The present invention provides a high frequency heating apparatus having a structure, which can be mounted/dismounted an air-exhausting grille without any tools. In this apparatus, an air-exhausting grille is arranged by that a fixing claw portion having a bent Z-shape, a fixing hooking portion having a concave notch, and a magnetic joint plate are arranged, whereas a main body located opposite to the air-exhausting grille is arranged by that a slit hole, a hooking flange, and a magnetic fixing plate are arranged. As a result, since the magnetic joint plate is absorbed with the magnetic fixing plate to be fixed with each other, the mounting/dismounting work capability of the air-exhausting grille can be improved without using the tool in a simple manner, and furthermore, a clean cooking appliance can be secured, while the cooking appliance can be readily cleaned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a mounting/dismounting structure of an air-exhausting grille of a hanging type, or wall-embedding type high frequency heating apparatus. The present invention is also related to a U-shaped body and a structure of an upper lid, which construct a housing of a hanging type microwave oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring now to FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, a description will be made of the related art as to a structure of an air-exhausting grille of this sort of either a conventional hanging type or a conventional wall-embedding type high frequency heating apparatus.
In such a conventional hanging type high frequency heating apparatus as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of gas, or electric burners 1 are provided at a lower portion of this heating apparatus and a high frequency heating apparatus 3 is hung so as to be set via a cooking space 2 at a center portion thereof. While a plurality of air-intake ports via a filter 4 are arranged at the lower portion of this high frequency heating apparatus 3, both a door 6 and a control panel 7 are arranged on a front surface of a main body thereof, and also, an air-exhausting grille 8 is mounted above these door 6 and control panel 7.
FIG. 6 shows a sectional structural view of the above-described air-exhausting grille when this grille is mounted. This air-exhausting grille is arranged in such a manner that a plurality of screw fixing holes 10 are formed in an upper surface guide 9 of the air-exhausting grille 8, and a plurality of claw portions 12 having bending flanges are formed on a lower surface guide 11. While a stepped portion is formed on a front edge of an upper mounting plate 13 of the main body in such a way that this stepped portion may absorb a thickness of the upper surface guide 9, a screw portion 14 is formed in the upper mounting plate 13 located at the same center axis as that of the screw fixing hole 10 of the upper surface guide 9 of the above-described air-exhausting grille 8 at this stepped portion. Also, a plurality of slit holes 16 into which the claw portions 12 are inserted are formed in a lower mounting plate 15 of the air-exhausting grille 8 at the same positions as those of the claw portions 12 of the lower surface guide 11.
Then, the claw portions 12 of the lower surface guide 11 of the above-described air-exhausting grille 8 is inserted into the slit holes 16, the screw fixing hole 10 of the upper surface guide 9 is fitted to the screw portion formed in the upper mounting plate 13, and then, the claw portions 12 are fastened by using a plurality of mounting screws 17 so as to be fixed.
In the related art shown in FIG. 9, a hanging type microwave oven is constituted by a floor-standing type microwave oven, an inverse U-shaped body, and a bottom plate. Reference numeral 101 shows the body having the inverse U-shape. The bottom plate 102 is overlapped with an edge plane 103 of the body 101 on the side of the bottom plane and is fastened to this edge plane 103 by using a screw. Reference numeral 104 shows a heating chamber of the microwave oven. This heating chamber 104 is provided with a ventilation-purpose fan 105 at an upper portion. The heating chamber owns air-exhaust paths (passages) 106 on both sides, and is equipped with a door 107 and an operation unit 108 at a front plane. An air-exhaust grille 109 is arranged at an upper portion of the front plane. Reference numeral 110 shows each of ventilation-purpose air-intake ports which are opened in right/left portions of the bottom plate 102. These ventilation-purpose air-intake ports are arranged by mounting thereon filters 111. Reference numeral 112 shows a cooking instrument installed on a lower portion of the hanging type microwave oven.
However, in the above-described conventional hanging type, or wall-embedding type high frequency heating apparatus, mixture gas is sucked by the air-exhausting fan mounted at the upper portion of this high frequency heating apparatus, and then is conducted via the filter from the air-intake port so as to be exhausted by the air-exhausting grille mounted at the upper portion, while this mixture gas is produced by mixing oil components, smoke components, water vapor, seasonings, and the like with each other, which are produced when a cooking is performed by using the gas burners, or the electric burners, which are located at the lower portion.
At this time, however, although a portion of the above-described mixture gas made of the oil/smoke components, the water vapor, and the seasonings may be removed by the filter, the remaining exhausted mixture gas is conducted to the air-exhausting grille 8, so that oil components and dirt are adhered to an air-passage within the air-exhausting grille 8. To remove these oil components and dirt, this air-exhausting grille 8 is dismounted so as to be cleaned. Unless the mounting screws are removed by employing a tool, this air-exhausting grille 8 cannot be dismounted. Also, since these mounting screws are located at higher portions, the air-exhausting grille 8 cannot be dismounted unless a stand is employed. Thus, there are such problems that cumbersome works of preparing the tool are necessarily required, and also a care should be taken as to safety aspects such as injuries.
Moreover, in the microwave oven of the related art, a joint is made between the bottom plate and the lower portion of the body, and the head portion of the screw is projected, and also, the joint and the screw are present in the air-exhausting paths of the ventilation-purpose fan. As a result, noise is produced by wind-killing sound, ventilation capabilities are lowered by resistances, and oil components which are generated from the cooking instrument provided under the microwave oven are adhered to the joint and also the peripheral portions of the screws. Thus, dirt can be hardly removed, which deteriorates the cleaning characteristic. Also, since the joint and the screws are observed, in the case of the hanging type microwave oven, the body of this microwave oven under installation condition is located at eye-levels of users, so that this microwave oven owns a very poor design. Also, when a component is brought into a malfunction condition and this malfunction component is replaced by a normal component, if the body is not completely removed from the microwave oven, then this malfunction component cannot be replaced. Therefore, there is a problem that many steps of replacement operations are required.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An ultrasonic sensor includes a sending element for sending an ultrasonic wave to an object to be detected, a receiving portion for receiving the ultrasonic wave reflected by the object, an oscillating portion that oscillates by the ultrasonic wave transmitted thereto, and a supporting portion for holding an end part of the oscillating portion. The receiving portion is exposed to a space where the object exists. The receiving portion and the oscillating portion are connected through the supporting portion such that the ultrasonic wave received by the receiving portion is transmitted to the oscillating portion through the supporting portion. The oscillating portion is separate from the receiving portion by the supporting portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic sensor for detecting an object. For example, a sending element sends ultrasonic waves to an object, the object reflects the ultrasonic waves, and a receiving element in an ultrasonic sensor receives the reflected ultrasonic waves.
2. Description of Related Art
An ultrasonic sensor is mounted to an automobile, and a two-way transmittable element in the sensor sends ultrasonic waves to an object. The object reflects the waves, and the two-way transmittable element receives the reflected waves. Thus, a position or a distance for the object around the automobile can be measured. Further, a two-dimensional shape or a three-dimensional shape of the object can be measured. That is, the ultrasonic sensor is used for a safe driving by monitoring surroundings of the automobile.
For example, an automatic parking supporting system using an ultrasonic sensor is practically used. In the system, a back-sonar is used for detecting a human or an obstacle existing in the back of an automobile. The ultrasonic sensor is mounted to a rear part of the automobile, and receives ultrasonic waves reflected by the human or the obstacle. Thus, a back side collision with the human or the obstacle can be reduced.
Further, by using a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) technology, an oscillating portion made of a piezoelectric membrane is formed on a membrane portion in a substrate, as an element for an ultrasonic sensor. Here, when the element is mounted to an automobile in an exposed state, a distance to an object to be detected may not accurately be measured, because water drops or dust may easily adhere onto a surface of the element. Moreover, the element may be damaged and destroyed by a load of an external force, e.g., a collision with a small stone.
JP-A-2002-58097 discloses an ultrasonic sensor having a protective construction for reducing the adhesion and the destruction. In the sensor, a piezoelectric element for detecting ultrasonic waves is disposed in an aluminum case so as not to be exposed to an outside. The piezoelectric element is directly mounted to an oscillating board, and the sensor receives the waves by oscillations of the oscillating board.
However, a mechanical strength of the piezoelectric membrane as the element produced by the MEMS technology is low due to its structure. When the element is directly mounted to the oscillating board, the element may easily be destroyed. By contrast, if a space is provided between the piezoelectric membrane and the oscillating board in order to reduce the destruction, the waves may not effectively be transmitted to the element.
Furthermore, when a resonance oscillation of a receiving portion is used for transmission of ultrasonic waves, a thickness of an oscillating board is determined by a size and a material of the receiving portion, and a frequency of the ultrasonic waves. Therefore, when an ultrasonic sensor includes a small element, an oscillating board in the small element has to be thin. For example, if a wave frequency is 50 kHz, and if an aluminum square board, 3 mm on a side, is used as the receiving portion, a thickness of the board has to be equal to or less than 0.1 mm. In this case, strength of the board cannot be secured. If the thickness is increased in order to secure the strength, a signal intensity may be too low to be detected, because an amplitude of an oscillation becomes small.


The present invention relates to a detection method used in a memory card adaptor and, more particularly, to a detection method used in an adaptor capable of inserting various kinds of memory cards. The present invention comprises mainly the steps of: a control device on an adaptor issuing an identification command to detect a memory card responsive to the identification command, and the control device issuing again a reset command to detect a reset-type memory card if there is no corresponding response; the control device continually awaiting a response signal if there is still no corresponding response; the control device entering a read/write mode corresponding to the memory card if a corresponding response is obtained after issuing the command; and the control device awaiting a read/write command of said master device. The present invention can effectively enhance detection and identification efficiency without the need of adding a hardware switching device.

The present invention relates to a detection method used in a memory card adaptor and, more particularly, to a detection method used in an adaptor capable of inserting various kinds of memory cards. The detection method of the present invention mainly utilizes differences of response times, signals, and characteristics of various kinds of memory cards to various types of commands to make appropriate arrangements of detection order, thereby achieving the most efficient detection effect.
Recently, due to fast development of electronic-related industry, continual progress of semiconductor process, enhanced requirement of compact electronic products, and considerable research of various kinds of digital applications such as PDA, electronic dictionary, digital camera, digital camcorder, MP3 walkman, and information appliance, many storage systems capable of storing application software and graph and text data have been much appreciated. Commercially available storage systems, no matter hard disk drives or floppy disk drives, utilize magnetic material as the main medium. The access speed of data thereof will be reduced due to influence of mechanism control of the accurate read/write head, and data stored in the storage systems may easily be damaged because of external factors such temperature, humidity, and vibration, resulting in much trouble of the user.
In order to avoid the above drawbacks, various kinds of memory cards mainly using flash memory have been developed, which can apply to wider ranges of temperature and humidity, and will not be affected by vibration. Moreover, they have the advantages of quiet access of data and power saving. However, the individually developed memory cards have no consistent specification so that various kinds of products using memory cards have different specifications. The user thus needs to extra purchase peripheral equipments because of incompatible memory cards when he wants to buy different types of products.
Therefore, adaptors capable of inserting different memory cards have been developed for integrated usage of different types of memory cards. However, because of different number and positions of data I/O pins of various types of memory cards, the read/write modes thereof differ. A switching device of types of memory cards is thus required in the adaptor. R. O. C. Pat. No. 0,389,353 discloses an adapting memory card structure using SSFDC card to access data via CompactFlash card interface, wherein a 50-pin interface of CompactFlash card is used as a basic architecture, and a cassette slot is disposed at the bottom of the adapting memory card so that a solid state floppy disk card can be inserted thereinto. A terminal board comprising a plurality of terminals is disposed inside the adapting memory card. The terminal board can contact metallic conducting sheets of a memory card to read/write data of the memory card. Switching of different read/write modes of the two types of memory cards is achieved by using a switching device composed of a plurality of metallic conducting sheets. As shown in FIG. 1, a flash memory 18 and a controller 16 are disposed on a circuit board (not shown). A memory card 12 is inserted from outside. Basically, the controller 16 is connected with the two types of memory cards. The conducted path is selected by switching power source. When the memory card is not inserted, the power source of the controller 16 is connected with that of the flash memory 18. At this time, the flash memory 18 is used as a standard CompactFlash card. When the memory card 12 is inserted, the housing of the memory card 12 compresses metallic conducting sheets of a switch 14 to let the conductive state of the controller 16 with the flash memory 18 switches to the conductive state of the controller 16 with the memory card 12, hence facilitating access of data on the memory card.
However, the above structure of adaptor can only apply to switching between two fixed types of memory cards, and a mechanical switching device is needed. If an adaptor capable of using various kinds of memory cards is required, the structure of the switching device will be very complex, and the switching of read/write modes between different types of memory cards will be much difficult. The volume of the whole adaptor thus will increase inevitably, resulting in much inconvenience in use.
Accordingly, the present invention aims to propose a detection method of memory card without using a mechanical switching device so that the type of a memory card can be effectively and accurately detected, the detection effect can be enhanced, and the whole space can be saved.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a detection method used in an adaptor capable of inserting various kinds of memory cards, wherein a control device on the adaptor is utilized to issue various types of commands, and await or receive response from memory cards to detect various types of memory cards.
The secondary object of the present invention is to provide a detection method of an adaptor capable of inserting various kinds of memory cards, wherein the control device thereof arranges in turn the detection order according to different response times of various types of memory cards to various kinds of commands, thereby enhancing the detection efficiency.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a detection method of an adaptor capable of inserting various kinds of memory cards, wherein the control device thereof can be used to issue various types of commands to identify the types of memory cards according to responsive information of memory cards.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

Detection method used in adaptor capable of inserting various kinds of memory cards


An outdoor LED lighting apparatus which includes a housing unit having a main body or main housing and a lower cover, and at least one LED module provided in the interior of the housing unit. The housing unit is configured to enable air to flow into and out of the interior of the unit via a convection cooling arrangement provided between the main body of housing and the lower cover of the housing.

Prior art streetlights have typically used high pressure mercury lamps, sodium lamps, metal halide lamps, and induction lamps. These lamps have worked well in the field proving to be bright and reasonably reliable. Each of the abovementioned types suffers to a greater or lesser degree from the following disadvantages. The prior art lamps have a strong tendency to scatter light in all directions. Thus, high power consumption is required to maintain a desirable degree of luminescence on the ground where the light is needed.
Recently, LED street lamps have begun to replace older styles of lamps because LED lamps are able to produce light output equal or greater than that of conventional mercury, sodium and induction lamps and the output is substantially more directional, i.e. the light output suffers from significantly less scatter. In addition, LED lamps consume substantially less power than older types of lamps and are capable of having a much longer service life.
LEDs also have certain drawbacks. In particular, the high level of luminescence required in a street lamp cannot be met by the use of a single light emitting diode. In order to achieve luminescence comparable to mercury, sodium, or induction street lamps, numerous LEDs are required to be packaged in a single light housing. For example, a plurality of LEDs may be arranged on a circuit board (module) in a series or parallel circuit and several such boards or modules may be incorporated in a single lamp housing.
When LED lighting systems comprising modules composed of a plurality of light emitting diodes are turned "on" for long periods of time, however, they tend to generate a substantial amount of heat. LEDs are well known to be sensitive to heat. An excessive amount of heat, over a long period of time, may cause the structures forming the LED module to fail or to deteriorate and therefore negatively affect the brightness and service life of the LED lamp. LEDs are prone to heat related failures because the circuit boards to which they are mounted are generally poor conductors of heat. It is now common for LED lamps intended for lighting public areas to operate within the range of 50 to 300 watts. Operation at such wattage levels is sufficient to degrade the individual LEDs which make of modules contained in the lamp unless adequate cooling is provided.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for streetlamp housings which include cooling structures to dissipate the heat generated from the LEDs. There is also a need in cold weather climates to prevent ice from forming around and bridging the AC contacts found within a streetlamp.

Byung II Ham & In Sook Ham Trustees, Ham Fam Trust


A method and computer program product for identifying one or more malfunctions in a locomotive air compressing system is provided. Some of the malfunctions may be correctable onboard a locomotive, and constitute onboard serviceable malfunctions, while the remaining of the malfunctions may only be correctable with the air compressing system being uninstalled and serviced at an off-board servicing site, such malfunctions constitute off-board serviceable malfunctions. The method allows monitoring responses indicative of a malfunction type that may be associated with at least with one of the following: a corrective action that may be performed onboard the locomotive, and a corrective action that may only be performed off-board the locomotive.

It is known to use multi-cylinder air compressors on freight and passenger locomotives to supply compressed air to various locomotive systems, such as the operating and control equipment of a railway air brake system. Prior art techniques for servicing the air compressor system have essentially required uninstalling and shipping major components of the air compressor system, such as the entire compressor, to a specialized compressor servicing site. This approach may lead to unnecessary costs and delays, if the type of component causing the malfunction was one that could be replaced in-situ at the locomotive (i.e., as installed onboard the locomotive) without having to incur the delays and expenses associated with shipping the entire compressor to the specialized servicing site. However, heretofore there was no effective procedure or test apparatus to diagnose locomotive air compressors in-situ to determine if the malfunction was due to an in-situ serviceable component or to a cause that required removal of the air compressor system and servicing off-board of the locomotive.

Diagnostics for identifying a malfunctioning component in an air compressor system onboard a locomotive


The present invention aims at providing a method for forming a metal oxide film which can further improve the production efficiency while maintaining low resistance of a metal oxide film formed thereby. In the method for forming a metal oxide film of the present invention, a solution (4) containing a metallic element and ammonia (4a) is formed into a mist. Meanwhile, a substrate (2) is heated. Then, the solution (4) formed into a mist is supplied onto a first main surface of the substrate (2) being heated.

In the field of a solar cell, a light-emitting device and a touch panel, a metal oxide film is formed on a substrate. Conventionally, there are Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3 as a non-vacuum film forming technique which forms a metal oxide film on a substrate.
In the technique of Patent Document 1, a metal oxide film is formed on a substrate by bringing a solution in which a metal salt or a metal complex is dissolved into contact with a heated substrate. In this technique, at least one of an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent is contained in the solution.
In the technique of Patent Document 2, a tetrabutyltin solution or a tin tetrachloride solution, in which hydrogen peroxide is added as an oxidizing agent, is sprayed onto a preheated substrate and thermally decomposed. Then, after the substrate temperature lowered by spraying of the solution returns, the solution is sprayed repeatedly. Thereby, a thin film of tin oxide is grown on the surface of the substrate.
In the technique of Patent Document 3, a solution in which a thin film material is dissolved in a volatile solvent is intermittently sprayed toward a substrate kept hot from above to form a transparent conductive film on the surface of the substrate. In this technique, intermittent spraying is high-speed pulsed intermittent spraying in which one spraying duration is 100 milliseconds or less.

Method for forming metal oxide film, metal oxide film, and apparatus for forming metal oxide film

TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI—ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION


A dynamic pressure sensing structure used in a condenser microphone includes an upper electrode plate, a lower electrode plate, a spacer and a substrate, wherein the upper and lower electrode plates are separated by the spacer and form a resonance cavity with the substrate. The upper electrode plate comprises a flat vibration area and a surrounding flexible area connected thereto. The lower electrode plate comprises a sensible electrode and an actuation electrode surrounding the sensible electrode. The plate is in connection with the flexible area so that a capacitor is formed between the sense area and the flat vibration area. The actuation electrode provides a polarization voltage to generate an electrostatic force, thereby attract the flexible vibration area to curve downwards so that the flat vibration area moves in a flat state and a distance between the flat vibration area and the sensible electrode is varied correspondingly.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a dynamic pressure sensing structure and more particularly to a dynamic pressure sensing structure applied in a condenser microphone.
2. Related Art
In the trend of 'smaller and lighter' in the modem-day markets, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technologies have been developed to meet these requirements. These MEMS have the advantages of miniature-permitted, batch manufacturing, low cost of used materials and high added values and thus are deemed as the most promising products in the future.
Microphones are dynamic pressure sensors, which may sense very small variations like people's ears to sound. However, human's ears may react to only those sounds having specific frequency ranges owing to the physiological structures of people. Quite the contrary, the microphones with different structures may sense desired sounds with different frequency ranges. However, the traditional microphones generally presented in the market have their limitations in sensing sounds with relatively high frequencies, such as the sound of vibrations of machines of middle frequencies, the closing sound of the heart mitral valves, the sound of turbulence flow of blood in blood vessels and the sound created by the rubbing between bone and ligament.
Silicon crystal microphones are manufactured based on the MEMS technology, which may considerably reduce their manufacturing costs, further miniaturize their volumes and promote their sensitivities. Thus these microphones are quite superior to the traditional microphones. Accordingly, they may be qualified to be applied in industries, medical treatments and environmental protections and the like. The silicon crystal microphones may be roughly classified into piezoelectric microphones, piezoelectric/piezoresistive microphones and condenser microphones. Of the three types of silicon crystal microphones, the condenser silicon crystal microphones have become a main trend since they exhibit higher sensitivities and lower power dissipations.
The condenser microphone comprises a capacitor formed with two electrode plates disposed in parallel and having fillings of air or other insulating materials. The capacitor is connected to a positive end and a negative end of a battery at its two plates respectively to induce a capacitance C=ε0εr A/d, wherein ε0 is the dielectric constant in the vacuum, εr is the relative dielectric constant of the material disposed between the two plates with respect to the vacuum, A is the area of each of the plates and d is the distance between the two plates. In the capacitor, the distance between the two plates determines the charges stored. That is, the smaller the distance between the two plates is, the more the charges stored in the capacitor are. In a real operation, the principle of the relationship between the distance and the amount of the charges in the capacitor is relied on to obtain a sense output. Specifically, when a sound is directed towards the condenser microphone, an acoustic wave corresponding to the sound has an action on the air and thus the air is compressed, which results in vibration of a diaphragm in the microphone correspondingly. In response thereto, a variation of distance is occurred between the two plates of the capacitor and the charges in the capacitance correspondingly. A sense conversion circuit may acquire this varied capacitance and then a voltage is outputted.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A clamp for a sanitary fitting includes a first and a second semicircular part that are circumscribed by a flexible cable tie. Each semicircular part has a concave side and a convex side. A channel is formed in each concave and each convex side. The concave channels accommodate a flange of a sanitary fitting when the first and second semicircular parts are disposed in confronting relation to one another. The cable tie positioned in the convex channels circumscribes the confronting semicircular parts. A cable tie catch slidingly receives a free end of the cable tie when the cable tie circumscribes the first and second semicircular parts. A marker on the cable tie registers with the catch or another marker on the cable tie when the cable tie is under a predetermined amount of tension to ensure that the same amount of tension is consistently applied to the cable tie.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to clamps for sanitary fittings. More particularly, it relates to a clamp for clamping together two sanitary fittings with a force that is predetermined and which may be duplicated repeatedly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional sanitary clamps are typically made of stainless steel, a rigid plastic, or a combination of such materials. In a first well-known design, two semicircular parts are hingedly connected to one another at a first end and their free ends are secured to one another by a threaded stem and nut. In another well-known embodiment, the two semicircular sections are secured to one another by a flexible steel or plastic band that circumscribes them. A mechanism of the type commonly used on hose clamps pulls the semicircular parts toward one another by tightening the band via rotation of a worm gear that meshingly engages slots formed in the flexible band.
The primary drawback of the known clamps is that they include no means for applying an optimal amount of force. Accordingly, they are usually over-tightened. Over-tightening is particularly undesirable when a plastic fitting is used because the fitting may buckle. Such buckling can compromise the fluid tightness and the pressure resistance of the connection.
A closely related drawback is that the force applied by the known clamps is not repeatable. Thus, if a prior art clamp is tightened by an optimal force-providing amount, by luck, there is no means for repeating such optimal tightening the next time a clamp of the same structure is used.
There is a particular type of commercially available sanitary clamp that includes a torque indicator in a threaded closure nut that overcomes the over-tightening problem. However, this is a relatively expensive solution to the problem.
A conventional torque wrench may also be used to overcome the over-tightening problem. However, such wrenches are cumbersome and inconvenient to use.
Another drawback associated with sanitary fittings that are tightened with torque wrenches is that the installation is not tamper-evident. A torque wrench on a simple screw clamp, even if it is incorporated into the clamp, is easily opened. If the sanitary fitting is opened and tampered with and re-closed with a torque wrench, there is no evidence of such tampering
Moreover, the amount of tension applied to the clamp cannot be checked by visual inspection after the torque wrench has been removed.
What is needed is an inexpensive clamp that may be tightened repeatedly and consistently to an optimal tightness but that does not require an internal torque indicator in a threaded closure nut or use of a torque wrench.
There is also a need for a tamper-evident installation.
A need is also extant for an installation that provides a visual indication of whether or not a sanitary fitting has been properly tightened.
However, in view of the prior art taken as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill how the identified needs could be fulfilled.


A governor system for limiting the ground speed of a vehicle and maintaining an idle speed of the engine. The governor system includes a first feedback shaft operably coupled with a transmission of the vehicle to provide a first feedback torque in response to a ground speed of the vehicle. A second feedback shaft is operably coupled with the engine to provide a second feedback torque in response to a revolutionary speed (RPM) of the engine. A ground speed governor system is coupled between the first feedback shaft and the throttle system of the engine for limiting operation of the throttle system in response to the first feedback torque, thereby limiting ground speed. An idle speed governor system is coupled between the second feedback shaft and the throttle system of the engine for actuating the throttle system in response to the second feedback torque, thereby maintaining a desired idle speed.

Many vehicles, such as golf cars, include a ground speed governor system for limiting the degree of throttle to correspondingly limit the speed at which the vehicle may travel. Typically, these vehicles include an engine, a transmission, and a drive axle receiving drive torque from the engine through the transmission. Generally, ground speed governor systems include a plurality of weights disposed about an input shaft of the drive axle, which are configured to pivot away from the input shaft because of the centrifugal forces generated by the angular velocity of the input shaft. The weights pivot outward against a set of sliding spacers, which in turn actuate a ground speed governor shaft extending inside the drive axle. As the angular velocity of the input shaft increases so does the centrifugal force resulting in a torque produced through the ground speed governor shaft. Thus, the torque produced through the ground speed governor shaft is linear and directly proportional to the angular velocity of the input shaft.
A ground speed control mechanism, or governor system, is provided to limit the maximum vehicle speed. Traditional ground speed governor systems include a control arm with a spring assembly, an accelerator cable input interconnecting the accelerator pedal, and a throttle output interconnecting the throttle. The spring assembly includes a threaded rod, a pivot bracket, a compression spring, spring retainers, and an adjustment nut. The governed speed is preset by the manufacturer by adjusting the compression of the spring with the adjustment nut.
When the accelerator pedal is actuated, the accelerator cable pulls on the spring, which in turn applies a force to the control arm. The control arm then rotates and actuates the throttle linkage to open the throttle. As the accelerator is depressed and the vehicle accelerates, the torque exerted on the control arm by the ground speed governor shaft correspondingly increases. When this torque becomes greater than that produced by the spring assembly, the control arm rotates, compressing the spring further, thereby relieving the throttle linkage to enable closure of the throttle. As the vehicle slows, the torque exerted on the control arm by the ground speed governor shaft correspondingly decreases, enabling the control arm to rotate, thereby actuating the throttle linkage to again open the throttle. The result is a relatively constant vehicle speed, regardless of load.
Separately, small engines such as those discussed above often suffer from engine idle speed problems. For example, when the vehicle is traveling quickly and the accelerator pedal is released, occasionally the engine speed can drop rapidly causing the engine to stall. To overcome this problem, attempts have been made to use an engine idle speed governor. However, traditionally it has been necessary to choose between using a ground speed governor system or an engine idle speed governor system as each was mutually exclusive relative to the other—each attempting to actuate the throttle in an opposite direction. However, it is readily apparent that having the ability to governor both the vehicle ground speed and the engine idle speed is desirable in many applications.
Therefore, it is desirable in the industry to provide an improved governor system capable of governing both the ground speed of the vehicle to prevent over-speeding of the vehicle and the engine speed to prevent stalling of the engine. The improved governor system should be simple in construction, having a reduced number of components over traditional governor systems, for alleviating the disadvantages associated therewith.


A system for increasing the security of a computer system, while giving an individual user a large amount of flexibility and power. To give users the most power and flexibility, a standard object that has the capability to embed objects is used. To allow users even more flexibility, a standard object tracking mechanism is used that allows users to distribute multiple encrypted embedded objects to other individuals in a single encrypted object. By effecting compartmentalization of every object by label attributes and algorithm attributes, multi-level multimedia security is achieved.

While the specter of "spies" eagerly trying to obtain the defense information of various countries is very much still present in the defense and intelligence community, an equally massive threat now exists from technological or commercial "spies" who desire to obtain commercial and technical information from competing companies. These agents use sophisticated means similar to those used by the defense and intelligence community in order to obtain commercially valuable information that reveals the plans and commercial activities of competitors thereby allowing the aggressor company to obtain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Theft of commercially valuable information is a very real and ever present threat.
To combat this type of commercial spying, various complex systems have evolved to protect company proprietary information. These systems involve physical controls over personnel as well as over the data flowing in and out of a company. For example, most computer systems used within companies require a password to be entered before the system can be accessed. It is frequently the case that confidential or company proprietary information must be passed electronically from one location to another in order to convey that information within the company in a timely fashion. Such electronic communication is easily susceptible to interception if not protected in some other form.
Cryptographic systems have evolved to fill the needs of companies and individuals wanting to protect the proprietary commercial information of a company from competitors and those who generally should not have that information.
Encryption of data is therefore a critical requirement in denying access to confidential information from those who are not so authorized. Cryptographic "keys" are an essential part of the information encryption process. The cryptographic key, or "key" for short, is a sequence of letters, numbers, or bytes of information which are manipulated by a cryptographic algorithm to transform data from plain (readable) text to a series of unintelligible text or signals known as encrypted or cipher text. The key is then used by the receiver of the cipher text to decrypt the message back to plain text. However, for two people to communicate successfully using keys, each must use the same key, assuming that the same encryption/decryption algorithm is used on both ends of the communication.
Various methods have evolved to manage the distribution of keys. Such methods of distribution are collectively referred to as "key management". The function of key management is to perform the process of generating, distributing, changing, replacing, storing, checking on, and destroying cryptographic keys. Under normal operational circumstances, the key manager begins and ends a cryptographic session by controlling access to the algorithm used to encrypt and decrypt plain text objects. Thus, a user who wants to encrypt an object or decrypt an object must first access the key manager so that an encryption algorithm may be chosen.
Simple encryption of data being communicated between two points only provides one level of security, however. Encryption limits data communication to those who have the key. Anyone who has the key is privy to any communication at any location. That is, if a group of people are working on a particular project, they will all presumably share a key for decrypting information relating to the project. Some of the project group may be working in one location, while the rest of the group may be located in a distant city. If one member of the group wants to send a communication to a particular member in the other city, the key will afford him no protection because everyone in the project shares the same key. Likewise, if someone wants to communicate a message to a subset of the group, for example, only to management personnel, this key would again provide her with no extra security. In another case, someone may want to send a message that is capable of being read only at a particular computer terminal, or of being printed only at a particular printer. In these and other cases, multilevel multimedia key access, or individual keys issued to each person, would provide a solution, albeit one that is quite unwieldy, inflexible, and difficult to manage by a security officer or key administrator.
A secure method of labelling files or messages that are sent from a sending user to a receiving user over a network can provide a level of protection in addition to cryptographic protection. A file "label" for purposes of this invention means a series of letters or numbers, which may or may not be encrypted, separate from but associated with the sending of a message, which identifies the person, location, equipment, and/or organization which is permitted to receive the associated message. Using a secure labelling regimen, a network manager or user can be assured that only those messages meant for a certain person, group of persons, and/or location(s) are in fact received, decrypted, and read by the intended receiver. Thus, a sending user can specify label conditions that limit access to the transmitted message. For example, many people within a company may have the key necessary to read a data file that a sender may transmit from his computer terminal to other terminals at another site within his company. The sender may, however, wish to restrict reception to those persons present at a particular terminal. By employing a secure labelling technique in addition to encryption, the sender can be assured that people having the correct key to decrypt the message but working at different terminals will not receive or be allowed to access the communication. Access may be limited to particular people as well.
A system such as that described above is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/009,741, filed Jan. 27, 1993, the specification of which is incorporated by reference herein.
A system that can limit access on an object level would be more flexible and would offer still more protection. Access could be specified on an object-by-object basis, and objects could be embedded within other objects, providing an access hierarchy for users.
The ability to cryptographically secure objects ensures the authentication and data integrity of the particular object or objects in question. If a device were able to cryptographically control an object(s) or nested object(s), then that device would have total control over the entire object and all other objects within it. This type of control over the knowledge/information flow would allow for clear data separation, and at some levels could become a transparent method. A system that is able to do this would be able to achieve multi-level multimedia security.


A process is provided for preparing particles of polymer by heating the polymer having an inherent viscosity not exceeding about 0.6 dl/g when measured at a temperature of about 30.degree. C. in chloroform or hexafluoroisopropanol, dividing the heated polymer into particles, and then solidifying these particles such that substantially no fibers are formed among the particles.

This invention relates to a process for preparing particles of polymer, e.g., spheroidal particulates or beads of the bioabsorbable variety, employing various individual atomization techniques such as melt extrusion and/or rotary atomization. The particles are useful, inter alia, in the repair of damaged or defective bone.
The medical use of polymer particles including those of the bioabsorbable variety are known, inter alia, from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,882,858; 4,535,485; 4,547,390; 4,643,735; and 4,663,447. There has been an increase in interest in utilizing both bioabsorbable and non-absorbable particles to facilitate bone or fibrous tissue repair/reconstruction.
A number of processes are known for preparing finely divided polymeric particles, e.g., mechanical grinding, solvent precipitation, dispersion, and spray atomization of solutions or slurries. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 654,219, filed Feb. 12, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,662 describes producing particles of polymer by subjecting the polymer to rotary atomization. In rotary atomization, the polymer is applied to a rotation bell, cup or disk with mechanical forces predominating in the breakup of the polymer into particles. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 503,264, filed Apr. 2, 1990 and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,983 issued Apr. 7, 1992 describes a process for preparing foamed, bioabsorbable polymer particles by a freeze-drying technique.
Processes which form microspheres of absorbable material less than or equal to 0.2 mm in diameter for use in controlled release of drugs, are well-known. Such spheres have generally been formed by a solvent evaporation technique. Alternatively, polymeric microspheres, e.g., beads, of average particle size greater than or equal to 0.2 mm in diameter can be formed by an emulsion polymerization process. Such emulsion polymerization has been successfully utilized to form beads of polymethylmethacrylate and styrene.
For medical applications, it is often desirable to control not only the particle size distribution of the polymeric particles but level of fibers which are present as well.


A wheel lighting system for illuminating a wheel of a vehicle such as an automobile from behind the wheel. The wheel lighting system includes an annular light source and a tubular cover substantially covering the light source. The cover comprises a pair of separable arcuate tubular portions each having a pair of opposite ends and a longitudinal window extending therealong between the ends of the respective tubular portion. A plurality of mounting brackets each having a tubular mounting sleeve at a first end through which the cover is extended to connect the mounting brackets to the cover and light source and such that the longitudinal axes of the mounting brackets extend radially inwards from the cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wheel lighting systems and more particularly pertains to a new wheel lighting system for illuminating a wheel of a vehicle such as an automobile from behind the wheel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of wheel lighting systems is known in the prior art. More specifically, wheel lighting systems heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,144 by DiMaggio; U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,100 by Di Gaetano; U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,919 by Pearsall et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,431 by Park; U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,683 by Wills et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 332,441 by Douglas, Jr. which are all incorporated by reference herein.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new wheel lighting system. The inventive device includes an annular light source and a tubular cover substantially covering the light source. The cover comprises a pair of separable arcuate tubular portions each having a pair of opposite ends and a longitudinal window extending therealong between the ends of the respective tubular portion. A plurality of mounting brackets each having a tubular mounting sleeve at a first end through which the cover is extended to connect the mounting brackets to the cover and light source and such that the longitudinal axes of the mounting brackets extend radially inwards from the cover.
In these respects, the wheel lighting system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of illuminating a wheel of a vehicle such as an automobile from behind the wheel.


A flush-mounted group for mixing water for a bathroom or kitchen, comprising: a body comprising a valve, designed to be installed in a seat having a given depth with respect a finished surface, a fastening means for fixing the body to the seat, which is adjustable on the body to set the depth at which the body is inset inside the seat, a plate mountable on the finished surface to enclose the body inside the seat and which is provided with an opening for accessing the body, a control member for operating the valve, which is connected to the valve through the opening of the plate. The mixing group comprises a coupling means for connecting together the valve and the control member, which can be adjusted so as to vary a distance between the control member and the valve and ensure correct positioning of the control member inside the opening.

Flush-mounted water mixing groups, in particular mixing groups designed to be installed inside a seat formed in the wall or in a niche of a bathroom or a kitchen, are known.
The seat is for example a recess which has a depth of between 50 and 120 mm with respect to a finished surface of the wall on which the tiles are mounted and forms the arrival point of a water supply pipe, generally two pipes for supplying hot water and cold water, respectively. The description which follows is provided with reference to a mixing group with two valves, solely by way of example.
The mixing group comprises a body provided with connections for the supply pipes and also provided with two valves designed to regulate flowrate or the temperature of the water.
The body and the respective valves are installed inside the seat so as to remain concealingly enclosed inside it.
In this respect, a plate can be mounted on the finished surface so as to enclose the body inside the seat and is provided with control members for the valves, for example two pushbuttons or control knobs which can be used to operate, from outside the seat, the valves situated inside the seat together with the body.
In such mixing groups it also known that there exists the technical problem of having to correctly position and fix the body inside the seat so that the control members on the plate may correctly operate the valves. In particular it is necessary to ensure the correct position of the body inside the seat, considering that the seat is normally formed before knowing the dimensions of the mixing group which is to be installed, for example during the masonry work carried out in the bathroom or kitchen.
The aforementioned technical problem is normally solved by mounting, at the bottom of the body, feet which are adjustable heightwise.
Basically, the feet are fixed inside the seat, and the body is mounted slidably on the legs of the feet. Since it is able to slide on the legs, the body may be positioned inside the seat to a depth such as to ensure the correct mechanical coupling together of the control members and the valves and in particular the correct installation layout (perpendicular and parallel arrangement).
The technical solution described above, however, is unable to ensure the precise positioning of the control members within the plate, something which is always desirable, in particular in the case of high-quality mixing groups, where the controls are normally coplanar with the surface of the plate or perfectly parallel thereto, for example protruding minimally.
In particular, the plate may have two openings, for example circular openings, for two respective cylindrical control members and, for precise installation, it is necessary not only that the surface of the cylinders facing the user should be flush with the plate, but also that the cylinders should be perfectly centred inside the openings.
These desirable goals are not at all easy to achieve.
Firstly, once the support legs have been cut, it may happen that the installer realizes that the body has been mounted too deep, such that the control members on the valves are inset inside the openings of the plate and are not flush therewith. In this case it may be necessary to replace the support legs, with the result therefore that new replacement parts must be obtained and installation performed again from scratch.
Or else it may happen that one valve is inset more inside the seat than the other valve, for example owing to different cutting of the support legs or if the recessed seat is not uniform and therefore does not form a flat support surface for the feet.
In all these cases, varying the position of the mixing group is time-consuming. The correct result is in any case not guaranteed.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is that of devising a flush-mounted mixing group in which the mixing controls may be perfectly installed in the plate mounted on the finished surface of the bathroom or kitchen, allowing assembly to be performed more quickly and easily and basically overcoming all the drawbacks which hitherto are associated with the systems of the prior art.

Group for mixing water for bathroom or kitchen


A design inspector tool generates secure source code related to stencils and design elements of an architecture diagram. The design inspector tool may retrieve source code from a source code repository that includes source code that is relevant to the stencils and design elements implemented by the design inspector tool. When or after a user modifies the source code, the design inspector tool feeds contextual information associated with the stencils and the design elements into a trained machine learning logic. The trained machine learning logic processes the contextual information to retrieve contextually relevant auto complete secure code suggestions from the source code repository. The contextually relevant auto complete source code suggestions may be presented to the user as an option for replacing or augmenting the modified source code.

Development of source code for a computer program, such as an application, is often a time consuming process. Modern computer programs often include large amounts of code, much of which is linked to other code. A developer may have available a large amount of code from which to build an application, much of which may perform similar functions but have different properties (e.g., different security properties). Consequently, it takes a significant amount of effort to not only create the code, but also to ensure that the code is correct, uses the correct syntax, and correctly integrates with other libraries. While various tools have been developed to facilitate the process of code development, such tools do not fully address all the issues developers have to consider. For instance, a tool may assist with syntax or other aspects of programming but not indicate whether the program being developed is sufficiently secure for the context in which the program is intended to run.

Automatic and predictive source code generation


A method of indexing a plurality of dice obtained from a material wafer comprising a plurality of stacked material layers, each die being obtained in a respective die position in the wafer, the method including providing a visible index on each die indicative of the respective die position, wherein providing the visible index on each die includes: forming in a first material layer of the die a reference structure adapted to defining a mapping of the wafer; and forming in a second material layer of the die a marker associated with the reference structure, a position of the marker with respect to the reference structure being adapted to provide an indication of the die position in the wafer.

Electronic circuits, as well as e.g. micro-mechanical and/or optical structures and opto-electronic devices, can be integrated in a chip obtained from a semiconductor material wafer by means of a process typically executed in a sequence of stages. At the end of such a process the wafer includes a plurality of chips, or dice, which are then separated by sawing; typically, the chips are then embedded in packages suitable for their use.
In the case in which the chips are found to be defective or subject to failures during operation and are returned to the manufacturer for analysis of the failure, the possibility of recovering the original position of the chips in the wafer before sawing is of strategic importance for quality management of the manufacturing process. In fact, functional (e.g. electrical or optical) parameters, performance and reliability of each chip can vary with the position in the wafer, for example because the crystallographic quality of the wafer material can vary with the position in the wafer. Accordingly, analysis on failure occurrences is very useful for allowing the manufacturers to devise strategies for improving the chip quality.
For this purpose, an indication of such a position is provided on each chip, i.e., a so-called die (or chip) indexing is exploited for recovering the die position in the wafer.
In the art, die indexing methods are known in which a visible sign is provided on each chip during the fabrication process, e.g. on an upper passivation layer in the stack of material layers of the wafer, in such a way that it is possible to read a die index by non-invasive inspection also when the chip has failed. For example, the index can be a respective number of a number sequence, assigned to each chip of a wafer, provided on a boundary portion of the chip.
A process of fabricating chips from a wafer is executed in different stages in which a plurality of masks is usually exploited for defining desired patterns in layers of the wafer. Roughly speaking, a mask is a flat plate containing photographic images (i.e., transparent and opaque areas) of structures useful to implement, for example, the integrated circuits of the chips on wafer material layers.
At prescribed stages, the wafer is coated with a layer of a photosensitive material, typically referred to as photosensitive resist or photoresist, and a mask, properly aligned with the wafer, is illuminated by an optical system with light in a range of wavelengths suitable for exposing the photoresist. Thus, the images on the mask are projected and transferred onto the photoresist layer coating the wafer. The exposed photoresist is then developed to produce a pattern on the wafer which identifies areas of material layers to be etched (one such sequence of the fabrication process is termed photolithography).
The fabrication process can be performed by means of traditional projection equipment, comprising the optical system, in which the wafer is positioned and aligned with the masks necessary for the fabrication process. As long as the wafer dimension is relatively small, such masks include a number of images equal to the number of chips to be obtained from the wafer and the whole wafer is exposed through that mask in one go.
Typically, methods of indexing exploiting the projection equipment require that one of the plurality of masks includes the images of the indexes of all the chips formed on the wafer.
The increase in wafer size has led to the introduction of projection equipment employing so-called wafer steppers, in which the images of the mask useful to manufacture the chips are projected onto portions of the wafer "step by step", instead of in a single go. A wafer stepper includes the optical system and an appropriate alignment system for aligning the optical system, the mask and the wafer in a "step by step" fashion. In the case in which the wafer stepper is used, the projected image of the mask typically covers an area which is a portion of the total wafer area. After each exposure, the wafer in the wafer stepper is moved under the optical system by exactly the size of the projection of the mask on a plane of the wafer. The wafer steppers make it possible to obtain a plurality of chips from wafers larger than (typically, of eight inches) the wafers traditionally used with a conventional projection equipment (of maximum six inches). Regretfully, this makes the traditional masks exploited with a projection equipment not compatible to the substantially larger wafers manufactured by means of a wafer stepper and, accordingly, using the wafer steppers it is not possible to project the images of the indexes of all the chips formed on the wafer in one go.
Alternative methods of die indexing exploit non-volatile storage elements, integrated in the chips, such as EPROM devices, for storing information relating to die coordinates indicative of the die positions in the wafer, written therein during testing, for example. However, such methods increase costs of the fabrication process, by adding service storage elements in the chips, and thus semiconductor area (non-volatile storage elements occupy portions of an intended active area of the chip in which, for example, the integrated circuits have to be implemented) and, possibly, dedicated process stages. In addition, such methods make the chips even more prone to defects, and in case the failed chips undergo functional failures, the stored information on the die coordinates may be not recoverable.


A circuit board manufacturing method which includes inserting either a first claw or a second claw through a notch formed by notching an edge of a hole of a wiring board. The first claw and the second claw project outward from a wall portion of a cover member. The cover member is held on the wiring board, by sliding the cover member relative to the wiring board to position the edge of the hole between the first claw and the second claw provided on a surface of the wall portion identical to a surface on which the first claw is provided. The cover member is detached from the wiring board, by sliding the cover member relative to the wiring board to shift the first claw from the component mounting surface side to a soldering surface side with the first claw passing through the notch.

For manufacturing a circuit board, wiring provided on a surface of a wiring board, and an electrode terminal of a component mounted on the wiring board need to be electrically connected to each other. Soldering is generally used for establishing such an electrical connection. Flow soldering is known as one of industrial soldering methods. Flow soldering is a method for pressing the wiring board from a side where the wiring is partially exposed against molten solder in an injected state to achieve soldering between an electrode terminal and wiring.
However, in some cases, a component is mounted on the wiring board on a side where solder is applied, or the wiring board has a portion to which solder should not be applied, such as a land. It is therefore necessary to shield the component and the portion in the wiring board from molten solder during flow soldering.
PTL 1 discloses a solder shielding wiring board cover which is freely detachable and repeatedly usable.
However, a conventional wiring board cover is fixed to an outer peripheral edge of a wiring board, and so shaped as to cover only a portion desired to be shielded from molten solder. The wiring board cover therefore has such a shape associated with a type of the circuit board with one-to-one correspondence. Accordingly, in manufacturing a different type of circuit board, a wiring board cover corresponding to the different type of circuit board needs to be newly manufactured. This necessity lowers productivity of circuit boards including manufacture of wiring board covers, thereby raising manufacturing costs.
In addition, a conventional wiring board cover needs to hold a portion covered and shielded from molten solder (cover portion) with respect to an outer peripheral edge of a wiring board. Accordingly, a thin rib-shaped beam member connecting the outer peripheral edge and the cover portion needs to be disposed on the wiring board. Thus, in the wiring board, soldering cannot be performed in a portion where the beam member is disposed. According to the conventional wiring board cover, therefore, a component is disposed on a circuit board at positions limited by the shape of the wiring board cover.

Method for manufacturing a circuit board

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A more reliable and fool-proof method and apparatus for assembling an article of assembly (e.g. with predetermined screw torque requirements) in which the article of assembly has multiple fastening locations. The method comprises holding the article of assembly fixed while providing at least two different types of targets fixed relative to the article of assembly that correspond to the individual fastening locations. Fasteners are fastened into the article of assembly at the fastening locations. When fastening is occurring at one of the fastening locations, one of the targets is being sensed. Based on the target sensed, a target output is generated that differentiates between different types of targets thereby indicating fastening location of the fastening tool. The electronic target output is used for electronic control such as for stopping a conveyor to keep the article of assembly at an assembly station until the fastening operations have been completed.

The present invention relates generally to assembly systems, and more particularly relates to monitoring fastening of articles of assemblies in such assembly systems.
There are many industries where the sequence of fastening operations and/or the applied torque of fastening operations are critical in assembling an article of assembly. One such particular industry is the automotive seat assembly industry.
In the automotive seat assembly industry, if the fastening operation of screws on a seat frame is not performed correctly to fasten the parts of the seat together, then the assembled seat may be more prone to possible failure. Proper fastening of a screw may require a predetermined amount of torque to be applied to one or more screws or that the screws be fastened according to a predetermined sequence, or possibly both requirements. It is also necessary that all of the fastening locations be properly subject to a fastening operation and filled with a fastener.
A common requirement in the seat industry is that certain critical screws need to be fastened with a predetermined amount of torque. The amount of torque required for different screws among a seat can also sometimes be different. Screw torque requirements can be so critical for certain industries that monetary fines or disqualification of manufactured product can occur if certain critical screws that have not been properly fastened or torqued to the predetermined value.
In seat assembly operations, it is desirable to assemble a large volume of seats on an assembly line. In modem systems, this is typically accomplished with conveyor systems that carry seats held in fixtures through multiple assembly stations. Conveyor systems may be a continuously moving line whereby seats are worked-on and assembled as the seats are moving and traveling down the line, or as an intermittent stop and go system whereby seats are temporarily stopped at each station for assembly operations and then conveyed down the line to the next station. At the stations where seat parts are assembled with screws according to a predetermined torque, torque reaction arm drivers are used. Torque reaction arm drivers provide an indication of the amount of torque applied during a fastening operation.
To achieve high volume assembly and to keep conveyor lines short, typically several different screws are fastened by a single worker at a given assembly station along the line. For example, a common arrangement is a seat assembly station where several screws are installed into the seat requiring a predetermined applied torque of the same value. This system includes a mechanism that keeps a seat at a station until the desired number of torque values is achieved with the torque reaction arm that is equal to the number of screws being installed.
While the torque reaction arm is capable of providing an indication of driven torque, this type of system can be easily tricked or subject to failure. In particular, if the worker of the torque reaction arm drives the same screw twice he can accidentally provide two torque values for one screw. In repetitive work operations requiring several tasks at a single assembly station, workers can forget which screw has been properly fastened or otherwise make an accidental error in fastening the same screw twice. The result is that one or more screws have been improperly fastened despite the total number of torque values has been achieved for the station (thereby allowing release of the seat from the station for further downstream assembly).
Even without mistakes, some workers have been known to intentionally bypass or trick existing systems. In particular, there have been instances where a worker drives a screw, then reverses the same screw and then refastens that same screw at the same location to get more than one good output value at the same location to in effect trick the system. Workers have even been known to drive a screw mounted in a panel proximate the assembly station to intentionally bypass or trick the system. The cause of these problems is difficult to understand but it may include worker frustration or fatigue with respect to properly fastening screws into a seat.
One approach to reducing employee mistakes in fastening operations is to reduce the number of tasks performed at a given work station. However, this approach increases the length and cost of the assembly line and decreases worker efficiency. Another approach is to install quality control in the form of close supervision or downstream torque checking to ensure quality and accuracy of fastening operations. However, increased supervision also increases costs and decreases overall efficiency of an assembly line. There have even been instances where companies have discovered such fastening problems of a large scale level and have had to conduct massive quality control operations by manually checking the proper installation of fasteners and thousands of torque values on seats that have already been run through the line. This is both time consuming and costly.
In light of the above, it is a general aim of the present invention to provide a more reliable and more fool-proof way to conduct fastening operations in assembling an article of assembly.
In that regard, it is also a further object of the present invention to provide a more efficient way of ensuring fastening operations are performed correctly on an article of assembly.
In accordance with these and other objectives, the present invention is directed towards a new more reliable method for assembling an article of assembly in which the article of assembly having multiple fastening locations in spaced apart relation. The method comprises holding the article of assembly in a fixed position while providing at least two different types of targets fixed relative to the article of assembly that correspond to the individual fastening locations. Fasteners are fastened into the article of assembly at the various fastening locations. When fastening is occurring at one of the fastening locations, one of the targets is being sensed. Based on the target sensed, an electronic target output is generated that differentiates between the different types of targets thereby indicating fastening location of the fastening tool. The electronic target output can be used for electronic control or alarm purposes.
The present invention is also directed toward an assembly system for assembling articles of assembly to implement the above method. The assembly system comprises a fixture holding the article of assembly, and first and second targets fixed relative to the fixture that correspond to first and second fastening locations on the articles of assembly. A fastening tool is adapted to fasten fasteners into the article of assembly at the first and second fastening locations with different tool positions relative to the fixture when the tool is at the different fastening locations. The assembly system further includes a target sensor fixed relative to the fastening tool along at least one axis. The target sensor senses the first and second targets when the fastening tool is fastening at the first and second locations respectively. The target sensor generates a target output differentiating between the first and second targets and thereby indicates when the fastening tool is at the first and second fastening locations.
Further aspects of the present invention relate to implementations on conveyor systems including both continuous and non-continuous or intermittent type conveyor systems.
Other objectives and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Assembly system for monitoring proper fastening of an article of assembly at more than one location


On each side of a drawer is provided a pull-out rail fastened to the drawer and a supporting rail fastened to a furniture body side wall. A closing device pulls the drawer inwardly during a rearward portion of a push-in movement of the drawer into the body of the piece of furniture. The closing device includes a roller mounted on a pivotable lever which is acted upon by a spring. The roller is guided under pressure along a guide path that partly includes double tracks, the roller being guided in one track during an extracting motion and in the other track during the push-in motion.

The present invention relates to a closing device for a drawer which is arranged in a body of a piece of furniture, wherein on each side of the drawer a pull-out rail is fastened to the drawer and a supporting rail is fastened to a side wall of the body. The closing device includes a pull-in assembly that pulls inwardly during a rearward portion of a push-in path of the drawer into the body. The pull-in assembly is formed by a roller or the like mounted on a pivotable lever which is acted upon by a spring and guided under pressure along a guiding path.
Modern drawers are provided with a pull-out guide assembly which comprises on each side of the drawer a supporting rail on the side of the body and a pull-out rail on the side of the drawer and which should render the displacement of the drawer as smooth as possible. For the transmission of the load of the drawer between the pull-out rail on the side of the drawer and the supporting rail on the side of the body there may be provided rollers, balls or slides, depending on the requirements the drawer has to fulfill with respect to smooth running and load capacity.
It has been found that a closed drawer sometimes may not be in its most rearward completely closed end position, and the front plate of the drawer may project from the furnture body. As a result, a person may bump against the drawer, and this may cause injury to the person or damage to the drawer. The front plate of the drawer will project from the front of the piece of furniture when the drawer has not fully and without care been pushed into the body of the piece of furniture. Even when the drawer has been pushed fully into the body of the piece of furniture but with too much energy, the drawer may again roll forwardly under the effect of such excess energy.
A closing device for a drawer is known from British Patent Specification 1,117,071 in which a pivot member is movable between two end positions. The pivot member is acted upon by a coil spring and is pressed into the respective end positions by the spring when a dead center position has been overcome. The pivot member is fastened to a furniture side wall. A side wall of a drawer has a driving pin which is moved into a notch in the pivot member in the end region of the path of movement of the drawer. Then, the driving pin presses the pivot member over the dead center, whereupon the pivot member itself pulls the driving pin and thus the drawer towards the rear.
Swiss Patent Specification 195,282 discloses a drawer with a pivot lever arranged at its rear. The pivot lever is guided with a roller in a curved guide path. The pivot lever serves firstly as a support of the extracted drawer and further for the complete closing of the drawer when the drawer has been closed without care by a user.

Closing device for a drawer arranged in a furniture body


A buoyant pool lounge chair frame and buoyant pool lounge chair using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment of the buoyant pool lounge chair frame for supporting a floatation device while the buoyant pool chair frame is floating in water, a pod frame is provided including a rigid base portion and a window having a vertical opening therethrough. A substantially inverted parabolic surface is positioned at the front of the pod frame and a centra including a rigid back is positioned at the rear of the pod frame such that the window is therebetween. The pod frame is sized to accept a floatation device such that the substantially inverted parabolic surface and the centra engage the floatation device in a load-bearing relationship.

Swimming pools offer personal recreation and relaxation in a variety of settings, including private homes, apartment complexes, motels, resorts, and country clubs. Various flotation devices including buoyant chairs, rafts, water wings, floating cushions, body floats and air mattresses are used by swimmers as an aid for floating and relaxing on the surface of the water, while remaining seated upright, reclining or lounging, either partially or completely submerged. These items of pool furniture include flotation cushions made of a buoyant material such as open cell foam, closed cell foam, cork, kapok, fiberglass or balsa wood, which are sealed within a protective outer covering. Special care should be taken in the construction of buoyant lounge chairs to provide sufficient buoyancy material to maintain a stable upright orientation while the occupant is an a semi-reclining or sitting orientation. The buoyant lounge chair may overturn in response to shifting of its center of buoyancy as the occupant turns or moves about and, as a result, there is a continuing need for improved design.

Buoyant pool lounge chair frame and buoyant pool lounge chair using the same


An embodiment is directed to a touch screen panel including first sensing electrodes, second sensing electrodes, and a pad unit to be electrically connected to the first sensing electrodes and the second sensing electrodes, the touch screen panel including first trace lines connecting the first sensing electrodes and the pad unit, second trace lines connecting the second sensing electrodes and the pad unit, and a ground line connected to a ground power supply, the ground line being between the first trace lines and the second trace lines.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a touch screen panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch screen panel is an input apparatus that may be used for, e.g., inputting a user command by selecting an instruction content displayed on a screen of an image display apparatus. Inputting the user command may be done by, e.g., a human hand or an object.


An image restoration device, an image restoration method, and an image restoration system are provided. The image restoration device includes a point spread function estimation unit, and an image restoration filter unit. The point spread function estimation unit receives an image signal and estimates a Point Spread Function (PSF) from the received image signal. The image restoration filter unit receives the image signal and the PSF, generates an image restoration filter coefficient from the PSF, and filters the image signal according to the image restoration filter coefficient to output the filtered image signal.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to an image restoration device, an image restoration method, and an image restoration system, and more particularly, an image restoration device, an image restoration method, and an image restoration system, which may multiply a Constrained Least Square (CLS) filter coefficient calculated from a Point Spread Function (PSF) by a window function to generate an image restoration filter coefficient.
2. Description of the Related Art
For digital image restoration of images output from an image sensing device, a Constrained Least Square (CLS) filter may be used. However, since a conventional CLS filter requires a Fourier transform of an entire input image, there are limitations in that the CLS filter has a complex structure and requires a large amount of processing capacity and power.

Image restoration device, image restoration method and image restoration system


A keyswitch includes a casing, a key cap and a support device rotatably disposed between the key cap and the casing. One of the casing and the key cap has a first magnetic area and the support device has a second magnetic area corresponding to the first magnetic area. When the key cap is not pressed, a magnetic attraction force between the first and second magnetic areas keeps the key cap at a non-pressed position. When the key cap is pressed by an external force such that the second magnetic area moves away from the first magnetic area, the key cap moves from the non-pressed position toward the pressed position. When the external force is removed, the second magnetic area moves toward the first magnetic area due to the magnetic attraction force such that the key cap moves from the pressed position toward the non-pressed position.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a keyswitch and, more particularly, to a keyswitch utilizing a magnetic attraction force to drive a key cap to move with a support device between a non-pressed position and a pressed position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A keyboard, which is the most common input device, can be found in variety of electronic equipments for users to input characters, symbols, numerals and so on. From consumer electronic products to industrial machine tools are all equipped with a keyboard for purpose of operation.
Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a keyswitch 1 of the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the keyswitch 1 comprises a base 10, a key cap 12, a circuit board 14, a support device 16 and a resilient member 18. The circuit board 14 is disposed on the base 10. The support device 16 is disposed between the key cap 12 and the base 10 and used for supporting the key cap 12. The resilient member 18 is also disposed between the key cap 12 and the base 10. After the key cap 12 is pressed by a user, the resilient member 18 provides an elastic force for the key cap 12 so as to make the key cap 12 returns to the original position. The resilient member 18 is usually made of rubber and rubber may get fatigue after being used for a long time such that the lifetime of the keyswitch 1 may be reduced.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Status of software product(s) may be monitored through the cloud by Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) of status information, in the form of business process status indicators from customer tenants. Examples of such status indicators can include a backlog of tasks to be fulfilled, or a number of business documents present in specific processing states, which describe aspects of the business application and allow an understanding of the overall status of the monitored application. A data extractor component of a customer tenant may extract and transform the status indicators from a plurality of business documents. A data import framework of a central monitoring system may in turn employ mapping to condense that heterogeneous data into a monitoring-specific simplified status model.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to cloud computing, and in particular to management of software applications through the cloud.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In general, a cloud computing configuration may comprise a central system (e.g. service provider cockpit) that is configured to monitor a plurality of customer tenants. Such a customer tenant may comprise a virtual machine, on which the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software of a single customer may be run. Such a virtual machine can be accessed by business users via the Internet, for example with a web browser.
Customers typically run a same software version of a complex ERP solution. This ERP solution may comprise several applications belonging to different business areas. In particular instances, examples of such applications may relate to management of financial information, supply chain management information, etc.
The business process status of these different applications, may be evaluated periodically (e.g. daily or weekly). To perform this monitoring business process status may be read from different customers, and from different business areas, on a regular basis.
However, the multiplicity of different customers and different business areas needing to be monitored, can lead to compatibility issues. In particular, it can be difficult to integrate status information originating from various different customer tenants and different applications. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for systems and methods allowing management of software applications through the cloud.

Software product management through the cloud


A backlight system (30) includes a light emitting section (31) and an imaging optical system. The imaging optical system includes a first microlens array (MLA1) and a second microlens array (MLA2). The lenses (1A) separates the beams of light emitted from the light emitting section (31) by RGB, and causes them to be converged at a pitch same as a pitch at which the picture elements are arrayed. The lenses (2A) are provided in one-to-one correspondence to the picture elements such that the lenses (2A) have their respective focal points at positions onto which beams of light having passed through the lenses (1A) are converged. The lenses (2A) thus deflect the beams of light which have passed through the lenses (1A) in a substantially vertical direction with respect to the display surface of the liquid crystal panel.

Conventionally, a liquid crystal display device which carries out a full-color display achieves a full-color display by (i) dividing each pixel of a transmissive liquid crystal display element into three picture elements, (ii) attaching red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color filters to the respective three picture elements, (iii) irradiating the three picture elements with white light from a backlight, and (iv) controlling, according to a signal representing a voltage applied to a liquid crystal cell of each picture element, the transmittance of the white light passing through that picture element.
However, since each of the R, G, and B color filters transmits light of wavelengths in its corresponding wavelength range and absorbs light of wavelengths in the other wavelength ranges, such a liquid crystal display device which uses color filters loses approximately ⅔ of the light. This causes efficiency in the utilization of light to be low.
In order to address such a problem, there has been proposed a technique that achieves improvement of efficiency in the utilization of light as disclosed in, for example, Patent Literature 1. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a configuration of an image display device disclosed in Patent Literature 1. The image display device 21 includes a backlight source 2, a diffraction grating 3, a first microlens array 4, a liquid crystal panel 5, a second microlens array 22, and a diffusion plate 6, which are arranged in this order. The backlight source 2 emits beams of white light W, the beams being substantially parallel to each other. The parallel beams are slightly inclined at an angle to a light-exit surface 12 of a light guide plate 7. The parallel beams, which have entered the diffraction grating 3, are diffracted by the diffraction grating 3. Of the beams of light diffracted by the diffraction grating 3, a first order diffracted beam exits the diffraction grating 3 in a direction substantially vertical to the diffraction grating 3. Note here that, since beams of light of different wavelengths have different angles of diffraction, the first order diffracted beam is separated by color, i.e., into red light R, green light G, and blue light B.
The first microlens array 4 is arranged such that each microlens 4a corresponds to a group of pixels 14, that is, three adjacent pixels of the liquid crystal panel 5. Therefore, the microlenses 4a cause the red light R, the green light G and the blue light B, which have exited from the diffraction grating 3 such that their optical axes are in different directions, to be converged onto respective different pixels 14 of a single group. It is thus possible to cause the red light R, the green light G, and the blue light B to be transmitted or blocked, independently, by controlling each of the pixels 14 to be turned ON/OFF. This allows the image display device 21 to carry out a color display.
Further, the second microlens array 22 is arranged such that microlenses 22a correspond to the respective microlenses 4a of the first microlens array 4, and that a distance L from a main plane of the first microlens array 4 to a main plane of the second microlens array 22 is equal to a distance from the focal point of the first microlens array 4 to the focal point of the second microlens array 22. Therefore, although the red light R, green light G and blue light B have respective optical axes different in direction from one another when they have passed through the pixels 14 of the liquid crystal panel 5, the red light R, green light G and blue light B will have their optical axes aligned in parallel to each other by passing through the microlens 22a of the second microlens array 22.
In this circumstance, the red light R, green light G and blue light B which have passed through the second microlens array 22 are diffused by the diffusion plate 6. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the diffused beams of light have respective directivity properties TR, TG, and TB which are equal to each other. This allows prevention of a color shift which can be recognized by a viewer who views the image display device 21 from different directions. It is thus possible to improve efficiency in the utilization of light and viewing angle characteristics of the image display device 21.

Backlight system and LCD device using the same


Spacers are formed on sidewalls of striplike parts of a pattern layer of periodic structure. The pattern layer is removed, and the spacers are covered with a further spacer layer, which is then structured to second sidewall spacers. Gaps between the spacers are filled with a complementary layer. The upper surface is planarized to a lower surface level, leaving a periodic succession of the first spacers, the second spacers and the residual parts of the complementary layer. The lateral dimensions are adapted in such a manner that a removal of one or two of the remaining layers renders a periodic pattern of smaller pitch.

Certain types of semiconductor devices like semiconductor memories comprise structure elements or patterned layers that are periodic at least in one dimension. Word lines and bit lines, for example, are often arranged along straight lines running parallel to one another. The width of the lines and the distance between neighboring lines are constant all over the device. Thus, the succession of the lines in one direction is periodic, preferably of minimal dimensions, which enables to realize a memory cell array of minimal area. The dimensions of the lines and their interspaces are continually repeated in the direction of the periodic succession. The length of one of these periods is called the pitch of the pattern.
The value of the pitch is restricted by the production technology that is applied to structure the periodic pattern. Some limitations are due to the mask technique that is employed in the structuring process. In the usual etching processes using masks, there are lower limits to the dimensions that can be obtained. The further miniaturization of the devices, on the other hand, necessitates the provision of production methods by which smaller pitches can be realized. These methods are only applicable if the structures that are produced are sufficiently precise to meet the requirements of the device performance.

Method of production pitch fractionizations in semiconductor technology