A process for producing a titanium oxide is provided which comprises the steps of (i) mixing an acidic solution of a titanium compound with a nitrogen-containing basic organic compound to obtain a reaction product and (ii) calcining the obtained product. The titanium oxide exhibits a high photocatalytic activity by visible light radiation.

The present invention relates to a process for producing a titanium oxide. Specifically, the present invention relates to a process for producing a titanium oxide suitable for a photocatalyst.
It has been investigated that malodorous substances in air, or organic solvents or surfactants in water are decomposed and removed by a photocatalytic activity shown by titanium oxide. Recently, a decomposition and removal method using visible light as a light source has been studied owing to the wide usability and the convenience, and a titanium oxide exhibiting a high photocatalytic activity by irradiation of visible light has been developed.
Such a titanium oxide can be produced, for example, in an ion implantation method in which vanadium or chromium is introduced into titanium oxide. However, the ion implantation method needs a specific apparatus equipped with a vacuum container. In addition, there are problems in scaling up of the production apparatus or mass production thereof and, therefore, the production cost tends to be high.
One object of the present invention is to provide a process for easily producing a titanium oxide showing a high photocatalytic activity by visible light radiation without using a specific apparatus equipped with a vacuum container or the like.
This object and other objects are achieved by the present invention which provides a process for producing a titanium oxide. The process includes the steps of (i) mixing an acidic solution of a titanium compound with a nitrogen-containing basic organic compound to obtain a reaction product and (ii) calcining the obtained product.
A titanium oxide in the present invention is produced in a process which comprises the steps of (i) mixing an acidic solution of a titanium compound with a nitrogen-containing basic organic compound to obtain a reaction product and (ii) calcining the obtained product.
Examples of the acidic solution of a titanium compound include an aqueous solution of titanium trichloride (TiCl3), titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), titanium sulfate [Ti(SO4)2.mH2O, 0xe2x89xa6mxe2x89xa620], titanium oxysulfate [TiOSO4.nH2O, 0xe2x89xa6nxe2x89xa620], titanium oxychloride (TiOCl2) and the like. The acidic solution of a titanium compound may be prepared in a suitable known method such that a titanium compound is dissolved in water, or that a titanium oxide or a titanium hydroxide is dissolved in a mineral acid such as sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid. The content of titanium compound in the acidic solution may be about 1% by weight to about 40% by weight in terms of titanium atom.
In the present invention, the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound to be mixed with the above-described acidic solution of a titanium compound may be a compound containing nitrogen atom in its molecule and having basic properties. Examples of the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound include amines such as an acyclic amine, an alicyclic amine and an aromatic amine. The nitrogen-containing basic organic compound may be used singly or in the combination of two or more of them.
The acyclic amine which may be used in the present invention is a compound having at least one amino group in its molecule. Examples thereof include primary monoamines which have a chemical formula CnH2n+1NH2 wherein n represents an integer of from 1 to 10, primary diamines which have a chemical formula of H2NCnH2nNH2 wherein n represents an integer of from 1 to 10, dialkylamines having 2 to 10 carbon atoms, trialkylamines having 3 to 10 carbon atoms and the like. More specifically, examples of the acrylic amine include methylamine, ethylamine, n-propylamine, n-butylamine, iso-propylamine, sec-butylamine, ethylenediamine, 1,3-propanediamine, 1,2-propanediamine, dimethylamine, diethylamine, trimethylamine, triethylamine and the like.
The alicyclic amine which may be used in the present invention is a compound having at least one amino group, wherein the amino group is directly connected with a carbon atom of the aliphatic ring of the amine, or an aliphatic, heterocyclic compound having at least one nitrogen atom in the aliphatic ring. The alicyclic amine may have a heteroatom such as oxygen atom and sulfur atom in the aliphatic ring. Also, the alicyclic amine may have an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, alicyclic hydrocarbon group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group, an acyl group or the like, or additionally have a substituent such as an amino group through the above-described group. More specifically, examples of the alicyclic amine include cyclohexylamine, cyclohexanediamine, pyrrolidine, piperidine, pipecoline, piperazine, N-methylpiperazine, N-ethylpiperazine, N-propylpiperazine and the like.
The aromatic amine which may be used in the present invention is a compound having at least one amino group, wherein the amino group is directly connected with a carbon atom of the aromatic ring, or an aromatic, heterocyclic compound having at least one nitrogen atom in the aromatic ring. The aromatic amine may have a heteroatom such as oxygen atom and sulfur atom in the aromatic ring. Also, the aromatic amine may have an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, alicyclic hydrocarbon group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group, an acyl group or the like, or additionally have a substituent such as an amino group through the above-described group. More specifically, examples of the aromatic amine include aniline, phenylenediamine, pyridine, pyrimidine, 4-aminopyridine, melamine and the like.
The mixing of an acidic solution of a titanium compound with a nitrogen-containing basic organic compound may be conducted in any suitable method. For example, the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound is added into the acidic solution of the titanium compound, or the acidic solution of the titanium compound is added into the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound. The mixing is preferably conducted at a low temperature. The temperature may be about 60xc2x0 C. or lower, preferably about 40xc2x0 C. or lower and more preferably about 10xc2x0 C. or lower.
The ratio of the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound to the acidic solution of the titanium compound may be about 0.5 time or more, preferably about 0.8 time or more, and about 10 times or less, preferably about 3 times or less, in terms of the base equivalent of the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound based on the acid equivalent of the acidic solution of the titanium compound. The acid equivalent is the molar amount multiplied by the valence of acid groups contained in the acidic solution of the titanium. The base equivalent is the molar amount of basic nitrogen atom contained in the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound. For example, the basic equivalent of a monoamine is one equivalent per one mole thereof whatever the monoamine (such as a primary, secondary or thirdly amine) is. The basic equivalent of a diamine is 2 equivalent per one mole thereof.
The resulting product thus obtained by the mixing of the acidic solution of the titanium compound with the nitrogen-containing basic organic compound is then calcined. The calcination is preferably carried out in the atmosphere having an oxygen content of from about 1% by volume to about 10% by volume. For example, the calcination is preferably carried out in a mixed gas of oxygen and nitrogen or a mixed gas of air and an inert gas such as nitrogen, each mixed gas having a prescribed content of oxygen. Although not outside the scope of the present invention, when the calcination is carried out in the atmosphere having an oxygen content of more than about 10% by volume, the photoactivity of the obtained titanium oxide may be decreased. Also again while not outside the scope of the present invention, when the calcination is carried out in the atmosphere having a oxygen content of less than about 1% by volume, the photoactivity of the obtained titanium oxide may be decreased. The temperature of the calcination may be about 300xc2x0 C. or higher, and be preferably from about 350xc2x0 C. to about 600xc2x0 C.
In the present invention, a particulate titanium oxide may be produced. The particulate titanium oxide can be used as a photocatalyst as it is. Alternatively, the particulate titanium oxide may be mixed with a suitable bonding agent and then be molded to be utilized as the molding article thereof. Also, the particulate titanium oxide may be utilized for being applied onto a variety of construction materials, automobile materials or the like, or for coating such materials. In the applying or coating, the particulate titanium oxide may be used in a coating agent which is obtained by dispersing the titanium oxide in a solvent such as water, alcohols and ketones, or by peptizing the titanium oxide with an acid.
The titanium oxide of the present invention may be used as a photocatalyst, for example, as follows:
The titanium oxide may be put in a visible-light-transmitting glass tube or container together with a liquid or gas to be treated, and then be irradiated with visible light having a wavelength of 430 nm or more using a light source. In the irradiation of visible light to the titanium oxide, the liquid or gas in the tube or container may be oxidized, reduced or decomposed. Irradiation time of light may be determined depending on light intensity of the light source, and the kind and amount of the liquid or gas to be treated. The light source is not particularly limited as long as it can emit visible light having a wavelength of 430 nm or more. Example of the light source include solar rays, a fluorescent lamp, a halogen lamp, a black light, a xenon lamp, a mercury arc lamp and a sodium lamp. The light source may be equipped with an ultraviolet-cutting filter and/or an infrared-cutting filter, if necessary.
As described above, in accordance with the present invention, the titanium oxide exhibiting a high photocatalytic activity with radiation of visible light can be easily produced.
The process for producing titanium oxide of the present invention is described in Japanese application no. 2000-279500, filed on Sep. 14, 2000, the complete disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Also, the invention being thus described, it will be apparent that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are to be regarded as within the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be apparent to one skilled in the art are intended to be within the scope of the following claims.


Methods and systems for replaying buffered audio of a telephone call are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method for replaying buffered audio of a telephone call, comprises buffering audio data associated with a telephone call when a quality of an established data connection decreases below a first threshold quality measure; playing the buffered audio data from the buffer; determining the quality of the established data connection exceeds a second threshold quality measure; and replaying the audio data from the buffer, wherein replaying the audio comprises modifying the playback rate of the buffered audio data during playback.

Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to systems and methods for buffering and playback of audio when recovering from a dropped or redirected telephone conversation.
Description of the Related Art
When a mobile telephony device is conducting a telephone call, such as a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call, the user of the mobile telephony device may move in and out of communication range of a wireless router or cell tower that the mobile telephony device has used to establish a data connection. During this time, the quality of the data connection may decrease to such a degree that the call may be disconnected. It would be desirable for the mobile telephony device to automatically re-establish a new data connection with the wireless router or cell tower, and for the call to continue without disruption to the user. Unfortunately, it is difficult to re-establish a data connection mid-call without the user being aware that the call has dropped.
Thus, there is a need for improved buffering and playback of audio when recovering from a dropped or redirected VoIP conversation.

System and method for playing buffered audio of a dropped telephone call


An umbrella holder holds an umbrella and attaches to a golf bag and has a first clamp which is made from a resilient material and resiliently clips onto the golf bag and a second clamp, the second clamp having a pair of jaws connected by a spring-loaded hinge. A non-scuff material can be secured to the first clamp to protect the surfaces of the golf bag as well as to the second clamp to protect the surface of the umbrella.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an umbrella holder for attachment to a golf bag.
2. Background of the Prior Art
The use of umbrellas during the game of golf has been widely practiced during both rain periods as well as sun periods. The umbrella protects the golfer from the heat of the sun and also protects the golfer as well as his golf bag and its contents from the rain. Manually holding an umbrella can prove quite cumbersome. As the golfer takes each shot, the umbrella must be temporarily discarded thereby relinquishing its benefits. Furthermore, holding an umbrella for an entire 18 holes of golf will prove quite tiring.
To solve these problems, umbrella holders have been developed in the art. Such devices relieve the golfer from manually holding the umbrella by attaching the umbrella to either a golf cart or to the golf bag. However, the prior art devices are either too complex to build or use, require a permanent alteration to the golf bag, or are adapted to attach only to a golf cart thereby being unusable by golfers who do not employ golf carts.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an umbrella holder that quickly and easily attaches directly to a golf bag without the need to modify the golf bag. Such a device should of relatively simple and straightforward design and construction and should be easy to use.


Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to the help function and provide a method, system and computer program product for a pointing help system. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for pointing help in a GUI can include receiving a help event in association with a GUI control in the GUI, generating a help message for placement in a portion of the GUI statically configured to present different help messages, and visually coupling the GUI control with the help message through pointing help. In particular, in one aspect of the embodiment, visually coupling the GUI control with the help message through pointing help can include generating an arrow shell in a window separate from the GUI; and superimposing the arrow shell over the GUI to visually couple the GUI control with the help message.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of the computer user interface and more particularly to help systems for a computer user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional graphical user interface (GUI) has been widely used for many years. The primary function of the GUI includes providing visual controls with which the end-user can interact with an underlying application. Though the common GUI includes many stock visual controls, a select few visual controls can be combined to accommodate most computer-human interactions required by an application. For example, the static text box control can be used to present text to the end-user while an edit box can permit the user to provide textual input to the application. A radio button control can provide for the exclusive selection of an element from among a field of elements, while a checklist box can control can provide for the non-exclusive selection of elements from among a field of elements.
The help function associated with a software application ordinarily entails accepting an indication of required assistance and presenting a message to a requestor intended to help the requester. Advanced forms of the help function provide contextual messages depending upon a contemporaraneous activity of the requester sensed by the help function. The modern GUI enables dramatic improvements in the operation of the help function. In this regard, different combinations of GUI controls within a GUI can be arranged to present user-friendly help in the context of contemporary end user activity.
The modern GUI has become complex in nature and often includes a substantial number of GUI elements within a small display space. The problem of limited display space can be compounded in the smallish display of a personal digital assistant or other pervasive device. To provide a help portion of the GUI in different locations at different times can become confusing to the end user who often does not know where to expect the presentation of help within the GUI. In consequence, within a complex GUI environment, help can be localized to a specific portion of the GUI screen, for example a status bar at the bottom of the GUI display.
Placing help at the bottom of the GUI display is not without consequence. In particular, where help is rendered in connection with a particular GUI control in a GUI display, the context of the help will be self-evident. Isolating help in a statically defined portion of the GUI display decouples the context of the help from that portion of the GUI display most relevant to the help. Accordingly, one must choose between a predictable location for help in a GUI environment, and a contextually relevant presentation of help messages in the GUI environment.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of making ceramic articles includes compounding ceramic precursor batch components that include hydrous clay. The hydrous clay includes particle components having a platy geometry. The crystallite size of the platy hydrous clay particle components is less than a predetermined amount. Controlling such crystallite size can result in fired ceramic articles with a lower coefficient of thermal expansion and improved thermal shock resistance.

The disclosure relates generally to hydrous clay containing green monoliths and more specifically to hydrous clay containing green monoliths that can exhibit improved thermal expansion characteristics.
In the formation of ceramic bodies, e.g., silicon carbide, cordierite, mullite, alumina, or aluminum titanate bodies, green monoliths are typically fired at high temperatures for an extended period of time. During firing, the green bodies experience one or more phase changing events. For example, during the firing of hydrous kaolin containing green monoliths, the bodies interact with magnesia containing minerals, i.e. talc (3MgO4SiO2H2O), brucite (Mg(OH)2), magnesite MgCO3, to form cordierite (2MgO2Al2O35SiO2). During a time (and temperature) in the firing cycle that corresponds to a kaolin dehydroxylation and sintering event, a preferred orientation and grain size coursing (domains) develops, which can correlate to a given coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the fired ceramic body.
Various methods have been employed to control the CTE of such hydrous clay containing green monoliths. One method, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,058,198 B2 involves controlling the amount of hydrous kaolin and the kaolin crystallinity (as measure by the XRD Hinckely index method) in the batch composition. However, reducing the amount of hydrous clay can lead to certain potential disadvantages, such as creating a less plastic batch material that is more difficult to extrude and/or undesirable changes with respect to the properties of the fired ceramic body. In addition, the crystallinity, as measured by XRD Hinckley index method, describes the order/disorder of the kaolin (i.e. it does not differentiate crystallographic directions).
Other methods have involved characterizing the clay morphology using an analytical technique, correlating such characterization with a desired characteristic, and then selecting clay that will help enable the resulting composition to exhibit the desired characteristic. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,481,962, discloses an analytical technique for determining a clay "cleavage index" and then setting a limit on that index for clay used in a composite batch composition.

Control of clay crystallite size for thermal expansion management


The present invention relates to a non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film made of MSi0.8-1.2 (M: Zr, Hf), and provides a non-brittle silicide target suitable for forming a ZrO2.SiO2 film or HfO2.SiO2 film that can be used as a high dielectric gate insulating film having properties to substitute an SiO2 film.

The present invention relates to a non-brittle silicide target suitable for forming a ZrO2.SiO2 or HfO2.SiO2 film that can be used as a high dielectric gate insulating film.
The thickness of a dielectric gate insulating film affects the performance of an MOS transistor significantly, and should be such that the boundary to the silicon substrate is electrically smooth, and the mobility of carriers does not deteriorate.
Heretofore, an SiO2 film has been used as the gate insulating film, and this has been most excellent in boundary characteristics. An SiO2 film has characteristics such that the thinner the SiO2 film used as the gate insulating film is, the larger the number of carriers, i.e. electrons or holes is, thereby increasing the drain current.
For these reasons, the SiO2 film has been thinned to lower current and voltage values within the extent not to cause dielectric breakdown. However, there is limitation in thinning such SiO2 films, and when the thickness of the SiO2 film is decreased to 2 to 3 nm or less, a tunnel current flows and the SiO2 film cannot function as an insulating film.
On the other hand, although transistors have been downsized, this is meaningless as long as there is limitation in the thickness of the SiO2 film that functions as a gate insulating film as described above, and the performance of transistors has not been improved.
Also, in order to lower the power voltage of an LSI to save power consumption, the gate insulating film must further be thinned. However, since there is a problem of the dielectric breakdown of the gate when the thickness of the SiO2 film is 3 nm or less, decrease in film thickness itself has limitation.
For the above-described reasons, high dielectric gate insulating films are recently studied for substituting the SiO2 film. The high dielectric gate insulating films of interest include a ZrO2.SiO2 film or HfO2.SiO2 film.
These high dielectric gate insulating films are characterized in that the capacity equivalent to the capacity of an SiO2 film can be attained by a relatively thick film, and tunnel leakage current can be inhibited. Also, since these gate-insulating films can be considered to be SiO2 films to which Zr or Hf is added, their interfacial characteristics can be expected to be similar to those of SiO2.
Consequently, there is a need for a sputtering target that can produce a high-quality ZrO2.SiO2 or HfO2.SiO2 high dielectric gate insulating film easily and reliably.
In order to solve the above-described problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a non-brittle silicide target suitable for forming a ZrO2.SiO2 or HfO2.SiO2 film that can be used as a high dielectric gate insulating film that has properties to substitute an SiO2 film, and a method for manufacturing such a silicide target
According to a first embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film made of MSi0.8-1.2 (M: Zr, Hf).
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to the first embodiment, wherein no free Si is present.
According to a third embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to the first or second embodiments, made of the single phase of MSi.
According to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to the first or second embodiments, made of a mixed phase of at least two selected from MSi, M5Si4, and MSi2.
According to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to any of the first to fourth embodiments, wherein the relative density is 99% or more.
According to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to any of the first to fifth embodiments, wherein the average crystal grain diameter is 30 xcexcm or less.
According to a seventh embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to any of the first to fifth embodiments, wherein the average crystal grain diameter is 10 xcexcm or less.
According to an eighth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to any of the first to seventh embodiments, wherein the transverse rupture strength thereof is 200 MPa or more.
According to a ninth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film consisting of MSi0.8-1.2 (M: Zr, Hf), comprising the steps of mixing hydrogenated metal (M) powder and Si powder in a mole ratio of 1:0.8 to 1:1.2, and baking and sintering the mixture.
According to a tenth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the method for manufacturing a non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to ninth embodiment, wherein dehydrogenation and silicide synthesis are carried out by heating during baking.
According to an eleventh embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the method for manufacturing a non-brittle silicide target for forming a gate oxide film according to the tenth embodiment, wherein baking is performed at a temperature between 600xc2x0 C. and 800xc2x0 C.
A ZrO2.SiO2 film or HfO2.SiO2 film that can be used as a high dielectric gate insulating film having properties to substitute an SiO2 film can be formed by oxygen reactive sputtering using a ZrSi or HfSi target.
The present invention provides a silicide target made of MSi0.8-1.2 (M: Zr, Hf), a silicide target made of the single phase of MSi that contains no free Si, or a silicide target made of a mixed phase of at least two selected from MSi, M5Si4, and MSi2.
The M/Si mole ratio required for a high dielectric gate insulating film is 1:1. To go so far, when a high dielectric gate insulating film is produced in a prescribed mole ratio, it can be produced from a mixed phase of a composition extremely deviated from the desired mole ratio, such as metal powder and Si powder or MSi2 powder.
However, it has been known that a free Si phase takes significant part in the occurrence of metal silicide particles. In other words, it has been considered that when a sputtering target of a structure having a mixed phase of silicide and Si is sputtered, the irregularity of the surface caused by difference in sputtering rates between the Si phase and the metal silicide phase becomes prominent, resulting in increase in the number of particles.
According to the present invention, since free Si is eliminated, and the components are limited to three phases of MSi, M5Si4, or MSi2 close to the desired mole ratio, the irregularity of the eroded surface caused by difference in sputtering rates can be minimized, and the occurrence of particles can be prevented.
The above-described silicide target for forming gate oxide films has a disadvantage of high brittleness. According to the present invention, the relative density is 99% or more, and the average crystal grain particle diameter is 30 xcexcm or less, preferably 10 xcexcm or less. Thereby, a non-brittle silicide target for forming gate oxide films with a transverse rupture strength of 200 or more MPa can be obtained.
If the relative density is less than 99%, and the average crystal grain particle diameter exceeds 30 xcexcm, brittleness is lowered due to the shortage of density, resulting in poor machinability. Furthermore, increase in the number of particles is caused due to the breakdown and scattering of brittle crystals. Therefore the above-described ranges are preferable.
In order to manufacture a non-brittle silicide target for forming gate oxide films made of MSi0.8-1.2 (M: Zr, Hf), hydrogenated metal (M) powder and Si powder are mixed in a mole ratio of 1:0.8 to 1:1.2, and the mixture is baked at a temperature between 600xc2x0 C. and 800xc2x0 C.
Although the use of Zr powder and Hf powder can be considered, there is a problem that Zr powder and Hf powder are highly susceptible to oxidation, and fine powder may cause spontaneous combustion.
Therefore, in order to prevent such spontaneous combustion, hydrogenated zirconium or hydrogenated hafnium is used. These hydrogenated powder and silicon powder are finely ground to an average particle diameter of 10 xcexcm or less. The use of these fine powders enables highly densification in sintering.
Heating on the above-described sintering, dehydrogenation and silicide synthesis can be achieved. Dehydrogenation starts from 600xc2x0 C. Sintering is carried out in a vacuum (1xc3x9710xe2x88x924 to 1xc3x9710xe2x88x922 Torr), in a slight hydrogen atmosphere because of dehydrogenation.
As described above, in heating synthesis, by performing dehydrogenation and silicide synthesis simultaneously at a low temperature at which the growth of grains does not occur, the growth of grains can be prevented, the heated powder can be maintained fine, and the average crystal grain diameter can be 30 xcexcm or less even after sintering. If the heated powder aggregates, coarse grains remain and the density lowers because the coarse grains are difficult to grind finely before sintering.
In the present invention, since the material powder is sintered at a low temperature, the growth of crystal grains can be prevented, and high densification can be achieved by sintering.
The densified silicide target of a relative density of 99% or more has a transverse rupture strength of 200 MPa or more.
The densified silicide target of the present invention has the effect to prevent the occurrence of particles caused by pores during sputtering, or the breakdown and scattering of the brittle structure.

Silicide target for depositing less embrittling gate oxide and method of manufacturing silicide target


Conventional press brake female dies which have to be manually adjusted are not adaptable to today's automated factories for producing different shaped components on a demand basis. The subject apparatus overcomes this problem by providing powered, adjustable female die jaws that are positively located by powered rotary shims having several thicknesses to be presented according to the desired opening between the jaws. The power source for adjusting the jaws and the rotary shims may be controlled electronically to adjust the jaws to a position to produce a prescribed shape from a plate of metal.

The assignee of this invention is presently in the process of changing its manufacturing facilities to what has become known as the (PWAF) "Plant With A Future". Such facilities are being equipped with machining cells that are automatically controlled and operated, requiring little or no manual attention of a machine operator. It has, therefore, become a problem with all machining operations to modify or to change them to automatic adjustment means and/or readily changeable fixtures or tooling to accommodate various and different components being manufactured on the same machines.
The fabricating facilities are equipped with numerous metal forming equipment, some of which are commonly referred to as press brakes. Such machines have elongated male punches powered by hydraulic rams which press against a sheet of metal, in most cases steel, against a set of spaced jaws of a female die forming an opening below the male punch. As the punch engages the plate against the opening between the jaws, the plate is formed into an angular shape as prescribed by the component to be produced. These machines are quite large in size, some having dies in the eight to twelve feet length capable of withstanding forces of a press having a 2,000 ton capacity. The plate being formed is frequently one-half to one inch in thickness requiring considerable force and dies capable of withstanding such force.
Past female die equipment has had jaws that are adjustable, being movable toward and away from each other to create an opening suitable for the reception of the male punch to provide the required shape. In such equipment, the dies were supported on a die frame and attached thereto in guide means that were loosened and manually forced to a new position and then manually changing shims between the jaws and the frame to positively locate the jaws in such location. As can be appreciated, this is a time consuming operation requiring an operator or operators to make such changes which is not readily adaptable to an automatic machining operation.
Adjustment means as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,890, issued to Russell S. Thatcher, is shown wherein a ratchet type mechanism is used to locate the dies or jaws of the die in a prescribed location. Although such system has merit, it would only be adaptable to lighter press work and such locating means would not be sufficiently strong enough to positively hold the dies in the heavier punching operations. U.S. Pat. No. 3,029,858, issued to Harper, U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,348 issued to Pearson, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,456,749 issued to Steibel, disclose a female die which is a one piece construction with various shapes cut into the outer periphery of the die to provide different openings for forming of different types of components out of sheet metal. It is obvious from these systems that the material being worked would have to be thin in thickness and therefore would not be adaptable to the heavier work, although they are readily adjustable to the different shapes.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems as set forth above.

Press brake apparatus with powered adjustable female die jaws


An oil supply system for a gearbox in a gas turbine engine includes a holding container which holds a quantity of oil to be delivered to a pump. The holding container includes a flexible barrier.

This application relates to an oil supply for components in a gas turbine engine, wherein a bias is maintained on an oil level to ensure oil delivery even when an associated aircraft is maneuvering.
Gas turbine engines are known, and typically include a fan delivering air to a compressor section. The air is compressed in the compressor section, and mixed with fuel in a combustion section. The mixed fuel and air are ignited, and the products of the combustion passed downstream over turbine rotors. The turbine rotors are driven to generate power for various components in the gas turbine engine, and to drive the engine.
One recent advancement in gas turbine engines is the use of a geared architecture to control the fan speed. A gearbox is associated with the fan. The gearbox includes oil film bearings, which require lubrication for proper operation.
Lubrication systems are associated with the gearbox, however, one concern with an oil supply system for an airplane is that with maneuvering of the aircraft, the orientation of oil supply chambers can be such that an oil pump may draw air, rather than oil.

Non-interrupted oil supply for gas turbine engine


The present invention relates to a mechanical seat apparatus for simulating motion which includes a novel spherical bearing located below each seat for providing realistic simulation of motion in the yaw, pitch and roll directions. The spherical bearing includes means for preventing movement of the spherical bearing in the event of a power failure or other similar event to avoid injury to the viewers. The mechanical seat apparatus of the present invention also includes supporting structure which enables movement of each seat in the backward and forward, side to side and upward and downward directions, for a total of six degrees of freedom. Common hydraulics are provided to simultaneously impart motion to a plurality of seats.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanical seat apparatus, and more particularly, to a mechanical seat apparatus designed to simulate motion for a person viewing a video or other program.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, movement simulators have become popular in which a viewer seated in a specially designed seat is shown a video or other program. The seat is designed to tilt or otherwise move in conjunction with the program to simulate motion shown in the program. Common applications for such simulators have been as flight simulators, video game simulators, and dark show simulators where an audience seated in a number of adjacent simulators is shown a common video or program.
In the field of simulators, it has always been a goal to realistically simulate motion. Past simulator designs have therefore attempted to provide as many degrees of freedom of movement as possible. Unfortunately, the number of degrees of freedom imparted to each seat has always been limited due to inadequate designs as well as a number of disadvantages associated with the use of hydraulic actuation cylinders.
Past simulator designs have typically included a separate hydraulic cylinder for imparting and controlling movement in each desired direction, with a separate set of hydraulics provided for each seat. As a consequence, as the number of degrees of freedom has increased, so too has the number of hydraulic cylinders and the magnitude of the associated disadvantages. For example, with added hydraulics, levels of generated noise and heat rise significantly during actuation of the hydraulic cylinders, detracting from the enjoyment of the viewer. These disadvantages are magnified in the case of multiple simulators located in close proximity, such as in dark shows. In addition, as the number of hydraulic cylinders increases, additional costs of manufacture and maintenance are incurred. Moreover, additional space must be provided below and adjacent to each seat to house the hydraulic cylinders, constraining the number of seats that can be installed in a dark show auditorium.
As a result of these and other disadvantages, past seat designs have operated with only a small number of hydraulic cylinders and associated degrees of freedom, resulting in less than ideal simulated motion.
Past simulators have also been disadvantageous from a personal injury standpoint. When separate hydraulics are used, adjacent seats may independently tilt or otherwise move towards one another during a power failure, resulting in viewers being "pinched" between seats. Moreover, even with single seat designs, seats may lurch forward or to the side during power failure, leading to injury.
In order to minimize the number of hydraulics and the disadvantages associated therewith, a second known approach has provided common hydraulics for controlling the movement of more than one seat. One such known design includes a common platform located above ground level on which two adjacent seats in the same row are mounted. Motion such as tilting is imparted to the platform via common hydraulics located at a point on the platform approximately midway between the two seats. Although this design reduces the number of hydraulic cylinders required for movement of the seats as compared to the independent approach, the design is disadvantageous because viewers seated in the seats are not exposed to "true" motion, particularly because the center of movement of the platform is located at a point distant from each seat rather than immediately below each seat. In addition, while the likelihood of personal injury is reduced with respect to seats located on the same platform, seats located on adjacent but independently controlled platforms may still tilt towards one another and "pinch" viewers. Furthermore, lurching may still occur during power failure, leading to injury.

Mechanical seat apparatus for simulating motion


An upright support assembly for a gantry includes a base with primary ground engaging means, such as wheels and a stabilizing member which is pivotally connected to the support assembly so as to be moveable between a stowed position folded against the support assembly and a deployed position in which it engages the ground to hold the support assembly upright. The stabilizing member includes a ground engaging fitting at its outer end which is adapted to engage the ground in the deployed position to stabilize the support assembly in the upright position, and to engage and roll over the ground in the stowed position when the support assembly is lowered to the ground so that the base and primary ground engaging means can be lifted off the ground and the support assembly moved on the ground engaging fitting.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to an upright support suitable for use in a gantry.
2. Related Technology
A gantry comprises two upright side frames connected by a horizontal beam supporting a beam trolley that runs along the beam and is fitted with a hoist to lift loads. Gantries are commonly made so that they are mobile to allow them to be located over loads that require lifting. For this purpose, the side frames are each fitted with wheels to contact the ground. An example of such a gantry is shown in FIG. 1.
For a gantry to be portable, it is necessary to disassemble the side frames from the horizontal beam and to transport each component separately. A side frame may be readily moveable on the wheels at its base but will not be stable enough in an upright state to allow it to be moved safely, especially if it is large and heavy.


A method and apparatus include providing a printed circuit board (PCB) having at least one light permeable layer, at least one non-light permeable layer having at least one void therethrough that may be vertically aligned with the at least one light permeable layer, and a source of illumination to simultaneously illuminate through the void and the at least one light permeable layer.

A printed circuit board (PCB) may be labeled, for example, by spraying a silk screen ink onto a surface of the PCB. The ink may be applied to identify the PCB using text, numbers, or other printed symbols and indicia. However, the silk screen ink, like other surface marking methods, may be removed using a variety of mechanical and chemical methods and techniques, for example, chemical solvents to dissolve the ink or other marking.
Additionally, the ink printing and other types of markings on a PCB may not be easily read in the low light conditions that tend to exist inside of an electronic housing such as those that commonly contain PCBs. Thus, printed ink and other types of PCB surface markings may be inadequate at providing a method of identifying the PCB in an operational environment.
There is a general need for a method and system to mark and identifying PCBs.

Method and apparatus for marking a printed circuit board


A method of preparing a poly(ether ester) copolymer is provided, and more particularly, a method of preparing a poly(ether ester) copolymer having a high content of a polyether and high viscosity by using a dicarboxylic acid as a starting material is provided. According to the present invention, a dicarboxylic acid of which production cost is low is used as a starting material to prepare a poly(ether ester) copolymer having a high content of polyether and having a high viscosity without solid-phase polymerization.

Thermoplastic poly(ether ester) elastomers (TPEEs) are high performance materials that have both elasticity of rubber and molding processability of plastic. TPEEs are substitutes for vulcanized rubber and PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and are used in a wide variety of fields such as automobiles, home appliances, building materials, IT, articles for daily use, etc. TPEEs are represented by poly(ether ester)-based block copolymer resin compositions.
Poly(ether ester) copolymers have elastomeric properties by including a hard segment consisting of a diol and a dicarboxylic acid, and a soft segment consisting of a polyether diol and a dicarboxylic acid. The hard segment provides mechanical properties for elastomers and the soft segment provides elasticity and flexibility for elastomers.
These thermoplastic poly(ether ester) copolymers are commercially prepared by a two-step reaction including an ester exchange reaction of a diol, a dicarboxylate, and a polyether diol as raw materials, followed by a polycondensation reaction of the reaction product.
For example, one of widely known TPEE, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)-poly(tetramethylene ether glycol) (PTMG) copolymer is prepared through an ester exchange reaction and a polycondensation reaction using 1,4-butylene glycol (BG), dimethyl terephthalate (DMT), and PTMG as starting materials.
Meanwhile, a method of using, instead of dicarboxylate, corresponding dicarboxylic acid has been developed. In this case, an esterification reaction, not the ester exchange reaction, occurs and water is produced as a by-product instead of alcohol. For example, the PBT-PTMG copolymer may be prepared using terephthalic acid (PTA) instead of DMT as a starting material, and there is an advantage in economic efficiency because the production cost of PTA is lower than that of DMT.
However, when the starting material is simply replaced by a dicarboxylic acid in the conventional process of using a dicarboxylate, there is a problem in that esterification does not properly occur, and thus productivity is decreased. This phenomenon becomes worse as a content of polyether diol in the starting materials is higher. Therefore, it has been difficult to produce poly(ether ester) copolymers having a high content of polyether and low hardness by the known dicarboxylate-based process.
To solve this problem, it has been suggested that when the PBT-PTMG copolymer is prepared, BG and PTA are first reacted to prepare a prepolymer, which is then reacted with PTMG (Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 33 (2015) 1283-1293). However, this preparation method has a problem in that esterification becomes complicated with two steps. In addition, in order to increase viscosity of the low-hardness poly(ether ester) copolymer, a solid-phase polymerization reaction must be further performed after the polycondensation reaction. As a result, the preparation process becomes complicated and is not suitable for mass production.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a method of preparing a poly(ether ester) copolymer in a simple and economical manner, which is thus suitable for mass production, wherein a dicarboxylic acid is used as a starting material to prepare a poly(ether ester) copolymer having high viscosity, while having a low hardness property due to a high content of a polyether.    Non-Patent Document 1: Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 33 (2015) 1283-1293

Method of preparing poly(ether ester) copolymer


There is described a camera system for imaging a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising: a support body having an adjustable length for accommodating the passenger compartment and being removably securable within the passenger compartment of the vehicle; and a camera movably secured to the support body and being movable along at least a portion of the support body, the camera for imaging at least a portion of the passenger compartment.

The Internet is used by some merchants and retailers to improve their sales by attracting new customers to their store. Usually, a retailer or a merchant presents some items to be sold on their website. The quality of the description of items to be sold may encourage a customer to buy the item or at least visit the store. Particularly, pictures or videos of an item to be sold may influence a customer.
For example, car dealers usually display at least some of their vehicles to be sold on their website in order to encourage customers to come visit their store. Usually, car dealers presents pictures of vehicles to be sold on their website. In some instances, some car dealers further display videos of at least some vehicles to be sold to encourage customers to come to their store to see the vehicles, and optionally try the vehicles.
In some instances, customers may be influenced by the quality of the pictures and/or videos of the vehicles. However, the pictures and/or videos are usually manually taken by an employee of the car dealer. Therefore, the pictures and/or videos may not be of high quality and may not appear professional. Particularly, the pictures and/or videos of the passenger compartment of vehicles may not be of a good quality and the shots may change from one passenger compartment to another. Furthermore, taking pictures and/or videos of vehicles is a time-consuming task for employees of a car dealer.
Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus for imaging the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

Apparatus for imaging the passenger compartment of a vehicle


A plurality of images is captured, and a positional displacement between the images is determined. The images may be captured as still images or as moving images. Moving images may include, for example, images that are captured as part of the recording of a video or as live image data that is played back in real time. Different positional displacement techniques are be used to determine the positional displacement between the images, based on how the images are captured. For example, a first positional displacement technique may be used if the images are still images and a second positional displacement technique if the images are moving images. The images may then be synthesized images based on the determined positional displacement of the images to generate a synthesized image. The images may be synthesized using a weighted synthesis technique, a simple synthesis technique, or other appropriate synthesis technique.

Techniques for generating a synthesized image with an extended dynamic range from a group of images are known. According to these techniques, a low-resolution image and a high-resolution image obtained under different exposure conditions are synthesized after correcting for positional shifts in the images. Such techniques are described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-181196.
These techniques for generating a synthesized image may vary in their complexity, in the amount of processing time they require, and in the level of quality in the images that they produce. Typically, techniques which require more processing time produce higher-quality and more reliable results, while faster techniques may produce lower-quality results. Current technologies, however, do not adequately distinguish between when faster techniques or slower techniques should be used, and synthesis techniques may be used that are inappropriate for the requirements of a given context. Accordingly, new technologies are required that address these shortcomings of the current techniques.

Generating a synthesized image from a plurality of images


A method and apparatus for wireless communication may provide a multi-link RLC sublayer in an RNC capable of allocating RLC PDUs among a plurality of MAC entities for use in a Multi-Point HSDPA network. Some aspects of the disclosure address issues relating to out-of-order delivery of the RLC PDUs to a UE, such as unnecessary retransmissions. That is, the disclosed multi-link RLC may be capable of distinguishing between sequence number gaps that are caused by physical layer transmission failures and those caused merely by skew.

1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to RLC-layer algorithms for managing packets sent over a plurality of downlink cells for aggregation.
2. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3 G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.
As an example, Multi-Point HSDPA has been recently introduced, in which plural cells can provide high-speed downlink communication to a mobile station, such that the mobile station is capable of aggregating the transmissions from those cells, within the same frequency carrier. As a relatively new system, various issues arise in this system that may not have been addressed in other downlink carrier aggregation systems such as DC-HSDPA. Thus, there is a need to identify and address issues relating to system-level architecture, packet flow control, mobility, and others.

System and method for multi-point HSDPA communication utilizing a multi-link RLC sublayer


A remote computer having a processor and a display, said remote computer being connected via a network to a local computer having a processor and a display, wherein the processor of the remote computer is configured to divide at least part of the remote computer display into a grid having a plurality of tiles, determine whether each tile represents image data or text data, encode each tile representing text data using a lossless compression, encode each tile representing image data using a lossy compression, and transmit display data comprising said lossy encoded image data and said lossless encoded text data from said remote computer to said local computer, whereby a user is able to view said remote computer display on said local computer display.

It is known to use a local computer or similar device to interact with a physically remote computer. For the individual user, one common scenario is to help troubleshoot the computer of a distant less-technically-savvy relative. Sitting at your desk in Baltimore, remote computing allows a user to take control of a relative's PC in California and show them how to use a new software package by actually doing it from your PC in Baltimore. A very common business application is in remote system administration, where it is used to allow administrators to take control of employee machines to diagnose and fix problems. In all scenarios, key presses, mouse movements, and mouse clicks are sent from the local computer to the remote computer to effect changes on the remote computer. A continually updated copy of the remote computer's display is shown in a window on the local computer. Accordingly, it appears to a user that they are sitting in front of the remote computer even though it is at a different location.
The continually updated copy is achieved by encoding pixel data describing the contents of the remote computer's display and transmitting this data, or any changes in this data, to the local computer. There are many ways of achieving this encoding. At one end of the range, there is Raw encoding which has no data compression and thus requires minimal CPU overhead at the remote computer but is only suitable for fast networks because of the large volume of data to be transmitted. At the other end of the range, there is high compression encoding (e.g. Run Length Encoding RLE or variations thereof) which offer better compression and are suitable for slower networks but require higher CPU overhead. These standard encodings are all lossless and thus the display on the local computer is an exact representation of the display on the remote computer.
Typically the display on the remote computer comprises a mixture of text and image data. The amount of image data has increased in recent years to include more images and video; and because of the trend towards semi-transparent and blurred window frames, and highly textured or graduated color backgrounds and fill patterns.
There is a strong temporal element to remote computing; the algorithms producing and transmitting the continually updated copy of the remote computer display have to be fast enough to keep up with the changes on the remote computer without falling behind. A bottleneck may arise from the encoding time, the data communication time, or the decoding time.
The present applicant has recognized the need for an improved encoding.


A machine which provides for both leaf stripping and grading can be used to process plants, such as burley tobacco plants, by continuously moving the plants in a first direction while simultaneously varying the position of the plants in a second direction relative to a defoliating apparatus. The plants may be moved horizontally through a machine by a transporter engaging the plant stalks while the vertical distance between the transporter (and thus the plants) is varied relative to the defoliating apparatus. The transporter and defoliating apparatus may be positioned at an angle to one another. Due to the changing amount of vertical distance, leaves from different sections of the plants, such as leaves at different stalk heights, can be contacted and removed at different corresponding horizontal locations in the machine. Accordingly, leaves can be graded based on the location(s) from which they are retrieved after removal.

Certain varieties of tobacco, such as burley tobacco, are cured with the leaves remaining on the stalk. When this type of tobacco is harvested, the entire stalk is cut near the bottom, and the tobacco is hung upside down in a curing barn, shed, or other suitable location. Once cured, the leaves of the tobacco can be removed. However, since the tobacco remains on the stalk, removal can be a labor-intensive task, and often may be performed manually. Moreover, the tobacco may be graded (and sold) based upon its stalk position. This can introduce additional complexity into the leaf removal process since leaf position must be tracked or otherwise considered during removal.

Methods and apparatus for stripping leaves from a stalk cured tobacco plant


In a cylinder head gasket, a base plate forming the gasket is formed of a first metallic material, and a grommet is provided around a hole for a cylinder bore and formed of a second metallic material different from the first metallic material. The grommet and the base plate are connected by welding. Accordingly, the grommet formed of the optimum material can be provided around the hole for the cylinder bore, and the base plate can be formed of the optimum material. Thus, the cylinder head gasket has a good sealing ability and excellent durability.

The present invention relates to a cylinder head gasket situated between a cylinder head and a cylinder block in an internal combustion engine to seal therebetween.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a metal cylinder head gasket provided with a grommet, in which the grommet and base plates are formed of different materials so that the cylinder head gasket has a high sealing ability and an excellent durability.
In case of sealing joining surfaces of a cylinder head and a cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, a cylinder head gasket is situated therebetween to seal combustion gas and liquid or the like.
As shown in FIG. 4, the cylinder head gasket is manufactured in accordance with shapes of engine members, such as a cylinder block and the like, and includes holes 2 for cylinder bores, liquid holes, such as water holes 3 and oil holes 4, and bolt holes 5. Also, various sealing means 31, 62 are formed for the respective holes for sealing.
In these sealing means, even though sealing is provided between the same engine members by the same gasket, required sealing abilities are extremely different depending on the holes to be sealed. Namely, while it is necessary to seal high temperature and high pressure combustion gases in the holes 2 for the cylinder bores, it is necessary to seal the relatively low temperature liquid in the liquid holes 3 and 4.
On the other hand, since it is required to reduce a weight of the engine and manufacturing cost, a type of the cylinder head gasket has been changed from a laminate type in which a large number of metal plates are laminated to a simple metal gasket, which is formed of one or two metal plates. Since the number of the constituent plates is reduced, materials which can be used for the plates are limited. Also, in order to make the engine smaller, an area which can be used for sealing means has been reduced.
Therefore, it is difficult to freely combine beads, grommets, shims or the like which can be used as sealing means, or to provide double sealing means as in the laminate type gasket in which a large number of plates are laminated. The kind and the number of sealing means are limited, so that the simplified sealing means has to be used.
Examples of conventional cylinder head gaskets are shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. In the cylinder head gasket 1X or 1Y, there is provided a single, narrow-width bead 31 in a circular arc form which can follow the change in the space well, and the bead 31 is protected by a grommet 61 formed by bending a part of a base plate 60X or 60Y so as to prevent the high temperature and high pressure combustion gas from contacting the bead 31. Also, a bead 62, or half-beads 63 and 73 are provided for sealing around the liquid holes 3 and 4.
However, in the conventional cylinder head gasket 1X or 1Y, the base plate 60X or 60Y which contacts the engine member and the grommet 61 surrounding a periphery of the hole 2 for the cylinder bore, are formed of one plate. Namely, the grommet 61 is formed of the same material as that of the base plate 60X or 60Y.
On the other hand, since the grommet 61 is formed by bending the plate, it is preferable to use an annealed material, which does not crack in the bending process and is easy to deform, as a material of the grommet 61. On the other hand, in order to provide the bead 62 or the half beads 63 and 73, it is preferable to use a spring material as the material of the base plate.
Therefore, in case the grommet and the base plate are formed of the same material, it is difficult to satisfy both characteristics in one plate. Namely, the spring ability is required for the base plate, and the bending ability and heat resistance are required for the grommet liable to have the crack in the bent portion. It is difficult to obtain enough durability in one plate.
The present invention has been made to solve the foregoing problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a cylinder head gasket with a thin-plate structure, wherein a grommet formed of an optimum material can be provided around the hole for a cylinder bore while a base plate formed of an optimum material can be provided between a cylinder head and a cylinder block, so that the cylinder head gasket has a good sealing ability and an excellent durability.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
To achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention provides a cylinder head gasket for sealing between a cylinder head and a cylinder block of an engine, in which a base plate forming the cylinder head gasket is formed of a first metallic material, and a peripheral member around a hole for a cylinder bore is formed of a second metallic material. The first metallic material is different from the second metallic material, and the peripheral member is connected to the base plate by welding.
According to this structure, since the peripheral member around the hole for the cylinder bore and the base plate are formed of different metallic materials, the peripheral member and the base plate can be respectively formed of suitable materials while a number of the base plates is small. Therefore, there can be obtained a light-weight cylinder head gasket with a thin-plate structure, which has a good sealing ability and an excellent durability.
Also, the present invention provides a cylinder head gasket, in which a grommet is formed around the hole for the cylinder bore, and the base plate is formed of a first metallic material. The grommet is formed of a second metallic material, which is different from the first metallic material. Also, the grommet is connected to the base plate by welding.
According to this structure, since the grommet and the base plate are formed of different metallic materials, the grommet and the base plate can be respectively formed of suitable materials. Thus, there can be obtained the cylinder head gasket which has a good sealing ability and an excellent durability.
Namely, a relatively low sealing surface pressure is sufficient in portions widely contacting engine members and portions for sealing a cooling water and a circulating oil around liquid holes, and these portions are mostly flat. Thus, it is preferable to use a material, such as spring material, having an adequate elasticity. On the other hand, around the holes for the cylinder bores, in order to seal the high pressure and high temperature combustion gas, it is necessary to have a high heat resistance, and a deformable characteristic is also required for the bending process. Thus, it is preferable to use a material, such as annealed material, which is excellent in the heat resistance and bending characteristic. By adopting the above structure of the invention, both the demands described above can be easily achieved.
Further, in the cylinder head gasket as stated above, the first metallic material forming the base plate is formed of a spring material, and the second metallic material forming the grommet is formed of an annealed material. The first metallic material forming the base plate can be a stainless steel plate, a spring material plate or the like, and the second metallic material forming the base plate forming the grommet can be an annealed stainless steel plate, a soft steel plate or the like. A combination of the spring plate and the annealed stainless steel plate is most preferable.
In the cylinder head gasket as stated above, spot welding portions are respectively formed in the base plate and the grommet, and spot weldings are applied at portions where the welding portions of the base plates and the grommet are overlapped, so that the grommet is integrally connected to the base plate.
According to this structure, since the grommet and the base plate are connected at the spot welding portions by welding, the portions where the grommet and the base plate are overlapped can be extremely small, so that a weight of the cylinder head gasket can be reduced and a material thereof can be saved.
In this case, it may be structured such that the end portions of the grommet and end portions of the base plate are overlapped in the circumferential areas, and the spot weldings are applied at several points of the overlapped portions. Alternatively, as in the cylinder head gasket used in a cylinder block of an open deck type, a space may be formed between the end portion of the grommet and the end portion of the base plate to obtain a passage for cooling water in a water jacket, and the overlapped portions are formed by the spot welding portions.
Incidentally, although a space between the grommet and the base plate can be welded throughout an entire periphery thereof, it is sufficient to handle the grommet and the base plate as an integral cylinder head gasket. Therefore, in view of reducing a number of working steps and weight of the gasket, it is preferable to connect the grommet and the base plate at the several points by spot welding.
Further, in the cylinder head gasket as stated above, a bead member may be disposed inside the grommet. According to this structure, the bead can be provided in the grommet, and by the elasticity of the bead, the excellent sealing ability can be exhibited. A material of the bead member can be a metallic material which is different from the metallic material of the base plate, or even if the material of the bead member is the same metallic material as that of the base plate, a thickness of the bead or heat history thereof can be changed.
Incidentally, although the aforementioned structures of the invention are especially effective in case a number of the base plate of the metal gasket is two, the same effects can be achieved even if the number of the base plate is one, or more than two including an intermediate plate. Also, a sectional shape and a size of the bead, and the material of the bead member can be adequately selected depending on the required sealing ability.

Cylinder head gasket with different materials


A printer of a type ensuring a rapid and easy shift between a mode for effecting printing onto a continuous form and another mode for printing onto a cut sheet, comprises a delivery unit pivotally supported by a printer body frame. When the delivery unit is held at its first operational position wherein a platen fixed to the same unit is disposed close to a printing head, a continuous form delivered from tractors is further delivered along a continuous form feeding path which forms a flat plane, and printing is performed on the aforementioned platen of the delivery unit. On the other hand, when a cassette is mounted to the printer after the delivery unit is moved downward up to a second operational position, a cut sheet delivered from the cassette is delivered along a cut sheet feeding path which forms the same plane as the aforesaid flat plane, to be printed on a platen fixed to the cassette.

The present invention relates to a printer which is capable of using a selective one of a continuous form and cut sheets with simplified operation, and is simple in construction and low in cost.
A printer for use with a continuous form and cut sheets is publicly known. For instance, a printer disclosed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 61-241176 is provided with tractors for feeding a continuous form and a set of feed rollers for feeding cut sheets, which are respectively disposed along a sheet feeding path. In this printer, the tractors are retreated from the sheet feeding path when the printer is switched from a mode for printing onto the continuous form to another mode for printing onto the cut sheet. Whereupon, the continuous form is cut off by an operator at its portion which is left on a platen common to both the continuous form printing and the cut sheet printing, or is delivered backward manually. In this respect, if the continuous form is cut off to temporally terminate the continuous form printing for effecting the cut sheet printing, it is necessary to connect to continuous form at its disconnected portion. That is, a laborious task is required. The manual backward delivery operation of the continuous form is also troublesome for the operator. To obviate this, there is proposed a printer which operates to automatically deliver the continuous form backward until a particular sheet delivery position at which the leading end of the continuous form is detected by detecting means disposed in facing relation with the sheet feeding path, when a shift is made from the continuous form printing mode to the cut sheet printing mode (Japanese Provisional Patent Publication Nos. 62-119068 and 63-11369, for instance). However, the printer of this kind requires complicated construction and is thus high-priced.

Printer for use with a continuous form and cut sheets


Tools and tool supports in a press which permit a tool changeover operation to be performed quickly and easily are disclosed. A pivot arm is carried on a ram of the press. A punch has an aperture formed therethrough, allowing it to be slidably mounted on the pivot arm. The punch is normally retained by a keeper for use in a first operating position on the pivot arm. The punch may be reversed for use in a second operating position by raising the keeper out of its retaining position and moving the punch along the pivot arm toward a second position. There, the punch can be rotated one hundred eighty degrees about the pivot arm. Then, the punch is moved back to the first position. The keeper automatically retains the reversed punch adjacent to the first support block when the punch is moved back to its original position. To remove the punch from the pivot arm, a retainer pin is removed, allowing one end of the pivot arm to pivot away from the ram. The punch is then removed from the pivot arm, allowing a new punch to be installed thereon. A pivot block assembly supports the workpiece on the base plate when engaged by the tool. The assembly includes a pivot lid having a flat upper surface. The pivot lid is pivotably mounted on the base plate such that the upper surface thereof is pivoted to lie flat against the lower surface of the workpiece when the tool bends the workpiece.

This invention relates in general to tooling for mechanical power press machines and in particular to improved structures for tools and tool supports for such a press which permit a tool changeover operation to be performed quickly and easily.
The mechanical power press is a widely known machine which is frequently used to perform many metal forming operations, such as forming, blanking, and the like. A typical press includes an upper ram, which is secured to a movable slide of the press, and a lower bolster, which is secured to a stationary bed or base of the press. Before using the press, an upper tool, such as a punch or an upper die section, is attached to the ram. Similarly, a lower tool, such as a die or lower die section, is attached to the bolster. A workpiece is then positioned within the press between the tools. When the workpiece is properly positioned, a motor is energized to move the upper tool downwardly toward the lower tool. As a result, the workpiece is engaged therebetween with a predetermined amount of force. The tools are designed to form the workpiece into a desired shape when they are moved together in this manner.
A major problem associated with presses of this type is that a relatively long length of time is usually required to perform a tool changeover operation. Such an changeover operation is necessary when it is desired to form a workpiece into a different shape or when differently shaped workpieces are being formed. The tool changeover operation involves removing the existing upper and lower tools from the press and replacing them with differently shaped tools. The removal and replacement of these tools is a time consuming process and inefficient process, particularly in large presses for forming heavy or bulky workpieces such as side rails for vehicle frames. In these instances, the tools themselves are very large and heavy, and the changeover operation is slowed by the difficulty in handling such tools. It is not uncommon for a changeover operation of this type to consume three to fours hours or more. Accordingly, it would be very desirable to provide tool and tool support structures in such presses which permit the tools to be quickly and easily changed.


Consumer authentication information is associated with an information account stored in a central database, such that access to the information account by the consumer is conditioned upon receipt and verification of the consumer authentication information. A temporary authorization may also be associated with the information account. The temporary authorization has consumer-defined attributes that define access privileges to be granted to a person who presents the temporary authorization along with a request for further access to the information account. The temporary authorization may be transmitted to the consumer for presentation to a third-party of the consumer's choice. Alternately, the temporary authorization may be transmitted to a designated third-party or device on behalf of the consumer.

In many situations, it is necessary or desirable for consumers or others to provide personal information to third parties, such as vendors or service providers, to obtain goods or services, facilitate transactions, or for other purposes. However, providing personal information to third parties, whether in verbal, written or electronic form, can be a tedious, inconvenient and repetitious task. Each time an individual provides personal information to a new recipient, a possibility exists that errors will occur, particularly if the information is conveyed orally. Moreover, when personal information is provided or stored in paper form, it can be burdensome to carry, deliver and/or manage paper files in order to conduct personal and business affairs. In the context of electronic data transactions, such as those conducted over the Internet, consumers are often reluctant to convey personal information due to security concerns. Also, certain aspects of a consumer's personal information (e.g., address, phone number, etc.) may change from time to time, which can cause third party records (paper or electronic) to become inaccurate or out of date. Thus, there is a need for a convenient, less error-prone and more secure system for allowing the consumer the ability to conveniently manage, distribute and update the consumer's information, to ensure that third parties are provided with accurate and up-to-date information, and to prevent unauthorized access to the information.
Furthermore, as information technology and network technology become more prolific, people find themselves repeatedly and manually inputting the same data into different computer systems. For example, consumers may find themselves having to manually input their personal and billing information via each vendor website through which they choose to complete an electronic commerce ("e-commerce") or mobile commerce ("m-commerce") transaction. As the number of secure websites grows, consumers also find themselves having to manage numerous usernames and passwords. Thus, there is a further need for a convenient and secure system for automating the management of consumer information.
Automated or partially automated solutions for managing information historically have largely been localized processes. Using conventional techniques, users are able to create and store data files containing personal information on their personal computers or other client devices, such as personal digital assistants ("PDAs"), pagers, mobile telephones, etc. The data elements in such data files can be shared using specialized applications for filtering data out of the data file and into another application. However, such systems typically require a permanent download of proprietary data management software that might not be compatible among different devices. In addition, the data management software and data files are often stored on only a single personal computer or computerized device. If the personal computer or other computerized device becomes lost or stolen, the user's data may no longer be accessible, and might end up in the possession of another person. If the personal computer or other computerized device crashes, the data can easily be lost.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a more secure, flexible and convenient system for storing information and a method for allowing the user to manage and distribute that information using a personal computer or other network-connected device. There further remains a need for such a system and method that provides central information storage and does not necessarily require a permanent download of proprietary software to a client device for management and distribution of the information. Additionally, there is a need for a mechanism that provides the consumer with a convenient means for making information available to third parties, and for updating the information when necessary or allowing others to update the information on the consumer's behalf.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Consumer-controlled limited and constrained access to a centrally stored information account


Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of tools and techniques for using storyboards in controlling a camera for capturing images, photographs, or video. According to one exemplary technique, at least two storyboards are stored. In addition, at least one storyboard identifier from a camera application is received. Also, using the storyboard identifier, a storyboard of the stored at least two storyboards is retrieved. The retrieved storyboard includes a sequence of control frames for controlling a camera. Additionally, a sequence of image frames is captured at least by controlling a camera using the retrieved storyboard.

As the popularity of digital photography has increased in today's world, various devices have been adapted to incorporate digital cameras for capturing digital photographs. Some traditional digital photography solutions have allowed a user to capture a still photograph by pressing a shutter button to signal a camera to capture the photograph. Also, some solutions have allowed for the capture of consecutive photographs by allowing a user to press a shutter button repeatedly to capture the photographs. Allowing for faster and more complex functionality, in digital photography, has been limited in these traditional solutions, in part, due to speed requirements for sending information, for taking a photograph, to a camera.


Disclosed are embodiments of a manufacturing method that establishes a library of pre-made and pre-qualified masks for patterning different blocks of circuitry that meet established performance and timing requirements. The embodiments of the method use stepped exposures of multiple masks, including at least one mask selected from this library, to pattern a chip design onto a silicon wafer, where the chip design is made up of two or more interconnected blocks of circuitry. Consequently, for a given integrated circuit design, pre-made/pre-qualified mask(s) can be selected from the library to pattern one, some or all blocks of circuitry for the design. Optionally, additional masks can be specially made and qualified to pattern other block(s) of circuitry (e.g., application specific logic) within the design. The blocks of circuitry patterned in this manner can be electrically connected via generic or customized interfaces in order to complete the chip design.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention generally relate to the manufacturing of integrated circuits and, more particularly, to exposure masks used for transferring circuit patterns to an integrated circuit wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuit (IC) design and manufacturing flow in place today is defined and implemented to build masks that define particular chip designs. Specifically, standard practice in the manufacturing industry today is to release a chip design to a mask house that builds a common set of masks that can be used to manufacture that chip design. Improvements over this conventional manufacturing process have generally focused on the development of new masks and exposure techniques and several alternative approaches to the manufacturing process itself have also been proposed and implemented. For example, one approach is to build separate chips for specific functions (e.g., memories, computer processing units, etc.) and to connect those separate chips together on a substrate carrier, such as a multi-chip module (MCM). The MCM approach, however, adds performance penalties, packaging complexities and costs. Other alternative approaches have included the use of different masks to process separate areas of the chip at the same time (e.g., different masks for manufacturing large memory technologies when chip areas exceeded the limits of wafer exposure tool capabilities). The wafer expose tools are capable of aligning different shapes processed using different masks by implementing relaxed overlay rules (e.g., double width wires at overlay boundaries) in order to allow for proper and adequate alignments. Still other alternative approaches having included using multiple reticles on the same chip without the need to reload masks or add additional steps during chip/wafer exposure. Yet another approach is to connect separate intellectual property (IP) logic (i.e., blocks of circuitry designed for specific critical functions) to other circuitry within the chip without need for alignment ground rule relaxation through a low power wireless intra-chip network.
However, as technology geometries decrease to submicron dimensions, the development effort, costs, and qualification efforts for very large and complex designs and risks, increase considerably. For even smaller geometries, the shapes that need to be designed on a mask must have particular characteristics that may differ depending on the surrounding shapes. For example, a rectangular shape may have different dimensions and characteristics depending on the densities surrounding it. This creates a problem in today's manufacturing, even in light of the alternative approaches to manufacturing set out above, and it will be an even greater problem for the advanced leading edge technologies of the future. That is, as integrated circuit dimensions continue to decrease and densities continue to increase, the costs and processing times associated with manufacturing integrated circuits so that they meet required timing and performance standards will continue to rise.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for new development and manufacturing methodologies that will minimize these issues and improve the capability of first time success, while potentially reducing costs and Turn Around Time (TAT). More specifically, there is a need in the art for a middle of the road approach that will result in the performance of a full chip design approach and the yield capability of the MCM approach.

Method of manufacturing integrated circuits using pre-made and pre-qualified exposure masks for selected blocks of circuitry


An image forming apparatus includes temperature sensors that measure temperatures at different locations in the longitudinal direction of a photosensitive drum. The image forming apparatus also includes an image processing circuit configured to change an exposure condition in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum based on measured values obtained by the temperature sensors. A related image forming method includes calculating a temperature at a third location between the first and second location based on the measured temperatures at the first location and the second location, and controlling an exposure condition for exposure at the third location in accordance with image information, including changing the exposure condition for the exposure at the third location based on the calculated temperature at the third location.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as an electrophotographic copier, laser beam printer, or facsimile machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known electrophotographic image forming apparatus that electrostatically forms a toner image on the surface of a photo conductor serving as an image bearing member and electrostatically transfers the image to a recording material (for example, paper) in close contact therewith. In such an image forming apparatus, a conductive transfer roller or corona charger is used as a transfer member.
For example, the transfer member is pressed into contact with or brought in the proximity of a photo conductor, thus forming a transfer portion between the photo conductor and the transfer member. A recording material is passed through the transfer portion and a transfer bias voltage that has an opposite polarity to that of a toner image formed on the photo conductor is applied to the transfer member, thereby transferring the toner image on the photo conductor to the surface of the photo conductor.
Typical examples of the photo conductor for use in the image forming apparatus described above include an organic photo conductor (OPC) and an amorphous silicon photo conductor (hereinafter referred to as an "a-Si photo conductor"). The a-Si photo conductor is used as an electrophotographic photo conductor in, for example, a high-speed copier or laser beam printer because it has a high hardness, exhibits high sensitivity to a semiconductor laser, and also suffers very little degradation caused by repeated use.
The potential decay (dark decay) occurring after the completion of charging when the a-Si photo conductor is used is larger than that occurring when the organic photo conductor is used. It is well known that the potential decay characteristics of the photo conductor have temperature dependence. Therefore, it is well known that an exposure dose varied in consideration of change in potential decay characteristics dependent on the overall temperature of the image forming apparatus can be employed.
However, in known techniques, only overall temperature changes inside the image forming apparatus are considered. In operation of the image forming apparatus, temperature may be distributed inside the image forming apparatus by unbalanced arrangement of heat sources, such as a fixing device and motor, and airflow. As a result, uneven temperature distribution may be produced in the longitudinal direction of the photo conductor. In this case, because the degree of influence of temperature on the potential decay characteristics varies in the longitudinal direction of the photo conductor, even when the exposure dose is adjusted in accordance with the overall temperature of the image forming apparatus, as in known techniques, the photo conductor may not be optimally exposed in the longitudinal direction thereof. This problem is apt to be noticeable in an a-Si photo conductor, which is largely affected by temperature decay characteristics.

Image forming apparatus that measures temperatures at a first location and a second location different from the first location in a longitudinal direction of a photoconductor, and that changes an exposure at a third location between the first and second locations based on respective temperature of or near the surface of the photo conductor at the first and second locations, and corresponding image forming method


The invention provides an optical device having an optical element, a substrate, and a flexible member. A first portion of the flexible member is disposed so as to be spaced from the substrate, a second portion surrounding the first portion is adhered to the substrate, and a closed space is defined between the first portion and the substrate. The optical element is mounted on the substrate within the closed space.

Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-342907, filed on Nov. 10, 2000, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device and method of manufacture thereof and to an electronic instrument that incorporates the optical device.
2. Description of Related Art
An optical device having an optical element, such as a solid state imaging element, is known. In the packaging of a conventional optical device, the optical element is contained within a container, and a hermetic seal or the like is applied, so that the optical element is not exposed to moisture. In this way, a conventional optical device is provided with an expensive container to which a hermetic seal or the like is applied, and therefore tends to have a high cost.
An optical device of the present invention includes:
a substrate;
a flexible member having a first portion disposed so as to be spaced from the substrate, and a second portion surrounding the first portion and adhered to the substrate, in which a closed space is formed between the first portion and the substrate; and
an optical element disposed within the closed space, and mounted on the substrate.
An electronic instrument of the present invention incorporates the above described optical device.
A method of manufacturing an optical device of the present invention includes: mounting an optical element on a substrate; adhering a flexible member to the substrate so as to cover the optical element, to form a closed space between the substrate and the flexible member; and evacuating the closed space.

Optical device and method of manufacture thereof, and electronic instrument


A print control device including a sheet-base printing speed table that indicates a sheet-base printing speed for each printer; a printing time calculation unit that calculates a printing time associated with a print job based on a printing speed corresponding to a sheet used for the print job by referencing the sheet-base printing speed table; and a first display control unit that displays the print job in a predetermined display mode that has a length proportional to the printing time that is calculated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print control device, a print control method, and a program thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, a service called "copy service," "printing service," or the like is known in which a designated document requested by a customer is printed by a designated number of copy sets, and the printed sheets are bound in a designated method and delivered. A printing agency, providing such a service, schedules printing orders received from customers so as to meet the deadline, taking human and material resources into consideration, and then performs printing. Thus, there is a need for a system capable of accurately checking whether scheduled jobs are done as planned and of efficiently executing printing, and such a system has been proposed.
As an example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-149388 discloses a printer control device which solves a problem of a conventional system in that it is difficult to understand the total amount of loads in an entire printing system and a distribution state of the load to respective printers, and which includes a schedule view for displaying a load state of printers within the system in realtime and graphically. Specifically, this printer control device allocates a print job to any of the printers and calculates the time needed for the printer to which the print job is allocated to perform printing. The calculated time is displayed with a predetermined shape having a length proportional to the time. Moreover, the predetermined shapes corresponding to all print jobs which are allocated to the printers and have not been completed are displayed by arranging at regular intervals in the horizontal or vertical direction to thereby show the load states of the respective printers. With this configuration, it is possible to understand the total amount of loads in an entire printing system and a distribution state of the load to respective printers.
However, in the printer control device having the schedule view disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-149388 or the like, several factors that affect calculation of the printing time are not taken into consideration. For example, the printing speed of a printer changes depending on a sheet used for the printing. That is, the printing speed of a printer depends on the thickness, width, and length of a sheet. Specifically, if the thickness of a sheet increases, the printing speed decreases in order to fix toner sufficiently. If the width of a sheet has a predetermined size or smaller, the printing speed decreases in order to prevent overheating of a heat roller. Moreover, if the length of a sheet increases, the printing speed decreases since a sheet conveying length increases. In particular, since various types of sheets are used in the printers used by the printing agency, the effect of a difference in sheet is great. Thus, if some factors that affect the calculation of the printing time are not taken into consideration; a print job in which it is not possible to obtain the information such as the number of pages to print is input; or a factor such as the time needed for changing sheets between print jobs is not taken into consideration, there is a problem in that the calculated printing time is not appropriate.

Print control device, print control method, and program thereof