There is provided an apparatus comprising a torque motor comprising a spring, armature, flapper assembly (“SAFA”), a body, wherein the spring, armature, flapper assembly is mounted onto the body, and a cap enclosing the spring, armature, flapper assembly. One or more cooling passages are provided within the body and are configured to receive cooling air and direct the cooling air onto the spring, armature, flapper assembly of the torque motor.

Electrohydraulic valves ("EHVs") are used in a number of applications to control how hydraulic or pneumatic fluid is ported to a hydraulically or pneumatically controlled device, for example an actuator.
These and similar types of valve, for example a pneumatic or fuel servovalve, may incorporate a torque motor comprising a magnet assembly, armature and a flapper. The magnet assembly may incorporate electromagnets to control movement of the armature. The flapper is coupled to the armature and extends into a controlling medium, for example a flow of hydraulic fluid. Thus, movement of the armature causes corresponding movement of the flapper, which controls the fluid pressure and/or fluid flow of the hydraulic fluid.
Electrohydraulic valves may be exposed to high temperature environments, and this can have a negative influence on some of the more temperature-sensitive components of the valve. The problem could be related to only a few parts inside the servovalve, for example the epoxy resin within the coils, any of the sealing gaskets or other rubber components within the valve, or even the body itself (which may be, for example, made from aluminium).
Due to high temperatures (say, above 260° C. or 500° F.), the above components may not present a perfect solution for servovalve components. However, they may be a compromise, since investing in other materials that meet all the criteria could make the EHV very expensive, or perhaps non-optimum for other temperatures.
It is desired to improve the capability of a servovalve to withstand high temperatures.


A contact lens or conjunctival cover, including an internal absorbent medium; an external carrier medium; the external carrier medium having openings therein that allow fluid to pass between an exterior of the contact lens or conjunctival cover and the internal absorbent medium thereby to be absorbed and released by the internal absorbent medium. Also, a method of treating dry eye syndrome, including: gathering donor tears from eyes of an individual having healthy tears; storing the donor tears in an absorbent medium; placing the absorbent medium with the donor tears absorbed therein in contact with an eye or eyes affected by dry eye syndrome; and dispersing the donor tears over an ocular surface of the eyes affected by dry eye syndrome.

The tear film covers the anterior structures of the eye and is generally considered to be multi-layered in structure. From the corneal surface outward the tear film includes a mucin layer, an aqueous layer and a lipid layer. The mucin layer overlies the surface of the cornea and the conjunctiva and serves to provide an interface between the corneal epithelium and the conjunctival epithelium and the further layers of the tear film. Without the mucin layer the corneal epithelium is generally considered to be hydrophobic because it contains considerable amounts of lipid. Overlying the mucin layer is the aqueous layer consisting largely of water and a small amount of salt and various other trace chemicals. Overlying the aqueous layer is the lipid layer formed of secretions of the meibomian glands and other lipid secreting glands located in and around the eyelids. The tear film protects the tissues of the corneal epithelium from drying and also fills in or bridges minor gaps or irregularities in the corneal epithelium to provide a smooth refractive surface interface between the front of the eye and the ambient atmosphere. Thus, the anterior most refractive interface between the air and the eye is actually formed by the tear film rather than the cornea itself.
The interface between the tear film and the atmosphere represents the most powerful optical focusing interface in the eye. The tear film interface with the atmosphere accounts for approximately two thirds of the focusing power the eye. This focusing power varies but on average is approximately 43 diopters. Because the focusing power at the tear film interface is so large, small changes in the tear film can have a large effect on refraction and clarity of focusing.
When refraction of light occurs in the eye the most powerful focusing element of the eye is generally considered to be the anterior surface of the cornea. In fact, focusing primarily occurs at the interface between the tear film and the atmosphere. Accordingly, the tear film is extremely important for refractive reasons in the eye. In addition, the tear film moistens lubricates and assists in nourishing and carrying away metabolic debris from the cornea.
Generally, the tear film is considered to include a mucin layer nearest to the cornea and an aqueous layer overlying the mucin layer and a lipid layer overlying the aqueous layer. There are many circumstances under which the tear film fails to perform adequately and the cornea may suffer because of the tear film's failure to perform properly. For example, in some circumstances the tear film may have a deficiency of the aqueous layer. In further circumstances the mucin layer or lipid layer of the tear film may be insufficient and the tear film may not perform properly. Various deficiencies are improper functions of the tear film are generally categorized as belonging to dry eyes syndrome. Many systemic diseases and conditions may also contribute to improper functioning of the tear film.
Dry eye syndrome is one of the most commonly treated eye problems in the United States. Dry eye syndrome is also known as keratitis sicca, keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) xerophthalmia, and lacrimal insufficiency. It is estimated that over ten million Americans and 30 million persons worldwide suffer from dry eye syndrome.
For a large fraction of dry eye patients, dry eye syndrome creates discomfort or annoyance. For those severely afflicted, dry eye syndrome can be debilitating and, in some circumstances, even sight-threatening. In extremely severe cases, dry eye syndrome can even lead to the loss of an eye.
Dry eye syndrome typically results from deficiency in the quality or quantity of tears produced by the patient. Precorneal tear film has traditionally been considered to have a three-layered structure. The closest to the cornea lies the mucin, or mucus, layer. The mucin layer provides an interface between the corneal epithelium and the remainder of the tear film. Overlying the mucin layer is the watery aqueous layer, which is the thickest layer of the three. The outermost layer of the precorneal tear film is the lipid layer. The lipid layer is an oily film that reduces evaporation from the aqueous layer beneath it.
The middle aqueous layer provides moisture to the corneal tissue, carries important nutrients, and serves to remove metabolic waste produced by the cornea. Deficiency in any of the three layers of the precorneal tear film can result in complaints of dry, gritty feeling or burning eyes.
The mucin that forms the mucin layer, nearest the cornea, is secreted by goblet cells in the conjunctiva. The conjunctiva is the transparent tissue that covers the sclera and the backside of the eyelids. The mucin layer functions to decrease surface tension of the tear film. In addition, the cornea itself is hydrophobic. Without the mucin layer to provide a bridge between the cornea and the aqueous layer, the aqueous layer would bead up and allow dry spot formation on the cornea.
The aqueous layer is secreted primarily by the glands of Wolfring and Krause located in the eyelid margin. The aqueous layer helps provide an optically smooth, transparent surface to the precorneal tear film. The lipid layer is secreted by the meibomian glands, and the glands of Zeiss and Moll. The glands of Zeiss and Moll are also located at the eyelid margin.
Blinking is essential to maintenance of the precorneal tear film. During each blink, the eyelid wipes over the surface of the cornea, smoothing the mucin layer and spreading the overlying aqueous and lipid layers to provide a completely wetted surface. In between blinks, the tear film thins due to evaporation of the aqueous layer. If evaporation is excessive, dry spots may form on the surface of the cornea.
The formation of dry spots that may form on the surface of the cornea is sometimes referred to as tear breakup. One clinical test that is utilized to evaluate tear breakup is measuring of the tear breakup time. This is sometimes abbreviated TBUT. To evaluate tear breakup time fluoroscein or a similar dye is introduced to the tears and the tears are observed typically via a slitlamp biomicroscope. If fluoroscein is used the cornea is illuminated with cobalt blue or ultraviolet light. The patient is then asked to hold their eyes open without blinking for as long as possible and the period of time between the last blink and the appearance of dry spots on the cornea is measured and recorded. A tear breakup time of less than 10 seconds between the last blink and the appearance of the first dry spot on the cornea is considered to be abnormal. Tear breakup typically begins at one or several foci on the surface of the cornea and will spread from those foci to form larger dry areas within a short period of time.
Deficiency, or imperfect quality, of any of the three component layers can lead to dry eye symptoms. Many systemic and external factors can contribute to dry eye syndrome. For example, Sjogren's syndrome is associated with arthritic diseases in combination with dry eye and dry mouth. Deficiency of Vitamin A, use of oral contraceptives and environmental factors can all contribute to dry eye syndrome.
Recent research into the natural history of dry eye syndrome has shown that the disease progresses through four stages. Each stage is a consequence of the preceding stage. The stages are:                1. Loss of water from the aqueous layer of the tear film leading to an increase in the tear film osmolarity;        2. Loss of conjunctival goblet cells and decreased corneal glycogen;        3. Increased loss of corneal squamous epithelial cells;        4. Destabilization of the interface between the corneal surface and the tear film.
Either decreased secretion of tear film components or increased evaporation lead to increased tear film osmolarity and the following stages that lead to eventual corneal decompensation and the serious consequences of dry eye syndrome.
The adnexa of the eye may also be involved in dry eye syndrome. The adnexa of the eye include the structures surrounding the eye such as the eyelids, eye lashes, the tear drainage and tear production structures. Blepharitis commonly contributes to dry eye syndrome. Blepharitis typically results from bacterial infection of the tiny glands in the margin of the eyelid. These glands include the glands of Zeiss, Moll and Wolfring as well as the meibomian glands. Most commonly, the affected glands are the meibomian glands. In bacterial blepharitis, bacterial infection causes the meibomian glands to become plugged, and thus not be able to produce a normal lipid layer to contribute to the tear film. Some bacteria that infect the glands also secrete exotoxins that seep out of the glands into the eye and injure the corneal epithelium.
Treatments of dry eye syndrome vary depending upon the type of presentation. The most common treatment for dry eye syndrome is the use of artificial tear supplements to provide additional moisture and lubrication to the corneal surface. Artificial tear eye drops are placed on the eye by the patient. Artificial tear supplements must be used regularly and often to be effective.
Lubricant ointments may also be employed. Ointments are usually used at bedtime because they tend to be messy and blur vision. For some patients, even the use of ointments is not sufficient to provide comfort during sleep.
Tears drain from the eye through the lacrimal drainage system. Tiny openings at the nasal corner of each upper and lower eyelid are called the lacrimal puncta. The lacrimal puncta lead into ducts that drain into the nasopharynx.
One treatment for dry eye syndrome is to partially or completely close one or more lacrimal puncta to reduce tear outflow into the lacrimal drainage apparatus. Traditionally, this closure was accomplished surgically or by cautery. In the last decade, however, temporary and permanent punctal occlusion plugs have been utilized.
Permanent punctal plugs are typically made from surgical silicone; temporary plugs are generally made of soluble collagen. Collagen plugs dissolve over a period of days and are helpful in diagnosis.
Punctal plugs are placed into the lacrimal puncta, or lacrimal drainage ducts. The plugs impede the outflow of tears from the eye. This approach slows the outflow of tears and retains them in the eyes longer, often relieving symptoms. Punctal plugs have the distinct advantage of being readily removable and avoid the issues of scar formation.
Blepharitis is sometimes treated by the use of antibiotic medications. Another important treatment for blepharitis is the application of warm soaks and lid scrubs. In this form of treatment, the patient applies a warm wet washcloth to the eyelids for a period of time to provide humidity, warmth and to help soften blockage of and restore flow from the meibomian glands. Lid scrubs are practiced by taking a mild, nonirritating soap and vigorously scrubbing the eyelid margins with their eyes closed, so as to massage the meibomian glands and increase production. The surfactant helps to dissolve the greasy blockage of the meibomian glands.
A variety of researchers have been seeking other medicinal treatments for dry eye syndrome. Largely, this research is directed at pharmaceutical efforts to increase tear production.
Recent research has also indicated that inflammation plays a significant role in the development of dry eye syndrome. One treatment based on this research involves the use of anti-inflammatories applied to the eye to mitigate inflammation.
Despite the many treatment options available, there remains no cure for dry eye syndrome. A great many patients still have substantial and even debilitating discomfort because of dry eye syndrome. Very few treatment options exist to provide comfort for dry eye syndrome patients.

Tear transplantation and multi-part contact lens with absorbent portion


In general, the subject matter described in this disclosure can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products. A server system receives, as sent by a computing device, a request to purchase a product. The request is initiated by user selection of an element provided for display by a third-party application program. The server system sends, for receipt by a transaction processing system, a charge request to charge an account of a user of the computing device for purchase of the product. The server system determines, after the charge request has been sent for receipt by the transaction processing system, to cancel the charge request. The server system sends, for receipt by the transaction processing system, a request to cancel the charge request. The server system sends, for receipt by the computing device, an indication that purchase of the product has been cancelled.

Distribution platforms for software application programs enable users of computing devices to browse listings of the application programs and to download certain application programs to their respective computing devices. Application distribution platforms provide users a convenient service through which the users can view those application programs that are available for installation and/or execution on their devices. In some examples, an application distribution platform is hosted by an organization that developed an operating system through which the application distribution platform may be accessed.
A user may register a credit card or other purchasing instrument with a distribution platform, permitting the user to download multiple application programs without repeatedly entering the credit card information. For example, the user may simply have to select a "download" interface element and provide a password in order to initiate purchase and download of an application program (and if the user has provided the password recently, it may be saved so that it need not be re-entered).
Application distribution platforms provide developers of application programs a convenient service through which to offer their application programs to end users. A developer may upload an application program to a distribution platform and may specify a title and description for the application program. The distribution platform may be responsible for promoting the uploaded application program to end users, and for delivery of the application program to those end users that request download of the application program. Application programs offered through an application distribution platform may have been developed using a common software development kit, or versions thereof. In other words, the application programs provided by an application distribution platform may be configured for execution by a single operating system.
An application program downloaded from an application distribution platform may include features that enable users of the application program to purchase digital software products (e.g., additional levels for a game). The application distribution platform may include components that process requests to purchase such in-app products and handle payment processing.


A refrigerator having a sub door which reduces energy loss and a method of manufacturing method the sub door. The refrigerator includes a main body provided with storage chambers formed therein, doors opening and closing the storage chambers, and provided with an opening, a sub door to open and close the opening, and a cooling unit provided on the rear surface of the sub door. When the sub door is opened, cool air of the cooling unit is transmitted to a stored article put on the rear surface of the sub door, and when the sub door is closed, relatively uniform temperature distribution in the storage chamber is achieved and thus storage performance of the refrigerator is improved.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a refrigerator having a sub door which is installed on a main door so as to allow articles stored in a storage chamber to be withdrawn without opening of the main door and serves as a homebar door, and a manufacturing method of the sub door.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a refrigerator is an apparatus which stores frozen-food and refrigerated food in a fresh state within storage chambers by controlling temperatures of the storage chambers by circulating cool air generated from a refrigerating cycle.
Doors to open and close the storage chambers rotated forwards are installed on a main body of such a refrigerator, and a homebar door (hereinafter, referred to as a sub door), through which articles stored in the storage chambers is withdrawn to the outside without opening of the doors, or, which is horizontally supported when the sub door is opened such that the stored articles are temporarily mounted on the sub door, is provided on the doors.
The conventional refrigerator having the sub door includes a receipt space provided on the rear surface of the door of the refrigerator and communicated with the outside through an opening formed through the door, the sub door installed at the opening such that the front end of the sub door is vertically rotatable about the lower end of the sub door so as to selectively open and close the receipt space, and stoppers provided on both side surfaces of the opening and supporting the lower ends of both sides of the rear surface of the sub door under the condition that the opening is opened so as to restrict the range of rotation of the sub door.
The above conventional refrigerator generates heat loss at the sub door, thus increasing energy loss compared with a refrigerator without a sub door. Further, the temperature of a portion around the sub door at the inside of the storage chamber is relatively high, and thus storage performance of the refrigerator is lowered.

Refrigerator having sub door and manufacturing method of sub door


A joining method of a pair of workpieces, each workpiece having a non-flat portion and an abutting surface continuous to the non-flat portion, wherein the method provides an extension portion on each of the workpieces, the extension portion having a surface continuous with the non-flat portion and the abutting surface and projecting outward from the workpiece, and holding the workpieces so as to form a joining line between the non-flat portions of the respective workpieces by bringing the abutting surfaces thereof into contact with each other. Also disclosed is a joining tool having a substantially cylindrical shoulder portion and a projection projecting outward from a tip surface of the shoulder portion.

1. Field
Disclosed embodiments relate to a joining method and a joining tool for joining members (workpieces) to be joined.
2. Related Art
Recently, development and commercialization of friction-stir joining technology have been promoted as a new joining method to be replaced for welding and brazing methods which are joining methods for workpieces (members to be worked, i.e., joined) made of metal.
The friction-stir joining, which is solid-state joining, is suitable for joining workpieces at lower temperatures than welding (weld bonding) or brazing (liquid-solid-state bonding). Thus, the friction-stir joining has advantages of causing less thermal deformation to the workpieces during joining and being relatively free of joint defects resulting from gas defects or solidification cracking due to a state change of metal in a joined portion.
The friction-stir joining is a joining method which involves preparing a joining tool of a cylindrical shape, pressing the joining tool rotating at high speed against portions to be joined of workpieces, facilitating plastic flow of the junction by frictional heat generated between the joining tool and the workpieces (more specifically, portions to be joined), thus joining the workpieces.
The joining tool includes a shoulder portion and a projection called a probe, where the shoulder portion has a large outside diameter and uniform cylindrical shape while the projection has a small diameter and projects from a tip surface of the shoulder portion. The shoulder portion and projection are located substantially on the same axis. During the joining process, with the tip surface of the shoulder portion pressed against the workpieces and the probe pushed or plunged into a joint line between the workpieces, the joining tool moves along abutting surfaces of the workpieces. The workpieces then plasticize due to heat produced by the friction with the joining tool and become joined by flowing plastically while remaining in a solid phase.
The friction-stir joining is a joining method which involves pressing the joining tool against the workpieces with a relatively large force (hereinafter referred to as a "tool load"). For example, in the case of so-called 6000 (Al—Mg—Si) Series aluminum alloys, the tool load becomes as high as approximately 3 kN to 10 kN.
The friction-stir joining, however, provides a problem in that due to the need to apply the tool load to the workpieces and because of shape or geometry of the joining tool, it is difficult to join portions having complicated shapes such as curved shapes, rectangular shapes, or the like at an edge portions of the workpieces, i.e., joint portions having non-flat shapes. In addition, the friction-stir joining may provide a problem in that a probe pull-out hole is left in a jointed end portion.
To deal with the defects mentioned above, there is also provided a joining method which involves forming tabs or extension portions at end portions of the workpieces (more specifically, portions to be joined), performing friction-stir joining by utilizing the tabs or extension portions as a joint start portion or joint end portion, subsequently cutting off the tabs or extension portions by using another machine tool, thereby joining the joint portions of the workpieces having a non-flat shape without leaving a probe pull-out hole (for example, refer to Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-71477).
On the other hand, in the friction-stir joining method, there may cause a case in which, after passing through the junction of the workpieces, the joining tool might produce burrs on a surface of the joined portion. The burrs are undesirable in applications which require the surface of the junction to be smooth (e.g., an assembly in which the surface of the junction is used as a mating surface) or in applications which require an attractive appearance (e.g., an elaborately designed surface). Thus, there is also provided a friction-stir joining method which is capable of removing burrs from the surface of a junction concurrently with the friction-stir joining working using a joining tool equipped with a cutting blade adapted to rotate integrally with the joining tool (for example, refer to Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication 2003-126973, in addition to Patent Document 1).
The conventional joining method which performs friction-stir joining using tabs or extension portions of the workpieces as the joining working start portion or joining working end portion need to cut off the tabs or extension portions using another machine tool after the joining. In this conventional method, because of the need to cut off the tabs or extension portions using another machine tool after the joining, compared to methods which do not need a process for cutting off tabs or extension portions, the conventional joining method requires additional time and labor, for example, to make a setup change from the joining apparatus to a cutting machine tool in order to cut off the tabs or extension portions, which may result in increasing in the cost of the joined product.
On the other hand, in the case of the friction-stir joining method capable of removing burrs from the surface of the junction concurrently with friction-stir joining working to the workpiece using a joining tool equipped with a cutting blade adapted to rotate integrally with the joining tool, although the method may provide a smooth junction, the method does not consider the necessity of cutting off the tabs or extension portions with the cutting blade when performing friction-stir joining using the tabs or extension portions of the workpieces as the joint working start portion or joint working end portion.
Moreover, since the friction-stir joining method cuts off burrs with the cutting blade, chips adhere to the workpieces or joined product, joining tool, and friction-stir joining apparatus, additional time and labor are then required for cleaning or other chip removal measures, leading to further increasing in the cost of the joined product.


A pressure difference adjusting device is provided for a valve having a first inlet for a first fluid of a first pressure, a second inlet for a second fluid of a second pressure not equal to the first pressure, and an outlet. The pressure difference adjusting device includes two rotatable elements that are mounted in a meeting area of the incoming fluids. The elements mesh with each other to drive each other when the elements are subjected to impact from the incoming fluids.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for adjusting pressure difference in a valve fed with two fluids of different pressures to assure feeding of one of the fluids of lower pressure.
2. Description of the Related Art
A faucet generally includes a hot water inlet and a cool water inlet. Inlet pressure and flow of cool water and hot water vary in response to required output condition (e.g., temperature and output rate of mixed water). When incoming waters of different pressure meet with each other, feeding of water (generally the hot water) of lower pressure is stopped by the cool water of higher pressure and thus cannot be outputted. Thus, water of lower pressure must be outputted before output of water of higher pressure to assure feeding of the former, yet a waste in water is inevitable. In addition, output of water of lower pressure is impossible if the pressure difference is too large. Gas leakage occurs if the fire for heating water is ignited by water pressure, as ignition is impossible.

Device for adjusting pressure difference in a valve fed with two fluids of different pressures


Updates to an AFC loop can be performed to provide high-sensitivity tracking. A 20 ms update interval and PDI=10 ms is used for every other update. A setting is used for each update between the 20 ms updates. Notably, the setting uses PDI=5 ms. The setting can include first, second, and third cross-dot pairs associated with a first bit, a second bit, and a cross-bit boundary between the first and second bits, respectively. A sum of these pairs can be scaled down when the signal strength is below a predetermined threshold. In another embodiment, the setting can include a first cross-dot pair associated with a first bit and a second cross-dot pair associated with a second bit. A sum of these pairs can also be scaled down when signal strength is below a predetermined threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to global location satellite systems and in particular to a high sensitivity automatic frequency control for GLONASS or GPS.
2. Related Art
GPS (global positioning system) and GLONASS (global navigation satellite system) are radio-based satellite systems in operation today. To provide global coverage, GPS uses between 24-32 satellites. Assuming the minimum number of 24 satellites, 4 satellites are deployed in each of six orbits. The six orbital planes' ascending nodes are separated by 60 degrees. In this configuration, a minimum of six satellites should be in view from any given point at any time. To provide global coverage, GLONASS includes 24 satellites, wherein 21 satellites can be used for transmitting signals and 3 satellites can be used as spares. The 24 satellites are deployed in three orbits, each orbit having 8 satellites. The three orbital planes' ascending nodes are separated by 120 degrees. In this configuration, a minimum of five satellites should be in view from any given point at any time.
Both GPS and GLONASS broadcast two signals: a coarse acquisition (C/A code) signal and a precision (P code) signal. In general, global position devices, called receivers herein, lock onto the C/A transmission and not the P transmission. The P transmission is much longer than the C/A transmission and therefore is impractical to directly lock onto. Once a lock is established via C/A transmission, the C/A transmission itself can provide a quick P lock.
The C/A codes for GPS and GLONASS, which can be generated as a modulo-2 sum of two maximum length shift register sequences, are selected for good cross-correlation properties. Each GPS satellite transmits its own unique C/A code, which has an identifiable pseudo-random noise code number (PRN#). In contrast, each GLONASS satellite transmits the same C/A code, and is identified by its channel number (CHN#).
The C/A code includes navigation data, which provides information about the exact location of the satellite, the offset and drift of its on-board atomic clock, and information about other satellites in the system. In GPS, the C/A format for the navigation data includes words, frames, and subframes. The words are 30 bits long; ten words form one subframe; and five subframes form one frame. In GPS, the C/A code is 1023 bits long, is transmitted at 1.023 Mbps, and therefore has a repetition period of 1 ms. In GLONASS, the C/A format is strings, wherein each string includes 1.7 sec of navigation data and 0.3 sec of a time mark sequence. Notably, the C/A code in GLONASS is 511 bits long, is transmitted at 511 kbps, and therefore has the same code repetition period (i.e. 1 ms) as GPS.
Automatic frequency control (AFC) is used to automatically keep a GPS/GLONASS receiver tuned to the frequency of an incoming GPS/GLONASS signal. This tuning is desirable because of a natural drift of the center bandpass frequency of the receiver, which is caused by satellite and user movement, and thermal or mechanical drift in receiver component values.
With the advent of GLONASS satellites now being available to provide position information, it is desirable to have a system that includes the capability of using GPS and/or GLONASS signals for position determination. Therefore, a need arises for a method for providing AFC for GPS, GLONASS, and hybrid GPS/GLONASS receivers.

High sensitivity GLONASS/GPS automatic frequency control


A shielded connector assembly 10 comprises, a terminal block 16 containing electrical contacts 18, a conductive back shell 11, a cable 39 extending through a cable receiving opening 20 of the back shell 11 with corresponding conductors 38 of the cable 39 connected to corresponding contacts 18, a series of passages 32 extend through the terminal block 16, and a corresponding series of vanes 35, 36 on the back shell 11 extend into the passages 35, 36 to separate selected contacts 18 from other contacts 18 in the terminal block 16.

A shielded connector assembly is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,547, and includes a terminal block containing electrical contacts, a conductive back shell, a cable extending through a cable receiving opening of the back shell with corresponding conductors of the cables connected to corresponding contacts, and a strain relief for the cable contained in the back shell. The back shell is in two parts for ease in assembly over the cable and the strain relief. The back shell provides an electrical shield surrounding the conductors of the cable and the contacts.

Connector assembly with back shell having vanes


An object of the present invention is to provide a ferrite carrier core material for an electrophotographic developer having desired resistance properties and charging properties with small environmental variation of resistivity and charge amount while maintaining the advantages of ferrite carriers, a ferrite carrier for an electrophotographic developer, an electrophotographic developer using the ferrite carrier, and a method for manufacturing the ferrite carrier core material for an electrophotographic developer. In order to solve the problem, a ferrite carrier core material comprising ferrite particles containing 15 mass % or more and 25 mass % or less of Mn, 0.5 mass % or more and 5.0 mass % or less of Mg, 0.05 mass % or more and 4.0 mass % of Sr, and 45 mass % or more and 55 mass % or less of Fe, with Si localized in the surface thereof is used.

The electrophotographic developing method is a method including adhering toner in a developer on an electrostatic latent image formed on a photo conductor. As the electrophotographic developing method, a magnetic brush method using a magnet roll is widely employed in the present days. The developers for use in the method can be divided into two groups: a two-component developer composed of toner and carrier, and a one-component developer using toner only.
In a two-component developer, the carrier is mixed and stirred with the toner and has functions for triboelectrically charging and carrying the toner. In comparison with a one-component developer, a two-component developer has a better controllability in designing a developer. A two-component developer is therefore widely used in a full-color developing device that requires high image quality and a high-speed printer that requires reliability and durability in maintaining an image.
It is required for the two-component developer for such use to have image properties such as image density, fogging, white spots, tone reproduction and resolution at a predetermined level in the early stage. In addition, these properties are required to be stably maintained without fluctuation in an endurance printing period. It is therefore required for the developer to achieve high reliability as well as high definition and high definition image quality.
In recent years, from the viewpoints of high definition image quality and energy saving, toners such as polymerized toner and low-temperature fixing toner have been used. These newly developed toners have a problem of large environmental variation of electrical properties such as the resistivity and the charge amount when used in a developer. Accordingly, a developer having small environmental variation of electrical properties is required.
In Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-22150), a ferrite carrier for an electrophotographic developer including a ferrite composed of MnO, MgO and Fe2O3, partly substituted with SrO, is described. It is said that according to the description in the Literature, by reducing deviation in magnetization among ferrite carrier particles, a ferrite carrier for electrophotographic developer that is excellent in image quality and durability and environmentally friendly, having a long life and high environmental stability, can be obtained.
In Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-50733), described is a ferrite carrier of electrophotographic developer having a core composition represented by a general formula MnxFe3-xO4+y (0<x≤1, 0<y) as main component, containing 0.1 wt % or more of Si and 0.03 wt % or more of Mg. It is said that from the ferrite described in the Literature, a carrier core material of electrophotographic developer which achieves high charging performance by itself and low environmental dependence can be obtained.
The inventions described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, however, have difficulty to meet recent strict requirement for minimizing environmental variation of electrical properties such as resistivity and charge amount. Particularly in Patent Literature 2, although the improvement of the environment-induced fluctuation in resistivity is described in Examples, no specific suggestion is given on the improvement of the environment-induced fluctuation in charge amount.
In order to suppress environmental variation of the electrical properties, the surface state of a ferrite particle needs to be improved. Accordingly, in Patent Literature 3 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-25640), a ferrite particle represented by (MxFe3-x)O4 (M: at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Fe, Mg, Mn, Ca, Ti, Cu, Zn, Sr and Ni; 0≤x≤1) with the surface of ferrite particle body coated with alumina, and a carrier for electrophotographic developing including the ferrite particle having a surface coated with a resin are described.
According to the description in Patent Literature 3, it is said that a ferrite particle having a small apparent density and excellent fluidity can be obtained by coating the surface with alumina. In Patent Literature 3, however, no suggestion for improving environmental variation of electrical properties such as resistivity and charge amount is provided.
Also, in Patent Literature 4 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2014-137425), a ferrite particle including a complex oxide containing Fe and Mg in a solid solution state in the vicinity of particle surface, having different Fe and Mg contents between the internal part of a particle and the vicinity of particle surface, and a carrier for electrophotographic developing including the ferrite particle having a surface coated with a resin are described. Furthermore, in Patent Literature 5 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2014-182304), a ferrite carrier core material including practically Mg ferrite particle with a surface coated with a Ti compound, and a ferrite carrier including the ferrite carrier core material coated with a resin are described.
According to the inventions described in Patent Literatures 4 and 5, it is said that an Mg ferrite allows the resistivity and the magnetization to be controlled to any value without a surface oxidation treatment, from which a carrier excellent in charging properties can be obtained. Although these inventions achieve high charging capability, it does not mean that environmental variation of charge amount can be suppressed. Also, in Patent Literatures 4 and 5, no suggestion for improving environmental variation of resistivity is provided.
Furthermore, in Patent Literature 6 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-138052), a ferrite particle of practically Mg ferrite with a surface coated with a Ti compound, having an internal porous structure and an outer shell structure around the outer periphery thereof, and a carrier for electrophotographic developing including the ferrite particle impregnated or coated with a resin are described. It is said that the ferrite carrier according to the invention described in Patent Literature 6 has a low apparent density, which results in small stirring stress applied to toner and excellent charging stability in use of long duration. However, also in Patent Literature 6, no suggestion for improving environmental variation of electrical properties such as resistivity and charge amount is provided. In other words, the problem has not been solved by the invention.

Ferrite carrier core material for electrophotographic developer, ferrite carrier for electrophotographic developer, electrophotographic developer, and method for manufacturing ferrite carrier core material for electrophotographic developer


Systems and apparatuses are disclosed that enable ultrathin keyboards and the storing keys of an associated physical keyboard to a storage position. The systems comprise a keycap, a keyswitch mechanism coupled to the keycap, a translatable base frame and a spring mechanism to bias the keycap into an operating position. The biasing mechanism may be an arch-shaped spring mechanism or a magnetic biasing mechanism. A portion of the biasing mechanism may be coupled to the base frame. The base frame is translatable between a first position in which the biasing mechanism imparts a force to bias the keycap into the operating position and a second position in which the portion of the biasing mechanism is repositioned such that the force to bias the keycap is at least partially eliminated. A control member may be provided to translate natural user movement into movement of the base frame for collapsing the keyboard.

Keyboards are important and popular input mechanisms for providing input to a variety of computing devices. Notwithstanding the development of various alternative human input technologies, such as touchscreens, voice recognition, and gesture recognition, to name only a few, keyboards remain the most commonly used device for human input to computing devices. Of the mechanical variety, keys may come in several types, including, but not limited to, membrane-based keys, dome-switch keys, scissor-switch keys typically used in laptops today, and mechanical-switch keys. FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of a common telescopic-switch key 100 including a keycap 102 and a telescopic keyswitch mechanism 104 coupled to the keycap 102. FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of a common scissor-switch key 200 including a keycap 202 and a scissor-type keyswitch mechanism 204 coupled to the keycap 202. Both have proven to be effective keyswitch mechanisms.
FIG. 3 shows a side elevation view of the key 100 shown in FIG. 1 through section line A-A. The key 100 includes the keycap 102, the telescopic keyswitch mechanism 104 coupled to the keycap 102, a base 300 coupled to the keyswitch mechanism 104, and a spring 302 used to bias the keycap 102 into an operating position. The spring 302 biases the keycap 102 by imparting a force on the keycap 102 relative to the base 300 such that the keycap 102 resists being pressed toward the base 300 when the key 100 is actuated by a user. Spring 302 may be designed to "buckle" upon sufficient force applied to the key 100 whereby a snapping action provides a tactile sensation to a user actuating the key 100. A mechanism may be provided for detecting a keystroke upon actuation of the key 100 by a user. Such a mechanism for detecting a keystroke may include, but is not limited to, a pair of contacts that close to complete an electrical circuit, a capacitive sensor assembly comprising electrodes with varying mutual capacitance which changes with relative movement of a metal piece on, or in, either the keycap 102 or the base 300, and similar mechanisms. Furthermore, although a three-stage keyswitch mechanism 104 is shown, which provides a more dramatic collapsing effect, a two-stage mechanism is often used in keys with this design.
In order to keep up with consumer demand for smaller, more portable computing devices, keyboard designs have also moved toward correspondingly thinner and smaller designs. Making the keyboard smaller with respect to the total area of the keyboard works in tension with the need for keyboards to remain usable given the size constraints of the human finger that is used for actuating the keyboard elements, or keys. The thickness of the keyboard, however, can still be improved to provide a thinner, sleeker design for either the computing device in which it is embedded, or the keyboard peripheral itself, making for improved portability of the device.
In addition to designing the keyboard as thin as possible, some attempts have been made to collapse a keyboard when it is not in operation in order to further minimize the thickness of the keyboard while it is in a stored position. FIG. 4A illustrates one solution. FIG. 4A shows a side elevation view of the key 200 shown in FIG. 2 through section line B-B. The key 200 includes the keycap 202, the scissor-type keyswitch mechanism 204 coupled to the keycap 202, a base 400 coupled to the keyswitch mechanism 204, and a dome-type spring mechanism 402 to bias the keycap 202 into an operating position. In this arrangement, both a dome-type spring mechanism 402 and a lower right sliding leg of the scissor-type keyswitch mechanism 204 may be moved in a direction parallel to a plane of the base 400 to allow the key to collapse. FIG. 4B illustrates an alternate solution where a spring 404 for biasing the keycap 202 into an operating position is coupled to the lower right sliding leg of the scissor-type keyswitch mechanism 204 and is moved in a direction parallel to the plane of the base 400 to allow the key to collapse. These known approaches, however, have yet to be successfully commercialized.
Another approach to minimizing the thickness of a keyboard is to reduce the travel distance for the keys (i.e. the distance that a keycap travels upon actuation in order to register a keystroke). FIG. 5 illustrates a force-to-displacement function of a typical spring (e.g. a dome spring) used in current keyboards. Assuming a travel distance of 2 mm for actuating the key, the rising part of the curve on the left side of the graph shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to roughly 1 mm of initial travel before the snap point of the key. Since this initial travel distance does not contribute to the actuation of the key in order to register a keystroke, the travel distance of current keyboard designs that include this initial travel distance may have a thickness dimension that can be reduced by at least this initial travel distance. The claimed subject matter, however, is not limited to implementations that solve any or all of the aforementioned disadvantages.
Furthermore, an ultrathin keyboard is prone to be relatively lightweight by itself. Consequently, when an ultrathin keyboard is integrated with a slate-like computing device, for example, the weight distribution may become an issue. Specifically, the center of gravity of such an integrated device is often located such that the integrated device is unstable in an operational configuration. In addition, various existing designs for integrating keyboards with slate computers enable limited, or no, options for adjusting the viewing angle for the display when the device is in an operational position. The claimed subject matter, however, is not limited to implementations that solve any or all of the aforementioned disadvantages.

Keyboard having retracting keys for storage


Self-adhesive crosslinkable silicone compositions may be transparent and prepared without conventional adhesion promoters, and contain (1) an organopolysiloxane having a minimum of two aliphatically unsaturated carbon-carbon bond-containing groups, (2) a pendant Si—H functional organopolysiloxane having at least 3 Si—H groups and a minimum of 0.7 weight percent of Si-bonded hydrogen, and (3) a linear organopolysiloxane bearing terminal Si—H groups, wherein the mol ratio of silicon-bonded hydrogen in (2) to that in [(2) and (3)] is from 0.05 to 1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to self-adhesive silicone compositions which can be crosslinked to form elastomers and also their use. The invention includes silicone elastomers and material composites produced from the self-adhesive addition-crosslinking silicone compositions of the invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that platinum-crosslinking silicone rubber formulations which are brought into contact with customary substrate materials such as glasses, metals or organic plastics and subsequently vulcanized have only a low, if any, adhesive strength, so that the silicone elastomer obtained can generally be delaminated again from the substrate material concerned by application of relatively low tensile forces.
Numerous technologies for producing a strong and lasting bond between a silicone elastomer and a substrate material are known from the literature.
In principle, it is possible to modify the chemical and physical nature of the substrate material in order to improve the adhesive strength between the silicone elastomer and the substrate material. An illustrative method is pretreatment of the surface of the substrate materials by flaming, corona treatment, plasma treatment or Pyrosil® treatment. In such pretreatment steps, the surface or layer close to the surface of the substrate material is physically or chemically activated, i.e. functional groups which make formation of a bond possible and in this way contribute to achievement of a lastingly stable hard-soft material composite of silicone elastomer and substrate material are created.
Another way of producing lastingly strong material composites is application of primers to the substrate material. Such primers comprise adhesion-promoting additives and also solvents which have to be removed again after application of the primer to the substrate material.
A further possible way of producing lastingly strong composites is the provision of suitable functional groups in the volume or on the surface of the substrate material, which groups contribute to greater adhesion on vulcanization of the addition-crosslinking silicone compositions. On this subject, reference may be made, for example, to EP-A 601 882 and EP-A 143 994.
A critical disadvantage of the technologies described is that at least one additional process step for pretreatment or production of the substrate materials is necessary, and this is again undesirable in principle because of the comparatively low productivity and the higher process costs associated therewith.
For this reason, numerous approaches by means of which an improvement in the adhesion on various substrates can be brought about by use of one or more specific bonding additives and/or particular crosslinkers in the case of addition-crosslinking silicone compositions, have been described in the past. These additives which are mixed into the uncrosslinked compositions typically bring about an increase in the adhesion to a substrate material during vulcanization by action of heat or after vulcanization, possibly only after storage. Examples of these may be found, by way of illustration, in WO-A 09/037,156 and the further references cited therein.
However, the use of these specific bonding additives or specific crosslinkers is disadvantageous for a number of reasons.
The organofunctional alkoxysilanes/alkoxysiloxanes frequently used for increasing adhesion eliminate alcohol during vulcanization. Preference is typically given, for reactivity reasons, to methoxysilane derivatives which liberate toxic methanol. Along with the liberation of volatile dissociation products (elimination of alcohol), a not inconsiderable shrinkage of the silicone elastomer, which is generally undesirable, is also observed. The alcohol eliminated can also work against good adhesion since the alcohol accumulates at the surface of the silicone and therefore also at the interface to the substrate, as a result of which contact between silicone and substrate surface is reduced. In addition, in the case of functional alkoxysilanes, there is a risk of "efflorescence" and "sweating".
Furthermore, it is known that the addition of particular bonding additives can have an adverse effect on the rheology of silicone compositions. Typical effects are thickening through to setting or complete stiffening of the unvulcanized formulations, which can significantly restrict their fitness for use, in particular for coating, casting or encapsulation processes.
The bonding additives used are frequently only effective under the action of heat, so that a particular minimum vulcanization temperature has to be employed. However, this narrows the possible fields of use of the silicone compositions concerned, in particular when industrial adhesive bonding or lamination processes aim at processing at room temperature.
Owing to their chemical constitution, the additives or crosslinkers used are slightly incompatible with the remaining constituents of the silicone composition and thus accumulate at the phase interface silicone/substrate during vulcanization. However, this thoroughly desirable, intrinsic micro-phase separation is associated with the silicone compositions in question not being clear and transparent but milky to opaque. Highly transparent, self-adhesive silicone elastomer compositions cannot be obtained in this way.
Some of the additives indicated can, owing to their relatively high reactivity, bring about accelerated SiH degradation, significantly reduce the crosslinking rate or even lead to (irreversible) inhibiting effects. In addition, in many cases the storage-stable production of some very specific bonding agents or bonding agent polymers is very complicated and therefore costly, which ultimately adversely affects the economics.

Self-adhesive silicone compositions which can be crosslinked to form elastomers


A sterile-substance-supplying apparatus comprising: an atomization unit including a reservoir unit to reserve hydrogen peroxide, and an ultrasound vibrator to impart ultrasound vibration to the reserved hydrogen peroxide to be atomized; an evaporation unit, provided above the reservoir unit, that heats the atomized hydrogen peroxide to be evaporated; a connecting member connecting the evaporation unit and the atomization unit to each other; a hydrogen-peroxide-supply port to allow the hydrogen peroxide to be supplied to the reservoir unit; a carrier-gas-supply port, provided at the connecting member, that allows carrier gas for allowing the atomized hydrogen peroxide to flow to the evaporation unit to be supplied; and a container portion to reserve a substance for transmitting the ultrasound vibration generated by the ultrasound vibrator, and a metal vibrating plate, provided at a bottom portion of the reservoir unit, that transmits to the hydrogen peroxide the ultrasound vibration transmitted through the substance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sterile substance supplying apparatus for an isolator.
2. Description of the Related Art
An isolator has therein a working chamber maintained in an aseptic environment and used for work requiring the working chamber to be kept in an aseptic environment such as for work on material originating from a living body such as a cell culture, for example. Here, an aseptic environment refers to an environment that is almost completely dust-free and germ-free in order to avoid mixing of substances other than those required for the work performed in the working chamber. Also, sterilization treatment refers to treatment for realizing an aseptic environment, and substances used for sterilization treatment is referred to as sterile substances.
The working chamber is provided with a gas supply port and a gas discharge port, and air is supplied through the gas supply port into the working chamber, and discharged through the gas discharge port. In general, an isolator has a particulate collecting filter such as an HEPA filter disposed at the gas supply port in order to ensure an aseptic environment in the working chamber, and air is supplied into the working chamber through this particulate collecting filter. The particulate collecting filter is also disposed at the gas discharge port, and air in the working chamber is discharged from the working chamber through the particulate collecting filter.
Also, in the isolator, a sterile substance such as hydrogen peroxide is sprayed into the working chamber to perform sterilization treatment for sterilizing the interior of the working chamber (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-320392 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-312799).
During sterilization treatment, gaseous sterilized substance is supplied into the working chamber. When sterilization treatment is performed in the above isolator, a long preparation time is required for turning the sterile substance into a gaseous state, which lengthens the entire time required for sterilization treatment leading to a problem of reducing the work efficiency of the isolator.


An image forming apparatus includes a communication device, a received data processing portion, a human detection sensor, a sensitivity setting portion, a rest control portion, and a return control portion. The sensitivity setting portion sets, based on content of the job data, the sensitivity of the human detection sensor for a time when specific devices including the received data processing portion are in a predetermined rest state. The rest control portion causes the specific devices to transit to the rest state when a predetermined rest condition is satisfied. The return control portion causes the specific devices to transit from the rest state to a return state when the human detection sensor detects a human body in the situation where the specific devices are in the rest state, wherein larger power is consumed in the return state than in the rest state.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a human detection sensor.
Upon receiving a print request together with print data from a host apparatus, the image forming apparatus executes a print process based on the print data.
In addition, when a predetermined rest condition is satisfied, the image forming apparatus causes specific devices, such as a print processing device and a print engine, to transit to a rest state. The state of the image forming apparatus in which the specific devices are in the rest state is called a power saving state, a sleep state or the like.
The rest condition is, for example, that a power saving key has been operated, or that the print process has not been requested for a predetermined time period.
In addition, the image forming apparatus may include a human detection sensor. In this case, when the human detection sensor detects a human body in a situation where the specific devices are in the rest state, the image forming apparatus automatically causes the specific devices to transit from the rest state to a predetermined state.
In addition, there is known a technology in which when a power control portion of the image forming apparatus causes the image forming apparatus to transit to the power saving state in response to an operation of the power saving key, a transition from the power saving state to the normal power state is restricted until the human detection sensor no longer detects the human body.


A method and apparatus for monitoring an electronic control system, where code of a memory is, in a context of ongoing instruction accesses, transferable via a word line out of the memory to a control unit having a specific word width encompassing code of a plurality of memory cells of the memory and where an additional datum is created in each case for the code of a word width and is storable in the memory, may include an arrangement that, outside the ongoing instruction accesses, checks an entire code of the memory by selecting for each word width a single memory cell to thereby activate a complete word line, that creates a check datum from code of the complete word line, and that compares the check datum with the stored additional datum.

Methods for monitoring electronic control systems, based on the fact that a checksum is cyclically calculated over the entire code region or a portion thereof, are conventional. These are intended to detect when the code has been modified, whether by tuning or by charge loss in the memory element. The checksum calculation for manipulation or data loss should be carried out at startup of the system in order to achieve the greatest possible reliability. This is not feasible, however, because of the long times resulting from a complete checksum calculation over code from 100 KB to several megabytes, since the starting behavior of the system would thereby be slowed down and the customer would perceive this as a drawback.
In a context of ongoing instruction accesses (i.e., during operation), a method expressed by hardware is known for preventing data loss with regard to the problem of charge loss of flash memory elements. In this method with the corresponding hardware, also called error check and correction (ECC), not only are memory cells present that are necessary for the storage of information, i.e., for control commands and/or data (the actual code), but a number of memory cells having an additional datum, with which a determination can be made as to whether the information in the cells for information storage has changed, are additionally present. This is implemented in hardware in a context of ongoing instruction access, i.e., during operation. Hardware of this kind is described, for example, in German Patent No. DE 38 33 713 A1. As the name itself suggests, these additional data in some cases also make possible a correction of corrupt data. With the aforesaid method, however, the corresponding data are checked during ongoing operation, i.e., in a context of ongoing instruction accesses, so that those parts of the data or of the memory that are addressed less frequently or not at all by ongoing instruction accesses are checked less frequently or not at all. In the context of the aforesaid German Patent, the conventional method therefore does not guarantee regular monitoring or checking of all the memory cells of a memory.
Also known is a property of modern flash memories called "margin read." This function, described in German Patent Application No. DE 199 64 012 A1, ascertains whether the information in the memory cells is still sufficient even in normal mode (i.e., in normal operation) to permit error-free functioning of the control system. For that purpose, the memory cells are read out (or the cell current is measured) not at the normal bit line load but at an elevated load. If the cell charge is still sufficient, the information is read out correctly. If not, incorrect information is read out. By reading the information again without applying the elevated load and comparing the read-out values, it is possible to ascertain whether the charge is still sufficient. Reading of the information is always associated here with a checksum calculation, both for reading with margin read and for reading without margin read. If the checksums of the two operations are identical, it can be assumed that sufficient charge from the memory cells is present. This means, however, that here again a time-consuming checksum calculation must be carried out as already indicated above, with the aforementioned disadvantages.

Method and apparatus for monitoring an electronic control system


A fingerprint sensor may include a substrate, and a finger sensing IC on the substrate and including a finger sensing area on an upper surface thereof for sensing an adjacent finger. The fingerprint sensor may include an encapsulating material on the finger sensing IC and covering the finger sensing area, and a bezel adjacent the finger sensing area and on an uppermost surface of the encapsulating layer.

Sensors including integrated circuits (ICs) that directly sense the physical properties of objects in the sensor's environment have come into widespread use in electronic equipment. These ICs are desirably in close proximity to the external environments they measure, but they should not be damaged by the mechanical and/or electrical events that an external environment can apply.
One type of such sensing is finger sensing and associated matching that have become a reliable and widely used technique for personal identification or verification. In particular, a common approach to fingerprint identification involves scanning a sample fingerprint or an image thereof and storing the image and/or unique characteristics of the fingerprint image. The characteristics of a sample fingerprint may be compared to information for reference fingerprints already in a database to determine proper identification of a person, such as for verification purposes.
A particularly advantageous approach to fingerprint sensing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,963,679 and 6,259,804, assigned to the assignee of the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The fingerprint sensor is an integrated circuit sensor that drives the user's finger with an electric field signal and senses the electric field with an array of electric field sensing pixels on the integrated circuit substrate. Additional finger sensing integrated circuits and methods are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0089202 entitled "Multi-biometric finger sensor including electric field sensing pixels and associated methods", also assigned to the assignee of the present application, and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A number of prior art references disclose various types of packaging of IC sensors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,646,316 to Wu et al. discloses an optical sensor including a sensing die with bond pads on an upper surface thereof. A flexible circuit board is coupled to the bond pads, and has an opening over the sensing surface. A transparent glass layer covers the opening in the flexible circuit board. U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,496 to Manansala discloses a similar flexible circuit attachment to a fingerprint sensor, but leaves the area above the surface open.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,139 to Kasuga et al. discloses a smart card including a fingerprint sensor having bond pads attached to thin wiring film, and also including a window or opening above the sensing surface. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0139685 to Kozlay discloses a similar arrangement for a fingerprint sensor.
Some fingerprint sensors are based on thin film technology, such as disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0050935 to Bustgens et al. Other fingerprint sensors may include sensing elements on a flexible substrate, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,099,496 to Benkley, III. These sensors may be slightly more rugged than integrated circuit based sensors, but may have performance shortcomings.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0031174 to Ryhanen et al. discloses a flexible circuit board covering an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for capacitive electrode fingerprint sensing, and wherein the sensing electrodes are on the surface of the flexible substrate and covered with a thin protective polymer layer. In some embodiments, the sensor may wrap the flexible circuit around to the back side of the ASIC for attachment to a circuit board in a ball grid form.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,343, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses an embodiment of a fingerprint sensor package that includes a layer over the finger sensing area of a finger sensing IC. A chip carrier, having an opening for the sensing area, is coupled, either capacitively or electrically, to the bond pads on the IC via peripheral regions of the transparent layer.
Finger sensing ICs are currently used on some cellular telephone handsets to capture fingerprints for user identification and to capture finger motions for menu navigation. Standard IC packaging methods that completely enclose the silicon chip are not used with these sensors because the sensing fields the sensors use to measure the fingerprint (e.g., electric fields, thermal fields, etc.) do not pass effectively through the package. For these sensors in today's systems, the IC or chip is typically packaged such that the finger can directly contact the passivation layer on the chip surface during the reading operation. For protection from physical damage during storage and transport (in a pocket or purse) the handsets are typically designed to fold closed when not in operation, protecting the sensor assembly which is mounted on an inside surface of the folding device.
There are many situations, however, where it may be preferable to be able to mount the sensor on an unprotected external surface of the handset. This would allow the sensor to be used without opening the clamshell handset, and would allow IC sensors to be used on handsets that do not fold closed, such as the so-called "candy bar" phones.
Unfortunately, the use of a finger sensing IC exposed on a device's external surface will likely subject the sensor to mechanical and/or electrical stresses not seen by a sensor that has a folding cover over it during storage. For example, a device in a pocket or purse will be subject to scratching, abrasion, point impact, continuous point pressure, and shear impact forces. The packaging technologies used for sensors in closeable cases are unlikely to provide adequate protection for the silicon chip.

Finger sensor including encapsulating layer over sensing area and related methods


Provided is a method for controlling a vehicle, including: receiving a plurality of visual sensor signals containing three-dimensional visual information outside and inside the vehicle; receiving a plurality of audio sensor signals containing three-dimensional audio information outside and inside the mobile vehicle; determining three-dimensional spatial positions of at least two objects and object cognitive information of the at least two objects according to at least a portion of the plurality of visual sensor signals and at least a portion of the plurality of audio sensor signals, wherein the at least two objects include at least one object outside the vehicle and at least one object inside the vehicle; obtaining a circumstance information of the vehicle according to the object cognitive information; and determining operation instructions for the vehicle according to the circumstance information.

In recent years, with the development of sensor hardware such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and artificial intelligence image recognition software, vehicle automatic driving technology has gradually entered the practical stage. However, the current automatic driving software and hardware solutions can only control the vehicle to maneuver by identifying the spatial location of objects such as obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, animals, etc., and lack the overall understanding of the environment inside and outside the vehicle, thus it is impossible to achieve vehicle control that fully adapts to the environment.
In addition, although extensive 3D environment experience/content with or without visualization technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality have been used in home entertainment, gaming, map navigation, marketing display, education and training, etc., no extensive solution has been proposed to provide 3D environment experience with or without visualization in vehicles (especially autonomous vehicles).

Vehicle control and 3D environment experience with or without visualization based on 3D audio/visual sensors


An image sensing device allows to shoot an image using correct object distance information and light emitting amount when the main light emitting amount upon shooting an object image is calculated by making the pre-light emission after the auto-focusing process. When a predetermined button independent of a release button is operated, a focusing process is executed first. Then, photometry is made while inactivating a strobe, and an exposure value is determined based on an object distance. Then, pre-light emission is made, light reflected by the object in the pre-light emission is measured, and the photometry result under the available light is subtracted from that in the pre-light emission, so as to obtain a brightness value of object reflected light of only the pre-light emission.

Upon shooting a picture with strobe, automatic light control is normally executed by making a pre-light emission, measuring the objects reflected light, and determining the amount of main light needed on the basis of the photometry result.
Normally, a series of these processes are done depending on the operation state of a release switch (SW). More specifically, main light emission is performed after pre-light emission, photometry, and determination of the main light emitting amount are made while the release SW is pressed at the full stroke position.
Also, an automatic light control camera is known (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 61-156239, 61-156240, and 60-61733). That is, a member independent from the release SW makes pre-light emission and photometry of object reflected light by the pre-light emission, so as to determine a light emitting amount of a strobe in advance, and main light emission is then made by the release SW. According to these patent references 1 to 3, since the light emitting amount of the strobe can be determined in advance, even when a light control area is located at the center of the visual field and an object is not located at the center, pre-light emission is made while locating the object at the center upon pre-light emission. After that, even when shooting is made by changing the composition (shooting direction, field angle), an appropriate exposure value can be obtained upon shooting.
However, when automatic exposure shooting is performed by controlling object reflected light of the strobe, and a sub object with a high reflectance such as glass, a mirror, or the like is present near a main object, the exposure value is determined under the influence of the sub object with the high reflectance and, consequently, the main object is underexposed.
As a measure to be taken against this problem, an automatic light control camera which makes a strobe perform pre-light emission immediately before shooting under the assumption that a main object is located at an in-focus distance is known (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-287240). This technique uses a photometry sensor which divides a shooting area into a plurality of areas, and can make photometry on respective areas. Reflected light returning from an object is measured, and when the photometry result of a given area is higher than the brightness calculated from a shooting distance, it is determined that a high-reflecting object is present in that area, and the area is excluded from the light control areas, thus minimizing the influence of abnormal reflection.
In the automatic light control cameras disclosed in patent references 1 to 3, the strobe light control amount can be determined in advance. However, since pre-light emission is made to determine the main light emitting amount of the strobe irrespective of the in-focus state of the camera, the exposure value often becomes inaccurate. That is, since the open f-number of a lens changes depending on the extension position of the lens, when the extension amount becomes large in e.g., macro shooting, the exposure value is often changed by about one level due to variations of the open f-number upon extension. When an abnormal reflecting object such as glass or the like is present upon pre-light emission, underexposure occurs due to that influence. In patent reference 4, the influence of underexposure when an abnormal reflecting object such as glass or the like is present can be minimized, but it is difficult to obtain an appropriate exposure value when an object falls outside the light control range.

Image sensing device and control method thereof


An aircooled smokestack. The smokestack has passages within it for air or her cooling fluid. The fluid circulates through the smokestack, cooling off the internal and external surfaces. The cooling fluid is then aspirated into the stack gases near the top of the stack, thereby film cooling the upper portion of the interior of the stack. Cooling air is also aspirated into the flowing gases at the top of the stack, thereby cooling the gases as they leave the stack.

The present invention is concerned with the detection of ships, and more specifically with the avoidance of detection of a ship by an infrared detector.
The most common means of guiding a missle onto a moving target are radar and heat-seeking devices. These latter guidance systems detect the infrared radiation emitted by all bodes above absolute zero, and then "home" in on the strongest source. When the target is a ship at sea, the job is made easier by the fact that the background, the ocean, is at a relatively constant temperature. Thus, it is easy for the detection system to pick out a ship, which is at a higher temperature than the ocean, against the relatively "flat" background.
Radar systems can be confused by dropping small pieces of metal foil, called "chaff", between the radar set and the target. The radar signals bounce off the chaff and show on the screen as a large blur. Attempting to confuse a heat-seeking guidance system in a similar manner is obviously impractical, since it would require large quantities of fuel to produce sufficiently large amounts of infrared radiation. Therefore, the only realistic way to avoid detection of a ship by a heat-seeking device is to reduce the temperature of all parts of the ship to that of the background, or to approach this temperature as nearly as possible.
On a ship, the highest external temperature exists in the stack gases and the smokestack itself. The smokestack and gases are considerably higher in temperature than the rest of the ship, hence, the heat-seeking guidance system would lock onto these sources and head for the ship. Therefore, it is necessary to cool the smokestack and gases.
The prior art shows an unrealistic and unworkable scheme for entirely eliminating a ship's exhaust by washing the soot particles out of it and discharging the cleaned and cooled gases at sea level. However, no workable prior art was found relating to the cooling of the smokestack and gases to eliminate infrared radiation.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An organic semiconducting material comprises a naphthalocyanine derivative represented by formula (1);

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic semiconducting material including a naphthalocyanine derivative of a specific structure, a film containing such an organic semiconducting material, and organic electronic devices, especially an organic photoelectric transducer and an organic transistor, and an infrared dye composition which each use such an organic semiconducting material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices using organic semiconducting materials can be manufactured by simple processes as compared with traditional devices using inorganic semiconducting materials including silicon and the like. In addition, organic semiconducting materials can have their variations in plenty because their material characteristics can be altered easily by modification of their molecular structures. Therefore, it is conceivable that organic semiconducting materials will allow realization of such functions and devices as have never been achieved by inorganic semiconducting materials, and recent years have seen extensive studies of devices using organic semiconducting materials. Examples of a device using an organic semiconducting material include photoelectric transducers using organic semiconducting materials as photoelectric conversion materials, such as organic thin-film solar cells and solid-state image pickup devices, and organic transistors (Shinkasuru Yuki Handotai, NTS Inc. (2006)).
The use of organic semiconducting materials allowing film formation by a solution process makes it possible to manufacture large-area devices at low cost under low temperatures as compared with devices manufactured using inorganic semiconducting materials including silicon and the like. As an example of research on organic thin-film solar cells taking advantage of such a property, the case is proposed where the mixed film including a polythiophene derivative P3HT (poly(3-hexylthiophene)) and a fullerene derivative PCBM ([6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester) is formed by a solution process and used as a photoelectric conversion layer. However, this case can not match silicon-utilized solar cells in photoelectric conversion capability, so further improvement in performance is required thereof. A cause of low energy conversion efficiency of organic thin-film solar cells consists in that the organic materials used therein show light absorption and photoelectric conversion in wavelength regions narrower than the wavelength region of the light radiating from the sun, and that they fail to utilize light in long wavelength region (infrared region) in particular (Kaku Uehara & Susumu Yoshikawa (editors), Yuki Hakumaku Taiyo Denchi no Saishin Gijutu (Leading-edge Technology for Thin Film Organic Photovoltaic Cells), pp. 1-8, CMC Publishing Co., Ltd. (2005)). Therefore, it is desired to develop organic photoelectric conversion materials which can be formed into film by use of a solution process and have sensitivity in the infrared region.
In the field of solid-state image pickup devices, on the other hand, a silicon-utilized image pickup device has low sensitivity in the infrared region and the inorganic semiconducting material used therein, such as silicon, absorbs all the light in the wavelength region shorter than the wavelength region corresponding to an energy quantity of the band gap. Therefore, it is impossible to subject only the infrared light to photoelectric conversion. By contrast, an organic semiconducting material allows photoelectric conversion of only the light in a specific wavelength region, and there is disclosure of the visible-light solid-state image pickup devices of multilayer structure which take advantage of such a property (JP-A-2003-234460, JP-A-2003-332551 and JP-A-2005-268609). If a photoelectric conversion film allowing photoelectric conversion of only the infrared light can be obtained as in the above cases, it is conceivable that sampling of visible light information and infrared light information at the same time and the same point becomes possible by laminating such a photoelectric conversion film and a visible-light solid-state image pickup device; as a result, a high-performance multifunctional device allowing image information synthesis and easy processing can be obtained. In uses of solid-state image pickup devices, requirements for device performance including an S/N ratio and so on are much higher than those for expansion of area and a low cost process. So, film formation by a vacuum process is preferable, because the film formed by vacuum process resists contamination with impurities and easily takes on a multilayer structure in combination with other functional films. Under these circumstances, it is also desired to develop organic photoelectric conversion materials which can be made into film by a vacuum process and have sensitivity to only infrared light.
Many of materials known as infrared dyes suffer decomposition by heating, and only limited number of infrared dyes can be formed into film by a vacuum process. As an example of infrared dyes allowing film formation by a vacuum process, though bistrihexylsiloxylsilicon naphthalocyanine is known, its intermolecular interaction in the solid film is too weak for using the compound as an organic semiconducting material, so further improvement in carrier transporting ability is required (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 106, 7404-7414 (1984) and JP-A-63-5093).

Organic semiconducting material, and film, organic electronic device and infrared dye composition each including said material

Abstract: wherein M represents Si, Ge or Sn, R1 to R3 represent substituents other than a hydrogen atom except that all of R1 to R3 are identical straight-chain alkyl groups, and R4 to R27 each independently represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent.


A closed-loop heat exchange system and related methods for harnessing subterranean heat energy from a subterranean zone having a passive heat transfer device with multiple operational modes for targeting hotspots within the subterranean zone and adjusting the rate of energy harnessed according to consumption demands. The system can also have at least one enhanced surface section for increasing the heat exchange efficiency and/or a variable pump for controlling the rate at which the working fluid travels through the passive heat transfer device.

Subterranean heat energy has recently received increased attention as a source of environmentally friendly and renewable energy. Currently, subterranean heat energy is harnessed by boring wells into the earth's crust to access reservoirs of heated steam, high pressure water and/or brine. The heated water or brine is effectively mined like other buried natural resources and brought to the surface where the fluid is used to operate turbines or utilized in other processes.
A common approach to extracting the subterranean heat energy is to actively mine dry steam within the reservoir and feed the steam through a turbine on the surface. Alternatively, produced fluids can be vaporized in a flash tank to generate steam or passed through a heat exchanger to vaporize a secondary working fluid. An inherent drawback of these approaches is that the mined fluid taken from the reservoir must be naturally or artificially replenished to maintain flowrates and decrease land subsidence. Artificially replacing the mined fluid through reinjection is typically undesirable as a significant portion of the energy collected must be devoted to pumping replacement fluid back into the reservoir creating a large parasitic load. Other drawbacks in the mining and replenishment of the subterranean natural resources includes seismic risks, subsurface disturbance causing subterranean environmental pollution of water reservoirs, scaling in the wells, poor efficiencies, the need for replenishing the working fluid lost during normal operation, the need for sufficiently permeable aqueous reservoirs, and the like.
Due to the in situ fluid requirements, the current state of the art is only able to operate in areas where in situ reservoir fluid is present. Also, the current state of the art of subterranean heat energy extraction is limited by the temperatures in which it may operate and therefore is only capable of extracting heat from a small fraction of the overall available subterranean heat resource.
Various closed-loop apparatus approaches have been advanced, which typically comprise positioning a subterranean heat exchanger within the subterranean reservoir and pumping a working fluid through the heat exchanger. The heated working fluid is returned to the surface for use in turbines or other processes. However, the current closed-loop apparatus approaches have drawbacks relating to efficient collection of the subterranean heat energy, controlling the rate of energy production, and maximizing productivity over a period of time to sustain the heat resource, among others. Unlike other types of power generation such as gas fired power generation, adjusting the production rate of energy harnessed from subterranean heat utilizing the current state of the art can be exceedingly difficult as the production rate is largely dependent on the uncontrollable conditions within the subterranean zone.
As such, there is a need in the art for improved systems, apparatus, and methods for harnessing subterranean heat energy in an efficient manner that is cost-effective without excessively depleting the source of the subterranean heat energy and for reliable and efficient adjustment of harnessing the thermal energy according to a given consumption rate. There is also a need in the art for improved systems and methods that can utilize resources of varying temperatures within various subterranean resources having varying fluid quantities.

Passive heat extraction and electricity generation


A nursing bed, including at least a net-shaped fabric with a mesh opening, and a bearing frame wherein the net-shaped fabric includes a warp and a weft interwoven in a vertical direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a nursing bed, and more particularly to a nursing bed for bedridden patients.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays nursing beds are widely used in hospitals. The nursing beds include a single layer of sheet fabric with a mesh opening by interweaving a warp and a weft in a vertical direction and, an interweaving point of the warp and the weft is fastened by a fixed connection, and a diameter or diagonal length of the mesh opening is more than or equal to a diameter of the warp and the weft and less than 30 times the diameter of the warp and the weft. However, the warp and the weft easily hurt skin of patients, and affect air permeability of the skin and recovery of the patients.
Furthermore, the warp and the weft generally have a diameter of less than 0.55 mm. Thus, the resulting interweaving point has a small area. Even though the interweaving points are bonded by special adhesives, they are unfirm and prone to detach.


Technology is provided for changing one or more image attributes pertaining to depth perception in a two-dimensional image to emphasize the perceived stereoscopy of the two-dimensional image and achieve a sensation upon viewing the two-dimensional image that is close to a sensation perceived from viewing a binocular stereoscopic image. Binocular stereoscopic image data including image data from two perspectives, for right vision and left vision, are input. A user selects the preferred one of the right vision image data and the left vision image data using an image selection unit, a planar image generating unit extracts the selected image data from the binocular stereoscopic image data, and an image output unit outputs the extracted planar image data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that generates a two-dimensional image from binocular stereoscopic image data including image data from multiple perspectives.
2. Description of the Related Art
In one prior art example, a method of displaying a binocular stereoscopic three-dimensional image involves presenting a right/left vision binocular image made up of images from differing perspectives of which image is divided with respect to a viewer's right vision and left vision to thereby provide binocular parallax and enable stereoscopic vision. As an example of a method of generating a two-dimensional image from an arbitrary perspective based on such a three dimensional image, a method of generating a two-dimensional image that has a seemingly natural appearance is proposed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-324249 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-56407.
When viewing a binocular stereoscopic image, depth perception owing to binocular parallax is in effect in addition to normal depth perception from viewing a two-dimensional image. Thereby the viewer feels a sensation that is different from that felt upon viewing a normal two-dimensional image.
The two-dimensional image generation methods described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-324249 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-56407 merely involve reproducing a two-dimensional image from a given perspective within a space, and thereby, a sensation perceptually similar to that felt upon viewing a binocular stereoscopic image as described above cannot be felt upon viewing a two-dimensional image produced according to these methods.


A support is described for a bearing arrangement of a balancing machine for determining the effect of unbalance in two measuring planes. The support has a spindle that holds the component to be balanced in two planes. Vibration force pickups with a relative position indicator are provided for the determination of the fraction of the unbalance attributed to the individual plane as a function of size and magnitude. The design of a support integrally as box profile on which the spindle is laterally arranged is proposed to prevent the problems thusfar caused by the supports which influence the measured results in their reproducibility.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of a support of a bearing arrangement for a body to be balanced in a balancing machine to determine the effect of unbalance in two measuring planes and to a support produced by this process. The support has an auxiliary shaft holding the component to be balanced in two planes as well as vibration force pickups and a relative position indicator for the determination of the unbalance fraction as a function of position and magnitude attributed to the individual planes.
In order to balance rotating components not having a shaft of their own such as turbine wheels, gear wheels, wheels of vehicles and grinding wheels, for example, a balance machine must be provided with an auxiliary shaft on which these components can be fastened for the balancing procedure. It is then not important whether the auxiliary shaft extends in a vertical or horizontal direction but, for such components, it is essential that they are inspected for unbalance, if possible, in a position in which they are later arranged in assembled state together with other components in a then complete machine or in which their unbalance can be simply corrected. For example, for grinding wheels and motor vehicle wheels, a horizontal auxiliary shaft arrangement may be advantageous, particularly when these balancing machines are employed for balancing such rotating elements after a certain time of operation, such as operation of the vehicle wheels or wear of the grinding wheels, for example.
In order to obtain a reliable bearing arrangement of the auxiliary shaft, this shaft is usually supported at two bearing sites whereby the end of the auxiliary shaft holding the body to be balanced projects beyond one bearing arrangement so that, as a result, a so-called over-mounted bearing arrangement of the component to be balanced is possible.
In measuring for unbalance, the component, firmly connected to the auxiliary shaft, is made to rotate and the actions of the mass forces of the unbalance present in the component are picked up by vibration converters arranged in the bearing planes of the auxiliary shaft. The mass forces of the unbalance are separately indicated for each plane by means of a relative position indicator so that for each plane, the required unbalance equalization can be conducted in the appropriate relative position and with the appropriate weight. In addition to vibration path pickups, vibration force pickups such as piezocrystals or strain measuring strips are particularly suitable as vibration converters.
In order to prevent measuring errors caused by the bearing arrangement, such auxiliary shafts or spindles must be supported very accurately which is connected with high adjustment expense. In particular, for spindles which are supported horizontally and are to hold an over-mounted component to be balanced, the influence of the cantilevered weight on measuring errors caused by improper bearing support should not be underestimated. Frequent adjustment steps must be conducted to determine whether such balancing machines can still be used, for example, in gasoline stations and repair shops with their very uneven operations. These types of bearing supports are individually bolted together with the housing of the balancing machine, containing, for example, the drive motor and the evaluation electronics. This results in measuring errors because of a different pretension of bearing support and housing as a function of the screw tightening moment. These types of screw connections also may loosen somewhat over time which influences the measuring accuracy.


A device under test for performing built-in self-tests to determine the functionality of one or more components of the device under test is described. The device under test includes a storage location to store a set of tests for testing the device under test; a data generator to generate a test pattern based on a test in the set of tests; a transmission unit to transmit the test pattern to a test system; a receiver unit to receive a set of loopback signals from the test system, wherein the set of loopback signals represent the test pattern; and a data checker to determine success or failure of the device under test based on the set of loopback signals.

A memory subsystem can be a storage system, such as a solid-state drive (SSD), and can include one or more memory components that store data. The memory components can be, for example, non-volatile memory components and volatile memory components. In general, a host system can utilize a memory subsystem to store data in the memory components and to retrieve data from the memory components.
Test systems are often used to determine whether memory subsystems are properly functioning/performing before delivery of these memory subsystems to consumers. These test systems are conventionally designed to include an interface of the device under test (i.e., the memory subsystem), including the interface protocol of the device under test. Accordingly, the test system must be configured to support the protocol of devices under test. However, implementing the test system to include the constantly evolving protocol of the device under test can be an arduous process that ultimately results in a costlier test system.

Protocol independent testing of memory devices using a loopback