A thermal ink jet recording apparatus includes at least a substrate having at least a plurality of heating elements disposed in rows in at least two groups. Each group consists of two rows of heating elements, one row arranged on either side of the ink supply portion, each of the groups of the heating elements being associated with a single color ink. At least one nozzle plate has a plurality of nozzles disposed on the substrate where at least one nozzle plate and the substrate define a space between the nozzle plate and the substrate in registration with each group of heating elements and corresponding group of nozzles associated with a single color ink. Means are provided for independently delivering ink of one color from the ink reservoir to each of the spaces, whereby printing can be independently effected in at least two colors of ink.

This invention relates generally to an ink jet recording apparatus which ejects ink through a plurality of nozzles supplied by an ink reservoir, and especially to a thermal ink jet recording apparatus which ejects ink through a plurality of nozzles without the need for separators between nozzles and an improved ink composition for use in the apparatus.
Thermal ink jet recording apparatus are well known in the art and provide high speed and high density ink jet printing having a relatively simple construction. Conventional ink jet recording apparatus and methods are described in the May, 1985 issue of the Journal of the U.S. Hewlett-Packard Company, hereinafter referred to as the Hewlett-Packard Journal, as well as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,359,079; 4,463,359; 4,528,577; 4,568,593 and 4,587,534.
The recording speed and density at which such conventional ink jet recording apparatus operate is limited. In order to protect the pressure of the heated ink underneath any one particular nozzle from affecting the pressure of ink under an adjacent nozzle, a barrier is placed between adjacent nozzles to prevent pressure interference. These barriers must be very thin in order to accommodate a plurality of nozzles on one recording head. Nevertheless, the pitch (i.e., spacing) between adjacent nozzles is still limited because of the need to place a barrier, no matter how thin, between each adjacent nozzle.
Additionally, thin film circuitry is covered by a protective layer of a hard insulated inorganic matter for protecting the heating elements and electrodes which are used to heat the ink from electrical, chemical, thermal and/or acoustic damage. This protective layer acts as a heat sink requiring more heat than would otherwise be required in order to reheat the ink to an appropriate temperature for ejection of the ink through the nozzles. This requires a longer period of time to heat the ink thereby reducing the speed at which the apparatus records. Further, small structural defects such as minute cracks in the protective layer can leave the thin film circuitry unprotected. Since it is difficult to produce protective layers without such small structural defects, the reliability of conventional thermal ink jet apparatus can be quite low.
It is also difficult to control the thickness of the protective layer during its manufacture. The thicker the protective layer, the less responsive the protective layer is to changes in the temperature of the heating element which it covers. Consequently, the heating element cools off much more quickly than the protective layer resulting in the ink adhering to the protective layer. As ink begins to build up heat conduction from the heating element to the ink is adversely affected and can eventually result in the inability to cause the ejection of ink through the nozzles.
The ink jet recording apparatus described in the Hewlett-Packard Journal includes a nozzle plate which covers a substrate on which the electrodes and heating elements are disposed. This nozzle plate, which is made by Ni electroforming, includes minute projecting portions provided on the interior surface thereof for ensuring that a gap of a predetermined height exists between the nozzle plate and substrate. The height of the gap is important to the operation of the ink jet recording apparatus since the amount of ink to be heated depends on the ink trapped within the gap. These minute projecting portions also must be of uniform height to ensure that the ink ejected through each nozzle inpinges the recording medium with the same desired inpact. In view of the foregoing it is essential to provide these minute projecting portions which makes manufacture of the nozzle plate difficult. The substrate and nozzle plate are adhesively bonded. The adhesive bonding material which deteriorates when contacted by ink and deposits can clog the nozzles of the nozzle plate adversely affecting the operation of the apparatus.
In addition to the above problems, the recording paper used for prior art ink jet recording apparatus varies significantly in the pulp, filler or other materials which are contained therein and in its manufacturing process (e.g., wire part, size press). Wood free paper such as described in the Hewlett-Packard Journal is widely used for ink jet recording apparatus. Other wood free paper applicable for use as a recording medium for thermal ink jet recording apparatus include, Japanese Industrial Standards for print A, drawing paper (such as document and Kent paper) and coated paper. Unfortunately, conventional ink has a tendency to significantly blot/spatter wood free paper and thus hinders achieving high quality printing.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an ink jet printer having a simplified construction which eliminates the need for barriers between adjacent nozzles. It is also desirable to provide an ink composition suitable for use in the ink jet printer which avoids the blotting problem on wood free paper generally associated with conventional ink compositions.

Ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting droplets of ink through promotion of capillary action


A method for driving an LCD and its driving circuits are provided which are capable of being constructed at low costs, of reducing a flicker that occurs when a monochromatic color is displayed or an arbitrary image is displayed and of simultaneously making an adjustment for minimizing a line flicker and flicker occurring on an entire screen and of being applied to application areas in which a display is made more high-definition and a screen is made larger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for driving a liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred simply to as an LCD), its driving circuits and an image display device and more particularly to the method for driving the LCD which is used as a display device for a personal computer or a like and in which liquid crystal cells are arranged in a matrix form, to its driving circuits and the image display device equipped with such the driving circuits for the LCD.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-244963 filed on Aug. 11, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram showing an example of configurations of a driving circuit of a conventional color LCD 41 disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 03-083014. Hereinafter, the disclosed technology is called a first conventional example.
The color LCD 41 of the first conventional example is an active-matrix color LCD using, for example, a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) as a switching element. In the color LCD 41, each of pixel portions is mounted at an intersection of each of a plurality of scanning electrodes 42 (gate lines) placed at specified intervals in a row direction and each of signal electrodes 43 (source lines) placed at specified intervals in a column direction. Moreover, in each pixel portion, a liquid crystal cell 44 being equivalently a capacitive load, a TFT 45 whose drain is connected to one terminal of a corresponding liquid crystal cell 44 and a capacitor 46 being connected in parallel to a corresponding liquid crystal cell 44 and storing a signal electric charge for one vertical sync period are provided. In a state in which a common electrode VCOM is applied to all liquid crystal cells 44 and capacitors 46 being all connected in parallel, when data signal SD produced based on a video red signal SR, video green signal SG, and video blue signal SB is applied to each of the signal electrode 43 and when a scanning signal produced based on a horizontal sync signal SH and a vertical sync signal SV is applied to each of the scanning electrode 42, a color character, color image, or a like is displayed. On the color LCD 41, for example, as shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, color filters for a red color (R), green color (G), and blue color (B) making up three primary colors, each corresponding to each of the liquid crystal cells 44, are arranged. In the example shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, since each of the color filters for the R, G, and B colors is so arranged that each of them is deviated by a half of a pitch from a place of a subsequent scanning line and a dot pixel portion constructed of the three color filter portions for the R, G, and B colors making up one pixel portion is of a triangular shape, such the arrangement is called a delta shape or a triangular shape arrangement. That is, in the color LCD 41, one pixel portion is made up of three color filter portions containing the R color filter, G color filter, and B color filter each corresponding to each of the liquid crystal cells 44.
Moreover, the driving circuit for the color LCD 41 of the first conventional example, as shown in FIG. 12, chiefly includes a controller 51, a signal electrode driving circuit 52, and a scanning electrode driving circuit 53. The controller 51 feeds the video red signal SR, video green signal SG, and video blue signal SB, all of which are supplied from outside, to the signal electrode driving circuit 52 and, at the same time, produces a horizontal scanning pulse PH and a polarity reversing pulse POL used to drive the color LCD 41 with alternating current, based on the horizontal sync signal SH and vertical sync signal SV, all of which are supplied from outside and feeds them to the signal electrode driving circuit 52 and also produces a vertical scanning pulse PV, based on the horizontal sync signal SH and vertical sync signal SV, all of which are supplied from outside, and then feeds it to the scanning electrode driving circuit 53. The signal electrode driving circuit 52 produces, with a timing when the vertical scanning pulse PH is fed from the controller 51, the data signals SD using the video red signal SR, video green signal SG, and video blue signal SB and, after having reversed or having not reversed the polarity of the data signals SD based on the polarity reversing pulse POL, feeds each of them to each of corresponding signal electrodes 43 in the color LCD 41. The scanning electrode driving circuit 53 produces, with a timing when the vertical scanning pulse PV is fed from the controller 51, scanning signals and feeds each of the scanning signals to each of corresponding scanning electrode 42 in the color LCD 41.
The color LCD 41 in which each of the color filters for the R, G, and B colors is arranged in a delta form as shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B is driven in a manner that the polarity of each of the data signal SD to be fed to each of the signal electrode 43 is reversed for one scanning electrode 42 of the color LCD 41, that is, in every scanning period and for every pixel portion forming the delta shape existing adjacent to a direction of scanning. Since a change in luminance in a frame occurs in a delta form, this driving method is called a delta reversing driving method. FIGS. 13A and 13B show that, in the color LCD being in a state of different color connection in which the TFT 45 to drive the liquid crystal cell 44 making up the dot pixel portions composed of different colors is connected to one signal electrode 43, the data signal to be applied to the TFT 45 to drive the liquid crystal cell 44 making up the dot pixel portions existing at a portion surrounded by sloped lines is of positive polarity and the data signal to be applied to the TFT 45 to drive the liquid crystal cell 44 making up the dot pixel portions existing at a portion other than that surrounded by the sloped lines is of negative polarity and that switching is done between one state shown in FIG. 13A and the other state shown in FIG. 13B in every frame period. The reason for using the frame period is that, since the color LCD 41 employs a non-interlace method, the period employed is made associated with a field period employed in the NTSC (National Television System Committee) using an ordinary interlace-type display.
In the color LCD 41 of the example, not only since a pixel pitch between vertical stripes occurring in a frame on a display screen of the LCD 41 is narrow, but also since the vertical stripes are nested together with each other, a state in which differences in colors are not perceptible with human eyes is produced and a flicker in a white color display can be reduced.
Moreover, another method for driving the conventional LCD is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 03-078390 in which one pixel portion is made up of four dot pixel portions having color filters for the G, G, R, and B colors arranged in a quadrangular form and an LCD is made up of a plurality of the pixel portions arranged in a matrix form. In this LCD, when a polarity of a data signal SD to be fed to a signal electrode connected to each of the dot pixel portions is reversed during a frame period, the data signal SD is controlled so that, in a same frame, the data signal to be fed to the R and G dot pixel portions and the data signal to be fed to the B and G dot pixel portions are opposite in polarity and also the data signal to be fed to the G and G dot pixel portions and the data signal to be fed to the R and B dot pixel portions are opposite in polarity. Hereinafter, the disclosed technology is called a second conventional example. FIGS. 14A and 14B show that the data signal to be applied to the TFT used to drive the liquid crystal cell making up the dot pixel portions existing at a portion surrounded by sloped lines is of positive polarity and the data signal to be applied to the TFT used to drive the liquid crystal cell making up the dot pixel portions existing at a portion other than that surrounded by the sloped lines is of negative polarity and that switching is done between one state shown in FIG. 14A and the other state shown in FIG. 14B in every frame period.
In the LCD of the second conventional example, a state of the occurrence of the flicker being stripes having different hues changes alternately and a spatial pitch among the flickers is made small and a line flicker being visually identified as if the scanning line were to sway right and left by changes, with time, of vertical stripes of light and shade occurring in a frame and a face flicker being visually identified as if there were to be light and shade portions on an entire screen during a frame period can be reduced.
However, the above technology of the first conventional example has a problem. In the LCD of the first conventional example, when a red monochromatic color is displayed, states shown in FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B occur. Generally, even when data signals being at a same potential but being different in polarity are fed to a signal electrode in order to drive a color LCD with alternating current, since, due to a characteristic of the TFT constructed of amorphous silicon, an on-current flowing when the data signal of negative polarity is applied is smaller than an on-current flowing when the data signal of positive polarity is allied, an unbalance is produced between when the data signal having a current of negative polarity flowing through a drain of the TFT is applied and when the data signal of positive polarity is applied. Because of this, when luminance at the "a" portion shown in FIG. 15A is compared with that at the "b" portion shown in FIG. 15A, since the red monochromatic color is displayed originally, though a same data signal being different only in its polarity is applied to a corresponding signal electrode to display the same red color with a same luminance, the luminance at the "a" portion is slightly darker than that at the "b" portion. Moreover, as described above, since the polarity of the data signal to be applied to the TFT corresponding to the "a" and "b" portions is reversed in every frame period (between FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B), the difference in the luminance between at the "a" portion and at the "b" portion is visually identified by a user as the line flicker having vertical stripes of light and shade with one half of frame frequencies. As a result, there is a defect that the flicker cannot be reduced when an image in any monochromatic color is displayed or when an arbitrary image in colors other than the white color is displayed.
Moreover, the LCD of the first conventional example has another shortcoming. That is, when an adjuster, while visually identifying the line flicker that has already occurred, adjusts the common potential VCOM so that the line flicker can be minimized, it is possible to make the adjustment that can minimize the line flicker only in a local region of the entire display screen, however, it is impossible to make the adjustment that can minimize the flickers occurring on the entire display screen. Thus, if the adjustment for optimizing the common voltage VCOM cannot be made, since a balance between the potential of the data signal of positive polarity and that of the data signal of negative polarity to be used to drive the color LCD with alternating current is lost due to a deviation of the common potential VCOM. This causes a phenomenon called image persistence in which a trace of the character or the like remains left on the screen even after power is turned OFF, caused by a long time display of same characters or the like on the screen.
On the other hand, the LCD of the second conventional example also has a problem. That is, since one pixel portion is made up of the four dot pixel portions, the number of liquid crystal cells each corresponding to each of the dot pixel portions of the TFTs used to drive the liquid crystal cells and of the capacitors used to accumulate signal charges is larger by about 1.3 times than that in the case where one pixel is made up of the three dot pixel portions and the color filters corresponding to the dot pixel portions are arranged in the stripe form, as shown in FIG. 16. This causes a yield in production of the LCD to be decreased, manufacturing costs to be increased, and the LCD to become expensive. Moreover, since the elements such as the liquid crystal cells or the like increase, if the same image as displayed in the LCD in which the dot pixel portions are arranged in the stripe form shown in FIG. 16 has to be displayed in the LCD shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B within a same time, signals have to be processed at a high speed, mathematically, being higher by about 1.3 times. Therefore, such the LCD cannot be applied to recent application areas in which the display is made more high-definition and the screen is made larger, which require high signal processing.

Method and circuit for driving liquid crystal display and image display device

Abstract: The LCD is driven in a manner that a polarity of a data signal is reversed for every two scanning electrodes and for every signal electrode and the data signal having the reversed polarity is sequentially fed to each of signal electrodes.


The present invention discloses an improved starting mechanism for starting an engine of a model such as a model airplane, a model car, a model helicopter or a model ship, etc. A starting mechanism for starting an engine for a model comprises electric wires as power source connecting part for starting a motor and heating a plug being gathered at one connector, a corresponding connector capable of connecting to said connector being separately mounted, electric wires led from one power source being gathered at the corresponding connector, a hand switch and a plug heating circuit being provided at a suitable position of the electric wires , and the plug heating circuit for heating the plug a little later than the starting time of the starting motor.

The present invention relates to a starting mechanism of an engine for a model, and more particularly relates to an improved starting mechanism of an engine for various models such as a model airplane, a model car, a model helicopter or a model ship etc.
Hitherto, as a conventional method of starting an engine of various models as above, for example, firstly a starting method of an engine by revolving a fly wheel by hand and secondarily a starting method by means of a starting motor were employed.
However, all the aforementioned conventional methods have such inconveniences that according to the first method by revolving a fly wheel by hand a plug heating power source (1.5 V in general ) is necessary. Further, said method cannot be easily carried out because accumlated experience is required to revolve the fly wheel. Further according to the secondary method above, on the other hand, a starting power source( 12 V in general) of a starting motor and a plug heating power source are necessary, resulting in excess equipment.

Starting mechanism of an engine for a model


A rotor blade fold system for an aircraft includes one or more actuators operably connected to one or more blade components of one or more rotor blades of the aircraft. One or more sensors are located at the one or more rotor blades and are configured to sense operation of the one or more blade components. A fold control system is configured to monitor output from the one or more sensors and is capable of stopping operation of the blade fold system, via communication with the one or more actuators, if the one or more blade components are not operating within predetermined limits.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to blade fold systems for aircraft.
Rotor-driven aircraft, for example, helicopters, utilize blade folding systems which fold the blades of a main rotor to reduce the space required for parking and/or storing the aircraft. Such systems are typically activated by an operator and visually monitored. Upon activation, each blade is to individually articulate from a spread position to a folded position. In a blade fold or blade spread, a number of events must happen in the proper sequence, for each blade and also among the blades. During operation, however, any number of faults in the system may prevent the blade folding sequence from occurring as required, and thus operates in an undesired sequence. At such times, it is desired to stop the blade folding sequence before a collision between the blades occurs to prevent costly damage to the blades. Detecting these faults, however, requires human observation and is therefore prone to human error and inattention, and further may be acting at a speed not easily perceptible by humans (either too fast or too slow).


A single stop shopping facility that comprises a plurality of customer stations, each including a vehicle parking space, which are arranged radially around the exterior of a circular building containing goods for sale. The customer stations and building rotate relative to one another. The building includes a loading station for delivering selected goods ordered at the customer stations. Fuel dispensing stations located around the exterior of the building permit a customer, located in a vehicle parking space, to receive a selected quantity of fuel as the relative rotation proceeds. The walls of the building support merchandise display sections which are viewable by persons located at the customer stations, the displays being cyclically exposed to the parked vehicles as a result of the relative rotation, permitting the selection and payment for merchandise as the relative rotation continues. After elapse of a predetermined time interval, the relative rotation positions the loading station adjacent to the vehicle from which merchandise was ordered, for delivery of the merchandise to that vehicle.

The present invention relates to facilities for vending consumer products, services and automobile fuels. Specifically, a retail facility is described which enhances the shopper's ease of purchasing consumer products and services and automobile fuel from a single facility.
In my previous patents, Nos. 4,111,282; 4,189,031; and 4,169,521, I described a drive-in, single stop, nonautomated shopping facility capable of vending numerous retail products, services and fuel to a customer while the customer remained at a fixed purchase station, e.g., sitting within a parked automobile. The drive-in facility of the aforementioned patents permitted, during the fueling of an automobile, the vending of all weekly purchase requirements for the average household, such as groceries, beverages, bank service, bill paying, laundry/dry cleaning, fast food, and other commodities and services (hereinafter referred to individually and collectively as "merchandise"). The type of merchandise offered, larger order size, volume of customers, low percent labor, store attractiveness, and low shrinkage/losses, improved the total profitability of the drive-in shopping facility beyond those facilities which merely sold fuel or some other single product or service, or which required the individual to depart from his automobile to select and pay for other commodities.
The shopping facility described in these earlier patents, and the method of vending which they implemented, was so successful with the consuming public that the prior nonautomated facility could not handle, on a continuous basis, the number of customers who sought to purchase both gasoline and household commodities. Lines would occasionally form in the street leading to the facility, causing traffic problems and complaints from the responsible traffic officials. Also, during peak operating hours, the customers using the nonautomated facility of my prior patents encountered delays as a result of the fuel attendant's inability to man the gasoline pumps as well as make the required transfer of goods from the facility to the automobile.
Thus, the market success of the nonautomated facility described in these earlier patents created bottlenecks which interfered with customer throughput. In time, these bottlenecks, which were anticipated to a lesser degree, became so severe that they discouraged patronization of the facility by customers. The present invention obviates these problems.

Timed cycle single stop shopping facility


A lower back protection system is provided by a lower back protection apparatus for protecting the lower back region of a user, the apparatus comprising a first piece of lower back armor; a first strap coupled with the lower back armor; a second strap coupled with the lower back armor; wherein the first strap and the second strap are configured to couple the first piece of lower back armor with an article of clothing so as to provide armored back protection to the user when the article of clothing is being worn by the user.

It has been common in the past to provide protection to the chest and upper back regions of a user by way of a ballistic vest. Such vests utilize strike plates or soft body armor positioned in the chest area and upper back area. However, the vests do not extend below the waist of a user so as to allow freedom of movement when the user is wearing the vest. This is particularly true when rigid strike plates are utilized in the vest, as such strike plates provide no flexibility when the user wears the vest.
As a result, such vests do not provide protection for the lower back region of a user. Thus, a user is exposed to serious injury from bullets, fragmentation, or blast waves in this lower back region. Notably, the lower back region houses the kidneys and lower spine, thus wounds to this area can result in significant harm to an operator.
Thus, there is a need for a system that provides lower back protection while still allowing flexibility for an operator.


An input lookup key is hashed and the hashed key divided into stride bits into a multi-level Trie structure. A compression function logically combines the stride bits to generate the compressed index bits into the stride tables. The bucket in the last stride table found by the hashed key may have several keys that collide at the same hash value. Discriminant bits are read from the key and select a stored key in the bucket table for verification of its result. Since the hashed key is a compression of the longer input key, more information is contained per bit of the hashed key than in the long key. The multi-stride lookup is performed first on the hashed key, allowing a faster convergence to the lookup result. The first stride can index a single hash table, with the remaining hash bits and discriminant bits used to select from among colliding keys.

Modern data structures may contain huge amounts of data. For example, large networks can have millions or billions of destinations and millions of intermediate nodes, and each node may be identified by its own network address.
Traffic in a network may be routed by looking up records in a routing table or structure. The widely-used Internet Protocol, version 4 (IPv4) uses 32-bit IP addresses and can support up to 232 IP nodes, or about 4 billion addresses. A newer version, IPv6, uses 128-bit IP addresses and can have 2128 IP-addressable nodes. Each record in a data structure might contain one IP address or a range of IP addresses. Routers, switches, and other network nodes may contain a subset of the available IP addresses.
A linear binary search may be used on multiple levels of lookup. Each bit of an input lookup key is used to decide between forks in paths through a tree-like table structure. Since multiple levels of search are required, search time is slow, although the storage space needed for the table is more efficient. A traditional Trie structure has a number of access levels equal to a number of bits in the input key. Each stride, or jump to the next level, consumes one bit of the input key.
A compromise data structure modifies the Trie structure to use strides of more than one bit. This structure can provide a good trade-off between access speed and storage requirements.
FIG. 1 shows prior-art stride tables in a multi-bit Trie structure. Key 18 is the lookup key that is input to the table structure. A lookup is an operation to find an entry in the table structure that matches key 18. Key 18 is divided into four strides S1, S2, S3, S3. In this simplified example, key 18 is only 8 bits wide, and each stride is 2 bits wide.
First stride S1 selects one of four entries in first-level stride table 10. Entries in table 10 contain pointers to tables 12 in the second level. For example, the top second-level table 12 is pointed to by the top entry in table 10, which is selected when S1 is 11. Another second-level table 12′ is pointed to by the third entry in table 10, which is selected when S1 is 01.
Since each stride is 2 bits, each entry in one level points to a table of 4 entries in the next level. Thus a single table 10 in level 1 expands to four tables 12 in the second level, sixteen tables 14 in the third level, and sixty-four tables 16 in the fourth level. A lookup is performed by traversing the four levels of the tables in the table structure. For the example of key 18 having a value of 01110011, the first stride S1 is 01 and selects the third entry in table 10, which points to table 12′ in level 2.
The two stride bits 11 for S2 select from among the four entries in each of tables 12. Since first-level stride table 10 pointed to table 12′, an entry from selected table 12′ is used and other tables 12 are ignored. The top entry in table 12′ is selected by the value (11) of S2. This top entry contains a pointer to selected table 14′ in level 3.
The two stride bits S3 of level three select from among the four entries in selected table 14′ in the third level. The value of S3 is 00, which selects the lowest entry in selected table 14′. This entry has a pointer to one of the 64 tables in level four, selected table 16′.
The value of the fourth stride S4, 11, selects the upper of four entries in selected stride table 16′. This entry contains the result of the lookup, or a pointer to the result. The value 01110011 of key 18 returns this result. Both the key and the result may be composed of several fields that are combined together.
When longest-prefix matches (LPM) are supported, intermediate results may be stored in entries in tables 10, 12, 14 of the intermediate levels, rather than only at the end (leaf) levels.
While such Trie structures modified for multi-bit strides are useful compromises between a fast but large single-level table, and a slow but storage-efficient Trie structure, the storage requirements may still be large using stride tables.
The parent application disclosed using compression functions to compress stride tables. Network tables tend to be sparse tables since the address locations are sparsely populated with valid entries. Most memory locations tend to be empty, or have invalid entries.
Since network tables are sparse, the valid entries in a stride table may be compressed to squeeze out invalid entries and reduce the storage requirements. Ideally, only the valid entries would be stored, but in practice some invalid entries are also stored in the compressed tables. Thus the degree of compression may be less than ideal.
Rather than simply masking or deleting index bits to compress a table, index bits may be compressed using various functions. For example, two or more index bits may be combined together into a single index bit using a logical function such as a logical XOR. A variety of compression functions may be used such as XOR, AND, OR, rotate, shifts, and conditional operations. A field in the table entry can indicate which logical functions to perform for the next level of stride tables. Thus the different logical functions may be mixed together within a table structure to optimize compression.
FIG. 2 shows a logically-compressed stride table as described in more detail in the parent application. Table 20 is a stride table such as one of tables 10, 12, 14, 16 of FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the current stride size is 4 bits. The current stride of the input key is used as a 4-bit index address that selects one of the 16 entries in stride table 20. Each entry in stride table 20 is in a location identified by a 4-bit index of bits A3, A2, A1, A0. Stride table 20 contains only 4 valid entries, at index locations 1100, 1011, 1001, and 1000. The other 12 indexes contain invalid or empty entries.
Since all four valid entries have a 1 in the most-significant-bit (MSB) of the index, or A3=1, index bit A3 is not needed to select among the four valid entries. Index bit A3 could be removed or masked from stride table 20, as was shown in prior-art FIG. 2. The entries with A3=0 are deleted, since they are all empty entries. Only the entries with A3=1 are retained in compressed stride table 20′.
Further compression can be achieved by combining two of the remaining three index bits to create a new index bit. In this example, index bits A2 and A1 are combined by an XOR function to generate a new A1 index bit. The old A2 and A1 index bits are replaced by this new A1 index bit. The result is that a 2-bit index is used in compressed stride table 22 to select among the 4 entries in table 22.
The size of stride table 22 has been reduced by 75% by masking one index bit (A3) and logically combining two other index bits (A2, A1). Empty entries are removed from compressed stride table 22. Other stride tables could also be compressed, reducing the overall storage requirements.
Two steps were performed to compress the 4 index bits down to 2 index bits. First, one of the index bits (A3) was masked out. Second, two index bits (A2, A1) were logically combined into one index bit (the new A1). The XOR function used for this logical combining is a compression function (CF). Other compression functions may be used for other tables, such as AND, OR, rotate, shift, or more complex functions such as AND-OR, etc.
FIG. 3 shows storing of compression functions (CF) in a stride-table entry. While compression functions could be fixed in hardware or software routines or specified in other ways, storing the compression function in the stride table entry allows different compression functions to be used for different stride tables within the table structure. Thus compression for each table may be optimized, resulting in better overall compression. The compression may even adapt to the type of entries being stored, or to entry changes that occur over time.
Entry 50 is a valid entry in a stride table in level N. Stride bits Sn are extracted from the input key and used to select this entry from other entries in the Nth level of the stride tables. The value of these stride bits Sn are stored in tag field 52 and compared to the input stride bits Sn to ensure a match. Aliasing and other errors are thus avoided.
The number of bits in the next level of the stride table is stored. For example, a value of 0111 could indicate that 8 bits of the input key are used for the stride bits in the next level N+1. In some embodiments, the stride sizes are fixed and next stride size field is not needed.
The compression function (CF) to use for compressing the stride bits to generate the compressed index for the next level N+1 of the stride table is indicated by CF field 60. CF field 60 may include opcode field 62 with a function-type field that indicates the logical function (XOR, shift, etc.). Operand field 64 may contain control bits that control the function, such as indicating a number of positions to shift by, or which bit-positions to use as inputs. A bit mask may be stored in operand field 64. This may be the initial mask (IM) used by an initial masker, or a final mask used by a final masker, or some other mask. The mask may be encoded or compressed in some way, or could be a bit-by-bit mask. Positive or negative masks may be used.
The exact format of CF field 60 may be data-dependent, with some CF functions requiring more control bits than other functions. Opcode field 62 may have a fixed number of bits while operand field 64 varies in width. Decoding of opcode field 62 can determine the number of bits in operand field 64.
Each valid entry 50 in the stride table at level N points to another whole stride table in the next level N+1. Pointer field 58 contains a pointer to the stride table in the next level N+1. The compression function specified in CF field 60 is used to compress the next level stride bits SN+1 to find the entry in the next-level stride table pointed to by pointer field 58. Pointer field 58 could contain a full address or a partial address, offset, or some other way of indicating the next stride table.
The final level of stride tables does not point to another level. Instead, pointer field 56 contains a pointer to a lookup result, or could contain the result itself. Some fields may be optional for some kinds of entries. Sometimes, a partial lookup is performed. There may be some valid entries for which only some of the input key's bits are matched; other input key bits are ignored (don't cares). These are referred to as regional entries. For example, the 15 most-significant-bits (MSB's) of a key are matched while the remaining 17 LSB's are ignored. When the first and second level strides are each 8 bits wide, then the second-level stride only matches 7 of the 8 stride bits. For some lookups, such as longest-prefix matches (LPM), both result pointer field 56 and next-level pointer field 58 may be valid. When both pointers are valid, then result pointer field 56 indicates the result when no more-precise match is found.
MSB-to-use field 54 indicates that only the 7 MSB's of the 8 stride bits are matched when comparing tag field 52 to the input key. For a regional entry in the database, it is possible to successfully terminate the search prior to completely traversing all of the levels. A match may be identified prior to traversing all of the levels. This may occur when a search key matches a regional entry, and there is no exact match entry present for a given search key. In this case, there is a valid result available even prior to completing traversal. In this case the result may be provided in field 56.
While using compression functions to reduce the sizes of stride tables is useful, the input key that is divided into strides is sometimes quite long. Input keys of 500 bits or more may occur in some applications, such as for IPv6 networks. These extremely long keys may require many strides, or may require long strides. For example, a 512-bit key could be divided into 64 strides of 8-bits per stride, or into 8 strides of 64-bits per stride. Neither option is desirable, resulting in too many levels of stride tables, or in excessively large stride tables. What is desired is a multi-stride lookup structure that uses a more compressed input key to increase efficiency, and to reduce a number of levels of stride tables needed. Efficient memory management is further desired for stride tables and associated structures.

Deterministic lookup using hashed key in a multi-stride compressed trie structure


A door handle has an elongated member pivotally connected with a plate member. The elongated member has a toe portion which interacts with the plate member. In this way, the elongated member is at least partially retained by the plate member at each end. The door handle provides an anti-ligature design that thwarts suicide attempts by persons attempting to affix or hang ligatures on the door handle. The door handle is also easily operable by those with disabilities.

In many environments such as, for example, although not limited thereto, medical facilities, schools, offices, government buildings, residences, and other institutions, there exists a population of people at risk of committing suicide. In many psychiatric hospitals, for example, patients have been known to attempt suicide, specifically hanging, while in the care of the institution.
These suicide attempts are known to have involved the use of doorknobs and other door hardware. To attempt suicide, a person may wrap a ligature such as a belt, although not limited thereto, around a doorknob in order to hang him- or herself. Institutions have many private rooms where such a suicide attempt may take place, such as bathrooms. Every private room cannot be watched at the same time without enormous staff resources. Therefore, private rooms, and specifically door hardware, provide an area of opportunity for a suicide attempt.
The problem of suicide attempts has been addressed in many institutions by simply removing all door hardware, and even the doors themselves. While this may reduce the opportunity for suicide attempts, it likewise eliminates all privacy and security.
Some current designs for anti-suicide door hardware have included flush-mounting, low profiles, and steep angles to inhibit the affixing of a ligature. However, these known designs fail to fully inhibit the ability of a person to use door hardware for attempting suicide. Furthermore, in an attempt to make the door hardware difficult to use for the purpose of attempting suicide, known designs have made normal operation of the door hardware difficult.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a superior system and method for use of anti-ligature door hardware.


A device suitable for fastening a roofing membrane to a roofing surface comprises a pair of stress reliever plates, preferably coupled along one edge. Membrane engagement members, such as spikes, extend A device suitable for fastening a roofing membrane to a roofing surface comprises a pair of stress reliever plates, preferably coupled along one edge. Membrane engagement members, such as spikes, extend from the inner surface of one plate toward the other plate and are received in holes provided in the other plate. In the preferred embodiment, the two plates are coupled to one another by coupling or hinge systems, and a method for using the device is disclosed which comprises placing the fastener at the edge of the membrane material. Use of the dual plate stress reliever in combination with the membrane engaging the spikes provides a system with high resistance to lateral pullout and a system which is easy to install. Wrinkling of the membrane during fastener installation is also minimized.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a fastener used for installing a waterproof membrane on a roof. More particularly, it relates to a stress reliever assembly having top and bottom portions through which at least one screw is inserted to secure the membrane to the roof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of screw and stress reliever type fastener systems have been designed for securing roof covering materials to roof decks made of steel, gypsum, tectum, or wood. Such roof covering materials typically include a water impervious membrane, and frequently include successive layers of materials; insulation is frequently placed between the deck and the membrane. Such systems generally include an elongated screw which penetrates a flat plate (washer). The plate (sometimes referred to as a stress plate) urges the roof covering membrane and insulation downwardly when the screw is tightened to a rooftop sublayer and tends to prevent the membrane from pulling vertically or horizontally over the head of the screw.
Screw and plate fasteners are most frequently used on commercial buildings having a flat roof. In general, a layer of insulation is frequently placed over a deck. Membrane, typically marketed in rolls, is then laid out over the insulation. The membrane edges along the perimeter of the roof are usually fixed by battons or other conventional techniques. Fasteners are then installed along the interior edge of the membrane sheet, the distance from the edge and the distance between fasteners being determined in accordance with the types of decking and insulation material used and the anticipated conditions. More specifically, a minimum force which will cause the membrane to tear away from the fastener (or the fastener to pull out of the roof) is prescribed by the architect or designer. The number of fasteners per unit linear distance is chosen to ensure that the membrane will be retained.
To install a typical fastener, a pilot hole may be employed. If so, it is first drilled at the desired location through the roof membrane, insulation, and deck. A plastic or metal screw is inserted through a retaining stress plate and then driven into the hole, engaging the roof deck so that the plate is held tightly against the membrane. After the fasteners have been installed along the edge of the first sheet, a successive sheet of membrane is arranged with one edge overlapping the edge of the first sheet of membrane, thereby covering the fasteners. That overlapping edge of the successive sheet is bonded (e.g., chemically or by heating) to the sheet secured by the fasteners. The other edge of the succeeding sheet is fixed to the insulation and deck by fasteners in the manner previously described. Thus, the roof is covered by overlapping sheets of membrane.
Metal screws with plastic plates proposed for use as roofing anchors are described in, for example, DeCaro U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,997 issued Dec. 7, 1982; Hartman U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,039, issued Oct. 25, 1988; Dewey U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,380,413 and 4,545,270, issued Apr. 19, 1983 and Oct. 8, 1985, respectively; and Hasan U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,910, issued May 12, 1987, U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,959, issued Dec. 15, 1987, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,661, issued July 19, 1988.
Problems have been encountered when conventional screw and plate fasteners are employed in such roof applications. Wind blowing over the membrane tends to create a negative air pressure, which in turn tends to cause the membrane to pull laterally from the fastener. To assist in preventing the membrane from tearing out from the fastener due to such lateral forces, downwardly directed cleats, lugs, spikes, ribs or other protrusions on the underside of the stress plate have been provided. These engage the membrane as the screw is tightened into the rooftop. See, for example, Murphy U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,188, issued Nov. 29, 1988; Reinwall, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,164 issued Feb. 23, 1989; and Francovitch U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,660, issued Oct. 16, 1984. However, such plates are typically not suitable for certain types of roofs, particularly those roofs sometimes used in warm climates, where the membrane is applied directly over a deck of relatively hard material, without intervening insulation. Also, in some applications where particularly tough membranes are employed or low density insulation is used, the protrusions sometimes fail to adequately engage the membrane. Further, over time the screw tends to cease to provide the original level of preload tension relative to the membrane. This may happen because the insulation deteriorates and shrinks due to, e.g., harsh weather conditions, or because vibrations cause the screw to back out from the deck material. Such a loss of tension can also cause the lugs on the underside of the stress plate to lose engagement with the membrane, making the membrane more susceptible to pull out due to lateral forces. These conditions can also result in the head of the screw popping out, i.e., protrude from the surrounding roofing material, which in turn leads to damage to the overlying membrane.
A number of mechanical systems have been proposed for preventing separation of the screw from the plate in roofing fasteners. Back out can be prevented by preventing the screw from turning (in a reverse direction) relative to the roof. This could be accomplished with a broad headed screw having lugs, spikes, ribs or the like on the underside of the head which would engage the membrane and prevent counter-rotation. However, rotation of such devices, during installation would tend to tear or otherwise damage the membrane. Accordingly, fastener systems have been proposed which include a plate with anti-rotation structure (such as spikes) to engage the membrane, a screw, and a mechanism to prevent counter-rotation of the screw relative to the plate. Such a system is described in the aforementioned Dewey U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,413. Projecting pawls on the head of the screw, cooperate with projections on a plate, much like a ratchet system, to prevent counter-rotation after installation.
A similar system employing a ratchet mechanism to prevent a screw from backing out is described in Giannuzzi U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,456, issued Aug. 16, 1988. However, these various ratchet structures tend to give the fastener assembly an undesirably high profile, and may be susceptible to failure due to loss of tension or breakage of the ratchet members if overtightening occurs. Other systems employ a threaded connection between the plate and fastener. For example, the aforementioned DeCaro U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,997 describes a fastener with upper and lower sets of threads with an intervening unthreaded area which cooperates with a stress plate having anti-rotation structures on its underside. The lower set of threads are coupled to the plate prior to installation. The upper threads engage the plate after the screw is substantially driven into the roofing deck. The anti-rotation structures engage the roof membrane and prevent the plate from turning.
The prior art stress reliever plates are disadvantageous in a number of respects. Perhaps most importantly, the interaction of the teeth, spikes or lugs on the underside of the stress reliever plate may cause wrinkles in the membrane during tightening of the anchor. In addition, the profile of the stress reliever plate and anchor must be relatively low and without sharp corners so that the membrane will not be torn if the anchor is stepped on. The spikes must be sufficiently thick to withstand lateral forces exerted by wind lift. However, the bigger the spike, the more wrinkles created in the membrane, and the spike must be sufficiently sharp (pointed) to penetrate the membrane. Metal stress relievers provide strength, but tend to be corrosive, and in some instances, are subject to galvanic effects.
Other systems have been proposed which employ a cap over the head of the fastener (see, e.g., Verble U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,558, issued Apr. 12, 1987; Francovitch U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,606, issued June 4, 1985; Beneze U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,402, issued Nov. 4, 1986) or resilient spring mechanisms to maintain tension (see, e.g., Hewison U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,455, issued Oct. 14, 1986). Application of a bonding or sealing agent over the head of a fastener, between a stress reliever plate and the membrane, or both have also been proposed. See Sandquist U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,501, issued Feb. 21, 1978, and Francovitch U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,455,804 and 4,467,581, issued June 26, 1984 and Aug. 28, 1984, respectively. Still other systems rely on a nut or similar element disposed on the lower end of the screw beneath the rooftop to hold the fastener in place. See Sargent U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,699, issued Mar. 1, 1988. These fasteners are only partly effective in preventing the fastener from backing out and require additional structure for that purpose.
Roofing fastener systems with provisions for preventing the head of the screw from protruding beyond the top of the plate, e.g., in the event of loss of installation tension, have also been proposed. For example, a system where the washer includes a flexible ring about the aperture that receives the screw is described in Dewey U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,413. Another such system employing a plastic washer having a resilient rib which engages the screw head to hold it in place is described in the aforementioned Hasan Pat. Nos. 4,712,959 and 4,757,661.
Another class of membrane fasteners includes multiple components for engaging the membrane, in addition to the fastener used to secure at least one of the components to the roof. Examples of such fasteners are described in Francovitch U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,606, issued June 4, 1985 (a lower plate is secured to the The intermediate membrane layer by linear fasteners passing into the lower plate or by head and socket engagement); Hickman U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,301, issued May 6, 1986 (a core with outreaching arms is secured to the roof, is covered by the membrane, and secured in place by a clip which fits over the core unit cooperating with a locking clamp); Tomaszewski U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,771 issued Oct. 21, 1986, Boginski U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,092 issued Nov. 25, 1986, Backenstow, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,686 issued Mar. 17, 1987, and Marston U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,490 issued Mar. 29, 1987 (snap-like fasteners wherein a lower member having an annular boss is anchored to the roof, the membrane is draped over the lower member, secured in place by a snap ring secured to the boss, and a locking cap is added); Tripp U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,187 issued May 17, 1988, (upper and lower plates with a series of annular concentric ridges); and Gasser U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,662 issued July 19, 1988 (a two-part locking ring-type fastener). The major problem with these multi-component fasteners is that they have unacceptably high profiles. Furthermore, numerous parts must be employed during the membrane installation process.
In fields totally unrelated to the field of the present invention, devices have been described which include generally parallel plates with a hinge or coupling system along one edge and a series of pins extending upwardly from one plate toward the other. See the clothing fabric fastening device of Trundy U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,386 issued Sept. 22, 1964. In another device (Burns U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,617, issued Apr. 5, 1983) used to suspend agricultural shade cloth, shaft-like pins extend into holes in the top plate. Apertures are provided in the illustrated embodiment for lashing ropes and the like.
Despite the large number of fasteners available, a need remains for a roof fastening system that provides a high pull out rating, simplicity in structure and ease of installation. A fastener which would avoid wrinkling of the membrane during installation and which would apply equalized pressure to the membrane under a stress plate would also be highly desirable.

Roof fastener assembly including a dual plate stress reliever


The display and recordation of non-volatile memory (NVM) changes is disclosed. In one embodiment a computer comprises a central-processing unit (CPU), a storage device, a NVM such as a CMOS, and a program. The NVM stores a plurality of configuration settings. The program permits changes to be made to the configuration settings, and maintains a history file of changes previously made to the configuration settings.

This invention relates generally to a non-volatile memory of a computer, and more particularly to the display and recordation of changes made to such a memory.
Typically, personal computers include a special type of chip that combines a real-time clock (RTC) with at least sixty-four bytes (including the clock date) of non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) memory. This chip is often referred as the xe2x80x9cCMOS chipxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cCMOS RAM,xe2x80x9d since the type chip of used is typically produced using a CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) process. CMOS design chips are known for very low power consumption, and this special RTC/NVRAM chip is designed to run off a battery for several-years.
The RTC/NVRAM chip typically includes a real-time clock. The clock permits software running on the computer to read the date and the time, and so that the date and the time will be preserved even though the system is powered off or unplugged. The NVRAM portion of the chip is designed to store the basic system configuration, including the amount of memory installed, types of floppy and hard disk drives, and other information, via a number of registers. This information can thus be read every time the computer is powered on. The chip is therefore powered by an external or integrated battery.
Most computers come with only a rudimentary program to make changes to the settings stored in the registers on the CMOS chip, however. Typically, for example, the user has to press F1 while the computer is booting to access the CMOS set-up program. Once the user has made changes to the CMOS registers, exiting the program causes the changes to be stored in the CMOS chip, such that the previous settings are erased.
Therefore, there are a number of drawbacks to the current approach to making CMOS register changes. The program does not keep track of previous changes that has been made. This means that if a mistake is made when making changes, there is no way of easily going back to previous settings. This is troublesome especially where a technician attempting to repair the machine needs to restore the CMOS registers to their original factory presets. Known prior art software only permits the recordation of past setting changes for the operating system settings, not CMOS settings.
There are other drawbacks to the current approach to making CMOS register changes. Upon start-up the program does not verify whether the CMOS registers have been inadvertently changed since the last time the program was run.
There is a need, therefore, for a CMOS settings program that keeps track of previous changes that have been made to the CMOS registers. There is a need for such a program that asks the user for confirmation prior to making the changes to the CMOS chip. Finally, there is a need for a program that verifies whether the CMOS registers have been inadvertently changed since the last time the program was run.
The present invention relates to the display and recordation of changes made to a non-volatile memory of a computer. In one embodiment of the invention, a computer comprises a central-processing unit (CPU), a storage device operatively coupled to the CPU, a non-volatile memory (NVM) operatively coupled to the storage device, and a computer program. The NVM is of any type, such as an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). The NVM stores a plurality of configuration settings. The computer program is stored on the storage device and executed by the CPU, and permits changes to be made to the configuration settings and to maintain a history file of changes previously made to the configuration settings. The computer program maintains both changes initiated by the user, and those made by the operating system or other programs running on the computer.
In another embodiment of the invention, a computerized system comprises the NVM and two components, a modification component and a recordation component. The modification component permits changes to be made to the configuration settings of the NVM, while the recordation component maintains a history file of all the changes previously made to the configuration settings. In a particular embodiment, the modification component permits changing the configuration settings to one of the history file of changes, as maintained by the recordation component. In other embodiments, a confirmation component verifies that the changes to be made are correct, and an initiation component inquires whether the configuration settings should be reset to the changes most recently made upon a mismatch of the configuration settings with the changes most recently made.
In this manner, the present invention provides for a number of advantages. The program of the present invention keeps track of previous changes that have been made to the NVM configuration settings. The program in one embodiment further asks the user for confirmation prior to making the changes to the NVM chip. Finally, the program verifies whether the configuration settings have been inadvertently changed since the last time the program was run, before permitting other changes to be made.
Other embodiments of the invention include a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program including means for changing a plurality of configuration settings and means for maintaining a history file of changes, and also a method for maintaining a plurality of configuration settings stored on a NVM of a computer. Still other and further aspects, advantages, and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent in the following description, and by referencing to the drawings.

Display and recordation of non-volatile memory changes


The present invention comprises an upper substrate; a data bus line and a storage capacitance bus line on a lower substrate; a gate bus line at the position of bisecting the unit pixel; a thin film transistor on the gate bus line; a counter electrode; and a pixel electrode. The pixel electrode comprises a frame shaped body unit formed on the edge in counter electrode and a plurality of slant slits arranged with a regular distance to divide the body unit into several parts, forming a predetermined angle with the gate bus line. The angle of slant slits in the pixel electrode is symmetric with respect to the gate bus line. The storage capacitance bus line is partially overlapped with both the upper edge of pixel electrode in one unit pixel and the lower edge of pixel electrode in the closest unit pixel. According to the present invention, the black matrix area is reduced by eliminating or minimizing the light leakage through modifying the pixel structure, thereby improving the aperture ration and transmittance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fringe field switching liquid crystal display device and a method for manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to a fringe field switching liquid crystal display device having improved aperture ratio and transmittance and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A fringe field switching liquid crystal display device has been proposed to improve low aperture ratio and transmittance of In-Plane switching liquid crystal display device. In the fringe field switching liquid crystal display device, a counter electrode and a pixel electrode are formed of transparent conductor, and the distance is narrower than that of upper and lower substrates, thereby forming a fringe field between the electrodes.
The fringe field switching liquid crystal display device has a high aperture ratio and transmittance since most of the molecules are operated in a pixel region. However, when an electric field is formed between the counter and the pixel electrodes, liquid crystal molecules with refractive anisotropy are operated to a predetermined direction at the same time. Therefore, it can cause a color shift problem which causes a predetermined color to be expressed according to the viewing angle. The fringe field switching liquid crystal display device having the following structure has been proposed to solve the above and other problems.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional fringe field switching liquid crystal display device has a structure that a storage capacitance bus line 108 is arranged at the position of bisecting a unit pixel defined by a gate bus line 100 and a data bus line 102. A thin film transistor 104 as a switching device is arranged at the intersection of the gate bus line 100 and the data bus line 102, and in the unit pixel, a counter electrode (not shown) is arranged to be overlapped with a pixel electrode 106.
The pixel electrode 106 is in contact with a source electrode in the thin film transistor 104 through a via hole 105, comprising a body unit formed in a frame shape and slant slits arranged with a regular distance to divide the body unit into several parts, forming a predetermined angle with the gate bus line 100. The slant slits are arranged symmetric with respect to the storage capacitance bus line 108. Therefore, the fringe field is also formed symmetric with respect to the storage capacitance bus line 108.
And, liquid crystal molecules are arranged symmetric with respect to the storage capacitance bus line 108, thereby the major axis and the minor axis of liquid crystal molecules are to be seen in any direction of screen. As a result, it is possible to compensate refractive anisotropy of liquid crystal molecule and prevent color shift.
However, the conventional fringe field switching liquid crystal display has a disadvantage that when a cross talk pattern signal is applied to panel, an electric field is formed on the region 112 between the edge of pixel electrode 106 and counter electrode (not shown) and the gate bus line 100 and data bus line 102, thereby generating undesirable light leakage.
In order to prevent this light leakage, as shown in FIG. 1, a method has been proposed that a large black matrix 110 is formed in a pixel region considering coupling margin and viewing angle. However, aperture ratio and brightness are lowered by the large black matrix.
Considering power consumption, it is required to improve aperture ratio, thereby increasing brightness in a BRIGHT state. However, the conventional art has a limitation in remarkably reducing the black matrix on upper substrate to improve aperture ratio of panel.
Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the problems and an object of the present invention is to provide a fringe field switching liquid crystal display device having improved aperture ratio and transmittance and a method for manufacturing the same, wherein the pixel structure is modified to prevent light leakage and reduce or eliminate black matrix, having more slits by enlarging the size of pixel electrode.
In order to accomplish the object, the present invention comprises: an upper substrate; a data bus line and a storage capacitance bus line arranged on a lower substrate opposing to the upper substrate to define a unit pixel; a gate bus line arranged at the position of bisecting the unit pixel and to be parallel with the storage capacitance bus line; a thin film transistor arranged on the gate bus line; a counter electrode arranged in the unit pixel; and a pixel electrode overlapped with the counter electrode to form a fringe field and electrically contacted with the thin film transistor through a via hole, wherein the pixel electrode comprises a frame shaped body unit on the edge in the counter electrode and a plurality of slant slits arranged with a regular distance to divide the body unit into several parts, forming a predetermined angle with the gate bus line, and the angle of the slant slits in pixel electrode is symmetric with respect to the gate bus line, and the storage capacitance bus line is overlapped with both the upper edge of pixel electrode in one unit pixel and the lower edge of pixel electrode in the closest unit pixel.
The method for manufacturing a fringe field switching liquid crystal display according to the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a counter electrode on a transparent insulating layer; forming a storage capacitance bus line on upper and lower outer sides of the transparent insulating layer having the counter electrode to define a unit pixel; forming a gate bus line at the position of bisecting the unit pixel; forming an insulating layer on the transparent insulating substrate having the gate bus line and the storage capacitance bus line and then, forming an active layer on the insulating layer over the gate bus line; forming a data bus line and source/drain electrodes extended from the data bus line on the insulating layer having the active layer; forming a protective layer on the source/drain electrodes and on the data bus line and then, forming a via hole exposing a part of the source electrode; and forming a pixel electrode comprising a plurality of slits, being in contact with the source electrode through the via hole.

Fringe field switching liquid crystal display device and method for manufacturing the same


Cosmetic blending devices for producing a cosmetic liquid from a solid-shell cosmetic ingredient capsule. The cosmetic blending devices include a lid, a base, a blending element configured to blend the capsule, and a drive mechanism configured to actuate the blending element. The cosmetic blending device may include a thermal element configured to change a temperature of the capsule. The thermal element may melt the capsule. The solid-shell cosmetic ingredient capsule comprises a shell defining an enclosed inner volume, and cosmetic material included in the enclosed inner volume. Methods of using the cosmetic blending devices comprise placing the solid-shell cosmetic ingredient capsule into the cosmetic blending device and blending the capsule to produce the cosmetic liquid. Methods of forming the solid-shell cosmetic ingredient capsule comprise forming a portion of the shell, adding the cosmetic material to the portion of the shell, and forming the remaining portion of the shell.

Cosmetics, such as creams, lotions, powders, mousses, gels, serums, balms, etc., may be applied to the skin, hair, nails, and/or other external body surfaces for various purposes, such as to beautify, enhance, soothe, moisturize, hydrate, and/or treat a specific issue or condition (e.g., acne). However, traditional cosmetics lose some of their efficacy because of the lengthy delay between the time of manufacturing and the time of use. In particular, many cosmetic products are mass produced in large quantities, packaged, stored at the manufacturer's facilities, shipped to retailers, stored on the retailers' shelves, sold to consumers, stored at the consumers' homes, and then dispensed, repeatedly, by the consumers over a prolonged period of time (e.g., months). This whole process, from manufacturing to use, can take many months or even years, and conventional cosmetics thus must contain sufficient preservatives to remain acceptable for consumer use during this time. When consumers have varying and/or multiple skin, hair, nail, etc. care or treatment needs, consumers thus must purchase and store multiple containers of cosmetics to accommodate these needs. These containers typically contain quantities of pre-made cosmetics to last for weeks or months when used daily, and thus much longer when only used periodically. Further, when applied to the skin, hair, nails, and/or other external body surfaces, the cosmetics may feel cold to the touch because they are often stored at room temperature in the consumer's home.

Systems and methods for blending solid-shell cosmetic ingredient capsules and blendable cosmetic ingredient capsules


An operation-characteristic obtaining apparatus including an operation-characteristic obtaining portion which obtains, as an operation characteristic of an electromagnetic control valve which includes a coil and which is opened and closed according to at least a relationship between (a) an acting force corresponding to a difference of respective pressures of a working liquid on either side of the electromagnetic control valve and (b) an electromagnetic drive force corresponding to an electric current supplied to the coil, a relationship between (c) a valve switching current as an electric current that is supplied to the coil of the electromagnetic control valve at a time when the electromagnetic control valve is switched between a closed state thereof and an opened state thereof and (d) a difference at the time of the respective pressures on either side of the electromagnetic control valve; and a leakage detecting portion which detects, when the operation-characteristic obtaining portion obtains the operation characteristic of the electromagnetic control valve, whether the electromagnetic control valve has a leakage of the working liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic-pressure control apparatus that controls a hydraulic pressure used to operate a hydraulic brake of a vehicle, and an operation-characteristic obtaining apparatus that obtains an operation characteristic of an electromagnetic control valve.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-294140 discloses the technique of correcting, based on a responsiveness of an electromagnetic control valve, an operation characteristic thereof that is used to control an electric current supplied thereto. More specifically described, if a time duration from a time when a certain electric current is supplied to a coil of the electromagnetic control valve to a time when the control valve is actually switched to an opened state thereof, is longer than a reference time, then the operation characteristic of the control valve is so corrected as to increase the electric current (i.e., the valve opening current); and if the time duration is shorter than the reference time, then the operation characteristic is so corrected as to decrease the valve opening current.

Hydraulic-pressure control apparatus and operation-characteristic obtaining apparatus


The present invention provides a circuit board which prevents an adverse effect to be caused on electronic components by flux or the like that is produced at the time of soldering. According to this invention, land patterns 6 and 7 for connecting a flat cable 5 and a slide switch 4 are formed apart from each other on a circuit board and a slit 10 is formed between the land patterns 6 and 7. Consequently, although flux is produced when terminals 5a to 5f of the flat cable 5 are soldered to the land pattern 7, the flux can escape from the slit 10 and does not intrude into the slide switch 4 easily.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit board that has land patterns for soldering terminals of electronic components, and in particular, to a circuit board that is adapted to prevent an adverse effect caused on an electronic component due to flux and the like that are produced at the time of soldering.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when various electronic components are mounted on a circuit board, a wiring pattern is formed on the circuit board and terminals of the electronic components are soldered to land patterns of this wiring pattern. In such a soldering process, for the purpose of securing wettability between the land patterns of the circuit board and the terminals of the electronic components and realizing satisfactory soldering, for example, soldering processing is performed by applying flux to the circuit board or using solder containing flux. However, since the flux consists of water and active components and has a water absorption property and a moisture absorption property, when the flux intrudes into the electronic components, the flux changes to a film having a hydrophilic nature. This film acts as a medium for an electrochemical reaction to result in causing a failure such as deterioration in insulation due to electrolytic etching. As a conventional measure for preventing such a failure due to the flux, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 07-003158 proposes a circuit board that is constituted to control intrusion of a foreign material such as flux into electronic components mounted on a circuit board by forming a hole in the bottom surface of an electronic component such as a surface wave filter on the circuit board and permitting the foreign material such as the flux, which is produced at the time of soldering, to escape from the hole.
In recent years, various electronic devices tend to be reduced in size and thickness. In addition, a circuit board further reduced in size is demanded as a circuit board to be built in the electronic devices. Thus, in recent years, electronic components to be mounted on the circuit board tend to be mounted more densely. Consequently, in the case in which a distance between two electronic components is short, and for example, a wiring member such as a flat cable is soldered to be connected to the electronic components after the circuit board is manufactured, when other electronic components are mounted near a land pattern of the flat cable, it is likely that flux, which is produced at the time of the soldering of the flat cable, directly intrudes into the electronic components near the land pattern. In such a case, even if a hole is formed in the bottom surface of an electronic component as described in the Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 07-003158, it is difficult to effectively prevent the flux that is produced at the time of soldering of the flat cable to be attached to the circuit board after the circuit board is manufactured.


The present invention provides a baseball base securing device comprising a buried hollow receiving tube and a spring biased cover. Generally, the baseball base, having a downwardly extending anchor member is receivable by and removable from the receiving tube. The spring biased cover is insertable into the receiver and positionable between a flush position and a retracted position within the receiver. The cover is in the flush position just under the surface, when the anchor of the baseball base is removed from the receiver. The cover is traversed to the retracted position when the anchor of the baseball base is inserted into the receiving tube. The cover, including a air permeable seal around the perimeter, and in contact with the sidewall of the receiving tube pushes dirt out from the receiving tube when the anchor of the base is being removed therefrom, and the cover prevents environmental debris or dirt from entering the receiver when the anchor is not inserted into the receiver.

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The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method securing sports equipment to a field playing surface. More particularly, the invention comprises an improved apparatus and method for removably securing a baseball base to the infield of a baseball field.
Baseball is a popular sport in the United States and internationally. The sport is played at many levels beginning from children""s amateur baseball through college and professional baseball. In the more organized baseball leagues, bases are secured to the baseball field to prevent movement during the game. A variety of devices have been adapted to allow bases to be secured and then later removed.
The necessity to provide bases that are removably attachable to the playing field arises for a number of reasons. It is desirable to remove the base from the field to avoid prolonged exposure to the environment which would have a deleterious effect on the base. Further, many fields are multipurpose sports fields and it is important to be able to remove the bases to allow other sports to be played without the base secured to the field. Also, during maintenance of the field""s surface, it is desirable to remove the bases.
In order to be removably attachable to the playing surface, conventional bases include base anchors affixed to the bottom surface of the base to secure the base to the ground. A number of known base anchors are used to secure bases. Most typically, bases include a male square metal shaft protruding downwardly from the bottom of the center of the base. A square hollow female shaft embedded vertically in the ground receives male shaft via an opening slightly larger than the male shaft. The bottom of the hollow female shaft is installed approximately one to one and a half feet below field grade and is usually set in cement and placed at first, second and third base locations of a playing field. It is estimated that currently, the above described base and anchor is used in approximately 90% of fields used by organized baseball leagues.
The above described female shaft anchors are set in the ground at designed base locations depending on the level of play. For example, fields may have a distance of 54 feet for little league play, 60 feet for girls softball, 65 feet for mens softball,70 and 80 feet of Pony level baseball and 90 feet for highschool and major league baseball. The anchors are permanently installed in the ground to accommodate the base for what ever level of game is played. A playing field may have 5 or 6 different anchor locations at one time but only one set of bases is set at a time.
After use, the base is removed from the female shaft and a rubber plug is installed in the opening of the female shaft in order to prevent debris from falling into the hollow void thereof. The base is stored for use in the next game. The rubber plugs vary in size from 2 inches in diameter to 6 in diameter, and approximately one inch in height. Square plugs are also utilized. With the rubber plugs in place, the dirt area of the playing field is raked and machine dragged in order to keep the field flat and ready for the next teams use. While the field is being raked and dragged the buried female base anchors are covered with dirt and left covered until the next games are played. In many instances, the fields are raked and dragged by the players or coaches who may easily lose the rubber plugs or they may easily forget to install the plugs and the anchors fill with dirt and rocks. In some cases rakes or dragging equipment will snag the plugs removing them, and causing the void to fill with unwanted material.
The filling of the void of the buried female shaft with unwanted material is so prevalent that manufacturers of baseball bases and accompanying anchors sell a small spoon to be used in conjunction with the equipment in order to remove the dirt and debris. Removing of the debris with the spoon device is difficult and time consuming. Each time the field is used, someone must first locate the desired anchor by measuring from a permanently installed home base to the general area of the anchor. The anchor is located by random prodding in the dirt in the general location. Once the plug is removed, the base shaft is placed into the anchor and pushed down to ground level and it is ready for use, sometimes with great difficulty. Frequently debris gets into the shaft of the anchor when removing the plug in which case the small spoon is used to remove the soil. In many cases, if the dirt and rocks are not removed completely, the installers must use great force to push the bases down to ground level. Dirt and rocks may wedge between the anchor shaft and the base shaft and can not be pulled apart. When this happens, the ground anchor must be unburied, removed from the field and new anchor installed. The removed anchor is then discarded, most times along with the frozen base.
Because the amateur leagues do not have the benefit of professional grounds keepers, the securing and later removal of the bases to the field surface must be completed by league officials, coaches, umpires or the players themselves. Thus, there is a great need to provide a baseball base securing device which prevents unwanted dirt and debris from entering the open vertical shaft thus, reducing the time and effort associated with base installation. In addition, there is a great need to provide a base securing device which eases the identification of a buried base shaft.
The present invention relates to a baseball base securing device which is engageable with a baseball base. The present invention is utilized with a standard baseball base having a downwardly extending anchor which is received by a hollow buried receiving tube member of the present invention. The receiving tube has an aperture which is sized and configured to receive the anchor. When not in use, a cover closes off the receiving tube. The cover is supported by a spring member located within the body of the receiving tube. The cover is traversable between a flush position and a retracted position. The cover is biased such that the flush position is normal. The cover is biased with a compression spring.
The spring defines a biasing force at the flushed position and the retracted position. Generally, the spring force at the flush position is sufficient to push dirt out from the aperture, and the spring force at the retracted position is less than a total weight of the base. A collapsible cord is attached to the cover to regulate the cover to the flushed position.
The cover has a cross-sectional dimensions virtually identical to that of the base""s downwardly extending member which is received by the aperture of the receiving tube. As such, the aperture is configured as a square hole. Specifically, the size of the cover is slightly smaller than the size of the aperture of the receiver such that the cover may be inserted into the receiver and traversable between a flush position and the retracted position. In this regard, when the anchor of the base is removed from the receiver, the cover pushes debris and dirt out of the receiver as the anchor is being removed from the housing.
A flexible seal circumvents the cover. In particular, the seal continuously contacts the outside perimeter of the cover and the inside perimeter of the aperture and inside surface of the receiving tube. The seal is fabricated from a material that is resilient and weather resistant. Additionally, the seal should be permeable to air but not dirt and other debris. In this regard, the seal further displaces dirt out from the receiver as the anchor is being removed from the housing. By way of example and not limitation, the seal may be fabricated from foam, rubber, closed cell rubber or open cell rubber.
A visual indicator is attached to the receiving tube. The locator is attached to the receiver such that it is visible above the dirt when the anchor is removed from the housing. The visual indicator has long bristles that are resilient such that it may deform when the bases is inserted into the housing and resiliently push above the surface of the ground when the base is removed therefrom. Typically the locator is oriented and attached to the housing such that the locator is normal to the ground.


The present invention provides a magnetic resonance imaging system for imaging a subject by a multi-shot imaging. The magnetic resonance imaging system comprises an acquiring unit for acquiring MR raw data corresponding to a plurality of shots; an imaging unit for generating a plurality of folded images from the MR raw data, wherein each of the plurality of folded images is generated from a subset of the MR raw data; a deriving unit for deriving magnitude of each pixel of each folded image; a detecting unit for detecting a motion of the subject during the multi-shot imaging based on similarity measurements of any two folded images of the plurality of folded images, wherein the detecting unit further comprises a first deriving unit configured to derive the measured similarities; and a reconstructing unit for reconstructing a MR image of the subject based on MR raw data obtained according to a detection result of the detecting unit. Since the partially acquired MR raw data is used for motion detection directly, it would be more rapid and stable.

Multi-shot imaging are widely adopted in clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications to obtain high spatial resolution diagnostic information. Two common multi-shot MR imaging methods are known as: multi-shot Turbo-spin echo (TSE) and multi-shot echo-planar imaging (ms-EPI). These imaging methods can be used to obtain high-spatial-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). However, inter-shot motion is almost inevitable and can lead to reduced image quality in multi-shot MR images due to motion artifacts. Further, as multi-shot methods require multiple acquisitions, they may require longer acquisition times than are required for single-shot acquisitions. These longer acquisition times may exacerbate inter-shot motion.
Conventional navigator based methods use low resolution image and high resolution image with fully acquired data to detect inter-shot motion during multi-shot imaging. However, it is time consuming and may introduce mis-registration issue between the navigator and the imaging data, which degrades image quality also. In addition, non-Cartesian trajectory can be used for self-navigated multi-shot imaging method; and parallel imaging method can be used to reconstruct an un-aliased image with partially acquired data for inter-scan motion correction. However, non-Cartesian based self-navigated method needs Non-Cartesian imaging, which is still not stable clinically, and the parallel imaging method needs parallel imaging based reconstruction, which needs additional computational cost.
US2012235679A1 discloses a motion compensation method where inverse-consistent non-rigid registration is used to determine motion between shots. US2009087057A1 addresses the problem of motion correction by evaluating k-space data. WO2014037868A1 discloses a magnetic resonance imaging system with navigator-based motion detection.

Mutli-shot magnetic resonance imaging system and method


Compositions comprising sun-care actives and self adapting polymers are disclosed. Self adapting polymers align themselves with the hydrophilic group pointing to the surface during application thus delivering an aesthetically pleasing surface to the consumers with a pleasant after feel. These polymers then rearrange upon contact with water so that the hydrophobic groups now point to the surface which then increases the water resistance of the formulation.

Sunscreen compositions are typically used in sunny places. Consumers wearing sunscreen products are typically engaging in outdoor activities such as running and swimming. This makes sunscreen products constantly in contact with water and/or sweat. A key parameter in the development of anhydrous sprayable sunscreen is the ability to make such products hydrophobic so that their residence on skin is extended. Another key parameter relates to the development of sunscreen formulations having increased sun protection factor (SPF) values.
Non-aqueous sunscreen sprays have been increasing in popularity in the U.S. over the last few years. The composition of these sunscreen products is essentially based on the concept of dissolving the active ingredients (Sunscreens) in alcohol and adding a hydrophobic polymer to the products to make them water resistant. Additives such as boosters, preservatives, emollients, fragrance and skin conditioning agents may be added to such formulations. The addition of hydrophobic polymers to the skin may not be very pleasing to wear on the skin all day. Especially upon re-application, several coats of the hydrophobic polymer will accumulate and might be more uncomfortable to wear.
Hydrophobic polymers typically have been used to impart water proofing onto formulations. The hydrophobic polymers do not change their conformation upon exposure to water but stay unchanged as depicted in FIG. 1.
Higher SPF products are desirable to provide higher UV protection. One way of achieving higher SPF values is to increase the amount of sunscreens in the product. However, this approach will increase the cost of the product and might negatively impact the sensory characteristics of the product.
Currently, the main pathway to achieving high SPF values is to increase the UV absorbers to maximum allowable concentrations. Small amounts of UV absorbers, like butyl octyl salicylate, have also been added as boosters to formulations. SPF has also been increased by adding light scattering/refracting polymers to the product such as styrene/acrylates copolymers. In addition, in some instances, certain polymers like Tricontanyl PVP have been used to increase the SPF of the formulation (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,376).
A few film formers have the ability to boost the SPF of a formulation. The mechanism is generally attributed to the ability of the polymer to make a uniform film of the product onto the skin. The distribution of the sunscreen actives in the film is considered key to the boosting effect of such polymer. In addition, the uniformity of the film is also of great importance. Since the surface of the skin is really not very uniform, many polymers do not have the ability of forming continuous films on the skin. That is why not all film formers are considered SPF boosters. The ability to identify such classes of polymers is key to achieve higher SPF values with less sunscreen in the formulations.

Self adapting polymers for anhydrous sunscreen formulations


A method for producing a cutting section from a closed tubular element (14) which is in the form of a hollow cylinder and from one or more drill segments (16) which are connected to the closed tubular element (14).

WO 2014/096359 A1 discloses a cutting section for a drill bit, which cutting section is connectable to a drill shaft section of the drill bit via a releasable connecting device. The releasable connecting device is designed here as a combined push and twist connection. A "push and twist connection" refers to releasable connections between a first and a second connecting element, said connecting elements forming a push connection in one direction and being additionally connected via a twist connection. The cutting section comprises one or more drill segments, a ring section, an outer push element and an annular stop shoulder at the transition from the ring section to the outer push element.
Cutting sections which are connectable with a combined push and twist connection are sold under the product name "Hilti DD X-CM". The "Hilti DD X-CM" cutting sections comprise a plurality of drill segments, a ring section and an outer push element, wherein an annular stop shoulder for transmitting forces is located at the transition from the ring section to the outer push element. Torque is transmitted by means of pin elements which interact with slot-shaped recesses in the outer push element. The "Hilti DD X-CM" cutting sections are produced from a closed tubular element. In this case, the annular stop shoulder is produced by turning and the slot-shaped recesses are produced by milling.

Method for producing a cut section for a drill bit