The present invention describes a prospecting tool in the form of a shovel. The prospecting shovel is designed to reduce the likelihood of sediment exiting the tool inadvertently during use. The device comprises a hand tool with an elongated handle and a bucket shaped working end adapted for scooping sediment from a creek. The bucket includes an open design having a leading end adapted for insertion into a creek floor and an internal ledge therein, whereby the ledge is configured to reduce the exiting of sediment from within the shovel. The design enables a user to scoop sediment from the bottom of a creek by performing a raking motion, whereby the leading end digs into the sediment and the ledge facilitates the retaining of minerals within the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prospecting tool. More specifically, the invention relates to a tool adapted for scooping sediment from the bottom of a creek while searching for precious metals.
Gold is a precious metal that has held great value among a wide variety of cultures for many centuries. The metal is sought after because of its high malleability, ductility, conductivity, and resistance to corrosion. Because of these properties, gold has been used for jewelry, as a form of currency, and more recently has widespread uses in dentistry, electronics, and other fields. A search for gold has caused large numbers of people to move to new areas in search of new gold deposits, and in the process these gold rushes have led to new methods of gold discovery and extraction.
There have been a variety of methods developed in order to quickly mine areas that are known to contain profitable amounts of gold. These deposits of gold can be found in river beds and within mineral containing ores. The methods include that of panning, placer mining, sluicing, dredging, and hard rock mining for gold.
As discovery processes have evolved, gold prospectors have developed new techniques for mining for gold and other minerals. Small scale prospectors typically prospect for placer gold, wherein a placer deposit contains an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes. The miners use a variety of methods extract and separate gold from other non-desired minerals. The most popular method of gold separation is by gold panning, wherein a portion of a placer deposit is scooped into a pan. The deposit is gently agitated in water causing the gold to sink to the bottom of the pan. The setback of panning is that while some of the desired minerals may fall to the bottom during the agitation process, others precious minerals may accidently be removed or discarded, causing the prospector to miss out on a valuable find. Moreover, the method of panning requires a user to bend over to extract the sediment. This method often proves difficult for those who have back issues, and may often cause back problems for healthy users after extended panning.
There are several devices that attempt to provide a means of separation of sediment without requiring a user to bend over. These devices are provided in the form of prospecting shovels that rake across the ground and generally include a filtering mechanism for separating minerals from the water. The drawbacks of these devices are that they are often fail to provide attachments on the end of the shoveling devices that are adapted for traversing denser sediment. Additionally, since these devices include filtering mechanism adapted for water to flow out of the device, some trace amounts of desirable minerals may not remain in the device when the user searches contents thereof.
The present invention relates to a prospecting shovel that is capable of removing a portion of sediment from a creek. The prospecting shovel has an elongated handle and a shovel working end, wherein the shovel working end comprises a bucket-shaped shovel having an open upper, a closed and curving base, upstanding sidewalls, an internal ledge, and a leading end. The leading end of the shovel is adapted for insertion into a layer of sediment and provides a sharpened implement that can be replaced after extended use. The device differs from that of known shovel tools in that it prevents sediment captured within its bucket interior from easily exiting the same during the retrieval and sediment inspection process. The present invention serves to enable removing of sediment from the bottom of a creek, whereby the sediment is scooped into the bucket interior in a backward raking motion in order to facilitate the recovery of gold and other precious metals without bending over or losing large amounts of collected sediment during the process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices have been disclosed in the prior art that relate to prospecting shovels. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent application publications. These devices generally relate to digging tools having entrapment meshes. The following is a list of devices deemed most relevant to the present disclosure, which are herein described for the purposes of highlighting and differentiating the unique aspects of the present invention, and further highlighting the drawbacks existing in the prior art.
Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,237 to Doerr discloses a lake raking apparatus adapted for removing stones, weeds, debris and the like from the bottom of ponds and lakes. The raking apparatus includes a rigid box-like structure with one open side and a handle attached to one edge of the open side and a rigid cutting edge attached to the edge of the open side opposite the handle. The configuration has rigidity, good strength and insures that the handle and the box-like structure remain at a fixed angular configuration. Although the raking apparatus of Doerr is similar in nature and relevant to the present invention, it differs in that it fails to provide an open bucket design having upstanding sidewalls and a closed and arcuate base, wherein the sidewalls and base lack apertures that facilitate the filtering of sediment from the bucket of the shovel and further lacks a pointed end to facilitate the movement through the sediment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,279 to Sguazzin teaches a clam rake adapted to rake up clams and other delicacies such as scallops and oysters who inhabit the sand and mud of shallow waters. The clam rake includes side skids having raking teeth extending downward, therefore preventing clams from escaping from the basket through the sand. However, while the clam rake of Sguazzin is similar in nature and relevant to the present invention, it differs in that it fails to provide an open bucket design including up standing sidewalls and an arcuate and closed base that lack apertures or openings that permit the filtering of sediment or water through the bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,090 to Kim discloses a shovel for placer mining for use in a riverbed. The shovel includes a shovel handle, a shovel blade fixed to the handle, a shovel scoop detachably screwed underneath the blade, a mesh screen underneath the shovel blade, and a bottom lining. While the shovel of Kim is relevant in nature and similar to the present invention, it differs in that it fails to provide a pointed leading end adapted for facilitating shoveling into sediment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,690 to Montez teaches a hand tool for sifting debris from sand and soil. The tool includes a tapered wedge head, an entrapment mesh supported by a carriage structure, and a handle adjustably coupled to the carriage structure. However, while the sand sifting tool of Montez is similar in nature and relevant to the present invention, it differs in that it fails to provide an open bucket design having a upstanding sidewalls and a closed and curved base lacking apertures to facilitate the removal of sediment and creek water through the back and sides of the shovel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,044 to Russo describes a horse mucking rake. The rake includes a substantially straight, elongated handle, a base frame, a cage, and a plurality of tines. The tines extend from the base frame at right angles and each of the tines are parallel to each other. The cage comprises a lattice structure wherein the width of the lattice is less than the width between the tines. Although the mucking rake of Russo is similar in nature and relevant to the present invention, it differs in that it fails to provide an open bucket design having a upstanding sidewalls and a closed and arcuate base lacking apertures that facilitate the removal of sediment and creek water through the back and sides of the shovel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,366 to Fraske teaches a golf ball retriever. The retriever includes a main body resembling a scoop with a handle holder to which a pole-like handle may be attached. The main body includes a flat top portion arcuately connected to a flat bottom portion having a leading edge extending along the length thereof. The main body further includes three slots that are adapted to retain golf balls while allowing water to pass through the scoop. However, while the golf ball retriever or Fraske is similar in nature and relevant to the present invention, it differs in that it fails to provide an open bucket design having a raised back wall and side walls that lack apertures that facilitate the removal of sediment and creek water through the back and sides of the shovel, or a pointed leading end configured for insertion through sediment.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 8,006,474 to Baker describes a pond cleaning device. The device includes an open frame, a mesh net, a telescoping handle, and a plurality of tines extending from the frame. Although the pond cleaning device of Baker is similar in nature and relevant to the present invention, it differs in that it fails to provide an open shovel design having a raised back wall and side walls that lack apertures that facilitate the removal of sediment and creek water through the back and sides of the shovel.
The present invention relates to a new and improved prospecting shovel that reduces the loss of sediment while obtaining a sediment sample. The prospecting shovel includes an elongated handle and a bucket-shaped working end. The working end can be made from aluminum, steel, or another suitable material and includes a handle attachment area to accommodate an elongated user handle. The working end is a bucket-shaped implement having an open upper, raised sidewalls and an arcuate base that forms extends to form the back wall. Within the bucket interior is an internal ledge, while the bucket leading end includes a replaceable sharpened implement for piercing the sediment surface. The sharpened implement includes a pair of teeth that are removably secured to the leading end of the shovel.
Overall, the present invention provides a prospecting shovel that comprises an open bucket design having an open upper portion and a closed and arcuate base that lacks apertures therealong, which facilitates a reduction in lost product when prospecting through sediment. The bucket includes an internal ledge adapted to restrict the advancement of sediment towards the leading edge of the bucket while raking sediment into the shovel or when lifting and removing a sample of sediment from the ground.
In view of the aforementioned failings of the prior art devices, it is shown that the prior art has several known drawbacks that the present invention intends to solve. It is submitted that the present invention is substantially divergent in design elements from the prior art, and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing prospecting shovel devices. In this regard the instant invention substantially fulfills these needs.


A system for automated control of a refueling boom coupled to a tanker aircraft is provided. The system includes: a first inertial measurement unit (IMU) providing inertial measurements for the tanker aircraft; a first GPS receiver providing a GPS location for a GPS antenna attached to the tanker aircraft; and a processor adapted to calculate a first inertial navigation state for the tanker aircraft through integration of the inertial measurements, the processor being further adapted to calculate a first inertial navigation state error relative to the GPS location and to filter the first inertial navigation state error and the first inertial navigation state based upon noise characteristics of the first IMU and the first GPS receiver to provide an updated inertial navigation state for the tanker aircraft, the processor being further adapted to control the refueling boom relative to a receiver aircraft based upon the first and updated inertial navigation states.

Aerial tankers use refueling booms to fuel other aircraft in mid-flight. In this fashion, the refueled (receiver) aircraft can fly extended missions during military or civilian operations. Generally, the aerial tanker and the receiver aircraft must be flown in close proximity to accomplish a refueling. Given this proximity, a manual operator in the aerial tanker may extend its refueling boom to mate with the fuel tank of the receiver aircraft.
In general, the refueling boom operation can tax the skill of even experienced boom operators. The possibility of midair accidents is ever present. In addition, the refueling boom may improperly mate with the receiver aircraft. For example, a stealth aircraft may have its low observable coating contacted such that it becomes observable to enemy radar. In such a case, the stealth aircraft may have to abort its mission and return for repair.
During the refueling operation, the boom operator must manually direct the refueling boom to mate with the receiver aircraft. This manual direction must be accomplished in varied lighting conditions from extremely bright sun light to complete darkness or minimum visibility weather conditions. Moreover, the manual direction may be further complicated by turbulence. Be cause of this manual operation, refueling operations are lengthy as compared to machine-guided refueling. In addition, the need for human boom operators makes unmanned aerial tankers unfeasible. Finally, manual operation is inevitably prone to error and mishap.
Conventional machine-guided boom controls typically use an electro-optic sensor to estimate the boom and receiver aircraft position. By removing the need for human boom operators, unmanned aerial tankers can be developed, which can lead to significant cost savings. For example, it has been estimated that manned aircraft use 80% of their service life to train aircrews. Conventional electro-optic boom automated boom control thus advantageously lessens the need for human operators. However, although electro-optic sensors can be quite accurate, they are range limited.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for more robust machine-guided boom control systems.

Apparatus for an automated aerial refueling boom using multiple types of sensors


A label management method, a data stream processing method, and a device, where the label management method includes allocating, by a controller, a source label to a data stream, sending, by the controller, a first Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) update packet to an ingress network device on a label switching path (LSP) of the data stream, and sending a second BGP update packet to an egress network device on the LSP of the data stream, where the first BGP update packet includes a stream identifier of the data stream and the source label, and the second BGP update packet includes a mapping relationship between the source label and a source object of the data stream. Hence, configuration, management, and maintenance can be simplified.

A multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) technology has been widely deployed in various networks of operators. MPLS may be applied at a service layer and used as a basis for creating various virtual private network (VPN) services, or may be applied at a transport layer and used for creating a label switching path (LSP). In the MPLS technology, a forwarding label is used to instruct forwarding of a traffic packet. If traffic needs to pass through multiple layers of LSPs, multiple layers of labels exist to form a label stack. At an ingress and an egress of each tunnel, a push operation and a pop operation are performed.
An operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) function is very important for a network that needs to provide a quality-of-service guarantee. OAM can simplify a network operation, verify network performance, and reduce network operation costs. Processing such as performance detection and fault alarm may be performed on an LSP in an MPLS network by applying the OAM function to the MPLS technology.
An OAM technology requires that a traffic source can be identified according to a traffic data packet. In a pure Internet Protocol (IP) network, an IP packet header carries source and destination IP addresses such that a traffic source can be easily identified. In an MPLS network, an MPLS forwarding label is only used to indicate a forwarding destination address, and does not indicate a source address of a traffic packet. Therefore, the OAM function in the MPLS network can be only applied to a particular scenario, for example, applied to a point-to-point (P2P) or point-to-multipoint (P2MP) scenario. In these scenarios, there is a unique ingress network device for traffic. Therefore, OAM can be used to identify an LSP passed by the traffic and learn the unique ingress network device of the traffic using an MPLS forwarding label. However, in a multipoint-to-point (MP2P) or multipoint-to-multipoint (MP2MP) scenario, traffic corresponds to multiple ingress network devices, and a traffic source cannot be identified according to an MPLS forwarding label.
To implement OAM in the MP2P or MP2MP scenario in the MPLS network, a source label solution is provided in other approaches. In the solution, a source label is used to identify an ingress network device of traffic. The ingress network device applies for a source label, and the ingress network device diffuses a mapping relationship between a source label and an ingress network device to another network device in a domain using the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP). When traffic carrying a source label is forwarded to an egress network device, the egress network device identifies an ingress network device of the traffic according to the source label. This solution requires that a source label applied for by each ingress network device be unique in a source identifier administrative domain (SIAD), causing occupation of a global label space. Moreover, the mapping relationship between a source label and an ingress network device is diffused using the IGP and is published to all network devices that support a source label. As a result, each network device needs to maintain a large amount of information. In addition, to ensure that the mapping relationship is not diffused out of the SIAD, when the mapping relationship between a source label and an ingress network device is published using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) in a cross-autonomous system scenario, a complex filtering policy needs to be configured. That is, there are complex configuration, management, and maintenance problems in the existing source label solution.

Label management method, data stream processing method, and device


A supporting head is provided with binaural artificial ears. Each binaural artificial ear comprises an auricle-shaped structure and a microphone. In order to enhance auditory localization cues, at least an upper part of the head is provided with an acoustically dampening surface.

Sound localization estimates the location of a sound source using auditory cues such as the interaural time differences (ITD) and the interaural level differences (ILD). The auditory cues are determined by processing acoustic signals sensed by two or more microphones. The acoustic signals picked up by the microphones are susceptible to various factors of the environment surrounding the microphones such as the location of the microphones or surfaces surrounding the microphones that may reflect or absorb the acoustic signals before reaching the microphones.
The microphones can be mounted on a robot head. When the microphones are mounted on the head, the configuration of the head such as the surface of the robot head affects the accuracy of the sound localization.


Rotary body 22 is provided with storing hole 22E, 22F in two positions point-symmetrical to the rotational center at the upper part of flange 22C, and retainers 26, 27 having steel balls 25A, 25B, steel ball receiving holes 26A, 27A, coil springs 28A, 28B are stored therein from the opening side in order, and steel ball receiving hole 26A of one retainer 26 is provided with a tolerance that enables steel ball 25A to slightly move in the horizontal direction, and click plate 24 on which steel balls 25A, 25B are resiliently contacted is disposed between rotary body 22 and bearing 23, and as a result, it is possible to maintain rhythmical clicking and clicking sound even in case of repeating the rotating operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary clicking electronic component used in rotating sections of various electronic equipment.
2. Background Art
A rotary clicking electronic component provided with a clicking function that makes it easy to sense the amount of rotational operation is widely employed as a rotary electronic component used for setting the conditions or adjusting the output of various electronic equipment.
As a conventional rotary clicking electronic component disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-79966 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-302354, a rotary clicking composite switch will be described with reference to FIG. 12 to FIG. 19.
FIG. 12 is a sectional view of a conventional rotary clicking composite switch. FIG. 13 is a top view of the case thereof. FIG. 14 is a top view of the rotary body thereof. FIG. 15 is a top view of the slide thereof. FIG. 16 is an explanatory view of the operation shaft and the driving means thereof. FIG. 17 is a top view of the clicking plate thereof. FIG. 18 is a side sectional view of the clicking plate. FIG. 19 is a sectional view of the operation shaft in a state of being pressed down.
In FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, the inside of the opening of case 1 made of insulating resin having a shape like a box opening at the top thereof is, as shown in FIG. 13, separated by annular protrusion 1A into inside opening 1B and outside opening 1C. At the inner bottom of inside opening 1B, there are provided middle contact 2 at the center and two outside contacts 3 at the outsides with the middle contact 2 therebetween. At the inner bottom of outside opening 1C, there are provided common contact 4 as a fixed conductor, first signal contact 5, and second signal contact 6 on same circumference which are electrically independent of each other. And, switch terminals 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A are individually connected to middle contact 2, outside contact 3, common contact 4, first signal contact 5, and second signal contact 6 respectively. Switch terminals 2A, 3A are led out of one side wall of case 1, and switch terminals 4A, 5A, 6A are led out of the side wall opposite to the side wall from which switch terminals 2A, 3A are led out.
As shown in FIG. 12, as to movable contact 7 formed of a circular dome-like elastic thin metal sheet which is convexly shaped upward, the bottom end of the outer periphery thereof is placed on outside contact 3, and the underside of the dome-like top is opposed to middle contact 2 with a space therebetween. Also, on the upper surface of the dome-like peak of movable contact 7 is placed disk-like push plate 8 made of insulating resin having push-portion 8A protruded at the bottom center, and a push-on switch is configured by middle contact 2, outside contact 3, and movable contact 7.
Rotary body 9 made of insulating resin shown in FIG. 12 and FIG. 14 includes columnar portion 9B having through-hole 9A grooved in the middle thereof and flange 9C below columnar portion 9B. On the upper surface of flange 9C is radially disposed linear convex-concave portion 9D along the diametrical direction, and on the underside thereof is disposed slide 10 as a movable conductor shown in FIG. 15. Slide 10 is formed of a conductive metal sheet and has a shape formed of annular flat plate 10A fixed on rotary body 9 and sliders 10B disposed at four portions every 90 deg at equal angles therefrom. As rotary body 9 is rotated, each slider 10B makes a sliding motion while moving on and off the common contact 4, first signal contact 5, and second signal contact 6 disposed on the inner bottom surface of outside opening 1C of case 1 thereunder.
Bearing 11 shown in FIG. 12 is placed in such manner that the upper part of the opening of case 1 is covered with collar 11A, which is provided with hollow cylindrical portion 11B protruding upward from the center of collar 11A and having central hole 11C. Columnar portion 9B of rotary body 9 is rotatably fitted in cylindrical portion 11B.
Nearly bar-like shaft 12 shown in FIG. 12 has a shape such that each of operational portion 12A positioned at the top, columnar middle portion 12B, and nearly oval mount 12C at the bottom has a shouldered portion. And, operational portion 12A is positioned above bearing 11, the upper part of columnar middle portion 12B is rotatably and vertically movably fitted in central hole 11C of bearing 11, and the lower part under middle portion 12B is positioned in through-hole 9A of rotary body 9. On the mount 12C at the bottom is fitted and fixed driving means 13 in such manner as to move along with the rotational and vertical movement of operation shaft 12.
Driving means 13 shown in FIG. 12 includes, as shown in FIG. 16, oval inner hole 13A in which the mount 12C of operation shaft 12 is fitted, and also, there are provided protrusions 13B extending from the columnar outer periphery in four directions at equal angles. The four protrusions 13B engage the four grooves 9E (see FIG. 14) disposed in through-hole 9A of rotary body 9. Also, the lower end of mount 12C of operation shaft 12 is in contact with the upper surface of push plate 8 placed on movable contact 7.
And, as shown in FIG. 12, annular plate spring 14 (click plate) formed of elastic metal sheet is fitted to the underside of collar 11A of bearing 11. As to plate spring 14, as shown in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, the both sides are obliquely bent downward, and bend protrusion 14A is disposed on one end of the bent portion. Bend protrusion 14A of plate spring 14 resiliently engages convex-concave portion 9D provided on the upper surface of flange 9C of rotary body 9. And, bracket 15 shown in FIG. 12 is disposed on the upper surface of collar 11A of bearing 11, letting cylindrical portion 11B of bearing 11 protrude upward, and its lower end at each side is bent so as to hold the case 1 from both sides, thereby combining each of the above members.
Here, in the standard state of FIG. 12 without operating the operation shaft 12, an activating force is applied to operation shaft 12 upward from movable contact 7 via push-plate 8. Accordingly, four protrusions 13B of driving means 13 fixed on mount 12C of operation shaft 12 are in a state of being stationary in corresponding four grooves 9E in through-hole 9A of rotary body 9. Also, rotary body 9 is always activated downward by the spring pressure of plate spring 14 being in resilient contact with convex-concave portion 9D at the upper surface of flange 9C even when the elastic force of slider 10B thereunder or the activating force of movable contact 7 is applied thereto. Accordingly, it is configured in that the lower peripheral edge of flange 9C is in contact with outer periphery shoulder 1D disposed on the outer periphery wall of the opening of case 1, which is therefore rotatable but not movable up and down.
In a rotary clicking composite switch having such a configuration, when operational portion 12A of operation shaft 12 is rotated, driving means 13 fitted on the mount 12C rotates and rotary body 9 stopped by protrusions 13B of driving means 13 rotates as well. Due to the rotation of rotary body 9, four sliders 10B of slide 10 under flange 9C sequentially slide on common contact 4, first signal contact 5, and second signal contact 6 which are disposed in outside opening 1C of case 1. In this way, the on-off operation between common contact 4 and first signal contact 5 via slider 10B causes the generation of first pulse signal from corresponding switch terminals 4A and 5A. Similarly, the on-off operation between common contact 4 and second signal contact 6 via slider 10B causes the generation of second pulse signal from corresponding switch terminals 4A and 6A. Also, clicking is sensible as bend protrusion 14A of plate spring 14 resiliently slides on convex-concave portion 9D at the upper surface of flange 9C of rotary body 9.
Next, when operational portion 12A of operation shaft 12 is pushed down, as shown in FIG. 19, push-plate 8 is pushed downward by the lower end of mount 12C thereunder. As a result, the dome-like peak portion of movable contact 7 is pushed by push-portion 8A of push-plate 8, then the dome-like peak portion is resiliently deformed, and the underside thereof comes in contact with middle contact 2 opposed thereto. In this way, the switch is turned on, conducting between middle contact 2 and outside contact 3 via movable contact 7, that is, between switch terminals 2A and 3A.
In this case, driving means 13 fixed on operation shaft 12 disengages from rotary body 9 of protrusion 13B and moves downward, and then the downward movement is not transferred to rotary body 9.
And, when the pushing force to operation shaft 12 is released, movable contact 7 is restored to its initial dome-like shape by its own resiliently restoring force. At the same time, movable contact 7 pushes up the lower end of mount 12C of operation shaft 12 via push-plate 8, then the push-on switch insulated between middle contact 2 and outside contact 3 is shifted back to the state shown in FIG. 12.
Recently, a rotary clicking electronic component used in AV equipment for vehicles in particular is required to be intensified in clicking and especially desired to be durable without deterioration of smooth clicking even in case of repeating the rotating operation, and also there is a demand for those capable of creating a rhythmical clicking sound as well as clicks sensible to the finger.
However, the conventional rotary clicking composite switch as a rotary clicking electronic component is configured in that bend protrusions 14A disposed at the end of plate spring 14 made of metal resiliently slide on convex-concave portion 9D of rotary body 9 mad of insulating resin in order to generate clicks. Accordingly, when the rotating operation is repeated for a long period of time, convex-concave portion 9D of rotary body 9 wears out and the shoulders of convex-concave portion 9D are deteriorated, causing the intensity of clicking weakens. Also, the conventional clicking mechanism using plate spring 14 made of metal and rotary body 9 made of insulating resin involves such a problem that it is difficult to create a rhythmical clicking sound.


An access port cover is described. The access sport cover may seal an aperture located in a vehicle body whereby the access port cover may also provide access to a terminal located within the body. The access port cover may include a cover, a hinge mechanism and a linkage mechanism. The cover may include an outer portion and an inner portion, wherein the inner portion may include a first and a second end. The hinge mechanism may be located on each end of the inner portion. The linkage mechanism may be connected to the hinge mechanism, wherein the linkage mechanism may the said cover towards and away from the aperture. The cover and the linkage mechanism may be rotated into and stored within the body when the cover is not sealing the aperture in a closed position.

In recent years, the automobile industry has seen a change in the fuels used to operate vehicles. Traditionally, vehicles were designed to use petroleum based fuels such as gasoline. Recently, however, vehicles have been designed to use other forms of fuel such as electricity and hydrogen. Regardless of the type of fuel used, all fuel driven vehicles require a reservoir to store the fuel, and an access port where fuel can be added to the fuel reservoir.
Gasoline powered vehicles often include a fuel door in the vehicle body that provides access to the fuel reservoir. Additionally, many vehicles include a cap to cover the reservoir opening to prevent residue from entering the reservoir. While this design is adequate for gasoline powered vehicles, vehicles that use alternative fuels such as hydrogen and electric power require a design that addresses other issues.
For example, electric and hybrid vehicles may require an electrical power connection for an extended length of time in order to recharge the battery. Moreover, this connection may occur outdoors or in an unprotected setting where the vehicle may be open to harsh environmental conditions, such as water, ice, rain, snow, dirt, debris and the like. Traditional fuel doors may not provide adequate protection for these conditions.


A method of detecting and calculating height of a jump performed by an individual including detection of a reception subsequent to the jump is described. The detection includes a sub-step of detecting a pressure spike of amplitude greater than a first threshold amplitude, within pressure measurements provided by a pressure sensor embedded aboard a watch worn on the wrist of the individual. Also described is calculation of a height of the jump by differencing a starting altitude corresponding to a last stable pressure measured before the pressure spike and a finishing altitude corresponding to a first stable pressure measured after the pressure spike via the pressure sensor, a stable pressure being defined as a pressure whose variations do not exceed 0.1 hectopascals for at least 2 seconds.

Document US2002/0116147 discloses a method for detecting a jump by means of a measurement unit mounted on displacement means used by a sportsperson to gather pace before the jump and which are in contact with the ground before and after the jump. The displacement means are for example skis or a snowboard. A calculation unit, for example a watch worn by the sportsperson, makes it possible to determine and to display parameters of the jump, in particular the duration of the jump, on the basis of the measurements carried out by the measurement unit. More precisely, the measurement unit logs vibrations of the displacement means, so as to detect when the displacement means leave the ground and return to the ground, thereby making it possible to detect a jump.
This method exhibits the drawback of being usable only when the sportsperson uses displacement means subjected to vibrations in contact with the ground and allowing him or her to gather speed before the jump. This device is therefore not suitable for jumps performed without means of this kind.

Method of detecting and calculating height of a jump

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd


A brake/shift interlock for, e.g., a vehicle having a shift mechanism (10) for an automatic transmission. The shift mechanism includes a shift lever (12) and a detent mechanism (24) having a latch (26) and latch plate (28) with a detent notch at the "Park" position. A Park/Lock member (34) is actuable to lock the latch in the Park position (FIGS. 1 and 6). In addition to an ignition lock mechanism (38) for actuating the Park/Lock member based on the status of the ignition switch (36A; FIG. 8), a brake/shift interlock is also provided for actuating the Park/Lock member when the ignition switch is in "Run" position (FIG. 2), except for being released during actuation of a brake switch (82). A solenoid (160; FIGS. 4 and 5), when energized, applies a tensioning force to the Park/Lock member via a cable (44) actuating the P/L member. The solenoid includes a plunger (162) having an centrally located, axial opening (171) through it, through which the cable extends. The plunger opening is stepped, providing a seat (170) into which a laterally extended, mushroom-shaped button (173) affixed to the cable is seated, with the cable and plunger thereby being interfaced for movement in unison. The solenoid can be completely assembled in manufacture before being interfaced in engagement with the button staked to the cable. The brake/shift interlock may be mechanically in series (FIGS. 1-3) or in parallel (FIGS. 6 and 7) with the ignition lock mechanism. In the series arrangement, the cable of the ignition lock mechanism extends axially completely through the solenoid. (Exemplary power circuitry is illustrated in FIG. 8.)

In vehicles such as, for example, automobiles, it is common to employ an automatic transmission. The transmission is capable of being placed in either a "Park" mode or various non-"Park" modes by manual actuation of a shift control mechanism. The non-Park modes typically include "Reverse," "Neutral," "Drive," "Second" and "First."
The shift control mechanism typically includes a shift lever which is either floor mounted or may be column mounted on the steering column. In most such shift control mechanisms there is provided a detent mechanism, which interacts with the shift lever to aid in maintaining it in a selected position associated with a selected transmission mode.
Many such automatic transmission shift control mechanisms include provision for locking the shift lever in the Park detent position, while the ignition switch is in the "Off" position. This aids in theft prevention. An example of such an arrangement is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,085 (issued Oct. 2, 1984 to DeVogelaere et al), in which a pivotable shift lever has a pushbutton operated, detent mechanism which is operatively connected with a "Park/Lock" lever pivotally mounted on the shift control mechanism. The Park/Lock lever is controlled by actuation of the vehicle ignition lock.
Still further, where there is some concern that a gear shift lever might inadvertently be left in a pseudo-park position, which would allow dislodgement by shock or vibration, possibly into Reverse, provision has been made to insure that the detent pin does find its way into the actual Park detent slot, rather than to dwell at some unacceptable intermediate position.
Such an arrangement is depicted and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,141 (issued Sept. 25, 1984 to Mochida), in which a plunger actuated by an electromagnet acts, when not energized, to insure proper final positioning and retention of the detent pin in the Park position. When the electromagnet is energized, the plunger retracts and the detent pin is freed to allow actuation of the gear shift lever. The electromagnet is connected in series with a park brake switch and the ignition switch such that, when the engine is running and the park brake is actuated, the plunger retracts.
More recently, a concern has developed regarding a condition termed "sudden acceleration," in which the vehicle may lurch forward or backward when the gear shift lever is moved from Park to one of the non-Park positions such as Reverse or Drive. One technique for minimizing or preventing problem acceleration is to require that the brakes be applied while shifting out of the Park position.
While this may normally be good operating practice, it is preferable to provide an interlock, which effectively requires that response. One such brake/shift interlock of which Applicants are aware requires, in addition to the existing shift control mechanism having a key-actuated interlock cam, or Park/Lock member, (hereinafter "P/L" member), a further brake interlock cam for blocking the P/L member, a solenoid having a plunger and rigid arm extensible to actuate the brake interlock cam into actuating engagement with the P/L member when the ignition switch is in the "Run" position and being deactivated when the vehicle's brake is actuated, and a switch for detecting when the shift control mechanism is in the Park position in order to inhibit operation of the solenoid during brake actuation when other than in Park, so as to prevent the noise and wear associated with its actuation.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved brake/shift interlock for the shift control mechanism associated with the automatic transmission of a vehicle.
It is a further object to provide an improved electromagnetic actuator assembly useful in such brake/shift interlock mechanism.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide such improved brake/shift interlock in combination with the shift control mechanism for an automatic transmission.
As part of the foregoing general objects, it is a further object to provide a reliable brake/shift interlock which may be economically added to an existing shift control mechanism.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electromagnetic actuator for the brake/shift interlock of a design which permits an economy of functions.
Finally, in comparison to the brake/shift interlock system of the parent case, which likewise had the foregoing objects, it is an additional, primary object of the present invention to further improve the electromagnetic actuator for such a system, particularly in the manufacturing aspects thereof.
With respect to the exemplary solenoid of the parent case, it is noted that the solenoid plunger (62) had to be crimped, staked or otherwise fixedly attached to an actuating cable (44; comparable to the cable 44 hereof). Although a significant advance over the prior art, this approach typically required the cable manufacturer, who was different than the solenoid manufacturer, to attach the solenoid plunger to the cable. This in turn required that the solenoid manufacturer only partially pre-assemble the solenoid and ship the partially assembled solenoid to the cable manufacturer for attaching the cable to the plunger, before the solenoid assembly could then be completed.
This situation also created a tolerancing problem. If the plunger was staked too far toward the shifter, the plunger would not properly seat against the bushing or stop, resulting in a loss of the interlock feature. On the other hand, if the plunger was staked too far toward the column, the cable would not then be able to return, which could result in the driver not being able to remove the key from the ignition switch.
Thus, a further object of the present invention is to overcome these manufacturing and tolerancing problems with respect to the electromagnetic, solenoid actuator for the brake/shift interlock.

Solenoid system for, for example, a brake/shift interlock for vehicular transmission control


An electronic device includes a first electrode 31, a light emitting/light receiving layer 20 formed on the first electrode 31, and a second electrode 32 formed on the light emitting/light receiving layer 20. The light emitting/light receiving layer 20 and/or the second electrode 32 is covered by an insulating layer 40 including a metal oxide that contains, as a main component, zinc oxide, while containing, as accessory components, at least two materials selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, niobium oxide, titanium oxide, molybdenum oxide and hafnium oxide.

An electronic device including a photoelectric conversion element such as an image sensor is configured, for example, by stacking a first electrode, a light emitting/light receiving layer constituting a photoelectric conversion portion, and a second electrode. The second electrode is a transparent electrode, and electrons are trapped by the electrode on one side, whereas holes are trapped by the electrode on the other side, to read a photoelectric current. It is known that in the case where the light emitting/light receiving layer, for example, includes an organic material, the light emitting/light receiving layer is deteriorated by moisture, oxygen or the like. Therefore, the second electrode or the like is covered by an insulating layer functioning as a protective layer, to thereby restraining the light emitting/light receiving layer from being deteriorated (see, for example, JP 2013-118363A).

Insulating material, electronic device and imaging apparatus


A method includes receiving an input text utterance to be synthesized into expressive speech having an intended prosody and a target voice and generating, using a first text-to-speech (TTS) model, an intermediate synthesized speech representation tor the input text utterance. The intermediate synthesized speech representation possesses the intended prosody. The method also includes providing the intermediate synthesized speech representation to a second TTS model that includes an encoder portion and a decoder portion. The encoder portion is configured to encode the intermediate synthesized speech representation into an utterance embedding that specifies the intended prosody. The decoder portion is configured to process the input text utterance and the utterance embedding to generate an output audio signal of expressive speech that has the intended prosody specified by the utterance embedding and speaker characteristics of the target voice.

Speech synthesis systems use text-to-speech (TTS) models to generate speech from textual input. The generated/synthesized speech should accurately convey the message (intelligibility) while sounding like human speech (naturalness) with an intended prosody (expressiveness). While traditional concatenative and parametric synthesis models are capable of providing intelligible speech and recent advances in neural modeling of speech have significantly improved the naturalness of synthesized speech, most existing TTS models are ineffective at modeling a full variety of prosodic styles, thereby causing synthesized speech used by important applications to lack expressiveness. For instance, it is desirable for applications such as conversational assistants and long-form readers to produce realistic speech by imputing, prosody features not conveyed in textual input, such as intonation, stress, and rhythm and style. For example, a simple statement can be spoken in many different ways depending on whether the statement is a question, an answer to a question, there is uncertainty in the statement, or to convey any other meaning about the environment or context which is unspecified by the input text.
It may be useful in some scenarios to transfer prosody modeled from various different speakers in a specific prosodic domain/vertical, such as news reading, sports commentators, educational lecturers, etc., to an existing target voice. Applying the target voice to a new prosodic domain/vertical in this manner can be particularly difficult since the amount of training data associated with the target voice in the new domain/vertical is insufficient.


Example methods and apparatus to conditionally invoke network recovery are disclosed. A disclosed example method in a wireless device involves detecting a radio resource connection failure and identifying whether downlink data is expected. The disclosed example method also includes initiating a registration procedure when downlink data is expected.

User equipment (UE), such as mobile devices, communicates with radio access networks (RANs) including any number of base stations. Such base stations may include enhanced Node B (eNB) base stations operating according to an enhanced universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) radio interface defined by the third generation partnership project (3GPP). The E-UTRA radio interface, also referred to as long term evolution (LTE), may operate within an E-UTRA network (E-UTRAN) to allow wireless services for UEs throughout a geographical area.
The E-UTRAN is typically communicatively connected to an evolved packet core (EPC) network. In the event that connectivity between a UE (and/or any number of UEs) and the E-UTRAN is lost, connection may be re-established by way of non-access stratum (NAS) procedure(s). In some circumstances, the invoked NAS procedures may consume substantial resources of the network (e.g., a 3GPP standards based network, such as an EPC/LTE network, a GSM network or a UMTS network) to which the UE attempts to reconnect and result in deteriorated services.

Methods and apparatus to invoke quality of service based network recovery


A system and method that repeat video images in a deinterlacing system. The method comprises detecting a signal requesting an input video image be repeated and determining the desired number of repetitions. The input video image may then be processed to generate an output video image and the output video image may be repeated the desired number of repetitions. The input video images following the repeated image may be held until the repeating is completed, and may then be processed and displayed. Repeating the video image may be utilized to achieve different playback modes such as, for example, slow motion, pause, and video rate conversion.

A per-pixel multi-field motion adaptive deinterlacer keeps a record of several fields of pixels to successfully measure motion and correctly adapt the output deinterlaced pixel based on that measure of motion. The field type (TOP/BOTTOM) is taken into account to ensure valid motion values. Visually annoying artifacts will result if a TOP field is supplied in a situation when a BOTTOM field is expected (and vice versa).
Trick modes are, for example, pause, slow motion, fast forward, fast reverse, etc., anything other than standard linear playback. During linear playback, a system can rely upon a regular sequence of alternating TOP and BOTTOM fields. There may be a situation where the sequence may momentarily not alternate. A situation where the sequence momentarily does not alternate such as, for example, a TOP field followed by another TOP field, will be a rare occurrence and can be considered an error condition. When such an error condition occurs, a method of artifact mitigation is a suitable course of action.
Repeated field types, or even identical repeated fields, are common during trick mode operation. The same method of artifact mitigation, although possible, would produce lesser quality trick mode video than would otherwise be possible.
There are several methods to reduce errors associated with trick mode operation. One method of performing trick modes without a deinterlacer would be to use a scaler to invert field types. A problem with such a method is causing up and down jittering of horizontal lines and other areas of high vertical detail. A second method of performing trick modes without a deinterlacer would be to use only one field type from the source such as, for example, using TOP fields only or BOTTOM fields only. Using this method produces no up and down jittering, but does reduce vertical resolution, in addition to reducing temporal resolution, which makes a video look more "jerky." Performing trick modes without a deinterlacer can be problematic because they require disabling and re-enabling the deinterlacer when entering and subsequently leaving trick mode, which can be awkward and would require software effort to ensure clean transitions.
Alternatively, errors can be reduced using methods that perform trick modes with a deinterlacer. One method would be to repeat fields at the input of the deinterlacer, and the deinterlacer drops back into spatial mode only and ignoring temporal information. Using this method causes up and down jittering of horizontal lines and other areas of high vertical detail.
The system may not suffer from awkward software control that may arise when it enters and leaves trick modes as video may still be passing through the deinterlacer. In a second method, the regular alternating field types at the input to the deinterlacer may be maintained and captured to memory after the deinterlacer. The second method may require at least twice the memory bandwidth with equivalent performance. Since memory bandwidth is finite, the use of other features in the system may be precluded.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for trick mode support in a motion adaptive deinterlacer with inverse telecine


An apparatus for mounting grass collection bags to a riding lawn mower includes a mounting assembly fixed to a riding lawn mower frame and a lid assembly for carrying removable grass clippings collection bags. The mounting assembly includes slotted brackets that are adapted to receive transverse base pins that are fixed to the lid assembly. An operator may hang the lid assembly by its transverse base pins on the mounting assembly slotted brackets in a hanging position and then rotate the lid assembly up into a raised, operating position. As the lid assembly is rotated to the raised, operating position, a releasable latch mechanism connected to the mounting assembly receives and captures the lid assembly latch pins. With this grass clippings collection unit, a single operator can install or remove the lid assembly, making it possible to rapidly reconfigure the mower for collecting clippings or for not collecting clippings.

Riding lawnmowers are typically configured to operate in a non-collecting mode wherein grass clippings are deposited on the surface of the turf such as when clippings are discharged from the side or the rear of the mower deck or a catching mode wherein grass clippings are conveyed to containers which are often mesh bags supported by a grass catcher lid assembly mounted to the back end of the mower. Operators of riding lawn mowers and particularly professional operators often have a need to alternate between jobs where the customer accepts the non-collecting mode and jobs where the customer requests the collection of grass clippings. Accordingly, in the course of a work day including two or more job sites, it may be necessary to alternate between a job in which grass clippings are collected and a job in which grass clippings are not collected. Accordingly, when a job does not require the collection of grass clippings, it is preferable to remove the grass catcher apparatus in order to improve the maneuverability of the rear end of the riding lawn mower. Prior art grass catching systems for large riding lawn mowers often require at least two operators to remove or replace a grass clippings collection apparatus, or the effort to do so is difficult and time consuming for one operator. Moreover, with most grass catching systems, it is not possible to rotate a grass catcher lid assembly to a hanging, lowered or retracted position. What is needed is a grass clippings collection apparatus having a lid assembly that may be easily removed and replaced by a single operator. Further, what is needed is a grass catcher lid assembly that can be reoriented to a more favorable handling position by a single operator when the grass clippings collection apparatus is not in use or when the grass clippings collection apparatus is not in use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Grass catcher apparatus for a riding lawnmower


A cartridge transporting device includes: a cartridge holder in which a cartridge receiving a recording medium is inserted and which holds the inserted cartridge; a supporting frame that supports the cartridge holder to be freely move between an insertion position and a drawn-in position; a locking member that moves between a locking position and a non-locking position, moves to the locking position, and locks the cartridge holder at the insertion position; a holder driving member that is movable in a predetermined direction and moves the cartridge holder between the insertion position and the drawn-in position; and a moving mechanism that moves the holder driving member in the predetermined direction, wherein when the cartridge holder starts to move from the insertion position to the drawn-in position, the holder driving member moves such that the cartridge holder locked by the locking member is unlocked.

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of cartridge transporting devices. In detail, the present disclosure relates to the technical field for reducing load applied to a moving mechanism when load is applied to a cartridge holder from a cartridge while the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge holder by performing locking at the insertion position of the cartridge holder with a lock member.
Cartridge transporting devices transport a cartridge receiving a recording medium where image data or voice data is recorded.
Some of the cartridge transporting devices are equipped with a cartridge holder where a cartridge is inserted and transport a cartridge by moving the cartridge holder with a moving mechanism between the insertion position where the cartridge is inserted and a drawn-in position where the cartridge is drawn into a case (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-39753).
The cartridge transporting device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-39753 is equipped with a locking lever that can rotate to lock a cartridge holder at an insertion position, such that when a cartridge is inserted into a cartridge holder, the locking lever is rotated by the insertion of the cartridge and unlocks the cartridge holder.


A tag includes a housing, an antenna disposed within the housing, and circuitry within the housing that is electrically coupled to the antenna. A battery within the housing is electrically coupled to the circuitry, the battery being positioned so as to avoid significant interference with electromagnetic fields associated with the antenna. A tag holder can be detachably coupled to a radio frequency tag, and has structure facilitating attachment of the tag holder to an object other than a tag. A tag includes a circuit and an antenna, the antenna having a plurality of conductive segments and capacitors that are coupled in series to form an endless loop.

One known application for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is to track a mobile object, such as a shipping container. A device known as a "tag" is provided on the object to be tracked. The tag typically includes circuitry coupled to an antenna, and a battery to power the circuitry. The tag can transmit radio signals, and some tags can also receive radio signals. Existing tags have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, but have not been satisfactory in all respects.

Structural configuration for an RFID tag


A power Schottky rectifier device and method of making the same are disclosed. The Schottky rectifier device includes a LOCOS structure grown on the bottom of the trenches by using nitride spacer on the sidewall of the trenches as a thermal oxidation mask. A polycrystalline silicon layer is then filled the first trenches. Under LOCOS structure, a p doped region is optionally formed to minimize the current leakage when the device undergoes a reverse biased. A Schottky barrier silicide layer formed by sputtering and annealing steps is formed on the upper surfaces of the epi-layer and the polycrystalline silicon layer. A top metal layer served as anode is then formed on the Schottky barrier silicide layer and extended to cover a portion of field oxide region of the termination trench. A metal layer served as a cathode electrode is then formed on the backside surface of the substrate opposite to the top metal layer.

Schottky diode is an important power device and used extensively as output rectifiers in switching-mode power supplies and in other high-speed power switching applications, such as motor drives, switching of communication device, industry automation and electronic automation and so on. The power devices are usually required characteristics of carrying large forward current, high reverse-biased blocking voltage, such as above 100 volt, and minimizing the reverse-biased leakage current.
A number of power rectifiers have been used to provide high current and reverse blocking characteristics. Hsu et al disclosed a Schottky rectifier structure in IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, vol. 22, No. 11, p. 531 (2001); "A Novel Trench Termination Design For 100 V TMBS diode Application." As is shown in FIG. 1A, the structure includes a plurality of trench type MOS gates 30 and a termination trench 25 formed into n− epi layer 20, which is formed on an n+ substrate 10. The termination trench 25 has spacer like MOS gates 35 formed on the sidewall of the termination trench 25. A patterned insulating layer such as TEOS 40 is then formed on the termination trench 25. The spacer like MOS gates 35 are almost covered by the TEOS layer 40 except a contact 36, which is adjacent to the active region. A patterned metal layer 50 acts as the anode electrode is then formed on the active region to contact the trench type MOS gates 30 and mesas 31 and the contact 36 of the spacer like MOS gate 35.
The Schottky rectifier structure of Hsu disclosed is designed for high voltage and is capable of achieving a reverse blocking voltage over 100 V at an extreme low-leakage current. However, the processes require at least three photo masks: one is for trenches defined, the second is for TEOS defined and the third is for metal extension in the termination region. Thus, an object of the present method is to simplify the processes. According to the present invention, only two photo masks are used.
Another conventional method is disclosed by Chang in U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,288. The structure shown in FIG. 1B includes a plurality of trenches 60 recessed into n− epi layer 52 that is formed on the n+substrate 54. Each of the trenches 60 is formed with an oxide liner 64 on the sidewall and a p+ doping region 66 at the bottom of the trenches 60. The trenches 60 are then refilled with a polysilicon layer 62. A Schottky barrier metal layer 56 served as an anode is then formed and patterned on the resulted surface of the substrate. Finally, another metal layer 158 served as cathode is formed on the backside surface of the substrate opposite to the anode. The area from the midpoint of one trench structure to the midpoint of an adjacent trench structure is referred to as a "cell".
Chang does not disclose fabricating method of about the forgoing devices. Apart from that, no termination structure is include, and the capability of about prohibiting premature breakdown is doubtful when the device is under reversed biased high voltage since the structure contains only thin oxide liner 64.
An object of the present invention is to propose a high switching speed two mask Schottky diode with high field breakdown and a method of making the same.

High switching speed two mask schottky diode with high field breakdown


The present invention discloses an analog switching circuit having a first terminal receiving an input signal, a second terminal providing an output signal and a control terminal receiving a switching control signal. The analog switching circuit has a first logic circuit providing a first control signal and a second control signal based on the switching control signal; an NMOS and a PMOS coupled between the first terminal and the second terminal, and controlled by the first control signal and the second control signal respectively; a first control circuit controls the backgate voltage of the NMOS based on the input signal and the switching control signal; and a second control circuit controls the backgate voltage of the PMOS based on the input signal and the switching control signal.

Analog switch is a type of interface for passing or blocking analog signal between analog circuit and digital control circuit. Along with the development of integrated circuits (IC) in the past few years, the technique in analog switch is improved a lot, in that it can work under very low voltage, have very low conduction resistance and very small packaging size. Due to these improvements, analog switches are widely used in sensing apparatuses, communication products and multi-media systems, etc.
A standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) analog switch comprises an n-channel MOS (NMOS) and a p-channel MOS (PMOS) that is coupled in parallel with the NMOS. The CMOS analog switch allows signals transfer bi-directionally. However, this parallel configuration leads that the conduction resistance changes along with the voltage of the input signal. At the meantime, the power supply voltage affects the conduction resistance a lot, and the conduction resistance will remarkably increase when the supply voltage decreases. In one example, when the power supply voltage is 5 volts, the conduction resistance of a conventional CMOS analog switch is about 8 ohms, and when the supply voltage is set in 12 volts, the conduction resistance of the CMOS analog switch decreases to about 3 ohms.
Conduction resistance for conventional CMOS analog switch in rated input voltage range and rated power supply voltage range changes a lot, thus the flatness of conduction resistance is poor. Accordingly, it becomes a critical problem for analog switch on keeping the flatness of conduction resistance with changing input voltage and power supply voltage.

Analog switching circuit, associated control circuit and method


A three-dimensional (3D) image display apparatus includes a backlight unit configured to provide collimated white light, and a display panel configured to modulate the light provided from the backlight unit based on image information and to display the light in a plurality of viewing zones. The display panel includes a diffractive color filter in which a diffractive element for providing directivity is disposed on a color filter, thereby improving an optical efficiency in 3D image formation.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a three-dimensional (3D) image display apparatus for implementing a 3D image by using a diffraction effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, many three-dimensional (3D) movies have been released, and techniques related to 3D image display apparatuses have also been studied a lot. The 3D image display apparatus displays a 3D image based on binocular parallax. 3D image display apparatuses currently used in common employ binocular parallax and provide a left-view image and a right-view image having different points of view to the left eye and the right eye of a viewer, respectively, to enable the viewer to feel a 3D effect. The 3D image display apparatuses may be classified into a glasses-type 3D image display apparatus and a glasses-free 3D image display apparatus.
As the glasses-type 3D image display apparatus, a red-green glasses type is used for movie theaters and a polarized glasses type or a liquid crystal shutter type is used for televisions (TVs). The glasses-free 3D image display apparatus is classified into a barrier type and a lenticular type based on a structure, and is classified into a multi-view rendering type, a volumetric type that displays any information relating to a 3D space in the 3D space in the form of voxels, an integral imaging type that captures images at various angles through compound eyes of insects (e.g., eyes of the housefly) and displays the images reversely, and a holographic type, and a directional backlight unit type based on an image implementation type.

Three-dimensional image display apparatus including diffractive color filter


A cable retention apparatus is provided for an electronic device. The electronic device has a power supply receptacle for holding a power supply cable. The cable retention apparatus includes an arm, which is pivotally connected to the electronic device. An integrated locking member extending from the arm is used to engage the arm with a portion of the power supply cable when the arm is pivoted from an unlocked position away from the cable to a locked position with the cable so that the cable is prevented from being removed from the receptacle.

This invention relates generally to a cable retention apparatus for a power supply, and more particularly, to an apparatus for preventing a power supply cable from being removed from the power supply of an electronic device.
Electronic devices, such as computers, utilize power supply cables to receive power for operation. Typically, one end of the power supply cable is plugged into the power supply of the device and the other end is plugged into a power source. Computer networks, such as the Internet, utilize electronic devices that require a continuous supply of power for managing resources for one or more users. That is, these devices must always be operating so that the needs of network users are met. An example of one such electronic device is a server which may be used to store files on a network.
A server typically contains a power supply which receives power from an associated power supply cable. The power supply in turn, supplies power to other devices in the server requiring power such as disk drives. The devices in the server may also be hot-swappable so that they may be exchanged without removing power from the server. Larger computer networks require multiple servers which may be stacked together in a rack (i.e., rack-mounted) to save space.
Access is gained to a rack-mounted server (e.g., for hot-swapping a disk drive) by pulling it out from the rack. When a server is pulled out from the rack, however, strain is placed on the power supply cable. The strain may be increased if there are several devices mounted in the rack in such a fashion that the power cables become entangled. As a result, when the server is removed, the power supply cable may be unintentionally removed from the power supply, thereby resulting in an unexpected loss of power to the server and downtime for the network.
Other types of electronic devices also suffer from similar power loss when the power supply cable is unintentionally removed from the power supply due to excessive strain. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an apparatus for retaining a power supply cable in the power supply of an electronic device.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.
In accordance with illustrative embodiments of the present invention, the above problem is solved by a cable retention apparatus for retaining a power supply cable in the power supply of an electronic device. The power supply has a receptacle for holding a power supply cable. The cable retention apparatus consists of an arm which is pivotally connected to the power supply. An integrated locking member extending from the arm is used to engage the arm with a portion of the power supply cable when the arm is pivoted from an unlocked position away from the cable to a locked position with the cable so that the cable is prevented from being removed from the power supply.
In accordance with one actual embodiment of the invention, retaining brackets, which may be either attached or integrated with the power supply, may be used to receive the ends of the arm to enable the arm to pivot towards the power supply receptacle. In accordance with other embodiments of the invention, the electronic device containing the power supply may be a rack-mounted server computer.
These and other features and advantages, which characterize various embodiments of the present invention, will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are illustrative and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.


A plane type electric precipitator includes an electrode plate of plane shape, made of electricity-conducting material; a collecting plate, parallel to the electrode plate and made of electricity-conducting material; a plurality of electrode units, placed on the electrode plate and having tips; wherein direct electric voltage is applied between the electrode plate and the collecting plate, so that air passing through is exposed to high electric fields close to the tips of the electrode units, ionizing suspended particles and trapping ionized particles at the collecting plate, so that an air-cleaning effect results.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a planar electric precipitator, particularly to a planar electric precipitator which is easy to manufacture and of flat shape to be suitable for industrial and home use.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional art, particles suspended in the air are removed by letting an air flow pass through a channel in which a pointed electrode is placed. Direct voltage between the electrode and a collecting plate causes the particles contained in the air flow to be ionized and drawn towards the collecting plate and thus to be removed from the air.
Electrostatic air cleaning apparatuses as just described work effectively and therefore are widely used to clean air in closed rooms. However, conventional electrostatic air cleaning apparatuses generally have large volumes and need to be placed on floors, which consumes valuable space and is inconvenient.
The main reason for a large volume of a conventional electrostatic air cleaning apparatus lies in a large thickness due to required distances between electrodes and collecting plates and the need to install several layers of electrodes and collecting plates for better effectivity.
Another shortcoming of conventional electrostatic air cleaning apparatuses is the difficulty during manufacture of precisely controlling distances and mutual orientations between electrodes and collecting plates, so as to prevent smoke from entering air channels and preserving ionizing capability.
The present inventor has been aware that conventional art does not solve the problems of large volume, difficulty of manufacturing and cost reduction. U.S. patent publication no. US005925170A "Electric dust-collection unit and air-cleaning apparatus" discloses an electrostatic air cleaning apparatus having a plurality of electrodes, each made of a wire with a needle tip, oriented parallel to each other, which results in a large thickness and hence a large volume of the apparatus. Furthermore, the electrodes, being separable from a base, during manufacture need to be placed precisely one by one, which is difficult and expensive.
U.S. patent publication no. US006524369B1 "Multi-stage particular matter collector" discloses an electrostatic air cleaning apparatus having a plurality of electrodes, each being a metal plate with sharp edges, vertically placed on a horizontal collector plate. Therefore, the apparatus has a height that is hard to reduce, resulting in a large volume.
U.S. patent publication No. US005322550A "Electrical dust collector" discloses an electrostatic air cleaning apparatus having a plurality of electrodes which are made by punching and bending a metal plate and a plurality of collecting plates made by punching and bending a metal plate, too, and interleaving with the plurality of electrodes. This apparatus has a somewhat reduced thickness, but a satisfactorily small volume is not achieved. Furthermore, manufacturing by punching and bending into precise angles is difficult due to the elasticity of metal plates, so that precision and hence effectivity of the apparatus are not sufficiently high.
U.S. patent publication No. US005492557A "Filter device for air purification" discloses an electrostatic air cleaning apparatus having a plurality of electrodes which are made from a metal plate by punching a plurality of holes with pointed flaps reaching inside and being bent away at predetermined angles to form electrodes. Thereby the apparatus is almost flat, but a minimum thickness is still required by orienting a collecting plate perpendicular to the electrodes.


According, two casing parts is disclosed for a spiral cable for connecting electrical line terminals between a stationary vehicle steering column and a rotatable steering wheel. One of the two casing parts has an annular space for the spiral cable which is open towards an axial face and the other casing part is in the form of a plate for covering the annular space. It is thus possible to arrange the two casing parts at an axial distance from one another and thus to prevent the two parts from rubbing against one another.

The invention relates to a casing for a spiral cable for connecting electrical line terminals between a stationary steering column and a steering wheel shaft. The steering wheel shaft is rotatably mounted in the stationary steering column and equipped with a steering wheel for a motor vehicle. The casing comprises two coaxial casing parts, which can be rigidly connected, in the one case as stator to the fixed steering column and, in the other case, as rotor to the steering wheel shaft and which are so shaped that, when functionally associated with one another, they form a coaxial annular space for the spiral cable.
A casing of this kind is known from EP O 417 350 Al. The casing pan forming the stator has an annular configuration and contains an annular space which is radially open towards the center. This opening is closed by the second casing part serving as rotor and held rotatably in the stator. The annular casing part therefore turns, when functionally associated with the steering wheel, in the stationary outer casing part associated with the steering column.
An object underlying the invention is that of providing a casing for a spiral cable, of the type first defined above, in which the two casing parts, when functionally associated on the one hand with a rotatable steering wheel and on the other hand with a fixed steering column, can be turned relative to one another substantially without friction and therefore silently.
This object is achieved through the fact that one of the two casing pans has a recess which forms the annular space and which is open towards an axial face of the casing part, and that the other casing part is in the form of a plate and radially covers the annular space. It is thus possible for the one casing part to be disposed at an axial distance from the other casing part, because the two casing parts are separated from one another. As soon as the one casing part is rigidly connected to the rotatable steering wheel shaft and the other is fastened, coaxially to the axis of the steering wheel shaft, to the stationary steering column, the relationship of stator to rotor performs the function of bearing the steering wheel shaft. The two casing parts are therefore associated with one another on installation in the steering unit, without being in contact with one another. Frictional noise, which in the prior art is caused by the rotation of the rotor casing in the stator casing, is thereby avoided. Because of the lower moment of friction of the steering unit, the latter also acquires more favorable torque.
As a development of the invention, the casing part provided with the annular space can be rigidly connected to a steering column tube. This casing part thus serves as stator. Since in a motor vehicle steering unit the stator is usually situated below the steering wheel, it is advantageous to use the casing part containing the annular space as stator, because in this case the conductor strip of the spiral cable is always situated in the annular space because of its own weight. In the reverse arrangement it would be possible for the conductor strip to become jammed in the radial gap between the two casing parts.
As a further development of the invention the plate-like casing part can be fixed on a steering wheel hub and has an axially projecting centering pin which can be centered in a corresponding recess in the steering wheel. This constitutes a particularly simple functional connection of the casing part to the steering wheel and therefore to the steering wheel shaft, because the casing part has only to be fixed to the steering wheel, so that, when the steering wheel is subsequently fastened on the steering wheel shaft, it will automatically be disposed concentrically to the steering wheel shaft.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A method for controlling a touch screen using a timeline bar is provided. The method includes detecting a first dragging that starts from a bar on a timeline, zooming in the timeline according to a distance between the timeline and a final touch point of the first dragging, and shifting the bar on the zoomed-in timeline by a second dragging. Thus, it is possible to more precisely control the content even on a small touch screen just like on a large touch screen. In addition, the timeline blockage caused by the finger tip may be prevented, so the user may control the content more intuitively in the desired level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for operating a user terminal More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a touch screen using a timeline bar (consisting of a timeline and a bar) and a recording medium with a program for the same recorded therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch screen or a touch panel refers to a user interface device that can detect a user's touch and, using stored software, perform a process corresponding to the touch. For example, when a user touches a character or an image displayed on a touch screen with an input means, such as a finger tip, a stylus, or a similar object, a function corresponding to the character or image is executed. A benefit of using a touch screen or a touch panel is that user input can be received without using a keyboard. Typically, the user's finger tip is used as the input means, causing low touch accuracy due to the large surface area of the user's finger tip. To address this problem, a hardware solution such as the stylus pen has been proposed. However, the separate stylus pen may be lost inadvertently, and inconveniently requires two hands for its utilization.
A timeline bar is popularly used as a content manipulation means for manipulations such as Play, Rewind, and Fast Forward of video. Generally, the timeline bar includes a timeline corresponding to the full content length or the full range of manipulation parameters (e.g., sound, brightness, etc.), and a bar representing the current level.
FIG. 1 illustrates a timeline bar displayed on a touch screen for controlling content according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a timeline 110 is displayed in the form of a straight line corresponding to the full length of content such as video and audio, and the timeline 110 includes a bar 120 indicating a position of the content that is actually displayed on a touch screen 100. In operation, a user generally shifts the bar 120, which is an indicator on the timeline 110, with his or her finger tip. However, it may be difficult for the user to manipulate the content to the desired extent due to the fixed scale of the timeline and the large size of the user's finger tip. More particularly, due to the decreasing size of the touch screen and the increasing capacity of the content, the user may suffer significant inconvenience by the fixed-scale timeline 110. Therefore, there is a need for a new interface technique capable of accurately manipulating and controlling multimedia content with less cognitive effort.

Method and apparatus for controlling touch screen using timeline bar, recording medium with program for the same recorded therein, and user terminal having the same


Disclosed are Group 6 film forming compositions comprising Group 6 transition metal-containing precursors selected from the group consisting of:M(═O)2(OR)2  Formula I,M(═O)(NR2)4  Formula II,M(═O)2(NR2)2  Formula III,M(═NR)2(OR)2  Formula IV, andM(═O)(OR)4  Formula V,wherein M is Mo or W and each R is independently H, a C1 to C6 alkyl group, or SiR′3, wherein R′ is H or a C1 to C6 alkyl group. Also disclosed are methods of synthesizing and using the disclosed compositions to deposit Group 6 transition metal-containing films on substrates via vapor deposition processes.

Tungsten finds many different applications useful for the fabrication of nano-devices. Deposition of pure tungsten may be used to fill the holes that make contact to the transistor source and drain ("contact holes") and also to fill vias between successive layers of metal. This approach is known as a "tungsten plug" process. The usage of tungsten may be developed due to the good properties of the films deposited using WF6. However, it is necessary to provide an adhesion/barrier layer, such as Ti/TiN, to protect the underlying Si from attack by fluorine and to ensure adhesion of tungsten to the silicon dioxide.
Tungsten-silicide may be used on top of polysilicon gates to increase conductivity of the gate line and thus increase transistor speed. This approach is popular in DRAM fabrication, where the gate is also the word line for the circuit. WF6 and SiH4 may be used, but dichlorosilane (SiCl2H2) is more commonly employed as the silicon source, since it allows higher deposition temperatures and thus results in lower fluorine concentration in the deposited film.
Tungsten nitride (WNx) is considered to be a good barrier against diffusion of copper in microelectronics circuits. WNx may also be used in electrodes for thin-film capacitors and field-effect transistor.
Molybdenum oxide may be used as a thin layer for DRAM capacitors. See, e.g., US2012/309162 or US2014/187015 to Elpida. The molybdenum oxide layer may be deposited on a TiN layer before deposition of a ZrO2 layer. The molybdenum oxide layer may then help increase the deposition rate of the ZrO2 layer. The molybdenum oxide layer may be deposited on the ZrO2 layer and a TiN layer deposited on the molybdenum oxide layer producing a TiN/MoOx/ZrO2/MoOx/TiN stack. The molybdenum oxide layers in the stack may reduce leakage current.
Electrochromic devices are optoelectrochemical systems that change their optical properties, essentially their transmittance, when a voltage is applied. As a result, the optoelectrochemical systems may be used in many applications, such as, but not limited to, smart windows, sunroofs, shades, visors or rear view mirrors, flat panel displays for automotive, architectural, display, and optoelectrical applications like skylights, panel displays, aquariums, light filters and screens for light pipes and other optoelectrical devices. Transition metal oxides have been used as inorganic electrochromic materials. Among those transition metal oxides, tungsten trioxide, WO3, an n-type semiconductor, is one of the most extensively studied materials due to its electrochromic properties in the visible and infrared region, high coloration efficiency, and relatively low price. The color of WO3 changes from transparent or yellow to deep blue when it is reduced under cathodic polarization.
Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) devices involve emission of light at a specific wavelength range when a voltage is applied. The use of transition metal oxides as the electrode interface modification layer at anode and cathode in OLEDs has also been reported for reducing the operational voltage, one of the main parameter to improve device reliability. Among those transition metal oxides, tungsten oxide or molybdenum oxide as an anode buffer layer offers advantages such as very high transparent in the visible region and energy level matching with organic molecules. (Applied Physics Letters, 2007, 91, 113506).
JP07-292079 discloses metathesis catalyst precursors having the formula M(Y)(OR2)x(R3)y(X)zLs, wherein M is Mo or W; Y is ═O or ═NR′; R1, R2, and R3 is alkyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, polycycloalkyl, polycycloalkenyl, haloalkyl, haloaralkyl, (un)substituted aralkyl, arom. groups containing Si; X=halogen; L=Lewis base; s=0 or 1; x+y+z=4; and y≥1. The catalyst precursor is synthesized from M(Y)(OR2)4, such as W(═O)(OCH2tBu)4.
Chisholm et al. disclose preparation and characterization of oxo alkoxides of molybdenum. Inorganic Chemistry (1984) 23(8) 1021-37.
WO2014/143410 to Kinestral Technologies Inc. discloses multi-layer electrochromic structures comprising an anodic electrochromic layer comprising lithium, nickel, and a Group 6 metal selected from Mo, W, and combinations thereof. Abstract. Para 0107 discloses that the source (starting) material for the Group 6 metal may be (RO)4MO.
David Baxter et al. Chemical Communications (1996), (10), 1129-1130 describes the use of different tungsten(VI) oxo alkoxides and tungsten(VI) oxo alkoxide β-diketonate complexes that are volatile precursors for low-pressure CVD of tungsten oxide electrochromic films. However, the molecules may be solid, difficult to purify effectively, or costly to prepare due to relatively high number of synthesis steps.
WO99/23865 to Sustainable Technologies Australia Ltd. discloses that synthesis of tungsten (VI) oxo-tetra-alkoxide [WO(OR)4] from WOCl4, alcohol and ammonia produces an insoluble tungsten-containing compound. WO99/23865 discloses that excess ammonia can be added to dissolve the precipitated tungsten compound, but that the final tungsten oxide obtained is unsuitable as a film for electrochromic applications.
M. Basato et al. Chemical Vapor Deposition (2001), 7(5), 219-224 also describes the use of W(═O)(OtBu)4 by self-evaporation, in combination with H2O, to form WO3 material at 100-150 C.
J. M. Bell et al. describe the preparation of tungsten oxide film for electrochromic devices using W(═O)(OnBu)4 (Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2001, 68, 239).
Dmitry V. Peryshkov and Richard R. Schrock describe the preparation of W(═O)(OtBu)4 from W(═O)Cl4 and Li(OtBu). Organometallics 2012, 31, 7278-7286.
Parkin et al. disclose CVD of Functional Coatings on Glass in Chapter 10 of Chemical Vapour Deposition: Precursors, Processes and Applications. Section 10.4.3 discloses that several tungsten alkoxides, oxo alkoxides, and aryl oxides have been investigated, such as WO(OR)4, wherein R=Me, Et, iPr, and Bu. Parkin et al. note that these precursors provide a single source precursor, with no need for a second oxygen precursor. Parkin et al. note that these precursors suffer from low volatility.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,560,581B2 discloses the use of the bis-alkylimido bis-dialkylamino tungsten precursors for the production of tungsten nitride in ALD mode with or without plasma for copper barrier diffusion applications.
Miikkulainen et al. disclose ALD deposition using Mo(NR)2(NR′2)2 precursors. Chem Mater. (2007), 19, 263-269; Chem. Vap. Deposition (2008) 14, 71-77. Chiu et al. disclose CVD deposition of MoN using Mo(NtBu)2(NHtBu)2. J. Mat. Res. 9 (7), 1994, 1622-1624.
A need remains for developing novel, liquid or low melting point (<50° C.), highly thermally stable, Group 6 precursor molecules suitable for vapor phase thin film deposition with controlled thickness and composition at high temperature.

Group 6 transition metal-containing compounds for vapor deposition of group 6 transition metal-containing films

L'Air Liquide, Société Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procédés Georges Claude