An electrical connector assembly is provided for mounting to the pin of a vehicular alternator. The connector includes a terminal having a mating end defining a split cylindrical sleeve. The connector also includes a spring clip having a split cylindrical sleeve that can be telescoped over the split cylindrical sleeve of the terminal to contribute to the spring forces thereof and thus contributing to the radially inward contact forces of the connector. The spring clip further includes a pin engaging portion having an aperture extending therethrough for receiving the pin of the alternator. The pin engaging portion is non-orthogonally aligned to the axes of the split cylindrical sleeves, but can be biased into an orthogonal alignment. The pin engaging portion can be urged into the orthogonal alignment to enable mating and unmating, and will resiliently return toward an unbiased condition wherein edge regions of the aperture therethrough will grippingly engage the pin of the alternator.

Electrical connectors for vehicular applications must be able to withstand the high vibrations to which vehicles are subjected almost continuously in use. The connectors also must provide high quality electrical connection through very broad ranges of temperature variations. Additionally, many electrical connections must be splash-proof to ensure at least some protection against environmental moisture. Electrical connectors that are disposed in the engine compartment also must protect against the inadvertent but inevitable manual contact that occurs as an automobile mechanic is trying to access a nearby vehicular component disposed in the crowded engine compartment.
Electrical connectors for vehicular alternators must meet all of the above identified design criteria and further must accommodate extremely high amperage. In particular, electrical connectors for vehicular alternators may carry currents as high as 150 amps. Electrical connectors for such high amperage applications must be fairly massive, with a large surface-to-surface contact, and with a large cross-sectional area and with high normal contact forces.
The typical prior art vehicular alternator includes a threaded stud terminal to which a threaded nut may be selectively connected. The typical prior art terminal for connection to such an alternator includes a mating end effectively defining a generally planar eyelet that is dimensioned to be slidably passed over the threaded stud of the alternator. The opposed end of such a terminal typically will be crimped and/or soldered to the conductor of the wire leading to or from the alternator. The eyelet is maintained in a mated condition on the alternator by the nut which is threaded tightly against the planar portion of the eyelet for securely retaining the terminal on the alternator and for providing the large surface contact area and high contact forces that are desired.
The typical prior art electrical connector for vehicular alternators, and other such threaded nut and stud electrical connectors generally perform very well. However, the threaded components of these prior art connectors are fairly expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, the threaded interconnection adds significantly to assembly time and costs and can make disassembly for periodic repair and maintenance difficult. In this regard, rust, corrosion or accumulated engine compartment deposits can make the threaded disconnection of the nut from the alternator stud extremely difficult and time consuming. Any attempt to provide environmental sealing for such an electrical connection will generally require an entirely separate protection means that is functionally and structurally unrelated to the threaded interconnection to the alternator.
Many prior art electrical connectors rely upon resiliency of the metal to achieve electrical connection. However, it is extremely difficult to achieve the high contact forces with an electrical connector that must also ensure a large surface contact area and a large crosssectional area of metal. Examples of electrical connectors that have attempted to avoid threaded means for achieving electrical connection include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,387 which issued to Neidecker on Sept. 14, 1976 which shows a snap-type connector for a battery terminal; U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,924 which issued to Bungo et al. on Mar. 1, 1977 and which shows a spark plug connector; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,157 which issued to Nestor et al. on Jan. 19, 1988 which shows a multi-component electrical connector having a resilient internal contact means.
Other prior art electrical connectors have included spring means which are intended to achieve secure electrical connection without resorting to combinations of threads and nuts. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,067 issued to Dufresne on June 4, 1985 and shows a battery cable connector having a generally circular spring clip; U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,654 issued to Friedman on Sept. 11, 1984 and shows a complex electrical connector assembly for a battery terminal including an internally disposed coil spring for biasing a movable electrical contact. U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,796 issued to Eriksson on May 31, 1983 and shows a battery terminal post clamp having a complex arrangement of pivoting members which are intended to pivot into secure electrical connection with a battery post, and to alternately and selectively enable release from the battery post.
Still other connectors have included a stamped member having a pair of deflectable arms with apertures extending therethrough. The arms can be biased such that the apertures align with one another to permit insertion of a pin through the aligned apertures. However, when the biasing force on the arms is released, the arms resiliently return to a condition where they bind against the pin inserted through the apertures. Connectors of this type have been used for various low current connector applications where a large surface contact area and high normal contact forces are not essential. Examples of connectors of this general type are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,359 which issued to Keller on Jan. 19, 1982 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,076 which issued to Kinkaid et al. on Dec. 5, 1972.
The prior art further includes the use of clips which perform no direct electrical connection function, but which securely retain the housings of two electrical connectors together. Prior art of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,813 which issued to Hesse on Apr. 9, 1985.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a high amperage electrical connector that enables quick connection and disconnection.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide an electric connector for vehicular alternators that can quickly be clipped into connection with a post on the alternator and that can be quickly selectively removed therefrom.
A further object of the subject invention is to provide an alternator connector that can be connected or disconnected to an alternator post manually and without the use of special tooling.
Yet another object of the subject invention is to provide a high amperage electrical connector for use in a high vibration environment while providing a desired degree of environmental protection.


Techniques are presented for reliability analysis of integrated circuits. A circuit data file including a connectivity network with appended parasitic information is obtained. Circuit performance is simulated, based on the data file, to obtain simulated currents for metallic conductive paths of the circuit. Contextual representations of the paths are determined, and reliability analysis is performed on the contextual representations. The analysis can relate, for example, to electromigration, joule-heating, and/or fusing. The results of the analysis can be provided, for example, in the form of a report including recommended changes, such as width increases, to wires for which it is determined that reliability issues exist.

As integrated circuit (IC) technology shrinks and current densities increase, the current-carrying capacity of metallic conductive paths, such as metal wires and vias, is stretched to its limits. High current densities can cause metal wires and vias to develop defects, such as voids or shorts, over long periods of operation due, for example, to electromigration, joule-heating, or fusing. Products incorporating integrated circuits that develop such defects may fail in use.
Prior techniques to deal with such difficulties have included use of manual methods (for example, with respect to power ICs) to estimate high current density regions, with concomitant addition of conductive material to such regions. Manual methods are not feasible for use with large and complex ICs, such as high-density mixed-signal ICs which carry large currents and are expected to work reliably at high operating temperatures over many years. Automated methods might employ reliability analyses performed on discretized elements rather than actual geometric representations of pertinent metallic conductive paths. Prior techniques, manual and automated, may be overly pessimistic and result in an overly conservative design. Numerous false indications of failure, requiring manual correction, may negate any benefit from automated techniques.
Because of these disadvantages, methods and apparatus that allow, e.g., automated detection and/or accurate reliability analysis of potential trouble spots, such as high current density areas, would be advantageous.

Reliability analysis of integrated circuits


A method and system for providing computer system for use in a network having a plurality of computer systems linked in a chain is disclosed. The method and system include providing a power supply, at least one input and at least one output for the computer system. The at least one input is for receiving power from a first portion of the plurality of computer systems and for providing power from the power supply to the first portion of the plurality of computer systems. The at least one output is for providing power from the power supply to a second portion of the plurality of computer systems and for receiving power from the second portion of the plurality of computer systems. In one aspect, the first portion of the plurality computer systems includes an upstream computer system and the second portion of the plurality computer systems includes a downstream computer system. In this aspect, the method and system also includes providing an input power control circuit and reverse current protection circuits for the computer system. The input power control circuit is coupled with the at least one input and is for controlling power provided to the computer system such that power is input to the computer system when the power supply does not function.

The present invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly to a method and system for allowing fault tolerance for power failures to be provided.
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional network 1 including a master computer system 5 and conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 that are chained together. Although only three conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 are shown, the conventional network 1 will typically include a larger number of conventional computer systems (not shown). In addition, although separately depicted, the master computer system 5 could be the same as one of the conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30. The conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 each include a power supply 12, 22 and 32, respectively and a system load 14, 24 and 34, respectively. Each of the conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 also includes an input 16, 26 and 36, respectively and an output 18, 28 and 38, respectively. For clarity, only one input 16,26 and 36 and one output 18, 28 and 38 is shown. However, typically the inputs 16, 26 and 36 and the outputs 18, 28 and 38 include multiple pins.
The conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 are chained together in the network 1. Thus, the output 18 and 28 of one computer system 10 and 20, respectively, is coupled to the input 26 and 36, respectively, of the next computer system 20 and 30, respectively. The conventional computer system 10, which has its output 18 coupled to the input 26 of the conventional computer system 20, is considered to be upstream of the conventional computer system 20. The conventional computer system 30, which has its input 36 coupled to the output 28 of the conventional computer system 20, is considered to be downstream of the conventional computer system 20. A conventional computer system 10, 20 or 30 communicates upstream via its input 16, 26 or 36, respectively, and communicates downstream via its output 18, 28 or 38, respectively.
The conventional master computer system 5 can controls portions of the remaining conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30. In addition, the conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 can communicate with each other. In order to provide these functionalities, the system loads 14, 24 and 34 are used to communicate with and redrive signals from other conventional computer systems in the conventional network 1. Thus, the system loads 14, 24 and 34 are connected to the inputs 16, 26 and 36, respectively, and to the outputs 18, 28 and 38, respectively. For example, the system load 24 can be used to redrive signals from the upstream conventional computer system 10 to the downstream conventional computer system 30 as well as to drive signals from the downstream conventional computer system 30 to the upstream conventional computer system 10. The signals driven by the system loads 14, 24 and 34 can include both data and commands to the conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30, respectively.
For example, each of the conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 may have a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor (not explicitly shown in FIG. 1). The conventional master computer system 5 can control the keyboard, video and mouse of the remaining conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 in the conventional network 1. Each of the computer systems 10, 20 and 30 thus may receive and send keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) signals through their outputs 18, 28 and 38 and receive or send KVM signals through their inputs 16, 26 and 36, respectively. The system loads 14, 24 and 34 may be used to redrive the KVM signals. The conventional master computer system 5 can control the operation of the keyboard, the video played on the monitor and the mouse of each of the remaining conventional computer systems 10, 20 and 30 through the KVM signals.
Although the conventional network 1 functions, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the conventional network 1 is subject to failure due to failures of the power supplies 12, 22 and 32. As shown in FIG. 1, the power supplies 12, 22 and 32 are coupled to and provide power to the system loads 14, 24 and 34, respectively. Without power, the system loads 14, 24 and 34 cannot function properly. If the power supply 12, 22 or 32 fails, the system load 14, 24 or 34, respectively, cannot redrive signals from another conventional computer system or from the conventional master computer system 5. As a result, all downstream computer systems will be cut off from the remainder of the network 1. This could cause a major failure of the conventional network 1. For example, if the power supply 32 fails, only the conventional computer system 30 will be affected. However, if the power supply 12 fails then all of the conventional computer systems 20 and 30 will be cut off from the conventional master computer system 5. Thus, the failure of a single system 10 could adversely affect virtually the entire network 1.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for providing fault tolerances for power failures in a computer system in a network composed of chained computer systems. The present invention addresses such a need.
The present invention provides a method and system for providing computer system for use in a network having a plurality of computer systems linked in a chain. The method and system comprise providing a power supply, at least one input and at least one output for the computer system. The at least one input is for receiving power from a first portion of the plurality of computer systems and for providing power from the power supply to the first portion of the plurality of computer systems. The at least one output is for providing power from the power supply to a second portion of the plurality of computer systems and for receiving power from the second portion of the plurality of computer systems. In one aspect, the first portion of the plurality computer systems provides an upstream computer system and the second portion of the plurality computer systems includes a downstream computer system. In this aspect, the method and system also comprise providing an input power control circuit and a reverse current protection circuits for the computer system. The input power control circuit is coupled with the at least one input and is for controlling power provided to the computer system such that power is input to the computer system when the power supply does not function. According to the system and method disclosed herein, the present invention allows computer systems in a network to share power. Thus, the reliability of the network is improved.

Method and system for providing power fault tolerance in a network of chained computer systems through bidirectional links

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and system for transport data compression between a server and a client based on patches to the dictionaries used for encoding the data. The method includes requesting the server for data, returning the data and a dictionary patch to the client where data having been compressed based on a previously used dictionary and the dictionary patch, and decompressing the returned data using the dictionary and the dictionary patch. The dictionary patch includes updates to the previously used dictionary. Each dictionary has a dictionary identifier that the server and client use to identify the dictionary in their requests and responses. The identifier might be a unique identification or a network session number. Upon receiving a response, the client updates the previously used dictionary with information in the patch and decompresses the returned data using the updated dictionary.

Data compression for network data transfer is necessary in order to reduce the amount data transferred over the network. The data compression improves network response time and allows the network to accommodate a larger amount of data over the same network infrastructure.
A number of data compression methods are in use today for networks such as "deflate" and "gzip". Most standard compression techniques work on the basis of a code table or dictionary used to map codes to characters. The well-established lossless data compression methods are broadly grouped as "dictionary" and "entropy encoding" compression.
Dictionary encoding techniques such as the Lempel-Ziv family of algorithms maintain a dictionary of symbol-to-data mappings. Portions of the data to be compressed that match entries in the dictionary are replaced by the symbols. These dictionaries may be built statically and used to encode data, or dynamically, where during the encoding process the dictionary is updated and optimized.
Entropy encoding algorithms, like the Huffman Coding technique, build variable-length codes which replace portions of the data to be compressed. This is optimized by ensuring the most frequently occurring patterns of data are substituted by the shortest codes. For example, if the single characters are replaced with the codes, then the space or 'e' character is likely to be replaced with the shortest code in the code set. These code-to-data mappings are stored in a code-table or dictionary. The Huffman Coding technique uses a tree data structure to represent this dictionary.
While sending compressed data over a network, each chunk of data is compressed and sent along with a dictionary. During a network session or conversation, each chunk of compressed data that is transmitted contains its own unique dictionary which will be used during decompression. Quite often the session involves the transfer of a number of similar chunks of information. For example, a web browser surfing a website is likely to download a number of similar pages. In fact, any structured data such as html and xml would likely contain a lot of similar contents. This however is not limited to just web browsing, but can be extended to any situation where there is a session-based transfer of compressed data over a network.
As an example, consider the data in a group of html pages being compressed and downloaded. It is quite likely that the html tags such as table tags would be entries in the dictionary. After the first chunk of compressed data is downloaded to a browser, the subsequent data chunks are likely to contain similar entries in the dictionaries for html tags and other commonly occurring sets of information. As a result, a significant number of chunks of compressed information have very similar or even identical dictionaries.
In a session environment where a client computer is able to maintain a state or context, the repetitive dictionary entries become redundant. Current network data transport techniques do not take advantage of such redundant data and network session features in optimizing the data encoding during the transfer of data.
Accordingly, it is appreciated that there exists a need for a method and system for transport data compression that optimizes performance based on the redundant transferred data and network session characteristics.

Transport data compression based on an encoding dictionary patch

International Business Machines Corporation


A well completion method comprising the steps of: (1) positioning a conduit in a wellbore such that (a) a wellbore annulus surrounding the conduit is defined between the conduit and the wall of the wellbore, (b) the wellbore annulus has a first longitudinal segment which is positioned within a producing formation, (c) the wellbore annulus has a second longitudinal segment which is positioned within a producing formation, and (d) the wellbore annulus has a third longitudinal segment which is positioned between the first longitudinal segment and the second longitudinal segment; (2) placing a gravel pack in the wellbore annulus such that the gravel pack surrounds the conduit and substantially fills the first, second, and third longitudinal segments of the wellbore annulus; and (3) injecting a hardenable hydraulic cement composition into the portion of the gravel pack located in the third longitudinal segment of the wellbore annulus such that, after the hydraulic cement composition hardens, the third longitudinal segment of the wellbore annulus is blocked and fluid flow through the third longitudinal segment of the wellbore annulus from the first longitudinal segment to the second longitudinal segment and from the second longitudinal segment to the first longitudinal segment is thereby substantially prevented.

When completing a horizontal or other high deviation well, several zones of interest are typically completed per horizontal or highly deviated lateral, even though at least some of these zones lie within a single geological formation. A horizontal lateral, for example, can desirably be divided into isolatable longitudinal segments which correspond to substantially separate, naturally fractured regions existing in the subterranean formation through which the horizontal lateral extends. Additionally, a horizontal lateral can be divided into isolatable longitudinal segments in order to separate producing regions from shale streaks or other natural obstructions extending into the formation.
Several advantages can be obtained by dividing a horizontal or other highly deviated lateral into separate isolatable segments wherein each segment is associated with a different zone of interest. For example, by dividing a well lateral in this manner, stimulation treatments can be individually and separately directed to specific zones of interest. Consequently, such stimulation treatments can be conducted in a much more effective and efficient manner. Additionally, the division of a well lateral into separate isolatable segments (a) allows individual zones of interest to be selectively tapped for production, (b) allows nonproductive regions to be readily isolated from producing zones, and (c) allows gassed out and/or watered out zones to be quickly identified and isolated from zones which are producing substantially less gas and/or water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,788 discloses a method of completing a horizontal well wherein a casing string including a plurality of casing valves is cemented in a wellbore. Each casing valve includes (a) an outer housing with a plurality of ports defined through the wall thereof and (b) a sliding sleeve received in the housing and including a plurality of sleeve ports. After the casing string is cemented in the formation, a fracturing tool including a casing valve positioner is run into the casing string. The casing valve positioner is operable for opening and closing the casing valves. Using the fracturing tool string, the formation is fractured by sequentially opening each of the casing valves and pumping a fracturing fluid therethrough. Following the fracturing procedure, a production tubing string is placed in the casing and is used to produce formation fluids from selected formation zones.
The completion method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,788 allows individual zones of interest to be selectively isolated and opened by operating the appropriate casing valves. However, even when supplemental fracturing or other stimulation procedures are used, completion methods of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,788 (i.e., methods wherein cement sheaths are placed across naturally producing formations) typically substantially reduce the production rates obtainable from the naturally producing formations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,177 discloses a method for completing a horizontal well which utilizes a casing string composed of alternating casing valves and casing packers. When expanded in the wellbore, each of the casing packers forms a seal between the exterior of the casing string and the wellbore wall. Consequently, the casing packers operate to isolate discrete segments of the horizontal lateral to thereby allow localized production and remedial treatments.
Unfortunately, methods of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,117 are somewhat unreliable. Casing packers can be easily damaged while the casing string is being run into the wellbore. Consequently, casing packer systems typically have undesirably high failure rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,906 discloses a method for treating a gravel packed vertical well wherein the entire lowermost portion of the vertical well is plugged. The method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,906 is particularly applicable for sealing off water-producing segments of gravel packed wells. In the method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,906, an epoxy resin composition is placed in the gravel packing liner at a spot above the location where water entry is occurring. The epoxy resin flows through the slotted and/or screened liner and into the gravel pack. A sufficient amount of epoxy resin composition is preferably deposited in the well liner to fill and plug the gravel pack up to a point above the uppermost point of water entry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,850 discloses a method for terminating water flow through a gravel pack contained in a vertical well. The method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,850 utilizes a cement slurry wherein the diameters of the cement particles contained in the slurry are not greater than about 30 microns. As with the method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,906, the method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,850 operates to plug off the entire lowermost portion of the vertical well. In the method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,850, a sufficient amount of cement slurry is placed in the gravel packing liner to saturate the portion of the gravel pack through which water production is occurring. A sufficient pressure is then applied against the slurry to force the slurry into the gravel pack and at least partially into the subterranean formation from which the water is being produced. Hydraulic pressure is maintained against the slurry for a time sufficient to ensure that the slurry remains in and hardens in the gravel pack.
As is apparent, neither U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,906 nor U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,850 provides a method wherein a casing liner or other conduit is secured and supported in a horizontal or other highly deviated wellbore. Additionally, these patent disclosures do not provide methods whereby multiple production zones in either a vertical or highly deviated lateral can be effectively separated and isolated.
Thus, a need presently exists for a reliable completion method which: (a) can be effectively used in horizontal and other highly deviated wellbores; (b) will not substantially reduce the production rates obtainable from naturally producing formations; (c) will provide a desirable degree of casing support; and (d) will allow individual zones of interest to be quickly and effectively isolated and/or opened.


The invention relates to a heat exchanger for heat exchange between fluids, comprising a housing having an inlet and an outlet for each fluid, the inlet and outlet for each fluid being connected to one another by a flow path, the flow path of a first fluid comprising multiple heat exchange modules comprising at least one longitudinal hollow tube, wherein the modules are arranged in a matrix configuration that comprises at least two columns of longitudinal tubes and at least two rows of longitudinal tubes, and wherein a module is provided with at least one connector for connecting to a co-operating connector of an adjacent module, such that the space enclosed between adjacent modules defines a flow path for a second fluid, parallel to the flow path for the first fluid.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,768 has disclosed heat exchanger elements of plastic material consisting of a plurality of parallel pipes having connecting webs maintaining the pipes transversely spaced apart, which elements can be manufactured in one piece. It is stated in this document that the elements should be designed to have an inherent static stability for all practical purposes, more specifically sufficient bending strength to allow the elements supported at their ends to bridge a distance of several meters without bending. When multiple elements of this type are combined so as to form a larger heat exchanger block, spacing members are used whose opposite sides conform to the contours of one side of each of two adjacent heat exchanger elements. These spacing members may be e.g. glued or welded to the respective elements. Mechanical connecting means such as rivets, screws and tie rods may also be used. The elements may be connected to headers by cutting out the ends of the connecting webs so that short individual pipe ends project from the remaining main body of the connecting webs. These pipe ends may be fitted into bores of the header or anchored therein using short nipples. Due to the design this known heat exchanger having a heat exchange block comprising multiple elements of this type is a cross-flow heat exchanger.
A significant disadvantage of this known device is that although the elements are said to be thin-walled, relatively thick walls are required in heat exchangers of industrial scale, thereby severely limiting heat transfer between the fluids. Furthermore, despite the fact that the elements may be manufactured in one piece, a laborious operation whether by (physico)chemical means whether by mechanical means is needed to assemble several elements into a large heat exchange block.
Furthermore a compact countercurrent heat exchanger is for example known from US 2005/0217837. In this known heat exchanger a plurality of longitudinally extending and parallel fluid carrying tubes are arranged in thermal contact with one another. According to this publication each tube has at least one bend congruent to a bend in an immediately adjacent tube. All tubes are manufactured separately and then assembled together using for example Ag based alloy for brazing. During use a first heat exchange fluid flows through any one tube in a direction opposite to a direction of a second heat exchange fluid that flows through an immediately adjacent tube. In such a way a counter-flow heat exchange relation between the first and second heat exchange fluid is achieved. From the context of the specification it is apparent that such a compact counter-flow heat exchanger is obviously intended for use in aerospace dynamic power systems. In this known device the heat exchanger tubes are made from stainless steel.
Heat exchangers made from metal as in US 2005/0217837 are subject to fouling. Furthermore corrosion of the metal from which the heat exchanger channels are made may cause problems depending on the nature of the fluids between which heat is to be exchanged. Improvement with respect to corrosion may be achieved by using more expensive, more corrosion resistant metals or alloys such as stainless steel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,718 has disclosed heat exchanger bodies or heat accumulator bodies for application according to the recuperator or regenerator principles. Such a body comprises a stack of extruded hollow chamber panels made from plastic and having plane smooth outer walls and webs that join the outer walls in a single piece. It is said that the plastic must be resistant to the media which, in use, will flow through the chambers of the hollow chamber panels. The softening temperature of the plastic should be above the highest operating temperature. The advantages claimed of this known heat exchanger body made up of a stack of individual hollow chamber panels are that the construction costs and expenses are low. The examples of individual hollow chamber panels shown in this document comprise a plastic body of one row of four adjacent hollow chambers. Several of these panels can be stacked to form the heat exchanger body. The joining of these panels in the area of the front surfaces thereof can be produced by welding, gluing or mechanically e.g. using clamping elements. Interlocking elements co-operating with elevations and/or depressions in the outer surfaces of the front surfaces of the panels are preferred. Disadvantages of this known heat exchanger relate to the double wall thickness affecting heat transfer, the square cross-section being a source of sealing problems and difficulties encountered in separately feeding the chambers. Furthermore, although the single panels can be manufactured easily, assembling multiple elements into a stacked configuration is laborious. The manufacturing process of the panels may become more complicated, if interlocking parts should be present in the panels themselves.
WO 2005/071339/discloses a heat exchanger for heat exchange between oil and water. An embodiment of this known device comprises rows of interconnected modules. Each module comprises a longitudinal tube having fins and two diametrically arranged connectors allowing assembling multiple modules into a linear row of modules. A separation plate is provided as a support between rows of interconnected modules. A first fluid flows through the longitudinal tubes, while a second fluid flows in the space between the modules and the housing and/or separation plates of the heat exchanger.
It is obvious that the designs and assembling processes discussed above are complicated, cumbersome, laborious, time-consuming and therefore expensive, offering a suboptimal final product with respect to its final heat transfer properties.


A system comprises a processor configured to subscribe to a broadcast of vehicle-related state changes. The processor is also configured to detect at least one vehicle-related state change in the broadcast that triggers an application launch and launch an application corresponding to the detected vehicle related state change.

In a vehicle computing system (VCS)/application programming interface (API) framework, service apps may be executed on a mobile device, but controlled by a VCS human machine interface. API software connects the VCS to the mobile device to support the control of apps. Starting either mobile apps or apps on the VCS, in the vehicle network or in the internet cloud using API software may currently be an awkward and highly user initiative process in which the driver first sets the VCS into an auxiliary mode, then to mobile applications, issues a command to list the mobile apps that are available, then selects one of the apps and it begins to run. The operation may be so complex that drivers of the vehicle may never discover its existence; it may cause driver distraction, it may easily fail causing a thing gone wrong and it has to be very intentional.
A lack of system initiative features is also a potential hang-up. For example, an owner may take their vehicle to a dealer for a repair and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) would like the owner to take a quality survey before they reach their next destination. With the present system the driver might need to have the survey application loaded on their mobile device then be instructed by the dealer to walk through the steps above to start the survey application.
EP2523436 generally relates to a mobile device comprising a content selector for selecting recommended mobile applications from those available to the device based on at least one of: context information; user defined preference; and context events. A first user interface area is included for displaying recommended applications selected by the content selector. A second user interface area is included for displaying applications selected by the user for a given context. The first user interface area may be dynamically updated according to user activity and/or on user request. In one embodiment, the content selector selects mobile applications from mobile applications stored on the device and from mobile applications stored remotely.

Method and apparatus for handling application triggering events


A method of fabricating a semiconductor device. One embodiment provides a metal carrier. A semiconductor chip is provided. A porous layer is produced at a surface of at least one of the carrier and the semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip is placed on the carrier. The resulting structure is heated until the semiconductor chip is attached to the carrier.

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device, a semiconductor device, and an electrical device.
Semiconductor chips or semiconductor dies can be attached to metal carriers like, for example, leadframes. In particular, semiconductor chips can include electrical contact pads on at least one of their surfaces wherein the semiconductor chips have to be attached to a metal carrier with the contact pad forming an electrically and thermally conducting connection there between. Moreover, the connection between the semiconductor chip and the metal carrier should have satisfactory mechanical properties like mechanical strength and stability against wear and fatigue due to thermal mechanical stress.

Method of fabricating a semiconductor device


To dampen a sound created in an electrical tool or appliance having an air passage through which air is being forced, a sound damper is placed in the air passage. Preferably, a filter is provided upstream of the sound damper to prevent suspended particles, fibers, fumes and the like from entering the sound damper.

The present invention is directed to a method of employing a sound damper for noise reduction in tools and household appliances and to electrical appliances with sound dampers.
Efforts are made in daily life to avoid an excessive creation of noise due to the negative effects thereof on the human condition, for example as a cause of stress. High noise intensities are thereby caused, among other things, by devices or machines that work with the circulation of a gas, such as air.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,598, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which claims priority from German 196 15 917, discloses an intake sound damper for an internal combustion engine that is fashioned as a broadband airborne noise absorber for the intake noises that are impressed on the combustion air taken in by internal combustion engines. In order to achieve the broadband effect, an axial sequence of resonator chambers with volumes that respectively differ from one another is formed in a resonator surrounding an intake pipe, and these resonator chambers are formed by partitions fashioned transverse to the axis of the intake pipe. Each of these resonator chambers is in communication with the intake air guided in the intake pipe via wall openings that are formed in the wall of the intake pipe. By matching the aperture area of the openings, the wall thickness of the intake pipe in the region of the openings and the volume of the resonator chambers, a continuous broadband damping can be set over a great frequency range, in the range, for example, from 1-10 kHz that is of practical interest here. In motor vehicles having an internal combustion engine with a supercharger and a charge cooling, the known intake sound damper is advantageously arranged immediately behind or at or integrated in the pressure joint of the supercharger at a distance preceding the charge cooling in any case.
The object of the present invention is to also enable a noise reduction given tools and/or household appliances operated with electrical motors as compared to internal combustion engines.
This object is achieved by a method of providing a tool or household appliance that is not powered by internal combustion, but is powered by an electrical motor and has an air passage selected from an air intake, an air- or gas-cooled passage or a gas or air exhaust or outlet; and providing a sound damper for noise reduction in the air passage.
It is thereby preferred that the tool and/or household appliance is an electrical appliance, such as a hair dryer, a hair dryer hood, a fume extraction hood, a vacuum cleaner, an exhaust air or, respectively, condensate or clothes dryer, a leaf vacuum, a leaf blower or a hand dryer.
It is also inventively proposed that the sound damper is preceded by at least one filter element that essentially prevents suspended particles, dust and/or fibers from proceeding into the inside of the sound damper.
In addition, an electrical appliance is inventively offered that has an air or gas passage selected from gas-intaking, gas-cooled and gas-expelling and has a sound damper disposed in the passage.
An inventive electrical appliance is thereby particularly characterized in that the sound damper is composed of an intake pipe carrying the intake air and of a resonator housing surrounding this upon formation of a closed annular space comprising an admission connector and a discharge connector as well as openings in the pipe wall of the intake pipe that are connected to the interior of the resonator. The sound damper comprises an axial sequence of a plurality of chamber walls in the resonator extending transverse relative to the longitudinal axis of the intake pipe and surrounding the intake pipe. The chamber walls form resonator chambers of different volumes in the resonator housing that are hermetically delimited relative to one another, and by such an arrangement of the openings in the pipe wall of the intake pipe that each of the resonator chambers communicates with the interior of the intake pipe and none of the chamber walls are thereby bridged.
An electrical appliance is also inventively characterized by openings in the pipe wall of the intake pipe, all of said openings having the same geometrical shape.
The inventive electrical appliance is also characterized by openings in the pipe wall of the intake pipe that all have a circular-cylindrical shape and that all comprise the same diameter.
Moreover, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by such an arrangement of the openings in the pipe wall of the intake pipe that each of the resonator chambers communicates with the interior of the intake pipe via the same number of openings.
Preferably, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by such an arrangement of the openings in the pipe wall of the intake pipe that the openings allocated to each of the resonator chambers comprise the same geometric distribution of the intake pipe wall.
Moreover, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by an oval or flattened oval cross-section of the intake pipe.
Over and above this, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by a wall section fashioned without openings continuously from the intake connector to the discharge connector, said wall section being in a valley region of the intake pipe with reference to the use-conforming installed position of the intake pipe in the sound damper and of the sound damper in or, respectively, at the electrical appliance.
An inventive electrical appliance is also characterized by a two-shell fashioning of the intake pipe with an axial parting plane. Alternatively, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by a two-shell fashioning of the resonator housing with an axial parting plane.
Advantageously, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by the fashioning of the intake pipe as an insert in the resonator housing.
Moreover, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by admission connectors and discharge connectors applied at the resonator housing.
Finally, an inventive electrical appliance is characterized by an axial sequence of resonator chambers with chamber volumes either steadily decreasing or steadily increasing in a flow direction.
The invention is, thus, based on the perception that the employment of a sound damper fundamentally known for internal combustion engines in tools and household appliances that are operated with alternative electrical energy sources, preferably electrical motors, leads to a considerable minimization of the noise intensity emitted during their operation.
Other advantages and features of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description, the claims and drawings.

Employment of sound dampers in household appliances and electrical appliances with sound dampers


Provided are a shrinkage-reducing agent for a hydraulic material and a shrinkage-reducing agent composition for a hydraulic material including a compound represented by the general formula (1): R1—[O-(A1O)m—R2]n (1), where: R1 represents R1 derived from a polyhydric alcohol represented by R1—[OH]n; A1O represents an oxyalkylene group having 2 to 18 carbon atoms; R2 represents a hydrogen atom or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 30 carbon atoms; m represents an average added mole number of oxyalkylene groups A1O's; n represents 3 or 4; and when n equals 3, m represents 30 to 150, and when n equals 4, m represents 5 to 150.

Hydraulic materials provide cured articles excellent in strength, durability, and the like. Accordingly, the hydraulic materials have been widely used as cement compositions such as a cement paste, a mortar, and a concrete. The hydraulic materials are indispensable for the construction of civil engineering and architectural structures.
After having cured, the hydraulic materials may cause the dissipation of unreacted moisture remaining in the materials depending on, for example, ambient temperature and a humidity condition. As a result, such a problem that drying shrinkage progresses and hence each of the cured articles cracks to reduce its strength or durability arises. Reductions in strength, durability, and the like of each of the civil engineering and architectural structures cause serious problems such as a reduction in safety and an increase in repair cost.
Legal regulations against such problems have become increasingly stringent. The cracking of a concrete is also an object of defect liability in a law established in June 1999 concerning the promotion of the securing of housing quality. In the Japanese Architectural Standard Specification for Reinforced Concrete Work revised in February 2009 (JASS 5 (Architectural Institute of Japan)), a shrinkage strain in a concrete with long-term durability (100 years or more) at a 26th week was restricted to 800×10−6 or less.
Emphasis has been recently placed on shrinkage-reducing agents for hydraulic materials as means for reducing the drying shrinkage of cured concrete articles. Architectural Institute of Japan is scheduled to establish criteria concerning the shrinkage-reducing agents for hydraulic materials simultaneously with the revision of the JASS 5 described above.
An alkylene oxide adduct of an alcohol having 1 to 4 carbon atoms (see Patent Literature 1), an ethylene oxide and propylene oxide co-adduct of a polyhydric alcohol having two to eight hydroxyl groups (see Patent Literature 2), an alkylene oxide adduct of a lower alkylamine (see Patent Literature 3), a polypropylene glycol in an oligomer region (see Patent Literature 4), low-molecular weight alcohols (see Patent Literature 5), and an alkylene oxide adduct of 2-ethylhexanol (see Patent Literature 6) have been reported as the shrinkage-reducing agents for hydraulic materials. However, those shrinkage-reducing agents for hydraulic materials each involve the following problem. When each of the agents is used in a concrete, the strength of the concrete reduces. Accordingly, the ratio of a cement paste is requested to be increased in order that the strength may be secured. As a result, such a problem that a cost for the concrete increases arises.
Alkylene oxide adducts of polyhydric alcohols having two to eight hydroxyl groups have been reported as shrinkage-reducing agents for hydraulic materials, each of which is capable of suppressing a reduction in strength when used in a concrete (see Patent Literatures 7 and 8). However, each of those shrinkage-reducing agents for hydraulic materials requires a combination with any other admixture such as a powder resin or an expansive additive, and hence has been unable to solve the problem, i.e., the increase of the cost for the concrete.

Shrinkage-reducing agent for hydraulic material and shrinkage-reducing agent composition for hydraulic material


An apparatus is provided for performing spinal surgery having a handle assembly, a screw guide, and a retractor. A shaft is provided with a handle, a neck portion and a connecting portion. The screw guide is provided with a connecting element coupled to the connecting portion of the handle assembly. A retractor for retracting tissue is coupled to the screw guide, wherein the neck portion of the handle assembly is provided with a spring loaded sleeve adapted to engage one of a plurality of holes positioned on a portion of the connecting element. The connecting portion is pivotably coupled to the connecting element.

During spinal surgery, there is a need to guide a screw into the spine and retract soft tissue around the surgery area. Previously, specific instruments are used to guide a screw into the spine and other specialized instruments are used to retract the soft tissue around the surgery area.
There is a need for a single instrument that allows the screw to be guided as well as retract soft tissue.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Screw guide and tissue retractor instrument


An apparatus comprises a bandgap reference voltage circuit with first and second current legs and circuitry for generating a bandgap reference voltage. A transistor is coupled to the first current leg for selectively providing current to the first leg of the bandgap reference voltage circuit. A control circuit controls the transistor to turn the transistor on when an external voltage supply is initially applied to the apparatus to provide a start up current to the bandgap voltage reference source and senses an output voltage developed by the bandgap reference current source. The control circuit turns off the transistor responsive to the sensed developed voltage when the sensed developed voltage rises above a predetermined threshold.

Integrated circuit regulated voltage supplies typically use a bandgap voltage reference as a fixed voltage reference in the voltage supply circuit. When circuits, such as those including bandgap voltage regulators, are used in automotive vehicles, the circuits are subject to extreme voltage conditions, including excess battery supply voltage and reverse voltage conditions. Typically, a voltage clamp and series resistance are used to provide protection from excess supply voltages. Typically, a series diode is used to protect against reverse voltages, which adds an additional voltage drop in the forward direction. Both of these known techniques require additional components and/or place limits on system performance.
Typical bandgap circuits are characteristically self stabilizing when on, but require a start up to transition from off to on.


An image sensor may include a shared pixel circuit having multiple photodiodes coupled to a common floating diffusion node via respective charge transfer gates. First, the pixel circuit may be reset, and a sample-and-hold reset (SHR) value may be read out. Charge from a first of the photodiodes may be transferred to the floating diffusion node, and a first sample-and-hold signal (SHS) value may be read out. A first correlated double sampling (CDS) value is obtained by computing the difference between the SHR value and the first SHS value. Without resetting again, charge from a second of the photodiodes may be transferred to the floating diffusion node, and a second SHS value may be read out. A second CDS value is obtained by computing the difference between the first and second SHS values. Reading out the shared pixel circuit in this way substantially reduces power consumption.

This relates generally to imaging devices, and more particularly, to image sensors with shared pixel architectures.
Image sensors are commonly used in electronic devices such as cellular telephones, cameras, and computers to capture images. In a typical arrangement, an electronic device is provided with an array of image pixels arranged in pixel rows and pixel columns. Each image pixel in the array includes a photodiode that is coupled to a floating diffusion region via a transfer gate. Row control circuitry is coupled to each pixel row for resetting, initiating charge transfer, or selectively activating a particular row of pixels for readout. Column circuitry is coupled to each pixel column for reading out pixel signals from the image pixels.
Conventional readout of a pixel requires at least two separate conversions: a first conversion to obtain the reset value and a second conversion to obtain the signal value in the photodiode. The signal value is then subtracted from the reset value to remove kTC noise (i.e., the thermal noise associated with switching the pixel transistors). In shared pixel architectures where multiple photodiodes are coupled to a shared floating-diffusion region, two conversions would be required for each of the photodiodes. Each individual conversion consumes power, so performing two conversions per photodiode would quickly multiply the dynamic power consumed by the image sensor. Removal of the reset conversion would reduce power, but the read noise would increase by an intolerable amount.
It is within this context that the embodiments described herein arise.

Low power shared image pixel architecture

SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC


An optical device has a light guide plate that guides light in a plane parallel to an emission surface thereof, an optical deflection surface that deflects light entering the light guide plate from a light source that faces a plane parallel to at least the emission surface or the surface opposite the emission surface, so that the light travels along the light guide direction of the light guide plate, and a plurality of light focusing portions. Each of the light focusing portions includes an optical surface whereon the light deflected by the optical deflection surface and guided by the light guide plate is incident, and which causes the emission surface to output emission light that converges substantially on a convergence point or convergence line in a space, or that radiates substantially from a convergence point or convergence line in a space.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to an optical device.
Related Art
A stereoscopic display device, which is equipped with a light guide plate, a light source provided on an edge of the light guide plate, and a mask or a lens array disposed on the front surface of the light guide plate in a parallax barrier system or in a lens array system, is publicly known (for example, Patent Document 1).                Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2012-008464


The present invention is a collar tracking system that includes a RFID system with a modem, an electric fence with a plurality of boundaries that is in communication with the RFID system and a plurality of power modes, a plurality of electronic circuitry that includes a battery, an open charging electrode, a smart protection circuitry to prevent a short to the battery and an antenna. The collar tracking system also includes a GSM system that is in communication with the electric fence and the RFID system, a collar with a RFID receiver and a GMS receiver that is in communication with the RFID system and the GMS system and overall system software that controls the RFID system, the electric fence, the electric circuitry, the GMS system, the RFID receiver and the GMS receiver. The collar tracking system can also utilize a GPS system to replace the RFID system.

With technology advancements regarding global positioning satellite or GPS systems and cellular phone and/or mobile to mobile or M2M devices, a relatively small practical real time collar tracking system can potentially be developed for pet, human and asset tracking. Currently all the related products for collar tracking systems lack two basic features. The collar tracking systems are either relatively too bulky and cumbersome for a pet, other user or object to utilize or the system cannot last a relatively long enough period of time to become practical.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a collar tracking system that can be utilized on pets and other animals.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a collar tracking system that utilizes cellular technology or GPS technology to notify a user with a cell phone or mobile to mobile or M2M device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a collar tracking system that utilizes an electronic fence that utilizes GPS coordination or radio frequency identification or RFID technology.
What is really needed is a collar tracking system that can be utilized on pets and other animals that utilizes cellular technology or GPS technology to notify a user with a cell phone or M2M device and that utilizes an electronic fence that utilizes GPS coordination or RFID technology.


A system and method involve determining the airspeed of a vehicle using the propagation time of an acoustic signal from a transmitter located at one end of the vehicle to a receiver located at the other end of the vehicle. A digital representation of the acoustic signal is created and stored within non-volatile memory within the transmitter, then converted into an electrical signal which is filtered, amplified, and input into a transducer contained within the transmitter. The transducer radiates an acoustic signal toward the receiver, which receives and filters the acoustic signal, converts it into a digital signal, and processes the digital signal to determine the acoustic signal propagation time. The acoustic signal may have a continuous wave form, a duty cycle of about 100%, a peak to average amplitude ratio of less than about 2.5, and Fourier components of substantially equal amplitude and random phase.

True airspeed is perhaps the single most important parameter in assessing the performance of an aircraft whether in flight, landing, or taking off. The measurement of airspeed, even for the latest generation of aircraft, is performed using a Pitot-Static tube, also known as a Prandtl tube. In a Pitot-Static tube, the transducer measures the difference in pressure between static pressure and a total pressure by measuring the strain in a thin element using an electronic strain gauge. With measurements of air temperature and pressure to determine air density, the strain gauge measurement is converted to airspeed.
There are several known limitations to the Pitot-Static tube. First, if the velocity is low, the difference in pressures is very small and hard to accurately measure with the transducer. Accordingly, errors in the instrument could be greater than the measurement. This limitation means that Pitot-Static tubes do not work well near stall velocities, which is exactly the airspeed range where accurate measurements are imperative. Second, if the velocity is very high (supersonic), the assumptions of Bernoulli's equation have been violated and the measurement is wrong again. At the front of the tube, a shock wave appears that will change the total pressure. However, corrections for the shock wave can be applied to allow use of Pitot-Static tubes for high speed aircraft. Third, if the Pitot-Static tube becomes pinched through mechanical damage or clogged by dirt, ice, or even insects, the resulting pressures at the transducer will not represent the total and static pressures of the external flow. The transducer output that is then used to calculate a velocity will not represent the actual velocity of the flow.
Without a functioning Pitot-Static tube, a plane's flight computer will be unable to accurately and correctly determine speed, causing the automatic pilot control system to shut down and revert to manual control, forcing pilots to take control in sometimes challenging flying conditions. In some instances, issues with Pitot-Static tube have unfortunately been the cause of several accidents, such as Air France flight 447 and Birgenair flight 301, involving significant losses of life. There is a need for an improved system and method for measuring an airplane's airspeed that overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Acoustic airspeed measurement system and method

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY


A non-human animal disease model for hepatitis B virus-associated liver disease is disclosed. The animal disease model is transduced with a hepatitis B virus genome in the liver cells thereof and exhibits the following symptoms: hepatitis B viral particles and hepatitis B viral DNA in the serum, hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope and HBV e proteins in the serum, expression of HBV core and HBV envelope proteins in the liver but not in the kidney, heart, lung, brain, pancreas, spleen, stomach or intestine tissues. The animal disease model may develop hepatocellular carcinoma, exhibiting an elevated level of alanine aminotransferase as compared to a control animal without the hepatitis B virus genome in the liver cells thereof, and liver pathological symptoms such as tumor nodules, dysplasia, inflammatory infiltrates, necrosis and fibrosis.

HBV chronically infects 400 million people worldwide and leads to a high incidence of severe liver complications, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in these patients. HCC is a leading cause of death worldwide and is one of the most difficult cancers to treat, only a small number of patients qualifying for curative therapies.
It is believed that HBV itself is not highly cytopathic and that the chronic liver injury and HCC development are secondary to an antiviral cellular immune response. However, progress in understanding the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HBV-associated liver diseases has been hampered by the lack of a convenient small animal model. Chimpanzees are susceptible to HBV infection, but only develop a mild liver inflammatory reaction, and their use in laboratory research is further limited because of ethical and financial considerations. Studies of HBV-related viruses in woodchucks, ground squirrels, and ducks have improved our knowledge of HBV virology and the development of antiviral agents, but have not led to a better understanding of HBV immunopathology. Similarly, HBV transgenic mice produce infectious HBV from the chromosome-integrated viral genome, but are centrally tolerant to viral antigens and do not develop liver diseases. A refinement of this latter system, involving the injection of immunocompetent mice with a plasmid containing a full-length HBV genome, resulted in transient or long-term HBV replication in the liver, but caused only limited hepatitis. Adoptive transfer of unprimed splenocytes into HBV transgenic mice on a severe combined immunodeficiency background generated chronic hepatitis with fluctuations in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels but the liver disease was mild and did not progress to HCC, possibly due to the lack of regeneration of HBV-specific T cells in the host.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to produce a chronic HBV disease model in an immune competent animal to facilitate elucidating the cause-and-effect relationships of chronic HBV diseases.

Non-human animal disease mode for hepatitis B virus-associated disease


A removable hydrophobic composition, a removable hydrophobic coating layer and a fabrication method thereof are provided. The removable hydrophobic composition comprises 0.1-50 parts by weight of nano-particles having diameters smaller than 100 nm and of which surfaces are modified with silicon hydride compound, 0.1-5 parts by weight of an adhesion regulator or adhesion inhibitor, 100 parts by weight of a solvent, and 0.1-50 parts by weight of a polymer compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a hydrophobic composition, and hydrophobic coating layer and fabrication method thereof, and particularly to a removable hydrophobic composition, and removable hydrophobic coating layer and fabrication method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surfaces of many articles for daily use, consumer electronic products, traffic implements, musical instruments, sports apparatus, porcelain or decorations need to be protected by a hydrophobic treating. However, current methods for forming hydrophobic protecting films needs professional skills, and they would not be carried out by general people. For example, methods for forming hydrophobic protecting films need thermal curing or ultraviolet curing processes. Otherwise, rough surfaces that are hydrophobic are formed by chemical treating processes or etching processes. Therefore, products with hydrophobic surfaces that sold to and used by consumers are often made by manufacturers, since it is hard for consumers to fabricate hydrophobic protecting films
In addition, hydrophobicity of hydrophobic protecting films used for a long period would gradually decrease, and therefore an old hydrophobic protecting film needs to be replaced with a new hydrophobic protecting film. However, current hydrophobic protecting films made by manufacturers are not easily removed directly. Acute methods such as mechanical polishing or heat melting methods are needed to remove the hydrophobic protecting films. The removing methods need extremely professional skills and equipments, and they would easily cause serious damages to materials.
Coating materials that used for forming hydrophobic layers usually contain fluorine, since fluorine that has a low surface potential characteristic would cause a hydrophobic effect. However, Directive 76/769/EEC of the European Parliament severely restrict using of fluorides, such as perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) derivatives, etc. Perfluorooctane sulfonate is one of perfluorinated compounds. Perfluorooctane sulfonate has a good thermostability, and is not easily destroyed in the environment. In addition, perfluorooctane sulfonate is tolerant of water and oil. Perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA) and salts of which are one other kind of perfluorinated compounds. PFOA and derivatives of which are applied to treating surfaces of household products such as Teflon Diplomat cooking utensils, convenient food packages, anti-dust fibers and fireproof foam materials. Perfluorinated compounds are harmful to human and animals as they would accumulate in living organic bodies. Thus, the European Parliament has estimated risks, developed safe substitutes, and defined plans for decreasing products and usage.
Hydrophobic protecting films can be obtained by forming rough structures on surfaces of substrate materials and using materials not containing fluorine and having low surface potentials. U.S. Pat. No. 2,786,042 discloses a modified hydrophobic material not containing fluorine (1957). Hydrophobic powders are obtained by modifying surfaces of micro silica structures with C1˜20 silane. U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,074 discloses stable modified powders formed by silylating powders with modifying agents comprising trimethylchlorosilane or t-butyldimethylchlorosilane. U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,921 discloses hydrophobic materials formed by replacing OH groups with organic compounds on silane-modified surfaces of silica materials by using modifying agents comprising organic group-substituted halosilanes, organic group-substituted alkoxysilanes, organic group-substituted silazanes and hydrolyzates. U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,455 discloses modifying OH groups with alkyl functional group on surfaces of silica materials by using materials comprising disiloxane and monosiloxane. The reference teaches using solvents to form a coating material used for forming a hydrophobic layer, and the hydrophobic layer is formed by coating and curing the coating material. U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,984 discloses a composition of a hydrophobic protecting coating material coated on a surface of a car by modifying by grafting a polymer material and silane. In Applied Surface Science, vol. 253, pages 2217˜2221, 2006, a hydrophobic surfaces is obtained by modifying silane with Hexamethyldisilazane. In Applied Surface Science, vol. 255, pages 3600˜-3604, 2009, a transparent and hydrophobic layer is obtained by modifying a surface of silane material with Trimethylethoxysialne compound. In Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, vol. 332, pages 484˜490, 2009, a hydrophobic layer that can sustain a high humidity environment for one month is obtained by using hexamethyldisilazane and methyltrimethoxysilane.
WO 2008/153687 discloses a coating composition with powders which surfaces are modified with materials having a low surface potential. A hydrophobic layer can be formed by directly coating the coating composition on a surface of a substrate material. However, the hydrophobic layer has a weak adhesion strength and non-stable problem. TW I310779 discloses using epoxy resin as hydrophobic powders and adhesion agent applied between substrates. The hydrophobic layer is attached to the substrate with strong adhesion strength and is not easily removed. TW 96121473 discloses using a polyacrylic ester as a dirt-proof and waterproof adhesion agent that has a high transparency and durable characteristic. The hydrophobic layer formed by using the coating material is hardly removed. The hydrophobic layer is usually removed with professional skills and equipments, such as mechanical polishing or heat melting method.
In some cases, paraffin having a hydrophobic characteristic intrinsically is used to fabricate a hydrophobic protecting layer. However, such coating material easily has non-uniformly-mixing problem with powders. In addition, hydrophobic powders are fully covered by the paraffin, and thus they could not perform the hydrophobic characteristic. Therefore, a hydrophobicity of the hydrophobic layer is extremely decreased.

Removable hydrophobic composition, removable hydrophobic coating layer and fabrication method thereof

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A dynamic shaft seal assembly for sealing a rotating or reciprocating shaft includes an elastic seal member having at least a portion thereof in sealing communication with the rotating or reciprocating shaft. A shape memory alloy element is in contact with the elastic seal member, the shape memory alloy element being discontinuously disposed about the elastic seal member, and being configured to i) directly apply a compressive force in a radial direction on the seal member against the rotating or reciprocating shaft, and ii) maintain the compressive force on the seal member as a function of temperature. The seal assembly is adapted to seal at a temperature ranging from about −55° C. to about 250° C. Methods including the seal assembly are also disclosed.

The present disclosure relates to a temperature adaptive radial shaft sealing device that provides improved sealing over a wide range of temperatures while minimizing the friction and wear associated with the same.
Most automotive sub-systems such as the engine, transmission, driveline, suspension dampers, pumps, brakes and other hydraulic/pneumatic actuators utilize seals to prevent ingress of extraneous materials (dust, dirt, humidity, air etc.) into the actuators and/or egress of fluids from the actuators. The seals can be used in a static or a dynamic application. Most dynamic seals have at least one part of the seal in contact with a sliding or a rotating surface. As an example, a shock absorber has a cylindrical piston rod that reciprocates axially through a sealed bearing embedded at one end of a closed cylindrical tube that encloses a hydraulic fluid. As another example, most rotating elements in the transmission require the use of rotary dynamic seals to prevent leakage of the pressurized hydraulic fluid, e.g., prevent leaking past the shaft bearings.
Many types of radial shaft seals suitable for individual applications are available commercially. Each seal application has specific requirements in terms of the leakage rate, operating temperature range, maximum allowable friction, misalignment, cost, cycle life, and the like. In automotive applications, the ambient temperatures in which the seals must effectively operate typically range from about −40° C. to about 150° C. while the temperatures that some of the seals experience may be over an even wider temperature range, such as −55° C. to 250° C. or more. While commercially available radial shaft seals satisfy most of the requirements of a given application at one temperature extreme, it is difficult to satisfy all of the requirements at both temperature extremes. For example, it is oftentimes difficult to minimize seal friction at temperatures at the lower end of the extremes (freezing and below) while maintaining adequate seal friction/minimum leakage at the temperatures approaching the higher end of the temperature extremes (temperatures in excess of 100° C.). Most prior art seals utilize spring loaded elastomer materials to maintain adequate sealing over time and temperature. However, because of thermal expansion properties inherent to the materials (e.g., spring steel, aluminum, brass, and the like) used to form the spring, uniform spring loads do not occur over the wide temperature ranges to which seals are exposed such as experienced by dynamic seals used in the automotive environment.
The disadvantages of prior art radial shaft seals include, but are not limited to, excessive friction, excessive leakage, excessive wear, reduced life/durability, and non-uniform compliance/sealing pressure over the required operating temperature range, among others. Interestingly, the first two properties are at odds with each other in a dynamic sealing situation. Good compression forces holding the seal against a reciprocating or rotating member accelerate seal wear and shorten service life whereas reducing the compressive force can result in leaking, especially at the temperature extremes in which the dynamic seal device can be used. Therefore, every dynamic seal design is a compromise to produce an acceptable balance between these two desirable properties.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved seal assembly that operates effectively and uniformly across a wide temperature range.

Temperature adaptive radial shaft seal assemblies using shape memory alloy elements


A method in one example has: establishing communication between two mobile terminals in a base station routing architecture network; and optimizing routing between the two mobiles terminals without requiring all traffic to traverse an anchor point in the base station routing architecture network. An IP base station transceiver architecture utilizes network controlled mobility to provide a transparent connection between a mobile terminal and an anchor point in the network. This transparency hides the mobility associated with changing IP base station transceivers from the mobile terminal and reduces over-the-air signaling.

The following is an overview of Mobile IPv6 basic operation. A mobile node (MN) is always expected to be addressable at its home address, whether it is currently attached to its home link or is away from home. The "home address" is an IP address that is routeable to the mobile nodes home subnet and is assigned to the mobile node. While a mobile node is at home, packets addressed to its home address are routed to the mobile node's home link, using conventional Internet routing mechanisms.
While a mobile node is attached to some foreign link away from home, it is also addressable at one or more care-of addresses. A care-of address is an IP address associated with a mobile node that has the subnet prefix of a particular foreign link on which the mobile node can be reached. The mobile node can acquire its care-of address through conventional IPv6 mechanisms, such as stateless or stateful auto-configuration. As long as the mobile node stays in this location, packets addressed to this care-of address will be routed to the mobile node. The mobile node may also accept packets from several care-of addresses, such as when it is moving but still reachable at the previous link.
The association between a mobile node's home address and care-of address is known as a "binding" for the mobile node. While away from home, a mobile node registers its primary care-of address with a router on its home link, requesting this router to function as the "home agent" for the mobile node. The mobile node performs this binding registration by sending a "Binding Update" message to the home agent. The home agent replies to the mobile node by returning a "Binding Acknowledgement" message.
Any node communicating with a mobile node is referred to in this document as a "correspondent node" of the mobile node, and may itself be either a stationary node or a mobile node. Mobile nodes can provide information about their current location to correspondent nodes. This happens through a registration with the correspondent node and is referred to as route optimization. As a part of this procedure, a return routability test is performed in order to authorize the establishment of the binding. There are two possible modes for communications between the mobile node and a correspondent node. The first mode, bidirectional tunneling, does not require Mobile IPv6 support from the correspondent node and is available even if the mobile node has not registered its current binding with the correspondent node. Packets from the correspondent node are routed to the home agent and then tunneled to the mobile node. Packets to the correspondent node are tunneled from the mobile node to the home agent ("reverse tunneled") and then routed normally from the home network to the correspondent node. In this mode, the home agent intercepts any IPv6 packets addressed to the mobile node's home address (or home addresses) on the home link. Each intercepted packet is tunneled to the mobile node's primary care-of address. This tunneling is performed using IPv6 encapsulation.
The second mode, "route optimization", requires the mobile node to register its current care-of-address with the MIPv6 capable correspondent node. Packets from the correspondent node can be routed directly to the care-of address of the mobile node. When sending a packet to any IPv6 destination, the correspondent node checks its cached bindings for an entry for the packet's destination address. If a cached binding for this destination address is found, the node uses a new type of IPv6 routing header to route the packet to the mobile node by way of the care-of address indicated in this binding.
Routing packets directly to the mobile node's care-of address allows the shortest communications path to be used. It also eliminates congestion at the mobile node's home agent and home link. In addition, the impact of any possible failure of the home agent or networks on the path to or from it is reduced. When routing packets directly to the mobile node, the correspondent node sets the Destination Address in the IPv6 header to the care-of address of the mobile node. A new type of IPv6 routing header is also added to the packet to carry the desired home address. Similarly, when sending packets to the correspondent node, the mobile node sets the Source Address in the packet's IPv6 header to its current care-of addresses. The mobile node adds a new IPv6 "Home Address" destination option to carry its home address. The inclusion of home addresses in these packets makes the use of the care-of address transparent above the network layer (e.g., at the transport layer). Mobile IPv6 also provides support for multiple home agents, and a limited support for the reconfiguration of the home network. In these cases, the mobile node may not know the IP address of its own home agent, and even the home subnet prefixes may change over time.
A mechanism, known as "dynamic home agent address discovery" allows a mobile node to dynamically discover the IP address of a home agent on its home link, even when the mobile node is away from home. Mobile nodes can also learn new information about home subnet prefixes through the "mobile prefix discovery" mechanism.
There have been other proposals that rely on the IP-BTS to detect and initiate the route optimization procedure using a HoT/i/CoT/i/message sequence. However, these proposals require significantly more signaling to establish the binding update. The HoT/i/CoT/i/message sequence defined in RFC3775 is intended to operate between nodes that may not have a security relationship. This message sequence provides integrity and authenticity protection of the binding update messages.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system that provides for an improved and more efficient system for mobile-to-mobile communication, especially in a base station routing architecture network.

Network controlled mobility route optimization for an IP base station transceiver architecture


A security server distributes security polices to the client computers. Each security policy includes an identifier identifying the process to which the policy pertains, and security rules for use with that process. The identifier includes a version hash and a code hash. The version hash of a process is likely to remain unchanged if the process is modified by a legitimate agent, such as by a software update. The code hash of a process is likely to change if the process is modified by a malicious agent. When a process executing on the client computer requests access to a resource, the client computer generates a version hash of the process and uses it to identify the security policy pertaining to the process. If the version hash matches a version hash in a security policy, but the code hash does not match, the client computer declares the process potentially malicious.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to computer network security, and in particular to network firewalls.
2. Description of the Related Art
Private networks, such as those operated by businesses or other enterprises are often connected a public network such as the Internet. The private networks typically include a firewall positioned at the intersection of the private and public networks. The firewall monitors traffic passing between the networks and blocks unauthorized and/or malicious traffic. The firewall thus prevents malicious entities on the public network from accessing the resources of the private network, and prevents entities on the private network from accessing unauthorized resources of the public network.
A more recent trend in network security is to run so-called "personal firewalls" on the computer systems used by the end-users to access the network. For example, the desktop computer utilized by an employee of an enterprise can run a personal firewall. The personal firewall monitors network activity to/from the computer and blocks malicious traffic.
An advantage of a personal firewall is that it can apply a different security policy to each process executing on the computer. When a personal firewall is first installed on a computer, the personal firewall typically detects each attempt by a process to access the network. With each attempt, the firewall presents a dialog box to the end-user saying something to the effect of "Process X has attempted to access the Internet. Allow it to proceed?" The end-user responds to the dialog box by indicating whether the firewall should allow or block the network access. The personal firewall remembers the end-user's choices and applies the same security policy next time the process attempts to access the network.
A problem with relying on end-users to establish security policies is that the end-users are often not sophisticated enough to evaluate the security threat posed by a given process. A typical end-user might not have any idea whether a process should be allowed to access the network. Some personal firewalls attempt to solve this problem by including additional information in the dialog box, such as the destination address and/or protocol of the access request. However, this additional information often serves to further confuse the end-user. Another problem with this approach is that the personal firewall will remember and continue to apply the end-user's decision, even if it was incorrect.
Therefore, attempts have been made to provide greater intelligence to the personal firewall and remove or reduce its reliance on the end-user. In one personal firewall system, a team of security engineers employed, for example, by the manufacturer of the firewall analyzes popular and common processes to determine the processes' network usage characteristics. The engineers develop security policies based on the processes' characteristics, and these policies are distributed to the personal firewalls "in the field."
The personal firewalls attempt to identify a particular process seeking to access the network, and apply a corresponding security policy developed by the engineers. However, it is often difficult to positively identify a process that is requesting network access. Certain characteristics of processes, such as the name and file size, can easily be spoofed by malicious software. Therefore, the personal firewalls must include a more reliable way to match a requesting process with its correct security policy.
This latter problem is especially difficult because even legitimate processes change frequently. Processes are often patched, upgraded, or otherwise modified either automatically or manually. These changes can occur so frequently that the engineering team cannot keep up. Therefore, there is a need for a way to reliably identify a process and match it with a corresponding security policy.


A method for producing a tunnel magnetoresistive element includes a stacking step, then in-magnetic field heating, and then dry etching. The stacking includes stacking a B absorption layer which is in contact with an upper surface of a CoFeB layer. The dry etching includes removal of layers to the B absorption layer. An end of etching is set as an end point time detected by an analysis device when a final layer before the B absorption layer directly above the CoFeB layer is exposed has reduced to a prescribed level, or when the B absorption layer directly above the CoFeB layer has increased to the prescribed level. An amount of over-etching after the end point time is specified in advance, and the B absorption layer is stacked such that the thickness from the prescribed level to the upper surface of the CoFeB layer corresponds to the over-etching amount.

A tunnel magnetoresistive element (TMR) includes a pinned magnetic layer in which a magnetization direction is pinned (fixed), a free magnetic layer in which a magnetization direction changes depending on an external magnetic field, and an insulating layer between the pinned magnetic layer and the free magnetic layer, and forms a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). The resistance of the insulating layer changes by the tunnel effect depending on the angle between the magnetization direction of the pinned magnetic layer and the magnetization direction of the free magnetic layer. Such a tunnel magnetoresistive element is used in a magnetic memory, a magnetic head, a magnetic sensor, and the like.
In a magnetic sensor based on the principle of the TMR, a huge TMR ratio can be realized by magnetic annealing of the stack structure of the MTJ portion (CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB). At this time, it is important that B absorption layers (Ti, MgO, and the like) with a sufficient thickness made of a material that absorbs the diffusing B from the CoFeB layers are adjacent to the portion.
According to the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, an MgO layer is positioned outside the MTJ in the MRAM.
According to the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2, a Ti layer is positioned in contact with a CoFeB layer(s) in a magnetic head or a memory.

Method for producing tunnel magnetoresistive element


A solid pet waste vacuum and bagging device is described. The device is equipped with a canister, collection chute, vacuum motor, and a bag cartridge. The device eliminates the need for an individual to come into any contact with pet waste, including the temperature and the smell conventionally known to emanate from pet waste. The device employs the vacuum motor to collect pet waste within the bag via the collection chute. The collection chute is lined with a plastic bag, which is sealed and released from the collection chute within the canister upon activation of a dispose button by the user. The device is powered by rechargeable batteries, and may be equipped with a charging cradle to maintain a fully charged battery.

Pet owners are well aware that pet ownership comes with certain responsibilities. Standard care practices of feeding, providing water, nurturing, and veterinary services are well known. Additionally, disposal of the pet's waste, especially the waste of dogs, is a chore of most pet owners. If the pet owner lives in a city or similar urban or suburban environment where large amounts of private land are uncommon, it is frequently required by law for pet owners to manually dispose of his or her pet's waste, especially if the pet defecates on public or government land.
Manually disposing of the pet's waste is unfortunate for the pet owner, as it requires additional labor to clean up, and the pet owner is potentially subject to contaminated fecal matter. Currently, there are two primary means of collecting pet waste for disposal—namely, a scoop, such as a conventional "PooperScooper," or simply a plastic bag in the hand of the pet owner.
Frequently, bag dispensers are sold to facilitate the release of a bag and to minimize the space occupied by the bags during the walk. Unfortunately, nearly all of the bag dispensers or bag set-ups still require the pet owner to physically pick up the pet's waste with his or her hand, the only protection on the hand being the bag. Many pet owners find the warmth of pet waste one of the larger drawbacks to collecting pet waste in this fashion. A claw or "PooperScooper" type of product can help to eliminate this, however it would require frequent cleaning, and the user is still required to remove the excrement from the claw, and place it into a bag. This process may cause the user to spill the bag, exacerbating the process, and potentially soiling the hands of the user.
Thus, there is a need for a device which can automatically pick up pet waste into a sealed bag without the pet owner coming into remote contact with the pet waste. Such a device preferably employs a bag cartridge system, enabling the user to install a bag cartridge to a rim of the device. The bag is preferably air-permeable, such that the suction of the vacuum employed is not diminished during use.

Animal waste vacuum disposal and bagging device


A photosensitive member for electrophotography has a photosensitive layer provided on a photoconductive substrate. The photosensitive layer contains at least one of indole derivatives represented by a chemical formula (I): ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are members selected from a group consisting of hydrogen atom and alkyl, aralkyl, allyl and alkoxy groups having 1-9 carbon atoms (but R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 do not stand for hydrogen atoms at the same time); R.sub.3 is a member selected from a group consisting of hydrogen and halogen atoms and alkyl and alkoxy groups having 1-3 carbon atoms; X is a member selected from a group consisting of alkylen, allylen, carbonyl, sulfonyl, sulfinyl and sulfide groups and oxygen atom; and n stands for an integer of 0 or 1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive member for electrophotography, and particularly to a photosensitive member having an electroconductive substrate and a photosensitive layer formed thereon, in which the photosensitive layer contains a novel indole derivative as a charge transporting substance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, photosensitive members for electrophotography have been prepared by using photosensitive substances selected from:
(i) inorganic photoconductive substances such as selenium, selenium alloys, and the like dispersed in resin binders;
(ii) organic photoconductive substances such as poly-N-vinylcarbazole, polyvinylanthracene, phthalocyanine compounds, bisazo compounds, and the like; and
(iii) dispersion of such organic photoconductive substances in resin binders.
These conventional photosensitive members are classified into two types, mono- and multi-layer types, the former comprises a single photosensitive layer, while the latter comprises functionally distinguishable laminated photosensitive layers in which one contributes to generate an electric charge by absorbing irradiated light and the other contributes to transport the electric charge.
In recent years, however, organic photoconductive substances as described above have been put into practical use by virtue of their advantageous features for preparing flexible and light-weight photosensitive members which can be easily mass produced. In addition, there have been much more studies for developing the multi-layer type photosensitive members than the mono-layer one because the former can be easily modified or prepared by using appropriate raw materials so as to have desired or photosensitivities against specific wavelength. Therefore, such photosensitive members have been used in many kinds of electrophotographic devices such as photocopying machines, laser-beam printers, light-emitting diode printers, facsimile machines and the like. More recently, there have been demands for more improved electrophotographic devices, for example a miniaturized device without losing their standard- or high-speed printing or copying abilities. With the technical achievement of the miniaturization, a photosensitive drum to be equipped in such device should be also miniaturized so as to have a smaller diameter and to rotate at a high speed compared with those currently in use. Accordingly, the miniaturized drum may be used more frequently than the normal-size one to make up the printing or recording speed, and thus such drum may be also improved so as to have a high sensitivity against irradiated light and response it at a high speed.
Although the organic photoconductive substances have a number of advantageous features as described above with which inorganic photoconductive substances are not endowed, the fact is that there have been obtained no organic photoconductive substance fully satisfying all the characteristics required of a raw material to be processed into photosensitive member used in the above small-sized electrophotographic device. That is, particular problems involved in the substance have been concerned with a high durability against usage frequency over long period and a high rate of response to illuminated light. To solve these problems, several photosensitive members have been proposed. Most of them comprise functionally distinguishable photosensitive layers. In a document of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 55-42380, a photosensitive member having functionally distinguished photosensitive layers in which one is a charge generating layer comprising chlorodian blue as a charge generating substance and the other is a charge transporting layer comprising hydrazone compound as a charge transporting substance. A response rate and a durability of this kind of the photosensitive member are mainly depended on the charge transporting layer.
Several substances that can be applicable to the charge transporting layer has been described in the references, for example pyrazorine derivatives disclosed in Journal of Photographic Science and Engineering vol. 21, No. 2, page 73, 1977; enamine derivatives disclosed in Journal of Imaging Science vol. 29, No. 1, page 7, 1985 and Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 63-170651; and benzidine derivatives disclosed in documents of Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 3-43744 and Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 59-9049.
Under the present circumstances, the conventional charge generating layers do not satisfy the request of providing the photosensitive members with excellent durabilities against usage in frequency over long period and with sufficient rates of response to irradiated light.

Photosensitive member for electrophotography with indole derivative