A method for assembling a rotating X-ray tube, the X-ray tube having a cathode for emitting electrons, and a rotor and a bearing assembly for facilitating rotation of an anode. The method includes using an interference fit assembly between the bearing assembly and the rotor to provide a joint having balance retention. The using interference fit assembly further includes selecting a rotor hub of the rotor having a coefficient of thermal expansion which results in a composite coefficient of thermal expansion for the rotor assembly which closely matches that of a shaft of the bearing assembly. An interference fit joint between a shaft extending from a bearing assembly and a rotor hub is also disclosed, wherein the joint is completed without using any mechanical fasteners or metallurgical bonding, yet can carry all of the operational loads placed on the joint.

The present invention relates to rotating X-ray tubes and, more particularly, to rotating X-ray tubes which employ a rotating anode assembly having an interference fit with a bearing shaft.
X-rays are produced when, in a vacuum, electrons are released, accelerated and then abruptly stopped. This takes place in the x-ray tube. The filament in the tube is heated to incandescence (white heat) by passing an electric current through the filament and electrons are released from the filament. The electrons are accelerated by a high voltage (ranging from about ten thousand to hundreds of thousands of volts) between the anode (positive) and the cathode (negative) and impinge on the anode, whereby they are abruptly slowed down. The anode, which contains the electron impingement target, is often of the rotating disc type so that the electron beam is constantly striking a different point on the target perimeter. The x-ray tube itself includes a metal or glass frame which is stationary. Attaching to this frame is the cathode, the anode assembly including a rotating disk target, and a rotor that is part of a motor assembly that spins the target. A stator is provided outside the x-ray tube proximate to the rotor and overlapping therewith about two-thirds of the rotor length. The x-ray tube is enclosed in a protective casing having a window for the x-rays that are generated to escape the tube. The casing is filled with oil to absorb the heat produced by the x-ray generation process. The casing in some x-ray tubes may include an expansion vessel, such as a bellows. High voltages for operating the tube are supplied by a transformer. The alternating current is rectified by means of rectifier tubes (or xe2x80x9cvalvesxe2x80x9d) in some cases by means of barrier-layered rectifiers.
X-ray tube performance can be affected by the balance of the anode assembly which includes the target, the bearing and the rotor. Specifically, during x-ray tube manufacturing, it is important to be able to balance the anode assembly and have it stay balanced during completion of the manufacturing cycle and during operation of the x-ray tube. As the size of x-ray tube targets has increased, it has proved difficult to maintain this balance and thus, reduced manufacturing yields and shortened operational lives have been experienced. Field evaluation of failed x-ray tubes has often indicated that the imbalance of the anode assembly has occurred in the region of attachment between the rotor and bearing.
State-of-the-art X-ray tubes utilize large cantilever mounted, targets rotating at speeds as high as 10,000 rpm. Extremely large temperature changes occur during the operation of the tube, ranging from room temperature to temperatures as high as 2500xc2x0 C., produced by the deceleration of electrons in the tungsten-rhenium layer of the target track.
For the purposes of heat management and safeguarding of components such as bearings, materials with low thermal conductivity are placed in the heat path. In general, such materials have a much higher coefficient of thermal expansion than other materials used in an x-ray tube. However these components must be joined to the others in some fashion (i.e., welding, brazing, bolting, etc.). At these joints, the higher level of growth may cause yielding of the components which grow at a smaller rate.
Balance retention at high rotating speeds and high temperatures is extremely crucial. Typically, balance retention is driven by the shifting of the target and rotor relative to the bearing centerline during high temperature operation. As targets and rotors become larger and heavier, the amount of shift that will exceed the unbalance specification becomes less. Very small shifts can be troublesome. These small shifts can easily occur because of the large temperature changes, combined with the use of materials that have different coefficients of thermal expansion. The relative motion between parts which causes this shift typically occurs at the joints between the parts.
It would be desirable then to achieve improved joining for two or more members of an x-ray tube, particularly for high temperature applications, while maintaining excellent balance retention for a rotating anode of an x-ray tube. Furthermore, it would be desirable to simplify manufacturing through the elimination of mechanical fasteners, reduce design space, eliminate mechanical joint related stress concentrations, and eliminate high cost machining operations related to mechanical attachment features.
The above discussed and other drawbacks and deficiencies are overcome or alleviated by a method to join two or more components of an X-ray tube having similar thermal expansion rates, for high temperature applications. Use of this method involves an interference fit that affords balance retention and mechanical stability without any other form of mechanical attachment. In addition the method provides a compact design without a need for extensions or projections from the components to be joined.
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for assembling a rotating X-ray tube, the X-ray tube having a cathode for emitting electrons, and a rotor and a bearing assembly for facilitating rotation of an anode is disclosed. The method includes using an interference fit assembly between the bearing assembly and the rotor to provide a joint having balance retention. The interference fit assembly further includes selecting a rotor hub material that will allow the thermal expansion characteristics of the rotor to be matched with those of the bearing. The shaft and aperture in said rotor hub are configured to interference fit tolerances and then joined providing a joint having balance retention.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, an interference fit joint between a shaft extending from a bearing assembly and a rotor hub is also disclosed, wherein the joint is completed without using any mechanical fasteners or metallurgical bonding, other than diffusion bonding which is expected to occur, but is not required for proper functioning of the completed joint attachment.
The above discussed and other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings.

Rotating anode for X-ray tube using interference fit

GE Medical Systems Global Technology, LLC


An optical disc apparatus is provided, which comprising a laser light emitting portion for generating laser light for irradiating an optical disc, and a laser control portion for controlling a light emission operation of the laser light emitting portion. The laser control portion causes the laser light emitting portion to emit light with a first period during a first operation, and the laser control portion causes the laser light emitting portion to emit light with a second period during a second operation. The first period and the second period are different from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus, a camera apparatus, and a method for controlling a light emission operation. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus, a camera apparatus, and a method for controlling a light emission operation, wherein power consumption and an increase in temperature due to a laser light emitting portion mounted on an optical head portion are suppressed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the development of a technique for writing data onto a phase change rewritable optical disc using a blue laser and an objective lens having as high a numerical aperture (NA) as 0.85, has proceeded closer toward an optical disc having a diameter of as small as about 5 to 8 cm, which can store as large as about 4 to 16 GB of data (the maximum volume is achieved by a double layer technique). Such an optical disc can store video and audio data with the same quantity and quality as those of typical cassette tapes, if an image compression technique, such as MPEG2 or the like, is used. Therefore, a full-fledged optical disc video camera would be realized. If a transfer rate is increased, such an optical disc can be used to store high-definition (HD) video images.
Optical discs have an advantage of random access, i.e., no rewinding, which may cause irritation of the user, is required. For example, by selecting thumbnail images, a desired scene can be quickly reproduced. Thus, optical discs lead to the realization of a video camera convenient and comfortable to the user. In addition, still pictures compressed by JPEG or the like can be stored on the same optical disc. Such a video camera is highly expected as the next generation of video camera to provide a new concept to the user.
Generally, a laser light emitting portion incorporated in an optical disc apparatus has a greater quantity of heat generated per volume than other ICs or electronic components. The operation of such a laser light emitting portion is guaranteed below as low as about 60° C. to 70° C. (maximum temperature), and the life span is shortened as the operating temperature is increased even if it is below the maximum temperature. Therefore, there is a demand for an optical disc apparatus, in which the power consumption of the whole apparatus is reduced or the heat dissipation structure is improved to suppress an increase in temperature inside the apparatus, thereby reducing the operating temperature of a laser light emitting portion mounted on an optical head. The present invention is directed to the reduction of power consumption, particularly the reduction of the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion itself. By suppressing the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion, it is possible to suppress an increase in temperature of the laser light emitting portion under the same ambient temperature (temperature inside the apparatus).
A conventional technique for reducing the power consumption of a laser light emitting portion, is intermittent reproduction for music MD (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-161043). This is a method for starting or stopping an optical disc apparatus at intervals during a reproduction operation. According to this technique, substantially no power is consumed by the laser light emitting portion and the like during the stop period, thereby making it possible to reduce the average power for an optical disc driving portion including the laser light emitting portion. Therefore, the life span of the battery can be extended.
Hereinafter, the above-described intermittent reproduction operation will be described. It is assumed that the reading rate of music data from an optical disc is much higher than the input rate of music data into a decoder. To reproduce music, an optical disc driving portion is actuated. Music data is rapidly reproduced and is transferred and temporarily stored in a buffer memory (reading state). If the buffer memory is full, the optical disc driving portion is temporarily stopped so that substantially no power is consumed by the optical disc driving portion, the laser light emitting portion, and the like (stop state). Meanwhile, the music data is transferred from the buffer memory to a decoder at a constant rate to continuously reproduce music. Subsequently, if the remaining quantity of the music data goes below a prescribed level of the buffer memory, the optical disc driving portion is operated again and the continued music data is rapidly read out and stored into the buffer memory. The above-described operations are repeatedly performed during the reproduction of music. The music data is transferred to the decoder at a constant rate during the reproduction of music.
During the reading state the optical disc driving portion consumes power for actuating and reading operations, while during the stop state substantially no power is consumed. Therefore, the average power consumption can be reduced, depending on the ratio of the duration of the reading state (read time) to the duration of the stop state (stop time). Although the laser light emitting portion is continuously on during the read time, it goes to the stop state before a significant increase in the temperature of the laser light emitting portion. Therefore, the laser light emitting portion is cooled during the stop state, thereby making it possible to reduce the average temperature of the laser light emitting portion.
Note that the actuation from the stop state to the reading state requires initiating the rotation of a motor, switching a laser ON, focusing control, tracking control, and the like. This can take several seconds. These operations also require power slightly greater than that required during the reading state. However, when music data is reproduced from MD or the like, the stop time is much longer than the read time. Therefore, power consumption can be reduced and an increase in temperature of the laser light emitting portion can be suppressed. Note that the intermittent reproduction technique is also applicable when data is recorded or written onto an optical disc.
On the other hand, a technique has been devised for reducing the power consumption of a laser light emitting portion during reproduction where an optical disc is driven. For example, a technique for pulse-driving a laser light emitting portion in synchronization with the periods of reproduced data signal (Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-63726), or a technique for pulse-driving a laser light emitting portion with a frequency much higher than the frequency of data signal (Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-331960), have been disclosed. In the former, laser light is intermittently emitted, matching the channel bit periods of data. Data edge is detected when light is emitted, while an edge is not detected when light is not emitted. Therefore, the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion can be reduced with substantially no influence on information reproduction. In the latter, the laser is alternately switched on and off at a rate much higher than the frequency of data, and data is reproduced by detecting a data envelope. In this case, an influence of the flickering of the laser can be removed and the average current of the laser light emitting portion can be reduced, thereby reducing power consumption.
However, when an optical disc apparatus is used for a system requiring a high speed data processing rate (e.g., a video image system), the effect of the above-described intermittent reproduction technique (hereinafter referred to as a stop-type intermittent operation) is small. This is because the ratio of the image data processing rate to the image data recording/reproduction rate to an optical disc cannot be greatly increased as compared to the ratio of the audio data transfer rate to the image data transfer rate. As a result, a longer time has to be assigned to reading data from an optical disc during a prescribed period, while a shorter time is assigned to the stop period. Therefore, the effects of the stop-type intermittent operation, such as a reduction in power consumption and the suppression of an increase in temperature, are reduced.
When the data processing rate is increased closer to the data recording/reproduction rate, it is difficult to perform a stop operation itself, because of the time from the stop to the restart. That is, it is difficult to perform stop-type intermittent operations.
A specific example will be described below. It is assumed that a small-diameter optical disc has a limitation on the number of revolutions, so that the maximum transfer rate is limited to, for example, 20 Mbps. To realize an audio and video-mixed stream having image quality comparable to that of DV tape using MPEG2, the data stream needs to be transferred at a rate of 9 Mbps. If the stream is transferred at such a rate, intermittent operations can be performed. However, the read time includes the actuation time of a few seconds. Therefore, it is possible to realize intermittent operations having a period of several tens of seconds. However, it is difficult to increase the stop time by a factor of ½ or more. Taking into account a spare time for retrying for actuation or the like, the stop time needs to be further shortened. Therefore, in this application, a satisfactory intermittent effect cannot be expected. If the stream is transferred at a so-called variable bit rate so as to improve image quality, the transfer rate of the stream may be, for example, 15 Mbps at maximum despite the average 9 Mbps. It is possible that the 15 Mbps transfer is continued for several tens of seconds. Taking into account the above-described spare time, it is difficult to perform a stop-type intermittent operation. Thus, in applications, such as a video camera and the like, there is a demand for novel measures for low power consumption (and prevention of an increase in temperature).
In this regard, the above-described techniques of Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-63726 and Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-331960 are effective for achievement of low power consumption. The flickering duty of a laser light emitting portion during reproduction needs to be about 50% and therefore, power consumption is expected to be reduced to such a level. However, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-63726, the technique of flickering at a data channel frequency is not considered to be practical, because when a blue laser is used to reproduce hyper-density data, more information is loot when the laser is switched off, so that the quality of reproduced signals is not practical. For example, if jitter is large, data loss is expected to occur.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-331960 discloses a technique for using a clock signal having a frequency sufficiently higher than a data frequency to drive a laser light emitting portion, thereby reducing the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion by half. In a light emission system which is operated at a frequency higher than a data frequency, a high frequency module (HFM) for reducing noise caused by returning light of the laser light emitting portion using current convolution may be used. However, when a laser light emitting portion is operated at a high speed comparable to the operation of HFM and a current amplitude higher than that of HFM, there is a fear that a means for driving the laser light emitting portion generates heat. Since the laser light emitting portion is driven at a high frequency, it is necessary to place the driving means close to the laser light emitting portion in order to avoid the undesired radiation problem. In this case, the heat generated by the driving means leads to an increase in temperature of the laser light emitting portion. Thus, it may be difficult to obtain an effect of suppressing the temperature increase.

Optical disc apparatus, camera apparatus, and method for controlling light emission operation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method of locating and controlling subsurface coal fires is provided that includes mapping a subsurface coal bed fire using a magnetometer, where the mapping includes locating a combustion zone and an air inlet to the combustion zone of the coal bed fire, drilling an injection port from the earth surface to a previously burned zone of the combustion zone, where the injection port is disposed between the air inlet and the combustion zone, inserting a tube in the injection port, where the tube has an exterior tube seal disposed around the tube, and the exterior tube seal isolates the earth surface from the combustion zone along an exterior of the tube. The method further includes injecting an inert gas through the tube to the combustion zone, where the inert gas controls the combustion zone of the coal bed fire.

Sub-terrain coal fires are a dangerous world-wide phenomenon. A sub-terrain coal fire may be ignited naturally and burn for decades, resulting in fissures that emit thousands of metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere and burning thousands of metric tons of useable coal. What is needed is a method of controlling and extinguishing sub-terrain coal bed fires.

Inert gas injection to help control or extinguish coal fires

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


Network firewalls operate based on rules that define how a firewall should handle traffic passing through the firewall. At their most basic, firewall rules may indicate that certain network traffic should be denied from passing through a network firewall or indicate that certain network traffic should be allowed to pass through the network firewall. Manners of handling network traffic beyond simply allowing or denying the network traffic may also be defined by the rules. For instance, a rule may indicate that certain network traffic should be routed to a specific system. Thus, if an administrator of a network firewall determines that certain network traffic should be handled in a certain way by a network firewall, the administrator need only implement a firewall rule defining how that network traffic should be handled in the network firewall.

Network firewalls operate based on rules that define how a firewall should handle network traffic passing through the firewall. At their most basic, firewall rules may indicate that certain network traffic should be denied from passing through a network firewall or indicate that certain network traffic should be allowed to pass through the network firewall. Manners of handling network traffic beyond simply allowing or denying the network traffic may also be defined by the rules. For instance, a rule may indicate that certain network traffic should be routed to a specific system. Thus, if an administrator of a network firewall determines that certain network traffic should be handled in a certain way by a network firewall, the administrator need only implement a firewall rule defining how that network traffic should be handled in the network firewall.
Firewall rules may continue to be added to a network firewall's rule set over time. Eventually, it is possible for a network firewall to operate using many hundreds or thousands of rules. The amount of processing resources that are required to handle network traffic increases with each rule that needs to be applied by the firewall. Despite some of these rules being ineffective due to other rules covering at least some of the network traffic conditions also covered by the ineffective rules, identifying those ineffective rules can be difficult when they are amongst a mass of other rules. Moreover, administrators may be hesitant to remove an ineffective rule to lessen the chance that the ineffective rule may be applicable in some unforeseen network traffic situation not covered by other rules.
To assist in finding ineffective firewall rules, existing solutions analyze rules targeted to simple network addresses (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP) addresses), media access control (MAC) addresses, and the like. However, some firewall systems, such as distributed firewalls in virtual computing environments, can define rules based on more complex networking concepts. Specifically, it is common to define rules based on compound groups, like IP-Sets, Security Groups and Service Groups. Current means of identifying ineffectual firewall rules are unable to operate on rules defined in the aforementioned manner.

Identification and adjustment of ineffective firewall rules


Described is an electronic injection device wherein an electronic circuit is designed to work in two alternative modes: an air shot mode and a dose injection mode. When working in the air shot mode a small predetermined air shot dose is pressed out from the ampule when the injection button is actuated. When working in the injection mode, a dose set by operation of the dose setting means is injected by operation of the injection button. The electronic injection device is normally working in the air shot mode but shifts to work in the dose injection mode when it receives a signal indicating that the dose setting means has been operated. The circuit returns to its air shot mode when receiving a signal indicating that the set dose has been injected. This signal can originate either from a switch indicating that the protection cap is mounted or from a switch indicating that the injection button has been pressed.

From U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,201 is known a device by which a dose is set by operating a pair of dose setting buttons, one increasing the set dose step by step and another decreasing the dose step by step when operated. The set dose is stored in a circuit which controls a display to show the set dose and a motor drives a mechanical dose setting device to carefully set a mechanical dose setting device to the dose shown in the display. The injection is performed manually to allow the user to inject the dose with the rate he finds appropriate.
It may be attractive to let the injection be performed electro-mechanically too as then the demand to the users finger strength can be reduced to the force needed to press down an electronic switch button. Further, the mechanical impact on the device is independent on the strength of the user so it is avoided that some users can hardly operate the device whereas others will break it.
Devices wherein the doses are electronically represented also may contain circuitry wherein historical data are stored so it is possible to create a picture of the way the user has followed his treatment, and prospective doses and time intervals can be planned on the basis of the stored data. At least it is appropriate to be able to store the size of the latest injected dose and the time passed since this injection.
In an electronic injection device of the kind described above only a minimum of operation buttons are needed, e.g., a counting up dose set button allowing a stepwise increase of the set dose, a counting down dose set button allowing a stepwise decrease of an erroneously too high set dose, and an injection button by which either the dose is manually injected or the electronic circuit is ordered to energize a motor to inject the set dose.
By injecting medicine from an ampule it is necessary to ensure that no air is left in the ampule when the injection is performed. For this purpose a so-called air-shot is performed. An air shot may be performed by setting a small dose, e.g., one international unit of the medicine to be injected, and make this small dose be pressed out from the ampule holding the device with the needle pointing vertically upward. This procedure can be repeated until it is seen that liquid is sprayed out through the needle where after the dose to be injected can be set, the needle can be inserted into the skin of the user, and an amount of medicine corresponding to the set dose can be pressed out and injected through the needle.
However, this repetitive use of the dose-setting device is not wanted. If the device is provided with a memory which stores historical data for the purpose of controlling the course of a treatment, it is necessary to register which of the doses have been air shot doses and which doses have actually been injected. This problem could be overcome by providing a special air shot button as it is known from syringes by which the injection is performed manually, but this will be on the account of one more button whereby the possibilities for erroneous operation is increased.
An objective of the invention is to provide an injection device by which repetitive air shots can be performed without adding extra operation buttons to the device and without information of the air-shots being stored as a part of the operation history of the device.
This is obtained by an electronic injection device comprising a housing containing an electronic circuit into which the size of a set dose can be read by operation of dose setting means, an injection button which can be operated to inject a set dose, an ampule from which a medicine can be pressed out through a needle mounted at the distal end of the ampule when the injection button is operated, and a display driven by the electronic circuit to show the dose set by operation of the dose setting means.
It is attractive to set the dose electronically and show the set dose on an electronic display, e.g., an LCD display, as the size of the digits displayed can be made arbitrarily large without being dependent on the distances possible mechanical dose setting parts are moved by the setting of the dose.
The device according to the invention is characterized in that the electronic circuit is designed to work in two alternative modes: an air shot mode in which it controls an automatic pre-setting of a small air shot dose to be pressed out from the ampule when the injection button is actuated, and a dose injection mode in which a dose set by operation of the dose setting means is injected by operation of the injection button, said circuit normally working in the air shot mode but shifting to work in the dose injection mode when it receives a signal indicating that the dose setting means has been operated. The circuit may return to its air shot mode when receiving a signal indicating that a set dose has been injected. This signal may either be a signal from a switch indicating that a protection cap is mounted or a signal from a switch indicating that the injection button has been pressed.
This means that when the device is taken into use but no dose has been set the electronic circuit will work in a mode making it control either a dose setting motor to set a small air shot dose which can be injected by pressing the injection button, or control a motor to press out an air shot dose when the injection button is operated.
The injection button may now be operated one or more times while the device is held with the needle pointing upward until it is seen that liquid and not air is pressed out through the needle.
To ensure that the device is held in the correct position with the needle pointing upward a position indicator may be provided which gives off a signal to the electronic circuit when the device is held in the correct position for an air shot. The signal, which can be an opening or a closing of a switch, can be made a condition that has to be fulfilled before the electric circuit energizes the motor to prepare or perform an air shot. This way waste of medicament, due to the fact that the device is held in a position in which air in the ampule cannot reach the needle, is avoided.
According to the invention the dose setting may be electro-mechanically realized by means of an electric motor which is controlled by the electronic circuit to lift up the injection button from the housing a distance corresponding to the set dose and the injection may be performed manually by pressing home the injection button. The signal that indicates that a set dose has been injected may be a switch that is actuated when the injection button is pressed. The electronic circuit will then prepare a new air shot each time a home pressing of the injection button is performed and the circuit will remain in the air shot mode.
In devices wherein the injection is performed electro-mechanically by a motor controlled by the electronic circuit, actuation of the injection button may make a motor electro-mechanically press out a dose from the ampule, the motor being controlled by the electronic circuit to press out an automatically set small air shot dose when the circuit is working in its air shot mode, and a dose set by operation of the dose setting means when the circuit is working in its dose injection mode.
At the very moment when the dose setting member is operated the working mode of the electronic circuit is changed to an injection mode in which operation of the injection button will result in the injection of a set dose either by directly pressing out a dose corresponding to the distance the injection button has been elevated over the housing by the dose setting motor controlled by the electronic circuit, or by controlling an injection motor to inject the dose set by the operation of the dose setting member, and the circuit will remain in this mode until the injection button has been pressed.
To ensure that at least one air shot is performed in advance of an injection, the circuit may be so designed that it cannot receive a signal from the dose setting means until at least one air shot dose has been administered.
According to the invention the electronic circuit may comprise a memory wherein historical information of injected doses and the time for their injection is stored. As the electronic circuit according to its two working modes can discriminate between air shots and injection of doses set by the user, these historical data can be rid of disturbing air shot data.
The electronic circuit may further be provided with a memory wherein the size of all air shots and injections are summed and subtracted from the size of the total content of a new ampule to leave the memory with an information of the size of the remaining amount of medicine in the ampule.
The set dose currently is compared with the remaining amount of medicine in the ampule to block for setting of a dose exceeding this remaining amount.

Air shot mechanism for electronic injection devices


A method for manufacturing circuit boards which control digital displays includes a TV camera which images the digital display. The output of the TV camera is fed into a computer which controls a laser trimmer. The laser trimmer trims the resistors on the controlling circuit board until the desired value and characteristics are obtained on the digital display.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing circuit boards; more particularly the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing inspecting and calibrating circuit boards which control displayed numerals in a digital display device.
Digital display devices are commonly used in many types of equipment. One example where such displays are used is with a temperature controlled soldering iron wherein the temperature of the soldering iron is displayed as a digital readout. In such applications, electrical power is supplied to a control box. The control box both sends electrical power to the soldering iron and receives electrical signals from the soldering iron indicative of temperature. These received electrical signals are used to control the supply of electrical power to the soldering iron and may also be displayed digitally.
The control of the actual numerals and light quality of digital displays is accomplished by board mounted circuitry including an analog-digital converter. Such circuitry also includes a precisely controlled electrical resistance. In order to have a desired value of the displayed numerals the analog-digital converter must be calibrated. In order to have the proper quality of video display, it is necessary that the displayed numbers are proper and that the various illuminated light bar segments which make up the numbers in the video display have the proper tilt, midpoint and brightness. Heretofore the accuracy of the displayed numerals and the correction of tilt, midpoint and brightness, if done at all, was accomplished by manual methods wherein the precisely controlled resistance on the circuit board was manually tuned until the desired numerals and the tilt, midpoint and brightness of the displayed bar segments was obtained. This procedure was slow and expensive in that it was done manually.
There is therefore a need in the art to provide a system for automatically observing displayed numerals in a digital display device and measuring the tilt, midpoint and brightness of the numbers in a digital display and automatically calibrating the resistance in the control circuitry.


A cowling arrangement and fitting structure for an outboard motor is provided for positioning a top cover of the cowling onto a cowling tray member. Column shaped bosses are preferably integrally formed on the inner wall of the top cover and are adapted for engagement with corresponding positioning bosses preferably integrally formed on the inner wall of the tray member. This fitting structure produces a flush and accurate fit between the adjoining surfaces of the top cover and tray.

This invention relates to a cowling arrangement for an outboard motor, and more particularly to an improved cowling arrangement wherein a fitting structure is provided for positioning a top cover of the cowling on a cowling tray member during attachment of the top cover to the tray.
It is well known with outboard motors that the powering internal combustion engine is normally enclosed within a protective cowling so as to provide protection for the internal combustion engine, to suppress engine noise, to protect users from contact with the engine, and to provide a better appearance for the outboard motor. The protective cowling defines a cavity in which the engine is contained.
One type of cowling includes a top cover and a tray member that is affixed to the lower end of the internal combustion engine. The top cover has a generally inverted cup shape and is attached to the tray member. When so attached, this top cover defines a cavity in which the engine is contained.
However, as the size of the outboard motor increases, the size of the cowling likewise increases, making it more difficult to correctly position the top cover on the tray member. As a result, cowlings for larger outboard motors typically have been provided with a structure for positioning the top cover relative to the tray member. This structure includes a positioning member integrally formed with the cowling tray and a second member adapted for engagement with the positioning member. This second member is attached to the top cover by means of rivets or the like that are inserted through holes drilled in the surface of the top cover which adjoins the tray when the two cowling parts are attached. While this type of cowling is generally satisfactory in performing the above functions, it has been unable to provide a flush fit between the adjoining surfaces of the top cover and the tray since the heads of the rivets or the like are exposed on the mating surface of the top cover. In addition, because the second member is not integral with the top cover, the top cover may be or become improperly positioned on the tray, particularly if the second member becomes loose.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved cowling arrangement including a fitting structure for an outboard motor which will produce a flush fit between the adjoining surfaces of the top cover and cowling tray.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved cowling arrangement including a fitting structure which enables the top cover to be positioned more accurately on the cowling tray and which eliminates the need for protrusions on the adjoining surfaces of the top cover and tray.


A disk inscribed with the identification code of a store is distributed to a user. The disk is inserted into the client computer of the user and software, which is for ordering merchandise or the like, stored on the disk is installed in the computer. The identification code is input to the client computer and is transmitted from the client computer to a server computer. The IP address of the store is retrieved by the server computer from a database based upon the identification code, and the IP address retrieved is transmitted to the client computer. When the user enters the content of an order to the client computer, the entered content of the order is transmitted to a store computer located at the store having the IP address that was transmitted from the server computer. Thus the user is capable of ordering merchandise from this store.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an order management system, a client computer and server computer that constitute this order management system, methods of controlling the client and server computers, and programs for controlling these computers.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has become possible to accept orders for merchandise using the Internet at franchise stores such as supermarkets and convenience stores. In such a system, store information such as the addresses of franchise stores is stored in a computer located at the headquarters of the franchise, and order information from an orderer also is transmitted to the computer at the franchise headquarters. Based upon the address of the orderer, information concerning a franchise store near the address of the orderer is transmitted to the orderer (for example, see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-357317).
In a system of this kind, the franchise store with which an order is to be placed is decided automatically from the address of the orderer and the address of the franchise store.


A developing method for a photosensitive resin printing plate which can reduce the cost for treating waste liquid by using an aqueous developing liquid not containing surfactant and recycling and reusing the developing liquid. A photosensitive resin printing plate which is hardened in a prescribed pattern by exposure is developed by spraying an aqueous developing liquid comprising either water only or two phases of gas and liquid to a surface of printing plate under a high pressure (water pressure 1 to 30 MPa, gas pressure not lower than 0.1 MPa), a hygroscopic photosensitive resin mixed in a worn-out developing liquid is separated and removed by means of filter or the like, and filtrate is recycled and reused as a developing liquid.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a photosensitive letterpress printing plate used in a letterpress printing such as corrugated board printing, film printing, preprint printing and label printing. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for producing a photosensitive letterpress printing plate which uses aqueous developing liquid, thereby minimizing the waste liquid discharged in a development treatment for a photosensitive letterpress printing plate.
A photosensitive letterpress printing plate has been used as a printing plate for letterpress printing represented by corrugated board printing, film printing, preprint printing and label printing.
APR (trade name, made by Asahi Kasei Corp.), one of the photosensitive resins, is a most typical product as a liquid photosensitive resin, and several models of equipment such as ALF, AWF and ASF (all trade names, made by Asahi Kasei) are commercially available as a plate-making equipment using this photosensitive resin. A plate-making is performed by the following process using the photosensitive resin. Firstly, a photosensitive resin is coated on a transparent carrier film in a uniform thickness, then laminated with a base film. The laminate structure is irradiated by UV light through a transparent image bearer such as a negative film made by another system in advance, through which UV light is selectively transmitted, so that a photosensitive resin in the exposed area photochemically hardens locally to form a relief image, then unhardened resin is removed and recovered using a rubber blade and the like, and finally unhardened resin remaining on a relief surface is washed out completely with wash out solution (developing solution), followed by application of a necessary post-treatment to produce a photosensitive letterpress printing plate to be provided for printing.
In a developing process in which unhardened resin is washed off, presently, unhardened resin is washed off and removed by means of a developing solution having a high chemical activity. However, if the developing solution contains unhardened resin more than a certain amount, the solution loses a developing ability and becomes impossible to be used. The unusable developing solution has to be consigned to an industrial waste disposal trader because the waste solution can not be discharged into sewage or the natural environment. The waste solution is high in volume and disposal cost, and has become an economical problem.
In addition, presently a post-exposure process is carried out after the developing process. This post-exposure process enhances mechanical properties by hardening unreacted resin in and on the surface of the hardened plate obtained in the developing process, and also reduces tackiness on the surface of the hardened plate by irradiating an active light to the printing plate. In this post-exposure process, in order to facilitate a polymerization reaction on the surface of the photosensitive resin layer, a photosensitive resin plate is exposed to active light in a liquid so that the plate is shielded from oxygen in the air. However, practice of the post-exposure process in a liquid results in dirty plate-making equipment and its surroundings and lowering of operation efficiency. Thus, a problem of significant deterioration of the working environment arises.
Based on the above-described situation, development of a method for reducing the cost for treating worn-out developing solution and a method for applying a post-exposure in air to improve the working environment have been strongly demanded.
On the other hand, with regard to a developing process, an example of a developing method, in which a highly pressurized aqueous developing solution is sprayed from spray nozzles to a photosensitive resin layer of an object to be developed, has been disclosed in JP-A-2000-29227 (Kansai New Technology Laboratory Co., Ltd., xe2x80x9cA Pattern Forming Method and Photosensitive Resin Compoundxe2x80x9d). The developing solution used in this developing method is an aqueous developing liquid, substantially water. In a conventional developing method, an unhardened resin is decomposed and removed using the chemical action of a surfactant contained in a developing solution, whereas in this developing method of JP-A-2000-29227, in which unhardened resin is washed off using a developing liquid substantially not containing a chemical component such as surfactant, unhardened resin is scattered and removed by giving large physical energy to a relief surface by means of spraying a developing liquid at high pressure. Accordingly, water can sufficiently work as a developing liquid because the developing liquid does not require chemical activity. Thus the cost for a wash out agent such as surfactant has been reduced, and the life of developing liquid has been extended compared with a developing method using a surfactant because the life of the developing liquid hardly depends on an amount of unhardened resin mixed in the developing liquid, and therefore, the cost to treat waste developing liquid has been reduced. However, although this method could solve the problem to reduce the cost to treat waste developing liquid, it still had a problem that this method could not provide a printing plate having a reproduction on the plate having sharp printing results, as well as that this method required several times the wash out time compared with the conventional method to provide a printing plate having a reproduction on the plate having sharp printing results.
Based on the above described situation, development of a method for developing a photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate is strongly demanded, which makes it possible to reduce the cost to treat worn-out developing liquid, and to give sharp printing results with a comparative developing time to that of the conventional developing method using surfactant.
The invention is directed to respond to these demands, and provides a plate-making method in which the volume of waste developing liquid discharged is reduced by recycling and reusing the developing liquid for a photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate after an exposure process to reduce the cost for treating waste liquid, and at the same time, even a post-exposure process in air can be realized.
The inventors enthusiastically studied to solve the above problems, and found the fact that a photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate with no tackiness on a plate surface can be obtained by removing unhardened resin from the printing plate with physical force using a developing liquid mainly comprising water not containing a special wash out component at a high temperature, then applying a post-exposure in air by adding a small amount of photosensitive hydrogen abstracting agent in the developing agent if necessary, and completed this invention.
Thus, the present invention provides:
(1) A method for developing photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate comprising spraying an aqueous developing liquid at a temperature not lower than 40xc2x0 C. under high pressure to a photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate after exposure.
(2) A method according to the above (1), wherein the aqueous developing liquid is sprayed under a pressure of not lower than 1 MPa and not higher than 30 MPa.
(3) A method according to the above (1) or (2), wherein a gas is mixed in the aqueous developing liquid.
(4) A method according to any one of the above (1) to (3), wherein the aqueous developing liquid is recycled and reused after removing a mixed-in photosensitive resin from the aqueous developing liquid by means of a filter.
(5) A method according to the above (4), wherein a surface of the photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate is sprayed with the aqueous developing liquid, then rinsed with water, and the water is then mixed into the aqueous developing liquid.
(6) A method according to any one of the above (1) to (5), wherein an aqueous developing liquid contains a photosensitive hydrogen abstracting agent.
(7) A method according to the above (6), wherein a surface of the letterpress printing plate is sprayed with the aqueous developing liquid, then irradiated with an active light in air.
(8) A method according to the above (7), wherein the active light is mainly an UV light having a wavelength in a range of 200 to 400 nm.
(9) A method according to any one of the above (1) to (8), wherein at least one nozzle is used to spray the aqueous developing liquid under a pressure of not lower than 1 MPa and not higher than 30 MPa.
(10) A method according to any one of the above (1) to (9), wherein a pump capable of delivering the aqueous developing liquid under a pressure of not lower than 1 MPa and not higher than 30 MPa is used.
(11) A method according to any one of the above (1) to (10), wherein an oil-absorbing mat filter, non-woven fabric filter or paper filter is provided on a surface of the aqueous developing liquid reserved in a tank and/or in a pipe through which the aqueous developing liquid flows, and the aqueous developing liquid is filtered with any of these kinds of filters.
(12) A developing equipment for a photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate used for a method according to any one of the above (1) to (11).
(13) A developing equipment for a photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate comprising:
(a) a plate treatment section comprising a support to fix a photosensitive resin letterpress printing plate and a nozzle header being installed so as to oppose to the support and being arranged with at least one spray nozzle to spray a highly pressurized aqueous developing liquid;
(b) a liquid tank section to reserve the aqueous developing liquid equipped with a heater; and
(c) a high pressure jet pump connected to the liquid tank section in the input side and connected to said nozzle header in the output side.
(14) A developing equipment according to the above (13), wherein the spray nozzle and the high pressure jet pump can spray and deliver the aqueous developing liquid under a pressure of not lower than 1 MPa and not higher than 30 MPa, respectively.
(15) A developing equipment according to the above (13), wherein a filter is installed in said liquid tank section.
(16) A developing equipment according to the above (13), wherein a nozzle header to spray rinsing water is equipped in the plate treatment section, and the liquid tank section is capable of reserving together both rinsing water after spraying and aqueous developing liquid after spraying.
(17) A developing equipment according to the above (13), wherein the plate treatment section further comprises a lamp section arranged with at least one lamp to emit an active light in air.

Method and apparatus for developing photosensitive resin relief printing plate


A device to monitor sensors in a motor vehicle, with the sensors generating signals, each representing different physical is provided. The device includes first arrangement with which identically defined comparison variables for the sensors are determined for at least two sensors on the basis of at least the signals generated by them. Furthermore, the device includes a second arrangement with which a reference variable is determined on the basis of at least two of the identically defined comparison variables and is taken into account in monitoring performed in a third arrangement for at least one sensor. To form the reference variable, a variable describing the difference between the identically defined comparison variable and the other identically defined comparison variables of the minimum of two identically defined comparison variables is determined for each of the minimum of two identically defined comparison variables. The identically defined comparison variable is evaluated using this variable.

Devices and methods for monitoring sensors used in a vehicle are known from the related art in a variety of versions.
The patent application filed with the German Patent Office German Patent Application No. 196 36 443 describes a method and a device for monitoring sensors used in a vehicle. With this method and device, sensors each representing different physical parameters are monitored. The device contains means with which identically defined comparison variables are determined for at least two sensors, starting from at least the signals generated by them. The device also contains other means with which one reference variable is determined as a function of at least the determined comparison variables. A sensor reference variable is determined for each of the individual sensors on the basis of this reference variable. Taking into account the sensor reference variables, monitoring and/or correction is performed for each sensor. The above-mentioned patent application describes the following procedure for determining the reference variable.
On the basis of the identically defined comparison variables, a reference variable is determined by comparison of these comparison variables. To determine the reference variable, first the comparison variable having the greatest difference from the reference variable determined last is determined. Since this comparison variable has the greatest difference from the reference variable determined last, it can be concluded that under some circumstances the respective sensor might be defective. Consequently, this comparison variable is not taken into account in determining the instantaneous reference variable. The new reference variable is determined by forming a weighted average. First, the remaining comparison variables and second, the differences between the remaining comparison variables enter into the formation of the weighted average.
Systems for regulating the driving dynamics of a vehicle are described, for example, in the article "FDR--die Fahrdynamik-Regulung von Bosch (Regulating Drive Mechanics--the Bosch Method) published in the automotive engineering journal Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift (ATZ), volume 16, number 11 (1994) pages 674-689.

Method and device for monitoring sensors in a vehicle


[Problem] To provide an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program capable of suitably tracking a moving object even when there is variation in the speed of the moving object to be tracked.

In recent years, systems that enable monitoring of a large area by using videos captured by multiple cameras have been developed. For example, PTL 1 discloses a system for estimating, on the basis of the average time period required for moving objects to move between capturable areas of monitoring cameras, a time point at which the moving object is expected to reach a different capturable area.

Information processing system, information processing method, and program

Abstract: [Solution] Provided are: a video acquisition unit (201) for accepting input of a video taken by a plurality of photographing devices; a reference object selection unit (207) for selecting, from among moving objects seen in the video taken by a first photographing device among the plurality of photographing devices, another moving object different from the moving object to be tracked and seen in the video taken by the first photographing device; and a target object appearance prediction unit (213) for predicting, based on whether the other moving object appeared in the video taken by a second photographing device among the plurality of photographing devices, a time of day at which the moving object to be tracked will appear.


An integrated circuit having a plurality of devices. The plurality of devices have a plurality of device characteristics. A sectional cut through the integrated circuit reveals the plurality of device characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to integrated circuits, and, in one embodiment, particularly to analyses of inkjet print head heater chips.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inkjet printing devices such as inkjet printers, all-in-one devices, multifunction devices, and the like, typically uses a print controller or a printer host to control and to communicate with an inkjet print head. A thermal inkjet print head generally has a heater chip. The heater chip typically includes logic circuitry, a plurality of power transistors, and a set of heaters or resistors, among other things. A hardware or software printer driver will selectively address or energize the logic circuitry such that appropriate resistors are heated for printing. In some heater chip designs, the heater chip includes memory used to store information about the print head. Data stored in the memory is used to identify the print head to determine if the print head is a monochrome print head, a color print head or a photograph quality print head. Data stored in the memory is used to keep track of ink usage.
To monitor and to characterize the functionality of the heater chip, a variety of analytical or monitoring methods, and electrical and material analyses are used to analyze the materials layered in the heater chip and the semiconductor devices of the heater chip. For example, an electrical method is performed by electrically measuring structures that help monitor critical process parameters on every wafer. The electrically measured results of die process monitor ("DPM") structures on the wafer are compared against a predetermined specification. Examples of electrically characterized parameters include sheet resistance, effective line width, and the like. While an electrical method provides a fast indication of process variation and problems, the electrical method does not generally provide a complete characterization. For example, an electrical monitoring method can generally indicate problems, but rarely can determine a root cause of the problem.
On the other hand, material methods are performed using different metrologies in terms of dimension, composition, topology, and the like. For example, material methods such as sectional analysis or cross-section analysis are used to characterize a print head chip. Using sectional analysis, heater chip characteristics such as devices or film features, information on critical dimension, composition profiles, topology as well as material interaction can be collected. Once the information has been collected, other analyses such as process control and failure analysis can use the information to assist in manufacturing processes. For the printhead heater chip, the heater chip analysis becomes even more important since heater chip characteristics such as the film stack thickness needs to be precisely controlled in order to achieve required thermal performance.
Section analysis is performed by grinding and polishing a thin film stack at a location of interest at the heater chip, followed by optical and e-beam inspection. Section analysis is usually very tedious and time consuming. For example, many sectional cuts are necessary to complete a thorough analysis and inspection.

Device and structure arrangements for integrated circuits and methods for analyzing the same


A sensor for registering analyte concentration includes: a housing; arranged within the housing, a sensor element, which has a front surface pressed toward a housing wall of the housing, and the sensor element has at least one contact element for electrical contacting accommodated within the housing, an inner electrolyte, which is in contact with a medium surrounding the housing via an electrochemical, liquid junction arranged in a housing wall, and a reference electrode extending into the inner electrolyte, wherein there is arranged within the housing a flexible circuit card, which includes at least a first conductive trace, which is connected with the at least one contact element of the sensor element, and at least a second conductive trace, which serves as potential sensing element of the reference electrode.

Determining concentration of an analyte in a measured medium plays an important role in many industrial applications, for example, in chemical or pharmaceutical technologies, in foods technology, in biotechnology, as well as also in non-industrial, analytical applications, for example, in environmental measurements technology. Applied for determining ion concentrations frequently in the laboratory, as well as also in industrial process plants, are sensors, which have a sensor element bearing an analyte sensitive component. The analyte sensitive component can be, for example, an analyte sensitive membrane. Thus, for example, the glass membrane of the known pH glass electrode is sensitive to the concentration of H+, respectively H3O+, ions in a measured medium.
Alternatively, the analyte sensitive component can also be a semiconductor element, for instance, a component comprising an EIS structure, such as, for example, an ion sensitive, field effect transistor (ISFET) or a capacitor with an EIS structure, whose capacitance depends on the concentration of the substance to be determined. The acronym "EIS" stands for "Electrolyte Insulator Semiconductor", i.e. the sensor has a layer structure with, applied on a semiconductor layer or on a semiconductor substrate, at least one insulating layer, which, in measurement operation of the sensor, is in contact with an electrolyte, namely the measured medium. Arising at the interface between the insulating layer and the measured medium is a voltage drop. Through suitable choice of the insulating layer, especially by providing an analyte sensitive coating on, or as a component of, the insulating layer, the sensitivity of the sensor can be set in such a manner that the voltage drop can serve as a measure for the analyte concentration. Thus, for example, the voltage drop at the interface between a tantalum(V) oxide (Ta2O5) layer and an aqueous measured solution depends essentially on the pH value of the measured solution. Through application of other layer structures, EIS sensor elements can be formed, which are sensitive in corresponding manner for other ions. By immobilizing suitable detector structures, which can comprise e.g. enzymes, on the EIS structure, it is also possible by means of such a sensor to measure concentrations of non-ionic substances, e.g. glucose or penicillin.
The already mentioned ion-sensitive field effect transistor has likewise such an EIS structure. The transistor gate of the ISFET is in the case of a pH-sensitive ISFET, for example, formed by a pH sensitive, insulating layer, which can comprise Ta2O5. The charge carrier density in the semiconductor channel between source and drain of the ISFET then depends correspondingly on the pH value of the medium in contact with the gate. German Patent DE 198 57 953 A1, for example, describes a sensor for measuring ion concentrations, respectively the pH value, of a liquid using an ISFET.
Such sensor elements with an analyte sensitive component, especially semiconductor based elements, are frequently embodied in the form of a platelet or chip, for example, as a chip or chip array, with front- or rear, contact elements for electrical contacting of the analyte sensitive component. Sensors with such sensor elements are frequently embodied as rod-shaped measuring probes, which comprise a medium immersible housing, in which the sensor element is so arranged that its analyte sensitive component contacts the measured medium. In such case, the contact elements for electrical contacting of the analyte sensitive component, via which the sensor element is connected with a sensor electronics, and the sensor electronics itself, are arranged protected within the housing. The measuring probe can be connectable via a cable or wirelessly with a superordinated unit, for example, a measurement transmitter or a bus coupler. The superordinated unit can supply the measuring probe with energy, respectively receive, and further-process, measuring signals output from the sensor electronics, or it can output signals to the sensor electronics. Examples of such sensors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,292, U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,070 or European EP 1 396 718 A1.
Described in European EP 1 396 718 A1 is a sensor having an ISFET as sensor element. By means of a pressure exerting part, the ISFET is pressed at a rear surface facing away from its ion sensitive surface region against an end face of a sensor housing. The pressure exerting part has a central opening, which exposes the ion sensitive surface region of the ISFET, while the source connection and the drain connection of the ISFET are arranged in an interior of the sensor protected from contact by the measured medium. The pressure exerting part is connected with the sensor housing by means of a surrounding ultrasonic weld excluding the medium.
An internal tube extending within the housing divides the housing interior of the sensor housing into a sensor inner space and a sensor intermediate space. The sensor intermediate space serves as reference electrode space, i.e. it contains a reference electrolyte, into which a reference electrode extends. Led through the sensor inner space are connection wires connected with front- or rear contact elements of the ISFET for contacting source and drain of the ISFET. The connection wires serve for connection of the ISFET with a display device of the sensor. The sensor inner space is backfilled from the internal tube to the rear surface of the ISFET with a potting compound, for example, one based on an epoxy adhesive, in order to provide mechanical support for the ISFET.
European EP 1 396 718 A1 shows, by way of example, the previously always followed principle of having a sensor inner space, which serves for the contacting and the guiding of the potential sensing wires of the sensor element, and an electrolyte filled, intermediate space, in which the reference electrode, embodied, as a rule, as a reference electrode of second type, is arranged. Manufacturing these sensors of the state of the art embodied according to this principle requires a number of individual working steps and is, consequently, quite complex and expensive.
Moreover, the sensor housing of such sensors frequently contains, connected with the potential sensing wires, a sensor circuit, frequently an electronic sensor circuit, also referred to as the sensor electronics, which serves for initial processing, especially amplification and, in given cases, digitizing, of the measurement signal. Penetration of moisture into the sensor electronics can lead to failure of the sensor. Consequently, great effort must be applied, in order to assure the sealing of the electrolyte filled, reference electrode space relative to the sensor electronics, which is, as a rule, likewise accommodated in the sensor housing.

Sensor for registering an analyte concentration

Endress + Hauser Conducta Gesellschaft für Mess- und Regeltechnik mbH + Co. KG


A new cultivar of Sedum plant, ‘Nonel’, characterized by its glossy foliage that emerges shiny green in color, holding this color during summer, then turning dark red-purple during fall and winter, its green stems, its flowers in late spring and early summer are bright canary yellow in color upon flat, somewhat drooping inflorescences atop a dense, low growing plant habit.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Sedum plant, botanically known as Sedum kamtschaticum var. floriferum 'Nonel' and will be referred to hereinafter by its cultivar name, 'Nonel'. The new cultivar of Sedum is a hardy herbaceous perennial grown for use as a landscape and container plant and is particularly suitable as a ground cover.
'Nonel' was discovered in March of 2009 as a naturally occurring whole plant mutation in the Inventor's nursery in Nunica, Mich. as a single unique plant in a field planted with 50,000 seedlings from unnamed plants of Sedum kamtschaticum var. floriferum.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by stem cuttings in June of 2009 in Nunica, Mich. Propagation by cuttings and crown division has determined the characteristics to be stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for detecting marks. The method includes receiving a data signal from a channel. Further, the method includes matching the data signal to a template that corresponds to a predetermined pattern transmitted over the channel to detect marks, prior to decoding the data signal into a decoded bit stream.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Generally, massive storage, such as optical storage, magnetic storage, and the like, stores user data in a bit stream that uses synchronization (sync) marks having a predetermined unique pattern to frame user data. In an example, Blu-ray standard includes a 9T9T pattern in sync marks. The 9T9T pattern has nine zeroes followed by nine ones or nine ones followed by nine zeros. When a reading device detects a 9T9T pattern in a bit stream read from a Blu-ray disc, the reading device knows a starting position of a frame of user data in the bit stream. However, when sync mark detection is based on extracted bit stream, errors in the bit detection can increase sync mark detection errors.

Method and apparatus for detecting sync mark


Fashion eyeglasses include a frame for removably securing at least one lens to the head of a wearer, and at least one lens secured to the frame for positioning each lens in front of a respective eye of a wearer. Each lens has a concave external surface remote from the wearer and a convex internal surface adjacent the wearer. Preferably, the center of each lens is adjacent a respective eye of the wearer, and the edge of each lens is remote from the respective eye of the wearer. The eyeglasses may be sunglasses wherein each lens is reflectively mirrored on its concave external surface, thereby to produce to a viewer a magnified and inverted reflection of the viewer.

The present invention relates to fashion eyeglasses, and more particularly to fashion reflective sunglasses.
Reflective sunglasses which contain mirrored lenses to present to a viewer a reduced and upright image of the viewer are well known and were considered to be quite fashionable in certain circles. However, over time, such sunglasses have become passe and lost their "fashion" touch because they are so well known and conventional in the sunglass art. Thus the need remains for sunglasses which will function differently than the conventional reflective sunglasses (relative to a viewer) and thus hopefully become the new fashion.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide fashion sunglasses which present to a viewer a magnified and inverted image of the viewer.
Another object is to provide such fashion sunglasses wherein each lens has a concave external surface remote from the wearer and a convex internal surface adjacent the wearer.
A further object is to provide such fashion sunglasses which are simple and economical to manufacture, use and maintain.


Reflexotherapy device to stimulate reflex points of the human body provide reliable and integral fastening of needles within an elastic base member to achieve a stable position of needles under any conditions of utilization of the device, and to carry out both static and dynamic impact on extensive areas of reflex zones. The device comprises elastic base member 1 with needles 2 fastened therein each needle being provided with thickened end 3, and sharpened end 4 protruding from base member 1. In one embodiment the needles are fastened in the course of curing of the integral structure and in another embodiment the position of needles 2 is fixed, so that thickened ends are disposed between two layers to be joined together.

The closest device to the proposed applicator comprises an applicator having an elastic base member in the form of support and pressure elastic plates that are fastened together, and needles provided with thickened portions (heads) at one ends and sharpened portions at the opposite ends thereof, and passed through the support plate, the thickened portions of said needles being fixed between said plates and protruding above the surface of the support plate with sharpened portions thereof (SU-A-1551381).
Since the support and pressure plates are only fastened together, there exists an interface therebetween; said needles do not form an integral piece, and therefore are insufficiently rigidly fixed within the base member: they can get deepened into the base or protrude therefrom, or tilt around their axes due to the elastic nature of plates and separation of one plate from another, which fact causes insufficient stability of needles position during the use of the applicator. In addition, the need to provide two plates results in a substantial thickness of the base member, thereby resulting in insufficient elasticity thereof.


A method for assisting in the removal of a pressure sensitive label from a slender glass vessel wherein said label is wrapped around the circumference of the vessel and extends along the length of the vessel includes positioning a planar cutting blade at two angles relative to the label, drawing the blade down along the length of the label, cutting the label into two opposite cut edges with one edge adhering to the vessel and the other cut edge being raised slightly away from the circumference of the vessel and forming a space between the two cut edges.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of label removal methods and apparatus and in particular to methods and apparatus for cutting a slit in a pressure sensitive label attached to a slender glass vessel
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various reasons exist to remove adhesively applied labels to glass vessels or vessels. One particular need is in the pharmacological field. Typically, pharmaceutical vessels or vessels comprise glass ampoules, syringes, and cartridges (needless syringes) that may, for example contain a single application of a medicine to be injected by a syringe into a patient. Again typically, but not necessarily, the ampoules, syringes or cartridges comprise a small diameter, slender vessel having a length relatively large as compared to the vessel diameter.
Such vessels are typically wrapped with a printed pressure sensitive label that is usually transparent and made from a plastic film. In most instances the label ends that are parallel to the axial axis of the vessel overlap each other by a relatively small amount, perhaps 10 to 20 percent of the vessel diameter. In one method to remove the pressure sensitive label, the initial step is to cut, actually slit, the label lengthwise, i.e. along the length of the vessel. The advent of a slit edge provides for a starting location to begin the process of removing the label
The type of slit to be cut can vary from one that simply cuts the label in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the vessel or one that provides a space between the slit ends along the periphery of the vessel's surface. The latter type is more preferred in that a discrete edge is made available that can be advantageously used in the process of label removal.
Therefore, what is needed are methods and apparatus for slitting a pressure sensitive label that is affixed to a slender glass vessel such that the label cab be more easily and efficiently removed. The present invention is directed to the process of making a spaced slit along the length of a pressure sensitive label attached to a slender glass vessel and accordingly achieves the aforesaid goal.
The above-stated objects as well as other objects which, although not specifically stated, but are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention, are accomplished by the present invention and will become apparent from the hereinafter set forth Detailed Description of the Invention, Drawings, and the Claims appended herewith.


A stereo camera apparatus includes a first image capturing unit having first and second lens units, a first light synthesis unit, a first area-divided filter, and a first image capturing element. The first light synthesis unit and the first area-divided filter guide S-polarized and P-polarized light components to the first image capturing element. The second image capturing unit includes third and fourth lens units, a second light synthesis unit, a second area-divided filter, and a second image capturing element. The second light synthesis unit and the second area-divided filter guide S-polarized and P-polarized light components to the second image capturing element. The control unit includes first and second controllers to compute three-dimensional data of object using the S-polarized and P-polarized light component images, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stereo camera apparatus and a vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatus using the stereo camera apparatus, and more particularly, to a compact stereo camera apparatus of reduced size that can enhance measurable distance range and angle of view.
2. Description of the Background Art
More and more vehicles such as automobiles have been equipped with safety devices to enhance vehicle safety. For example, a forward-watching device, such as a television camera or a laser-equipped radar unit, may be mounted on a vehicle to detect vehicles and/or obstructions or objects in front of the vehicle. The information gained by such detection can be used to determine a degree of danger or hazard level such as collision risk and activate a warning signal to a driver, activate an automatic braking system to decrease vehicle speed, or automatically increase or decrease vehicle speed (or cruising speed) to maintain a predetermined vehicle-to-vehicle distance with the vehicle ahead. Research into and development of such technologies is being actively pursued, under the concept of an advanced safety vehicle (ASV), for example.
Such technologies, which can detect objects in front of the vehicle using images captured by a television camera mounted on the vehicle (e.g., an automobile), are known. For example, JP-H05-265547-A discloses one vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatus that mounts four stereo cameras: two stereo cameras for long-range (telephoto) detection using charge coupled devices (CODs), and two more stereo cameras for short range (wide-angle) detection also using CODs. Each of the stereo cameras captures images of one or more objects, and the captured images are processed to compute distance to the objects from the vehicle as object distance distribution information. The computed object distance distribution information can be further used to compute three-dimensional positions of both objects and road environment, such as road width, for example.
In such a configuration, the long-range stereo cameras have an object detectable range such as from 20 m to 100 m ahead of the vehicle on which they are mounted, and the short-range stereo cameras have an object detectable range such as from 5 m to 30 m, for example.
The stereo cameras for long-range can detect far objects such as 100 m ahead of the vehicle, but cannot detect too-close objects at distances such as 20 m or less ahead of the vehicle. On the other hand, the stereo cameras for short range can detect close objects ahead of the vehicle by using a wide-angle lens, which have a broader field of view and thus can detect objects in a broader lateral range to the sides of the vehicle. Further, the two stereo cameras for short range are disposed closer to each other and can thus detect objects close to the vehicle.
To maintain a broad field of view for short distance and long distance, the two stereo cameras for long range and the two stereo cameras for short range may be used selectively depending on changes in vehicle environment and conditions. For example, when a vehicle is traveling on a highway at high speed, the stereo cameras for long-range detection are activated for monitoring the road in front of the vehicle, whereas when the vehicle is traveling on a local road at low speed, the stereo cameras for short range are activated for monitoring the road in front of the vehicle.
Further, JP-H11-39596-A discloses another vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatus, in which two stereo cameras for long range and two stereo cameras for short range are concurrently activated to capture images of objects, instead of selectively using the stereo cameras for long- and short-range depending on changes in vehicle environment and road conditions. Such vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatus prepares a distance-information included image for long range and a distance-information included image for short range. The distance-information included image for long range is segmented into a plurality of sections (e.g., a grid), in which one whole captured image is divided into multiple sections of a given size. Similarly, the distance-information included image for short range is also segmented into a plurality of sections (e.g., a grid) of a given size for dividing one captured image into the plurality of sections, in which one whole captured image is divided into multiple sections having a given size. Then, for each of the sections, image data on or above a road face is extracted as data for three-dimensional objects and distance to the object is computed.
As above described, the vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatus mounted on vehicle for watching a broader field of view for short distance and long distance may have a relatively greater size. This factor is important because, generally, stereo cameras are disposed at a front top position in a vehicle, such as the position of the rear-view mirror of an automobile. The position of rear-view mirror is close to a head position of the driver's seat and the passenger seat in view of the function of the rear-view mirror, which is used to provide a view to the rear of the vehicle. A big stereo camera mounted at such rear-view mirror position may oppress the driver and/or the passenger and can pose a safety risk for both driver and passenger.
JP-2004-258266-A discloses a stereo camera having two lenses, mirrors disposed in a light path for reflecting light coming from the two lenses, and one image capturing element. When light enters and passes one lens, the light is reflected by one mirror and guided to the single joint image capturing element. When light enters and passes the other lens, the light is reflected by the other mirror and also guided to the single joint image capturing element. Such a configuration can reduce the number of image capturing elements and reduce the size of stereo camera. The smaller the size of the stereo camera, the smaller the moment force of stereo camera, in which the stereo camera can attain a higher rigidity when vibration or acceleration forces act on the stereo camera.
As described above, JP-H05-265547-A and JP-H11-39596-A disclose vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatuses using two stereo cameras for long range and two stereo cameras for short range, meaning four stereo cameras in total, to ensure a broader field of view at both long and short ranges. However, such a configuration requires a greater number of parts for the optical systems. For example, the number of lenses and image capturing elements may be twice or more that of ordinary stereo cameras, by which manufacturing cost of the vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatuses may increase.
Also as described above, JP-2004-258266-A discloses a stereo camera using two lenses and one image capturing element, in which a light path coming from the lenses to the image capturing element is tilted for some angle, by which a size of stereo camera is reduced, and manufacturing cost is also reduced. In such a stereo camera, a baseline length set between two lenses (i.e., an interval of two lenses) may be set shorter so that one image capturing element can be used for two lenses. However, due to the principle of triangulation, a shorter baseline length may hinder a distance measurement for far objects.

Stereo camera apparatus and vehicle-mountable monitoring apparatus using same


A phase-change random access memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, a bottom electrode structure formed on the semiconductor substrate, a cylindrical bottom electrode contact that includes a conductive material layer, which is in contact with the bottom electrode, and a cylindrical phase-change material layer that is in contact with the bottom electrode contact. Therefore, the contact area between the bottom electrode contact and the phase-change material layer can be minimized.

1. Technical Field
The embodiments described herein relate to a phase-change random access memory device, and in particular, to a phase-change random access memory device that is capable of minimizing the size of a bottom electrode contact, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM) devices have been developed in part to overcome certain limitations of existing memory devices, such as Dynamic Random Access Memories (DRAMs), Static Random Access Memories (SRAMs), and flash memories.
A PRAM is a memory device that writes and reads out information on the basis of a reversible phase change of a phase-change material, which has high resistance in an amorphous state and low resistance in a crystalline state. A PRAM device can provide higher operational speed and a higher degree of integration than, e.g., a conventional flash memory device.
FIG. 1 is a graph illustrating the operation principle of a PRAM device.
As shown in FIG. 1, when the phase-change material layer is heated at a temperature higher than a melting temperature Tm for a short time (first operation period: t1), and then cooled at high speed as represented by curve (A), a phase-change material layer is changed to the amorphous state. In contrast, when the phase-change material layer is heated at a temperature lower than the melting temperature Tm and higher than a crystallization temperature Tc for a time (second operation period: t2) longer than the first operation period t1, and then cooled as represented by curve (B), then the phase-change material layer is changed to the crystalline state.
Here, the resistivity of the phase-change material layer in the amorphous state is higher than the resistivity of the phase-change material layer in the crystalline state. Accordingly, in a read mode, it is possible to determine whether or not the information stored in the PRAM device is a logic level '1' or a logic level '0' by detecting a current flowing in the phase-change material layer.
As such, when a high-density current flows through a contact area to the phase-change material layer of the PRAM device, the crystalline state of the contact surface of the phase-change material layer is changed. As the contact area becomes small, the density of a current required for changing the state of the phase-change material can be reduced. To this end, a method that forms a bottom electrode contact in a plug shape has been introduced.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a conventional PRAM device having a plug-shaped bottom electrode contact.
As shown in FIG. 2, an interlayer insulating film 3 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1, on which a bottom electrode 2 is formed, and a hard mask 4 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 3. Next, a cylindrical bottom electrode contact hole is formed by exposure and etching.
Subsequently, a metal that generates Joule heat required for phase change is filled into the bottom electrode contact hole to form a bottom electrode contact (BEC) 5. Next, a phase-change material layer (not shown) and a top electrode (not shown) are sequentially formed.
In a conventional PRAM device, however, since the contact area of a phase-change material layer pattern and the BEC entirely depends on photolithography and etching on the BEC hole, there is a difficulty in reducing the contact area. Accordingly, the amount of a current required for phase change is increased, which makes it difficult to achieve low power consumption and high integration. In addition, a variation occurs in the area of the BEC, which is formed by photolithography and etching, which results in deterioration of the reliability of the memory device.

Phase-change random access memory device and method of manufacturing the same