A dental restoration system is disclosed. A dental restoration system includes an implant, retention component, dental component and driver tool. The retention component is sealable in a retention chamber of the implant. The retention component includes a driver section for interfacing with a driving head of the driver tool and a dental component engagement section with a threaded surface. The dental component includes a retention component interface surface with threads. The dental component engages the retention component via the threaded surface interlocking with the threads of the retention component interface surface when the dental component is inserted in the implant. The driver tool is used to rotate the retention component to engage the dental component apically. The retention component contacts the retention component wall and the dental component contacts an annular shoulder of the implant when the dental component is fully attached to the implant.

A well-known procedure is the dental restoration of a partially or wholly edentulous patient with artificial dentition. Typically, a dental implant is seated into the bone of a patient's jaw. The dental implant includes a socket, e.g., a bore, which is accessible through the overlying or surrounding gum tissue for receiving and supporting one or more attachments or components which, in turn, are useful to fabricate and support prosthodontic restorations. The dental implant generally includes a threaded bore to receive a retaining screw for holding mating components therein. Dental implant procedures may use a variety of implanting modalities, for example, blade, threaded implant, or smooth push-in implant.
Single tooth restorations present the unique requirement that the prosthesis must be supported non-rotationally when engaged with the implant. Often times this is achieved through non-rotational support of the underlying abutment. When a prepared natural tooth is the underlying abutment, this requirement is met in the normal course of preparing the abutment with a non-circular cross-section. Likewise, when the underlying abutment is a post fitted onto an implant, this requirement is met by preparing the post with a non-circular cross-section. This latter scenario may be more complicated due to the added connection between the implant and the abutment.
While numerous design iterations have been marketed, overall there have been three generations of the implant-abutment interface within these assemblies: an external hex implant, an internal connection implant, and a vertical connection assembly. The external hexagonal implant design has a hexagonal shape (or another anti-rotation feature) protruding out of the implant and the corresponding prosthesis has a female hexagonal receptacle. There is a surface below the hexagonal protrusion on which the abutment is seated. The hexagonal protrusion acts to constrain the abutment from rotating around the longitudinal axis as well as preventing movement on the plane coincident with the implant seating surface. A screw is introduced and rotated to attach the abutment and the implant. The screw is essentially the sole component resisting bending forces.
Unfortunately, screws are a separate component that must be installed in the implant in addition to the abutment during oral surgery. Screws are small and difficult to deliver into a patient. The size of the screw makes it difficult to hold when inserting the screw into the implant and abutment and runs the risk of being ingested, or even worse, aspirated, if the screw is dropped. Further, a normal screw has a head that sits above the seating surface of the implant. The head limits the degree of angle adjustment of the abutment because the abutment screw head breaks out from the body once a certain angle is achieved, depending on the physical characteristics of the screw (i.e., screw head height and diameter), the location of the screw head, and the angle of the abutment. In order to accommodate a screw (or at least a diameter equivalent to the screw head diameter), the access hole in the abutment must be sized to accept the largest diameter of the screw, and this can often be relative large (compared to the outer diameter of the abutment. This can weaken the structural stability of the abutment, as well as potentially detract from the ultimate aesthetics of the provisional and/or final restoration(s).
Thus, there is a need for a retention component between a dental implant and a mating component such as an abutment that allows the attachment of the implant and the abutment without using a conventional mounting screw. There is a further need for a retention component that is pre-seated in an implant thereby preventing the mishandling of a screw within the oral cavity during oral surgery. There is a further need for an interface between a dental implant and abutment that creates a seal between the two components, thereby preventing and potentially promoting bacterial exchange between the oral cavity and the internal aspect of the implant. There is a further need for an interface between a dental implant and an abutment that allows design flexibility of a restoration having the possibility of an extremely short and/or highly angled restoration without sacrificing strength and/or aesthetics of the restoration.


A polypeptide having xcex2-fructofuranosidase activity is obtained by the expression of a microbial gene, which polypeptide contains the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:1 and SEQ ID NO:2 in whole or in part as an amino acid sequence. This polypeptide is useful for producing fructofuranosyl transferred saccharides.

The present invention is directed to a polypeptide having xcex2-fructofuranosidase activity which can be obtained by expression of a microbial gene.
Fructofuranosyl-transferred saccharides such as xylosylfructoside and lactosucrose, which have a strong anticariogenic activity and growth promoting activity for bifid bacteria, have recently become desirable substitutes for sucrose in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The fructofuranosyl-transferred saccharides are usually produced using xcex2-fructofuranosidases by contacting the enzymes with sucrose and amylaceous saccharides or lactose as starting materials. xcex2-fructofuranosidases derived from microorganisms of the genera Bacillus and Arthrobacter have been widely used. However, these microorganisms do not produce large quantities of the enzyme, so that it is uneconomical to culture these microorganisms on a large scale for enzyme production.
Great strides have recently been made in recombinant DNA technology. Even an enzyme of which the total amino acid sequence is not know can be obtained with relative ease in a desired amount by preparing a recombinant DNA containing a DNA which encodes the enzyme, introducing the recombinant DNA into microorganisms or plant or animal cells to obtain transformants, and culturing the transformants in nutrient culture media. However, in this case a gene encoding the enzyme must be isolated and the nucleotide sequence decoded. In view of the foregoing, it is urgently required to obtain and sequence a gene which encodes xcex2-fructofuranosidase.
The first object of the present invention is to provide a polypeptide having a xcex2-fructofuranosidase activity which can be easily produced on a large scale using recombinant DNA technology.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a DNA encoding the polypeptide.
The third object of the present invention is to provide a transformant into which the DNA is introduced.
The fourth object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing the polypeptide using the transformant.
The fifth object of the present invention is to provide a method for fructofuranosyl transfer using the polypeptide.
To attain the above objects, the present inventors studied energetically and found a polypeptide having a xcex2-fructofuranosidase activity. The amino acid sequences of SEQ ID Nos: 1 and 2 in whole or in part as a partial amino acid sequence, can be easily obtained in a desired amount by expression of a microbial gene.
The first object of the present invention is achieved by a polypeptide which has xcex2-fructofuranosidase activity and the amino acids sequences of SEQ ID NO:1 or 2 in whole or in part as a partial amino acid sequence, and which can be obtained by the expression of a microbial gene.
The second object of the present invention is attained by a DNA encoding the polypeptide.
The third object of the present invention is achieved by a transformant into which the DNA is introduced.
The fourth object of the present invention is attained by a process for producing the polypeptide comprising the steps of culturing the transformant and collecting the polypeptide produced from the culture.
The fifth object of the present invention is achieved by a method for fructofuranosyl transfer comprising a step of reacting a fructofuranosyl donor with a fructofuranosyl acceptor in the present of the polypeptide.

Polypeptide having xcex2-fructofuranosidase activity

Kabushiki Kaisha Hayashibara Seibutsu Kagaku Kenkyujo


A circuit device for neutralizing thermal drift in a transconductor differential stage using a first circuit portion which corresponds structurally to the transconductor differential stage and has a pair of MOS input transistors defining a transconductance value which is substantially proportional to that of the transconductor differential stage, a pair of bipolar output transistors coupled to the MOS input transistors in a cascode configuration, and a second circuit portion being supplied a current from an output of the first differential portion to thereby output a current to be passed to the transconductor differential stage. The value of the output current is inversely proportional to temperature-dependent parameters of the transconductance.

Specifically in the field of application of this invention, it is known to provide time-continued integrated filters, using a transconductor stage as the filter base block. That technique has been developed in recent years and already seems to be the most effective for high-frequency applications. This is most likely attributable to that, in a transconductor filter, the voltage/current conversion step is carried out in an open-loop system, and accordingly, the so-called non-dominant pole of the converter suffers no limitations from the unit frequency gain of an operational amplifier, as is instead the case with filters in the MOSFET-C technology.
However, transconductor filters also have the disadvantage of being uniquely affected by temperature changes while in operation. This results in the transconductance value fluctuating, which may be undesirable for many applications.
The underlying technical problem of this invention is to provide a circuit device which has such structural and functional characteristics as to neutralize the dependence of the differential stage transconductance on temperature, thereby overcoming the limitations imposed on current embodiments.

Circuit for neutralizing thermal drift in a transconductance stage


A cable retainer insert for a multi-strand cable includes a cable contact portion and a plurality of cable receptacles in the cable contact portion circumferentially spaced from each other. Each of the cable receptacles receives a strand of the multi-strand cable. Each of the cable receptacles has a cable strand insertion opening at a radially outward end and a bottom at an opposite radially inward end. A circle inscribed in each of the cable receptacles and touching the bottom of the cable receptacle extends radially outward beyond the cable strand insertion opening.

Multi-strand cables combine shielded and unshielded strands in one cable. Such cables may be applied for power transmission combined with data transmission. In prior art solutions, the transmission of a shielding and the protective earth connection via a metal housing is cumbersome, such that connector backshells terminating a multi-strand cable are not versatile.

Cable retainer insert and connector for shielding transfer


An extracorporeal lithotriptor has a shock wave head which includes a shock wave generator which generates shock waves to disintegrate calculi in situ, and components for coupling the generated shock wave to the patient. The lithotriptor also includes an x-ray system for locating a calculus to be disintegrated. The x-radiator for the x-ray system and the shock wave head are arranged relative to each other so that a central x-ray of the x-ray system proceeds substantially centrally through the shock wave head. The shock wave head can be arranged either at the housing of the primary radiation diaphragm for the x-ray system, or in front of the input luminescent screen of an x-ray image intensifier. The shock wave head has a central region which is penetrated by x-rays and which does not attenuate the x-rays.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a lithotriptor having an x-ray system for locating calculi to be disintegrated, and a shock wave head for generating shock waves and coupling the shock waves to a patient to achieve disintegration of the calculi.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lithotriptor systems are known in the art which are provided with two x-ray systems, each having an x-ray source and an x-ray detector, such as an x-ray image intensifier, with a video chain connected thereto. The patient is transirradiated with x-rays from two directions, so that it is possible to locate a calculus to be disintegrated. Two shock wave applicators are adjustably mounted so that one of the shock wave applicators can be moved laterally to the patient for treatment. A central axis in the direction of shock wave propagation, and the central rays two x-ray systems, intersect in an isocenter in which the calculus to be treated is located. Because the plane which is defined by the two central rays of the acoustic lobes of the respective shock wave applicators is perpendicular to the plane defined by the two central rays of the x-ray systems, the lateral space requirement for the overall system is relative large.

Extracorporeal lithotriptor with x-ray locating system


A method and computer program product for using a vibration signature as an authentication key to authorize access of a user computer to a network. A vibration device generates a vibration signal of the vibration signature. In one embodiment, a router detects and validates the vibration signal, and then the router starts a session of connecting the user computer to the network. In another embodiment, the user computer decodes the vibration signal of the vibration signature to a security set identifier and a security key, and then sends to a router. In response to validating the security set identifier and the security key, the router starts a session of connecting the user computer to the network.

The access authentication promotes information sharing among authorized users and prohibits others from accessing the information. Particularly, in a session for a user to a use a local network via WIFI, the entry of a security key by the user is not always an easy and user-friendly way; furthermore, the security key left in the computer after the session may allow the user without authorization to access other sessions. There exist some solutions. In a first solution, a flash drive may be distributed to authorized users; the flash drive is with preconfigured network settings or a text file containing a password. With the first solution, a computer or other electronic device must have a USB drive, and flash drive data can be easily copied. In a second solution, two-dimensional barcode may be used for a user to scan for the purpose of authentication. With the second solution, a computer or other electronic device must have a camera; in addition, a picture of the two-dimensional barcode can be easily taken and distributed without authorization. In a third solution, near field communication (NFC) may be used for a user to be authenticated by bringing a computer to proximity of a router; wherein both the computer and the router must be NFC enabled. With the third solution, the user must bring the computer close enough to the router. Under the situation of multiple users, the third solution is unsuitable and inconvenient.

Method and system for using a vibration signature as an authentication key

International Business Machines Corporation


A method includes forming a layer made of a first insulating material on a first layer made of a second insulating material that covers a support, defining a waveguide made of the first material in the layer of the first material, covering the waveguide made of the first material with a second layer of the second material, planarizing an upper surface of the second layer of the second material, and forming a single-crystal silicon layer over the second layer.

Photonic integrated circuits formed from a SOI structure are known. One or a plurality of active components are formed inside and/or on top of a single-crystal silicon layer of the SOI structure, and one or a plurality of silicon waveguides are defined in the single-crystal silicon layer of the SOI structure.
The circuits further comprise an interconnection structure resting on the single-crystal silicon layer. The interconnection structure comprises portions of metal layers separated from one another by insulating layers, and conductive vias crossing at least some of these insulating layers to electrically couple the components to one another and/or to electric connection pads arranged at the level of an upper surface of the interconnection structure.
One or a plurality of waveguides, typically made of silicon nitride, may then be arranged in an insulating layer, typically made of silicon oxide, of the interconnection structure.


A fin retention and deployment mechanism that has the advantage of providing for the deployment of aerodynamic control surfaces on command without the need for an additional actuation device or control circuitry separate from the actuator that controls the angle of the fins during flight. The actuator that is already required for operation of the control surfaces after deployment initiates the deployment of the fins, as well. A latch mechanism comprises a retaining member and a lath, which engages the retaining member enabling a biasing mechanism to force the fins from a stowed position to a fully deployed position.

Existing actuators for fin control on gun-launched projectiles are known, but are both complex and expensive. The requirement to withstand the acceleration forces, which typically range from 10,000 to 30,000 times the force of gravity, places very stringent demands on the actuators. Therefore, the designs are required to be extremely robust in order to withstand the loads induced by these accelerations. Existing actuators for fin control on gun-launched projectiles typically employ electric motors to drive the fins through a gear reduction system. These motors are either brush or brushless types that make several revolutions of the motor while moving the fin from one travel limit to the other. In the case of the brush type motors, there are substantial reliability issues with the brush systems due to the high acceleration loads and problems with corrosion resulting from long-term storage. The brushless types have reliability issues with rotor position sensing complexity.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,352 discloses an actuator system for controlling the external fins on a gun-launched projectile to control the flight path of the projectile. The actuator system includes an electric motor having a rotor and output shaft which is driven between travel limits that are less than 180 apart (less than 90 in either direction from a central rest position). Coupling from the motor shaft to the control shaft for the external fins is via a coupling between an eccentric ball on the motor shaft and an eccentric receptacle member on the fin shaft. As the angle of the motor shaft varies, the eccentric ball slides in a slot in the fin coupling member, causing the fin shaft angle to vary correspondingly. In another embodiment, the eccentric ball for controlling the fin shaft angle is mounted on a link arm that is coupled to the motor shaft, thereby permitting the motor to be mounted off the projectile axis and thus accommodating a shortened space in the projectile required for the actuator system and associated power supply. U.S. Pat. No. 6,880,780 to Perry et al. discloses a fin cover release and deployment system for gun -launched missiles, which uses a pyrotechnic actuator to drive actuator arms or a motor and rotating threaded shaft. The motor and rotating threaded shaft requires the use of an additional cover eject spring, which is not necessary in the pyrotechnic actuator.
Known deployment mechanisms for extending the fins in flight add complexity and reduce reliability of the projectiles, especially when stored for extended durations. Typically, the deployment mechanisms are pyrotechnics. Alternatively, the fins are deployed by a mechanical interface with the launcher, such as being retained by the launch tube walls, a an ejectable cover or being deployed by a lanyard, which effectuate release of the fins from the stowed position at a preset distance from the launcher. Pyrotechnics may be unreliable if stored for extended durations. Mechanical mechanisms involving the launcher are known to introduce drag and airframe instabilities. Ejectable covers require additional cover release springs and add additional complexity.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, Inc.


Provided is an apparatus and method which prioritizes transaction objects included on a reference list. The reference list contains transaction object information corresponding to the transaction objects. The apparatus stores a user's history of actions performed on the transaction objects and an interest parameter based on the user's history of actions. The interest parameter is used to select one or more transaction objects. The apparatus displays the reference list in an order prioritizing the selected transaction objects over non-selected transaction objects.

In the past, there has been known electronic commerce web site in which users can purchase transaction objects such as purchase of items or reservations of services. Such a web site provides a web page which posts information on each transaction object. Moreover, such a web site often provides a function that allows users to register an optional transaction object in a reference list. The reference list is, for example, a list that stores references to information on a transaction object such as a URL of information on the transaction object. Examples of the reference list include a favorite, a bookmark, and the like. Another example of the reference list includes a browsing history of a web page that posts information on a transaction object.
When a user wants to browse information on a transaction object registered in the reference list, the user displays the reference list on a screen and selects a transaction object that the user wants to obtain information thereof. Then, a web page that posts information on the selected transaction object is displayed on the screen. In this way, the user can easily access information on the transaction object from the reference list. However, if the number of transaction objects registered in the reference list increases, it may cost time and labor for the user to find a desired transaction object from the reference list.
To solve this problem, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique that allows users to easily designate a target homepage regardless of the number of entries of a bookmark. Specifically, an Internet browser arranges bookmark entries in the bookmark in the order of reference dates of the homepages or reference frequencies or in alphabetical order of the address names of homepages. Moreover, the users can arbitrarily set the arrangement method.

Apparatus and a method for reference list prioritization


To provide an alumina sintered body, abrasive grains, and a grinding wheel having high hardness and excellent wear resistance. An alumina sintered body comprising: an inner layer comprising alumina crystal grains; and an outer layer covering at least a part of the inner layer from outside, having a higher content of an alkaline earth metal than the inner layer, and comprising alumina crystal grains, wherein the content of the alkaline earth metal in the outer layer is 1.0 to 30.0 mass % in terms of oxide, the alumina sintered body being free from silicon except unavoidable impurities.

Alumina sintered bodies have been used in various industrial fields, making use of the feature of having excellent properties such as high hardness, high strength, high heat resistance, high wear resistance, and high chemical resistance. As one of such applications of alumina sintered bodies, a grinding wheel is mentioned.
Special alloys are often used as materials for parts constituting transportation equipment typified by automobiles or industrial machines. Since such special alloys are harder than normal SUS304 or the like, heavy-grinding wheels having a high "grinding ratio" which have not existed in the past are required in the market for processing these alloys. Here, the "grinding ratio" is an indicator showing the performance of grinding wheels and is represented by the following formula. A higher grinding ratio indicates higher performance of grinding wheels.Grinding ratio=Amount of work materials ground (grinding amount)/Wear amount of grinding wheel  (A)
Generally, if many work materials can be ground with few grinding wheels, the performance is determined to be good, but the grinding ratio of a grinding wheel is affected by the hardness, the strength, and the toughness of abrasive grains used for the grinding wheel. Further, phenolic resins and the like are mainly used as binders, and therefore the abrasive grains are required also to have resin affinity. The following relationships are considered to exist between the grinding ratio and the hardness, between the grinding ratio and the strength or the toughness, and between the grinding ratio and the resin affinity:    (1) As the hardness of abrasive grains increase, the grinding amount also increases, and therefore the grinding ratio also increases;    (2) As the strength or the toughness increases, the amount of abrasive grains broken decreases, and therefore the grinding ratio increases; and    (3) As the resin affinity of abrasive grains increases, shedding of the abrasive grains from grinding wheels hardly occurs, and therefore the grinding ratio increases.
That is, the numerator in the formula of the grinding ratio is affected by the hardness of abrasive grains, and the denominator therein is affected by the strength or the toughness and the resin affinity of abrasive grains. In order to obtain a grinding wheel with a large grinding ratio, it is ideal to increase all of the hardness, the strength, the toughness, and the resin affinity.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses allowing a fine isotropic crystal and a crystal having an anisotropic shape to coexist by mixing a metal oxide having a eutectic point with Al2O3 of 1600° C. or less with Al2O3 powder, followed by firing using microwaves.
Further, Non Patent Literature 1 discloses that CaO and SiO2 are uniformly co-doped in an alumina raw material in order to allow a plate-shaped alumina crystal having a large anisotropy to be contained in an alumina sintered body.
Further, Patent Literature 2 discloses layering an aluminum oxide material containing a crystal growth inhibitor and an aluminum oxide material containing a crystal growth promoter, followed by sintering the obtained laminate in one step.
Further, Patent Literature 3 discloses applying a solution or a slurry containing a magnesium compound to an aluminum oxide compact or a pre-sintered body, followed by main sintering. Patent Literature 3 discloses that a multilayer aluminum oxide sintered body in which the surface layer is composed of an equiaxed crystal with a small grain size, and the inside is composed of an anisotropic crystal can be obtained according to this production method.
Further, Patent Literature 4 discloses a multilayer alumina sintered body having an internal layer and a surface layer that contains silicon on the surface and has the same constituent crystalline phase as the internal layer, with their average crystal grain sizes being different from each other by 30% or more.

Alumina sintered body, abrasive grain, and grinding wheel


Systems and methods which provide postage indicia using mobile communication handsets are shown. According to embodiments, users are enabled to introduce mail pieces into a mail delivery stream which are accepted as having activated, value comprising postage indicia associated therewith without the use of traditional metering systems, processor-based postage generation and printing systems, or even printers. Instead, a token comprising substantially unique identification information identifying a mail piece is activated as an activated token having postage value associated therewith using mobile communication handsets, such as a smart phone, network enabled personal digital assistant, etc. according to embodiments of the invention.

The use of postage indicia in place of traditional postage stamps has become wide spread. Dedicated postage meters, for example, configured to strike postage indicia imprints upon envelopes and labels have been in use for many years. Such postage meters include a postage value vault and controlled printing mechanism which will strike postage indicia and debit a corresponding amount of value from the postage value vault under control of user input. The postage meters are typically somewhat bulky due at least in part to the security measures implemented to thwart fraudulent postage indicia strikes. Moreover, obtaining postage value credit refill is often a complicated and cumbersome task. Accordingly, the use and management of such postage meters is less than ideal for many users.
Solutions for generating and printing valid postage indicia using a home or office processor-based system, such as a personal computer (PC), have been provided by Stamps.com Inc., Los Angeles, Calif. (the assignee of the present application) for a number of years. The postage indicia generated by such processor-based systems has typically been an information based indicia (IBI), wherein a barcode (e.g., two-dimensional barcode) carries information useful for validating the indicia when placed in the mail stream. Such solutions have facilitated ad-hoc generation and printing of postage indicia, such as to generate and print individual postage indicia for a particular mail piece. Although providing significantly more convenience than traditional postage meters for many users, these processor-based systems continue to utilize relatively bulky printers (e.g., ink jet or laser printers) for imprinting postage indicia upon an envelope or label.
Although providing a very convenient solution for providing valid postage to individuals and businesses upon demand, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the foregoing solutions may not address every situation. For example, a user may not utilize a sufficient amount of postage to justify the lease of a traditional postage meter or otherwise may not wish to obtain and manage such a dedicated use system. A user may not be comfortable with processor-based technology and thus be reluctant to utilize PC based postage systems to generate and print postage. A user, although regularly using such processor-based system, may have insufficient supplies on hand (e.g., label stock, printer ink/toner, etc.) to print postage indicia. Similarly, a user may be traveling and thus not have a postage meter, PC based postage system, or even a suitable printer available for their use in generating and printing postage indicia.
Even where a user has access to the appropriate equipment for generating and printing postage indicia, such solutions may not be ideal for the user. For example, the generation of postage indicia is typically preceded by debiting the user's postage value account (e.g., the aforementioned postage value vault) in order to prevent the printing of valuable postage indicia without proper payment for that value. However, should a postage meter print mechanism malfunction, a host PC processor cease to operate, an envelope or label be positioned improperly, etc. a postage indicia misprint may occur. The user is then typically put to the task of proving that a misprint has occurred in order to receive a refund of the associated value. Issues such as this can result in some users resisting adoption of the foregoing metering technology.
Techniques for batch generation and printing of postage indicia, such as to generate and print plural postage indicia for later use with various mail pieces, have been provided which can provide a suitable solution for some users. For example, a user may utilize a web interface provided by Stamps.com Inc. to generate and print a sheet of "generic" postage indicia, perhaps using uniquely serialized stock, for use with mail pieces much like a more traditional sheet of stamps may be used. Such generic postage indicia is not linked to a particular mail piece and thus may be used with any appropriate mail piece as needed. However, the postage indicia would be provided in some standard denomination(s) which may not be correct for a particular mail piece. This can lead to returned mail due to under payment or loss of value due to over payment. Moreover, the postage indicia, once generated, have value and are subject to inappropriate use and pilferage.

Systems and methods using mobile communication handsets for providing postage


A flow path component for a gas powered turbine includes a flow path component body having cross sectional profile having a leading edge and a trailing edge. The leading edge is connected to the trailing edge by a first side and by a second side opposite the first side. A serpentine cooling passage includes a plurality of segments, each of the segments being generally radially aligned. A first subset of the segments is disposed along one of the first side and the second side of the cross sectional profile, and a second subset of the segments spans the flow path component body from the first side to the second side. A cavity is positioned internal to the flow path component body. The cavity is at least partially shielded from one of the first side and the second side by at least one of the plurality of segments.

Gas powered turbines, such as those used in commercial turbine engines, utilize a compressor section to compress air, a combustor section to mix the compressed air with a fuel and ignite the mixture, and a turbine section to expand the resultant combustion gasses. The expansion of the resultant combustion gasses across the turbine section drives the turbine section to rotate. The turbine section is connected to the compressor section via a shaft, and rotation of the turbine section in turn drives the compressor section to rotate.
The compressor section, combustor section, and turbine section are interconnected via a primary flow path that provides a gas path through each of the sections. Within the flow path in each of the compressor section and the turbine section are multiple flow correcting vanes, rotors and stators. The flow correcting vanes, rotors and stators have an airfoil profile designed to impart desirable flow characteristics on the fluid flowing through the flow path. Further include throughout the flow path are multiple additional flow path components that span, or partially span, the flow path. The combustion gasses flowing through the turbine section are at high temperatures and expose the corresponding flow path components to high temperatures. To prevent damage resulting from this exposure, in some examples the flow path components are actively cooled using cooling flow paths contained within the flow path component.

Gas powered turbine component including serpentine cooling


In a mobile device operating on a wireless network, one of multiple selectable proxies and its corresponding protocol stack are selected, to proxy a request and response, based on the application making the request. Connection information for each available proxy is stored in a configuration store. The application requests a Net Proxy object for the particular proxy and protocol stack to be used. The Net Proxy object contains a subset of the stored connection information specific to the particular proxy. An HttpAction object is then created for the request, and the Net Proxy object is linked to the HttpAction object. The HttpAction object is provided to a request manager, which dispatches the request to an appropriate protocol stack, based on the content of the net Proxy object linked to the HttpAction object, which causing the request to be sent to the selected proxy.

Personal mobile communication/computing devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), two-way pagers and the like have become ubiquitous in many countries. These devices are sometimes collectively called "mobile devices". Many of the latest generation mobile devices provide their users with the ability to access resources on the Internet via wireless telecommunications networks ("wireless networks"). For example, some of these mobile devices allow their users to access World Wide Web pages, exchange email and/or instant messages, and download files over the Internet.
A proxy server (or "proxy") is often used to facilitate access by mobile devices to the Internet. The proxy relays ("proxies") requests and responses between mobile devices (clients) on the wireless network and servers on the Internet. Typically, the proxy is implemented in a conventional server-class computer system that is coupled between the wireless network and the Internet. This computer system may also include a gateway that translates/converts between the languages and protocols used on the Internet and the languages and protocols used by mobile devices. For example, the Internet is based mainly on the use of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and languages such as hypertext markup language (HTML) and extensible markup language (XML); mobile devices, on the other hand, commonly use wireless access protocol (WAP) and wireless markup language (WML) for purposes of Internet access.
We are now in a time of transition, where we are moving from a time in which the WAP stack was the primary way for mobile devices to access Internet-based content to one in which HTTP is commonly used. This transition cannot be made instantaneously, however. Different network operators will install different network infrastructure in their various networks at different times. Networking protocols can be very complex, and manufacturers do not want to have to offer mobile devices with different networking protocols for different wireless carriers. Carriers do not want customers to be unable to use newer infrastructure when it is installed, nor do carriers want to have to maintain older infrastructure to accommodate customers who have not upgraded their phones in several years.
For these reasons and others, it is desirable to have a system that allows an application on a mobile device to select the most appropriate proxy and protocol for what it is trying to do. It is also desirable to have a system that enables a wireless carrier to provision and change what proxy and/or protocol should be used for each application.
Certain technologies exist which are partial solutions at best, but fall short of achieving these goals. For example, the concept of sockets provides the ability to use a single abstract networking interface to communicate over multiple protocols. In that approach, one creates a socket and specifies whether it should be a stream or a datagram socket, what type of addressing one expects to use, and optionally a specific protocol to use. If one does not specify the protocol, the implementation uses the socket type and addressing type to determine the protocol. For example, a stream socket with Internet addressing is interpreted to mean that transmission control protocol (TCP) is to be used, while a stream socket with NetWare addressing means to use sequenced packet exchange (SPX). However, in part because the client must specify the address and port number, the model used by sockets is too low-level and simplistic and offers no flexibility for provisionable behavior (i.e., the ability for a network operator to tell a client which proxies are best-suited for which applications).
The WAP forum has specified an end-to-end security framework that provides for dynamic proxy navigation; see "WAP Transport Layer End-to-End Security", WAP-187-TransportE2ESec-20010628-a, WAP Forum, Jun. 28, 2001. In this framework, an origin server can send a navigation document to a client requesting that it create a session through an alternate gateway. In this scenario, all traffic is presumed to travel through that proxy until the user navigates away from the domain of the server that requested the change. However, the framework provides no ability for a client application to select the most appropriate proxy and/or protocol, nor does it support provisioning of selectable proxies.
Some browsers used in mobile devices allow selection of a proxy from a list of proxies. However, there is still no ability to provision, or to select in a mobile device, the most appropriate proxy or protocol for any of multiple applications in the mobile device.

Application-based protocol and proxy selection by a mobile device in a multi-protocol network environment


A release film is provided for supporting an ultrathin ceramic green sheet having a thickness of 0.5 to 1.0 μm, and the release film due to containing modified organic particles and an antistatic agent has a slippery releasing surface with a low friction coefficient and hence excellent coatability and releasing properties; resulted in that when the release film is rolled up, the rolled surfaces do not adhere to each other, and when the ultrathin ceramic green sheet is peeled off from the release film, the ultrathin ceramic green sheet due to a relatively small electrostatic force being generated is without breaking; so that the release film contributes to increasing the yield of ultrathin ceramic green sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a release film, and more particularly to a release film for supporting an ultrathin ceramic green sheet having a thickness of 0.5 to 1.0 μm and a process for producing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A generally known ceramic green sheet 10, as shown in FIG. 1, is a ceramic lamination material widely used in association with multilayer technology, which is formed from ceramic slurry and covered over a release film 20 via a method of tape casting or doctor blade method.
Recently, thanks to advancements in ceramic film lamination techniques, the ceramic green sheet 10 has been made thinner and thinner, from 1.0-5.0 μm to merely 0.5-1.0 μm in thickness. And, as defined in field of ceramic green sheet, a ceramic green sheet with a thickness of 0.5 to 1.0 μm is hereinafter referred to as an ultrathin ceramic green sheet 10a.
Particularly, the ultrathin ceramic green sheet 10a can be used to make multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) with a capacitance greater than 1 μF, which is a breakthrough in the art considering that the capacitance of a traditional MLCC ranges only from 0.1 to 1.0 μF.
However, the release film 20 of FIG. 1 conventionally used to support a ceramic green sheet 10 having a thickness greater than 1.0 μm is unsuitable for supporting the ultrathin ceramic green sheet 10a. This is because the conventional release film 20, as disclosed in US2006/0222814A1, tends to attach or adhere so firmly to the ultrathin ceramic green sheet 10a, so that a relatively great electrostatic force is generated between them when the ultrathin ceramic green sheet 10a is peeled off the release film 20, and the ultrathin ceramic green sheet 10a may break due to the electrostatic force if not peeled off properly.
In order for the release film 20 to better support and release the ultrathin ceramic green sheet 10a having a thickness of 0.5 to 1.0 μm, the release film 20 must provide a releasing surface with a better flatness and provide a film thickness with a better uniformity as well as provide a releasing force more stable, when compared with any counterparts in the prior art.

Release film and process for producing the same


Disclosed is a blue phase liquid crystal display panel which includes an upper substrate and a lower substrate which are disposed opposite to each other, and blue phase liquid crystals provided between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. The upper substrate is provided with a first common electrode on a side facing the blue phase liquid crystals, and the lower substrate is provided with a second common electrode and a plurality of pixel electrodes on a side facing the blue phase liquid crystals. The pixel electrodes each extend towards the first common electrode, thus forming a horizontal electric field between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. According to the present disclosure, higher horizontal field intensity can be achieved so that the external drive voltage of the blue phase liquid crystals can be greatly decreased.

In the technical field of liquid crystal displays, blue phase liquid crystals have been widely used in liquid crystal display devices in virtue of their excellent properties. For instance, due to the optical isotropy of blue phase liquid crystals, the liquid crystal display devices using blue phase liquid crystals have advantages such as high response rate, wide viewing angle, excellent dark state, etc. Meanwhile, being different from other liquid crystal display devices, liquid crystal display devices using blue phase liquid crystals do not need an alignment layer, which simplifies the manufacturing process of liquid crystal display devices, and further reduces the manufacturing cost. In addition, when the thickness of the liquid crystal cell of the display device using blue phase crystals is larger than the penetration depth of the electric field, the effects of the change of thickness of the liquid crystal cell on transmissivity can be neglected. This feature enables blue phase liquid crystals particularly suitable for the manufacture of large screens or single board liquid crystal display devices.
However, blue phase liquid crystals suffer from the problem of requiring a high drive voltage. According to existing technologies, the drive voltage of blue phase liquid crystals is reduced usually through improving the performance of blue phase liquid crystal materials or optimizing the electrode structures. However, as for the method of improving the performance of blue phase liquid crystal materials, for example, preparing a blue phase liquid crystal material with a large Kerr constant, it involves a very complex process of synthesizing the blue phase liquid crystal material, and therefore the cost is very high. As for the method of optimizing the electrode structures, according to the drive method with IPS structure, the penetration depth of the lateral electric field generated by the parallel electrodes is limited. Therefore, a high drive voltage is still required.
In order to solve the problems existing in the above technologies, it is desired to obtain a blue phase liquid crystal display panel with an electrode structure that can increase the intensity of the lateral electric field, thereby reducing the drive voltage of the blue phase liquid crystal.

Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Systems, methods, and machine readable media for repairing data processing systems. In one exemplary embodiment, a computer software utility has the ability to repair a personal computer (PC) using a bootable storage medium (e.g. CD). This utility can connect to the Internet and create an encrypted virtual private network (VPN) tunnel to an automated support server network and to other PCs running a similar version of the utility. This utility, in conjunction with the automated support server network, checks the system files (e.g. DLL and system configuration files, etc.) on a PC being repaired and obtains information to perform the checking from the automated support server network and may obtain replacement system files from the automated support server network or the other PCs.

Modern data processing systems, such as general purpose computer systems, allow the users to configure these systems in a variety of different ways. This great versatility and flexibility often, however, creates unstable systems which crash or hang or are otherwise rendered unusable. In addition to these problems, users, administrators and technicians face many problems from computer viruses, Ad ware, application bugs, defective or failing hardware, unintended changes by inexperienced users, etc. All of these factors can cause file and configuration corruption leading to a system failure which often results from a problem with the software stored on a data processing system. In many cases, these failures can lead to a computer system being inoperable or so overloaded that they become unusable.
Current solutions to these problems are limited and in many cases can be fairly expensive and may cause data loss. There are certain utilities which are available and which can attempt to repair certain types of problems. Examples of such utilities include "Norton Utilities." Another example of a current solution frequently employed by computer manufacturers uses a bootable CD to reload the computer to the factory state. This is known to frequently cause data loss and in many cases will reload the computer with out-of-date software. U.S. Pat. No. 6,411,943 describes a technique for providing online backup services and for providing remote anti-viral protection. Other solutions may require a trained computer technician to provide a repair service which could be expensive.

Methods and systems for automated system support


Disclosed is a modular conveyor belt device with a system for easy removal of the belt modules. The belt comprises at least one driving chain and a plurality of belt modules extending transversally and parallely mounted over the entire length of the chains. The belt modules include underside openings, shaped to receive a locking pin extending outwardly from the driving chains and comprising a notch. The belt modules further include side openings intersecting with corresponding bottom openings in which fasteners are removably mounted. Each fastener comprises a projection positionable between a locked configuration and a released configuration. In the locked configuration the projection is embedded in the notch of the locking pin whereas the projection is disembedded from the notch of the locking pin when in the released configuration. The device using the disclosed locking system provides excellent locking capabilities while offering fast and easy removal of the belt modules.

Conveyor belts are widely used in numerous industries to easily move material from one place to another. Such conveyors normally comprise a plurality of belt modules that are usually arranged in a parallel configuration. This modularity of the conveyor belts constitutes an important characteristic as it enables the design of conveyor belts with removable belt modules. Removability of the modules offers several advantages. For example, belt modules that are easily removable allow the modules to be interchanged with other modules having different upper surface shapes in order to accommodate the various shapes and sizes of the material that may be carried by the conveyor. Moreover, in the food industry, rigorous sanitary needs call for a conveyor where the components that are in contact with the food are easily cleanable. On this point, belt modules that are easily removable provide a useful solution as it greatly facilitates the cleaning of these modules.
Several different prior art devices providing removable belt modules that are part of their structure are known to the Applicant.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,679,954 (Powell) discloses a conveyor with removable individual modules that can be attached to the conveyor structure. The modules are attached to the conveyor structure using the flexibility of the module to introduce one side of the module within an opening in the structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,370 (Davies) teaches another conveyor with easily removable individual modules. According to this invention the modules are attached to the slats of the frame using protrusions extending from the module in a perpendicular direction to the displacement of the module on the conveyor, the protrusions fitting inside corresponding slots.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,129 (Straight et al.) teaches a conveyor using a modular conveyor belt where individual attachment elements are attached to the belt modules using two sets of appendages for locking the attachment elements between two sets of consecutive side by side belt modules. According to this invention, the belt modules are held together using hinge pins traversing the ends of the belt modules.
Other devices known to the Applicant include U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,181 (Schneider Jr.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,393 (Steeber et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,424 (Dufour et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,135 (Post), U.S. Pat. No. D473,032 (Altom), U.S. Pat. No. 6,811,021 (Corley), U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,725 (Marshall et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 7,584,837 (Roether et al.) and US 2006/0030251 (Dufour et al.).
However, none of the prior art documents cited above includes a mechanism using a fastener locking against a vertical locking pin extending outwardly from the conveyor to provide quick removal of the belt modules, while maintaining the modules firmly in place when attached to the conveyor.
Consequently, there is presently a need for a modular conveyor belt having the above-mentioned characteristics in order to hold the modules tightly in place while offering a fast and easy removal mechanism of the modules from the conveyor, such a system being capable of operating reliably over a long period of time.


An oxide superconducting material is coated with silver or an alloy thereof and shaped into a linear body, and the linear body is subjected to diameter reduction by means of groove roll rolling, a swaging machine and the like, and then differential speed rolling and heat treatment are repeatedly performed, whereby the linear body is shaped into a tape-shaped wire material. The microstructure control in the longitudinal direction is performed uniformly and efficiently, and a superconducting wire having a high c-axis orientation ratio and a large critical current density Jc at a service temperature is obtained.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an oxide superconducting wire in which an oxide superconducting material is coated with silver or an alloy thereof to provide a linear body which is shaped into a tape-shaped wire material. In particular, it relates to a manufacturing method of a superconducting wire having a large critical current density Jc at a service temperature.
A known manufacturing method for such wires is the silver sheath method in which oxides and carbonate salts of starting materials are mixed in a predetermined composition ratio, and repeatedly calcined and ground. The thus treated material is introduced into a silver pipe or tube which is subjected to diameter reduction by means of cold processing, such as, swaging, roll die rolling, groove roll rolling, die drawing and the like. An ordinary rolling is then carried out with a pair of equal speed rolls or a press to control the microstructure, followed by heat treatment (Kozo Osamura and Sang-Soo Oh: Journal of the Japan Society of Powder and Powder Metallurgy, Vol. 38 (1991, 2) 97-102).
In the linear body produced by this silver sheath method, the silver as the outer coat undergoes a plastic deformation, whereas the oxide layer, i.e., the ceramics, which is the core material, does not undergo such plastic deformation. The ceramic has a density which is much lower than that of the silver. This makes it very difficult to uniformly control of the microstructure of the core material after the diameter reduction of the linear body in the longitudinal direction.
For example, when the linear body is subjected to diameter reduction followed by ordinary rolling, i.e., with rolls of equal circumferential speed, to give a tape-shaped wire material, a waving phenomenon occurs in the interior of the body, as shown in FIG. 3, and the thickness of the oxide layer tends to become extremely heterogeneous. As a result, the structure constituting the oxide layer suffers a three-dimensional deformation to form localized voids and the c-axis thereof does not give orientation perpendicular to the tape surface. As is known, "c-axis" is the vertically oriented crystal axis and shows a line normal to the rolled face along which the superconducting current flows. This is a problem since the critical current density Jc cannot be increased.
When the tape-shaped wire material is produced by means of a press instead of the ordinary rolling procedure, these problems are solved. The pressing treatment is not continuous since only a finite area of the tube can be pressed at a given time. The tube must then be moved and the next successive area pressed. However, the linear body must be moved for each press treatment, lowering the productivity. Also, the oxide layer tends to become heterogeneous at the boundary region between each successive press treatment. This causes the problem that a high critical current density (Jc) cannot be obtained when the wire material becomes longer.

Method for manufacturing an oxide superconducting tape


A method and system for self-servo writing a disk drive by transferring a servo reference pattern by magnetic printing onto at least one storage surface of a reference disk, wherein a resulting printed reference pattern includes embedded servo information providing servo timing and transducer head position information; assembling the disk drive including the steps of installing at least said disk into the disk drive and enclosing said disk and the data transducers within a housing sealed against particulate contamination from an eternal ambient environment; reading the printed reference pattern from said disk via at least one transducer head to generate a readback signal; sampling the readback signal at a sampling rate to generate a sampled signal; processing the sampled signal waveform specturm to generate a recovered signal including the embedded servo information and a fundamental frequency of the sampled signal; using the servo information from the recovered signal to precisely position and maintain the data transducers at concentric track locations of disk storage surfaces; and self-writing disk drive servo patterns onto the storage surfaces at the concentric track locations with the data transducers in accordance with disk drive servo pattern features.

The present invention relates generally to a method for writing servo sector patterns on a data disk storage device, and more particularly, to self-servo writing of servo sector patterns on a data disk storage device using a reference pattern on a surface of a data disk.
In many processing and computing systems, magnetic data storage devices, such as disk drives are utilized for storing data. A typical disk drive includes a spindle motor having a rotor for rotating one or more data disks having data storage surfaces, and an actuator for moving a head carrier arm that supports transducer (read/write) heads, radially across the data disks to write data to or read data from concentric data tracks on the data disks.
In general, a magnetic transducer head is positioned very close to each data storage surface by a slider suspended upon an air bearing. Typical clearance between a smooth disk surface and the slider is about one microinch, or less. The close proximity of the head to the disk surface allows recording of very high resolution data and servo patterns on the disk surface. Servo patterns are typically written with uniform angular spacing of servo sectors and interleaved data sectors or blocks. An example servo pattern includes circumferentially sequential, radially staggered single frequency bursts. Servo patterns provide the disk drive with head position information to enable the actuator, such as a rotary voice coil positioner, to move the head from starting tracks to destination tracks during random access track seeking operations. Further, the servo patterns provide the disk drive with head position information to enable the actuator to position and maintain the head in proper alignment with a track centerline during track following operations when user data is written to or read from the available data block storage areas in concentric data tracks on the disk surface.
Data transducer heads currently in use employ dual elements. An inductive write element having a relatively wide recording gap is used to write information into the data tracks, and a read element such as a xe2x80x9cgiant-magneto-resistive sensorxe2x80x9d having a relatively narrow playback gap is used to read information from the data tracks. With this arrangement, data track densities equaling and exceeding e.g. 30,000 tracks per inch are possible.
In a standard manufacturing process the head disk assembly (HDA) of the disk drives are assembled in a clean room environment, then transported to a specialized servowriter station where the drive is mounted to a stabilized metrological measurement system. A customized drive electronic assembly then writes a servo reference track, from which the embedded servo format is created. The drive modules are then assembled to the HDA and are moved to a self scan station where the drives are tested for reliable servo operation. Block errors, drive defects, drive specific control tracks and other information is written to the media at this station. If the drive fails the self-scan tests it is either reworked or scrapped at this late manufacturing stage.
Conventionally, servo patterns are written into the servo sectors of each disk using a servowriter at a point in the drive assembly process before the hard disk unit is sealed against particulate contamination from the ambient. A servo writer is a complex and expensive manufacturing unit, typically stabilized on a large granite base to minimize unwanted vibration and employing e.g. laser interferometry for precise position measurements. The servo writer typically requires direct mechanical access to the head arm, and includes a fixed head for writing a clock track onto a disk surface.
Because of the need for direct access to the interior of the hard disk assembly of each disk drive unit, the servo writer is typically located within a xe2x80x9cclean roomxe2x80x9d where air is purged of impurities that might otherwise interfere with operation including the servo writing process or in normal usage after manufacturing. Further, such conventional servo-writing methods are very time consuming. In one example, a disk drive having two disks with four data storage surfaces can require three servo-writer-controlled passes of the transducer head over a single track during servo writing, consuming a total servo writing time as long as 13.2 minutes. Thus, servo writing using servo writers in clean rooms requires both considerable capital investment in the manufacturing process and severe time penalties in the manufacturing process attributable to servo writer bottlenecks. Further, as track densities increase with evolving hard disk designs, servo writers become obsolete, and have to be replaced, or upgraded, at considerable capital expense.
An attempt to alleviate the above shortcomings is directed to servo writing a master pattern at full resolution on one surface of a master disk during a pre-assembly operation. Then, a master disk with the master pattern is assembled with other blank disks into a disk drive unit. After the disk drive unit is sealed against the ambient, the master servo pattern of the master disk is used as a reference by the disk unit in self-writing embedded sector servo patterns on each data surface within the enclosed unit. Finally, the master pattern is erased, leaving the disk drive unit with properly located embedded servo sector patterns on every surface, including the surface which originally included the master pattern. An example of this servo writing method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,363 to Mine et al, entitled: xe2x80x9cServo Pattern Writing Method for a Disk Storage Devicexe2x80x9d. However, a disadvantage of such a method is that certain repeatable run out information must be removed during the self-servo write operation. Another disadvantage of such a method is that a number of expensive servo writers are still required to write the master patterns on the master disks.
A self-servo writing method which eliminates the need for such servo-writers is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,679 to Swearingen et al., entitled: xe2x80x9cSystem for Self-Servo writing a Disk Drivexe2x80x9d, the disclosure thereof being incorporated herein by reference. That method essentially comprises the steps of writing a clock track at an outside diameter (OD) recording region of a first disk surface of a disk drive having multiple storage surfaces, tuning an open-loop seek from the OD to an inside diameter (ID) recording region to develop a repeatable seek profile, and recording a plurality of high frequency spiral tracks from the OD to the ID, each spiral track including embedded (e.g. missing bit) timing information. Then, spiral track provided peak data, and missing bit data, are read back. A voltage controlled oscillator is locked to the timing information to track disk angular position. As the head is then moved radially from OD to ID the detected spiral peaks shift in time relative to a starting (index) mark, although the timing information does not shift. Embedded servo sectors can then be precisely written across the data storage surface by multiplexing between reading spirals and writing servo sectors (wedges). After the integrity of the wedges has been verified, the spirals are erased (overwritten with user data). While this method is satisfactory, challenges remain in generating and recording an accurate clock pattern on the first disk surface. Further, the time period required to produce the master position pattern on the first disk surface can be lengthy.
There is, therefore, a need for an improved self-servo writing method in disk drives which reduces self-servo writing times, is simpler to implement and does not require servo-writers.
The present invention satisfies these needs. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method and system for self-servo writing a disk drive by transferring a servo reference pattern by magnetic printing onto at least one storage surface of a reference disk, wherein a resulting printed reference pattern includes embedded servo information providing servo timing and transducer head position information; assembling the disk drive including the steps of installing at least said disk into the disk drive and enclosing said disk and the data transducers within a housing sealed against particulate contamination from an eternal ambient environment; reading the printed reference pattern from said disk via at least one transducer head to generate a readback signal; sampling the readback signal at a sampling rate to generate a sampled signal; processing the sampled signal waveform specturm to generate a recovered signal including the embedded servo information and a fundamental frequency of the sampled signal; using the servo information from the recovered signal to precisely position and maintain the data transducers at concentric track locations of disk storage surfaces; and self-writing disk drive servo patterns onto the storage surfaces at the concentric track locations with the data transducers in accordance with disk drive servo pattern features.
The present invention allows the disk drive to be fully assembled and tested in one location at one time. In addition it eliminates the requirement for the servowriter stations which occupy a large portion of the clean room factory floor. In one embodiment, the present invention utilizes an architecture for the read and write sections of a disk drive read/write channel and controller which allows the extraction of embedded servo reference timing from a printed reference pattern and a technique to replicate that timing onto the surface of the embedded product servo format.
According to another example method and system according to the present invention, a preformatted magnetic reference pattern is applied to one or more surfaces of disk media and are then assembled, using the standard manufacturing process, into the HDA. A phase extraction process extracts pattern phase information from the reference pattern, and another process eliminates any mechanical runout (i.e., eccentricity) due to standard assembly, using a combination of hardware and software signal processing techniques. The entire system structure is contained within the disk drive channel/controller design and requires no external devices or process steps during the disk drive manufacturing process. This allows the disk drives to be moved from the assembly area to the selfscan area where they are formatted and tested without the need to maintain and support a separate external servowriter process. It also allows the additional capability of detecting and correcting servo defects when the user data area is qualified during self scan.
The present invention helps reduce the manufacuturing costs of a disk drive assembly by eliminating the servowrite manufacturing process. The performance of the disk drive is unaffected in terms of user bit error rate, reliability or overall capacity. The lower disk drive manufacturing costs also increases profit margins.

Self-writing of servo patterns in disk drives


A controller for a multiplex winding motor. When a multiplex winding motor is driven and controlled by inverters and each winding includes a current control system, the controller compensates interference between the current control systems of windings. Voltage non-interacting arithmetic sections compute a voltage command value supplied to voltage applying sections, which are connected to a set of windings, not only by using an output value of a current control section for controlling current in one winding but also using an output value of a current control section for controlling current in another winding, so that voltage interference between the current control sections is compensated.

This application is based on Application No. 2001-341135, filed in Japan on Nov. 6, 2001, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a controller for a multiplex winding motor, in which the multiplex winding motor, having a plurality of independent windings in a single motor, is driven by a plurality of inverters to control rotation at variable speeds.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an alternating-current motor is driven at variable speeds, generally, an alternating-current motor having a set of multiphase (three phases in general) windings is driven by a single alternating-current power converter (inverter). FIG. 6 shows the configuration of a current controller for an induction motor according to the above method.
In FIG. 6, in a main circuit, a single voltage applying means 15 is connected to an induction motor 3 including a single set of windings, and a current detector 4 for detecting the output current in the voltage applying means 15 is provided on the output side of the voltage applying means 15. The voltage applying means 15 is composed of a PWM pulse generation circuit 5, which outputs a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) pulse conforming to a direct-current power supply 1 and an alternating voltage command signal v*, and a drive circuit 2 for outputting a voltage of the direct-current power supply 1 in response to a PWM pulse signal produced by the PWM pulse generation circuit 5. The voltage applying means 15 supplies power to the induction motor 3.
Current controlling means 6 is constituted by a two-phase sine wave generation circuit 7, which uses a primary frequency command for an induction motor as input, uses a rotor speed of xcfx891* for a synchronous motor as input, and outputs a two-phase sine wave reference (phase) signal, a voltage command coordinate converter 8 for performing coordinate conversion from d-q axis component voltage commands Vd* and Vq* of a rotating coordinate system to a three-phase alternating voltage command signal v* of a stator coordinate system, a current component detecting coordinate converter 9 for performing coordinate conversion from each winding alternating current i to d-q axis component currents Id and Iq, and a current controller 11 which uses the component current commands Id* and Iq* as commands and uses the d-q axis component currents Id and Iq as input. The d-q axis component currents Id and Iq are the output of the current component detecting coordinate converter 9.
In the above current controller, a current control system is constituted, in which commands of current magnitude and phase are supplied as an exciting component current command Id*, a torque component current command Iq*, and a primary frequency command xcfx891*, an alternating voltage command signal v* required for each winding of the motor is computed and outputted, current i is applied to the induction motor 3 via the voltage applying means 15, and a detected value i from the current detector 4 is used as a feedback value. An inverter 14 is constituted by the current control means 6, the voltage applying means 15, and the current detector 4.
Meanwhile, when a device for driving a large-capacity alternating-current motor does not have an inverter with a capacity suitable for the capacity of the motor, a multiplex winding alternating-current motor having a plurality of sets of multiphase windings may be driven by a plurality of inverters. According to this method, an inverter having the unit capacity of FIG. 6 can be combined according to the capacity without developing a new large-capacity inverter for large motors having different capacities. Thus, development and manufacturing of inverters can be more efficient, thereby reducing the cost. However, in this method, when current flowing in the sets of windings is unbalanced, an inverter with a larger capacity is necessary as compared with balanced current, or torque ripple and so on occurs. Hence, proposals have been made for applying constant current to sets of windings.
For example, FIG. 7 shows a current controller for a multiplex winding motor disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-260792. In FIG. 7, a main circuit has two voltage applying means 15A and 15B connected in parallel with a multiplex winding motor 3 having two sets A and B of windings. Drive circuits 2A and 2B, current detectors 4A and 4B, and PWM pulse generation circuits 5A and 5B have the same functions as those of FIG. 6.
A multiple current control means 6 is constituted by a two-phase sine wave generation circuit 7, which uses a primary frequency command for an induction motor as input, uses a rotor speed of xcfx891* for a synchronous motor as input, and outputs a two-phase sine wave reference (phase) signal, voltage command coordinate converters 8A and 8B for performing coordinate conversion from d-q axis component voltage commands Vda*, Vqa*, Vdb*, and Vqb* of a rotating coordinate system to three-phase alternating voltage command signals va* and vb* of a stator coordinate system, current component detecting coordinate converters 9A and 9B for performing coordinate conversion from winding alternating currents ia and ib to d-q axis component currents Ida, Iqa, Idb, and Iqb, an average current detecting circuit 10 for computing an average value of d-q axis component currents of windings, an average current controller 11 which uses component current commands Id* and Iq* as commands and inputs a deviation of average currents Id bar and Iq bar, the average currents Id bar and Iq bar being outputs of the average current detecting circuit 10, a current unbalance compensating circuits 12A and 12B for inputting a deviation of the average currents Id bar and Iq bar and d-q axis component current in windings to correct unbalanced current in windings, and adders 13A and 13B.
When unbalance is not found on output voltage between the drive circuits, the output of the current unbalance compensating circuits 12A and 12B is 0, so that output voltage is equal between the drive circuits. Meanwhile, when unbalance occurs on the output voltage between the drive circuits, unbalance occurs on the current in windings, resulting in a difference among d-q axis component currents Ida, Iqa, Idb, and Iqb. According to a deviation from an average value of the currents, the current unbalance compensating circuits 12A and 12B output a signal for correcting d-q axis component voltage commands of windings such that a difference in d-q axis component currents of windings is 0. Three-phase alternating current command signals va* and vb* obtained by adding the above signals are outputted from the voltage command coordinate converters 8A and 8B. Thus, control is performed such that windings have equal current values.
As described above, in the controller for the conventional multiplex winding motor, a plurality of voltage applying means is controlled by a single of multiple current control means. Thus, as compared with a unit capacity inverter for a single winding that is shown in FIG. 6, a current control system requires a large change in configuration, and it is difficult to share the use of the current control system with a unit capacity inverter which is used independently. Hence, it has not been possible to make full use of a merit of a unit capacity inverter.
As a method for solving the above-mentioned problem, a method has been devised for controlling current in windings separately for each set. However, according to the above-mentioned current controller for the multiplex winding motor disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-260792, the above method causes torque ripple due to interference, which results from unbalance of current phases between windings, so that current control cannot be performed with fast response.
Here, the following will specifically discuss why current control with fast response cannot be obtained due to interference resulting from unbalance of current phases between windings.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a set of three-phase windings Ua, Va, and Wa (hereinafter, denoted as subscript xe2x80x98axe2x80x99), which are connected at a neutral point Na, and another set of three-phase windings Ub, Vb, and Wb (hereinafter, denoted as subscript xe2x80x98bxe2x80x99), which are connected at a neutral point Nb, are stored in a stator of the motor without electrical connection. The two sets of windings are not electrically connected but the motor is magnetically connected via a magnetic circuit. The above state is similar to connection of a primary side and a secondary side of a transformer.
Therefore, equivalent circuits of Ua phase and Ub phase, which are arranged in parallel, are configured as FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, reference character Vu denotes terminal voltages from the neutral points, reference character R denotes resistances, reference character ve denotes induction voltages, reference numeral 1 denotes leakage inductance, and reference character M denotes mutual inductance. Further, reference character n denotes a turns ratio of a transformer. Additionally, it should be noted that among these values, particularly values of l and M are different from values used for typical motor control but are equal to values between multiplex two phases arranged in parallel. Moreover, generally in a multiplex winding motor, windings in parallel are equal in winding number, so that n=1 is determined. Besides, at this moment, an equivalent circuit of Va phase and Vb phase and an equivalent circuit of Wa phase and Wb phase are identical to FIG. 2. Thus, when three phases have similar characteristics, even when coordinate conversion is performed on two phases of a rotor dq axis from three phases UVW, an equivalent circuit on the two phases of the dq axis is identical to the equivalent circuit of FIG. 2.
As described above, the plurality of sets of windings is magnetically connected in the multiplex winding motor, so that interference voltage mutually occurs. When the equivalent circuit of the multiplex winding motor having three phases UVW is subjected to coordinate conversion on the two phases of the rotor d-q axis, each of the phases has the circuit configuration of FIG. 2 as discussed above. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the equivalent circuit on the d axis. In FIG. 3, vda and vdb respectively denote d axis voltages of the sets a and b of windings and Ida and Iab respectively denote d axis currents of the sets a and b of windings. Further, in FIG. 3, voltages denoted as vda and vdb indicate interference voltages from the other sets of windings. Here, reference character s in FIG. 3 denotes a differential operator of Laplace transform. FIG. 3 shows the equivalent circuit on a rotator d axis. As described in the above explanation, the equivalent circuit on a rotor q axis has the same configuration.
Generally, in vector control of alternating motors, current is controlled separately on rotor dq axes. In a multiplex winding motor, the above-mentioned interference voltage interacts and acts on a current control system as disturbance. As shown in FIG. 3, the interference voltage increases proportionately with a differential value of winding current, so that the interference voltage increases as current is responded faster. Thus, it is not possible to improve the response of the current control system as compared with current control of the conventional single-winding motor. Moreover, a ripple component appears on current for the above reason, resulting in torque ripple.
The present invention is devised to solve the above-mentioned problem and has as its object the provision of a controller for a multiplex winding motor whereby when a single multiplex winding motor is driven and controlled by a plurality of inverters, while each winding is composed of a current control system, interference can be compensated between current control systems of windings.
The controller for the multiplex winding motor having two sets of windings according to the present invention comprises first current control means for controlling current in a first winding of the multiplex winding motor according to a current command value, a first current detector for detecting current flowing in the first winding, first voltage applying means for applying a voltage to the first winding according to a voltage command value outputted from the first current control means, second current control means for controlling current in a second winding of the multiplex winding motor, a second current detector for detecting current flowing in the second winding, and second voltage applying means for applying a voltage to the second winding according to a voltage command value outputted from the second current control means. The first current control means comprises a first current controller for computing a voltage command value based on a current command value and a current detection value from the first current detector, and the second current control means comprises a second current controller for computing a voltage command value based on a current command value and a current detection value from the second current detector. Further, the first current control means comprises a first voltage non-interacting arithmetic section for compensating for a voltage command value from the first current controller by using a voltage command value from the second current controller, and the second current control means comprises a second voltage non-interacting arithmetic section for compensating for a voltage command value from the second current controller by using a voltage command value from the first current controller.
With this configuration, it is possible to compensate for voltage interference between the current controllers, thereby achieving current control with fast response.
Further, the controller for the multiplex winding motor having three or more sets of windings of the present invention comprises a plurality of current control means for controlling current in a plurality of windings of the multiplex winding motor according to a current command value, a plurality of current detectors for detecting current flowing in the windings, and a plurality of voltage applying means for applying a voltage to the windings according to a voltage command value outputted from the current control means. Each of the current control means comprises a current controller for computing a voltage command value based on a current command value and a current detection value from each of the current detectors, and each of the current control means comprises a voltage non-interacting arithmetic section for compensating for a voltage command value from each of the current controllers by using a voltage command value from a current controller for another current control means.
With this configuration, it is possible to compensate for voltage interference between the current controllers, thereby achieving current control with fast response.
Moreover, in the controller for the multiplex winding motor of the present invention, computation of a voltage command in the voltage non-interacting arithmetic sections is accomplished based on a transfer function of an interference voltage generated in the multiplex winding motor.
Moreover, in the controller for the multiplex winding motor of the present invention, computation of a voltage command in the voltage non-interacting arithmetic sections is accomplished by summing voltage commands of the current controllers, the commands being multiplied by coefficients.


An adaptive pulse frequency modulation for a switching power converter is provided that varies the switching frequency across a cycle of a rectified input voltage for the switching power converter From a beginning of the cycle of the rectified input voltage, the switching frequency decreases from a maximum value to a minimum value at a mid-point of the cycle and then increases from the mid-point back to the maximum value at an end of the cycle.

Single-stage AC-DC power conversion is a low cost and thus popular power supply topology for applications such as solid-state lighting. An important parameter for a single-stage AC-DC power switching converter is its power factor, which is the ratio of the real power delivered by the AC mains to the single-stage AC-DC switching power converter as compared to the apparent power delivered to the single-stage AC-DC switching power converter. The apparent power is insensitive to the phasing between the input current and voltage in contrast to the real power. The power factor (PF) is thus lowered if the input current and voltage are out of phase. The rectified input voltage to a single-stage AC-DC switching power converter cycles from approximately zero volts to the peak line voltage (e.g., 120 V*1.414 in the US) at twice the frequency for the AC mains. Given this sinusoidal pulsing or cycling of the rectified input voltage, the input current should have a similar profile to achieve a high PF such as by the use of a suitably-modified peak current or constant on time control methodology.
In either of these techniques, the switching power converter regulates the cycling of the power switch transistor so that the input current to the switching power converter during periods of high load has a profile that is in-phase with the profile or envelope for the rectified input voltage. Each cycle of the rectified input voltage begins with a relatively-low voltage (e.g. zero volts) to reach a peak voltage mid-cycle and then falls again to the relatively-low voltage. To achieve a high PF, the peak value for each cycle of the input current to the switching power converter will have a profile or threshold envelope that is similar to the rectified input voltage's envelope. The peak input current will thus cycle in phase with the rectified input voltage so that the peak input current will be relatively small at the beginning of a cycle, pass through a peak mid-cycle, and then fall again to a relatively-small value at the end of each cycle.
In achieve high efficiency, it is also conventional for the controller to alter the modulation mode of the cycling of the power switch transistor depending upon the load. During periods of high load, a pulse width modulation mode may be used. But as the load drops, it is conventional to transition to a pulse frequency modulation mode. While pulse frequency modulation is used, the switching frequency drops as the load decreases and increases as the load increases. The resulting drop in the pulse switching frequency during low-load pulse frequency modulation operation can cause a number of problems. For example, the switching frequency for the cycling of the power switch transistor may enter the audible range. In addition, the switching frequency is independent of the AC mains cycle that drives the sinusoidal profile for the rectified input voltage. At the beginning and end of each cycle for the rectified input voltage, it is desirable for the peak current for each cycle of the power switch transistor to be relatively small so that the profile of the input current to the switching power converter is in in-phase with the envelope of the rectified input voltage. But the peak current must also be responsive to the output voltage. To maintain the output voltage within regulation, the peak current must be undesirably high during the beginning and end of each cycle of the rectified input voltage (the zero-crossing times for the AC mains input voltage). Conventional pulse frequency modulation during low load conditions thus suffers from a reduced power factor due to the need to increase the peak current for the power switch in the vicinity of the zero-crossing times for the AC mains input voltage.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for single-stage power converters having robust power factor correction during pulse frequency modulation operation.

Switching power converter with adaptive pulse frequency modulation


An industrial robot includes first and second kinematic chains configured to transmit the movements of corresponding first and second actuators to respective movements of an end effector. The first kinematic chain includes a first rod which is stiff. The second kinematic chain includes elements between the second actuator and the first rod such that the actuation of the second actuator causes bending forces on the first rod. The first and second kinematic chains thereby have the first rod as a common element, which improves compactness and accessibility of the robot. This improvement assumes that the robot is provided with one or more stiff rods that can bear the bending forces resulting from the actuation of the corresponding actuators.

Conventional parallel kinematics robots comprise a plurality of drive arms each connected, directly or via a gearbox, to a respective shaft of a servo motor at one end. At the opposite end the drive arms are attached to a proximate end of rods via ball joints having three degrees of freedom (DOF). The rods transmit the rotating movement of the drive arms to a respective movement of an end effector that is attached to a distal end of the rods via ball joints. The servo motors and the respective drive arms are thereby working in parallel in the sense that manipulation of one drive arm does not affect the position of the remaining drive arms.
A delta robot is one well known type of parallel kinematics robot that can comprise three drive arms. Each drive arm is connected to an end effector with two rods having a ball joint at each end. The drive arms rotate about respective servo motor axes, the servo motors being arranged symmetrically such that their axes intersect at 60 degrees angles. Because the drive arms of a delta robot are relatively long and point in different directions the robot construction needs a lot of space. U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,544 discloses one type of a delta robot comprising three drive arms. Delta robots can also comprise four or more drive arms.
WO200366289 discloses other and less well known types of parallel kinematics robots comprising three or more drive arms. The robots according to WO200366289 differ from delta robots in that the rotational axes of the drive arms are parallel, and in many embodiments the drive arms even have one common rotational axis. The number of rods between the drive arms and the end effector vary from one to three depending on a drive arm and a robot embodiment. Also the drive arms of the robots according to WO200366289 need to be relatively long and well spread, and consequently need a lot of space.
Common for the both aforementioned parallel kinematics robot types is that the rods between the drive arms and the end effector are designed to be exposed to axial forces only. The necessary stiffness of the robots is obtained by spreading out the rods. As a consequence the conventional parallel kinematics robots cannot compete with SCARA robots in many applications because of their relatively poor accessibility and large space requirement.


In implementations of object boundary generation, a computing device implements a boundary system to receive a mask defining a contour of an object depicted in a digital image, the mask having a lower resolution than the digital image. The boundary system maps a curve to the contour of the object and extracts strips of pixels from the digital image which are normal to points of the curve. A sample of the digital image is generated using the extracted strips of pixels which is input to a machine learning model. The machine learning model outputs a representation of a boundary of the object by processing the sample of the digital image.

Boundary detection is used by digital image processing systems to support a wide range of functionality. However, conventional boundary detection techniques are prone to error and are computationally inefficient, and as such limits the accuracy of functionality that relies on these conventional boundary detection techniques.
In one conventional example, a user input is received via a user interface to manually draw a boundary around an object within a digital image, e.g., using touchscreen functionality, a cursor control device, and so on. This boundary is then used in this example to segment the object from the digital image, such as to move the object within the digital image, modify visual characteristics of pixels defining the object, move the object to another digital image, and so on. However, reliance on manual user inputs is typically prone to error, such as by selecting portions of the digital image that do not include the object, do not pixels that are part of the object, result in jagged edges, and so on.
Accordingly, conventional techniques have also been developed to improve accuracy in defining a boundary within a digital image by a digital image processing system. However, these conventional techniques also lack precision and are computationally inefficient such that these conventional techniques are not applicable to typical digital image sizes as collected by current mobile computing devices (e.g., smart phones) due to memory constraints of these conventional techniques.
Conventional techniques, for instance, are memory constrained as being limited by a size of a receptive field of the machine learning model. The receptive field is a size of a region in an input to a machine learning model that can affect an output of the machine learning model. In other words, the receptive field defines an overall size of data that is capable of being processed by the machine learning model. Even when implemented using substantial computational and memory resources (e.g., in the cloud), the receptive field size typically limits current machine learning models to processing digital images having approximately 0.25 million pixels.
This size is considered low resolution digital images when compared with the size of digital images captured by current digital cameras. For example, digital images captured using a typical smartphone camera have approximately 8-16 million pixels, and digital images captured with a professional digital camera can have as much as 16-400 million pixels. Therefore, conventional machine learning models are forced to make compromises and how to process these high-resolution digital images. In one such example, conventional techniques first generate low resolution object boundaries, which are then upsampled for use with the high resolution digital image. Consequently, the high resolution object boundaries generated using conventional systems are typically inaccurate and frequently exclude portions of an object of interest and include portions of the digital image that are not of interest. Further, the use of sampling typically results in jagged edges that do not follow actual object boundaries. As such, the limitations of these conventional techniques have a direct effect on accuracy of digital image processing techniques that rely on object detection, such as object segmentation, background removal, and so forth.