A chromatographic separator characterized in that two pumps are employed for controlling chromatographic separation that combines a first process for supplying at least one of feed solution and eluent into a circulation system and extracting the same quantity as that of liquid supplied into the circulation system from one position of a packed column where some component is enriched in the circulation system, and a second process for circulating liquid in the system without supplying the feed solution and eluent and extracting the separated component at all. Easy-to-control chromatographic separator, in which a total number of pumps to be used is decreased and high separation performance is attained through a simple structure, can thereby be provided.

It is well known that, in a simulated moving-bed type chromatographic separator, a plurality of unit packed columns (hereinafter, also referred to as simply "packed column"), each packed with an adsorbent exhibiting a selective adsorbability for a specified component among two or more components contained in a feed solution, are connected in series, and an endless circulation system is formed by connecting a most downstream-side unit packed column to a most upstream-side unit packed column to form a packed bed as a whole, and the feed solution and eluent are supplied to the packed bed, a fraction (fraction A) high in moving speed in the packed bed and a fraction (fraction C) low in moving speed in the packed bed are extracted, respectively, from positions different from each other, and the position for supply of the feed solution, the position for supply of the eluent, the position for extraction of the fraction A and the position for extraction of the fraction C are moved in order toward the downstream side in the fluid circulation direction in the packed bed while being maintained at a constant positional relationship, thereby simulatively realizing an operation of a moving bed capable of performing a continuous supply of feed solution (for example, Patent document 1).
In such a simulated moving-bed type chromatographic separator, because the liquid is circulated in the packed bed while the supply of the feed solution and the eluent and the extraction of fractions A and C are always carried out, usually, at least a feed solution supply pump, an eluent supply pump and one or more circulation pump are required. In particular, because the circulation pump is fixed between certain unit packed columns, the discharge amount thereof varies periodically accompanied with the supply of the feed solution, the supply of the eluent or the extraction of the respective fractions. Further, because the concentration and the composition of the fluid flowing into the circulation pump vary in order, accompanying therewith, the properties such as specific gravity and viscosity of the fluid vary. As a difference between the set value of the flow rate of the circulation pump and the actual flow rate of the actual fluid becomes greater, the separation ability decreases. Therefore, an expensive control device is required in order to automatically control the flow rate of the circulation pump in accordance with such an alteration of the flow rate set value or a variation of the properties.
Further, as an operation method which is not a general simulated moving-bed type chromatographic separation wherein a liquid is circulated in a packed bed while supply of feed solution and eluent and extraction of fractions A and C are always carried out, many operation methods are proposed, such as those disclosed in Patent documents 2 and 3. In an operation method disclosed in Patent document 2, although the control is simple and a high separation performance can be obtained, because the concentration and the composition of the fluid flowing into the circulation pump also vary, accompanying therewith the properties such as specific gravity and viscosity of the fluid also vary. Further, since the circulation pump is periodically repeated in operation/stop, the pressure variation in the system becomes great, and in order to avoid this, an operation such as delaying the timing of shutting off the inside of the packed bed becomes necessary, and whereby, the control becomes complicated.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent 2,962,589    Patent document 2: JP-A-2001-334103    Patent document 3: JP-B-60-55162


An alignment accuracy (AA) mark is described, including N (N≧3) pattern sets defined by N exposure steps respectively. The N exposure steps are performed also to a device area disposed on a wafer together with the AA mark. The i-th (i=1, 2 . . . N−1) pattern set surrounds the (i+1)-th pattern set. Each pattern set includes a 1st set of x-directional linear patterns, a 2nd set of x-directional linear patterns arranged opposite to the 1st set of x-directional linear patterns in the y-direction, a 1st set of y-directional linear patterns, and a 2nd set of y-directional linear patterns arranged opposite to the 1st set of y-directional linear patterns in the x-direction, wherein each set of x- or y-directional linear patterns include at least three separate parallel linear patterns.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor process, and more particularly relates to an alignment accuracy (AA) mark that can be used to check the alignment accuracies between at least three groups of patterns defined by the same number of exposure steps.
2. Description of Related Art
As the dimensions of semiconductor devices get further smaller, the lithographic pitch resolution of a single exposure step becomes insufficient. A method to meet the resolution requirement is to split patterns of the target wafer layer into two groups each with a larger pitch and define them by two exposure steps respectively.
In order to check the alignment accuracies between the two pattern groups of the current wafer layer and a pre- or post-layer formed before or after the target layer, in the prior art, three AA marks are formed in one AA mark area in the scribe line region of the wafer. Each of the three AA marks include two groups of patterns among the patterns defined together with the first pattern group of the current layer, the patterns defined together with the second pattern group of the current layer, and the patterns defined together with the pre- or post-layer. Hence, the AA mark area takes a large lateral area in the scribe line region, and the alignment accuracy measurement has to be conducted three times for the three AA marks and therefore spends more time.


At least one stress concentration factor is arranged in a bending position of forming the protrusion structure on a surface of the backplane. Then, a shape of the protrusion structure is formed by stamping. In the present disclosure, because the bending position during stretching the protrusion structure is firstly configured with a plurality of stress concentration factors in the stretching process of the protrusion structure, when the protrusion structure is stretched, stress concentration occurs in the position with the stress concentration factors.

A typical backlight module generally includes a backplane, a middle frame, a light source, a light guide device, and an optical film. The backplane is generally formed by stamp molding of a sheet metal member. As shown in FIG. 1, a protrusion structure 8 is a feature on the backplane 1. A stretched height of the protrusion structure 8 has a close relationship with size of the protrusion structure 8. Generally, the stretched height of the protrusion structure 8 is less than or equal to half of a diameter of the protrusion structure 8. If higher stretching of protrusion structure is adopted, the protrusion structure 8 may tear at a base of the protrusion structure 8, and strength of backplane is affected.
FIG. 2 shows a general flow process of stretching the protrusion structure on a thin wall sheet metal member. Volume of the stretching part of the sheet metal member is not changed by the molding of the protrusion structure, but an area of the sheet metal member is expanded by stretching and a wall thickness of the sheet metal member is thinned, or the wall thickness of the protrusion structure is thinned compared with other parts on the sheet metal member.

Protrusion structure processing method of backplane and backplane


A hearing test method and apparatus are provided for improving a measuring accuracy and a test speed in finding the auditory threshold that is the audibility limit of discriminating a sound. In the method, after outputting a test sound relevant to a selected test frequency and a selected test sound pressure, the apparatus determines whether a user hears the test sound, then the test sound pressure zone is divided into an auditory threshold presence region and an auditory threshold absence region according to the result of determination. Thereafter, the test sound pressure zone is redefined using the auditory threshold presence region and this process of hearing test is repeated using the redefined test sound pressure zone to finally determine an auditory threshold for the selected test frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a hearing test technology and, more particularly, to a hearing test method and apparatus for improving a measurement accuracy and a test speed in finding the auditory threshold used to discriminate a sound.
2. Description of the Related Art
The number of persons who have difficulty in hearing is increasing every year. Especially, noise-induced hearing loss is rising rapidly. In addition, age-related or any other cause-induced hearing loss keeps on growing. Being exposed to everyday noises, such as listening to very loud music over many years, may have contributed to many hearing loss.
FIGS. 1 to 5 illustrate two conventional hearing test methods. One of them is based on a descending approach, and the other is based on an ascending approach.
As shown in FIG. 1, the descending approach is to measure a person's sense of hearing by gradually decreasing a test sound from a higher level (intensity) at different frequencies such as 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz and 8 kHz. In contrast, as shown in FIG. 2, the ascending approach gradually increases a test sound from a lower level at various frequencies. Normally the descending approach yields a lower result of the auditory threshold by 5-10 dB than the ascending approach. According to such conventional hearing test methods, process of selecting a frequency, outputting a test sound for a selected frequency and checking a response or not are sequentially performed.
In another conventional hearing test method, a method based on a mixed approach is known in the art. Referring to FIG. 3, the mixed approach is to find an initial auditory threshold through the ascending approach and then determine the final auditory threshold through the descending approach, or vice versa. Referring to FIG. 4, a related application 'uHear' registered in the application store operated by Apple Inc. is an example of using the mixed approach of ascent after descent.
In order to improve a test speed of the descending or ascending approach, still another conventional hearing test method is disclosed in the Korean Patent Publication No. 2010-22880 (US Publication 20100137739). Briefly, as shown in FIG. 5, this method is based on a grouping approach that uses two or more test sound sets. The grouping approach is to output some sets of test sounds and receive a user's response regarding how many test sounds could be heard.
Among the above-discussed conventional methods, the descending approach and the ascending approach are designed offer all sound pressure levels up to the auditory threshold for each frequency to a user. Therefore, a test duration is much longer, and also there is a difference in the auditory threshold between the descending and ascending approaches.
In case of the mixed approach, the required test duration nearly double when compared with the descending or ascending approach which in turn lowers a user's attention span. Further, ascent or descent by a uniform difference in sound pressure during test may allow a user to predict the next test sound and thus create an illusion as if he or she had heard a sound.
In case of the grouping approach, a test duration is relatively shorted compared to other approaches. However, since all test sounds have to be heard, it has the same drawbacks of lowering a user's attention span. Also, since the test duration is varied according to a region of the auditory threshold, there is a possibility that a difference in test accuracy will be caused due to variation in test concentration.
Accordingly, there is a need to improve the way to assess one's hearing.


The invention intends to transmit audio signals of multiple channels in such a manner as to be able to decode and reproduce them in real time on the receiving side. Digital signals of multiple channels are each divided into one or more fragments in an audio signal input circuit, and the fragments of multiple channels are each encoded into coded fragment data by an encoder of the corresponding channel. At the time when transmission of one of the coded fragment data is ended, a multiplexer selects another of the coded fragment data of multiple channels to be next transmitted, and supplies it to a transmitting circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmitting apparatus and method, a receiving apparatus and method, and a providing medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to a transmitting apparatus and method, a receiving apparatus and method, and a providing medium which are suitably used, for example, in the case of encoding and transmitting digital signals such as digital audio signals of multiple channels, and receiving and decoding the digital signals to reproduce them in real time on the receiving side.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, when digital signals such as digital audio signals are transmitted from the transmitting side to the receiving side via a network, e.g., Internet, it is customary that the audio signals are highly efficiently encoded into about 1/10 to 1/100 of original data on the transmitting side, and resulting coded data is transmitted to the receiving side where the coded data is decoded to reproduce the original data.
Generally, audio signals provided via a network are monaural or stereo, and are in a state where sounds of a plurality of musical instruments and a singing voice (words) are mixed with one another. On the receiving side, therefore, a volume level of the entire sounds can be adjusted to increase or decrease, but it is difficult to adjust a volume level of the sound of certain one musical instrument or the singing voice.
However, there is a demand for providing service with high user interactivity (i.e, providing highly versatile audio signals) that enables users on the receiving side to adjust a volume level of the sound of certain one musical instrument or the singing voice, listen to only a vocal apart or an accompaniment part, or listen to the sounds of several desired musical instruments in a mixed state.
To satisfy such a demand, audio signals representing the sounds of a plurality of musical instruments, an audio signal representing the singing voice, etc. require to be transmitted separately without being mixed together. When transmitting a plurality of audio signals separately, the amount of data transmitted to the receiving side is increased in comparison with the case of transmitting those audio signals in a mixed state. For suppressing such an increase in data amount, the amount of data for each of the plurality of audio signals must be reduced. This necessarily results in deterioration of sound quality of the audio signals reproduced on the receiving side.
On the other hand, a transmission rate (usable band) of a network varies depending on the line that is employed by a user for connection to the network, the number of users accessing the transmitting side such as a server, etc. In the case of receiving coded data of a plurality of audio signals, decoding the coded data and reproducing the audio signals in real time on the receiving side, therefore, it may become difficult to decode and reproduce the audio signals in real time because transmission of the coded data is relatively delayed due to the limited transmission rate of the network.
The present invention has been made in view of the state of art set forth above, and intends to transmit a plurality of highly versatile audio signals in an adaptable manner from the transmitting side so that the audio signals are decoded and reproduced in real time on the receiving side.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a transmitting apparatus for transmitting coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the apparatus comprises dividing means for dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments, coding means for encoding respectively the fragments of multiple channels into coded fragment data, selecting means for selecting one of the coded fragment data of multiple channels at the predetermined time, and transmitting means for transmitting the coded fragment data selected by the selecting means.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a transmitting method for transmitting coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the method comprises a dividing step of dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments, a coding step of encoding respectively the fragments of multiple channels into coded fragment data, a selecting step of selecting one of the coded fragment data of multiple channels at the predetermined time, and a transmitting step of transmitting the coded fragment data selected by the selecting step.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in a providing medium for providing a computer program for rendering a computer to execute a process of transmitting coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the computer program includes a dividing step of dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments, a coding step of encoding each of the fragments of multiple channels into coded fragment data, a selecting step of selecting one of the coded fragment data of multiple channels at the predetermined time, and a transmitting step of transmitting the coded fragment data selected by the selecting step.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a providing medium for providing coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, wherein the medium provides coded fragment data that is obtained by dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments, encoding respectively the fragments of multiple channels into coded fragment data, and selecting and outputting one of the coded fragment data of multiple channels at the predetermined time.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in a receiving apparatus for receiving coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the apparatus comprises receiving means for receiving the coded data, separating means for separating each of the coded data into coded fragment data that has been resulted from dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments and encoding each of the fragments into the coded fragment data, and time information related to the reproduction start time when reproduction of the coded fragment data is to be started, decoding means for decoding the coded fragment data into the fragment, and control means for controlling reproduction of the fragment outputted from the decoding means in accordance with the time information.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in a receiving method for receiving coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the method comprises a receiving step of receiving the coded data, a separating step of separating each of the coded data into coded fragment data that has been resulted from dividing the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments and encoding each of the fragments into the coded fragment data, and time information related to the reproduction start time when reproduction of the coded fragment data is to be started, a decoding step of decoding the coded fragment data into the fragment, and a control step of controlling reproduction of the fragment obtained in the decoding step in accordance with the time information.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in a providing medium for providing a computer program for rendering a computer to execute a process of receiving coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the computer program included a receiving step of receiving the coded data, a separating step of separating each of the coded data into coded fragment data that has been resulted from dividing the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments and encoding each of the fragments into the coded fragment data, and time information related to the reproduction start time when reproduction of the coded fragment data is to be started, a decoding step of decoding the coded fragment data into the fragment, and a control step of controlling reproduction of the fragment obtained from the decoding step in accordance with the time information.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in a receiving apparatus for receiving coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the apparatus comprises receiving means for receiving coded fragment data that is obtained by dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments, encoding respectively the fragments of multiple channels into coded fragment data, and selecting and transmitting one of the coded fragment data of multiple channels at the predetermined time; and decoding means for decoding the coded fragment data received by the receiving means into the fragment.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in a receiving method for receiving coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the method comprises a receiving step of receiving coded fragment data that is obtained by dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments, encoding respectively the fragments of multiple channels into coded fragment data, and selecting and transmitting one of the coded fragment data of multiple channels at the predetermined time; and a decoding step of decoding the coded fragment data received by the receiving means into the fragment.
According to a tenth first aspect of the present invention, in a providing medium for providing a computer program for rendering a computer to execute a process of receiving coded data resulted from encoding digital signals of multiple channels for each channel, the computer program includes a receiving step of receiving coded fragment data that is obtained by dividing each of the digital signals of multiple channels into one or more fragments, encoding respectively the fragments of multiple channels into coded fragment data, and selecting and transmitting one of the coded fragment data of multiple channels at the predetermined time; and a decoding step of decoding the coded fragment data received by the receiving means into the fragment.

Apparatus, method and transmitting medium for transmitting and receiving fragmented coded data


Selection criteria for dyes that predicts efficiency and performance for plastics welding. A first stage quantitative calculation screens dyes that possess an absorption band that can be matched to a laser that is suitable for plastic welding. It also identifies absorption troughs in the visible spectrum and establishes relationships between the relative optical densities of the absorption band and trough. A second stage quantitative calculation screens dyes for their contribution to the transparency of the substrate. By combining these two stages, the usefulness of a candidate dye can be quickly, easily and inexpensively determined.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to visibly transparent dyes and a method for using same in through-transmission laser welding. More particularly, it relates to the use of dyes in aesthetically demanding applications.
2. The Prior Art
Many different materials are used as brazing compounds or radiation scattering compounds in plastic welding. Generally the top substrate, through which the radiation is first transmitted before reaching the joint region, is designed to transmit a high portion of the welding radiation.
Brazing compounds are added to the joint region to absorb or scatter the incident radiation to melt the facing surfaces that comprise the joint to be welded. Radiation scattering is an uncontrolled and relatively inefficient method of converting the incident radiation to heat. Accordingly, radiation scattering may require larger amounts of the brazing compound, greater amounts of incident radiation, slower linear welding speeds, and may result in a poor appearance of the final weld.
Other radiation scattering or radiation adsorbing materials may be incorporated into the surface of either substrate at the joint region, or into the entire lower substrate. However, there are no known compounds or welding techniques which can provide predicable results in demanding aesthetic industrial and consumer applications like automobile moldings and food and beverage packaging. A brief description of those known materials and methods follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,435 employs metal brazing compounds, preferably titanium, but also silicon carbide, beryllium, cobalt, germanium, iron, molybdenum, nickel, niobium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, tantalum and tungsten. Several severe limitations are inherent in the disclosed methods. First, these metallic brazing compounds are only suitable for welding glass. Second, the patent admits that some experiments with Nd-YAG pulsed lasers have resulted in some nonlinear effects at the weld joint which are not entirely understood.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,265 contemplates the use of inorganic materials, such as, but not limited to, pigments, fillers, fibers and reinforcing materials as radiation absorbing compounds. Their preferred embodiment employs a carbon black suspension which necessarily tints the host workpiece to a muddy grey or black. In addition, the use of a polychromatic, non-coherent radiation source requires the presence of cumbersome focusing elements and masks.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,156,626; 4,906,320; and 5,501,759 generically refer to printer's ink, carbon black, and aniline dyes; opaque ink and other sufficiently opaque materials; and dark ink or dark polymeric film, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,959 refers to light scattering pigments or glass fibers. In order to hide the presence of the pigments, they prescribe tinting both workpieces to be black and opaque.
The published PCT application bearing International Application Number PCT/GB99/03241 discloses a host of organic dyes and metalated organic dyes such as cyanine dyes, squarylium dyes, croconium dyes, metal phthalocyanine dyes, metalated azo dyes and metalated indoaniline dyes.
The above survey indicates that there are a multitude of options for radiation absorbing compounds. An inordinate amount of experimentation, and expense associated with those rarer compounds, may be required to select a general purpose dye for aesthetically demanding applications. Further confusing the issue are numerous interrelated factors such as host selection and its polymerically related cousins, host compatibility, including solubility, the degree of visibility of the compound, the type and degree of tinting contributed by the dye, if visible, and the related issues of host thickness, and dye concentration as a function of host thickness, i.e. the concentration gradient.

Visibly transparent dyes for through-transmission laser welding


An image data management device, that records image data captured by a digital camera together with information indicating the use period of the image data, searches for image files captured by the digital camera and checks the use period of the image data which has been found. When the use period of the image file has expired, the image data management device deletes the image file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for recording and managing image data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, digital cameras and image scanners have become popular as peripheral apparatuses for personal computers. This has enabled users to easily input image data to personal computers. Image data that have been input can be edited or displayed on the personal computer. Input image data can also be output to a printer or the like thereby to be printed.
Input image data is usually stored on a recording medium such as hard disk of the personal computer. Image data is generally large in file size compared to other types of data and, as a result, causes a burden on the storing capacity of the recording medium of the personal computer. Thus, it is necessary for the user to frequently check the available storing capacity of the recording medium such as the hard disk and, when the available storing capacity is insufficient, delete unnecessary data. As more users are expected to handle image data more frequently, it imposes increasing burden on the user to check the available storing capacity of the hard disk and delete unnecessary data.
An object of the present invention is, in order to solve the problem described above, to provide an image data management device, an image recording device, an image data managing method and a recording medium that reduce the burden of the user in managing image data.
The object described above is achieved by such a configuration as described below.
The image data management device, according to the present invention, comprises a receiver for receiving image data and information indicating a use period of the image data, a recorder for recording the image data and the information indicating the use period received by the receiver on a recording medium, a manager that monitors the use period of the image data recorded on the recording medium, and a processor that deletes image data which has expired the use period from the recording medium.
The image data management device, according to the present invention, comprises a setter for settling a use period of image data, a recorder for recording information indicating the use period set by the setter, along with the image data on a recording medium, a manager that monitors the use period of the image data recorded on the recording medium, and a processor that deletes image data which has expired the use period from the recording medium.
When the recording medium is a fixed recording medium, the image data management device carries out data managing operations on the image data recorded on the fixed recording medium. When the recording medium is a removable recording medium, on the other hand, data managing operations are not carried out on the image data recorded on the removable recording medium.
The image recording device, according to the present invention, comprises a setter for setting a use period for image data which have been captured and a recorder that records information indicating the use period set by the setter along with the image data on a recording medium.
According to the image data managing method of the present invention, the image data is recorded along with information indicating a use period on a recording medium, checks the use period of the image data recorded on the recording medium, and deletes image data that has expired the use period from the recording medium.


A device, transmission and universal mechanical coupling which allows transforming rotating forces of different magnitudes and directions being applied on the same rotating shaft (1) and obtaining a unidirectional motion in an output shaft (2) which can be used in any environment. The device consists of an input shaft (1), an output shaft (2) and two linking means (3 and 5) and (4, 9, and 6) between these two shafts (1 and 2) which are provided with at least a unidirectional coupling device (7a and 7b) each, and which, in the most basic form thereof lacks of a rotation inverter (15a ).

There are different patent applications, several patent specifications and several utility models that use transmission systems coupling bi-directional motion so as to obtain a unidirectional motion in an output shaft. For example, for conversion of different direction motion in which wave-energy may flow.
Patent WO2009101085A2 can be found among these, disclosing a device for converting a bidirectional rotation motion around two axes or two rotation axes into a unidirectional rotation motion around a single rotation axis. U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,308 describes a transmission device converting a rotary motion around a first axis into a rotary motion around a second axis, being perpendicular to the first axis.
There are also several patents and utility models which can use these transmissions or others, and which use buoys so as to harvest the energy from the waves, such as, for example, patent WO2008031549 A1, patent WO2012152289A2 and patent application WO2011126451A1, etc.
A drawback that unidirectional systems and devices using this type of transmissions feature is that, when in a coupling or unidirectional rotation device, such as free wheels, pawls, or coupling bearings, there is a rotation in the opposite direction in which it is locked, certain instability is produced in the system or in the object which may cause problems, for example, if a turbine is not working in a liquid fluid such as water and uses this type of transmissions, when this (turbine) is freely rotating, it will do so in an uncontrolled manner, causing some trouble.
In order to harvest wave-motion so as to generate electricity, OWCs (Oscillating Water Columns) are also employed, which use bi-directional turbines such as, for example, turbines of the Wells type, wherein these turbines have blades which rotate in order to place said blades in a suitable position depending on the direction of the fluid moving them.
The author of this patent does not know of any use of a turbine which, realizing different forces or motions of different magnitudes and directions applied on a same rotating axis, this achieves a unidirectional motion in the fashion described above, in an output shaft without using the blades rotation or the like.

Device, transmission, and universal mechanical coupling of forces having different magnitudes and direction (D.T.U.M.C.)


Substrates can be suppressed from being separated from supporting grooves. A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holding unit and a processing tub. The substrate holding unit is configured to hold multiple substrates. The processing tub is configured to store a processing liquid therein. The substrate holding unit includes a supporting body, an elevating device and a restriction unit. The supporting body has multiple supporting grooves and is configured to support the multiple substrates with a vertically standing posture from below in the multiple supporting grooves, respectively. The elevating device is configured to move the supporting body between a standby position above the processing tub and a processing position within the processing tub. The restriction unit is configured to be moved up and down along with the supporting body by the elevating device and configured to restrict an upward movement of the substrates with respect to the supporting body.

Conventionally, there is known a substrate processing apparatus configured to process a plurality of substrates corresponding to a single lot all at once by immersing the lot in a processing tub in which a processing liquid is stored. The plurality of substrates are immersed in the processing tub while being supported from below by a supporting body having a plurality of supporting grooves such that the substrates are maintained in a vertically standing posture (Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H08-107137
In this substrate processing apparatus, however, if it is attempted to immerse the substrates in the processing tub when circulating the processing liquid to generate a flow of the processing liquid within the processing tub or introducing an inert gas into the processing tub, for example, the substrates may float up to be separated from the supporting grooves.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing meihod


A process for removing contaminants such as phenolic-containing dusts and mists from an inert gaseous process stream by contacting the gaseous stream with an aqueous alkali metal hydroxide solution whereby the contaminants react with the alkali metal hydroxide to produce alkali metal salts of the contaminant compounds and produce water soluble contaminant salts.

The invention relates to an apparatus and a process for removing contaminants from a gaseous stream and more particularly to a scrubber apparatus and process for removing organic dust and mist from a closed loop gaseous stream.
Granulation processes described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,877,415; 3,991,225; 4,213,924; 4.424,176; 4,506,453 and 4,507,335 such as for the production of urea and sulphur products use a rotary drum granulator.
In a rotary drum granulation process as described in the above patents, a molten product is sprayed onto a falling curtain of small seed particles and undersize granules to increase the particle size by successive coating of molten material. During the process a tremendous amount of dust particulate and mist can be generated inside the drum. The dust and mist generated in the drum must be separated from any gaseous stream passed therethrough. Equipment external to the granulation drum, such as cyclone separators and bag houses, are commonly used for this purpose. However, these types of equipment for removing dust from the gas stream have not been adequate. It is important to remove the dust and contaminants from the gas stream to minimize the plugging of pipes and downstream equipment outside the drum. In addition, in an enclosed system or closed loop system, it is important to control the dust particles to avoid polluting the atmosphere with the dust or contaminants.
Current granulation cooling gas loop systems utilize a once through air as the coolant. This practice is not universally acceptable for all solid chemicals which might be granulated because environmental constraints or product exposure to the oxygen in air might be unacceptable. For example, because of the above restrictions, a recycle nitrogen as the coolant is used when applied to a bisphenol process.
It is known to use a nitrogen stream as a gas coolant to solidify, by freezing, for example, a molten liquid bisphenol fed to a granulator of a granulation process as described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 005,504, entitled "Production of Granular Bisphenols," filed Jan. 20, 1987 by K. McDonald et al. Shutdowns of a granulation system frequently occur because of a build-up of dust and solids present in the gaseous stream on the surfaces of equipment.
It is, therefore, desired to provide a scrubber apparatus and process to remove dust and solids present in a gaseous stream of a granulation process which will advantageously allow a longer term of operation of a closed-loop nitrogen system without a build-up of dusts and tacky solids which eventually close off duct works of the system.
It is desired to provide an apparatus and process for reducing the amount of dust particles in a gas stream which exits from a rotary granulation drum.
It is further desired to provide a scrubber apparatus and process in which substantially all dusts, mists and solids present in a gaseous stream are dissolved in a scrubber liquid with sufficient levels of caustic present in the scrubber.
In addition, it is desired to provide a scrubber apparatus and process which advantageously removes phenolic containing dusts and mists with depositing characteristics from an inert gaseous process stream.


Embodiments relate to a data transmission method. A relay node receives information that is about an SCMA codebook used by the relay node and that is sent by a destination node. The relay node receives two or more source signals sent by two or more source nodes. The relay node performs network coding on the received two or more source signals. The relay node performs SCMA codebook mapping on a signal obtained after the network coding, so as to obtain at least two modulation symbols. The relay node sends to the destination node, the at least two modulation symbols obtained after the SCMA mapping.

The idea of cooperative communication originates from relay communication. That is, a user transmits information by cooperating with another relay node to ensure communication between the user and a destination node. Currently, a relay-based next-generation network architecture has become a research hotspot. With a cooperative transmission technology, the network architecture not only can support direct communication between a source node and a destination node, but also allows, by introducing one or more relay nodes, information sent by the source node to be processed in a particular manner by each relay node before the information is forwarded to the destination node. In this multi-hop transmission manner, obstacles such as a building that obstructs electric wave transmission are bypassed, so that impact caused by large-scale fading is overcome to some extent, a path loss between a transmit terminal and a receive terminal is reduced, and transmit power of a device is reduced, thereby suppressing system interference and increasing a signal-to-noise ratio of a signal. In addition, because the destination node may receive and process, according to different combination manners, signals that are from different transmission nodes. In addition, cooperative transmission can significantly reduce impact caused by small-scale fading on a channel, so that a signal transmission environment is improved to some extent, and different diversity gains are obtained.
Network coding is an information exchange technology that integrates routing and coding. The idea of network coding is to perform, on each node on a network, linear or non-linear processing on information received on each channel, and then forward processed information to a downstream node. If network coding is used, an intermediate node on a network does not perform storage and forwarding only, but instead, encodes received information and sends encoded information, so that a capacity and robustness of the network are improved. System performance can further be improved by organically combining network coding and cooperative communication.
However, in an existing technical solution in which network coding and cooperative communication are combined, there is still a problem of low transmission efficiency. Therefore, transmission efficiency or transmission flexibility further needs to be improved.


A method and device are disclosed for raising rimpled and flattened parallelepipedic blanks to form rectangular parallelepipeds. A supply of flattened parallelepipedic blanks are rolled out in a first rolling direction through a pair of discharging rollers. Pressure is imparted on the flattened parallelepipedic blanks in a direction opposite to the first rolling direction by means of a pusher for opening the blank to nearly 180.degree. in a direction perpendicular to the rolling direction. The pusher is thereafter retracted in the first rolling direction to raise the blank to form a rectangular parallelepiped with a substantially square-shaped cross section. The formed blanks are thereafter unloaded from the device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and a device for raising flattened parallelepipedic blanks to form rectangular parallelepipeds with a square-shaped cross section in the course of their conveyance.
2. Description of Background Art
Conventionally, various paper containers are made to fit various purposes, e.g., disposable packing containers for containing liquid foods such as milk. The packing containers are supplied in the form of rimpled and flattened parallelepipedic packing container blanks. The bottoms of the containers are closed by an automatic packing machine. Thereafter, the blanks are formed into containers with an open top. Subsequently, liquid food, such as milk, may be charged at the charging station of the automatic packing machine.
In the case of packing container blanks, packing material is cut to have an outline that enables it to be reformed into a complete packing container without additional cutting. Rimples are formed in the blanks and the longitudinal sides are sealed to form a packing container blank with a square-shaped cross section. In effect, the blank is formed to be a flattened parallelepiped for the convenience of storage and transportation. The parallelepipedic blanks require a device for raising the flattened packing container blanks into blanks with a square-shaped cross section before charging the contents at the filling station of the automatic packing machine, in order to form blanks with a sealed bottom and an open top.
Several devices have been conceived to raise flattened packing container blanks into blanks with a square-shaped cross section. These devices are located at the mandrel wheel mount of the automatic packing machine (hereinafter called "packer"), and generally each packing container blank is taken out of an outlet end of a magazine that houses a pile of packing container blanks while being held by a suction head. During this time, packing container blanks are reformed to have a square-shaped cross section and transferred to the lifting conveyor to be loaded onto the mandrel of the rotating mandrel wheel one after another. At this station, the bottoms of the blanks are formed.
Such a device for forming blanks to have a square-shaped cross section with the help of cams and rollers during a rotational transfer of blanks which are held by the rotational transferring device of a suction head using a link mechanism is cited in the Japanese Patent Disclosure Report No. 57-163615. This device maintains the shape of the square-shaped cross section after changing its shape to a rhomb so that the rectangular parallelepipedic blank will not return to the flattened shape due to bending. Also, a device not using a suction head is reported in the Japanese Patent Disclosure Report No. 59-209512, wherein the device raises a packing container blank that is being transferred by conveyor to form a square-shaped cross section using arms and hooks. In such embodiment, overfolding of the section to a rhomb is prevented when forming the section to a square.

Method of and a device for raising flattened parallelepipedic blanks


An undergarment having a body portion and a pair of depending leg portions having a crotch region located therebetween with the body and leg portions being integrally formed from a single blank of warp knitted fabric. The opposed side edges of the blank being seamed together to define the body and leg portions. The blank is knitted to define compressive regions in the blank with different compressive strengths and being knitted to define stretch regions in the blank which have different stretch characteristics with the positional location, the size and shape of the regions being predetermined to provide desired shaping characteristics of the garment.

The present invention relates to an undergarment, in particular an undergarment capable of shaping the buttocks of the wearer.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an undergarment having a body portion and a pair of depending leg portions having a crotch region located therebetween, said body and leg portions being integrally formed form a singe blank of warp knitted fabric opposed side edges of the blank being seamed together to define said body and leg portions, the blank being knitted to define compressive regions in the blank having different compressive strengths and being knitted to define stretch regions in the blank which have different stretch characteristics, the positional location, the size and shape of said regions being predetermined to provide desired shaping characteristics of said garment.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a blank for forming a garment as defined above.


A boat having a jump seat is provided. The boat includes a boat hull having a recessed passenger compartment. The jump seat includes a support assembly comprising a support deck and a sleeve. A seat cushion is provided for selectively resting on a portion of the deck assembly and being stowed within the pocket. The deck assembly can be used both as a seat support and as a standing deck eliminating the need to stand on a cushion to thereby provide a more stable convertible standing area.

Small boats such as runabouts and fishing boats are well known. These boats will typically have a length on the order of about 12 to about 22 feet. Such boats are typically well appointed with features and in particular a variety of types and locations of seats. Many of the seats are designed to provide a variety of uses in a variety of locations. Examples of these seats may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,738,217, 5,136,963, 5,497,724 and 6,283,059. The seats or decks disclosed therein provide certain advantages along with certain disadvantages. It is noted that a seat may also function as a deck and a deck may also function as a seat. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,059 discloses a deck construction that is convertible to a seat. It uses a complex construction utilizing hinge pins and grooves for effecting movement and securement of one portion of the deck either in a deck forming position or a seat back position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,963 discloses a deck extension that is movable from a deck forming position to a stowed position over the stem of the boat. It utilizes a complex series of arms, pivots and hinges. U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,217 discloses a stem seat that can be converted to a casting platform. It to uses a complex series of hinges and seat components. U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,724 discloses a boat construction having a jump seat with a cushion that can be used at one of two elevations to provide either seating or as a sun pad.
While such constructions are useful, they are complicated structures, large, cumbersome, expensive or lacking in versatility. Such constructions may also require complex movements to operate. Another problem with such structures is their retention in their various orientations. Some such seat structures utilizes the weight of the seat or deck portion solely as the means for retaining them in a selected orientation. Boats are often subjected to harsh rides in choppy water and if components of the boat and articles in the boat are not restrained, they are subjected to large and potentially damaging forces from the choppy rides.
There is thus a need for an improved seat construction wherein the seat may be securely stowed for periods of non use providing walking and standing deck portions and may be easily moved between a secure stowed position and a secure use position.


In some embodiments, a method determines when a packet is fragmented into multiple fragmented packets in a flow between a first workload and a second workload. The method switches from generating an outer source port in the outer header using layer 4 information from the inner header to using layer 3 information from the inner header. A fragmented packet is encapsulated with the outer header that includes an outer source port value that is generated using the layer 3 information. The method initiates a process to determine when to switch back to using layer 4 information from the inner header to generate the outer source port. When it is determined to switch back to using layer 4 information, the method switches back to using layer 4 information from the inner header to generate the source port in the outer header of a packet from the first workload.

Virtual networks may use an underlying physical network as a packet forwarding back plane. For example, a first workload running in a first host may send a packet to a second workload running in a second host. The packet may include an inner source IP address for the first workload and an inner destination IP address for the second workload. The first host may encapsulate the packet with an outer header that includes an outer source IP address associated with a source hypervisor in the first host and an outer destination IP address associated with a destination hypervisor in the second host. Typically, the source IP address and the destination IP address are associated with virtual tunnel endpoints (VTEPs), which may be a hypervisor-based logical functionality that may perform the encapsulation. The first host then sends the encapsulated packet to the underlay physical network, which delivers the packet to the destination hypervisor in the second host based on the outer source IP address. The destination hypervisor removes the outer header, and a local virtual switch instance delivers the packet to the second workload using an inner destination IP address.
Different processes, such as load balancing processes, typically use information in the outer header to differentiate flows to perform services, such as load balancing, equal cost multi-path routing (ECMP), and other services. In some embodiments, the processes use a 5-tuple of <inner source IP address, inner destination IP address, IP next protocol, inner source port, destination source port>. When using encapsulation, multiple flows that are encapsulated by the two VTEP endpoints include the same outer source IP address and outer destination IP address when the flows originate and end at the same workloads. The destination port in the outer header may be a well-known port that is used by tunneling technologies, such as "4789" for Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) or "6081" for Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation (Geneve). Accordingly, the source port in the outer header may be used to introduce differences in the packets being sent in two flows. However, typically, the host uses layer 3 information from the inner header to generate the source port for the outer header when protocols, such as user datagram protocol (UDP), include the layer 4 information in the inner header in the first packet of fragmented packets, but the rest of the fragmented packets may only include layer 3 information in the inner header. When a first flow is between a first application in the first host and another application in the second host and a second flow is between a second application in the first host and another application in the second host, the inner IP address of the packets of the two flows are the same (e.g., the first workload's IP address and the second workload's IP address). When the first host uses only layer 3 information of the source IP address and the destination IP address of the inner header to generate the source port for the outer header, this results in the two flows having the same outer source port. That is, the IP address of the source workload and the destination workload are the same for both flows even though different applications are associated with the flows. Accordingly, the services may consider the packets for the flows the same because the outer headers are the same for both flows. As such, the services may apply the same treatment for the flows, such as assigning the flows to the same physical servers, queues, computer processors, etc.

Adaptive source port generation in overlay networks


A break-down sofa having a frame that is adapted to be disassembled to facilitate transport and storage in a substantially flat shipping configuration. The frame of the sofa includes a seat platform to support the weight of a user, a front panel detachably connected to the front of the seat platform, opposing side panels detachably connected to opposite sides of the seat platform, and a back panel detachably connected to the back of the seat platform. To better enable the back panel to withstand a rearward pushing force applied thereagainst by a user who is seated upon the seat platform, complementary male and female interlocking members are moved into mating engagement with one another to hold the back panel in place between the opposing side panels. The male interlocking member includes a post affixed to and projecting from each side wall of the back panel, and the female interlocking member includes a keyway affixed to the opposing side panels to removably receive therewithin and capture respective ones of the posts.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a break-down sofa having a frame that is adapted to be disassembled to facilitate transport and storage in a substantially flat shipping configuration. The sofa frame may be easily reassembled by the purchaser for use at its final destination.
2. Background Art
Large pieces of furniture, such as chairs, sofas, and the like, are typically shipped from a location of manufacture to a location of distribution to a location of sale to the public. The large and bulky natures of these articles contribute to the purchase price paid by consumers. That is to say, as a consequence of their space-consuming size, relatively large shipping vessels are required to move the furniture from place-to-place. Moreover, relatively large storage facilities are necessary to accommodate the furniture while in transit from location-to-location. Unlike smaller articles that are capable of being transported and stored in compact shipping containers, larger pieces of furniture are often not suitable to be palatized. In addition, more than one workman may be necessary to handle the loading and transport of the furniture from its initial point of manufacture to its final point of sale. In this same regard, purchasers may not be able to easily lift and carry their furniture from the location of purchase to the location of use.
Accordingly, what would be desirable is a means to enable typically large and bulky articles of furniture to be shipped, stored and carried home in one or more space-efficient and generally flat shipping containers that are adapted to be palatized, handled by a limited number of workmen while in route, and easily moved by the purchaser, whereby to reduce the cost and inconvenience normally associated with transport of the furniture from manufacture to use.

Break-down sofa having a detachable frame


A fiber optic cabinet has internal aligned guides on opposite sides of an axis opening. A splice tray has a planar tray base with a tray axis orthogonal to the base. The base has a peripheral edge sized for opposite portions of the peripheral edge to be slidably engaged with opposing ones of the aligned cabinet guides. The tray base is slidably received within the aligned guides regardless of a rotational position of the tray base about the tray axis. A fiber pathway guide is carried on the tray base for receiving a wound amount of optical fiber on the guide as the tray base is rotated about the tray axis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to equipment for use in fiber optic telecommunications. More particularly, this invention pertains to a cabinet and tray for holding fiber optic cables.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous examples of cabinetry for holding fiber optic cables. Such cabinetry can include structure for holding excess lengths of cables as well as performing various functions with cables. Such functions may include splice functions for joining two fiber optic cables. Such equipment is designed to facilitate an orderly arrangement of fiber optic cables. In a telecommunications center, numerous cables are present. It is desired that such equipment can organize the cables and permit access to the cables in an orderly manner.
Examples of fiber optic equipment includes cabinets disclosed in U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 34,955 reissued May 30, 1995 on U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,688. This patent describes a variety of cabinets which are interchangeable in a common frame. A specific embodiment of the cabinets include a cabinet for storing excess lengths of fibers. This cabinet is illustrated in FIGS. 29 through 32 of Reissue Pat. No. 34,955. The storage cabinet includes a plurality of sliding trays each of which contains a rotatable spool for holding fibers. Rotating the spool permits excess lengths of fibers to be stored on the spool in an orderly manner and with a bending radius which does not excessively bend the fibers which could otherwise interfere with fiber optic transmissions through the fiber. Another example of a fiber optic cabinet is U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,885. This cabinet contains connectors on a front panel. It also contains a splice tray which can be stored on shelves within the cabinet. The splice tray contains splice holders for splicing two fibers together. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,894 teaches a fiber optic splice cabinet having a plurality of sliding drawers contained within the cabinet. Each of the drawers contains a splice holder for holding multiple splices. Each of the trays contains cable guides for storing lengths of cable associated with the splices. The cabinet includes a side compartment for admitting a bundle of fibers to the interior of the cabinet for ultimate distribution of individual fibers to the various trays contained within the cabinet.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cabinet which can retain fibers and permit holding excess lengths of fibers in an improved manner. Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a cabinet which can provide splice functions within the cabinet.


The present invention is directed to a switch circuit and method to quickly enable or disable the ion beam to a wafer within an ion implantation system. The beam control technique may be applied to wafer doping repaint and duty factor reduction. The circuit and method may be used to quench an arc that may form between high voltage electrodes associated with an ion source to shorten the duration of the arc and mitigate non-uniform ion implantations. The circuit and method facilitates repainting the ion beam over areas where an arc was detected to recover dose loss during such arcing. A high voltage high speed switching circuit is added between each high voltage supply and its respective electrode to quickly extinguish the arc to minimize disruption of the ion beam. The high voltage switch is controlled by a trigger circuit which detects voltage or current changes to each electrode. Protection circuits for the HV switch absorb energy from reactive components and clamp any overvoltages.

Ion implantation systems are used to impart impurities, known as dopant elements, into semiconductor substrates or wafers, commonly referred to as workpieces. In such systems, an ion source ionizes a desired dopant element, and the ionized impurity is extracted from the ion source as a beam of ions. The ion beam is directed (e.g., swept) across respective workpieces to implant ionized dopants within the workpieces. The dopant ions alter the composition of the workpieces causing them to possess desired electrical characteristics, such a may be useful for fashioning particular semiconductor devices, such as transistors, upon the substrates.
The continuing trend toward smaller electronic devices has presented an incentive to "pack" a greater number of smaller, more powerful and more energy efficient semiconductor devices onto individual wafers. This necessitates careful control over semiconductor fabrication processes, including ion implantation and more particularly the uniformity of ions implanted into the wafers. Moreover, semiconductor devices are being fabricated upon larger workpieces to increase product yield. For example, wafers having a diameter of 300 mm or more are being utilized so that more devices can be produced on a single wafer. Such wafers are expensive and, thus, make it very desirable to mitigate waste, such as having to scrap an entire wafer due to non-uniform ion implantation. Larger wafers and high density features make uniform ion implantation challenging, however, since ion beams have to be scanned across larger angles and distances to reach the perimeters of the wafers, yet not miss implanting any region therebetween.
In addition, the high voltage necessary to supply the ion source of such an ion beam is subject to occasional arcing between the various extraction and suppression electrodes and other nearby parts. This tendency for arcing often fully discharges one or more affected HV supplies until the arc naturally self-extinguishes at a much lower supply voltage. While arcing, the beam current may become serious erratic or may be interrupted until the supply voltage is restored, during which time ion implantation may experience intermittent or non-uniform ion implantation dose levels. Accordingly, there is a need for mitigating the effects of HV arcing associated with an ion source or the electrodes of an ion implanter to provide uniform implantation over such larger implantation angles and distances of the ion beam.

System and method of ion beam control in response to a beam glitch


The present invention provides a system by which a user can define datasets and arrange those datasets into report sections. The reporting sections have a format that is user defined, and the report sections can be easily reused on different reports.

The present invention deals with database reporting systems. More specifically, the present invention deals with a system which enables user-defined formatting for report sections that can be re-used in different reports.
People in finance and accounting departments of companies have many responsibilities. One of the most important responsibilities is to provide financial and management information to stakeholders in the company. The stakeholders require the information on a frequent basis due to the time sensitive nature of the data. In addition, statutory financial reports are required on a formal schedule which can be managed. However, the time frame between closing and distribution is relatively short.
The financial information that is the subject of these reports is not only time sensitive, but it is difficult and time consuming for the finance and accounting department to produce with generic reporting tools or disconnected spreadsheet tools. These tools fail to handle seamless integration in a financial context, and also deliver the unique formatting and conditional formatting requirements imposed by financial calculations.
In the past, database reporting has been quite cumbersome. Different items of information from a database are needed for different types of reports. Also, different users have different preferred formats for the reports generated.
For instances, typically, when defining a report (such as a financial report) the person generating the report must first define the columns which are to be used in the report. An example of columns may be (for example, for aged accounts receivable) a customer name, and then columns of aged accounts receivable which are aged by a certain period, such as 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc. When the report is generated, the database system executes a query against a database and expands the rows with the appropriate data. In the example being discussed, the database system will expand the rows to include customer names and then accounts receivable for each of those customers which are 30 days old, 60 days old, and 90 days old, etc.
Also, in previous systems, in order to generate a report, row sets could be defined to appear in the report, as could column sets. Therefore, while different rows and columns could be defined to appear in the report, the user defining the report could not see where the information would appear in the report until the report was actually generated. This is not only time consuming, but is quite cumbersome for a user who is attempting to define a report that needs to be generated.
Similarly, in prior reporting systems, data types were typically defined as part of a row set. For example, a user would define "cash" as having certain inclusions or exclusions in a row set. Therefore, every time the definition of "cash" changed, the user would need to update every reference to cash in the reports.
It can thus be seen that prior reporting systems were difficult to use, because the user could not be presented with a visualization of the report prior to actually generating the report. Prior reporting systems also required a great deal of work in maintaining and updating the reporting system, as definitions of data types changed.

System for designating grid-based database reports


An integrated circuit chip packaging assembly having a first and second package side. An integrated circuit chip has a substrate side and an active circuit side. The chip includes integrated circuit devices formed on the active circuit side. The active circuit side of the chip is on the first package side. The die pad has at least one runner member extending therefrom, which may be bent toward the first package side. The active circuit side of the chip is attached to the die pad. The die pad is on the first package side relative to the chip. The package mold compound is formed over the die pad, at least part of the chip, and at least part of the runner member(s). At least part of the substrate side of the chip and/or at least part of the runner member(s) may not be covered by the package mold compound.

Heat dissipation from an integrated circuit (IC) chip or die during operation is typically an important issue, especially as the density of IC devices on a chip continues to increase. Also, many devices now have combinations of high-power transistors and low-power transistors formed on a same chip. Such high-power transistors tend to produce more heat than low-power transistors. Further, more system-on-chip configurations are being used. Thus, there are often a wide variety of IC devices on a same chip. Some of the IC devices can handle and/or put out much more heat than nearby or neighboring devices on the same chip. Hence, the reliability and effectiveness of heat dissipation for a packaged IC chip may greatly affect the reliability and/or performance of an IC chip during operation.
Many conventional die package assemblies have an exposed die pad surface. Typically an IC chip is soldered, bonded, or adhered to a die pad to improve heat transfer from the die via the die pad. In the case of soldering the IC chip to the leadframe, the chip typically has a solderable backside metallization for attachment to the die pad using a high melting temperature solder which is typically lead-based. An exposed die pad is often attached to a heat sink member such as but not limited to a metal feature on a printed circuit board (PCB) to provide a primary heat transfer path from the chip to the heat sink via the die pad. However, in the case of soldering the chip to the leadframe where a high lead alloy is used, it would be desirable to eliminate lead-based alloys from packages. Also, there is a continued need for improved IC chip package designs that provide efficient heat transfer from the chip during operation.

Integrated circuit chip packaging assembly


A marine propulsion device is provided with an air control system that draws air from the region under the cowl of the outboard motor and induces a flow of air out of the region. The air is caused to flow through a second opening formed in the cowl. As a result, air drawn into the cowl through a first opening can flow either into the engine through its throttle body mechanism or out of the space under the cowl, as induced by the operation of the fan.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a cooling system for an outboard motor and, more particularly, to a system that causes additional air flow through the enclosure of an outboard motor to provide additional cooling of an engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Those skilled in the art of outboard motors are familiar with the various techniques for controlling the air flow into the space under a cowl of the outboard motor. Typically, air is directed from a location outside of the cowl of an outboard motor, through an opening and into the space under the cowl. That air is directed into the region surrounding the engine of the outboard motor and, eventually, into the air intake manifold of the engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,547, which issued to Furukawa on Aug. 29, 1995, describes an outboard motor having an engine compartment covered by an engine cover at its top portion and having an engine disposed within the engine compartment with its crankshaft directed in the vertical direction, in which charging efficiency of the engine is improved with a simple structure and a shielding property of the entire surrounding of the engine is also enhanced. A suction chamber communicating with an intake section of the engine is disposed on a surface other than the top surface of the engine and on one side of the inside of the engine compartment, an air intake port is provided in the engine cover at a position close to the other side of the inside of the engine compartment, an air exhaust port is provided in the engine cover, and a duct is provided within the engine compartment for leading air from the air intake port towards the suction chamber while making a detour to avoid a route above the engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,818, which issued to Kawai et al. on Aug. 17, 1999, describes a ventilation system for an outboard motor. An engine has an output shaft arranged to drive the propulsion device. The ventilating system includes an air inlet in the cowling which permits air to flow into an engine compartment in which the engine is positioned, and an exhaust port positioned in the cowling. The system also includes a mechanism for drawing air through the inlet into the compartment and expelling air out of the compartment through the exhaust port after the engine has stopped.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,546, which issued to Kollmann et al. on Dec. 7, 1999, discloses an integrated flywheel cover and air conduit passage. A cover for an outboard motor is provided to protect an operator from a flywheel. The cover is disposed under the cowl of the outboard motor. The cover is made of a generally rigid material, such as plastic, with first and second sheets being associated together to form conduits with openings extending therefrom. In one particular embodiment, one of the openings is shaped to receive an inlet of a compressor and thus provides a positioning aid in attaching the cover to the engine. This device eliminates the need for flexible hoses and accomplishes two tasks with one component. It provides air conduits for the air passing through the cover and it provides a generally rigid means for locating the proper location of the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,616, which issued to Takayanagi on Feb. 15, 2000, describes an engine cover of an outboard motor. The outboard motor includes an engine which is covered by an engine cover which is formed with a cylindrical air suction port having an opening opened to an upper surface of the engine cover in a state of the outboard motor mounted to a hull, and a portion of an opening area of the opening is covered by a lid member which is formed to a rear edge portion of the opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,131, which issued to Phillips et al. on Jul. 2, 2002, discloses an air flow system for an outboard motor. The outboard motor is provided with an air duct located within the cavity of a cowl of an outboard motor. The air duct defines a chamber within it in association with first and second openings that allow heated air to flow, through the creation of convection currents, out of the engine compartment under a cowl. This convection flow removes heat from fuel system components and reduces the likelihood that "vapor lock" will occur subsequent to the use of an internal combustion engine that is followed by turning the engine off.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,579, which issued to Bruestle on May 31, 2005, discloses a marine propulsion device with variable air intake system. An air flow control mechanism is provided to control the flow of air through an opening formed in a portion of a cowl of an outboard motor. The air flow control mechanism is configured to be movable between a first position and the second position to affect the magnitude of air flowing through an air passage defined as being the space between the opening formed in the cowl and an exit through which the air can leave the cavity of the cowl. The airflow control mechanism can control the flow of air as a function of an operating characteristic of the engine, such as its operating speed, the load on the engine, or the operating temperature of the engine.
The patents described above are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in the description of the present invention.
It would be significantly beneficial if a system could be provided that improves the circulation of air through the space under a cowl of an outboard motor and which does not rely solely on the natural movement of the air under the influence of convention currents, or the forward movement of the outboard motor, when an associated marine vessel is being operated on a body of water.

Auxiliary control of airflow through an engine enclosure of an outboard motor


The present invention comprises a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine with 16 cylinders, having a counter-clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a firing sequence controller that fires the cylinders A1 to A8 and B1 to B8 in at least one of the following firing sequences, wherein the direction of rotation and the cylinder numbering is defined in accordance with DIN ISO 1204:    a) A1-B7-A2-B6-A3-B5-A5-B1-A8-B2-A7-B3-A6-B4-A4-B8    b) A1-B7-A2-B6-A6-B4-A5-B1-A8-B2-A7-B3-A3-B5-A4-B8    c) A1-B7-A2-B5-A4-B3-A6-B1-A8-B2-A7-B4-A5-B6-A3-B8    d) A1-B4-A4-B6-A3-B7-A2-B8-A8-B5-A5-B3-A6-B2-A7-B1    e) A1-B5-A5-B3-A6-B2-A7-B1-A8-B4-A4-B6-A3-B7-A2-B8.and further shows a corresponding engine having a clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a firing sequence controller that fires the cylinders A1 to A8 and B1 to B8 in at least one of the following firing sequences:            a) B1-A7-B2-A6-B3-A5-B5-A1-B8-A2-B7-A3-B6-A4-B4-A8        b) B1-A7-B2-A6-B6-A4-B5-A1-B8-A2-B7-A3-B3-A5-B4-A8        c) B1-A7-B2-A5-B4-A3-B6-A1-B8-A2-B7-A4-B5-A6-B3-A8        d) B1-A4-B4-A6-B3-A7-B2-A8-B8-A5-B5-A3-B6-A2-B7-A1        e) B1-A5-B5-A3-B6-A2-B7-A1-B8-A4-B4-A6-B3-A7-B2-A8.

This object is solved by the subject matter of independent claims 1 to 3. The dependent claims relate to possible embodiments of the invention.
This object is solved by a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine with 16 cylinders, having a counter-clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a firing sequence controller that fires the cylinders A1 to A8 and B1 to B8 in at least one of the following firing sequences, wherein the direction of rotation and the cylinder numbering is defined in accordance with DIN ISO 1204: a) A1-B7-A2-B6-A3-B5-A5-B1-A8-B2-A7-B3-A6-B4-A4-B8                b) A1-B7-A2-B6-A6-B4-A5-B1-A8-B2-A7-B3-A3-B5-A4-B8        c) A1-B7-A2-B5-A4-B3-A6-B1-A8-B2-A7-B4-A5-B6-A3-B8        d) A1-B4-A4-B6-A3-B7-A2-B8-A8-B5-A5-B3-A6-B2-A7-B1        e) A1-B5-A5-B3-A6-B2-A7-B1-A8-B4-A4-B6-A3-B7-A2-B8; ora V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine with 16 cylinders, having a clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a firing sequence controller that fires the cylinders A1 to A8 and B1 to B8 in at least one of the following firing sequences, wherein the direction of rotation and the cylinder numbering is defined in accordance with DIN ISO 1204:
a) B1-A7-B2-A6-B3-A5-B5-A1-B8-A2-B7-A3-B6-A4-B4-A8                b) B1-A7-B2-A6-B6-A4-B5-A1-B8-A2-B7-A3-B3-A5-B4-A8        c) B1-A7-B2-A5-B4-A3-B6-A1-B8-A2-B7-A4-B5-A6-B3-A8        d) B1-A4-B4-A6-B3-A7-B2-A8-B8-A5-B5-A3-B6-A2-B7-A1        e) B1-A5-B5-A3-B6-A2-B7-A1-B8-A4-B4-A6-B3-A7-B2-A8, ora V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine having 16 cylinders, having a counter-clockwise or clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a crankshaft, a torsional vibration damper and a flywheel arranged on the crankshaft, wherein the crankshaft has 8 crank throws forming a crank star, wherein in each case the piston rods of the two cylinders of a V-segment are connected to the same crank throw, wherein the crank star is of the lengthwise symmetric or lengthwise quasi-symmetric type, wherein the crank throws C1 to C8 have one of the following angular sequences in the direction of rotation of the engine when seen from the side of the flywheel, with the crank throws numbered as C1 to C8 when starting from the side of the flywheel:        i) C1,C8-C2,C7-C3,C6-C4,C5        ii) C1,C8-C4,C5-C3,C6-C2,C7        iii) C1,C8-C3,C6-C4,C5-C2,C7,The dependent claims relate to possible embodiments of the invention.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine with 16 cylinders, having a counter-clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a firing sequence controller that fires the cylinders A1 to A8 and B1 to B8 in at least one of the following firing sequences, wherein the direction of rotation and the cylinder numbering is defined in accordance with DIN ISO 1204:                a) A1-B7-A2-B6-A3-B5-A5-B1-A8-B2-A7-B3-A6-B4-A4-B8        b) A1-B7-A2-B6-A6-B4-A5-B1-A8-B2-A7-B3-A3-B5-A4-B8        c) A1-B7-A2-B5-A4-B3-A6-B1-A8-B2-A7-B4-A5-B6-A3-B8        d) A1-B4-A4-B6-A3-B7-A2-B8-A8-B5-A5-B3-A6-B2-A7-B1        e) A1-B5-A5-B3-A6-B2-A7-B1-A8-B4-A4-B6-A3-B7-A2-B8.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine with 16-cylinders, having a clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a firing sequence controller that fires the cylinders A1 to A8 and B1 to B8 in at least one of the following firing sequences, wherein the direction of rotation and the cylinder numbering is defined in accordance with DIN ISO 1204:                a) B1-A7-B2-A6-B3-A5-B5-A1-B8-A2-B7-A3-B6-A4-B4-A8        b) B1-A7-B2-A6-B6-A4-B5-A1-B8-A2-B7-A3-B3-A5-B4-A8        c) B1-A7-B2-A5-B4-A3-B6-A1-B8-A2-B7-A4-B5-A6-B3-A8        d) B1-A4-B4-A6-B3-A7-B2-A8-B8-A5-B5-A3-B6-A2-B7-A1        e) B1-A5-B5-A3-B6-A2-B7-A1-B8-A4-B4-A6-B3-A7-B2-A8.
The firing sequences were obtained by multi-criteria hierarchical analysis.
Preferably, the engines according to the first and/or second aspect comprise a crankshaft having 8 crank throws forming a crank star, wherein in each case the piston rods of the two cylinders of a V-segment are connected to the same crank throw, wherein the crank star is preferably of the lengthwise symmetric or lengthwise quasi-symmetric type.
In a third aspect, the present invention provides a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine having 16 cylinders, having a counter-clockwise or clockwise direction of rotation, comprising a crankshaft, a torsional vibration damper and a flywheel arranged on the crankshaft, wherein the crankshaft has 8 crank throws forming a crank star, wherein in each case the piston rods of the two cylinders of a V-segment are connected to the same crank throw, wherein the crank star is of the lengthwise symmetric or lengthwise quasi-symmetric type, wherein the crank throws C1 to C8 have one of the following angular sequences in the direction of rotation of the engine when seen from the side of the flywheel, with the crank throws numbered as C1 to C8 when starting from the side of the flywheel:                i) C1,C8-C2,C7-C3,C6-C4,C5        ii) C1,C8-C4,C5-C3,C6-C2,C7        iii) C1,C8-C3,C6-C4,C5-C2,C7.
These crank stars have advantageous dynamic behaviors, especially with respect to axial vibrations. Further, advantageous firing sequences can be found for these crank stars.
A specific angular sequence of the crank throws in the direction of rotation of the engine means that if one moves around the static crankstar in the direction of rotation, one encounters the crank throws in this sequence. This also means that if one turns the crank star in the direction of rotation, the crank throws will pass a fixed angle in the opposite sequence. The same principle of course also applies if the direction of rotation is specified as clockwise or anti-clockwise.
If two crank throws are included in the sequence as a couple, such as C1,C8, this means that they have the same or approximately the same angular position, depending on whether the crank-star is of the symmetric and the quasi-symmetric type. The order of notation of the two crank throws within the couple does not imply a required angular sequence between these two crank throws for quasi-symmetric type.
The first to third aspect can be realized independently. Preferably, however, a firing sequence according to the first or the second aspect is combined with a crank star according to the third aspect.
In particular, the present invention comprises a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine having the features according to a combination of the first aspect with the third aspect, or having the features according to a combination of the second aspect with the third aspect.
In each case, preferably, the combination of firing sequence and crank star is one of the following:                crank star i), one of the firing sequences d or e        crank star ii), one of the firing sequences a or b        crank star iii), firing sequence c.
Possible embodiments of a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine according to any one of the first to third aspect or a combination of these aspects are described in the following:
In an embodiment of the invention, the V-angle of the V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine of the present invention is between 40° and 80°, more preferably between 50° and 70°, more preferably between 55° and 65°, most preferably at 60°.
As described above, the crank star of the engine is preferably of the lengthwise symmetric or quasi-symmetric type. Lengthwise symmetric means that two crank throws having the same distance from the middle plane of the crankshaft have the same angular position. Lengthwise quasi-symmetric means that certain deviations from an exactly symmetric position are possible. Preferably, in this case, the angular difference between two crank throws having the same distance from the middle plane of the crankshaft is below 5°, preferably below 3°, more preferably below 1°.
In an embodiment of the invention, on both halves of the crankshaft, the angular distance between two crank throws following each other is between 80° and 100° or between 170° and 190°, preferably between 85° and 95° or between 175° and 185°, more preferably between 89° and 91° or between 179° and 181° and most preferably at 90° or 180°.
In an embodiment of the invention, the firing sequences have, for the counter-clockwise direction of rotation, an angular firing distance for a firing of a cylinder of the B-bank followed by a firing of a cylinder of the A-bank of between 45° and 75°, preferably between 55° and 65°, most preferably at 60° and/or the firing sequences have, for the counter-clockwise direction of rotation, an angular firing distance for a firing of a cylinder of the A-bank followed by a firing of a cylinder of the B-bank of between 15° and 45°, preferably between 25° and 35°, most preferably at 30°.
In an embodiment of the invention, the firing sequences have, for the clockwise direction of rotation, an angular firing distance for a firing of a cylinder of the A-bank followed by a firing of a cylinder of the B-bank of between 45° and 75°, preferably between 55° and 65°, most preferably at 60° and/or the firing sequences have, for the clockwise direction of rotation, an angular firing distance for a firing of a cylinder of the B-bank followed by a firing of a cylinder of the A-bank of between 15° and 45°, preferably between 25° and 35°, most preferably at 30°.
In an embodiment of the invention, the crank shaft is made from a self-ageing, micro-alloyed steel. This is made possible by the lower vibrations provided by the present invention.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine comprises a torsional vibration damper.
Preferably, the power dissipation of the torsional vibration damper is below 6 per mil of the maximum engine power, more preferably below 5 per mil, more preferably below 3.5 per mil, more preferably below 2.5 per mil, most preferably below 2 per mil.
In an embodiment of the invention, the torsional vibration damper is a viscous damper.
In an embodiment of the invention, the torsional vibration damper is arranged on the opposite side of the crankshaft from the flywheel.
In an embodiment of the invention, the displacement volume per cylinder is between 21 and 151, preferably between 41 and 121, more preferably between 51 and 91.
In an embodiment of the invention, the maximum engine power per liter displacement volume is between 10 kW and 80 kW, preferably between 20 kW and 50 kW.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine has an operating speed range of between 600 and 2100 rpm.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine has an engine controller programmed to run the engine at a constant nominal operating speed, wherein the constant nominal operating speed preferably can be adapted based on engine conditions and/or load conditions, and/or the constant nominal operating speed preferably is from an operating speed range between 600 and 2100 rpm.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is operable with a gaseous and/or with a liquid fuels, wherein the engine can preferably be operated with at least one of the following fuels: gas, diesel, gasoline.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine has a direct injection system and/or a high pressure injection system.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine can be operated with a Diesel or an Otto combustion method.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine controller is programmed to operate the engine with a homogeneous charge and/or stratified charge combustion method.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is a suction engine or has a charging system having one or several stages.
In an embodiment of the invention, all cylinders of one cylinder bank have a common intake manifold and/or a common exhaust manifold, wherein the exhaust manifolds are preferably arranged with respect to the V-angle on the inside and the intake manifolds are arranged with respect to the V-angle on the outside.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is used as a power unit in a heavy duty and/or mining and/or earth moving and/or transport and/or cargo and/or load handling machine, preferably for an excavator and/or an dumper truck.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is used to run a generator and/or a hydraulic pump, the generator and/or the hydraulic pump preferably operating one or more drives of an undercarriage and/or working equipment, preferably of a heavy duty and/or mining and/or earth moving and/or transport and/or cargo and/or load handling machine, preferably for an excavator and/or an dumper truck.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is coupled directly or via a mechanical gear train to an undercarriage and/or working equipment, preferably of a heavy duty and/or mining and/or earth moving and/or transport and/or cargo and/or load handling machine, preferably for an excavator and/or an dumper truck.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is used as the main power unit for a ship and/or a train.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is used as a power unit in military equipment and/or for fluid transport and/or for gas and/or fuel production and/or treatment.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is used as a power unit for power generation, an in particular drives a generator.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is used as a power unit for a mobile and/or stationary machine.
In an embodiment of the invention, the engine is coupled torsionally stiffly and/or via a torsionally elastic coupling to the load.
The present invention further comprises a machine comprising a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine according to any one of the above described aspects and/or embodiments. Preferably, the machine and/or the engine has one, more or all the features described above.
In particular, the machine can be a stationary or mobile machine, in particular a heavy duty and/or mining and/or earth moving and/or transport and/or cargo and/or load handling machine, and/or ship and/or train and/or military and/or fluid transport and/or gas and/or oil production and/or treatment machine and/or power generator. Preferably the machine is an excavator and/or an dumper truck.
The present invention further comprises a crank star for a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine according to any one of the above described aspects and/or embodiments. Preferably, the machine and/or the engine has one, more or all the features described above.
In particular, the crank star is for a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine having 16 cylinders, and is formed by 8 crank throws arranged on a crankshaft, wherein in each case the piston rods of the two cylinders of a V-segment can be connected to the same crank throw, wherein the crank star is of the lengthwise symmetric or lengthwise quasi-symmetric type, wherein the crank throws C1 to C8 have one of the following angular sequences in one direction of rotation when seen from one side of the crankshaft, with the crank throws numbered as C1 to C8 when starting from the side of the flywheel:                i) C1,C8-C4,C5-C3,C6-C2,C7        ii) C1,C8-C2,C7-C3,C6-C4,C5        iii) C1,C8-C2,C7-C4,C5-C3,C6.
Further, a torsional vibration damper and/or a flywheel can be arranged on the crankshaft.
Preferably, the angular sequences provided above is realized in the direction of rotation of the engine and/or when seen from the side of the flywheel.
The present invention further comprises firing sequence controller or a software for a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine with 16 cylinders, in particular for a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine according to any of the preceding claims, the firing sequence controller or software implementing at least one of the firing sequences provided above.
The present invention further comprises method for operating a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine with 16 cylinders, wherein the engine is operated with at least one out of the firing sequences provided above.
Preferably, the method and/or the engine has one, more or all the features described above.
Preferably, the method is a method of operation of a V-type 4-stroke internal combustion engine according to any one of the above described aspects and/or embodiments.