A logic converter enables a digital logic product to work with either an ECL signal input or a TTL signal input without any need of modifying or reconfiguring the product. In particular, the logic converter converts digital input signals of a first logic type (for example, ECL) to digital output signals of a third logic type (for example, CMOS). It also converts digital input signals of a second logic type (for example, TTL) to digital output signals of the third logic type. A first operational transconductance amplifier circuit including a first differential amplifier using a differential transistor pair of a first conduction type receives digital input signals of the first logic type and converts the digital input signals to digital output signals of the third logic type. A second operational transconductance amplifier circuit including a second differential amplifier using a differential transistor pair of a second conduction type receives digital input signals of the second logic type and converts the digital input signals to digital output signals of the third logic type. Circuitry causes only one of the first differential amplifier and the second differential amplifier to be active at a time depending on which logic type of digital input signal is being received. The circuitry for causing only one differential amplifier to be active includes a first level shifting circuit connected to the first differential amplifier and a second level shifter circuit connected to the second differential amplifier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to logic converters, i.e., circuits for converting digital input signals of one logic type to digital output signals of another logic type. In particular, the invention relates CMOS logic converters for converting digital input signals to CMOS digital output signals.
2. State of the Art
A number of integrated circuit technologies, or logic families, have been developed, each having its own characteristics in terms of speed and power. Emitter-Coupled Logic (ECL) is the fastest logic commercially available in silicon. The speed of ECL is obtained at the price of high power dissipation. Nevertheless, where high-speed computation is a necessity, ECL may be used to advantage. Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology, on the other hand, exhibits very low power dissipation but only moderate speed. CMOS also allows high integration densities to be achieved, making it the preferred technology for Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI). Transistor Transistor Logic (TTL) falls in between ECL and CMOS in terms of speed and power. By changing the values of resistors, a trade off between speed and power may be made.
Logic converters are used to enable integrated circuits of different logic families to be used together. Logic converters are known that convert ECL signals to CMOS signals, as are logic converters that convert TTL signals to CMOS signals. Such logic converters have been embodied in separate parts. Stocking separate parts increases inventory costs.
A need therefore exists for a logic converter to enable a product to work with either an ECL signal input or a TTL signal input without the need of modifying the product or of reconfiguring the product in any way. Such a product could be incorporated in either a high-speed high-performance system (i.e., ECL logic) or a lower-speed lower-cost system (i.e., TTL logic), according to the choice of the user.


An apparatus and method for lyophilization, the apparatus includes a block made from a conductive material. The block has multiple wells dimensioned to receive containers wherein the depth of the wells is proportional to the length of the containers. A silicone pad covers the well and can secure the containers in the well. A metal plate can secure the silicone pad by fastening it to the block. The silicone plate and the metal plate can have vents to allow vapors from the containers to escape. The apparatus can be turned up to 90 degrees resulting in the turning of the containers from an upright position to a horizontal position. The container can be a syringe.

Lyophilization is a well-known process and is universally accepted in many industries including chemical, pharmaceuticals, and food industries. The lyophilized products have certain advantages such as extended shelf-life and stability which makes the process popular. The process of lyophilization has been widely adopted in the pharmaceutical industry and more specifically for formulating the biologicals. Most of the biological preparations are temperature sensitive and thus have a short shelf life. Certain biological formulations, such as vaccines need to be stored at temperatures as low as −70 to −80°C. Equipment to maintain such low temperatures for storage and transportation are often not available. Lyophilized formulations, however, have a less temperature stringent requirement and can be stored at temperatures above 0° C., which can be easily maintained in normal refrigerators. Additionally, the lyophilized formulations have a long shelf life, and the dosage remains within specifications for a longer time. The lyophilized dosage forms can be readily solubilized for easy and dependable administration. Thus, lyophilization is exceptionally well suited for preserving and storing biological preparations because of the stability, extended shelf life, and requiring no refrigeration in transit or storage.
Lyophilization has traditionally been performed in containers, such as vials and ampules. Lyophilization is also performed directly in the syringe, and the lyophilized medication can be stored in the same syringe. However, convection and radiation are the common methods for heat transfer in the lyophilization process directly in injection syringes. Both convection and radiation are slow processes and lead to non-uniform heating in a batch of syringes being lyophilized. Vials on the other hand can be heated by combined conduction, convection, and radiation. Still, the heating of the vials is non-uniform. Presently, a typical radiation heat transfer is responsible for higher sublimation rates for vials or syringes located at the front and sides of an array. It is common for a batch to have fully mature hard product cake at the edges of the pan while the center of the batch is soft and raw.
Lyophilized pharmaceuticals in the syringe directly are stable and have a long shelf life. Moreover, it reduces the labor in preparation of the injections from vials. Also, wastage is reduced, and accurate dose can be administered. For administration, a diluent can be added to the syringe for reconstitution of the lyophilized product, and the medication can be administered from the syringe to the patient. As vaccines provided in multidose vials wane in demand and the single-dose vaccine becomes more preferred, lyophilized medicines are uniquely positioned by not requiring the burden of ultra-low temperature freezing on both shipment and storage at the destination.
Considering the increasing use of lyophilization in industry, a desire is always there for making the lyophilization process more efficient or reducing the product lyophilization cycle timeline, thus also making the process economical.


A coin validator is arranged to sample the outputs of electromagnetic sensors in order to derive measurements for use in testing coins. Frequency measurements are made by counting a predetermined number of oscillator cycles, terminating the sample period in response to this count being reached, and taking into account the duration of the sampling period and the number of cycles of the oscillator during the sampling period, including any cycles which may have occurred following the predetermined number. The predetermined number is altered in order to change the sampling period.

It is known to validate coins by monitoring the outputs of a plurality of sensors each responsive to different characteristics of the coin, and determining that a coin is valid only if all the sensors produce outputs indicative of a particular coin denomination. Often, this is achieved by deriving from the sensors particular values indicative of specific parts of the sensor signal. For example, an electromagnetic sensor may form part of an oscillator, and the frequency of the oscillations may vary as a coin passes a sensor. In some arrangements, the peak value of the frequency variation is used as a parameter indicative of certain coin characteristics, and this value is compared with respective ranges each associated with a different coin denomination.
The peak frequency value is often obtained by taking successive samples of the output of the oscillator, and counting the number of cycles within each sample. The coin validator may have a microprocessor-based control circuit, and the microprocessor may be used for this counting operation in addition to other functions, such as checking that the measurements of the coin correspond to those of a valid coin.
FIG. 2 shows one prior art counting technique. The oscillator output is represented by successive cycles 1, 2, 3 . . . n of a waveform. At the leading edge of the first cycle, a timer is started. This measures a predetermined interval T, which may for example be 1mS. A second timer is also started at the same instant. Also, a counter starts to count the cycles of the waveform.
When the first timer has timed the predetermined period T, the microprocessor monitors the input waveform until the beginning of the next leading edge. At that point, the second timer is stopped, and the counter is also stopped. Assuming that the second timer has reached a value of t and the counter has reached the value n, the input frequency is given by n/t.
The use of the first counter ensures that the sample time is always approximately equal to T irrespective of the input frequency, and therefore cannot occupy an unduly long period, which would cause problems to other aspects of the validator operation.
In the alternative prior art arrangements shown in FIG. 3, a first timer is started at an arbitrary time and measures a predetermined period T. A second timer is started at the same time, and measures the period e.sub.1 to the leading edge of the next pulse. A counter is also started, for counting the cycles of the oscillator. When the first timer reaches the predetermined time T, a further timer measures the period e.sub.2 from the end of that period to the beginning of the next leading edge. The counter is then stopped.
In this arrangement, the frequency of the oscillator is given by n/(T-e.sub.1 +e.sub.2).
In both these arrangements, the timers operate at clock rates much higher than that of the frequency being measured, and both arrangements allow for precise measurement of frequency. However, each requires a plurality of timers, and each requires the processor to monitor the input waveform for the precise time at which the final leading edge is present.
The predetermined time period T is chosen to provide a compromise between a relatively accurate measurement, requiring a long sample time, and speed of operation, which may be crucial if the microprocessor has to perform other tasks at the same time.

Method and apparatus for validating coins


The present invention provides a smoke-free ESD protection structure used in integrated circuit devices. A JFET or n-channel MOS transistor is coupled between an I/O pad, and a transistor and diode, wherein the JFET or n-channel MOS transistor limits the current flowing through the diode and transistor to prevent the integrated circuit device from heating up and catching on fire or smoke during the smoke test. Moreover, the integrated circuit device will not be damaged by the smoke test.

In applications where the input voltage is high, integrated circuit devices may need to pass a "smoke test". During the test, each input or output (I/O) pin of the integrated circuit device is connected to a high DC voltage, and if the device does not catch fire or smoke, then that particular pin passes the test.
Conventionally, ESD protection structures are used in integrated circuit devices to protect circuitry from being damaged due to electrical static discharge experienced at the I/O pins of the device. A prior ESD protection structure is illustrated in FIG. 1. It comprises a Zener diode D1, a NPN bipolar transistor Q1 and a resistor R1, connected as shown in the figure. The I/O pad and the ground (GND) pad are respectively coupled to the I/O pin and the GND pin.
FIG. 2 is a waveform of the ESD protection structure shown in FIG. 1. The voltage between the I/O pad and GND pad (V) will almost be clamped at a voltage equaling to the breakdown voltage Vbr1 of the Zener diode D1 plus the base to emitter voltage Vbe of transistor Q1. If for a short duration, an ultra-high electrical static voltage, which may be thousands of volts or even higher, is applied between the I/O pin and the GND pin, this clamp voltage is low enough to protect the internal circuitry of the device. However, if the I/O pin is shorted to a DC input voltage (VIN) pin which receives a high voltage during operation, the device will heat up and likely catch fire or smoke due to the high current flowing through the ESD protection structure. Thus, the I/O pin will likely fail the smoke test.
One solution is coupling a metal fuse between the I/O pad and the ESD structure, as shown in FIG. 3. When the I/O pin is shorted to the VIN pin, the fuse will blow to disconnect the ESD structure from the I/O pad. Thus, the device is prevented from over heating and catching on fire or smoking. However, since the fuse is blown, the device is damaged and can not be further used. Furthermore, the metal fuse is unreliable since its width is very narrow and its breakdown current may widely vary.

Smoke-free ESD protection structure used in integrated circuit devices


A method and apparatus (70) is provided for estimating blur degradation of an image (75) that includes a specular highlight. A specular highlight in the image is first identified (77), for example with user assistance. A blur kernel is then derived by extracting (78A) the identified specular highlight as foreground from the image (75) and using the extracted foreground as the blur kernel (78C). The image (75) can then be deblurred by deconvolution (79) with the derived blur kernel.

Image restoration is the process of estimating an image from a corrupted image that has undergone some degradation such as blur or additive noise. To perform any sort of image restoration, knowledge of the degradation process is required. In the absence of information about the imaging system that was used to capture a given degraded image, the degradation has to be estimated directly from the degraded image itself; this type of estimation is known as blind estimation.
Blur degradation of an image is typically modelled as the interaction of the un-degraded image with a blurring function called the blur kernel, the form of this interaction being, for example, expressed as the convolution, in the spatial domain, of the blur kernel with the pixels of the un-degraded image.
Previous approaches to blind estimation of blur degradation typically assume frequency domain constraints on images or a simplified parametric form for the blur kernel shape. However, real-world blurs are usually much more complicated, often contain high frequency components and only rarely can be accommodated by functions that contain a small number of parameters. For example, although the blur kernels that are induced by camera shake are complicated and may contain convoluted paths, motion is often assumed to be linear (i.e., the blur kernel is characterized solely by angle and size). Similarly while focal blur is often modelled as a simple circular disk or a low frequency Fourier component (e.g., a normalized Gaussian function), in practice the blur kernel shape is far more elaborate and may contain sharp edges.
Several blur estimation methods have been proposed in the literature which are based on the estimation of the blur function from a degraded ideal step-edge (for example, see the paper: "Blind Restoration of Atmospherically Degraded Images by Automatic Best Step-Edge Detection" O. Shacham, O. Haik and Y. Yitzaky). Usually the ideal step-edge is a high contrast straight edge that is long enough so that noise will be averaged over a large area; high contrast and straight edges are sought because they yield better signal to noise ratio and because they are common and relatively reliable for analysis. From each such degraded ideal step-edge it is then possible to estimate the projection of the blur kernel in the direction of the considered edge. Unfortunately, even if several edges running in different directions are taken into account, it is very difficult to derive the blur kernel accurately.

Estimating blur degradation of an image using specular highlights

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Crosstalk between a drive coil and a primary feedback coil is eliminated by positioning a secondary feedback coil in proximity with the drive coil for contamination by the crosstalk to the same extent as the primary feedback coil, and by processing feedback signals generated by the feedback coils to cancel the crosstalk. The drive coil is used to oscillate a scan mirror employed in an image projection arrangement or an electro-optical reader.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to monitoring the motion of a scan mirror employed for sweeping a light beam in electro-optical readers for reading indicia such as bar code symbols, or in image projectors for displaying images and, more particularly, to reducing crosstalk in a feedback signal indicative of such mirror motion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electro-optical readers are well known in the art for electro-optically transforming a spatial pattern of graphic indicia, known as a symbol, into a time-varying electrical signal which is then decoded into data. Typically, a light beam generated from a light source is focused by a lens along an optical path toward a target that includes the symbol. The light beam is repetitively swept along a scan line or a series of scan lines arranged in a raster pattern over the symbol by moving a scan mirror located in the optical path. A photodetector detects light scattered or reflected from the symbol and generates an analog electrical signal. Electronic circuitry converts the analog signal into a digitized signal having pulse widths corresponding to physical widths of bars and spaces comprising the symbol, and a decoder decodes the digitized signal into data descriptive of the symbol.
The repetitive sweeping of the light beam is performed by a drive, typically a motor having a rotor oscillatable about an axis. A permanent magnet and the scan mirror are jointly oscillatable with the rotor. The motor is driven by a drive coil wound on a bobbin that is located physically close to the permanent magnet. A feedback coil is also wound on the same bobbin. In response to an alternating voltage drive signal applied to the drive coil, the electromagnetic field produced by the drive coil interacts with the permanent magnetic field of the magnet, thereby jointly moving the magnet and the mirror. The frequency of the drive signal in the drive coil is the same as the rotor motion, with one cycle of the drive signal corresponding to one cycle of rotor motion. The amplitude of the drive signal in the drive coil is proportional to the velocity of the rotor motion. The polarity of the drive signal in the drive coil is dependent on the direction of rotor motion such that a positive half cycle of the drive signal indicates that the rotor is moving in one drive direction, and a negative half cycle indicates that the rotor is moving in the opposite drive direction. Zero crossings of the drive signal occur when the rotor reaches its maximum travel at each end of a respective scan line. At each zero crossing, the rotor stops for an instant and reverses drive direction.
The feedback coil is useful for a variety of purposes. It generates an alternating voltage signal, known as a feedback signal, due to the movement of the magnet. The frequency and polarity of the feedback signal generated in the feedback coil corresponds to the frequency and polarity of the drive signal. An electrical drive monitoring circuit is often employed to monitor the amplitude of the feedback signal and, for example, turn the light source off if the amplitude falls below a predetermined threshold, thereby indicating that the drive is malfunctioning. An electrical closed loop control circuit is also often employed to process the feedback signal to make decisions about how to continue driving the motor. Still another electronic circuit that is often employed processes the zero crossings of the feedback signal to derive a start-of-scan (SOS) signal that represents rotor motion and is used to synchronize the scan lines.
Although generally satisfactory for its intended purpose, the use of the feedback coil for monitoring for drive failure, for driving the drive motor, and for generating the SOS signal causes problems. There is undesirable magnetic coupling or crosstalk between the drive and feedback coils. To remove such unwanted coupled signals and the resulting noise and distortion, electronics are usually added to actively cancel the coupled signals, and filtering is necessary to ensure control loop stability. Since filtering introduces phase delays, the SOS signal will never represent the true position of a beam spot of the scanning light beam relative to the leading bars and spaces in a target symbol. This problem is solved in the art by adding and adjusting electronics to advance or delay the SOS signal depending on the type of motor used. The art has also proposed the use of optical feedback circuits. In addition, when the feedback coil is coupled to the drive coil, an annoying buzzing sound is sometimes generated.
Another arrangement, other than a symbol reader, that repetitively scans a light beam in a raster pattern over a target is an image projector for projecting an image on a display surface, for example, a screen. Typically, one or more energizable lasers of different wavelengths project respective laser beams toward the screen, while an oscillating drive sweeps the beams in scan lines over the screen. Usually, a pair of scan mirrors is employed to sweep the beams in mutually orthogonal directions. The lasers are energized and deenergized during each sweep to create a bit-mapped image on the screen for viewing. As in the case of readers, at least one of these scan mirrors is oscillated by a drive which includes a motor having feedback and drive coils, as described above, with their attendant problems of cross-coupled signals, extra hardware, phase delays and annoying sounds. Crosstalk is a more severe problem in image projectors, because the motion or velocity of the scan mirror and, hence, of each scan line swept by the scan mirror must be very highly controlled to be a constant value for both right-to-left and left-to-right scan lines. Otherwise, the projected image will be degraded.

Monitoring scan mirror motion in electro-optical readers and image projectors


An additively manufactured component is provided. The additively manufactured component includes an additively manufactured first part defining a first trench, an additively manufactured second part defining a second trench and a fiber optic sensor. The additively manufactured first and second parts are additively manufactured together with the first and second trenches corresponding in position such that the additively manufactured first and second parts form an assembled part with a fiber channel cooperatively defined by the first and second trenches. The fiber optic sensor includes a first sensor part embedded in the fiber channel and a second sensor part operably coupled to the first sensor part and extendible at an exterior of the assembled part.

The following description relates to heat exchangers and, more particularly, to heat exchanger components with embedded sensors that are assembled by way of additive manufacturing such as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) or other three-dimensional (3D) printing methods.
Monitoring performance or conditions inside certain devices can be challenging. For example, determining temperatures inside gas turbine engines often require that special temperature sensors, which can survive in very high temperature and high pressure environments be used but those types of features can be expensive and often require that additional structural supports be built inside the devices. Moreover, the specialized sensors and their associated structures can have poor reliability characteristics.

Method of additively manufacturing a heat exchanger component with embedded sensor


A cartridge containing aromatic constituents is inserted to an efficacious constituent supply apparatus which is embedded in a door. An insertion slot of the cartridge is formed on a matching surface of the door trim, the surface facing an side surface of an instrument panel. BY forming the insertion slot on the matching surface of the door trim, the insertion slot can be concealed when the door is closed and thus the appearance of the efficacious constituent supply apparatus can be enhanced. In addition, the insertion slot is exposed when the door is opened, working efficiency upon changing the cartridge is not impaired.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an efficacious constituent supply apparatus for supplying efficacious constituents.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been proposed supply apparatuses in which vortex rings of aromatic constituents (efficacious constituents) are projected toward an occupant in order to maintain a good environment within a passenger compartment of a vehicle (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-282085). Since the apparatuses allow aromatic constituents to be supplied locally, it becomes possible to decrease the usage of aromatic constituents. The supply apparatus according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-282085 has a plurality of containers in which aromatic constituents are enclosed, and is designed to enhance the satisfaction of a user by switching types of efficacious constituents.
However, the installment of a plurality of containers and valves in the supply apparatus to switch and provide efficacious constituents causes an increase in size and cost of the supply apparatus. Therefore, a supply apparatus is under consideration that encloses efficacious constituents in a cartridge and switches the efficacious constituents by changing the cartridge. For the supply apparatus of this type changing the cartridge, an insertion slot of the cartridge needs to be provided at the supply apparatus. However, the exposed insertion slot impairs the appearance of the supply apparatus.

Efficacious constituent supply apparatus


In one embodiment, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a printed circuit board (PCB). The apparatus also includes a first dual stacked octal small format pluggable (OSFP) module coupled to the PCB on a top surface of the PCB. The first dual stacked OSFP module comprises two OSFP modules that are vertically stacked. The apparatus further includes a second dual stacked OSFP module coupled to the PCB on a bottom surface of the PCB. The second dual stacked OSFP module comprises two OSFP modules that are vertically stacked. A first bottom of the first dual stacked OSFP module is flush against the top surface of the PCB. A second bottom of the second dual stacked OSFP is flush against the bottom surface of the PCB.

Network elements, such as switches, routers, hubs, servers (e.g., rackmount servers) may include a chassis with one or more slots. Network devices (e.g., network components), such as line cards, control cards, etc., may be inserted into the slots. The network elements may perform various functions that may be used during the operation of the network element. For example, a switch may include multiple line cards that are inserted into multiple slots in the chassis of the switch. Each of the line cards may be coupled to other network elements (e.g., to ports of other switches), to other line cards within the same network element, and/or to different networks. Each network device may be coupled to a fabric of the network element via one or more connectors inside the chassis of the network element. For example, each network device may include a connector that may be coupled to another connector on a fabric or a mid-plane of the network element. The fabric may allow the different network devices to communicate data with each other. For example, the fabric may allow data received from a first port of a first line card to be communicated (e.g., routed) to a second port of a second line card.

Network devices and network elements with stacked octal small format pluggable modules


A quick-disconnect lug for transporting cartons along the conveyor of a cartoning machine. The lug includes a base member for attachment to studs extending from the endless chain of the conveyor. The base member preferably has a pair of slots or recesses extending upwardly from its bottom edge for receiving the studs. A latch member is pivotally attached to the base member and includes a hooked end that acts to firmly engage one of the studs in a slot to lock the lug onto the conveyor chain. A spring member on the latch arm keeps the hooked end in a normally closed position to retain the hooked stud in a locked position. The pivot point of the latch member is positioned between the lever end and the hooked end of the spring member. The lever end may be moved downwardly to pivot the hooked end of the spring member out of the recess to allow a stud to be engaged or disengaged from the recess during machine set-up or changeover. Lugs are reset quickly and without tools. The quick disconnect apparatus can be used to secure various devices onto chains with extending studs.

This invention generally relates to an apparatus for securing attachments to chains and more specifically to apparatus for securing lugs used in cartoning machines to conveyor chains to position and carry cartons travelling through the cartoning machine.
Cartoning machines to which the present invention is applied have been used in the packaging industry for many years. Typically, these cartoning machines feed flat folded carton blanks from a magazine, one at a time, onto a conveyor which carries them to a fill station. The carton blank includes upper and lower major walls interconnected by leading and trailing side walls and are erected, as they are fed and conveyed, into a tubular rectangular form with the axis of the tube oriented transversely to the machine direction, When the carton is erected, it is typically captured between a leading transport lug mounted on an endless conveyor chain and a trailing transport lug mounted on another endless conveyor chain. The two endless conveyor chains carry the lugs and erected carton downstream for further processing, i.e., filling, closing and sealing the cartons.
Examples of such cartoning machines are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,514 to Jones and entitled PROGRESSIVE CARTON HANDLING MECHANISM FOR CARTONING MACHINES and U.S. Pat. No. 3,476,024 to Deering et al. and entitled APPARATUS FOR ERECTING CARTONS. In FIGS. 18 and 19 Jones shows transport lugs 12 for capturing and carrying cartons 230 along the conveyor 11 of the cartoning machine. Deering et al. show the use of transport lugs 51, 53 to erect and carry cartons 22 along a conveyor chain 48.
Although neither of the above-mentioned patents disclose the specific fastening method of attaching the transport lugs to the conveyor chain of the cartoning machine, typically conventional fastening means such as pins, rivets, bolts, etc. have been used to make the attachment between each transport lug and its associated conveyor chain. For example, the lugs are frequently pinned to the chains via extended chain link pins. When it is desired to change over the cartoning machine to a different size carton, the transport lugs are moved toward or away from each other via relative motion of the independent carrying chains to accommodate smaller or larger cartons. Such adjustment, however, is limited by the original lug spacing and it is frequently necessary to detach the lugs from the chains and to remount them. Thus, one problem associated with such transport lugs has been the necessarily long changeover time required when initially setting the cartoning machine up for a specifically sized carton or during changeover from one size carton to another.
More specifically, during such set up and/or changeover, it is necessary to remove the transport lugs and change their relative positions along the length of the respective conveyor chains to create pockets between adjacent lugs which accommodate cartons of a specific size. In other words, the pocket between adjacent transport lugs which receives an erected carton blank must be sized during setup of the machine to snugly receive a carton blank by adjusting the spacing between adjacent lugs forming the pocket.
The setup operation during which transport lugs are attached to the conveyor chain to form uniformly sized and spaced pockets has typically been a very time consuming process since each transport lug must be attached to the conveyor chain with a typical fastener such as a pin, rivet or bolt. This setup time involves significant labor costs and machine down time thereby increasing the overall cost associated with using such a cartoning machine.
Accordingly, it has been an object of the present invention to provide improved transport lugs which can easily and quickly be changed or reset to reduce the labor cost and machine down time associated with carton size setup and changeover of cartoning machines.

Quick-disconnect lug for a cartoning machine


An optical information recording medium has an optical information recording layer and a carrier for carrying said recording layer. The recording layer contains at least one organic dye represented by a formula: ##STR1## where R is a substituted or nonsubstituted phenylene group or naphthylene group, L is a methyne-based group, and Y is an unsaturated organic group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information recording medium subjected to information write or read access with a laser, especially a semiconductor laser.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional optical disk, optically detectable pits (e.g., a size of about 1 .mu.m) are formed in a thin recording layer on a substrate to allow high-density recording of information in spiral or concentric tracks. In order to write information on such a disk, a laser spot formed on a laser-sensitive layer is scanned to form pits on only the irradiated surface portions. In this case, the pits are formed in a spiral or concentric form. The laser-sensitive layer (recording layer) absorbs laser energy and allows formation of optically detectable pits. For example, in a heat mode write system, a recording layer absorbs laser energy and an irradiated portion is locally heated and subjected to physical changes such as melting/evaporation or coagulation so as to cause an optical difference (e.g., reflectance or absorbance) between the irradiated and nonirradiated portions. Information can be read out by detecting such physical changes.
Examples of the conventional optical recording layer materials are a thin metal film (e.g., an aluminum deposition film), a thin bismuth film, or a thin tellurium film, and an inorganic material such as a chalcogenide-based amorphous glass film. These materials have advantages in that a thin film can be prepared by deposition, sputtering, or the like and has an absorption property in the near-infrared range so as to allow use of a semiconductor laser. However, these materials have disadvantages such as high reflectances, high heat conductances, and high specific heat values. In particular, the high reflectance disables effective utilization of laser energy. Laser energy required for recording must have a high level, and a large-capacity laser source must be used. As a result, the recording apparatus is undesirably bulky and expensive. Furthermore, thin tellurium, bismuth and selenium films are undesirably toxic.
Under these circumstances, extensive studies have been recently made to develop optical memory media using thin dye films as recording layers since dyes provide a wide variety of absorbances, have large absorbances and small heat conductivities, and are easy to prepare and nontoxic. Typical examples of the dye are a cyanine dye (Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 58-112790), an anthraquinone dye (Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 58-224448), a naphthoquinone dye (Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 58-224793), and a phthalocyanine dye (Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 60-48396). These dyes may be used singly, mixed with a self-oxidizable resin, or used in the form of a composition obtained by chemically bonding such a dye to a self-oxidizable resin. The dye material is applied to a substrate by a spinner coating/dipping method, a plasma method, or a vacuum deposition method to prepare an optical recording medium. The thin dye film has the above-mentioned advantages. In particular, the cyanine dye can have a structure for absorbing near-infrared rays and has high solvent solubility and low melting point. Therefore, the cyanine dye has received a great deal of attention.
However, the conventional dyes as described above are subjected to degradation by light, instability against heat, and degradation by humidity. These dyes are thus regarded as posing problems on reservation for long periods of time and read operation stability (stability with respect to read light). Various proposals for solving these problems have been presented. For example, a protective film is formed on the recording layer (Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) Nos. 55-22961 and 57-66541); an antifading material is mixed with the conventional dye (Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 59-557,795); and a metal complex having absorbance in the range of long wavelengths is mixed in the conventional dye to prepare a recording layer (Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 59-215892). These proposals, however, cannot completely solve the problems as described above. These additives undesirably reduce a film formation property, a reflectance, and an absorbance.
Under these circumstances, a coating type recording medium using a cyanine dye represented by the following general formula has received a great deal of attention in favor of a high recording density and a reflectance: ##STR2## wherein A is O, S, Se, or C; X is a halogen anion, e.g., BF.sub.4.sup.- or ClO.sub.4.sup.- ; and R is an alkyl group.
The film formation property and thermal/optical stability of the cyanine dye represented by the above general formula are essentially unsatisfactory. As to the film formation property, an increase in the number (n) of methine chains degrades solubility of the cyanine dye in a solvent. Solubility of the dye is changed according to the types of heterocyclic moieties at both ends and the types of substituent. As to thermal/optical stability, an increase in the number of methine chains causes instability against heat and light and oxidative degradation of the dye. Thermal/optical stability is known to vary according to the types of heterocyclic moieties.


A method for adjusting an instant messaging control mechanism can include the steps of determining a control setting for an instant messaging control mechanism based upon a calendar application entry, and responsive to the determining step, automatically adjusting the instant messaging control mechanism to the control setting. In one embodiment, the determining step can be performed by a calendar application to which the calendar application entry corresponds and can be performed responsive to a calendar event. In a further embodiment, the calendar application can establish a time at which the control setting is to be adjusted. The adjusting step can occur at approximately the established time, where the calendar event can occur in advance of the established time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of instant messaging and, more particularly, to automatically controlling instant messaging settings based on calendar application entries.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional instant messaging (IM) systems provide a means of conducting electronic conversations between two or more computing device users with the immediacy of a spoken conversation. Instant messaging systems provide a manually configurable control mechanism that permits users to adjust their availability to other users. This control mechanism can indicate that a user is Off Line, Away from Desk, At Lunch, In a Meeting, Available, and the like. The control mechanisms can also block one or more incoming messages, automatically reply to incoming messages with a pre-configured response, and can remove a user from a colleague's list of IM contacts. Further, the control mechanisms can be specifically applied to all IM users, to a user category, or to one or more specified users.
While these control mechanisms can be very useful, conventional implementations of these control mechanisms require users to manually enable and disable the settings. The manual nature of the control mechanisms leads to users forgetting to make setting adjustments, thereby causing users to falsely indicate their communication availability. For example, an IM user can be in a meeting, where the user doesn't wish to receive IM messages for the duration of the meeting, yet that user can forget to turn off their availability to messages. Conversely, the user can remember to turn off availability at the start of a meeting, but forget to turn their availability back on when the meeting concludes. This general problem, inherent in manual control mechanisms, can manifest itself in many different scenarios, where a user inadvertently establishes an incorrect state for IM communications through forgetfulness.

Controlling instant messaging settings based on calendar application entries

International Business Machines Corporation


The backlight unit may include a plurality of optical assemblies, which each include a light emitting module having a substrate, a plurality of light emitting devices on a top surface of the substrate, and a connector provided on a bottom surface of the substrate and electrically connected to a power supply unit. The optical assembly may also include a light guide plate including a first part to receive the light and a second part to output the light through a top surface. The optical assembly may also include a side cover that may fix the light emitting module and a portion of the first part. The side cover may have a plurality of connector holes.

1. Field
Embodiments may relate to an optical assembly, a backlight unit having an optical assembly, and/or a display apparatus thereof.
2. Background
A light emitting diode (LED) may constitute a light emitting source by using GaAs, AlGaAs, GaN, InGaN, and InGaAlP-based compound semiconductor materials.
An LED may be packaged so as to be used as a light emitting device that emits lights having various colors. The light emitting device may be used as a light source in various products such as a lighting indicator, a character indicator, and/or an image indicator.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optical assembly, backlight unit having the same, and display apparatus thereof


A polarizer includes a substrate; a plurality of metal lines on the substrate, the plurality of metal lines each having a first width and a first height and being spaced apart from and parallel to each other with a first gap therebetween; and a hydrophobic coating layer on the metal line. The polarizer may be directly formed on the substrate, allowing for manufacture of light-weight and thin film structure of display device.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a polarizer and a display device including the polarizer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some display devices display images using an element that is capable of emitting light. Among this type of display devices, flat panel display devices are widely used today. One representative example is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device.
The LCD device includes at least a pair of electric-field generating electrodes, a liquid crystal layer interposed between a pair of substrates, and a polarizer for polarizing light that is incident to the liquid crystal layer. Upon applying voltage to the electric-field generating electrode of the LCD device, an electric-field is generated over the liquid crystal layer, such that orientation of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer may be determined and polarization of the incident light may be controlled. Accordingly, images may be displayed on the LCD device.
In general, the polarizers are separately manufactured apart from a substrate, and then attached to the substrate. However, in order to realize a light-weight and thin film structure of display devices, there have been attempts to form the polarizer directly on the substrate.
It is to be understood that this background of the technology section is intended to provide useful background for understanding the technology and as such disclosed herein, the technology background section may include ideas, concepts or recognitions that were not part of what was known or appreciated by those skilled in the pertinent art prior to a corresponding effective filing date of subject matter disclosed herein.

Polarizer and display device comprising the same


A method, system, and computer program product for using a personal communication device as a microphone in a seminar or conference setting. A client is electrically connected to a PA system and one of many hosts can access the PA system by associating with the client. The association can be transferred by the client or the host. Tokens can be generated for each transfer and a map can be created and stored.

1. Field
The presently claimed invention relates generally to communication systems, and more specifically to a method, system, and computer program product for using a personal communication device, such as a mobile phone, as a public address microphone in a local area network.
2. Background
During a seminar or conference, one or more speakers give out speeches to the audience in a conference or lecture hall. Usually, a cordless/corded microphone is used during such speeches. The speakers would rotate the microphone to the next speaker. Also, if anyone in the audience has questions or comments, a microphone is rotated amongst the audience. At times, meeting coordinators end up running around to hand over microphones to the audience and/or speakers. In the alternative, several microphones are located in the audience area and they are manually activated for speakers based on the closest microphone to the chosen speaker. Thus, a system is necessary to simplify the process and to avoid the use of specific microphone devices and use devices that most users already have in their possession to replace and use in lieu of the specific microphone devices.

Sharing public addressing system using personal communication devices in an ad-hoc network


A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly. The method comprises: forming a comb having a plurality of electrode contacts, wherein the surface of at least one of the electrode contacts comprises a plurality of indentations such that the effective surface area per area unit of a center region of the at least one electrode contact is larger than the effective surface area per area unit of the of the region of the surface outside the center region; assembling an array of electrode contacts from the comb; molding a carrier member about the assembled array of electrode contacts, wherein a surface of the at least one electrode contact is covered by a layer of the carrier member material; and removing the layer of carrier member material on the surface of the at least one electrode contact.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrically stimulating medical devices having electrode contacts, and more particularly to manufacturing an electrode assembly having contoured electrode contact surfaces.
2. Related Art
A variety of implantable medical devices have been proposed to deliver controlled electrical stimulation to a region of a subject's body to achieve a therapeutic effect. Such devices, generally referred to herein as electrically-stimulating medical devices, include muscle or tissue stimulators, brain stimulators (deep brain stimulators, cortical stimulators, etc.), cardiac pacemakers/defibrillators, functional electrical stimulators (FES), spinal cord stimulators (SCS), pain stimulators, electrically-stimulating hearing prostheses, etc. Such electrically-stimulating medical devices include one or more electrode contacts which deliver electrical stimulation signals to the subject (commonly referred to as a patient, recipient, etc.; "recipient" herein). In addition, the electrically-stimulating medical devices may also include one or more electrode contacts to monitor and/or measure a particular biological activity, sometimes broadly referred to as sensors.
Electrically-stimulating hearing prostheses are typically used to treat sensorineural hearing loss. Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when there is damage to the inner ear, or to the nerve pathways from the inner ear to the brain. As such, those suffering from some forms of sensorineural hearing loss are thus unable to derive suitable benefit from hearing prostheses that generate mechanical motion of the cochlea fluid. Such individuals may benefit from electrically-stimulating hearing prostheses that deliver electrical stimulation to nerve cells of the auditory system. As used herein, a recipient's auditory system includes all sensory system components used to perceive a sound signal, such as hearing sensation receptors, neural pathways, including the auditory nerve and spiral ganglion, and the regions of the brain used to sense sounds. Electrically-stimulating hearing prostheses include, but are not limited to, auditory brain stimulators and cochlear implants.
Cochlear implants are often utilized when a recipient's sensorineural hearing loss is due to the absence or destruction of the cochlear hair cells which transduce acoustic signals into nerve impulses. Cochlear implants generally include an electrode assembly implanted in the cochlea. The electrode assembly includes a plurality of electrode contacts which deliver electrical stimulation signals to the auditory nerve cells, thereby bypassing absent or defective hair cells. The electrode contacts of the electrode assembly differentially activate auditory neurons that normally encode differential pitches of sound.
Auditory brain stimulators are often proposed to treat a smaller number of individuals with bilateral degeneration of the auditory nerve. For such recipients, an auditory brain stimulator comprises an electrode assembly implanted in the cochlear nucleus of the brainstem. The electrode contacts of the electrode assembly provide electrical stimulation signals directly to the cochlear nucleus.

Manufacturing an electrode assembly having contoured electrode contact surfaces


The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising an effective amount of vitamin C, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin D3, garlic, and Echinacea to treat bacterial and/or viral infections, and a method for treating bacterial and/or viral infections by orally administering the composition to a patient effective to reduce the symptoms of bacterial and/or viral infections such as colds and influenza.

To treat bacterial infections a variety of antibiotic drugs are available. However, the over-prescription of antibiotics over the past half century gives rise to antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, such as superbugs (1). More than 400 different viruses are known to cause human diseases. These diseases include, for example, the common cold, influenza, cold sores (Herpes Type 1), genital herpes (Type 2), norovirus, mononucleosis, shingles, hepatitis, dengue, West Nile fever, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Hantavirus, Ebola, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), especially in the cases of the common cold and influenza, rapid mutations make it difficult for the body immune system to identify and react to the invading viruses quickly (1). For viral infections in general, and upper respiratory viral infections in particular, effective drugs to hinder reproduction of the infectious agents are much less available. Prescription of anti-flu drugs currently available may reduce the duration of flu by about a day but in many cases do not reduce complications such as pneumonia, and often viruses are resistant to the drugs. As an alternative to conventional pharmaceuticals for treating bacterial or viral infection, interest has grown in the use of certain food supplements for enhancing or stimulating the immune system in the human body (2).
One object of the present invention is to use an alternative composition to enhance or stimulate the immune system of the human body, thus to aid the body's ability to self-repair.
Wellness can be achieved with behavioral and lifestyle modifications utilizing multimodal approaches. For example, with a proper diet, especially vegetables, exercise, and botanical alternatives, this approach strives to improve the physical and emotional wellness of patients. The present inventor has identified certain alternatives, including nutritional and natural mineral supplements as safe and effective alternatives.
The inclusion of prevention and wellness management by physicians as a standard of a patient care will decrease the amount of prescription drugs, hospitalizations, and surgeries. A reduction in prescription drugs and surgeries will result in a substantial decrease in medical errors and will contribute significantly in lowering the cost of health care.
It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide an alternative composition for treating bacterial or viral infection in a patient, the alternative composition comprising an effective amount of vitamin C, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin D3, garlic and Echinacea; and a method for treating bacterial or viral infection in a patient by orally administering the composition to the patient effective to reduce the symptoms of bacterial and/or viral infections such as colds and influenza.

Pharmaceutical composition for treating bacterial and viral infections


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the invention includes the step S1 of cleaning the silicon carbide substrate 1 surface, the step S2 of bringing a material gas into a plasma and irradiating the atoms contained in the material gas to silicon carbide substrate 1 for growing silicon nitride film 2 on silicon carbide substrate 1, the step S3 of depositing silicon oxide film 3 on silicon nitride film 2 by the ECR plasma CVD method, and the step S4 of annealing silicon carbide substrate 1 including silicon nitride film 2 and silicon oxide film 3 formed thereon in a nitrogen atmosphere. By the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the invention, a semiconductor device that exhibits excellent interface properties including an interface state density and a flat band voltage is obtained.

Silicon carbide (SiC) consisting of the elements belonging to the 14th group (IVb group) is known as one of the IV-IV group compound semiconductor materials. Since it is possible to obtain a silicon oxide (SiO2) film from silicon carbide, voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure constituted of a metal, an oxide film, and a semiconductor are realized. The realization of the voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure by employing silicon carbide is very advantageous for the device application technologies.
As compared with silicon, silicon carbide is characterized in the following aspects. The band gap of silicon carbide is wider than that of silicon. The saturation drift velocity of silicon carbide is faster than that of silicon. The dielectric breakdown voltage of silicon carbide is higher than that of silicon. The thermal conductivity of silicon carbide is higher than that of silicon. Therefore, the device that employs silicon carbide (hereinafter referred to as the "silicon carbide device") is more advantageous than the device that employs silicon (hereinafter referred to as the "silicon device"), since the silicon carbide device facilitates reducing the electric power consumption, since the silicon carbide device can be used in a higher-temperature environment, and since the silicon carbide device facilitates operating faster.
Therefore, the silicon carbide device facilitates improving the performances thereof more effectively than the silicon device. Therefore, silicon carbide is expected to be a semiconductor material of the next generation beyond the limit of silicon. As the silicon carbide devices, Schottky barrier diodes, MOSFETs and such devices have been developed and put into market.
In the voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure and employing silicon carbide, a silicon oxide film, that will work as a gate insulator film, for example, is formed on a substrate made of silicon carbide (hereinafter referred to as a "silicon carbide substrate" or sometimes as a "SiC substrate"). Therefore, it is necessary to improve the reliability of the silicon oxide film and the interface properties at the interface between the silicon oxide film and the silicon carbide substrate to be high enough to make the voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure to be used practically.
A method of forming a silicon oxide film on a 4H—SiC substrate by dry oxidation has been proposed (see, for example, N. S. Saks, S. S. Mani, and A. K. Agarwal, "Interface trap profile near the band edges at the 4H—SiC/SiO2 interface", APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 17 Apr. 2000, VOL. 76, NUMBER 16, pp. 2250-2252).
Another method that preliminarily treats the surface of a silicon carbide substrate using an ammonia (NH3) gas and deposits a silicon oxynitride (SiON) film by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method on the silicon carbide substrate treated preliminarily has been proposed (see, for example, Y. Iwasaki, H. Yano, T. Hatayama, Y. Uraoka, and T. Fuyuki, "NH3 Plasma Pretreatment of 4H—SiC(000-1) Surface for Reduction of Interface States in Metal-Oxide-Semi conductor Devices", Applied Physics Express 3, Japan Society of Applied Physics, 2010, 026201, pp. 1-3).
Still another method is described by M. Noborio, J. Suda, and T. Kimoto, "4H—SiC MIS Capacitors and MISFETs With Deposited SiNx/SiO2 Stack-Gate Structures". IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 55, NO. 8. AUGUST 2008, pp. 2054-2060. First, a silicon nitride (Si3N4) film is grown by the CVD method on a silicon carbide substrate. Then, a silicon oxide film is deposited on the silicon nitride film. Then, annealing is conducted in a nitrogen gas (N2) atmosphere at 1300° C.
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device that includes a transition layer, 1 nm or less in thickness, at the interface between a SiC substrate and a gate insulator film is proposed in Japanese Patent No. JP 4647211. The method proposed in Japanese Patent No. JP 4647211 includes the step of oxidizing a part of the SiC substrate for forming a first insulator film; the step of forming a second insulator film above the first insulator film; the step of forming a gate electrode above a part of the SiC substrate with the first and second insulator films sandwiched between the SiC substrate and the gate electrode, and the step of forming a source region and a drain region in a part of the SiC substrate.
The method further includes, in subsequent to the step for forming the first insulator film, the step of annealing the wafer in a nitrogen monoxide atmosphere under the pressure of 1.4×10 Pa or higher and the atmospheric pressure or lower, at a temperature between 600° C. and 1400° C., and for 1 hr or longer and 3 hr or shorter. In the step of forming the second insulator film, the second insulator film is formed by the CVD method at a temperature between 600° C. and 1000° C. but lower than the above-described annealing temperature in an atmosphere containing silane and dinitrogen monoxide. After the step of forming the second insulator film, the annealing is conducted at a temperature between 600° C. and 1000° C. but lower than the temperature, at which the second insulator film is formed, in an atmosphere containing nitrogen monoxide.
Although various methods have been proposed for forming a silicon oxide film on a silicon carbide substrate, any method that fully brings out the intrinsic properties of silicon carbide has not been established yet. For example, the conventional methods described above can not obtain, at the interface between a silicon oxide film and a silicon carbide substrate, any interface property excellent enough to make voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure to be used practically.
The interface properties at the interface between a silicon oxide film and a silicon carbide substrate affect adversely the channel mobility and the threshold voltage Vth of the voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure. For obtaining interface properties excellent enough to make voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure to be used practically, it is necessary to reduce the interface state density at the interface between a silicon carbide substrate and a silicon oxide film and the flat band voltage Vfb of the silicon carbide substrate.
In detail, for obtaining interface properties excellent enough to make voltage-driven-type devices having a MOS structure to be used practically, it is necessary to reduce the interface state density at the interface between a silicon carbide substrate and a silicon oxide film down to the order of 1×1011 cm−2·eV−1 and to bring the flat band voltage Vfb of the silicon carbide substrate close to zero. The flat band voltage Vfb is the potential variation of the silicon carbide substrate changing from the flat band state caused by bonding the silicon carbide substrate and the silicon oxide film to each other.
By the technique reported by N. S. Saks, et al 17 Apr. 2000, the channel mobility becomes low, since the interface state density is high, around 1×1013 cm−2·eV−1, at the interface between a silicon carbide substrate and a silicon oxide film near the conduction band of the silicon carbide substrate as shown in FIG. 3 of N. S. Saks, et al 17 Apr. 2000. By the technique reported by Y. Iwasaki, et al 2010, the threshold voltage Vth becomes high, since the flat band voltage Vfb of the silicon carbide substrate is around 6.4 V as listed in Table 1 of Y. Iwasaki, et al 2010.
The technique reported by M. Noborio, et al AUGUST 2008 makes the interface state density at the interface between the silicon carbide substrate and the silicon oxide film and the flat band voltage Vfb of the silicon carbide substrate meet the conditions described above for obtaining interface properties excellent enough to make the voltage-driven-device to be used practically. However, it is necessary for the technique to oxidize the silicon nitride film deposited on the silicon carbide substrate by the CVD method.
As described in FIG. 1 of M. Noborio, et al AUGUST 2008, it is necessary to conduct an anneal treatment in a dinitrogen monoxide (N2O) gas atmosphere at 1300° C. for oxidizing the silicon nitride film in addition to the anneal treatment in a nitrogen (N2) gas atmosphere at 1300° C. Therefore, it is necessary for the technique to conduct anneal treatments twice at a high temperature. It is also necessary for the technique described by N. S. Saks, et al 17 Apr. 2000 to conduct anneal treatments twice at a high temperature.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to obviate the problems described above. It would be also desirable to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device that exhibits excellent interface properties including an interface state density and a flat band voltage.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device

KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION


The present invention comprises systems and methods for large eddy simulations using a scaled S-model, which may be scaled in both time and space. Prior large eddy simulation models require at least one special coefficient, which vary from case to case and need to be decided experimentally or empirically. In embodiments, the scaled S-model does not require any coefficient that varies case by case or needs to be decided experimentally or empirically.

1. Field of Invention
The present application is directed towards systems and methods for simulating fluid flow.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) have been widely applied to help understand physics, improve engineering designs, analyze the environment (e.g., atmosphere, ocean, and the like), and predict weather. To achieve good results from simulations, the simulations should be sufficiently detailed; however, as the desired simulation detail increase, both the model complexities and the computational costs also increase. Because of ever increasing requirements on the complexity of geometry, larger number of meshes, and ever increasing desire for accuracy, practical CFD simulations require high performance algorithms, high speed processors, and sophisticated models.
In addition to the difficulties involved in simulating complex geometries, difficulties also arise when trying to model very complex fluid flows. Modeling certain fluid flows, particularly turbulent flows, can be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulence flow can be performed by solving the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations without using any turbulence model. However, due to the enormous computation resource requirement, it is not currently feasible for complex geometries and high Reynolds numbers.
Accordingly, what is needed are systems and methods for simulating fluid flows for complex situations, such as complex turbulent fluid flows.

Time and space scaled S-model for turbulent fluid flow simulations


A steering system for a towable implement includes a steering sensor, an implement steering controller, a steering control valve, a steering cylinder, and an implement steering mechanism that steers the implement. The steering sensor measures, directly or indirectly, the angular position of the steerable wheels of the implement. The implement steering controller processes feedback from the steering sensor and with a desired steering angle, outputs a steering control signal that is input to the steering control valve. The steering control valve controls the flow of hydraulic fluid to the steering cylinder, which, in turn, powers the implement steering mechanism to turn the wheels of the implement. The steering system may be operated in various control modes, such as, a transportation steering mode, a corner and 180 turn steering mode, a swath tracking steering mode, crab steering mode, and a manual steering mode, which allows manual control of the steering system.

The present invention relates generally to agricultural implements and, more particularly, to a steering system for an agricultural implement, such as a towed planter, that can automatically steer the implement during field operations or road transport.
Conventional agricultural implements are designed to follow the motion of a towing vehicle, such as a tractor. In this regard, most agricultural implements are passively steered principally by the tractor rather than have their own steering mechanisms. However, increasingly, there is a desire for implements that are capable of limited self-steering. That is, in some situations, it may be desirable for the implement to be steered so as to maintain alignment with the tractor when the tractor is moving across a sloped area or avoiding an obstruction, such as a mailbox.
A number of steering systems have been developed as an aftermarket add-on to make a non-steerable implement steerable. One such system is GPS-based that is mounted to the toolbar of the non-steerable implement. Such add-on systems generally have two subsystems: the steering subsystem that mechanically causes steering of the implement and the auto-guidance subsystem (GPS, for example) that controls the steering subsystem. These subsystems can be quite costly and ultimately cost prohibitive. For example, it is not uncommon for the steering subsystem alone to cost several thousands of dollars with additional costly expense for the auto-guidance subsystem. Also, after market systems are designed to provide implement steering during field operation and do not provide steering function while transporting. Additionally, for many aftermarket add-on systems, the implement must be mechanically modified, which may not be practical for some types of implements, such as folding planters, or negate warranties for the implement.
Moreover, steerable implements have been limited heretofore in the type of available movements. For example, many steerable implements have systems that are designed to maintain alignment of the implement with the tractor. While there is a need in some circumstances to maintain such alignment, a steerable implement that can be steered intentionally along an offset track may be desirable in other circumstances, such as during transport. Additionally, it is desirable to have an implement that can be automatically controlled to turn or otherwise corner during field operations. Automatic implement swath tracking during field operation would also be desirable.


A compact backlight system for illuminating a display device has a front wall and a rear wall situated opposite thereto. At least one light source comprising a light-emitting diode is provided with a translucent lens-shaped cover. The system has at least one light input structure for coupling light from the light source into the light-emitting panel. During operation, light originating from the light source is incident on the light input structure and distributes itself in the light-emitting panel. According to the invention the light input structure is conically or frustoconically shaped towards the light source. The thickness dp of the light-emitting panel is smaller than the diameter dc of the translucent lens-shaped cover of the light source. Preferably, the light input structure is of prismatic or pyramidal shape.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a lighting system provided with a light-emitting panel.
The invention also relates to a display device provided with said lighting system.
2. Description of Related Art
Edge lighting systems are used inter alia as backlighting systems in (picture) display devices, for example for TV sets and monitors. Such lighting systems are particularly suitable for use as backlights for non-emissive displays such as liquid crystal display devices, also referred to as LCD panels, which are used in (portable) computers or (cordless) telephones.
Said display devices usually comprise a substrate provided with a regular pattern of pixels which are each controlled by at least one electrode. The display device utilizes a control circuit for achieving a picture or a datagraphical display in a relevant field of a (picture) screen of the (picture) display device. The light originating from the backlight in an LCD device is modulated by means of a switch or modulator, various types of liquid crystal effects being used. In addition, the display may be based on electrophoretic or electromechanical effects.
Such lighting systems are also used as luminaires for general lighting purposes or for shop lighting, for example shop window lighting or lighting of (transparent or semi-transparent) plates of glass or of (transparent) plates of synthetic resin on which items, for example jewelry, are displayed. Such lighting systems are further used as window panes, for example for causing a glass wall to radiate light under certain conditions, or to reduce or block out the view through the window by means of light. A further alternative application is the use of such lighting systems for illuminating advertising boards.
In the lighting systems mentioned in the opening paragraph, the light source used usually comprises a plurality of optoelectronic elements, also referred to as electro-optical elements, for example electroluminescent elements, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These light sources are usually provided in the vicinity of or tangent to a light-transmitting edge surface of the light-emitting panel, in which case light originating from the light source is incident on the light-transmitting edge surface during operation and distributes itself in the panel.
A lighting system for illuminating an LCD panel is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,652. The light source used is formed by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) which couple light into a light-emitting panel, also referred to as light pipe, via a so-called light transition area. The light is mixed in said light transition area.
A lighting system of the above type occupies too much space.

Compact lighting system and display device


A refrigerant circuit is formed by connecting an outdoor unit (5) and an indoor unit (6) to each other with communication piping (18) including a gas pipe (16) and a liquid pipe (17). An alternative refrigerant R-410A is used as a refrigerant to be circulated through the refrigerant circuit. For middle-sized and large-sized air conditioners whose rated cooling power (JIS C 9612) is not less than 4.0 kW, a gas pipe (16) having an outer diameter of about 9.5 mm (with wall thickness 0.8 mm) is used. For small-sized air conditioners whose rated cooling power (JIS C 9612) is less than 4.0 kW, a gas pipe (16) having an outer diameter of about 7.9 mm (with wall thickness 0.8 mm) is used.

Generally, an air conditioner comprises an outdoor unit equipped with a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, a pressure reducing mechanism and the like, and an indoor unit equipped with an indoor heat exchanger. The outdoor unit and the indoor unit are connected to each other with connection piping comprising a gas pipe, a liquid pipe or the like, and thereby a refrigerant circuit is formed between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit. In such an air conditioner, the refrigerant is circulated in the refrigerant circuit by driving the compressor, and thereby heat absorbed by the outdoor heat exchanger is released by the indoor heat exchanger so that heating operation is performed, or thereby heat absorbed by the indoor heat exchanger is released by the outdoor heat exchanger so that cooling operation is performed.
In this air conditioner, heat is transferred by means of the refrigerant as shown above, and thereby air conditioning operation is enabled. Therefore, the rate of refrigerant circulation expressed in refrigerant weight flowing per unit time needs to be increased or decreased depending on the air conditioning power of the equipment. However, when the refrigerant circulation rate is increased, leaving the gas pipe thickness as it is without changes would cause pressure loss due to the gas pipe to increase so that the air conditioning power would lower. On this account, in this air conditioner, the diameter of the gas pipe is changed according to the refrigerant circulation rate. For example, when HCFC-22 conventionally in common use is used as the refrigerant, gas pipes having a diameter of about 12.7 mm (hereinafter, referred to as "4/8-dia. pipe") is used in middle-sized and large-sized air conditioners whose refrigerant circulation rate is about 100 kg/h (kilogram per hour, likewise hereinafter) or about 150 kg/h or so. In small-sized air conditioners whose refrigerant circulation rate is about 60 kg/h or about 80 kg/h or so, gas pipes having a diameter of about 9.5 mm (hereinafter, referred to as "3/8-dia. pipe") are used. That is, it is a normal mode of application with use of HCFC-22 as the refrigerant that, a 4/8-dia. pipe is used as the aforementioned gas pipe in middle-sized and large-sized air conditioners whose rated cooling power is not less than 4.0 kW as defined by "JIS C 9612" of Japanese Industrial Standards, while a 3/8-dia. pipe is used as the gas pipe in small-sized air conditioners whose rated cooling power is less than 4.0 kW. Then, by changing the diameter of the gas pipe according to the air conditioning power of the air conditioner, a reduction in pressure loss is implemented in the middle-sized and large-sized air conditioners, and construction work is facilitated in the small-sized air conditioners. Besides, a cost reduction is implemented. It is noted that the cooling power as defined by "JIS C 9612" of Japanese Industrial Standards refers to a "quantity of heat (kW) that is removed in unit time from indoors when a room air conditioner is cooling operated".
In recent years, a demand for cost reduction to air conditioners and a demand for improvement in workability have been increasing more and more. In particular, the 4/8-dia. pipes are difficult to bend by hand in installation, which makes a cause of hindering the improvement in workability. However, only making the gas pipe smaller in diameter would cause occurrence of a problem that the pressure loss in the refrigerant circuit increases with the result of lowered air conditioning power.
Meanwhile, since HCFC-22 conventionally used as the refrigerant has become a target of fluorine regulation, alternative refrigerants substituting for HCFC-22 have begun to be discussed in various ways. However, there has been provided no alternative refrigerant that shows physical property values equivalent to or higher than the refrigerant HCFC-22 in all the aspects. Accordingly, which alternative refrigerant is appropriate for use is now under discussions, depending on the purpose of use.


A housing device for isolating electromagnetic interference emitting devices includes a structural frame for housing the electromagnetic interference emitting devices. The housing device further includes a non-structural electromagnetic interference isolating enclosure. The non-structural electromagnetic interference isolating enclosure is for encapsulating the structural frame. The non-structural electromagnetic interference isolating enclosure includes an access portion that enables the structural frame to be accessed. The access portion includes a vent.

Multiple computing devices may be integrated into a predetermined area. For example, multiple computing devices may be included in a data center to provide the data center with more computational resources for performing one or more functionalities. When integrated into a predetermined area, the multiple computing devices may be close to one another.

System and method for isolated device access


A cutting tool holder, a cutting bit, and a retainer maintaining the cutting bit at a prescribed position relative to the tool holder. The cutting bit is received in a slot located in a first lateral surface that extends through the top surface. The retainer is received in an opening included in the first lateral surface that intercepts the slot. The retainer includes a planar tapered surface that contacts an upwardly and laterally facing oblique surface on a lower end of the cutting bit to hold the lower end of the cutting tool in contact with a lower surface of the slot.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a cutting tool used with a holder having a seat to receive the cutting tool including a separate fastener to clamp the tool in the seat. The invention particularly relates to cutter tools and holding blocks for such tools that can be employed in coal mining, road cutting, trenching, trash-shredding and tree stump removing apparatus.
2. General Background
In general, roadway cutting, coal mining, tree stump removing, and similar equipment known in the prior art includes a rotary driven cylindrical comminuting drum which acts to scarify and to mine the target area such as the top portion of an asphaltic road surface in situ. The rotary driven drum can include flighting on the drum which acts to collect the mined material toward the center of the drum where it can be removed. Often the mined material is remixed with additional bituminous material and thereafter re-deposited as a newly formed smooth asphaltic surface.
In some prior art devices of this type, the flighting is itself formed from a plurality of cutting tool holders which are connected to the curved surface of the cutting drum. Additionally or alternatively, cutting tool holders can be selectively fixed to the cutting drum in any desired pattern with or without flighting to achieve a particular desired cutting or mining surface effect. A plurality of the cutting tool holders can be arranged end-to-end so as to form cutting groups or even a continuous helical flighting, the top surface of the cutting tool holder being spaced outwardly from the curved surface of the drum.
The top surface of the cutting tool holder includes openings into which conventional cutting bits are received. The cutting bits typically include an outer end having a recess receiving a fixed tip of tungsten carbide or similar material. The cutting bits can be picks adapted to rotate in the cutting bit supporting members. Particularly in the presence of abrasive dust from the roadway mining other similar operation, the rotational movement of such cutting bits acts to wear and enlarge the recesses in which the cutting bit is received. If the wear becomes sufficient, the cutting bit may no longer be satisfactorily retained in the cutting bit supporting member.
As an alternative, the cutting bits can have generally angular body portions adapted to be held at a fixed position in the cutting tool holder. Such fixed position support aids in reducing the movement induced abrasive wear, but can make replacement of the cutting bits difficult unless the configuration of the cutting tool holder and any associated retaining means are properly configured along with a suitable cooperating base configuration for the cutting bit itself.
Thus, there remains a need for a cutting bit and a holder that retains the cutting bit at a prescribed position during any mining, cutting or other similar operation, which also enables quick replacement of the cutting bit at the same location with a minimum of effort and time. Such a cutting tool should be capable of being advantageously employed in a variety of cutting and mining operations under severe conditions.

Keystone Engineering & Manufacturing Corp.


A turbine frame assembly for a gas turbine engine includes: (a) a turbine frame including: (i) an outer ring; (ii) a hub; (ii) a plurality of struts extending between the hub and the outer ring; (b) a two-piece strut fairing surrounding each of the struts, including: (i) an inner band; (ii) an outer band; and (iii) an airfoil-shaped vane extending between the inner and outer bands; (d) a plurality of nozzle segments disposed between the outer ring and the hub, each nozzle segment being an integral metallic casting including: (i) an arcuate outer band; (ii) an arcuate inner band; and (ii) an airfoil-shaped vane.

This invention relates generally to gas turbine engine turbines and more particularly to structural members of such engines.
Gas turbine engines frequently include a stationary turbine frame (also referred to as an inter-turbine frame or turbine center frame) which provides a structural load path from bearings which support the rotating shafts of the engine to an outer casing, which forms a backbone structure of the engine. The turbine frame crosses the combustion gas flowpath of the turbine and is thus exposed to high temperatures in operation.
It is known to provide a multi-piece, passively cooled turbine frame, with actively cooled turbine nozzle vanes positioned downstream therefrom. It is also known to provide a one-piece, passively cooled turbine frame which integrates a passively cooled turbine nozzle cascade.
From a thermodynamic standpoint it is desirable to increase operating temperatures within gas turbine engines as much as possible to increase both output and efficiency. However, as engine operating temperatures are increased, increased active cooling for turbine frame, turbine nozzle, and turbine blade components becomes necessary.
To address these cooling needs it is further known to provide a high-temperature capable multi-piece turbine frame incorporating actively cooled fairings and flowpath panels, and utilizing turbine nozzle vanes made from advanced ceramic materials that do not require cooling.
However, none of these turbine frame configurations integrate a one-piece turbine frame construction with conventional-configuration actively cooled nozzles.

Turbine frame assembly and method for a gas turbine engine


A redirection method and apparatus in which a first network device receives a service request from a terminal device, where the request is used to request a service related to a first edge APP; and when the first edge APP is unavailable and a second edge APP is available, redirects the service request to the second edge APP, where the first edge APP and the second APP respectively correspond to a first DNAI and a second DNAI. The first DNAI represents a deployment location of the first edge APP, the second DNAI represents a deployment location of the second edge APP, the deployment locations represented by the first DNAI and the second DNAI meet a preset condition, and the second edge APP is in edge APPs corresponding to the second DNAI, and has a sane service provider and function as the first edge APP.

Mobile edge computing (MEC) provides an internet technology (IT) service environment and a cloud computing capability in an access network (AN) closest to a terminal device of a user, to further reduce a latency, improve network operation efficiency, improve a service transmission capability, and optimize user experience.
For an existing typical MEC architecture, refer to FIG. 1. An edge application (application, APP) may be deployed near an edge user plane function (UPF). When the edge APP is normal, the edge UPF distributes, to the edge APP, a service request sent by a terminal device through the AN. When the edge APP is abnormal, the edge UPF distributes, to a center APP, the service request sent by the terminal device through the AN. The center APP may be deployed in a data network (DN). It can be learned that as data traffic of a user increases, pressure on the center APP is greatly increased when the edge APP is abnormal,

Service redirection method and apparatus


A technique is provided which is capable of completing SOx poisoning recovery control on a NOx storage reduction catalyst in a shorter period of time. In the course of the SOx poisoning recovery control, the degree of decrease of a SOx release speed resulting from a decrease in an amount of SOx occlusion of the NOx catalyst (the degree of decrease of the SOx release speed (Ddw)) with respect to that at the time of start of the SOx poisoning recovery control is estimated. In accordance with the increasing degree of decrease of the SOx release speed (Ddw), a catalyst bed temperature (Tc) is caused to rise up to a higher side target temperature (Tct), and at the same time an exhaust gas air fuel ratio (A/F) is caused to lower up to a richer side target air fuel ratio (A/Ft), whereby the SOx release speed Vsox during the SOx poisoning recovery control is suppressed from lowering.

There has been known an exhaust gas purification system that is provided with a NOx storage reduction catalyst in order to purify nitrogen oxides (NOx) in an exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustion engine, in particular an internal combustion engine in which lean burn combustion is carried out. This NOx storage reduction catalyst is a catalyst which performs the purification of an exhaust gas by occluding NOx in the exhaust gas into the catalyst in cases where an atmosphere around the catalyst is in a high oxygen concentration state, and reducing the occluded NOx in cases where the atmosphere around the catalyst is in a low oxygen concentration state with the presence of a reducing agent.
Sulfur oxides (SOx) in the exhaust gas as well as NOx therein are also occluded in the NOx storage reduction catalyst, so SOx poisoning occurs in which the exhaust gas purification function of the NOx storage reduction catalyst decreases in accordance with the increasing amount of SOx occlusion.
Accordingly, in order to eliminate the SOx poisoning of the NOx storage reduction catalyst, a control operation to cause the SOx occluded in the catalyst to be released therefrom (hereinafter, referred to as "SOx poisoning recovery control") may be carried out by raising the catalyst bed temperature of the NOx storage reduction catalyst to a temperature at which the release of the SOx can be made, and at the same time supplying a reducing agent so as to make the surrounding atmosphere of the NOx storage reduction catalyst into a stoichiometric or rich atmosphere.
In relation to this, there has been proposed a technique of changing the air fuel ratio of an exhaust gas (hereinafter, referred to as "the exhaust gas air fuel ratio") flowing into the NOx storage reduction catalyst to a richer side in accordance with the decreasing amount of SOx occluded in the NOx storage reduction catalyst in the course of the SOx poisoning recovery control (see, for example, a first patent document).
[First Patent Document] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2005-90253
[Second Patent Document] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2003-293747
[Third Patent Document] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2005-291039

Exhaust gas purification system of an internal combustion engine


A composite is provided that has a structured sol-gel layer on a substrate. The sol-gel layer is extremely resistant against mechanical stress and other influences from outside due to its production method. The composite is suitable for use in a lot of technical fields, since the sol-gel layer can be provided with nearly any arbitrary structure. For example, the structure may result in optical effects and may be used in optical systems.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composite with a substrate and a sol-gel layer applied to said substrate as well as a method for the production of the composite.
2. Description of Related Art
In prior art a lot of methods for providing substrates with coatings are known, in particular for incorporating structures to functionalize the substrates. Inter alia, the method of hot stamping is known in which a stamp die is brought into contact with a substrate surface at temperatures which are higher than the softening point of the substrate. In the case of a glass substrate, normally these temperatures are higher than 500° C. This method has the disadvantage that the wear of the forming tool results in high cost. Furthermore, only special substrates having a special melting and solidifying behavior can be used. In addition, the size of the structurable area as well as the plurality of the structures are strongly limited.
Another approach is to provide the substrate with a polymer layer to be structured. Then, the polymer layer may, for example, be structured by means of a stamp die. A substantial disadvantage of such polymer layers is their insufficient thermal stability due to the high portion of organic components. Often, such layers are stable only up to about 100 degrees Celsius (° C.).
Further, there is the method of sol-gel nano-imprint, wherein a stamp die is pressed into a sol-gel layer and subsequently thermal cross-linking is conducted. This method can hardly be used with rigid substrates in large areas. These processes are based on the thixotropic stamping method. In this case a thixotropic lacquer is structured, and the form thus obtained is conserved due to the thixotropic properties of the lacquer. Normally, the fixing action is conducted without contact with a stamp die in a thermal manner or via UV light. The high thixotropic properties of the lacquer are achieved by the addition of respective additives which normally affect the transmittance or the mechanical resistance as well as the pot life of the lacquer.
The stamping of solvent containing thin layer lacquers is also known. In this case, due to the high content of the solvent in the sol most often only layer thicknesses of up to 5 micrometers (μm) can be produced in an industrially realizable production step, due to the sub-optimal network forming and tension crack forming properties in the production of structured thick layers. Also, the produced thick layers are only stable at temperatures of up to about 200° C. respectively show cracks starting with a layer thickness of 5 μm at higher applied load temperatures.
Thus, there is a need for providing composites comprising structurable layers on a substrate which do not show cracks even in the case of higher layer thicknesses. These composites should be producible via an economic process and should have excellent temperature stability. In addition, they should be transparent so that they are suitable for optical applications.

Composite and method for the production thereof


The invention relates to a valve device (100) for a gaseous medium, in particular hydrogen, comprising a valve housing (6) which comprises a closing element (14) that is arranged therein and can be moved in the longitudinal axis (18). The closing element (14) interacts with a seal seat (16) in order to release and close a through-opening (22). The valve housing (6) is equipped with at least one spring element (8) which is supported against the closing element (14) and the valve housing (6). Furthermore, the at least one spring element (8) is made of a bimetal.

The valve device according to the invention has the advantage over this that, despite temperature-sensitive switching of the valve device, reliable re-closure with the same valve device is possible.
For this purpose, the valve device for a gaseous medium, in particular hydrogen, has a valve housing in which there is arranged a closing element which is movable relative to a longitudinal axis. The closing element interacts with a sealing seat in order to open up and close a passage opening, wherein, in the valve housing, there is arranged at least one spring element. The at least one spring element is supported on the closing element and on the valve housing. Furthermore, the at least one spring element is produced from a bimetallic strip.
Bimetallic strips are distinguished by the fact that they are typically produced from layers of two different metals which are connected cohesively or in positively locking fashion to one another. Owing to the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the metals, bimetallic strips deform in the event of a temperature change. The valve device is thus controllable by means of a temperature change at the spring element.
In a first advantageous refinement, it is provided that the passage opening can be opened up and closed by means of temperature changes at the bimetallic strip. The valve device can thus be reversibly opened up without having to be replaced for further use.
In a further configuration of the invention, it is advantageously provided that the closing element comprises a conical region, wherein the conical region interacts with the sealing seat.
In one advantageous refinement, it is provided that the closing element comprises a conically widened region, wherein the conically widened region interacts with the sealing seat.
The configuration of the sealing seat is selected such that reliable leak-tightness is attained at the closing element.
The described valve device is preferably suitable in a tank device for storing compressed fluids, in particular hydrogen, having a tank. The tank advantageously comprises a tank housing with a neck region, in which neck region the valve device is arranged, wherein the valve housing is at least partially integrated into the tank housing. The sealing seat is advantageously formed on a conically widened region of the tank housing.
The described tank device is preferably suitable in a fuel cell arrangement for storing hydrogen for the operation of a fuel cell.

Valve device for a gaseous medium, and tank device for storing compressed fluids


An electric power steering apparatus includes a steering column that is swung around a tilting spindle during tilt adjustment, a fixing bracket that supports the steering column through the tilting spindle, and an electric motor that is supported by the steering column and used as a steering auxiliary. The fixing bracket includes a pair of side plates facing each other with the steering shaft therebetween in a vehicle width direction and a connection member through which the pair of side plates are connected together. Either one of the pair of side plates is provided with a first restraining portion that restrains the steering column from rotating in a first rotation direction around the tilting spindle. The remaining one of the pair of side plates is provided with a second restraining portion that restrains the steering column from rotating in a second rotation direction opposite to the first rotation direction.

A proposal has been made to provide a tilt steering apparatus that supports a lower part of a steering column swingably on a tilt central axis (see Patent Document 1, for example).
In Patent Document 1, the steering column is supported by upper and lower fixing brackets fixed to a vehicle body. The lower fixing bracket supports a lower column bracket fixed to a lower part of the steering column so as to be swingable on the tilt central axis.
On the other hand, the upper fixing bracket supports an upper column bracket fixed to an upper part of the steering column so as to be slidable upwardly and downwardly during tilt adjustment. The position of the steering column that have undergone tilt adjustment is locked by tightening both side plates of the upper column bracket from outside toward each other between both side plates of the upper fixing bracket by operating a rotation lever.