion and associated second straight portion is the increased thickness, and therefore the second straight portion is less liable to be elastically deformed when the grommet is mounted on the panel.
The second projected portions project outwardly from the second straight portions, respectively, and therefore the second projected portions will not adversely affect the deformability of the lip at all.
In the grommet of (6), the amount of projecting of each second projected portion from the associated second straight portion is decreasing gradually toward each first straight portion. The second projected portion is provided at the central portion of the second straight portion. Therefore, the combined thickness of the second projected portion and second straight portion is the largest at the central portion of the second straight portion. Therefore, when the grommet is mounted on the panel, the second straight portions are less liable to be elastically deformed.
In the grommet of (7), the first projected portions project outwardly from the first straight portions, respectively, and the second projected portions project outwardly from the second straight portions, respectively. Therefore, strain, developing when the grommet is mounted on the panel, is supported by the first and second projected portions. The combined thickness of each first projected portion and associated first straight portion, as well as the combined thickness of each second projected portion and associated second straight portion, is the increased thickness, and therefore the first and second straight portions are less liable to be elastically deformed when the grommet is mounted on the panel.
The first projected portions project outwardly from the first straight portions, respectively, and the second projected portions project outwardly from the second straight portions, respectively, and therefore the first and second projected portions will not adversely affect the deformability of the lip at all.
In the grommet of (8), the combined thickness of the first projected portion and first straight portion is the largest at the central portion of the first straight portion. The combined thickness of the second projected portion and second straight portion is the largest at the central portion of the second straight portion. Therefore, when the grommet is mounted on the panel, the first and second straight portions are less liable to be elastically deformed.


A mounting assembly is disclosed for mounting a toilet seat and/or cover in a releasable fashion to the rear of a toilet bowl base. The assembly includes a fastener permanently affixed to the toilet base on which is mounted a cross shaped mount. The mount is engaged by deflectable arms extending from a hinge base. The arms flex outward slightly during mounting and dismounting, where mounting and dismounting can be achieved by a horizontal sliding motion. A hinged cap snaps onto the pair of arms to cover the fastener and prevent deflection of the arms and thus separation of the base member from the fastener.

The present invention relates to mounting toilet seats and/or covers to the top of toilet bowls. More particularly, it relates to assemblies that permit most of the assembly parts to be readily removed from the toilet to facilitate cleaning.
Typically, toilet seats and covers are sold pre-assembled together along a hinge assembly. The assembly is then affixed via hinge posts to a rearward extension of the toilet base behind the bowl. In such constructions the posts are typically bolted to the rearward extension using a bolt-like fastener that extends down through the extension. A nut threads onto the fastener from underneath the extension to clamp the assembly to the extension.
These assemblies are intended to be essentially permanently affixed to the toilet base extension, particularly given that assembly and removal requires the application of tooling at the underside of the extension. This can create a problem because the area around such hinge posts (behind and under the cover and seat) can be difficult to clean thoroughly. In this regard, urine and other contaminants can collect around the hinge posts, with the subsequent development of an undesirable appearance or smell, or unsanitary conditions.
As such, there have been a number of attempts to develop toilet seat hinge assemblies where the seat and cover and associated pivot pins can be removed from the toilet relatively easily, and then (after cleaning) be relatively easily reconnected. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,159,548; 4,326,307; 4,965,889; 5,933,875; and 6,070,295, British publication GB 2,280,219; and Japanese publication JP 9-84724.
These systems are easier to clean because they leave only small base posts essentially permanently affixed to the toilet base, while providing readily releasable subassemblies that can removably link up with these posts. However, these prior art systems have a variety of deficiencies.
For example, some rely on a relatively weak connection between the subassembly and base posts such that the subassembly can accidentally be knocked off the posts. Others rely on relatively weak parts which may have a high incidence of breakage over prolonged use. Still others require relatively complex multi-part assemblies, which increase the cost of production and may require some consumer training. Still other assemblies require tools for the disassembly for cleaning purposes. Yet others require a consumer to touch portions of the assembly that may themselves be contaminated.
Hence, it can be seen that a need still exists for an improved toilet seat mounting assembly, particularly one which facilitates removal of the seat and cover for cleaning purposes.


A method for fabricating a semiconductor structure includes providing a base substrate, including a substrate, a plurality of gate structures formed on the substrate, and a cap layer formed on the plurality of gate structures; removing the cap layer to form a trench on each gate structure; and forming a substitution layer in the trench. The dielectric constant of the substitution layer is smaller than the dielectric constant of the cap layer.

As integration circuits (ICs) are developed toward very-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits, the density of circuits in the ICs increases. The number of components included in ICs also becomes larger and larger, and accordingly, the sizes of the components are reduced. As the most fundamental semiconductor devices, transistors have been widely used in ICs. With the increase of the device density and the integration level of semiconductor devices, the sizes of the transistors also decrease. Therefore, the distance between the source, the drain, and the gate of the transistors becomes smaller and smaller.
Moreover, as the density of the circuits increases, the wafer surface may not be able to provide enough area for the fabrication of connection wires. As the size of the device becomes smaller, in order to meet the requirements on interconnections, the design of double-layer or multiple-layer metal interconnection wires becomes one of the methods that are commonly used in VLSI technology. The connections between different metal layers or between metal layers and semiconductor devices may be realized through plugs.
In the meantime, as the process node of ICs becomes smaller, the distance between the source, the drain, and the gate of the transistor gradually decreases, resulting in an increase in the processing difficulty for forming the plugs on the source, the drain, and the gate of the transistor. For example, it may not be able to directly form contact holes through photolithography and etching processes. Therefore, a self-aligned process is introduced into the process for forming the plugs.
However, a semiconductor structure containing plugs formed by the self-aligned process may often have an overly large parasitic capacitance, which may further lead to degraded performance of the formed semiconductor structure. The disclosed semiconductor structures and fabrication methods thereof are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems in the art.

Semiconductor structures and fabrication methods thereof

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation

SMIC New Technology Research and Development (Shanghai) Corporation


A method and a Mobile Station (MS), for use in a wireless communication network comprising a plurality of Base Stations (BSs) capable of communicating with a plurality of MSs, wherein at least some of the BSs are Femtocell BSs (FBSs) and at least some of the BSs are Macrocell BSs (MBSs), for identifying the BSs at the MS, are provided. The method includes receiving at least one of a globally unique BS ID and an Operator ID from an FBS via a Broadcast CHannel (BCH), deriving a Closed Subscriber Group IDentifier (CSG ID) from the received at least one of the globally unique BS ID and the Operator ID, and determining, based on the derived CSG ID, if the FBS is a CSG FBS to which the MS is subscribed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for use in communication a system. More particularly, the present invention relates to techniques for identifying base stations in a communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical wireless communication system, a service, such as a voice and/or data service, is provided to Mobile Stations (MSs) through a plurality of Macrocell Base Stations (MBSs). An MS may also be referred to as an Advanced Mobile Station (AMS) and an MBS may also be referred to as a Macrocell Advanced Base Station (MABS). Each of the MBSs is responsible for providing a service to MSs located within their respective service coverage area. The service coverage area of an MBS is hereafter referred to as a Macrocell. To facilitate mobility of the MSs, handoff between MBSs is performed when the MS leaves one Macrocell for another.
In the wireless communication system, a channel may deteriorate due to a number of factors, including a geographical factor inside a Macrocell, a distance between an MS and an MBS, movement of the MS, etc. The channel deterioration is problematic since it may result in a disruption of communication between the MS and the MBS. For example, when the MS is located inside a structure, such as an office building or a house, a channel between the MBS and the MS may deteriorate due a shadow region that is formed by the structure. A shadow region formed within the structure is hereafter referred to as an indoor shadow region. The MS located in the indoor shadow region may not be able to adequately perform communication with the MBS. Further, an MBS may have inadequate capacity to service all users in its Macrocell. To address the shortcomings of the MBS, a variety of other Base Stations (BSs) have been proposed, including a Relay, Picocell, Microcell, Femtocell, Ubicell etc. The Femtocell concept, as an example of a BS other than an MBS, will be explained further below.
The Femtocell concept is proposed to provide ubiquitous connectivity to MSs and improve wireless capacity, while addressing a service limitation of an indoor shadow region. A Femtocell is a small cell coverage area that is serviced by a low power Femtocell BS (FBS) that accesses a wireless communication Core Network (CN) via a commercial broadband network or via a wireless connection to a backhaul of the wireless communication system. Hereafter, the term "Femtocell" may be used interchangeably with the term "FBS." Also, an FBS may be referred to as a Femtocell Advanced Base Station (FABS). The deployment of the Femtocell improves both the coverage and capacity of the wireless communication system. Going forward, the advantages of the Femtocell are expected to be increasingly leveraged in wireless communication systems. Since the Femtocell is much smaller than a Macrocell, a plurality of Femtocells may coexist within one Macrocell. The FBS is capable of providing service to relatively a small number of MSs, unlike the MBS, which is capable of providing service to a large number of MSs. The FBS typically operates in a licensed spectrum and may use the same or different frequency as the MBS. Further, MSs serviced by an FBS are typically stationary or moving at low (i.e., pedestrian) speed. Similar to the need for handoff between MBSs, handoff between the Femtocell and the Macrocell, and handoff between Femtocells, is a key function in securing service continuity of an MS.
The FBS may be installed inside or adjacent to an indoor space to which it is intended to provide service, such as a home or Small Office/Home Office (SOHO). Installation of the FBS is significantly easier than installation of the MBS and the FBS may be purchased and installed by a subscriber for use in conjunction with the wireless communication system. Here, the subscriber or service provider may desire to limit access to the FBS and only provide access to authorized MSs. To facilitate this arrangement, a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) FBS may be employed. The CSG FBS can be further categorized as a CSG-closed and a CSG-open FBS. A CSG-closed FBS may only provide access to authorized MSs, except for emergency services and National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) services. A CSG-open FBS (which may be referred to as a hybrid FBS in some systems) may, in addition, allow non-subscribers of the CSG a low priority access or a best-effort access, to guarantee the Quality of Service (QoS) of the subscribers. Alternatively, an Open Subscriber Group (OSG) FBS may be employed that provides access to any MS.
The FBS has different operational requirements than the MBS, the specifics of which may differ depending on the wireless communication system the FBS is implemented in. For example, in a wireless communication system operating according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16m standard, it is required that the air interface support features needed to limit MSs scanning for FBSs. Further it is required that the air interface support MSs in being able to access and HandOver (HO) to CSG FBSs if they are designated as part of the CSG. In addition, it is required that the air interface support preferred access and HO of MSs to their designated FBSs. Also, it is required that the air interface support optimized and seamless session continuity and HO between FBSs and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) access systems. Further, it is required that the air interface allows for a dense deployment of a large number of Femtocells in a wireless communication system.
Given the above requirements for the Femtocell, which differ from the requirements of the Macrocell, there are a number of issues that arise with the deployment of the Femtocell in a wireless communication system. For example, one issue that arises with the deployment of the Femtocell in a wireless communication system is the need to identify BSs. However, not only is there a need to distinguish FBSs from MBSs, but there is also a need to distinguish open-access FBSs (which any MS is allowed to access) from CSG FBSs (which allows only authorized MSs to access), since some operations (e.g., HO, paging, etc.) may be different for FBSs and MBSs, and for open-access and CSG FBSs. For example, an MS moving at a high speed may not need to HO to any FBS. In another example, open-access FBSs may accept HO requests from any MS while an MS that is not authorized to access a CSG FBS should not send a HO request to that CSG FBS.
It has been proposed to use different groups of preambles to distinguish the types of the cells. The preambles are divided into groups, each group for one type of cell.
It has also been proposed in IEEE 802.16 discussions to use one bit of the Least Significant Bit (LSB), which is a programmable 24 bit segment of the Base Station IDentifier (BS ID), to distinguish FBSs and MBSs, and to use another bit of the LSB to distinguish open-access and CSG FBSs. Here the BS ID is a globally unique ID in an IEEE 802.16 system, with a 24 bit Most significant Bit (MSB) as Operator ID and 24 bit LSB as the ID within the Operator ID.
It has further been proposed to use at least one of different scrambling sequences and different Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRCs) to differentiate FBSs from MBSs, and to differentiate open-access and CSG FBSs.
It has further been proposed that a short FBS ID may be used to conserve overhead of HandOver (HO) messages. However, the structure of such a short FBS ID as not yet been proposed. In addition, how to handle CSG IDs has not yet been proposed.
Despite the various proposals described above, the problem of how to enable an MS to efficiently (with minimum overhead in signaling) identify whether it is authorized to access a CSG FBS, has not been fully addressed. The ability for an MS to identify whether it is authorized to access a CSG FBS is important because it affects which system operations the MS will perform.
The CSG ID is an important ID of a CSG FBS, which can be a CSG-closed or a CSG-open (hybrid) FBS. The CSG ID identifies a closed subscription group. For example, if a business owns several CSG FBSs, there can be a CSG ID assigned to all these CSG FBSs owned by the business. The CSG FBS needs to send the CSG ID to the MS so that the MS may determine whether it is authorized to access the CSG FBS. The reason the CSG ID needs to be sent to the MS is that, even if an MS knows that the FBS is a CSG FBS, the MS still needs to determine whether it has subscribed the CSG, i.e., whether it is authorized to access this CSG FBS in CSG-closed FBS case, or whether it is authorized to have higher priority to access this CSG FBS in CSG-open FBS case. To do this, the MS may have configured and stored therewith a white list of the CSG FBSs which the MS has subscribed. Accordingly, when the MS receives the CSG ID of a CSG FBS, the MS compares the received CSG ID against its white list of CSG IDs of the CSG FBSs the MS has subscribed. If the received CSG ID is in the white list of CSG IDs of the CSG FBSs the MS has subscribed, the MS knows that it has subscribed this CSG FBS. Hence, a CSG ID of the CSG FBS should be sent to the MS. To keep the white list of CSG IDs of CSG FBSs which the MS has subscribed short, multiple CSG FBSs may share a common CSG ID if they have the same set of subscriber MSs.
It has been proposed that the CSG ID, as an additional ID which is independent of the globally unique BS ID, that the FBS should broadcast, is broadcasted over a Broadcast CHannel (BCH), as the payload of the BCH. This introduces overhead on BCH.
It has been proposed to use the CSG IDs as different scrambling sequences to scramble a CRC of a BCH, so that the MS may differentiate CSG FBSs and determine whether it is authorized to access a given CSG FBS.
Another possible way for the MS to determine whether it is authorized to access a given CSG FBS is for the MS to have a white list of BS IDs of CSG FBSs the MS is authorized to access. Accordingly, when the MS receives the BS ID of a CSG FBS, the MS compares the received BS ID against its white list of BS IDs of the CSG FBSs the MS has subscribed. If the received CSG FBS ID is in the white list of BS IDs of the CSG FBSs the MS is authorized to access, the MS knows that it is authorized to access this CSG FBS. Note that a globally unique BS ID may be needed for an MS to access an FBS securely and for some other purposes. If the MS stores globally unique BS IDs, the white list may end up being very long. For example, consider the situation where an FBS is located at each Starbucks™ location, of which there may be hundreds or thousands of locations throughout the world. In this case, the white list will end up being very long.
Accordingly, using the CSG IDs over the BS IDs to determine if an MS is authorized to access a CSG FBS, could shorten the white list at the MS. In addition, use of the CSG ID to determine if an MS is authorized to access a CSG FBS may provide for easier management. Consider the example given above of an FBS located at each Starbucks™ location, when a CSG ID is not used to determine if an MS is authorized to access a CSG FBS. Here, when Starbucks™ installs a new CSG FBS, Starbucks™ has to request that the operator update the white list of all of its membership subscribers to add this new CSG FBS. However, if a CSG ID is used to determine if an MS is authorized to access a CSG FBS, such update is not needed.
Nevertheless, if the CSG ID is used for the MS to determine if the MS is authorized to access a CSG FBS, the CSG ID may be of a length similar to the BS ID. This may occur because, in the worst case scenario, one CSG ID will be needed for each FBS, such as in a home use case. In addition, since the CSG ID may not offer a globally unique BS ID for a CSG FBS for e.g., membership use cases, the globally unique BS ID is still needed for uniquely identifying FBSs in order to have secure access to an FBS and for other purposes. Accordingly, the worst case is that both the CSG ID and the globally unique BS ID, which can be of similar length, need to be broadcast.
Herein, there is need to efficiently provide both the CSG ID of the CSG FBS and the globally unique BS ID to the MS. However, such improvement should take diverse Femtocell use cases into consideration. Examples of such use cases include a home use case, an enterprise use case, a membership use case, an operation use case, etc. An example of the home use case is where a home owner purchases an FBS and authorizes access to only the MSs of family members and friends. An example of the enterprise use case is where a company purchases tens or hundreds of FBSs to enhance connectivity and authorizes access to only the MSs of employees of the company. An example of the membership use case is where a user may purchase a membership to access FBSs at Starbucks™, which means that the user should be authorized to access all FBSs owned by Starbucks™. An example of the operator use case is where the operator uses FBSs to fix service coverage holes. In this case, all subscribers of this operator should be authorized to access those FBSs.
Given these diverse use cases, if the CSG ID is of a fixed length, then the length of the CSG ID would be similar to the length of BS ID because in the worst case scenario, such as the home use case, the globally unique BS ID is still needed for e.g., the membership use case, to uniquely identify the CSG FBS.
Therefore, a need exists for a technique to efficiently provide the MS with both the CSG ID of the CSG FBS and the globally unique BS ID over the air, for diverse Femtocell use cases.

Techniques for identifying base stations in communication system


High molecular weight petroleum fractions which have a low white oil content are admixed with a volatile siloxane, hexamethyldisiloxane, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and/or decamethylcyclopentasiloxane and a compound that is both hydrophobic and hydrophilic to provide an ointment base which enables these petrolatum fractions to be spread easily on the skin. Evaporation of the solvent leaves a high molecular weight petrolatum film on the skin that is nonirritating and yet highly resistant to mechanical removal.

The term "emulsion"as used herein means either a lotion that is liquid or semi-liquid or a gel.
The skin is the largest organ in the human body. It serves primarily as protection of the body against the environment. The skin is constantly exposed to the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation, chemicals, and surroundings that are either too dry or too moist.
Protection against ultraviolet radiation can be provided by avoiding exposure to sunlight and/or using creams or other preparations providing protection from the sun. The skin protects itself by producing sebum (tallow) by the sebaceous glands and, to a much smaller extent, by the fat formed through the keratinization of the cells. The activity of the sebaceous glands is controlled by hormones and is reduced with age. Consequently, the fat supply of the skin is often insufficient in older people.
Skin fat is partially removed by hygienic procedures, such as washing, bathing or showering, particularly those portions that are most frequently washed, such as hands and face. In the case of low humidity, as in extreme cold, the unprotected skin suffers loss of moisture. The skin dries out and painful skin cracks can result. On the other hand, prolonged contact with water, particularly when the water's surface tension is strongly reduced by soap or synthetic detergents, causes skin damage through maceration.
The cosmetics industry has sought to relieve drying out of the skin through so-called moisturizers. These moisturizers generally are an oil-in-water emulsion, a water-in-oil emulsion, or mixed emulsions. They contain emulsifiers which facilitate the penetration of water and the removal of the dried-out fat film by washing. These preparations only partially limit trans epidermal water loss of the skin. The moisture retention of the skin is therefore unsatisfactory.
Petrolatum, on the other hand, can, to a great extent, limit the water loss of the skin (see, e.g., "Cosmetics and Toiletries" 93, pg. 27 (1978)). However, this effect is not totally one of reduction of the trans epidermal water loss by occlusion, but rather is based upon a pharmacological effect of the petrolatum grease on the skin. Petrolatum grease, however, is most unsatisfactory from a cosmetic standpoint because of its high viscosity. It penetrates poorly into the skin and adheres to it insufficiently, so that it is easily removed mechanically and by washing. Furthermore, it may be applied only with difficulty because of its high viscosity, so that an unpleasant greasy and sticky layer is formed.
It is known that certain petrolatums can irritate the skin and can also produce acanthosis of the epidermis. The properties mentioned come mainly from the components of petrolatum boiling below 180.degree. C. at 2 mbar (see, e.g., Schaaf, "Probleme der dermatologischen Grundlagenforschung," pg. 105 (1969)). The low-irritation fraction, because of its high viscosity, is only poorly capable of being distributed over the skin and is, consequently, cosmetically unsatisfactory.
In contrast, the petrolatum fractions utilized in accordance with the present invention, from which the more volatile oils (known to those of ordinary skill in the art as "white oils") have to a large extent been separated, have been found non-irritating to the skin.
Little pharmaceutical, cosmetic, veterinary or horticultural attention has been paid to the application of petrolatum fractions that exceed liquid petrolatum and petrolatum in molecular weight, viscosity and melting point. The higher molecular weight, higher viscosity, higher melting point fractions from that of higher viscosity Petrolatum, U.S.P. grades to highly viscous semi-solids and solids are very difficult, uncomfortable and anesthetic in application. In addition, they do not have the intrinsic ability to significantly contact the pores or surface layers of the substrates to which they are being applied. The addition of these highly viscous petrolatum fractions results in greasy or oily residues that can attract dirt and other pollutants. The addition of conventional solvents, such as mineral spirits, results in solutions that are unacceptable or unsafe for human, animal or horticultural use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,046, to Suess, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses admixing the high molecular weight petroleum fractions with certain volatile siloxanes, preferably octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, decamethylcyclopentasiloxane and/or hexamethyldisiloxane.
The composition disclosed in the '046 patent is an admixture of approximately 10% to 90% by weight of high molecular weight petroleum fractions in which the white oil content does not exceed approximately 20% and approximately 90% to 10% by weight of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, decamethylcyclopentasiloxane and/or hexamethyldisiloxane.
The compositions that are disclosed in the '046 patent are highly hydrophobic, not dispersible or soluble in water and are very viscous. Thus, the user needs to exert more than usual application energy to rub them into the substrate.
What is needed is a composition that contains the beneficial high molecular weight petroleum fractions and, at the same time, is easy to apply to a surface. Such a composition would have wide acceptance. In addition, the trans epidermal moisture loss would be reduced, thereby assuring natural moisturization of the drier horny layer of the skin.


Emissive constructs having three emissive layers, each having the same fluorescent host are described. At least one of the layers further includes a phosphorescent dopant. Light-emitting devices including these emissive constructs are also described.

1. Field
The embodiments describe herein relate to light-emitting devices, such as light-emitting devices comprising an emissive construct comprising a fluorescent host and a phosphorescent dopant.
2. Description of the Related Art
White organic light-emitting devices (WOLED) are promising candidates as replacements for fluorescent tubes and incandescent bulbs to save energy. However, there is room for improvement in current WOLED technology. For example, the power efficiency of WOLEDs may be improved to provide even greater energy savings. Phosphorescent WOLED (PH-WOLED) devices having exclusively phosphorescent emitters, have significantly improved efficiency as compared to devices having only fluorescent emitters. Unfortunately, phosphorescent blue emitters may have short useful lifetimes. The instability of phosphorescent blue emitters may be addressed by using a more stable florescent blue emitter to replace the unstable phosphor blue emitter while using green to red phosphorescent emitters. An OLED device having blue fluorescent emitters and green to red phosphorescent emitters may be referred to as a hybrid WOLED (HY-WOLED). Being less efficient than a PH-WOLED, a HY-WOLED can still be improved.

Hybrid composite emissive construct and light-emitting devices using the same


An optical coherence tomography device includes an SS-OCT optical system which includes a wavelength swept optical source which sweeps an emission wavelength, an optical splitter which splits an interference signal light caused by interference between a measurement light and a reference light into a first interference signal light and a second interference signal light having a phase difference from the first interference signal light, a balance detector which includes a first detector configured to detect the first interference signal light and a second detector configured to detect the second interference signal light, and which processes detection signals from the first and second detectors to perform balance detection, and an optical member which is disposed between the optical splitter and one of the first detector and the second detector to generate a fixed pattern noise by one of the first interference signal light and the second interference signal light.

As an example of optical coherence tomography (OCT), there has been known a swept source-OCT (SS-OCT) using a wavelength swept optical source. The SS-OCT temporally changes an emission wavelength using the wavelength swept optical source and detects by an optical detector a spectrum including a reflected light from an examination object and a reference light. A spectral signal output from the optical detector is converted into depth information by Fourier analysis.
Incidentally, since a wavelength (wavenumber) change by the wavelength swept optical source does not necessarily occur in proportion to time, there is a possibility that the wavenumber (k) and a depth (Z) may not have a proportional relationship in Fourier transform processing. As a result, an OCT signal which includes a depth profile deviated from a true depth profile may be obtained.
As a solution to this problem, an interferometer is separately provided in addition to the OCT interference optical system, and mapping data on a wavenumber is generated (see Non-Patent Document 1: "Ultra high-speed swept source-OCT imaging of the anterior segment of human eye at 200 kHz with adjustable imaging range", Michalina Gora, Optics Express, Vol. 17, No. 17). In a spectrum domain OCT (SD-OCT), a gold mirror placed on a measurement optical path is imaged multiple times, and mapping data on a wavenumber is generated using the signals (see Non-Patent Document 2: "Full-range, high-speed, high-resolution 1-μm spectral-domain optical coherence tomography using BM-scan for volumetric imaging of the human posterior eye", Shuichi Makita, Optics Express, Vol. 16, No. 12).
However, in the method of Non-Patent Document 1, the separate interferometer is needed. Further, even though data generated by using the gold mirror as in Non-Patent Document 2 is used, it is necessary to acquire data at a different measurement time from the original measurement time. Therefore, it is not possible to cope with an influence of temporal fluctuation in the original measurement.


An image sensor package includes a substrate, a sensor chip, a light-permeable cover, and a particle blocking dam. The substrate has a chip accommodating space, and the sensor chip is disposed in the chip accommodating space and electrically connected to the substrate. The light-permeable cover is disposed on the substrate and disposed above the sensor chip. The particle blocking dam is disposed above the sensor chip and extends from the light-permeable cover toward the sensor chip so as to be in contact with or close to the sensor chip.

A conventional image sensor package structure at least includes a package substrate, an image sensor chip, and a cover. The cover and the package substrate jointly define a closed accommodating space, and the image sensor chip is arranged therein. The image sensor chip is disposed on and electrically connected to the package substrate.
During fabrication of the image sensor package structure, the image sensor chip and dust inevitably coexist in the closed accommodating space. On the other hand, the materials that are used in the image sensor package structure may be sources of dust generation. When the image sensor package structure is moved or wavered, the dust within the closed accommodating space may be disturbed and then fall onto a sensing region of the image sensor chip.
As such, an image sensed by the image sensor chip may contain noise or shadow, which deteriorates the recognition result. In particular, when the image sensor chip is applied in a vehicle, the image sensor chip may capture a distorted image due to the presence of the dust, which may cause an accident. Accordingly, it is still an important subject to redesign structure of the conventional image sensor package so as to avoid attachment of the dust to the sensing region of the image sensor chip as the product is being moved or wavered.

Image sensor package with particle blocking dam


An automatic gain control circuit produces a control voltage for a digital baseband line equalizer having a ternary output signal. The circuit includes a capacitor for storing a charge to produce the control voltage, a charge circuit for charging the capacitor if the amplitude of the ternary output signal exceeds a reference voltage, and a discharging circuit for discharging the capacitor only when the ternary output signal is at a non-zero level.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to repeaters used in digital telephone communications, and more particularly, to an automatic gain control circuit for a digital baseband line equalizer such as that found in a T1 or an E1 repeater.
2. Related Art
In telephony, T1 and E1 are digital transmission standards. T1 is a standard used in the United States. A similar standard used in Europe is identified as the E1 standard. An important component of a digital transmission system is the repeater. Repeaters are placed at regular intervals along a transmission line in order to regenerate signals. A digital baseband line equalizer is invariably employed in the front end of repeaters such as those used in a T1 or E1 system. The equalizer filters and amplifies a signal which has been distorted during transmission over a length of cable.
The signal is a ternary digital signal transmitted at a rate of 1.544 Mbits/sec (megabits per second) in the T1 standard, and 2.04 Mbits/sec in the E1 standard. By ternary, it is meant that the signal has three logic levels: low, zero and high. Data is encoded using an alternate mark inversion (AMI) scheme in which a logical zero is transmitted as a zero voltage, and a logical one is transmitted as either a high or low voltage.
The equalizer used in the front end of these repeaters includes an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit which modifies the gain and frequency response of the equalizer to adjust for varying line conditions. It is intended for the AGC circuit to maintain a constant amplitude signal at the output of the equalizer. However, with conventional AGC circuits, the amplitude of the output signal tends to vary as a function of the data density of the signal. For example, if a data signal has a large number of zeros occurring one after the other, then it will appear to the conventional AGC circuit that the gain needs to be increased, even though a correct amplitude data stream is being received. Thus, the gain of the circuit tends to be dependent on the content or density of the data being received at the repeater.
What is needed is an equalizer that will produce a constant amplitude output signal independent of data density.

Automatic gain control circuit for a digital baseband line equalizer